IGN Overall Game of the Year 2010 Winner

Fans, the final decision has been made as IGN reveals its 2010 Game of the Year. With so many amazing titles it was a tough battle, but one game stands alone, unfazed by the competition.

Nominees:

* Halo: Reach
* Heavy Rain
* Mass Effect 2
* Red Dead Redemption
* Super Mario Galaxy 2

[N4GAddict]

RDR should have won

[IllusionRSN]

RDR GOT ROBBED!

[blitz0623]

Not really. I think Mass Effect 2 deserves this one. Not discrediting RDR but both games were equally great. Now I'm just hyped for ME2. I enjoyed the PS3 demo and have it preordered. Should take up some of my time together with LBP2 before KZ3 arrives. When KZ3 is here, I won't have time for anything else.

[Headquarters11]

lol We're in 2011. Leave 2010 in the past IGN.

[SiLeNt KNighT]

this is why i can care less how ign rates games. if they rate it an 8 its probably a great game. 9.9 and up are usually a joke to me.

if you put super mario at the top then flip the list its a little more accurate.

no GOW3 makes the list invalid. good try guys!

[InactiveUser]

@Headquarters

This is when we should've seen all the GotY awards, not in November when some games haven't even released yet.

[CrimsonFox13]

Agreed with EeJLP-. Plus it may be better to wait a while, because when chosing the game of the year, the newer releases will be more fresh in your mind. Not sure how much that would effect the chosing, but it could change the results some. It's better to wait a bit then rush right into it to be the first ones with a GotY list (like those stupid "1st!" comments).

[Digitaldude]

I cannot understand the ME2 hype, help me understand, I want to understand. >.<

[RSPproductionz]

god of war 3 should have been in the nominies instead of reach

[starchild]

I don't share your opinion. God of War 3 was a good game but I beat it then went back and finished getting most of the trophies and have barely returned to it since. Halo Reach had a really great campaign that I have played through twice. Not to mention the many hours I have put in online since then. The amount of quality content Reach offers is simply fantastic.

Anyway, that video was brilliant. I loved it.

[nveenio]

RDR was lands better than ME2, and I didn't even care for RDR much.

[seinfan]

They picked the most boring and overrated game.

And I couldn't help but laugh at how they killed Mario.

[specialguest]

RDR became boring after a while.

[talltony]

Halo reach was lame. Halo 3 had a better campaign.

[Christopher]

***I cannot understand the ME2 hype, help me understand, I want to understand. >.< ***

It's easy to understand. Just look at the reviews.

http://www.metacritic.com/g...

Not everyone loved it to high heaven, but enough did that it scored the highest average score from 2010. Not every player will like it, just like every single other game. But, somehow, it had the necessary parts that made people love this game more than others this year.

ME2 is my GotY, right behind RDR. Even though I found ME1 to be a better RPG, ME2 did a great job on the type of gameplay I enjoy with the type of storyline development I enjoy with some RPG elements that I enjoyed that it's hard for it to not be my GotY. RDR was a great game, but I didn't enjoy it as much as ME2 and I found a lot more gameplay issues with RDR than ME2 that caused me frustration.

[Dee_91]

i couldnt get into ME2 for the life of me
i wanted to like it but i was like ... eh
i only managed to make it to that city were the dude was sick or something and you had to talk to him
then i died and had to start alll the way over ... so i just put another game in at that point ..
im just not into futuristic games on alien planets or out in space

only reason i was able to get into killzone2 was because of the str8 forward action all the way thru

[TheLastGuardian]

Red Dead Redemption is my favorite game of this generation. I love that game so much. So much to do in such an amazing world. I've played it for 300 hours altogether. Great Charachters, great voice acting, great story, great gameplay, great cutscenes, great invironment, great co-op, great multiplayer, great DLC. RDR has it all.

[ShinMaster]

IGN is riding ME2's d*** a little too hard on this one.
A couple of worthy games were also left out from the nominations.

[Jamegohanssj5]

MULTIPLATFORMER!

TGSI

[Jamegohanssj5]

Ask someone :)

TGSI

[Dsnyder]

the genius said it. Come on we should all know this by now lol.

