This document provides reviews of 10 video games that would make good holiday gifts in 2010. It summarizes each game in 1-3 sentences, describing key features and the reviewer's opinion of the gameplay and quality. Several games, such as God of War 3 and Red Dead Redemption, receive praise for their graphics, gameplay, and polish. Others, like the Kinect and PlayStation Move motion controllers, receive criticism for their high prices and lack of quality launch games. The reviewer also lists retro toys and games they want for Christmas.

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holiday gift guide 2010
GOD OF WAR 3
($59.99) Sony PS3
The epic conclusion to the God of War trilo-
gy will leave you spending more time scraping
your jaw off the floor than it may actually even
take to finish it. Kratos returns to say his
vengeful goodbyes and leaves you lost in the
luscious graphics and pile of corpses that
accumulate in his wake, before he bows out in
the most impressive of video game fashions.
Brutality has never looked so beautiful.
RED DEAD REDEMPTION
($59.99) Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
It was only a matter of time before Rockstar
Games took the Grand Theft Auto feel to the
Wild West. The end result? A video game that
would even make Clint Eastwood proud. With
single and multiplayer components that are as
exceedingly polished as they are substantial,
this truly is how the west was won.
LIMBO
(1200 Microsoft Points–$15) Xbox Live Arcade
LIMBO is about as amazing a title as you
can find on Xbox Live Arcade. Ambient, peer-
less, breathtaking — it’s one of those rare
moments you look back at and were happy to
be a part of. Albeit a short journey through a
macabre, platforming dreamscape, the pro-
found aesthetic and impact of this title will
resonate with you for years to come.
METAL GEAR SOLID:
PEACE WALKER
($29.99) Sony PSP
There is no better franchise in gaming than
Metal Gear Solid. Put said franchise in my
hands wherever I go and I’m doubly impressed.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker was a jaunt
down the less beaten path for the franchise.
Part third-person stealth game and part
wartime manager/simulator, Snake returns in
a title that is as praiseworthy as it is portable.
DJ HERO 2
($99.99 turntable bundle, $59.99 standalone
game) Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii
All the other music titles released this year
are nothing but naughty when compared to all
of this game’s nice. Whereas with Guitar Hero
and Rock Band you cover songs, DJ Hero 2 gen-
uinely makes you feel like you’re creating
them. Fresh tracks from an eclectic mix of
artists and new freestyle innovations will keep
the music going and your head boppin’ to da
break of dawn.
BIOSHOCK 2
($29.99) Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3,
($19.99) PC
Bioshock returns to the underwater utopia of
Rapture, with frenzied denizens at every turn.
You assume the role of a Big Daddy, a mechani-
cal, empowered, harbinger of death hellbent on
saving his Little Sister. With an ambience that
is unparalleled in any other game universe and
the addition of frenetic, slapstick multiplayer,
Bioshock 2 has somehow managed to improve
upon its precursor, a feat as impressive as put-
ting cheese in the crust of pizza.
BAYONETTA
($29.99) Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
Picture the love child of a Japanese acid trip
and Devil May Cry in high heels. The game’s
Sarah Palin look-alike namesake acrobatically
attacks her enemies wielding pistols in both
hands and on both feet, gracefully desecrating
them with seemingly endless combos that cul-
minate with devastating magic attacks. Far
and away, it is one of the most intensely styl-
ized and over-the-top games you will ever play
and one of the greatest action hack-and-slash
titles ever created.
SUPER MARIO GALAXY 2
($39.99) Nintendo Wii
What do you do after making the greatest
Wii game? You go and make it better. Every-
body’s favorite Italian plumber stereotype is
back for another hop, skip and a jump across
platforms that would leave M.C. Escher in a
daze. With recent Wii titles having left the con-
sole stale and dusty, Mario lifts it on his back
and carries it across all the stunning worlds
before him. Receiving perfect accolades from a
majority of major publications, it is this gener-
ation’s Super Mario 64.
