LONG BLOG
2010 Sucked - Because Hey, Everyone Else Is Doing It
For me, 2010 sucked, but most likely for a reason a lot of us probably didn't deal with. On January 29th, 2010, I was fired from my advanced technical support position for, and I quote, "transferring billing calls to the billing department." Wrap your head around that little tidbit for a while and you'll see where I get some of my rage from. In any case, since they couldn't prove it was originally or EVER part of my actual job, I received some nice unemployment, thus started my year of 2010.
Now I don't know how many people work here (I would assume a relatively high percentage), but since my year started off with the toughest thing for me to do each day being browsing through hundreds of jobs I'd already browsed, didn't pay enough, I wasn't good enough for, following up leads, and so on, all in all I got a LOT of game time in...and good thing too, because I totally would've gone crazy after my third month had things operated differently.
Thankfully I started a new job as of the new year, but holy crap were things tense for a while. Tense...and boring. But I won't really put that on the games sucking so much as just ONLY having that to do. As a disclaimer, I should like to mention I'll only be talking about the X Box 360 and XBLA titles, so this is actually a SHORT list. So here's how my year operated, more or less...
January
Ahh the infamous January. Well, what can you say? The former job was at its absolute suckiest, the supervisors were acting like major assholes, and far too often I was told to do things that weren't my job. But what was I playing? What was I looking forward to at this point? Well, I recalled one of the last games I rented in the year being Bayonetta, which was released in January.
Now not everyone liked this game, but personally I loved it. It was absolutely over the top, ridiculous, funny, and nonsensical, mind-numbing action. And you know what? I don't care if it was stupid at times...goddammit, it was FUN from start to finish. At no point did I feel like it went on too long. The only major complaint I would make is the cinematics would sometimes get to Kojima level.
I also rented Darksiders and really enjoyed it. Later, when the Hollywood Video went out of business, I would pick it up for an awesome price. Lastly, I recall looking forward to Mass Effect 2 and wondering if I was getting fired or not, therefore not reserving the game. Then I got fired...but I was still pissed I didn't reserve it.
February
...But it didn't matter anyway because when I picked it up, I got it new and it still had all the trimmings. ME2 was definitely an excellent game and I've played through it a few times. And again, a lot of people think the writing sucks or the ending was rushed or whatever, but I thought it was perfect. The weaving dialogues, the way the romances occur, and so on...it just felt really well thought out to me...ESPECIALLY for the suicide mission.
Nevermind that they took away the goddamn rover missions. Hoo boy did I fucking hate those from the original. And sure, I didn't agree with the more casual level up method where you basically only leveled up between missions, but it still felt..."right." That and it wasn't like they took away a major section of the game. All in all, ME2 was everything a sequel needed to be and then some, so fuck the haters, really.
I also picked up Darwinia+, which was an RTS that I actually LIKED, which is pretty damn hard to pull off usually. I beat Bioshock 2 also. Fairly meh, but not a bad title...just unnecessary. Dante's Inferno is also of interest. Never beat it, but I totally want to get it at some point. And of course, one of the best games ever came out this month: Deadly Premonition. I literally can't say anything about that title that hasn't been said already, sooo...
March
It was right around this time I got my refund back and holy shit was it huge. As a result, we were covered for a while even though there was uncertainty about my unemployment. I managed to somehow talk my wife into me getting Final Fantasy 13 and Bad Company 2, which was a major twist for me considering I'm not accustomed to picking up FPSs brand spanking new. All the same, BC2 is a very fun game to play with friends and enemies alike online.
FF13 was fun for about a week, then I got tired of it and bitched about it like most gamers. So really, that was the only letdown of the year so far...well, besides getting fired, of course. I beat the crap out of Megaman 10. I also picked up Perfect Dark for XBLA, which was fun for a while, but I don't know too many other people that got it unfortunately.
Resonance of Fate was a very hit/miss title that also came out this month. I mean, it has everything I like: guns, RPG, guns, anime stuffs, guns, gunsmithing, and even guns! Unfortunately, the combat system was wonky and the cinematics are just plain weird. Lastly, this is the month that Game Room debuted, which sadly seemed to be something only I was interested in, but it should be noted that there were regular updates and all kinds of cool features that still make it fun to check out every so often.
April
April was relatively unmemorable to me. I think I mostly got various XBLA titles on this month. The most memorable of the titles was Final Fight - Double Impact, which I've gotten just about all the achievements on, except that ever elusive vault one. I don't think I'll be getting that anytime soon, though, so there you go. And actually, now that I've refreshed my memory (thanks Wiki), I also picked up Super Street Fighter 4 and had a lot of fun with it.
