A screen grab from Mass Effect 2, Peter Nowak's choice for the best video game released in 2010. (Bio Ware/Electronic Arts)

The past year in video games was an ironic one: it was dominated by big-budget, big-studio sequels for consoles, but it also saw a revolution in social and mobile gaming. These new platforms have recently opened the doors wide to independent studios, with some – such as Facebook game developers Playfish and Zynga – becoming overnight successes.

While the big-revenue console games are still the industry’s heavy hitters, a so-called farm system of smaller designers has developed nicely.

The console world also saw some independent hits in 2010, largely through the downloadable game stores operated by Microsoft and Sony. So while the big-revenue console games are still the industry’s heavy hitters, a so-called farm system — in which smaller designers can still reach audiences — has developed nicely.

In examining the best home-console games of the year, it was obvious that many were new instalments in long-running franchises. As a point of pride for Canadians, several of the absolute best were developed here. With no further ado, I present my top 10 games of 2010.

10. GoldenEye 007

Console: Wii

Developer: Eurocom

Remaking GoldenEye 007 — the landmark first-person shooter based on the 1995 film and released for the Nintendo 64 console in ’97 — was a risky proposition, given how beloved it was by fans. Eurocom has delivered, though. The new version replaces Pierce Brosnan with Daniel Craig as James Bond, and is just as much fun as the original. The visuals are primitive, compared with similar FPS games on the PS3 or Xbox 360, but the new GoldenEye 007 makes up for it with retro charm. One of the best features of the original was the fast-paced split-screen multiplayer action. The new game updates it to a similarly addictive online version.

9. Halo: Reach

Console: Xbox 360

Developer: Bungie

Bungie’s very last Halo effort – a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, the game that launched Microsoft’s foray into the console market in 2001 – is as epic as you’d expect. Halo: Reach sets the table for the alien war that takes place throughout the main trilogy and has all the features fans have come to know and love from the franchise, from energy swords to Warthog jeeps. The online multiplayer mode is also the deepest yet, with players able to customize everything about the experience, right down to the shoulder pads worn by their character. Halo: Reach is a thoroughly satisfying experience and really makes you wonder what Bungie will get up to next.

8. Dance Central

Console: Xbox 360 Kinect

Developer: Harmonix

Remember how much fun Rock Band was when you first played it? It was a new concept back then, a game that non-gamers could enjoy in a social setting. The idea has largely worn out its novelty, thanks to too many releases over the past few years. But Harmonix, the developer behind Rock Band (and Guitar Hero before it), has managed to recapture the spirit with Dance Central, in which participants perform dance moves in sync with what’s happening on screen. Most of the motion games released for Microsoft’s Kinect and Sony’s Move have been ho-hum so far — Dance Central is the lone standout.

7. Kirby’s Epic Yarn

Console: Wii

Developer: Good-Feel

Nintendo dusted off a number of old faves for new side-scrolling games this year, including Super Mario and Donkey Kong, but the best of the bunch was that little blob that sucks up his enemies, Kirby. He doesn’t actually have the ability to suck in Epic Yarn, but he gains a host of new powers – like rolling enemies into balls of string. What makes the game so enjoyable is the utter creativity of its look — everything is made to look like it’s been created from arts-and-crafts materials (yarn, felt, buttons, etc.). It’s another game that shows the Wii can do more with less – that it’s not necessarily about the horsepower of the game system, but what you do with it that counts.

6. God of War III

Console: PlayStation 3

Developer: Sony

Games don’t get any more ambitious than the God of War series, and the third instalment has it all. From riding on the back of a titan climbing Mount Olympus to fighting Hercules and other members of the pantheon, the culmination of Kratos’s battle with Zeus is entirely fulfilling. Hack-and-slash games don’t get any better.

5. Limbo

Console: Xbox 360

Developer: Playdead Studios

In a year when many of the best games were big-budget sequels, it was refreshing to see an independent game come out of nowhere to make waves. Limbo, a downloadable Xbox Arcade title by Denmark’s Playdead Studios, is as haunting and original as any game released in 2010. Players control a silhouetted boy in this black-and-white side-scrolling platform adventure through nightmarish forests, caves and industrial cities. Players must jump traps and solve puzzles in a Tim Burton-esque world that is minimalist and utterly frightening.

4. Call of Duty: Black Ops

Console: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Developer: Treyarch

It wouldn’t be a best-of list without a Call of Duty entry, and Black Ops is another fine addition to the franchise that has revolutionized first-person shooters by adding role-playing-like advancement to multiplayer action. This single-player campaign, set during the Cold War, is as immersive as previous games. There simply isn’t anything more exciting in an FPS than manning a machine-gun on a PT boat as it races down a Southeast Asian river with the Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil blaring in the background. The online multiplayer mode is even deeper, with more bonuses to unlock, plus a training option designed to bring new players into the fold. Plus, Castro and JFK versus zombies: how awesome is that?

3. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Console: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Developer: Ubisoft

At the end of last year’s Assassin’s Creed 2, gamers found themselves playing a short episode in Renaissance Rome. After spending many hours in lavish recreations of places such Florence and Venice, it was odd that so little time was devoted to the Old World capital. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood makes good on that tease. Simply put, the recreation of Rome and what players can do in the city via their character, master assassin Ezio Auditore, is unprecedented. The Assassin’s Creed series continues to set new benchmarks in immersive experiences, while Brotherhood adds an innovative and intriguing new online multiplayer feature that requires players to blend in with their surroundings rather than go directly after opponents with swords drawn.

2. Red Dead Redemption

Console: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Developer: Rockstar Games

The makers of the groundbreaking and often-imitated Grand Theft Auto series have worked their magic again. Set in the Wild West, Red Dead Redemption might as well have been called Grand Theft Horsey, because it features the same open-ended gameplay and massive world as its ancestor. It’s an era that has been done a few times in video games, but seldom with as much attention to detail and obvious love as in Red Dead Redemption. Games are often compared to movies, and this release is perhaps the best way to relive all those good western films, as protagonist John Marston engages in everything from shootouts atop a train to hog-tying outlaws. Add in a great multiplayer mode that lets players form their own posses and go hunting for villains online, as well as a hilarious Undead Nightmare expansion that brings zombies to the Wild West, and you’ve got the elements of a truly memorable game.

1. Mass Effect 2

Console: Xbox 360, (PlayStation 3 in January 2011)

Developer: BioWare/Electronic Arts

A top-notch game generally offers four things: amazing visuals, great sound and voice acting, varied gameplay and a well-written story. No other release in 2010 nails all four like Mass Effect 2. The science-fiction role-playing game sees the return of Commander Shepherd as he (or she – you can choose the gender) unravels a plot regarding a mysterious group of aliens known as the Reapers. The story takes players to many strange and wondrous planets in a Star Wars-like space opera. Along the way, Shepherd recruits and befriends a number of allies, each of which has a fully developed backstory and motivations. Few games feature a finale that is as well-paced and fulfilling, leaving players to anticipate the third part of the story, which is coming in 2011.

Peter Nowak is a writer based in Toronto.