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The Geebs That Is A Pony

Scudo wrote:

I wonder if they refrain from nominating Bastion, like they refrained from reviewing it? It'd be a shame if that wasn't in the running for best downloadable game.

I just listened to a podcast the other day where people asked them about this in an e-mail and they said it wouldn't be fair if they didn't put it in the running for GOTY categories if it was good enough to be there.

Scudo

awesome. that reminds me, I still need to listen to today's podcast.

Blankzilla

The Geebs That Is A Pony wrote:

Cilla Black wrote:

That's probably going to hurt Portal 2. It's an incredibly well crafted game, but for some reason hasn't attached itself to memory as well as the first one. Possibly because of the absurd amount of quality games that has come out this year, but maybe just because it's a sequel. I can't recall a game I've had more fun with this year, but it was a little surprise to realize it came out this year.

I don't think the sequel thing has anything to do with it. Because basically every other GOTY contender people have been listing here is also a sequel.

Well it hurts Portal more than Uncharted or Batman I think.

Both of them were fantastic action games and went in new directions that people hasn't quite reached before, but were recognizable as action games and could easily be compared to stuff like Tomb Raider or Metal Gear or something.

but Portal was new. I can't really think of anything else that was like Portal. That is partly why everyone went nuts over it, besides the whole being completely fantastic thing. Portal 2 doesn't have the same conditions.

No Great Name

The Geebs That Is A Pony wrote:

Scudo wrote:

whenever someone talks about a zelda game these days my brain just sort of turns off. I've been thinking skyward sword was some 3DS game for a while now.

it would be hard to find a franchise that disinterests me more without getting into Square Enix territory.

it's really weird

because I mean, twilight princess had some hype behind it

(they should have just made another wind waker style game that would have solved all the problems)

Man...

Man.

Cilla Black

twilight princess was an OK game but a massive disappointment

except for that stone dragon fight, that was so great

SwissLion

Twilight Princess was very samey and had a pretty bland world (though some of the detailing wqas nice and the twilight world was kinda cool) but there was still quite a bit of fun stuff in there. Most of the boss fights were cool.

But then you had stuff like the glowbug collecting and pretty much anything in wolf form.

No Great Name

The thing is Skyward Sword isn't Twilight Princess

Adus

I liked Twilight Princess. No interest in SS. Don't even own a Wii anymore.

Deus Ex is my game of the year, yes even over Portal 2. Portal 2 was great and all, but I just found DEHR more satisfying.

T4CT

My GOTY list so far (the only list that matters)

Arkham City
Uncharted 3


Dead Space 2 was alright
All the hours I've gotten to play Skyrim point towards it being there too

PaperLuigi44

Driver: San Fransisco is my current top-runner followed by Arkham City, Skyrim and Saints Row 3 are likely to be candidates.

Oh, and Ghost Trick, god, you want to talk about forgetting Portal based on how early it was released, that was back in January.

Wimble

Portal 2 completely crushed Portal for me

Everything Portal did so well got improved. This is especially true for the puzzle design, I think. Basically all the new things introduced in the mechanics, story etc plus them pushing all the old things to the next level makes playing Portal feel kind of like a tutorial for 2 to me

Blankzilla

No Great Name wrote:

The thing is Skyward Sword isn't Twilight Princess

It also hasn't come out yet! So a lot of people are expecting it to be similar.

If it changes a whole bunch, that is great because Zelda is becoming kind of stagnant, but it ain't really crazy to think they will be similar.

Stilts

Wimble wrote:

Portal 2 completely crushed Portal for me

Everything Portal did so well got improved. This is especially true for the puzzle design, I think. Basically all the new things introduced in the mechanics, story etc plus them pushing all the old things to the next level makes playing Portal feel kind of like a tutorial for 2 to me

The only thing I didn't like about Portal 2 was the white gel. And, thankfully, there weren't many puzzles that used it.

natek

portal 2 co-op, drunk, until 5 am was a fun experience
I have failed at playing any of the other great new games this year so far except for LA Noire but it was not that outstanding

this month will probably have my GOTY with either skyrim or saints row

Wimble

Stilts wrote:

Wimble wrote:

Portal 2 completely crushed Portal for me

Everything Portal did so well got improved. This is especially true for the puzzle design, I think. Basically all the new things introduced in the mechanics, story etc plus them pushing all the old things to the next level makes playing Portal feel kind of like a tutorial for 2 to me

The only thing I didn't like about Portal 2 was the white gel. And, thankfully, there weren't many puzzles that used it.

yeah, agreed. I think the gel stuff overall felt a little weird because the solutions weren't as elegant and clean cut as with the other types

Stilts

Wimble wrote:

Stilts wrote:

Wimble wrote:

Portal 2 completely crushed Portal for me

Everything Portal did so well got improved. This is especially true for the puzzle design, I think. Basically all the new things introduced in the mechanics, story etc plus them pushing all the old things to the next level makes playing Portal feel kind of like a tutorial for 2 to me

The only thing I didn't like about Portal 2 was the white gel. And, thankfully, there weren't many puzzles that used it.

yeah, agreed. I think the gel stuff overall felt a little weird because the solutions weren't as elegant and clean cut as with the other types

Actually, I really enjoyed the blue and red gel. It's just when the white gel got introduced that things got annoying and messy.

