"Splinter Cell pretty much invented stealth shooting"... really? wow.

This is how you do a top 5 list!
Lisa; Take notes.

I'm genuinely surprised to not see Galaxy 2 or Mass Effect 2 on this list...seemed like he forgot alot of the games that came out earlier this year >_> but that's just my opinion.

A lot of unexpected games on this list (except RDR, which always seems to get close to the top spot. Maybe I should get it). So far there seems to have been a lot of variety with all the GotY lists I've seen, which is cool. It means the year was so cool for gaming nobody can agree on which game was most awesome :p

I knew Mafia 2 would make it on your list. :)

Didn't see Crackdown 2 coming, though.

I had pegged you more as the "immersive, narrative driven experience" type of gamer. Which makes Mass Effect 2's exclusion more than surprising to me.

Russ was a bit crafty with his no.1 slot, but I'm glad it's there. It proves that DLCs can be great to try out radically different ideas in the same game world, something the Darkspawn chronicles couldn't quite pull off for Darkspawn origins, but GTA4 and Red Dead Redemption did...

I knew Mafia 2 would make it on your list. :)

Didn't see Crackdown 2 coming, though.

I had pegged you more as the "immersive, narrative driven experience" type of gamer. Which makes Mass Effect 2's exclusion more than surprising to me.

OhJohnNo:
A lot of unexpected games on this list (except RDR, which always seems to get close to the top spot. Maybe I should get it). So far there seems to have been a lot of variety with all the GotY lists I've seen, which is cool. It means the year was so cool for gaming nobody can agree on which game was most awesome :p

It's pretty much exactly this. There were so many great games this year, that naming five is guaranteeing something's getting left out.

Also, get RDR.

Only game on the list I've bothered playing or actually enjoyed was RDR. Kinda surprised me, I mean, one's opinions always differ from the opinions of any other person, but that's a RADICALLY different list than I'd come up with. :P

Russ' top 3 are totally my top 3! Mafia rocked, New Vegas is so frustratingly good & Red Dead is the shit!

Holy spelling errors, Batman! Good list, but darn near unreadable due to lack of proofreading.

Good vid but, could you take out the tags which mention the games, they are spoilers.

I can agree with that list. Some may not have been the best in it's genre but that list exudes good fun.

Tempest13:
I'm genuinely surprised to not see Galaxy 2 or Mass Effect 2 on this list...seemed like he forgot alot of the games that came out earlier this year >_> but that's just my opinion.

Oscar contenders come out this time of the year for the same reason: Memories are short. We tend to remember things closer to this date than others.

Also favorites means something different than best games.

reddog247:
This is how you do a top 5 list!
Lisa; Take notes.

Exactly what I was thinking - more content, less makeup please.

Point one: you guys aren't allowed to have the same games on your lists?

point two: 'by day you deal with criminal gangs and at night the freaks come out"
Wow I didn't realize how accurate crackdown 2 was about what it's like to be a cop.

I can't say that I agree with the list. But hey, it's his favorites. I'm still gonna criticize as much as I can though.

Crackdown 2, SC: Conviction, and that boring bland excuse of an RPG called New Vegas? Now SC:C was fun while it lasted though no point in denying that but it was way to short. Also, why not Just Cause 2 instead of Crackdown 2? It's a much better game it just lacks zombies. Mafia 2 and RDR - no arguing there. Those games rock even though Mafia 2 is a disappointment when you compare it to it's predecessor, if you don't it's an excellent game. RDR is one of 3 games I own for 360 and it's awesome. It deserves the first place. Westerns are a very underrated genre with so much room for innovation.

No love for Mass Effect 2?

There are just too many good games this year it's not really surprising to see a list like this. I guess all of these games appeal to some people, and some people just hate them like I hate New Vegas.

Was RDRD really that good? O_o Keep seeing it getting awards left and right and I find it kind of hard to believe, the premise seems kind of..uninteresting and stale.

mindlesspuppet:
"Splinter Cell pretty much invented stealth shooting"... really? wow.

I'm with this guy.

I mean really?

And you thought that Crackdown 2 was better than Mass Effect 2 or God of War 3? I mean, I know there's opinion, but...

cant say thats anything close to what I would have gone with... Intresting opinions on each!
I hated RDR it bored me to death
Mafia 2 was pretty good
Fallout was just a bit muh, I mean I got the feeling from the start that they just didnt bother :/ I mean common, the same hairstyles!
each to their own I guess :p

mindlesspuppet:
"Splinter Cell pretty much invented stealth shooting"... really? wow.

Exactly, Splinter Cell neither invented stealth nor was it ever the best at it.

Spoon E11:
Good vid but, could you take out the tags which mention the games, they are spoilers.

Totally agree, the video was spoiled by the tags.

Why are there 2 threads? Here's my post from the other thread:

mindlesspuppet:
"Splinter Cell pretty much invented stealth shooting"... really? wow.

Exactly, Splinter Cell neither invented stealth nor was it ever the best at it.

Spoon E11:
Good vid but, could you take out the tags which mention the games, they are spoilers.

Totally agree, the video was spoiled by the tags.

Wait what? "Civilization 5 presents the top 5 games by the editors?" That's a pretty odd sponsorship. A 2010 game funding a 2010 best games' list? can't see where THAT could go wrong?

um.... wow you really love buggy games
I guess it fits because you have all the emotion of a robot running Windows ME

my favorite part was when all five of those games were either a sequel or an expansion pack
in your defenses I don't think any non-sequel games came out this year
unless you count blatant copies of other games
but you opted to put a DLC attachment in the number one spot
so you're saying that Undead Nightmare is better than the whole of Red Dead Redemption, which I might remind you includes Undead Nightmare..... wait... hold on... I actually agree with that
but you still have to buy the RDR disk to play Undead Nightmare so it's moot

but the thing about this that scared me the most is that you are looking forward to more sequels and copies
can't you just be happy playing Crackdown 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction again and giving the game industry a chance to grow?

this top 5 list proves that he's human and has distinct tastes, unlike sites like IGN or Spike.

my top 5?
5: Crackdown 2
4: Dead Rising 2
3: Red Dead Redemption
2: Rock Band 3
1: Mass Effect 2

i dont care that our lists are different, im just glad he wasnt going to pander to the escapist and put a bunch of "narrative, story-driven games" if he really didn't like them as much.

me, i love my story driven games, but sometimes... i just wanna let loose and blow some shit up, which is why i would have Crackdown 2 and Dead Rising 2 on the list

Yay RDR my fav console game this year! (at least till i decide to pickup GT5)

I would love to call it a good list. I would love to call it a GREAT list. But the sad truth is I haven't played a single one of these games. I only just got my first PS3 a pair of weeks ago and I'm spending my time with it doing some catching up: Brutal Legend, GTA4, Fallout 3... none of the new games just yet.

I just realized that Mafia 2 is the only game I've spent more time hyping for myself, than remembering after finishing it. If it weren't for this top 5, it would have been forgotten altogether, like it deserves.

And SC:Conviction? No way. Not only was it too short, but it was also very linear and unpolished.
Or to simply copy-paste a few snippets, since it highlights some of my thoughts while I actually played the game:

While Conviction was hardly a bad game, it was also hardly anything like the originals.