[Jamegohanssj5]

Lol bubbled up

TGSI

[iamtehpwn]

LOL No God of War III?
We all know Kratos could've Climbed in there and made blood stew out of Shepard.

[ZBlacktt]

Yeah, you could see the fail right from the very start. No biggie, it's just IGN grabage again.

[ps3360games]

me ftw

[metalanime]

God of War 3 is really over hyped. Not that its not fun or anything, but its still the same game, all they did now is make it look much nicer. I know that tastes are different and all, but really, overall the game is nothing different. Personally, i prefer Ninja Gaidens gameplay to GOWs.

[showtimefolks]

and that's just my opinion before uall starting to press disagree and take one more of my bubble.

Me1 on xbox360 even with its bad frame rates and few graphical glitches was a overall better game because it had more RPG elements. When many complained about making ME2 better bioware just went ahead and made it a 3rd person cover base shooter

here is hoping that ME3 could be the single best ME game in the series and bring back those RPG elements for us and give the casual their shooter give us the option to choose which style we would like to play

edit:

RDR no doubt about it the story was amazing but than the online was another game by itself RS good job

[Ducky]

Although it did feel more like a story-based TPS than an RPG, it wasn't a bad game.
Shooting felt solid, and the squad abilities made for some good battles.

Though I played it on the PC. So not sure how the 360 experience goes.

Wouldn't call it the most over-rated game though. CoD probably takes the cake for that each year.

[chester]

ME1's rpg elements were, unquestionably, more in depth then the second game, but that doesn't make ME1 a true RPG game and doesn't in any way take away from how well ME2 continued the story and the character progression.

they always quantified the series as an action/rpg blend. The second game went for more 50/50 but it brought it together in a more streamlined and efficient way then ME1 and was a better game for it. it was absolutely the best game of 2010, in my opinion. and that's all this award is for every single game site and individual around; an opinion.

[Headquarters11]

Most over rated game goes to Halo Reach. I bought a 360 to play reach and a couple other exclusives and so far, it's just more of the same with minimal improvement over previous Halo games, typical. Not even worth $60 imo.

[NeoBasch]

I think you went a little far. ME2 is still very much an RPG. There are plenty of choices to make throughout the game. Instead, perhaps you should have just said ME2 has a terrible story. This much is true. It actually doesn't make much logical sense, and gets utterly ridiculous towards the end. It completely jumps the shark. ME1 had a much better story, but ME2 had much better gameplay overall. Just bring back the story for ME3 mmm'kay Bioware. kthxbye

[ZBlacktt]

It did, IGN is nothing.

[Persistantthug]

For years I have heard about the MASS EFFECT series, and as a PS3 only owner for this generation it is the one game that I would have traded one of my own high rated PS3 exclusives for the chance to play. Mass Effect 1 or 2 was the one game that I thought I might have bought an XBOX 360 for just to see the game's NEAR ABSOLUTE reported awesomeness. ( http://www.gamerankings.com... )

Fast Forward:
I finally got a chance to play MASS EFFECT 2 demo on my PS3.

I couldn't have been MORE disappointed. I haven't been THIS disappointed since I rented ASSASSIN'S CREED 1 (My first PS3 rental Jan/2009) and discovered it was just a Great looking TECH DEMO with pretty much no freakin game.

What made Mass Effect 2 a disappointment? How about the fact that the actual GAMEPLAY IS SO MEDIOCRE, there are literally 1st generation games from 2005 & 2006 that have better gunplay-gameplay mechanics. The duck duck, shoot, duck, duck, duck, pop your head up and shoot and duck again cover shooting is so clunky, It was kind of like playing a virtual WACK A MOLE game at those $1/game state fairs.
Are you serious? This is Game of the Year?

Then there's the Graphics....I was told they were gonna be something STATE OF THE ART like. I didn't see anything state of the art. I saw some serious UNCANNY VALLEY in the characters along with some "been there, done that" sterile environments.

And RPG? I'm almost tempted to say "WHAT RPG?". That was no RPG...that was a shooter pretending to throw some watered down RPG elements in.

The only saving grace I could see, was for the POTENTIAL to have a good story, because I did read most of the lore pertaining to the different races and societies and whatnot.

