Aside from Starcraft II, espion4ge and I had pretty different lists of anticipated games for 2010. As espion4ge pointed out on Monday, a lot of his picks turned out to be busts. My list fared a little bit better – hit the jump to see why.

Mass Effect 2 was so close to game of the year for 2010 – soon PS3 owners can see why!

Mass Effect 2
This game was pretty awesome. Even though the story didn’t live up to the first, I loved the new characters and I thought the gameplay was greatly improved. I’ve purchased a couple of the DLC packs and hope to play through the game again early next year (as FemShep) – moreover, I’m even tempted to buy the PS3 version! If Starcraft II hadn’t come out, Mass Effect 2 might very well have been my game of the year. Worth the hype.

The Investigations game was popular enough to warrant a sequel.

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS)
As a huge fan of the Phoenix Wright series, I was curious what a game with Edgeworth at the helm might feel like. This game was a bit of a departure, abandoning the courtroom for a more adventure game style that ended up working out great. They’ve already announced a sequel, so I’m looking forward to it. But when are we going to continue the Phoenix Wright saga? Where is Maya!? Questions that need to be answered!

Conviction was a bit different than what people were expecting, but still enjoyable.

Splinter Cell: Conviction
This probably was the weakest of the games I was anticipating, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. Actually, I don’t remember too much about it though, so I guess it could kind of be labeled a bust. I did have a lot of fun playing it, but I also traded it in pretty quickly. I guess I was thirsting for something akin to Metal Gear on the Xbox, but the Splinter Cell series doesn’t live up. Still, I thought the innovations were pretty cool, so it wasn’t a total bust.

Heavy Rain is perhaps the best PS3 exclusive game released in 2010.

Heavy Rain
Despite a billion plot holes, Heavy Rain’s story was pretty good and the merging of gameplay and context was stellar. It’s really impressive that Quantic Dream took what basically amounts to quick time events and turned it into a game that made you feel like you were really in control of your characters. The cinematography was top notch as well and made the game feel like you were watching a movie. I could have done without the terrible accents though. Jay-son!

If you haven’t bought Starcraft II yet, you’re missing out on the year’s top game.

Starcraft II
Not much I need to say about this game, except for the fact that I’m trying to finish up this post so I can go play it. Game of the Year!

Even if you’re not a Western fan, Red Dead Redemption should not be missed.

2010 Surprises and Favorites
Red Dead Redemption probably tops my list of surprises, but that’s because I expected so little out of it. Mostly I only bought the games I was anticipating this year and they all turned out to be pretty fun. I think DJ Hero 2 deserves mentioning, it’s probably the best music game nobody is playing. Also, I hope to check out Kinect sometime soon, though I’m pretty sure I’d never buy one. Frankly, I’m a bit disappointed by the insistence of game companies to make things more casual-friendly, but I guess that’s just the way things are going. I don’t like it, but I don’t have to buy those games either, so I guess it’s okay.

Today is the portable awards day! As an owner of both the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP, I am going to share with you the top portable games released this year, as well as what cmfl3x and I felt were the winners of each respective category.

Best Nintendo DS Game of 2010

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth
Pokemon: HeartGold/SoulSilver
Infinite Space
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
Picross 3D [winner - tie]
Dragon Quest IX [winner - tie]
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
Super Scribblenauts
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

There were several notable DS titles released in 2010. The only unfortunate thing is that nearly all of this year’s top games are from Japan and sequels of some sort or another. But, that doesn’t mean they can’t be good. Let’s see what the games are all about.

The biggest title to start 2010 off on the Nintendo DS was Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. Unlike the traditional Ace Attorney games of investigating and courtroom scenes, this particular title focused on the pure investigations starring the previous antagonist and now friend of Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth. cmfl3x got a chance to take this game for a spin earlier this year and enjoyed it. If you’ve grown attached to the main characters of the first few Phoenix Wright games (before the series moved to Apollo Justice in the 4th game) and don’t mind the lack of courtroom gameplay, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is worth a look. But if you are completely new to the Ace Attorney universe – definitely start with the first one: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

It wouldn’t be a year on Nintendo’s portable system without another Pokemon game being released, and this year we got to see the release of Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver. While the game has traditionally been very popular with children and hasn’t changed drastically since its original release on the Gameboy, there’s a reason why the series is so popular: it actually has good gameplay under all of that “child-friendly” design. The primary element in these games revolve around catching various Pokemon – with different temperaments, personalities, abilities, and rarities. From there, you get to construct your own teams to engage in battles or to trade with other Pokemon trainers – AI based or against other humans (which is why Pokemon is popular with the school kids). There is a very competitive aspect of the game, as everything you do to raise your Pokemon for battles has a strategic element to it. The main difference between HeartGold & Soul Silver is the different type of Pokemon available in each game. If you want to collect them all – you’ll need to acquire both games or trade with another player of the title you don’t have. If you’ve never played the Pokemon games or want to get back into the series, HeartGold/SoulSilver is a great place as any to enjoy the world of Pokemon as it doesn’t really require any knowledge of previous games in the series.

