Originally posted by Nemesis X
I take it you don't have a PS3 am I right?
Why in the hell would I be debating current gen games if I didn't have a current gen system, Sherlock?
Just because IGN gave higher scores to Uncharted 2, it doesnt prove your point. All you have shown is that you are riding the bandwagon.
Originally posted by Smasandian
It's overrated.I'm playing through the SP right now and I'm pretty sure I'm almost done. I'm only at 2 1/2 hours playtime. I'm hoping that's not true.
If so, no game with a SP at only 3 hours can get game of the year. It's my rule.
I just finished the campaign and it took me 5 1/2 hours total. That's on the normal difficulty. Short, but quite excellent.
Originally posted by Dark Exile
My question is, why start this when the year isn't even over with? I say shut it down and start a new one December 31st, so its fair and people can actually play the nominations.
Originally posted by ArtificialGlory
Come to think of it, where is Dawn of War 2? I haven't played it personally, but from what I heard, it's a solid game.Then there's also Empire: Total War...
damn, even i'd forgotten about DOW 2.
tbh, it wasn't received well by all corners of the community for various reasons, but for the most part, it did really well.
i loved it, personally. Not as much as Batman or Modern Warfare 2, but that's not saying much.
Now having played most of the big games of this year all the way through, on several consoles, here's my list of the best games of the year. Numbered and descending.
10) Forza Motorsport 3: A fun and accessible racing simulator thanks to the brilliant rewind feature. One thing that's always been a put off of racing sims is that one minor screw up can cause an hour long race to be completely thrown down the toilet. This rewind feature remedies that. Also has great graphics and a personal favorite, the cockpit view. This game can be played as casually or as hardcore as you could want. One of the best racing games ever.
9) Shadow Complex: A combination of Metroid and Gears of War. Great graphics for a side scroller. The action is fast but not overwhelming and it is fun to explore the world. One of the better downloadable games around.
8) Resident Evil 5: This one's tough. On the one hand, the graphics and gameplay are the best in the series. It takes the controls of RE4 and further refines them. The first half of the game is incredible and tense. However, the game quickly regresses into a lazy man's Gears of War. With a cover system shoehorned into the game that is clunky and awkward. The boss fights look great, but they are generic. See boss. See boss' weak spot. Shoot boss' weakspot. Repeat 3 times. Boss enters phase 2. Find new weakspot, and so on. The final boss in particular is annoying and drawn out to the point of self parody. Also the quick time events that were so fresh in RE4 are sporadic in this one. Often times you will go hours without one thus causing you to forget that they are part of the game, only to see a game over screen because you were watching a cinema, and not looking in the corner of the screen to see the prompt to push a button. Still a fun game, though. Satisfying conclusion to the series.
7) Assassin's Creed II: It's not secret that I was really harsh on the first game. It's not because I hated it, but because I saw what it could have been had they spent as much time on the pacing and mission objectives as they did with the climbing and graphics. I'm glad to say that this is what the original should have been. Everything feels better. The pacing is great, the story is intriguing with good and fun characters, and the mission objectives are much more varied (though they do still get a tad redundant at times. There is still pointless busy work in the game as an artificial way to pad game length for the sake of it). Still, an excellent game all around.
6) New Super Mario Bros Wii: A new, very high quality Mario sidescroller. As good as any in the series. This will be a good way to tide you over until Galaxy 2. It's amazing that they are still able to innovate and be creative with the sidescroller after so many ventures into the genre. Just a joy to play.
5) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: I expected this one to be much higher. But most of the games ahead of it I just played recently, and to my surprise, most were better. Anyways, this game is a Call of Duty game, so you know what you're getting. Good, tight gunplay. Respawning enemies (though thankfully not as much as in prior games, but still around, unfortunately) and a great multiplayer component. But what makes this game so special is that it is not afraid to show the ugly side of war. There are no heroes here. There are no good guys. The whole thing is one big grayzone and many people found that to be upsetting and unsatisfying. But I loved it. It created a powerful atmosphere to go along with some of the best set piece battles around (the level where you first see a devestated White house is literally chilling). This would be higher if they would make changes to some of the mechanics that have been with the series since the beginning.
