5 Games From 2010 You Shouldnt Have Missed (But Probably Did)

So, the Steam Summer sale didn't do it for you. You've still got that hankering some quality games on the cheap. Well, here at Gameranx we're total cheapasses! We've been paying Matthew Stewart in fish heads, and he still hasn't wised up.  Here's his list of five overlooked games from 2010 that you can find for a couple nickels and a hog's head down at the penny store.

 

#5 -  Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game

If you hadn't heard of the indie-pop cross anime cross teenage angst mashup of Scott Pilgrim, I'm gonna level with you: you'll either love it, or you'll burn Michael Cera in effigy. It really depends on whether or not you need references to Mario 3 and other 8-bit classics just to fill up the emptiness inside you left by a childhood of being picked last in kickball, or the fact that none of the other kids in class wanted to talk to you, because you wouldn't shut up about reptiles for 15 seconds.

That said, I'm not a fan of Scott Pilgrim the comic, or the movie. Just doesn't do it for me. I was picked only second-to-last in kickball and my reptile obsession was turtles of the ninja persuasion.

 So when a friend of mine, who happens to be a very well-adjusted individual, suggested we turn on his PS3 and play Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, I was a tiny bit stunned. First, by the fact that my bro suggested that we play a video game (let alone the Scott Pilgrim game). Second, that the game was actually really fun.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game scratched a very real itch for me – it was a total homage to one of my favorite NES games – River City Ransom. RCR is a very clever beat-em up with some light RPG elements. It's highly addictive, challenging, and freakin' fun! It's the perfect game for wasting a Saturday afternoon with your best bud. 

The Scott Pilgrim game is every bit the blast that RCR was. If you missed RCR, you owe it to yourself to play Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game. Bring a friend. That is, if you didn't scare everyone off with your snakeskin collection.

 

#4 - Monday Night Combat

When this game first came out on Xbox Live, a lot of people wrote it off as a knock-off of Team Fortress 2. While it's no Final Combat it's hard to shake off the similarities between MNC and TF2. Both games are done in a similar aesthetic, and both are classed based, team shooters - and there's like, objectives and junk.

That's where the similarities end. “But Matt,” you might say, “what you just described is the entirety of Team Fortress 2!” Yeah, it was. But it's not the entirety of Monday Night Combat, smartypants! Ten pushups!

Monday Night Combat is a mutt with a healthy genetic contribution from the MOBA genre - games like Defense of the Ancients, or League of Legends. In MNC, you, the player, have to escort AI controlled bots that walk along a fixed path from your base to your opponent's turf. There, they have to have lived long enough to assault the Moneyball – a giant spheroid filled with love. Pfffftthahaha. Just kidding! It's filled with fucking money! 

You're the worst caricature of a pro-athlete in Monday Night Combat – complete with the willingness to kill anyone and everyone who gets between you and your precious Moneyball, where all your paper is stacked. Also you can pick up “sponsors” which are basically ways to customize your character class with faster run speed, or more health and what have you.

The art, when coupled with the game's entirely manic announcer, shows that there's a lot of personality in MNC. And it's fun! People like that in their games, right? Fun? I don't even know what you people want anymore!

 

#3 - Fallout: New Vegas

OK, so you passed on Fallout: New Vegas because you saw that Obsidian was developing for Bethesda on the Gamebryo engine, and thought there's no way it won't be buggier than the crawl space under a midwestern farmhouse. Well, look who doesn't know their shit – because it's certainly not you!

Yeah, I got roped into this game on Day 1. In my defense, it's actually a lot of fun – and I love fun. I also love Fallout. And I heard there was some Fallout to be had in Fallout: New Vegas. Go figure, right?

All that aside, if you passed on this game the first go-round, I can't blame you. However, if you still pass on this game, I'm now going to personally mail you some animal poo until you at least rent this game. 

Is it still bug-ridden? Possibly. There was a major patch released that has supposedly fixed most, if not all of those game-breaking, obnoxious, squirmy bugs.

Regardless - it's Fallout, man! What's wrong with you? Are you trying to make me cry? It's fun! And there's like nuclear space cowboys and junk! You can head to the small, dusty town of Primm and make the casino robot the town's Sheriff! He wears cowboy boots and a little cowboy hat! He rules over Primm with a cold, steely logic of a machine! I dare you to name another instance of robot Sheriff! I dare you! 

You can't. I win. Go play New Vegas.

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