Top 10 Games of 2010

Third - StarCraft 2

Publisher: Activision Blizzard
Platform: PC Exclusive
Bit-Gamer Score: 9 out of 10 - Excellence Award

There's been a lot of discussion on the podcast about StarCraft 2 this year, with Joe and Harry frequently butting heads on whether the game is any good or not. Harry reckons StarCraft 2 is one of the best strategy games he's ever played, with a gripping story and a fiercely competitive multiplayer mode. Joe reckons Harry is talking a load of rubbish.

While those two argue, though, the rest of you have voted StarCraft 2 to third place in this year's Top 10 Games of 2010, so Blizzard must have done something right!

A part of what makes StarCraft 2 so great is that, while Blizzard has updated the graphics and UI, the fundamentals of the gameplay have remained mostly unchanged. At a time when other strategy games are merging with different genres, creating RPG/RTS hybrids such as Dawn of War 2, StarCraft 2 can feel like a bit of a throwback. Mass production of units? Static bases? While others complain that these features are outdated, Blizzard sticks to them and creates one of the best strategy games of the last few years.


That success hasn't come without a few controversies, however. Blizzard's insistence on splitting the singleplayer campaign into three episodic releases, for example, caused almost as much furore as the RealID proposal.

In the end, though, StarCraft 2 is not only an excellent game, but one that also outshines all the petty arguments that surround it. We expect we'll be playing StarCraft 2 for years to come and, judging by the number of votes it received, you will too.

Second - Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Bit-Gamer Score: 9 out of 10 - Excellence Award

Electronic Arts has had a hit and miss year with shooters, it seems. Medal of Honor was such a low point that we didn't even put it forward for Game of the Year voting, while Bad Company 2 has gone from strength to strength in the meantime. Not only did Bad Company 2 manage to grab second place in our reader vote, but it also claimed the Innovation of the Year award for the Frostbite destruction engine.

The way the Frostbite Engine enables players to carve a path through buildings, knocking out walls, floors and ceilings as they go, is what makes Bad Company 2 such a good game. The games industry is getting increasingly saturated with samey shooters that try to ape the likes of Call of Duty, meaning customers are swamped with nearly identical titles a lot of the time. Thus, features such as the destruction engine can help already-decent games like Bad Company 2 stand out in a crowded market.


Of course, it also helps that Bad Company 2 is a really good game, even without the destruction engine. In particular, the multiplayer component has endured with fans and we still play on it regularly. Knocking down walls in a fully armoured tank never gets old!

Bad Company 2 is further aided by the fact that EA has kept supporting the game too, releasing regular updates and downloadable content to help keep the game interesting. In fact, the Bad Company 2: Vietnam Pack is currently on the horizon and will soon add four new maps and six new vehicles to the game.

And, in case you haven't guessed, that means the winner is...