Amidst the major release of the new Pokemon games back in March, a more mature game by the name of Infinite Space was released. Infinite Space is a sci-fi opera RPG and the third of four games in a Platinum Games & Sega deal (the other three were Mad World, Bayonetta, and Vanquish). It’s the only new IP we see among the best Nintendo DS titles this year, but it’s not for everyone. The game has a steep learning curve, and a lot of the game revolves around managing and engaging with your spacecraft. If you can get into this type of game, its epic storyline will definitely immerse you.

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is the 4th game in the Shin Megami Tensei series, and has gotten excellent reviews for a Japanese RPG. For those unfamiliar with the Shin Megami Tensei series, the major gameplay element that is present in these games is the ability to encounter and recruit demons to aid in your quest. Strange Journey is primarily a dungeon crawler with random turn-based battles, but navigating through the dungeons is in first-person. You do not need to have played the other games in the series to get into this one.

This may come as a total shock to some of you, but Picross 3D is my Nintendo DS Game of the Year. Compared to all of these other titles on the list, Picross 3D seems like a simple game that not many would even bother checking out. But when I did the math, the game that I logged the most hours on my DS with this entire year was Picross 3D. It makes an amazing jump from the first one, as it goes from 2D puzzles to 3D puzzles. The game consists of hundreds of puzzles, and starts you off with a huge cube of blocks with some numbers on them. Each number represents the number of blocks that need to be kept in that column/row, and by doing math and using logic you can figure out how to chip away at the block until you carve out the hidden 3D item. It’s easy to learn, yet remarkably addicting – the perfect game to play on the go as I would often find myself playing this game whenever I took my wife out shopping. I love this game!

cmfl3x chose Dragon Quest IX as his Nintendo DS Game of the Year, and has this to say about it:
“Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is probably the only reason I’d even consider getting a PSP, but I don’t have one, so my vote went to a NDS game. The DS has long been a hotbed of JRPGs, so much so that Dragon Quest IX was released as a DS exclusive. Dragon Quest has always stuck to old school conventions, and IX is no different. They have also added some DS specific features such as multiplayer and touch-screen controls. Even though it seems crazy to have multiplayer in an RPG (and it is a little), the multiplayer aspect of Dragon Quest IX also allows the player to create his or her own party from scratch, which is pretty cool. There are also infinitely generated treasure maps and dungeons that you can play through if you enjoy that sort of thing. I play my DS on long trips, so a J-RPG totally fits that bill. DQIX is one of the best.”

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future is the third Professor Layton game released in the Nintendo DS in as many years, and just like the first two before it, strongly delivers. If you’ve never played the Professor Layton games, they revolve around Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke traveling around visiting towns to help people solve their various puzzles and mysteries that are often completely unrelated to the plot (but are enjoyable nonetheless). The Professor Layton series has already had five titles released on the Nintendo DS in Japan, and is considered one of the most popular DS titles ever. Now is a good time as any to check out the series, but it’s probably worth playing them in order starting with the first if you are new to Professor Layton.

The only Western-developed Nintendo DS game to make the list of top Nintendo DS games this year is Super Scribblenauts, the follow-up to last year’s Scribblenauts game. Coming out so soon after the release of the first game hurts it a little bit in my opinion, but the major gameplay changes to Super Scribblenauts were for the better. In short, Super Scribblenauts is what Scribblenauts originally should have been. The original Scribblenauts game was a word-based puzzle game that allowed you to write in any noun to solve various puzzles (often requiring you to navigate your character to get to a star on the level that is out of reach through normal means). You could write something like “jetpack”, and it would appear and you could put it on to fly to where you needed to go. The premise to the game was quite innovative, but the control scheme was terrible as you couldn’t control the main character with the d-pad so it became quite an exercise in frustration. Physics were also all over the place. Super Scribblenauts fixes many of these major issues, and even introduces the gameplay mechanic of writing in adjectives now. If you haven’t gotten burnt out by the original Scribblenauts game or have yet to check it out, definitely give Super Scribblenauts a try – go right ahead and skip the original Scribblenauts game as there’s not much of a storyline to begin with.

