Top 10 Downloadable Games of 2010

Well it’s that time again when video game websites all over the globe start churning out their year-end Top-10 lists. Happy holidays, Internet! While you spend this time snowed in, unable to leave your house or get to work, why not check out these fantastic downloadable games?

Plants vs. Zombies – Xbox 360 and iPhone

A brilliantly simple concept: Tower defence meets zombies. With the help of comic writer Steve Notley, the guy who writes Bob the Angry Flower, along with a hilarious end-credit song by Laura Shigihara, Plants vs. Zombies is not only picture-perfect in its gameplay; it’s all personality.

Limbo – Xbox 360

One of the most visually interesting, not to mention minimalist, games this year. Limbo takes you on a black-and-white puzzle-based journey; its story unfolds implicitly through the gameplay. With a melancholic tone that would please the likes of Tim Burton or Fritz Lang it’s undoubtedly one of the most moving independent games to come out this year.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light – Xbox 360, PS3 and PC

Bloody addictive. Whether you have completionist tendencies or not, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light will make a pedant out of anyone with its level challenges. The puzzles are often extremely clever, and beg to be replayed thanks to the handfuls of challenges and special rewards in each level. Even two-player co-op is a joy, with the strengths of each character working in perfect conjunction with the other.

Super Meat Boy – Xbox 360 and PC

It’s award winning. It’s considered one of the best 2D platforms ever made. It costs, like, a tenner. It’s also difficult and very fast, and it takes joy in that. Super Meat Boy will have you moving at a sonic speed, turning on a dime, bouncing in the opposite direction, meaning you have an incredible amount of control over your character. It’s brutal but lovingly so, and there are few better feelings than successfully beating a tricky level.

The Misadventures of Mr. P.B. Winterbottom – Xbox 360 and PC

Originally a student’s graduation thesis, the game was quickly picked up and turned into one of the most well-received and visually outstanding games this year. You play P.B. Winterbottom and your aim is to gather pies. Easy enough, but to solve each puzzle the trick is to record actions and clone yourself so those actions are repeated throughout the level and can serve as puzzle-solving devices or platforms. It’s an intriguing concept that is made all the more impressive by the game’s silent film-like style.

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge – Xbox 360, PC and iPhone

Numerous platforms are now home to a port of the brilliant Monkey Island 2. The ol’ girl is still as good as she ever was. With tighter controls, polished graphics and new voiceover work this is a wonderful interpretation of the very funny point and click adventure we grew up with.

Game Dev Story – iPhone

The most meta game of the year, Game Dev Story puts you in the shoes of an up and coming development team in the 1980s and has you micromanage the company as it hires new designers, programmers, writers and artists, develops new games for new platforms, and hopefully finds success. For anyone who loved Theme Hospital back in the day this is a brilliant modern-day equivalent for your iPhone.

Cut the Rope – iPhone

One of the fastest selling iOS games of all time, Cut the Rope rivals Angry Birds in its ability to become a household name. As much of a household name as iPhone games can be, anyway. Cut the Rope has you solve physics conundrums by cutting particular ropes and swinging stuff around in order to feed Om Nom, a big-eyed monster thing. It’s a clean and simple concept that proves brilliant gameplay can come in a cute package.

Joe Danger – PS3

A 3D scrolling stunt ’em-up, you play Joe Danger in a game that combines the fun and pace of Excitebike and Trials HD. Danger stands out by giving you the ability to both take part in a variety of challenges and the freedom to freeze the game and edit the levels. It’s one of the best looking and most fun titles to come out on PSN – and it was made by only four guys!

Pac Man Championship Edition DX – Xbox 360 and PS3

Not quite your father’s Pac Man. This game is a re-thinking of the Pac Man formula, taking the basic gameplay and making it faster by splitting the mazes into two halves. Eat all the dots on one half and a special item will turn up on the other half. Eat the item and a new maze-half will appear. And, as always, along the way you chomp down on whatever ghosts are foolish enough to get in your way. It’s a polished interpretation of one of gaming’s all-time classics and a brilliant game to pick up and play.

For more end of year content, head over to our Game of the Year 2010 hub. Amongst other things you’ll be able to watch videos in which we talk about each game in the Top 10.