Most Anticipated Games of 2010: 10-1

Our hottest picks for the year ahead.

2. Mass Effect 2 - Xbox 360, PC, January 29

As much as we hate to engage with the whole 360 vs PS3 debate, it's fairly clear that 2009 was the year Sony struck back, at least as far as platform exclusives are concerned. This year the battle will be tighter than ever, and Mass Effect 2 is one of Microsoft's heaviest hitters. Commander Shephard's first adventure was a colossal sci-fi outing, a wild success that introduced a new generation to the action RPG genre. This year's successor promises a much improved set of shooting mechanics, a grander scope and a much darker tone. If Mass 1 was A New Hope, Mass 2 will be The Empire Strikes Back. Expect great things.

1. Last Guardian - PS3

This is not, as you might erroneously imagine, a game about a man battling to grab the final copy of his favourite left wing newspaper. No, this is the latest project from Fumito Ueda - the Japanese creator of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. It would be a massive understatement to say that expectations are riding high on this one: people have been thrashing about in a collective hype-gasm ever since the first internal trailer leaked (you know, that one with the boy, the giant-griffin thing, and the music from Miller's Crossing). In any case, the fuss is pretty understandable. Ueda-san and his team made two of the best games in the history of video gaming, and this will be their first work on the PS3. Who doesn't want to see what they can do?

Our top 50 most anticipated games of 2010: 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1