The final top DS game to be released this year is Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. It ‘s the third game in the Golden Sun Japanese RPG series that had the first two games released on the Gameboy Advance in 2001 and 2003. Since then, fans of the Golden Sun series have had to wait 7 years until finally playing the third game in the series this year. Dark Dawn is a pretty traditional Japanese RPG, and takes place 30 years after the second game. Because the game takes place so long after, the primary characters in the game are the sons and daughters of the first two games’ characters, and therefore Dark Dawn can be played without having played the first two games. Of course, you just won’t get to enjoy all of the references to the parents in the first two games!

Best Playstation Portable Game of 2010

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker [winner]
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable
Valkyria Chronicles II
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
God of War: Ghost of Sparta

I may be slightly biased in choosing Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker as this year’s PSP game of the year, as it was the main reason I bought my PSP. But I was not let down at all with the game. It was fantastic from start to finish, and in my head, really felt like what it was originally titled: Metal Gear Solid 5. The controls were fixed to be far easier to play than the Portable Ops control scheme, the number of missions, base management, and overall storyline and presentation were top-notch efforts, and the game has so much replay value that you could hit the 100 mark if you were so inclined. Gamers even asked for it be re-released on the PS3 just because they did’t want to pick up a PSP to play it. To them all I can say is: you’re really missing out.

PSP owners had to wait until June’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker  for the first major title on the PSP worth playing, but since then, there have been a decent monthly release list for Japanese game fans such as myself. After Peace Walker, PSP owners were graced with Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable, a remake of the original Persona 3 game on the PS2. I never got a chance to play the original Persona games on the PS1 and PS2. Personal 3 Portable adds several new features to the original Persona 3 game – including the ability to play as a female protagonist and gameplay combat changes taken from Persona 4. Persona 3 Portable is regarded as the best Persona 3 version to date (even though it has already been released in two different versions on the PS2).

I was among many gamers disappointed when I first heard that the sequel to the PS3 hit, Valkyria Chronicles, would be released exclusively on the PSP. “How the heck am I going to be able to play it then?!” I thought to myself. Well, the combination of Peace Walker and Valkyria Chronicles II led me to acquiring a PSP to solve my problem. Valkyria Chronicles II is a stunning sequel to the first game, and holds up remarkably well on the PSP. Unlike the larger battles in the first one, the sequel has battles of smaller scale to fit with the PSP’s portability. The series is well regarded for its innovative turn-based RPG battle system, and apparently the second one was so successful on the PSP that Valkyria Chronicles III has already been announced for the PSP. Good thing I have a PSP this time around!

Strong PSP game of the year nominees are often those that actually get their own limited edition PSP bundled with the release of the game. Besides Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the new Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep game was also in its own limited edition PSP. The only Kingdom Hearts game I played was the original one on the PS2, and I actually never got into the series since I found all of the Disney references to be a bit too childish. But I’m currently playing Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep now, and it is much better than I ever expected it to be. While it has various elements of Disney characters, the game is still quite traditionally an action-RPG, and the plot and various gameplay mechanics of this game would have made this my top PSP game of the year if Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker had not been released in the same year. Regardless of whether you are a Disney fan or not, definitely check this out if you like action-RPGs. It’s a prequel to the first one, so you can play it on its own. Now I know what all the hoopla was about for this game.

The final top PSP title to be released this year is God of War: Ghost of Sparta (which also had its own limited edition PSP bundle). While God of War III ended the main storyline on the PS3 earlier this year, Ghost of Sparta is the second PSP God of War game after 2008′s Chains of Olympus and takes place between God of War 1 and 2. It has released excellent reviews, with many gamers quite impressed with how good the game looks running on the aging PSP. If you are a fan of the God of War games or want an action game on the PSP, Ghost of Sparta is among this year’s top titles – but consider checking out the previous God of War, Chains of Olumpus, if you haven’t since it’ll be a lot cheaper.