Still haven't joined any tournaments, but that's okay, I get my ass kicked enough online by random strangers anyway. Finally, I rented and beat Splinter Cell - Conviction, which was a really fun romp. Yeah, it was a lot easier than the other SC games, but it was also more fun, so I didn't give a shit.
May
Ahh May...such a huge month. For those that may need their memory jogged, May was the month of Alan Wake, Blur, Doom 2, Lost Planet 2, Prince of Persia - Forgotten Sands, Raystorm HD, Red Dead Redemption, Rocket Knight, Skate 3, Split/Second, Zeno Clash - Ultimate Edition. Now of those I only bought Alan Wake, Doom 2, Raystorm, RDR, Rocket Knight, and Zeno, but holy shit were they enough.
They had their problems, but were amazing titles that provided me several hours of enjoyment. And actually, I still haven't gotten around to beating some of those, so once I get my 360 back, they're definitely on my to do list.
June
So Alpha Protocol and Naughty Bear, two games I was eagerly anticipating, came out this month...and they both SUCKED. Worse still, the Hollywood was getting ready to shut down. Great way to spend my birthday, yeah? I believe it was sometime around this month that I got Record of Agarest War and good goddamn did that game suck. I mean, maybe it gets better over time, but Jesus tittybanging Christ is it terrible from the get go.
There were also a few decent XBLA titles this month. I never got Snoopy's Flying Ace, but I did get Duke Nukem - Manhattan Project and Earthworm Jim HD, both of which I regretted. Oh don't get me wrong...they're not BAD games, but they could be a lot better. EJHD definitely showed its age and DNMP was just plain generic and wonky.
July
July and August were good months. Why? BECAUSE OF SUMMER OF ARCADE, MOFO!!1 In fact, since this was basically the highlight of the year for me, I'm absolutely NOT going to mention them. If you REALLY don't know what the titles were, well, I feel for ya, mang. Deathspank and Monkey Island 2 SE came out, both of which were fun romps in adventure gaming.
I don't believe I purchased any major titles this month besides what's already been mentioned, so let's move on.
August
Again, SUMMER OF ARCADE, but also Mafia 2, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - The Game, Shank, and Dead Rising - Case Zero. All in all, this was an excellent month. I wasn't that impressed by Mafia 2, but the story and setting were pretty cool. That, honestly, was the only real letdown of the month for me.
September
September, huh? Yeah, not much to say here. I mean, Sonic Adventure and the second Deathspank came out. Yeah, pretty slow month otherwise. Oh wait, there was also this little title called DEAD RISING 2 ALSO KNOWN AS MY GAME OF THE YEAR. I've literally beaten that game 10 times over and I DON'T CARE...I still play it every so often. I absolutely LOVED Dead Rising 2 and can't get enough of it.
And yes, once I get my 360 back, I'm absolutely going to be getting Case West. Fucking A, yo.
October
So my Halloween costume absolutely sucked, but at least my kids had fun (I was supposed to go as a blind referee, but the sunglasses wouldn't fit over my actual glasses). Even still, we had releases of Super Meat Boy, the ever awesome Comic Jumper, and the interesting Halloween themed Costume Quest. And there were actually a LOT of 360 titles released, mostly in anticipation of the holidays.
The only two I actually picked up, though, were Fable 3 and Fallout - New Vegas, both of which I've enjoyed immensely.
November
There were a fairly decent number of titles released this month, but the only one I actually picked up was for XBLA: Faery - Legends of Avalon. Now, before you assume the worst, you should know that it's actually a pretty fun RPG medieval style romp with choice, interesting combat and level up mechanics, good graphics, and an overall interesting story and cast.
And yes, I still feel a little weird owning a game called "Faery," but seriously, if you like RPGs, you'll like this one.
December
Finally, the last month of the year. It's game time...time to get all the little kiddies to buy YOUR product and not everyone elses'. So what was released of any interest this month? Well, Doritos Crash Course and Harm's Way were really fun and FREE titles for XBLA this month and as for the 360, well...nothing. No really, look it up. There don't seem to be any full release 360 titles for December 2010.
Sure, there were some awesome expansions such as New Vegas' Dead Money and BC2's Vietnam packs, but there don't seem to be any full releases.
