Gaming Target's Top Games of 2010 - Top 1-5: Alan Wake, Bayonetta, BioShock 2, CoD: Black Ops, Civ V @ Gaming Target

Written by Matt Swider on January 04, 2011

Top 1-5: Alan Wake starts our Top 40 list... mainly because it begins with A. See what follows what games follow from Sega, 2K Games and Activision.

Top Games of 2010:
Top 1-5 | Top 6-10 | Top 11-15 | Top 16-20 | Top 21-25 | Top 26-30 | Top 31-35 | Top 36-40

It's the most wonderful time of the year as the Gaming Target staff has begun compiling their selections for their Favorite Games of 2010 (our genre and platform awards will appear later this week). A total of 40 titles made the cut this year and here they are in alphabetical order:

Alan Wake
Platforms: Xbox 360
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer Remedy Entertainment
Release Date: May 18, 2010

"After all the delays and all the hype, Alan Wake really is a pretty special game. The combat is frenetic and has depth which is important in any third person shooter, but Alan Wake is more than that. It blends genres and mediums together and it's a lot of fun all the way through. It's a horror game that doesn't rely on clunky controls and denying the player supplies to produce tension. It's an action game with pages of novelized story to read. Yet every element of the game is cohesive and feels right as you play it. The story is mindbending and the atmosphere oozes from every rustling branch and creaking floorboard. The bottom line is that Remedy knows how to make a standout gaming experience." - Kenny Esbenshade
Read the full Alan Wake review

Bayonetta
Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360
Publisher: Sega
Developer Platinum Games
Release Date: January 5, 2010

"Bayonetta is a superb action title that gets props for still being very challenging for the hardcore action crowd, but accessible enough for less-skilled players to play Ц the forgiving systems in place allow for minimal frustration, which usually leads to said player becoming much more skilled than they were before. It's got all the staples of the genre Ц over the top action, massive boss fights, a ridiculous plot, and a cool main character. In the case of Bayonetta, it's a character not done often in action games, and it makes the game feel fresh despite being an evolution from the Devil May Cry formula." - Adam Woolcott
Read the Bayonetta review

BioShock 2
Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer 2K Marin
Release Date: February 9, 2010

"Perhaps BioShock needed a sequel, and perhaps it didn't. Regardless, BioShock 2 is here and it's a great sequel that fixes the problems of the original and crafts another compelling tale within the walls of Rapture. Though a lot heavier on combat and full of intense battle sequences, it's still an adventure game at heart, with a great story told depending on your actions within this small slice of hell. It might seem like BioShock 1.5 in places, but since when is that a bad thing when the original was such a classic?" - Adam Woolcott
Read the full BioShock 2 review

Call of Duty: Black Ops
Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Publisher: Activision
Developer Treyarch
Release Date: November 9, 2010

"This is a standard-setting work, with an untouchable level of variety that still lets you sneak in a quick eight minute game of Team Deathmatch before you have to go to work. Treyarch could have easily cashed in on the success of the previous game - they didn't have to leapfrog in front of it with the features or put forth a serious effort in telling a story. But they did. Call of Duty: Black Ops exemplifies not just why this is the most popular franchise in gaming right now, but more importantly, why it deserves to be." - Mike Gutierrez
Read the full Call of Duty: Black Ops review

Civilization V
Platforms: PC
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer Firaxis
Release Date:

"Civ V's modern graphics and substantial production values make it the new series standard by default. For the most part its gameplay tweaks feel natural, a refresh of the core Civilization gameplay. After twenty years, there is still something very addictive about clicking Уnext turn.Ф For a gamer, Civilization is a standard, an essential. It's like having a Monopoly set, you never know when you'll want play, and it's just a fun thing to have around the house." - Alex Roth
Read the full Civilization V review