CIVILIZATION V
($49.99) PC and Mac
Civilization V makes StarCraft 2 look like
Go Fish. For an industry dominated by games
giving you the opportunity to shoot things in
the face, it’s a refreshing change of pace to
tend to the finer side of gaming, like your
workers tending to the fields and stables as you
research nuclear weaponry and achieve world
domination. It is Risk on roids and one hell of
a way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
MICROSOFT KINECT
($149.99) Xbox 360
Just what the world needs: more gimmicky
motion controllers. The word “controller” is a
loose term with the Kinect though because it’s
you. It’s hard to imagine there being much
staying power to a motion controller setup that
doesn’t physically have one. Coupled with the
price ($149.99) and a launch lineup of games
that that are mediocre at best, this peripheral
should be demoted from “pony” to “sweater”
status on your shopping list.
PLAYSTATION MOVE
($99.99) PlayStation 3
For something that looks like an officially
licensed Harry Potter sex toy, the PlayStation
Move sure doesn’t possess much magic. Great,
another Tiger Woods golf game and a bundle
disc of sports games. Awesome, another poor-
ly produced Time Crisis arcade shooter title
and some dumpy game where people can
pretend they’re a street fighter. With a lack
of any redeemable titles to accompany
its existence, the reac-
tion you’ll receive
once the wrapping
paper has been
torn off will look
like the face of
a child receiv-
ing another
Brut cologne
gift assort-
ment from
CVS.
TOM HODGSON considers the naughty and oh so
nice games of 2010 for the gamer on your gift list.
VIDEO GAME HO
Bayonetta. A Sarah Palin look-alike
attacks her enemies with chainsaws, iron
maidens and other devices. Tom says it’s
‘one of the greatest hack-and-slash titles’ ever.
NAUGHTY:
THE JELLY OF
THE MONTH CLUB
GUITAR HERO: WARRIORS OF ROCK
($99.99 guitar bundle, $59.99 standalone
game) Xbox 360, PlayStation 3,
and Nintendo Wii
This tragedy greater than many VH1
“Behind the Music” episodes I’ve seen makes
heroin addiction and squandered millions look
like the Gilmore Girls. Activision has all but
put this franchise in a coma after another
annual binge on hookers and blow has left it
frothing from the mouth and photographed on
all the front pages of the tabloids. With a game
that can barely stay awake during its own per-
formance — including a set list that looks like
a “Now That’s What I Call Music” compilation,
a single-player “campaign” narrated by Gene
Simmons, and the incredibly obtrusive inclu-
sion of a complete Rush album as a midway
point — Guitar Hero has lost all credibility
and now has an identity closely resembling a
Time Life 9-CD love ballad box set.
HALO: REACH
($59.99) Xbox 360
Another one of this year’s “blockbuster”
titles, Halo: Reach is Bungie’s franchise swan
song, one that sounds more like it was sung by
a turkey. With a tepid, outdated aesthetic, com-
pletely unacceptable levels of frame rate
drops, an uninspired single-player campaign,
and a design that is more canned than tuna,
it’s a bittersweet departure for the loyal Halo
fans: bitter because it was a half-assed farewell
and sweet because Bungie walks away with
millions of dollars, and like Rudolph, couldn’t
care less about the mess they’ve left behind.
CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS
($59.99) Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC
($49.99) Nintendo Wii
A game marred with wretched spawns, ter-
rible hit detection, a plot highlighted by 20,000
exploding barrels and the cheesy guitar riffs
that follow, and graphics that look like one of
my college PowerPoint presentations, Black
Ops is a lump of something in your stocking,
all right, and it isn’t coal. Infinity Ward always
manages to take the ball down the court
with Call of Duty, which makes it all
the more mind-numbing every time
Treyarch can’t drive it to the hoop.
Tom Hodgson would like to ask San-
ta for the following items: a Ken Griffey
Jr. baseball glove, a Skip-It, a Disc-
man, a Huffy Bike, Marble Mad-
ness, the Ghostbuster Proton Pack,
a Razor X scooter, a Tamagotchi,
Tickle Me Elmo, a Furby, a Char-
lotte Hornets Starter jacket,
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
and the Wrestlemania X VHS.
NICE:
THE RED RYDER BB GUNS
PlayStation
Move. Looks
like some
glowing sex
toy. Just
saying …