Darric

The only thing that bugged me about Portal 2 is that I felt the single player could've been a little more challenging. There were some awesome mindbending puzzles in the co-op, and I understand Valve's justification for why that's the case, but I'd still like to have seen at least one like that in the singleplayer. Something like the second last numbered room in Portal 1.

Wimble

so what do you guys think about dead space 2?

I think the atmosphere and level design are still amazing, the weapons/monsters from the first game are still great and the change to zero-g stuff is rad. Also none of those meteor shooting segments hooray

I feel like a lot of the new monster types are kind of boring or shitty, though

Putting my examples in a spoiler just in case!

Spoiler:

The mine monster especially just feels tedious to me and I wonder if anyone thought they were neat and if so why? Cause I can see some merit in the others, but not this one

The hiding/charging guys were fun the one time I didn't know how they worked but then every time after that it just kinda felt like encounters that dragged on

The children/exploding babies are not that bad, just kinda dull. While their concept is creepy and all I think it's pretty low hanging fruit in zombie/human monster themes like this so I don't find it very exciting to fight them

Tef

If it wasn't for the last hour of LA Noire, I think it'd be my GOTY. As it stands, itll be a toss up between Portal 2 and Skyrim, depending on how that plays

TheStig

man, 2011 is just loaded with great games.

PaperLuigi44

Listening to the Bombcast, it sounds like their complaints about the Arkham City story are completely valid, but it still has plenty of kickass moments and is a really fun game.

Medium Dave

It'll be down to U3, AC and Skyrim for me, with Portal 2 and Deus Ex taking the 4th and 5th spots. I think their complaints on AC are completely valid and yeah, it's same problem U3 has: when you make the previous game SO FUCKING GOOD, you can't really do that much better...

Javen

Wait why did they refrain from reviewing Bastion?

Javen

TheStig wrote:

man, 2011 is just loaded with great games.

People manage to mirror this about every year and act surprised!

Ceno

I want a Scrub League for Arkham City challenge rooms/campaigns.

Beef Avenger

Javen wrote:

Wait why did they refrain from reviewing Bastion?

Because they were very involved in documenting its development and are close with the developers, so they didn't want to risk showing any sort of bias

they've talked at length about how they love it, but they see giving any sort of actual score as a sort of official purchasing advice

Javen

Ceno wrote:

It sounds like Brad doesn't like Arkham City. Filibuster 2.0 compiling now...

Of course, for some reason they all seem completely unable to grasp the story in that game. "Who's this guy? What's going on? Why am batarang?" I don't understand it. I thought the story and its execution were just as good, if not better, than Asylum's. There are too many Riddler trophies, yes. But it sounded like they were dumping pretty hard on the game. That could just be my perception because they haven't talked about it that much, let alone said much positive beyond "yeah it's good".

The worst thing about AC's story is that it involves so many villains. It starts out fine, but the story kind of quickly devolves into trying to figure out a way for you to see as many bad guys as possible.

Ceno

Ceno wrote:

Five star reviews so far this year:

Dead Space 2
Little Big Planet 2
Portal 2
Mortal Kombat
LA Noire
Dirt 3
Ocarina of Time 3D
Gears of War 3
Renegade Ops
Batman: Arkham City
NBA 2K12
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Added UC3.

Munkus Beaver

Javen wrote:

Ceno wrote:

It sounds like Brad doesn't like Arkham City. Filibuster 2.0 compiling now...

Of course, for some reason they all seem completely unable to grasp the story in that game. "Who's this guy? What's going on? Why am batarang?" I don't understand it. I thought the story and its execution were just as good, if not better, than Asylum's. There are too many Riddler trophies, yes. But it sounded like they were dumping pretty hard on the game. That could just be my perception because they haven't talked about it that much, let alone said much positive beyond "yeah it's good".

The worst thing about AC's story is that it involves so many villains. It starts out fine, but the story kind of quickly devolves into trying to figure out a way for you to see as many bad guys as possible.

Especially when you're thinking "God dang it I want to see more Joker!"

Blankzilla

Oh dang, I wonder how Mortal Kombat is going to hold up

I mean I loved the hell out of it and it has gotten more playtime with me and my friends than anything else this year

and if I remember right the GB guys are big MK fans and also really loved it

admanb

Basically the GOTY deliberations are gonna be excellent.

SimBen

If they don't have a "Best Shooter with 3 in the Title" category they're doing something wrong.

admanb

Best XBox exclusive?

SimBen

Also their "Best Wii Game" category should just be called "Wii Game".

Runner ups: IT'S FUCKING NOTHING

Futore

just watched the Quick Look for Ultimate Marvel versus Capcom 3. It's funny when they review or do quick looks of highly competitive fighting games like that because only about 1% of user comments/feedback from the fighting game community are positive towards them

Blankzilla

Oh dang that is an early quick look

game comes out in two weeks

Mr. G

That's because the game was finished 10 months ago

Blankzilla

They've actually been tweaking and balancing characters as recently as last week, I believe!

Mr. G

Yeah I know

Still an easy joke

Blankzilla

Haven't you heard

I do not get jokes