My love for the Ace Attorney is no secret to regular readers of this site, although the number of you who have actually played an Ace Attorney game is probably below 10%. See said love here and here. Last month, Capcom released the latest in the Ace Attorney series, this time putting Miles Edgeworth, former antagonist and current friend of Phoenix Wright (he’s like Apollo Creed!) in the driver’s seat. The game leaves the courtroom while retaining some aspects of it while focusing more on the investigation aspect. I’ve long said that Ace Attorney games are basically adventure games with a lot of text, and Miles Edgeworth continues the series growth in that direction. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

New Protagonist, Same Hijinks
Miles Edgeworth is more of a serious character than Phoenix Wright, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t fall prey to the same sort of hijinks. The game open’s with a murder in Edgeworth’s office, and the second case that I played involves a homicide at 30,000 feet in the air. That was pretty weird since I was playing the game while I was 30,000 feet in the air at the time. Regardless, the story is still excellent, although thus far it seems like it’s been clear who the culprit is from the beginning. There are a lot of callbacks to previous installments in the series, including the return of former characters such as Franziska von Karma and Dick Gumshoe. Huzzah on the former, meh on the latter. The story is a lot of fun to play out, and the dialogue is still snappy and fun, although in this 5th game my eyeballs are finally beginning to get a little tired of reading text. I hate games that don’t let you fast forward text!

New Gameplay Mechanics, Same Fun
Miles Edgeworth brings a different gameplay mechanic to the Ace Attorney series. In Investigations, you actually walk around investigating crime scenes. You walk around the crime scene examining different pieces of evidence. There is also a new “logic” button, which allows you to piece together different thoughts to come up with new conclusions. In case you loved the courtroom stuff (I did), there’s nothing to worry about, you “interrogate” witnesses which is basically cross examining. It’s a small variation on the tried and trued gameplay of the series that I think works very well.

Parting Thoughts
So far, Miles Edgeworth Investigations is a great game. I enjoy the cases, and I still love the dialogue. I definitely miss Phoenix Wright, so I hope the series gets back to him soon, but Miles Edgeworth is no slouch himself. It should be noted that the graphics and animations look a little more polished – it’s nice to see some growth. And the music is still as good as ever. If you have enjoyed the Ace Attorney series, this game is probably worth picking up. If you’ve never tried Ace Attorney….why!?

Crazily enough, this site has been around for over a year already. Looking back, I noticed that my first ever post was on my top 5 most anticipated games of 2009, and here I am, anticipating 2010 with two repeats from that list. That’s kind of sad, but at the same time my excitement keeps building and I am hoping all these games live up to the hype…in my mind.

The games I listed last year were Mass Effect 2, Starcraft 2, The Conduit, The Beatles: Rock Band, and Halo Wars. Halo Wars and The Beatles: Rock Band turned out to be pretty awesome, The Conduit, not so much, and Mass Effect 2 and Starcraft 2 are still MIA. So what am I looking forward to this year?

Mass Effect 2 (360, PC)
As I replay Mass Effect for the game club and look at coverage for the sequel while counting down the days to January 26th, my anticipation is reaching a fevered pitch for this game. Yes, the first one definitely had issues, especially combat wise, but supposedly the combat is supposed to be more “shooter-like” and there are supposed to be a lot more options in dialogue. I’m also super excited to see how decisions I made in the first game affect the second. Here’s hoping BioWare delivers again: I believe!

Miles Edgeworth: Investigations (DS)
I’m a huge fan of the Phoenix Wright series, and this March Miles Edgeworth, the lead prosecutor in many of the games, is getting his own game! I have no idea what this game is about or even how it’s going to work, although I hear you won’t be in the courtroom anymore. Who cares? As long as Miles Edgeworth brings the same brand of wacky humor as the rest of the Ace Attorney series, sign me up. And if you’ve never played the original, even though it’s near impossible to find on DS, you can now pick it up on Wiiware for $10!

Splinter Cell: Conviction (360, PC)
Although I’m more of a Metal Gear Solid fan, I’ve still been a casual fan of Sam Fisher and the Splinter Cell franchise. It was starting to get stale, so in the fifth iteration Ubisoft has decided to try something new by introducing a new objective system that seems really interesting. To keep the player immersed, objectives will be placed on walls or parts of the environment (as opposed to needing to pull up a menu or having someone constantly update your objectives). There are also some new bells and whistles, like the ability to know where an enemy thinks you are and the ability to mark targets behind doors for attack (kinda like Rainbow Six Vegas 2).