4) Killzone 2: This game may be the most impressive of the bunch, and surprising. The graphics are obviously incredible, arguably the best yet on any console. And it uses the graphics to create what is probably the best portrayal of all out war yet conceived in a game. The atmosphere is hectic and visceral. But it's the gameplay, or more specifically, the gunplay, that makes this game so satisfying. Shooting the weapons just feels good. They pop just right, they feel powerful, and the impact of the bullets almost makes you cringe. Also the animation is maybe the best I've ever seen. The storyline is generic stuff, but the action - a combination of Gears of War and Call of Duty, is incredibly addictive. Also has one of the freshest multiplayer experiences around. And the enemies make great sounds when they die.
3) Street Fighter 4: The best fighting game in over a decade. Captures the magic of the glory days of the fighter in ways I never thought possible. It is simply fun to stand there and throw fireballs and jump around. It's a game that nearly anyone can enjoy, from my 60 year old mother, to the hardcore fighting fan. Brilliant, vibrant graphics hearken back to the more toony style, a part of the very effective nostalgia that is partly responsible for what makes this game such a joy. It's a game that will make you laugh, and few things are as fun as sitting there with a friend and battling it out. It's a game that not only remembers the glory days of the genre, but acts as if they never left.
2) Uncharted 2: When I began this game I had just finished the original which I felt was underwhelming. Problematic level design and clunky jumping controls were frustrating. I thought that the sequel would probably be more of the same and I was ready to proclaim this sequel overrated. But this game simply blew me away. Graphics are incredible and detailed. The characters though are what keep this game great. Their interaction with one another are hilarious and warm and they really make you care for them. This game also does something that most games fail at. And that is juggle multiple styles. This game has Assassin's Creed climbing mechanic, gears of war combat, and Resident Evil style puzzles, and you could argue that this game does those things better than those other games do.
1) Dragon Age: Origins: A huge detailed world to explore, the best character interaction of any game I've played. Sharp, crisp graphics. A storyline that while not original is very strong. This game is dangerously addicting, and it might have the most gameplay packed into the world of any game. Doing everything supposedly takes upwards of 130 hours. Simply going through the main quest quickly will net you around 40 hours (to put that in perspective, Final Fantasy X can be completed in under 25 hours if you push for it). This is the best game of the year. And one of the best pure RPG's I've played.
You may have noticed one notable game missing and that is Batman: Arkham Asylum. I did play it, but unfortunately during my playthrough my xbox died on me and I had to send it in to get it repaired which took about a month. By the time it got back I had more or less forgotten everything about the game, and having been about 4 hours into it, I didn't want to restart it. The game's omission is by no means because of it's lack of quality. The time I spent with the game was great, and it's clear the game is incredibly well made and very strong. I simply didn't complete it so I didn't want to include it on this list. Had I finished it I am confident that it would have been on this list.
I hated the last boss in RE5. My friend and I tried to beat the last boss but it ruined the entire game for me. Strangely enough, RE5 last half of the game is pretty much the exact same as RE4's but instead of really cool new enemies (regenerators for example) to spice things up, you get rehashes from previous chapters and then just spam more of them. For example, why the hell is there chainsaw wielding guy on a oil rig? I have no clue. But first half was excellent and I was wondering why everybody was down on the game.
As for best games....its going to be hard and I'll miss a few but here I go.
1. Uncharted 2 - sucked me in until the last level, which was stupid, but it was a game I totally didn't look at the time for.
2. Dragon Age - sucked me and made continue to playing until I thought I got every single thing
3. Batman AA - just alot of fun.
4. Madden 10 - most played game this year and I love how they slowed the game down
5. Left 4 Dead 2 - like the original, more of the same but done incredibly well and Hard Rain has got to be the best level ever...well recently
6. MW2 - extremely well polished and SP was a total blast, plus Spec Ops was brilliant and MP was alot fun but the game is stale and I kept on being reminded that I was playing another CoD.
7. Infamous - wicked premise and really well done. One of the best sandbox games
8. MGS4 - I know it came out 2008 but I played it 2009, but I loved alot about it. Interesting and unique but the last level/boss killed the game for me. I will play it again until the last level, then Ill just quit because it was so ****ing stupid.
