Overall Game of the Year
Red Dead Redemption
Developer: Rockstar San Diego/Rockstar North
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Will Tuttle, Editor in Chief: Wow, has it really been a whole year since the last time we did this? I feel like it was just a few months ago that we were squabbling over whether Assassin's Creed II or Batman: Arkham Asylum was the Game of the Year, but I guess it's true what they say about time flying when you're having fun. You ARE having fun, right, Ryan? Anyway, I think the biggest difference between this year's Game of the Year voting and last year's is the fact that you and I actually agree that Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption is 2010's best game -- despite the fact that our gaming tastes are like night and day. Did you actually expect to enjoy the game as much as you did?
Ryan Scott, Executive Editor: Yeah, I remember last year, when we were arguing over those things, and then Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 won, because you people are all insane lunatics who like stupid stuff. In any case, I'm glad we agreed this time -- I mean, it wasn't even a debate. It was always definitely going to be Red Dead, from our first Game of the Year discussion. When the game first came out, I actually got frustrated and stopped playing it; it turned out that my frustration was due to a random bug that broke the mission I was on, and I had significantly more fun when I pick it up again later. I think this is the best game Rockstar has ever made (bear in mind that I've been bored with Grand Theft Auto since San Andreas), and I would probably count it as one of my top five favorite games of all time. I love this game.
Will Tuttle: Top five of all time, huh? Color me surprised -- especially since I remember you railing against it when you hit that bug and couldn't progress. I really liked a lot of the various elements, but it was the game's story that really won me over. I'm a huge fan of the open-world genre (particularly the GTA games), but I always feel like the story doesn't really matter when all is said and done, mainly because the protagonists are lowlife criminals who are hard to identify with. That started to change with Grand Theft Auto IV's lovable schlub Niko Bellic, and really came to a tipping point with Red Dead Redemption. Even though I knew John Marston had a shadowy past and had most likely done deplorable things, it was impossible not to want to see him succeed. Ultimately, he's a simple man (some might even say too simple, given how easily he's talked into doing bad things for bad people) with simple wants and needs. All he cares about is doing whatever needs to be done to save his family. This truly is a tale of redemption in more ways than one. How can you not appreciate that?
Ryan Scott: Not to mention the fact that this game tackled what is really a pretty niche genre, and took it to some amazing places. I'm glad that Red Dead enjoyed the financial success that it did, and hopefully that warrants a sequel somewhere down the line. I think we should also give a nod to the downloadable content -- especially the excellent Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, which acts as sort of a mini-sequel and side-story. Rockstar really hit it out of the park with this game. Screw GTA, this is where it's at!
Honorable Mentions: Mass Effect 2, Limbo, Heavy Rain, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, Kirby's Epic Yarn