Summary
So, did 2010 suck? Well, let's look at the pros and cons of last year.
The Good
- Alan Wake and DLC.
- Battlefield - Bad Company 2 and DLC.
- Bayonetta.
- Borderlands DLC.
- Comic Jumper.
- Costume Quest.
- Dante's Inferno.
- Darksiders.
- Darwinia+.
- Deadly Premonition.
- Dead Rising 2 and DLC.
- Deathspank 1 and 2.
- Doom 2.
- Doritos Crash Course.
- Fable 3.
- Faery.
- Fallout - New Vegas and DLC.
- Final Fight - Double Impact.
- Game Room.
- Harm's Way.
- Mass Effect 2.
- Megaman 10.
- Monkey Island 2 - Special Edition.
- Perfect Dark HD.
- Red Dead Redemption.
- Rocket Knight.
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - The Game.
- Shank.
- Snoopy's Flying Ace.
- SUMMER OF ARCADE!!1
- Super Meat Boy.
- Super Street Fighter 4.
- Zeno Clash - Ultimate Edition.
The Bad
- Alpha Protocol.
- Bioshock 2.
- Duke Nukem - Manhattan Project.
- Earthworm Jim HD.
- Final Fantasy 13.
- Lost Planet 2.
- Mafia 2.
- Naughty Bear.
- Raystorm HD.
- Record of Agarest War.
- Red Dead Redemption's DLC.
- Resonance of Fate.
- Sonic Adventure.
And The Sucky
So effectively, of the games I've mentioned, we have 33/56 games and groups of games that are actually badass vs. those that weren't so badass. That's basically 59% and remember that I'm including certain things in groups, so it would probably be closer to 70%. Every year there are going to be sucky titles and we might remember how much they suck, but all in all, I wouldn't say 2010 was that bad.
Sorry to rain on your rage parade.
gunsage 
smurfee mcgee 1
Elsa 1
Occams 1
Now I don't know how many people work here (I would assume a relatively high percentage), but since my year started off with the toughest thing for me to do each day being browsing through hundreds of jobs I'd already browsed, didn't pay enough, I wasn't good enough for, following up leads, and so on, all in all I got a LOT of game time in...and good thing too, because I totally would've gone crazy after my third month had things operated differently.
Thankfully I started a new job as of the new year, but holy crap were things tense for a while. Tense...and boring. But I won't really put that on the games sucking so much as just ONLY having that to do. As a disclaimer, I should like to mention I'll only be talking about the X Box 360 and XBLA titles, so this is actually a SHORT list. So here's how my year operated, more or less...
January
Ahh the infamous January. Well, what can you say? The former job was at its absolute suckiest, the supervisors were acting like major assholes, and far too often I was told to do things that weren't my job. But what was I playing? What was I looking forward to at this point? Well, I recalled one of the last games I rented in the year being Bayonetta, which was released in January.
Now not everyone liked this game, but personally I loved it. It was absolutely over the top, ridiculous, funny, and nonsensical, mind-numbing action. And you know what? I don't care if it was stupid at times...goddammit, it was FUN from start to finish. At no point did I feel like it went on too long. The only major complaint I would make is the cinematics would sometimes get to Kojima level.
I also rented Darksiders and really enjoyed it. Later, when the Hollywood Video went out of business, I would pick it up for an awesome price. Lastly, I recall looking forward to Mass Effect 2 and wondering if I was getting fired or not, therefore not reserving the game. Then I got fired...but I was still pissed I didn't reserve it.
February
...But it didn't matter anyway because when I picked it up, I got it new and it still had all the trimmings. ME2 was definitely an excellent game and I've played through it a few times. And again, a lot of people think the writing sucks or the ending was rushed or whatever, but I thought it was perfect. The weaving dialogues, the way the romances occur, and so on...it just felt really well thought out to me...ESPECIALLY for the suicide mission.
Nevermind that they took away the goddamn rover missions. Hoo boy did I fucking hate those from the original. And sure, I didn't agree with the more casual level up method where you basically only leveled up between missions, but it still felt..."right." That and it wasn't like they took away a major section of the game. All in all, ME2 was everything a sequel needed to be and then some, so fuck the haters, really.
I also picked up Darwinia+, which was an RTS that I actually LIKED, which is pretty damn hard to pull off usually. I beat Bioshock 2 also. Fairly meh, but not a bad title...just unnecessary. Dante's Inferno is also of interest. Never beat it, but I totally want to get it at some point. And of course, one of the best games ever came out this month: Deadly Premonition. I literally can't say anything about that title that hasn't been said already, sooo...
