In Depth: Top 10 best games you must play this Christmas

2010 has undoubtedly been a golden year for videogames, with a veritable slew of triple-A titles having been released by almost every major gaming publisher throughout the year.

And as the Christmas holiday season rapidly approaches, adult gamers across the land with the promise of a week or two of dead time with the family and in-laws ahead look forward to catching up with some of the gaming classics they might have missed (or just not had the time for) over the past twelve months.

Whatever your preferred format - and whatever your in-grained fanboy biases – from PC through to home console through to handheld – there are a handful of games that you really should play across all the main gaming formats that were released throughout 2010.

This list proves one thing, if nothing else. We at TechRadar love every single gaming console and platform out there.

While many may call us out for appearing to prefer the PS3 over the Xbox 360 or Wii (feel free to change those three product names into the order of your own personal biases) we are, in actual fact, true 'platform agnostics' – in that we only really care about the games.

And these are the 10 best games that we cared mostly about over the last twelve months. The games that we would urge you to spend some quality time with over the next few weeks, if you can spare some time in-between gorging on Turkey and mince pies…

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops

For those that have resisted the pull of Activision's high production values war-gaming series, the lure of the 1960's James Bond-style undercover CIA-operatives on formerly classified Black Ops missions in Russia and Vietnam and elsewhere was just too much to resist.

"The CoD series is an unstoppable force these days, but, for me, Black Ops avoided some (if not all) of the pitfalls that Modern Warfare 2 experienced," says TechRadar's editor Patrick Goss. "And provided better gameplay to boot."

2. Team Fortress 2 - PC

"Not new for 2010, but given the changes that it has gone through this year this has to be in my list" says Patrick Goss.

Goss tells us that he is "trying deparately to avoid a Valve fanboy tag," but we're not really sure why. We are all unashamed Valve fanboys, when it comes down to it. Which gamer worth his or her salt wouldn't be?

"From the blog to to the awesome playability, via a big detour through a miliner's shop, TF2 is simply the most fun you can have in a multiplayer shooter."

3. Mass Effect 2 - Xbox

Released waaay back in January 2010, ME2 was deservedly a massive hit with both critics and fans.

And it also made us all that little bit more excited about BioWare's other massive forthcoming project: MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic.

4. Fifa 11 - Xbox/PS3/PC

Fifa or Pro Evo? It was a battle that raged amongst gamers for years. And it seems that Fifa may well have finally won it.

We were still wavering over which was the better out of the latest versions of Pro Evo and Fifa - but this release was enough to make up our minds (until next year at least).

5. Gran Turismo 5 – PS3

The greatest car sim ever made, no question. Nit-picking petrolheads and hardcore gaming obsessives (bores) claiming that it's not as good as it should have been are just wrong. It is. It is glorious. It is everything we've been waiting for from the PS3. And boy, have we waited…

Gran Turismo 5 taught us all that a bit of patience can sometimes be a good thing. The doyenne of racing games.

6. Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Wii

Lest we forget, this could well be the Wii's crowning moment. While everybody else goes on and on and on about high-def bleeding edge 3D-capable graphics, Miyamoto and co. just keep knocking utterly beautiful interactive entertainment experiences like this out of the park.

"Not just the game of the year but the best ever game on the Wii," says Charlotte Martyn, editor of NGamer magazine. "Bursting with imagination, it boasts more novel platforming ideas than an entire shelf of your local games store."

7. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels Of The Starry Skies - DS

Absolutely epic RPG that eats up the hours. Ingenious Wi-Fi tag mode extends its lifespan even further, connecting you with fellow DQIX players.

8. Professor Layton And The Lost Future - DS

"Layton's latest is by far his best, offering more brilliant puzzles and a great story that gives series fans some insights into Professor's past," says NGamer magazine editor Charlotte Martyn.

9. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - PSP

Largely overlooked in the west, due to our increasing boredom with most things PSP-related, Konami's new Metal Gear title was, for us, one of the best handheld games of 2010. Of ever, in fact...

"With PSP rapidly becoming the ginger stepchild of portable games consoles, trust Japanese design guru Hideo Kojima to produce one of the year's most interesting, intricate, games on any console by playing to the strengths and weaknesses of PSP," says Daniel Dawkins, Editor of PSM3.

"Ideal for byte-size, on-the-go play, Portable Ops was the Russian Doll of action games, unlocking more and more interlinking content as you play. Within hours, you're suddenly creeping around levels, whooshing fallen foes on balloons up to your mother base, juggling administration of your private army, building a giant robot and fighting wars for cash. It sounds baffling, but it makes perfect sense – dovetailing with the wider Metal Gear story on PS3. Above all its a game designed for PSP, not a clumsy retro-fitted title from PS3 or PS2. A must buy for all PSP owners."

10. Heavy Rain - PS3

"Heavy Rain was the year's most interesting, innovative PS3 game by some distance," says Daniel Dawkins, editor of PSM3. "A cinematic crime adventure, where you flipped between four characters, with interactive scenes ranging from the banal to the titillating – from making dinner for your alienated son, to stripping in real time for a seedy club boss.

"It was a game that forced you to make hard, irreversible decisions under pressure, adding emotional impact and ambiguity. Get it wrong, and the 'bad' endings were just too miserable to bear. Not faultless, but a true labour of love, and one of the year's most progressive games".