Unfortunately, the meat of the gameplay was DECISIVELY MEDIOCRE.

I'm disappointed with what I saw of MASS EFFECT 2...very.

[NeoBasch]

This sounds pretty delusional. You can't be serious. To each their own, but this sounds like you hardly played it and only did so so you could spout this nonsense. Even if you were serious, I wouldn't look to the story for it's saving grace. The story is easily the worst part of the game.

[Persistantthug]

You'll notice I've never said Not even 1 bad thing about MASS EFFECT 2....Never. Not here, Not on IGN (where I come from), not on Youtube....not anywhere.

I'm VERY serious about every word I said.

I admit that all I played was the demo, but that demo looks very indicative of what I expect to get with MASS EFFECT 2....I don't see how the gameplay is going to change.

Like I said, the story has been lauded over and has been hailed as really really good, so hopefully that's what carries the game, because for a game that's called awesome and even GOTY from some, that was one of the poorest excuses of gameplay I've seen, given the circumstances.

Very Mediocre.

[talltony]

I agree I cannot get into either. Just not my type of game. Its like I am not motivated at all to play it. To me Mass effect 2 looks and feels mediocre. Just my imo.

[Christopher]

***I finally got a chance to play MASS EFFECT 2 demo on my PS3. ***

Crap, I'm going to trust someone who's played a demo over those who have played the full game...

Kidding aside, for me ME2 is about as mediocre in gameplay as every other TPS out there. What drove the game were the combination of TPS gameplay, RPG elements, and player-directed storyline.

Look, not every game is for everyone, but ME2 deserves GotY based on its reviews and accolades. Just as much as RDR and SMG2 deserve it. Opinions may differ.

Look at it this way, persistantthug -- there's no way in heck I'd ever give a Mario GotY. Why? I've never liked the game and see absolutely no reason why people have clamored for it for the last 25 years. No clue at all. But that's my opinion that obviously greatly differs from the opinion of the general public. I recognize that they're great games... for people that like those type of games. I don't consider them bad games, just games I've never liked. If it wins, and it has, GotY, I don't proclaim the deficiencies of it based on my opinion. I recognize that there's obviously something there that I don't like and that most others do.

[MysticStrummer]

You are dead on, Persistantthug. There have only been a few 360 exclusives that I wanted on PS3. I was so hyped to hear that ME2 was coming... then I played the demo. I thought surely I needed to give the demo more time to grow on me, so I played through using all the different character types, along with games starring a male and female Sheppard. I'm sorry, but the gameplay is really nothing to write home about, much less award as a GotY. My only exposure to Bioware has been Dragon Age and the ME2 demo, but from that evidence I'd say Bioware and ME2 are quite overrated. I'm still going to give the game a shot, but I'm not going to waste one of my Christmas gift cards on it. I'll wait until I see a used copy, or until the game is on deep discount. Huge letdown after all the talk.

[Denethor_II]

I've got a 360, and have yet to finish ME1. It's very slow paced, as is Shepard's personality, and I just can't get into it. I too want to like it as sites like IGN say it's so great but just can't, so you're not alone in your opinion.

[Achemki]

@Persistantthug
I agree with you 110%. Imho...the gameplay in the demo was not very engaging. I never saw my enemies' eyes once. Everything was long distance pop 'n' shoots. The weapon/item wheel thingy was confusing and counterintuitive too.

Team mate AI hasn't evolved since Freedom Fighters. They still fall more than they help. An insane amount of dialogue to listen to as well if you don't wanna miss anything. Half the game is talking, so much so that I'm even seeing a "talk to Joker" icon pop up during my space walk when he's not even in sight, lol"

Graphics weren't better than older games I own. Dead Space looked better. Charachters were pretty typical. Another alien invasion, another betrayal, plus a Jar Jar speed talking alien doctor for good measure.

You're not delusional. If a game is GOTY then I should be grabbed from the word go, no? None of this "you haven't played it enough". I don't need to sit through all of the Phantom Menace to see its flaws, and I don't need to play a game through to completion to see that it's not for me *shrugs*.

