Just Cause 2 is essentially an international super-spy-sim. Just think about all the amazingly stupendous and wacky scenes of coolness from any of your favourite spy movies, and then imagine being able to play tons of them out at your leisure. This is the ultimate secret-agent-super-hero game of 2010, and possibly ever.
Paul:
I loved the first Just Cause, and must have wasted dozens of hours simply messing about in the enormous sandbox world, flying planes and helicopters to the top of the highest mountain, racing around in speedboats, bombing around in all manner of car or tank, and most importantly, skydiving off of absolutely anything!
Add to that a vast improvement to graphics, scale, combat, and vehicles – and not to mention the ability to hook any two things in the world together for infinite comedy value – and you have yourself a brilliant sequel that builds on an already outstanding concept. Just Cause 2 is a superb game that, despite having a severely ridiculous story with no really significant plot, manages to pull off everything it intends to with near perfection. There was no end to the fun I could have had playing as an international super ridicu-spy, so much so that the only reason I stopped playing it was because there was so bloody much to do, that I don’t think I would have had a hope in hell of completing it all even by now!
One of my personal favourite games of the year and well worthy of it’s place in the BcR top ten games of 2010.
Soaring high above the earth while throwing a pilot out of his aircraft is a real joy to behold
Matt:
I had more raw fun playing Just Cause 2 than any other game of 2010, and its not hard to see why. Take a look at any screenshot or video and you’ll see Rico Rodriguez performing all manner of ridiculous stunts from leaping off a bridge into a mile-high canyon, to grapple hooking his way up the side of a skyscraper, to hijacking helicopters in mid-air. You can even stand on a jumbo jet while it takes off.
The story of overthrowing the evil dictator (bearing no small resemblance to Kim Jong Il, naturally) was as ludicrous as you’d expect from a game as openly nuts as this. The fact its also one of the most beautiful game worlds in existence is a great bonus.
Dome Keeper is an excellent little spin on the tower defense game, in which you play the role of a jetpacking miner defending his base from swarms of aliens, whilst searching for a hidden relic buried somewhere beneath him. And now, with this huge free update, you can play it with friends.
I want to talk about Cloudpunk, a game where you get to be a flying-car delivery driver in a futuristic cyberpunk city. Its world is an incredible achievement of environmental design, and while the gameplay itself may be basic, the city of Nivalis is a thing of beauty to behold. Nivalis is built out of hundreds of hand-modelled cuboid buildings; there’s nothing procedural about it. Apparently it took 3 years for the devs to design the city, and it really shows.
I do love me some quality pixel art, and it doesn’t get much better than this. Cast n Chill is a cozy side-scrolling fishing game by small indie dev team Wombat Brawler, with absolutely gorgeous visuals. It’s simple to play, and you you can dip in and out of it at your leisure, making it a fine addition to our collection of coffee break games.
Beyond: Two Souls is a paranormal action thriller starring Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe. You’d be forgiven for assuming it’s a Hollywood film based on that description, but it is in fact the latest game from Quantic Dream, the studio behind the equally cinematic Heavy Rain. It’s tempting to compare the two, but Beyond is a different experience, opting to tell a linear story with fewer choices and consequences. As a big fan of Heavy Rain’s dynamic storytelling approach, I expected to be disappointed but as soon as I started playing I realised what writer and director David Cage was trying to achieve and felt satisfied to go along for the ride. Because what a ride it is…
Hades is a great example of a coffee break game. You can play through a single run within 30 minutes, but if something comes up and you have to stop mid-run you can save and quit in whatever room you’re in and continue later. As the father of a toddler, I find this particularly appealing these days. I like to squeeze in a quick game during my baby girl’s nap time, and since I never know exactly how long she’s going to sleep for, I need games that can be played in short bursts. I’m starting this new mini-feature series with Hades, because you’re almost always guaranteed to have a good time, no matter how long you play for.
You might have heard of Pokémon. I can’t quite believe that date. 1996!? Holy crap. 21 years ago, apparently, I got well into this strange Japanese game about collecting made-up animals, stuffing them into balls and training them to fight each other.
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