March
It was right around this time I got my refund back and holy shit was it huge. As a result, we were covered for a while even though there was uncertainty about my unemployment. I managed to somehow talk my wife into me getting Final Fantasy 13 and Bad Company 2, which was a major twist for me considering I'm not accustomed to picking up FPSs brand spanking new. All the same, BC2 is a very fun game to play with friends and enemies alike online.
FF13 was fun for about a week, then I got tired of it and bitched about it like most gamers. So really, that was the only letdown of the year so far...well, besides getting fired, of course. I beat the crap out of Megaman 10. I also picked up Perfect Dark for XBLA, which was fun for a while, but I don't know too many other people that got it unfortunately.
Resonance of Fate was a very hit/miss title that also came out this month. I mean, it has everything I like: guns, RPG, guns, anime stuffs, guns, gunsmithing, and even guns! Unfortunately, the combat system was wonky and the cinematics are just plain weird. Lastly, this is the month that Game Room debuted, which sadly seemed to be something only I was interested in, but it should be noted that there were regular updates and all kinds of cool features that still make it fun to check out every so often.
April
April was relatively unmemorable to me. I think I mostly got various XBLA titles on this month. The most memorable of the titles was Final Fight - Double Impact, which I've gotten just about all the achievements on, except that ever elusive vault one. I don't think I'll be getting that anytime soon, though, so there you go. And actually, now that I've refreshed my memory (thanks Wiki), I also picked up Super Street Fighter 4 and had a lot of fun with it.
Still haven't joined any tournaments, but that's okay, I get my ass kicked enough online by random strangers anyway. Finally, I rented and beat Splinter Cell - Conviction, which was a really fun romp. Yeah, it was a lot easier than the other SC games, but it was also more fun, so I didn't give a shit.
May
Ahh May...such a huge month. For those that may need their memory jogged, May was the month of Alan Wake, Blur, Doom 2, Lost Planet 2, Prince of Persia - Forgotten Sands, Raystorm HD, Red Dead Redemption, Rocket Knight, Skate 3, Split/Second, Zeno Clash - Ultimate Edition. Now of those I only bought Alan Wake, Doom 2, Raystorm, RDR, Rocket Knight, and Zeno, but holy shit were they enough.
They had their problems, but were amazing titles that provided me several hours of enjoyment. And actually, I still haven't gotten around to beating some of those, so once I get my 360 back, they're definitely on my to do list.
June
So Alpha Protocol and Naughty Bear, two games I was eagerly anticipating, came out this month...and they both SUCKED. Worse still, the Hollywood was getting ready to shut down. Great way to spend my birthday, yeah? I believe it was sometime around this month that I got Record of Agarest War and good goddamn did that game suck. I mean, maybe it gets better over time, but Jesus tittybanging Christ is it terrible from the get go.
There were also a few decent XBLA titles this month. I never got Snoopy's Flying Ace, but I did get Duke Nukem - Manhattan Project and Earthworm Jim HD, both of which I regretted. Oh don't get me wrong...they're not BAD games, but they could be a lot better. EJHD definitely showed its age and DNMP was just plain generic and wonky.
July
July and August were good months. Why? BECAUSE OF SUMMER OF ARCADE, MOFO!!1 In fact, since this was basically the highlight of the year for me, I'm absolutely NOT going to mention them. If you REALLY don't know what the titles were, well, I feel for ya, mang. Deathspank and Monkey Island 2 SE came out, both of which were fun romps in adventure gaming.
I don't believe I purchased any major titles this month besides what's already been mentioned, so let's move on.
August
Again, SUMMER OF ARCADE, but also Mafia 2, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - The Game, Shank, and Dead Rising - Case Zero. All in all, this was an excellent month. I wasn't that impressed by Mafia 2, but the story and setting were pretty cool. That, honestly, was the only real letdown of the month for me.
September
September, huh? Yeah, not much to say here. I mean, Sonic Adventure and the second Deathspank came out. Yeah, pretty slow month otherwise. Oh wait, there was also this little title called DEAD RISING 2 ALSO KNOWN AS MY GAME OF THE YEAR. I've literally beaten that game 10 times over and I DON'T CARE...I still play it every so often. I absolutely LOVED Dead Rising 2 and can't get enough of it.
And yes, once I get my 360 back, I'm absolutely going to be getting Case West. Fucking A, yo.