I'd have given it to RDR first, for at least being different. Space cowboys are a dime a dozen. Westerns are rare, especially good ones.

@cgoodno
Actually Mario Galaxy 2 had the highest metacritic avg from 2010.

[pixelsword]

To be honest, get if for the story. I have a relative who's all action games and not so much story and he laughed at it, but the story is solid.

Besides, Persistent is correct: a demo is supposed to pretty much sell the game for you, and if it doesn't, then he's not to blame. It's pretty darned stupid for Bioware and other companies to put out a demo using an out of date engine and things like that, yet, they always seem surprised when people are disappointed about the demo.

[Shnazzyone]

Agreed RDR should have won! Why the hell was Heavy rain even on that list? Didn't GOW come out last year? I played the hell out of that and loved it, rented Hevey rain and am so happy I did. They need to make an award for ass voice acting and u8nimpressive plot just for that game.

[Darkfiber]

I enjoyed Mass Effect 2 much more. RDR was good but I find open world games to be buggy and poorly paced, simply because you essentially pace it yourself, and most people suck at doing that, which is why they aren't game developers. I enjoyed it but I played it once, didn't bother finishing all the side stuff and never touched it again and don't really feel compelled to either. Mass Effect 2 on the other hand, I've played through about 5 times.

[otherZinc]

That was a spectacular video, and so is Mass Effect.

However, they would've had their hands full with Noble Team!

Mass Effect 2 was my game of the year as well.

[the_best_player]

GOW3

[Orionsangel]

I agree! Not that ME2 isn't a great game, but for me it was more of the same just improved. Where RDR was a new experience for me and don't give me this shit that it was GTA in the west. I didn't get to gallop on a horse on the plains hunting buffalo in GTA. There was enough new experiences and variety to keep be playing till now. Where ME2. Once I finished it. I didn't wanna replay it. In RDR I can jump into free roam and bother some online player by shooting him or her and pissing them off. That's fun and never gets old. You create your own fun in RDR.

[40cal]

God Of War III

[PlayerX]

I was pulling for Mario Galaxy 2 but O well.

[Stealth20k]

galaxy 2 was the best game this year

[Jack-Pyro]

No bro, I'm sorry, it wasn't...

[worldgames]

It was if you only own the non hd games console on the market. lol

[schlanz]

I don't own a wii. I haven't played smg2.

But I have destroyed smg1. Its in my top 3 of this gen and better than any game that I played this year, which includes Rdr, me2, bayonetta, gow3, heavy rain, and all the other "contenders " aside from halo.

From what I've gathered, smg2 outclassed smg. Its pure gaming bliss. Say what you will about the importance of narrative and character building, but as far as pure gameplay goes, nothing this year matched even smg1, let alone its superior sequel.

Btw, I have great shame for not playing it yet. And so should every other " gamer" who hasn't.

[starchild]

Super Mario Galaxy 2 was indeed a great game. A worthy contender for GOTY. Don't listen to these single console fanboys.

[Jacobite]

Super Mario Galaxy 2 might be a great game to some, but not to others. I think most folk have more than 1 gaming platform these days.

[Kon]

Mass Effect 2

[visualb]

January 18th can't come soon enough =)

[Mustang300C2012]

January 26, 2010 cant come soon enou....oh wait already have it lol

[visualb]

thats great to heard RedHemi300c =) I'm happy for your contentment

Glad you are happy about mine

[Zimmerman]

I'm sick and tired of gaming websites declaring "winners".

All I need to know is if a game does what it advertises. If an rpg fails miserably as an rpg(FFXIV), I would like to know.

If a first person shooter has terrible shooting mechanics, I would like to know.

Anything else classifies as fanboy fodder in my book. I can discuss how much I like a game with my friends just as well without the input of IGN. In fact, they make it more difficult as some people treat their decision as fact and will cite them as a source when arguing against an opinion.

EDIT: After further thought, I realize that some gamers could benefit from articles such as these. It is helpful to know what game is considered by some the best of the year if you are looking for something to purchase.

I rescind my previous remark of derision, though I will leave it since I have already said it.

[awesomeperson]

Well.. they didn't actually kill Heavy Rain :D (I mean in their video before someone says... something.)

