We always talk about how we like to try to balance our love of some excellent big-budget games with those that are equally as excellent, yet don't have the marketing budget and fail to sell as well as they really should, thus get played a whole lot less by gamers in general. This remains the case throughout the entirety of our Game of the Year nominees list, and even the winners of the various categories. But, at the same time, if a game is good, it's good. The game can sell millions of copies or thousands, be played by millions of people or thousands - a great game is a great game.

With that being said, to speak to you frankly, out of all the games on our ultimate Game of the Year list, it basically came down to three - Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption and StarCraft II. These three we felt were at the top of the top. Interestingly enough, they are all big-budget, multi-million-selling titles. While games like Valkyria Chronicles II and Heavy Rain certainly captured our attention during the course of the year, we can't quite make them ultimate king of the hill for 2010.

What game did we ultimately choose out of those three? Hit the break to find out.

DUAL SHOCKERS 2010 GAME OF THE YEAR

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MASS EFFECT 2

With its perfect balance of character development, story-telling style and great game play mechanics to back it all up, Mass Effect 2 surely captures the minds and hearts of a good portion of gamers throughout 2010. While it remained an Xbox 360 console exclusive throughout the year, everyone will be able to play it if you haven't already when the game releases for the PlayStation 3 in January 2011. The DLC available for the game also did more than add new modes, new characters, new outfits or zombies, it actually added deep, involving story that only adds to the already rich lore presented in the game itself, and which built upon the success of the previous title two years ago.

Yes, it is a big-budget title, but it is nearly impossible to say that this isn't one of the absolute best games to release this year, on any front. So, our congratulations go out to BioWare, Electronic Arts and anyone involved in the development or release of Mass Effect 2. We look forward to its move to the PS3 next year, as well as the continuation of the story in Mass Effect 3. Yes, the game was that awesome!