October
So my Halloween costume absolutely sucked, but at least my kids had fun (I was supposed to go as a blind referee, but the sunglasses wouldn't fit over my actual glasses). Even still, we had releases of Super Meat Boy, the ever awesome Comic Jumper, and the interesting Halloween themed Costume Quest. And there were actually a LOT of 360 titles released, mostly in anticipation of the holidays.
The only two I actually picked up, though, were Fable 3 and Fallout - New Vegas, both of which I've enjoyed immensely.
November
There were a fairly decent number of titles released this month, but the only one I actually picked up was for XBLA: Faery - Legends of Avalon. Now, before you assume the worst, you should know that it's actually a pretty fun RPG medieval style romp with choice, interesting combat and level up mechanics, good graphics, and an overall interesting story and cast.
And yes, I still feel a little weird owning a game called "Faery," but seriously, if you like RPGs, you'll like this one.
December
Finally, the last month of the year. It's game time...time to get all the little kiddies to buy YOUR product and not everyone elses'. So what was released of any interest this month? Well, Doritos Crash Course and Harm's Way were really fun and FREE titles for XBLA this month and as for the 360, well...nothing. No really, look it up. There don't seem to be any full release 360 titles for December 2010.
Sure, there were some awesome expansions such as New Vegas' Dead Money and BC2's Vietnam packs, but there don't seem to be any full releases.
Summary
So, did 2010 suck? Well, let's look at the pros and cons of last year.
The Good
- Alan Wake and DLC.
- Battlefield - Bad Company 2 and DLC.
- Bayonetta.
- Borderlands DLC.
- Comic Jumper.
- Costume Quest.
- Dante's Inferno.
- Darksiders.
- Darwinia+.
- Deadly Premonition.
- Dead Rising 2 and DLC.
- Deathspank 1 and 2.
- Doom 2.
- Doritos Crash Course.
- Fable 3.
- Faery.
- Fallout - New Vegas and DLC.
- Final Fight - Double Impact.
- Game Room.
- Harm's Way.
- Mass Effect 2.
- Megaman 10.
- Monkey Island 2 - Special Edition.
- Perfect Dark HD.
- Red Dead Redemption.
- Rocket Knight.
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - The Game.
- Shank.
- Snoopy's Flying Ace.
- SUMMER OF ARCADE!!1
- Super Meat Boy.
- Super Street Fighter 4.
- Zeno Clash - Ultimate Edition.
The Bad
- Alpha Protocol.
- Bioshock 2.
- Duke Nukem - Manhattan Project.
- Earthworm Jim HD.
- Final Fantasy 13.
- Lost Planet 2.
- Mafia 2.
- Naughty Bear.
- Raystorm HD.
- Record of Agarest War.
- Red Dead Redemption's DLC.
- Resonance of Fate.
- Sonic Adventure.
And The Sucky
So effectively, of the games I've mentioned, we have 33/56 games and groups of games that are actually badass vs. those that weren't so badass. That's basically 59% and remember that I'm including certain things in groups, so it would probably be closer to 70%. Every year there are going to be sucky titles and we might remember how much they suck, but all in all, I wouldn't say 2010 was that bad.
Sorry to rain on your rage parade.
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About gunsageone of us since 2:58 PM on 04.11.2008
I've been gaming since 1987. I used to be a big Nintendo fanboy, then Square jumped the shark, so I followed. Eventually I realized neither Square nor Nintendo were the only companies out there worth following and my collection more or less speaks for itself now. I love to meet up with people on XBL, though I haven't done much online with the Wii. I've also been writing game review articles since 2004 on the old Project Wonderboy, then Morphine Nation, and now back to the new Project Wonderboy and various other sites.
I also help out in writing for a local videogame store website (VGMX). Not much else to say, really, when it comes to gaming. I wouldn't consider myself an expert, but I would say I'm experienced.
My Backloggery...
Projects I'm working on...
I write stuff, podcast, and makes vids here also...
BTW Actually
Wonderpod-Online
Also be sure to check out...
My Facebook Page
My Fitocracy Profile
My Youtube Page
I also help out in writing for a local videogame store website (VGMX). Not much else to say, really, when it comes to gaming. I wouldn't consider myself an expert, but I would say I'm experienced.
My Backloggery...
Projects I'm working on...
I write stuff, podcast, and makes vids here also...
BTW Actually
Wonderpod-Online
Also be sure to check out...
My Facebook Page
My Fitocracy Profile
My Youtube Page