[Too_many_games]

That video was awesome...

[ME1989]

Lmao awesome video.

I agree with the winnar! ME2 is amazing =)

[FlyShootRaceSims]

It doesn't matter to me who won. Each of the nominees deserve their accolades of their own. Nevertheless, congratulations to Mass Effect 2!

[STICKzophrenic]

Nice. I played three of the five nominations and ME2 is definitely my personal GOTY.

I've played through it four times (I think) and I'm itching for another run.

[Led-Zeppelin]

Mario got PWNED!

[Kon]

Lmao @ Illusive man coughing

[KillingAllFanboys]

Man what did mario do he is just trying to save the galaxy like Shepard :P, but good job to all the games that made it in the list.

[ZBlacktt]

Red Dead Redemption all the way. Not even close.... not even.

[Eamon]

RDR should have got it imo.

[PandaJenkins]

So glad ME2 won. Would have been mad if RDR beat ME2 or any of the other contenders.

[Mista T]

yep, best game of the year. lol this video did it justice :P best video I've ever seen on IGN bar none

[ZBlacktt]

So would half the kids on this site, lol....kids.

[Jack-Pyro]

lol, ignore ZBlackett, he mad.

[ZBlacktt]

lol, not mad my man. Look around, what all other respectable sites picked Mass Effect 2? I see RDR. Even IGN did a report on the VGA's talking about how RDR won GOTY. Again no biggie.

[danmachine]

Red dead redemption is THE best game of 2010. Everybody knows this.

[PandaJenkins]

Funny how I played several better games then.

[Toman85]

For me is it close race between God Of War III, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Heavy Rain and Red Dead Redemption, so I can't say a GOTY right now :P

[NeoBasch]

Sadly, I haven't played SMG 2 yet, but I agree with everything else.

[schlanz]

Sadly that's the case of most people here. Not many n4g peeps played smg2 including myself. So far too many of them doubt its greatness and don't even consider it part of the conversation.

[Tony-A]

Heavy Rain was in there instead of God of War III? That and Limbo were quite the year's darling similar to 2009's Demon's Souls and Flower.

Congrats to Mass Effect 2!!

[JonnyBigBoss]

God of War 3, Gran Turismo 5, and Red Dead Redemption were all better.

[Roozium]

Gran Turismo 5?! LMFAO!

[Jack-Pyro]

PS3 Fanboy delusions, they never cease to amaze me.

[FlyShootRaceSims]

I'm a big racing fan but there's is no way that I would recommend a racing game for a GOTY award. You must be out of your mind!

[Led-Zeppelin]

Jleack - Fanboy confirmed.

[starchild]

The ever reliable jleack. At least we know he is always going to hype PS3 games (and maybe throw a couple multiplats in there). Damn, I hope to find a wife as devoted to me as jleack is to Sony.

[Aloren]

GOW3 was impressive, but it was no GOTY... maybe that's why it didn't win that many GOTY awards btw. Uncharted 2 deserved to be GOTY. GOW3 doesn't.

[tony6767]

well deserved fuck rdr im tired of rdr winning

[Pillage05]

TBH I didn't play anything in 2010 that is probably going to stick on my favorite games of all time list but I GOW3 or ME2 deserve the goty title over everything else I play.

I know a lot of people really enjoyed RDR but I didn't...I'm not a huge fan of open world action games though so I'm a bit biased. I can never bring myself to play through them more than once if they don't have some sort of rpg elements so I can atleast change my play style the second time through.

[therapist]

Wow....just...WOW

Mass Effect 2?

I peef more creativity directly into the ozone.

Starcraft 2 is GOTY

it's the only contender

1,000's of hours of gameplay

unlimited modding provided in a tasty package

I'm over 400 hours in and still learning daily

there is no other game that compares

[Chaos23]

The list was alright ...........NO GOW3. NOT EVEN NOMINATED??? ugh kratos woulda raped all of you...... but the population of gaming would pick GOW111 4 game of the year. it also won GOTY on other game sites so....... wtf is wrong with IGN?

