My thumbs haven’t quite healed properly still after having a massive gaming session with Dead Rising 2. Zombie-killing is always fun, but finishing up those games you just haven’t yet becomes a hassle when sequels appear.

And wouldn’t you know it, 2010 was the year of gaming sequels. I had to step up my nerd-self and complete every game I had that was maybe one or two hours away from completion. New Years resolution: ‘TV goes outside’.

That way I can get my vitamin D, and well as my dose of pixelated fun.

With that said, I will now list the five games that I believe made 2010 the best in a while.

Best Games of 2010 – Doogs’ Edition

Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2

If you never played the first, you don’t need to in order to enjoy the second. But if you were lucky enough to keep your save game…WOO! Right back in the action, with all the choices you made carrying through. Been mean to someone in the first? Yeah, like an elephant’s memory.

The space-age action RPG shooter starts off with a pretty amazing bang, and it’s fair to say that they did so in order to make newcomers appreciate the massive universe within Mass Effect.

Characters of old and new are as engaging and interesting as the first, and the gameplay was definitely fine-tuned.Big name actors were now on the bill to carry on the story, and players could even get smoochy and freaky with aliens. Not their biggest selling point from the first, considering the “outrageousness” it caused on the news. And they think that was bad…try watching some of the reality TV shows nowadays. Bleh.

Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption

Fans of Grand Theft Auto got given a tasty alternative from city life by going back in time. An open world Western video game sounds crazy, and I’m sure was almost impossible to pitch.

But John Marston, a former pew-pew outlaw cowboy and also protagonist, manages to keep the good and bad sides of life in the West as lively and entertaining as ever.

Gunfights were a lot of fun to play, and one could only wish a Dirty Harry add-on could just put a pipe on those wanting to relive it (….what? It’s an awesome idea!).

And to be able to play this game multiplayer and have a posse of donkeys put sweet, sweet icing on this spaghetti cake. Mmm…spaghetti cake.

Heavy Rain

Heavy Rain

I’m not lying when I say how amazed I was at this game. The designers of Heavy Rain, Quantic Dream, are known for their previous masterpiece of a storytelling game Fahrenheit (AKA Indigo Prophecy).

With the cinematic power behind the PS3, they delivered something that was pretty dang unique to gaming. Controls weren’t button-mashing, but controller-moving. Shaking, twisting, even doing nothing meant something.

The realism and grit of the story of a serial killer, as well as controlling the four main characters of the story, made Heavy Rain a big thumbs up from me. N

ever was I so glued to the screen, wanting to know what would happen next. The last time I had that reaction to game cinematics was during Metal Gear Solid 4, which felt like watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy twice.

Professor Layton and the Lost Future

Professor Layton and the Lost Future

The Nintendo DS isn’t a video gaming masterpiece of a machine. Innovative for sure in its infancy, it still hadn’t been given enough attention by developers (other than rushed movie titles). But the first Professor Layton game used this to its advantage, creating a puzzle game that was mind-testing, but not frustrating.

Puzzle-solving Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke are on an investigation which seems to have thrown them in the future, and as strange characters ask you a multitude of questions for stranger tasks like opening doors or not killing you, you get your first real glimpse inside Layton’s past. I loved the anime cinematics, and was sad to run out of puzzles in the end.

Bless you Professor…you made me feel smart once again. And, strangely, make me want to pick up banana peels.

Splinter Cell - Conviction

Splinter Cell – Conviction

This game wasn’t given as much hype as I thought. But given this series seems to have gone long enough, it had the shoulder-shrugging reaction I’ve had with say Lara Croft.

But Sam Fisher’s character has since become even more in-depth, and more aggressive than ever. For a light-treading, sneaking NSA agent, he’s gotten pretty ticked off. Who wouldn’t be after your daughter’s assassination?

Gameplay is really action-packed, and the whole ‘Mark and Execute’ option gives it that feeling that you are indeed an incredibly talented agent who can take down ‘issues’ in a matter of seconds.

Assassin’s Creed II almost took this spot, but then again, I haven’t finished that one either yet so I can’t give fair judgement. I couldn’t listen to half an album and announce it was the best CD ever made, could I? One hit wonders’d love that kind of assessment.

What games have I forgotten, or *shudder* need to finish before the newer one comes out? Oh, I have won Diablo II, so I’m safe for the third.