9. New Super Mario Bros Wii - just plain hectic but I felt that it wouldnt be as memorable if it wasnt for the crazy shit that happened while I was playing with friends
10. Project Origin - I just like Monolith games. Had fun, wasn't unique at all but its a solid shooter.
In the end, I'm really glad I bought a PS3 as a impluse purchase. I rarely played my 360 (could be the case that there wasn't alot of exclusive games I wanted to play)
I won't lie, 2009 sucked for gaming as far as I'm concerned, so I spent most of the year catching up with titles from the past couple of years. There were several games from 2009 I sort of, kind of enjoyed, so I'll just list them here.
So here goes(in no particular order):
-- Demigod
-- Dawn Of War 2
-- Street Fighter 4
-- Resident Evil 5
-- Braid
-- Torchlight
-- Borderlands
-- Plants vs. Zombies
-- Left 4 Dead 2
-- Trine
And the GotY award goes to...
Jack and shit. Yep, you heard me. I feel that no game that came out this year deserves my person GotY award, but if I had to choose it would probably go to either Torchlight or Borderlands.
Originally posted by Peach
Heh, my brother is hopelessly addicted to Forza. If he's not playing MW2, he's playing that.And Dragon Age at number one? Nice. I've been enjoying it a surprising amount, though I haven't played much (I've got about ten hours of play and am finishing up the first of the main storylines).
Yeah, Dragon Age is amazing. I just beat it earlier today. Took me a while to really get into it, and actually restarted after a few hours because I didn't like the character that I made. The game's size is ridiculous.
Originally posted by Smasandian
I hated the last boss in RE5. My friend and I tried to beat the last boss but it ruined the entire game for me. Strangely enough, RE5 last half of the game is pretty much the exact same as RE4's but instead of really cool new enemies (regenerators for example) to spice things up, you get rehashes from previous chapters and then just spam more of them. For example, why the hell is there chainsaw wielding guy on a oil rig? I have no clue. But first half was excellent and I was wondering why everybody was down on the game.As for best games....its going to be hard and I'll miss a few but here I go.
1. Uncharted 2 - sucked me in until the last level, which was stupid, but it was a game I totally didn't look at the time for.
2. Dragon Age - sucked me and made continue to playing until I thought I got every single thing
3. Batman AA - just alot of fun.
4. Madden 10 - most played game this year and I love how they slowed the game down
5. Left 4 Dead 2 - like the original, more of the same but done incredibly well and Hard Rain has got to be the best level ever...well recently
6. MW2 - extremely well polished and SP was a total blast, plus Spec Ops was brilliant and MP was alot fun but the game is stale and I kept on being reminded that I was playing another CoD.
7. Infamous - wicked premise and really well done. One of the best sandbox games
8. MGS4 - I know it came out 2008 but I played it 2009, but I loved alot about it. Interesting and unique but the last level/boss killed the game for me. I will play it again until the last level, then Ill just quit because it was so ****ing stupid.
9. New Super Mario Bros Wii - just plain hectic but I felt that it wouldnt be as memorable if it wasnt for the crazy shit that happened while I was playing with friends
10. Project Origin - I just like Monolith games. Had fun, wasn't unique at all but its a solid shooter.In the end, I'm really glad I bought a PS3 as a impluse purchase. I rarely played my 360 (could be the case that there wasn't alot of exclusive games I wanted to play)
I played MGS4 this year too, it was amazing.
Originally posted by BackFire
Yeah, Dragon Age is amazing. I just beat it earlier today. Took me a while to really get into it, and actually restarted after a few hours because I didn't like the character that I made. The game's size is ridiculous.I played MGS4 this year too, it was amazing.
Yeah, it was. I really do like the stealth aspect and how Westernized it is. Surprising how much Gears of War/Splinter Cell has influenced Japan's way of doing games.
I'm not saying it's just those two but it's clearly that both of those series heavily influenced two of Japan's developers biggest series in MGS and Resident Evil.
(it's strange that Gears of War came out after RE4 so both influences each other in a strange sense)