Heavy Rain (PS3)
Regulars to the site may have heard me talk about Heavy Rain before, but since we mostly cover Xbox stuff, you may not know too much about the game. Heavy Rain is a very different type of game. You play as one of four characters who are trying to hunt down a serial killer called the Origami Killer. The best way to describe it is it’s like watching a movie but getting to control the characters in it. If one of the protagonists dies, you take the shoes of another, and everyone dying can lead to “The End.” You are supposed to be able to play through multiple time with different outcomes. Anyway, I’m excited because this is supposed to be a “mature” evolution of games, so even if it doesn’t turn out well, hopefully it will push the industry forward. Now, how will I get my hands on a PS3…

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty (PC)
Sigh. I was just going to grab the text from last year, but that made me too sad. Blizzard STILL hasn’t announced when this game will be coming out, so I will be even more depressed if I’m writing about this again in 2011. Anyway, Blizzard just announced that the Protoss will be playable for a short section in the single player campaign, so I’m looking forward to that! Every single video or screenshot that comes out of this game makes me more and more excited, so hopefully it will come out…ever…please?

Just Missed: Zelda, Metroid: Other M, Bioshock 2 (again)

The Wii and DS operate in a completely different stratosphere when compared to the 360 and PS3. Yes, the PS3 price drop has helped a lot, especially in Japan, but Nintendo’s consoles just appeal to such a wide variety of gamers (young and old, casual and hardcore, male and female) that it’s tough to break down what really sells systems. But hey, I’ll give it a shot.

Nintendo Wii

System Seller: Wii anything
I was tempted to put the Wii itself as its own system seller, because that’s pretty much true. The Wii moves so many units because of all they hype generated around it. People gravitate to all the “Wii” games, Wii Fit sells a lot of systems, but many people are just content getting the Wii for Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. Even Wii Play sells tons of units, although that isn’t really a system seller as much as it is something that people pick up when they get a Wii (for the extra controller or whatever). The Wii, unlike any other gaming system, sells to the average consumer with its accessibility, which is why it is destroying the competition.

Must Haves: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime: Trilogy, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Brothers: Brawl, Wii Sports: Resort (or equivalent)
The sad thing about this list is that two of the games came out around launch (Trilogy is all the Metroid Prime games with the new Wii controls though, so I guess it’s technically new) and Galaxy came out like 2 years ago. For serious gamers, there’s not a lot to offer on the Wii, especially 3rd party content. That being said, Zelda and Mario, like all Nintendo first party games, are excellent, and Metroid Prime is one of my favorite video game series ever. Metroid also uses the controller very effectively and is the best first person experience I’ve had on the Wii. I threw Wii Sports: Resort on there because if you own a Wii it’s almost mandatory that you own a good party game, but really there are a lot of choices out there: Boom Blox is pretty fun - you could even get away with a game like Warioware: Smooth Moves, and of course almost everyone owns Mario Kart (just check the NPDs). Thankfully, Nintendo is releasing a couple of new Mario games this year and next, so hopefully there will be a reason for me to dust off my Wii soon.

Upcoming: New Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Galaxy 2, Wii Fit Plus

Nintendo DS

System Seller: Pokemon (kids), Brain Age (adults)
It’s no surprise that the average owner of a handheld console is much younger than the average owner of a home console. What better way to keep the kids occupied on long car trips than have them “catch them all”? I played Pokemon on the GBA, and it was a surprisingly deep game, and according to reviews the DS versions are still decent. Regardless, Pokemon probably sells the most DSes to kids, whereas older adults, including very old adults (like my parents) like the DS for games like Brain Age, simple brain exercises that people like to play to keep themselves young. If you’re old, you buy the DS, if you’re young, you buy the DS. No wonder it’s sold the most units in the current generation.

Must Haves: Square-Enix RPGs, Professor Layton series, Phoenix Wright series, Elite Beat Agents (Ouendan in Japan)
The crazy thing about the Nintendo DS is that there is something for everyone. For the most part, the “casual” stuff sells systems, and that’s what a lot of people focus on. But if you like old-school RPGs, there are the re-releases of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, for people who like puzzles, there is Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright tickles one’s adventure fancy, and Elite Beat Agents is for rhythm game fanatics. And if none of those genres floats your boat, there are legions of other game types out there (I’m sure I’ve forgotten a bunch of excellent games). As espion4ge has stated elsewhere, the DS really is one of the best values in gaming and a great investment for any gamer, especially if you’re on the go. If you spend time shopping with your wife (check), take public transportation (check), or like to play games before you drop off to sleep (now outlawed in my household), the DS is a great buy. Just do yourself a favor and go with the Lite over the DSi, so you’ll save yourself some money.

Upcoming: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Ace Attorney: Miles Edgeworth

So that’s my take on the best games out there for the current systems. Of course, most of it is based around my preferences, so I’d love to hear what games you all love to play on your systems! Especially if it’s the PSP…haha.