MAG is quite possibly the most ambitious console game so far in our history of gaming. No other console game can say "we have an online only game where 256 players can play in the same room." Zipper Interactive always creates new and exciting games and with no lag in any games, I got high hopes for SOCOM 4. For 9 maps, 3 game modes, I give the game at launch a 7/10.
9)
The Sly Collection is the second 1st-party PS2 HD remake collection for the PS3, following the God of War Collection. I myself have never played the Sly games back on PS2 and thanks to Sony remaking the games for PS3, I got to it. Some of the best platforming this side of Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter. I game is also a bargain, $39.99 for 3 full games helps rack this one up to an 8/10.
8)
This really shouldn't be on this list as RE5 technically came out last year but was re-released this past March. It came MOVE-enabled to use the PS Move and NavCon for motion controls and it had 2 DLC-levels, 6 costumes and 8 new characters for Mercenaries. It felt like a whole new game and led to great co-op action. 8.5/10
7)
Call of Duty: Black Ops is the latest in the annual release of the COD milking by Activision. Funnily, it really didn't feel like a COD game. It is THAT good and makes me happy to know that change can occur. The story mode is epic with great voice acting by Sam Worthington, Ed Harris and Gary Oldman. Co-op is great in Zombies with 2 well-designed levels. MP is the same as always with annoying little kids and wannabe-gangstas who use the internet to be racists with no repercussions. 9/10
6)
Fallout New Vegas is the follow-up to 2008 GOTY Fallout 3. It isn't done by Bethesda for development this time and it can be seen. It truly feels like Fall out 3.5 but it's not a bad thing. Amazing writing and addicting gameplay contribute to this game's longevity as well as the huge location of the Mojave desert. The game is plagued however by a multitude of bugs and glitches and while there have been patches there's still been problems. 9/10
5)
The first GOW on PS3, FINALLY! No lie, I loved the first 2 GOW's so much on PS2...and yet I NEVER beat them. It took the GOW Collection to come out to finally beat them and after playing through GOW 3...I realize the story is amazing, gameplay is simple to pickup and the graphics are beast. I gotta say though the game is short as hell and there's several Gods and Goddesses and Titans missing...9/10
4)
When this was first announced, I had a bad feeling about it. It didn't continue sequentially and instead is a spinoff. It also hyped it as having multiplayer. These are things that makes the game feel like it'll be a bad game. Low-and-behold I was proven wrong. It is without-a-doubt the best Assassin's Creed game. Shortest but has the most to do within Rome. The story is the best and it has one of the coolest endings and mind-boggling ones I've ever witnessed.
9.5/10
3)
Heavy Rain is a game you get once a generation on the consoles. Quantic Dreams (the developers) did a game with the same feeling last generation called Indigo Prophecy. It was bleak, it had story, great acting and it felt like a movie that you could control to one of many endings. Heavy Rain builds off of this premise and perfects it up until some of the voicing. Heavy Rain has the best faces in gaming history. The desperation in Ethan Mars' face and eyes as he searches for his kidnapped son, the exoticism in Madison Paige's demeanor as she resorts to low actions to help find Ethan's son, the addiction boiling FBI Agent Norman Jayden's eyes as he cannot stop until he catches the killer, and the drive in the voice of P.I. Scott Shelby. This game is perfect and drives home a message, "What would you do to save one you love?" 10/10
2)
A true surprise-hit of the year. No one can really say that there's a 3D Castlevania that all the fans agree is moderately good. Not until Lords of Shadow hit this past year. MercurySteam took the concept and amplified it with help from Kojima Productions (of Metal Gear Solid fame). They took the controls and gameplay of God of War, the epic boss battles of Shadow of the Colossus and the platforming of Uncharted and tied it into an epic story akin to a MGS. The locale in the game is some of the most beautifully rendered I've seen and Gabriel Belmont is a character that you root on no matter of the sins he's caused in his past. The game also has the greatest post-credits scene that sent shivers down my body. 10/10
1)
Red Dead Redemption was deemed to be good from the first trailer. It was hyped as GTA in the West, and that it was. But it was more. Your character wasn't an animal, a gangster or a low-life. He was a family-man trying to get back his wife and son and his life. He had to work for the feds to hunt down his old gang as his family is held hostage. The acting and music drove this home to make it feel like Clint Eastwood was directing. The game also has a wide-world and the best horse physics since Gun. The MP is great and addicting and the DLC keeps on coming and is well worth the money. Especially the zombie co-op. The ending isn't cliched either and I appreciate that the game tries something different and though others might hate it, I loved it and wish more developers would go a different route in their games.
