2010's Best Shooter

Call of Duty: Black Ops
By Treyarch (released 11/9)

Now before I get some hate mail about how this is a terrible choice let me first acknowledge other great shooters like Monday Night Combat, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and of course Halo Reach.  While I've played and enjoyed each and every one of those titles, I have to admit that I'm having the most fun with Black Ops.  Treyarch was always seen as the inferior development team behind Infinity Ward (Modern Warfare > World At War) but surprisingly thousands of players hated Modern Warfare 2.  In the wake of the Infinity Ward controversy, Activision looked to Treyarch to take the reins and prove they were the greater of the two companies.  I initially hated some of the changes that Treyarch made from Modern Warfare 2 (I actually liked the riot shield) and some changes I felt were completely unnecessary (like needing to press up on the d-pad for equipment instead of left.)  As time went on though I actually found myself getting used to the new quirks and started enjoying a lot of the improvements made over MW2.  It made sense that killstreak kills couldn't assist in earning other killstreaks and thank you Lord that Commando was removed!  I love how we can edit our replays (even though Halo 3 did it years ago) and was excited that the flamethrower was brought back.  Of course, probably the biggest reason anyone played World At War over Modern Warfare was the Zombie Mode and I'm happy to say, it's been brought back and is just as fun as you remember.  I have yet to touch the single-player campaign and I wouldn't be surprised if I never do because I like the multiplayer that much.  Is it perfect?  Definitely not.  Is it balanced?  Yes and no.  Understand that I am somewhat biased due to the fact that majority of my friends have this game and games are infinitely more fun when you're winning with your friends.  If you don't game online or are severely lacking friends to play with, then skip over this game.  Personally, this easily won my shooter of the year.

Runner Up:

Bioshock 2

For fans of the original you won't be disappointed in it's sequel.  In all fairness, most hold Bioshock's plot in such a high regard that nothing short of perfection would suffice so I can't say it's that good, but it's definitely worth a couple playthroughs.  The controls are better, the plasmids are more fun, and they added a really fun multiplayer with varied gametypes.  Check out one of my earliest reviews (on my facebook) for my full thoughts.

*For fanboys that are mad that Battlefield or Halo Reach isn't one of my picks, sorry.  These are my picks and my reasons why I chose these and if you disagree, make your own choices or leave me a comment.  Regardless on whether you agree or not, thank you for reading!