[Taarec10]

Shepard and his crew would have been decapitated by the hands of Kratos in the video.....makes sense

[larrym]

Yeah, and in return The Reapers woulda raped Kratos, melted him down, and made a new Reaper with him.

[Achemki]

Kratos can't die. He'd just crawl back up from Hades like he always does and make the Reapers rape themselves. ;)

[Alacrist]

GOW3 did not deserve game of the year, yes it was a awesome game but it was more of the same from the first two games just alot better. I beat it in 6-7 hours and i'm not that good, ME2 was a better overall game than GOW3 was...

Also looking at the Nominees which one was better than ME2... I played all of them besides Heavy Rain and ME2 was better to me, just my two cents

[therapist]

@ala

did you play starcraft 2?

it is the best game of the 2010 year, if you played it july 27th 2010, you'd most likely still be playing it.

It's so freakin addictive

[General Shrooms]

That was fucking brilliant

[SnakeMustDie]

Damn it, why on earth is Starcraft 2 missing on these GOTY nominees? Does these reviewers even have a gaming PC?

The GOTY of 2010 can be any of these 4.
1. SC2
2. ME2
3. GoW3
4. SMG2

[larrym]

Mass Effect 2 deserved GOTY. The replay value was easily worth the full retail price. And who are some of you guys to talk shit about IGN? What kind of clusterfuck, fangirlish website is this. They should rename this site News for Sony pom pom waving cheerleaders.

[TheColbertinator]

Mass Effect 2,easy victor of Game of the Year

[hassi94]

Great video, really enjoyed it.

Mass Effect 2 definitely deserved it but RDR was just as excellent, it would be hard to choose between them :)

[Sizzon]

Great video, ME 2 deserves it. But I'm also glad to see Heavy Rain there.

[gillri]

yeah ME2 is a deserved winner. played RDR but I just couoldnt get into it

ME2 just absolutely captivated me from start to finish

oh and the people basing an RPG/action adventure off a demo1?...LOL

how about you listen to the 96 metascore from 100-odd professional reviewers who have actually played the game!

[Kran]

Haha. That was funny xD Silly Mario. Or as Phil might say from Dude, Where's My Mount: "Silly gnomes!" xD

[matey]

Galaxy2 easily the best game its the 2nd highest rated game ever in history of video games by players and reviewers it the most next gen as well 4 a platformer its smashes the others on the list

[ps3destroyer]

IGNorants again.God Of War 3 should have won by a mile.Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption are way suckier than the kings of all games GOD OF WAR 333333.

[Aloren]

Did you even play them ?

[vishant101]

im glad they didnt let a person who uses the word suckier choose the game of the year then

[Cajun Chicken]

I dunno about you, but I thought that video was pretty cleverly laid out!

[kookie]

IGNorant

[gypsygib]

I'd give it to RDR, then Reach, then GOW, then ME2 in that order.

Not that sales determine quality but it's interesting that ME2 didn't even sell that well. In less than a year the game is 20 bucks.

[jack who]

killzone?

[OSU_Gamer]

2009?

[Tex117]

I usually trust Gamespot's opinion over IGN.

That said RDR is freaking great, looking forward to playing ME2 next week.

Then, call me crazy, Two Worlds 2 is looking solid.

[zero_cool]

Like i said don't completely trust the media take every shred of info from media with a grain of salt.

[eARThRiot]

GOW3 all the way!!! SMG2 killed though as well....

[jalen247]

Obviously GOW III was not nominated because they would not be able to take out Kratos (The God of War) like they did the other heroes. This would have made GOW III the GOTY. LOL

[duplissi]

lol, loved the mario bit! "waaah!" *splat*.....

goty 2010 Mass Effect 2!!

i am however surprised that GOW3 was not nominated.

[BoneMagnus]

That video was hilarious!

[kesvalk]

i love mass effect 2, but, really? it's not that good...

[Serinous]

well deserved i think,.... will be getting the ps3 version too!

[tigertron]

My GOTY 2010 was Heavy Rain. As with Mass Effect 2, I've only played the PS3 demo (completed ME1 on the PC and loved it), but I'll be buying it next week and that'll be a GOTY 2011 contender for me.

[Duxer]

At least John Marston has a better voice actor.