The 2012 Ragey's: Still not presented by Southern Comfort
But much was consumed over the course of the year.
But much was consumed over the course of the year.
10: The Standing in the rain, staring into the window of a friends big party that you weren't invited to award for "Game I wish I got to play" goes to....
Hot Shots Gold: World Invitational (PS Vita, PS3)
Why do you hate me, Sony? I didn't even bitch when my credit card got stolen after Anonymous hacked your ass. Playstation got two Hot Shots Golf games. Playstation 2 got two of them. So did the PSP. So why did the PS3 owners get left hanging? I fucking love these games and anxiously awaiting a new PS3 installment I see it get released on the Vita. I'm not paying for a Vita, assholes. Mobile phones are killing on portable gaming. Oh, but you released it on PSN for Japan? Well that's cool, when does the US get it? What do you mean you don't know? Answer me!
Seriously, I don't know why I love this franchise so much but I'm tired of waiting for it. I need a new Hot Shots Golf, and I need like like 2 months ago. Hop to it, you fuckers!
9: The I can't believe I paid to see Silent Hill: Revelations 3D in 3D garbage award for "Biggest Disappointment" goes to.....
Final Fantasy 13-2 (XB360/PS3)
This hurts. A lot. As a life long Final Fantasy fan I keep waiting for this series to repeat the glory days of Four, Six, and Ten. But aside from looking like they want to make movies, Squeenix seems to be content with trying to cram this universe down my throat.
I'm going to call this "Raiden Syndrome". Because like Metal Gear creator Kojima, Square Enix seems to be really trying to push me to like Lightning as a character. She's easily the most angsty protagonist in the FF Universe (a place that has Squall and Cloud, so that's impressive), it makes a game about trying to find this person and bring her back not great motivation to finish the game.
And really, the game is probably the most frustrating thing about 13-2. It seems like every complaint I (as well as many others) had with the game, they seemed to fix by replacing them with new equally annoying problems: World Maps came back, but you jump from map to map through excessively busy and boring menus. You get new interesting protagonists, but they are joined by the ragtag band of unlikeable douches from the last game. The story still doesn't make a lick of sense. Worst of all, I literally fall asleep every time I try to play.
Glad they tried to fix some things, but if I'm nodding off while playing your game that's obviously a step in the wrong direction. Maybe they'll fix it in 13-3 but I am not getting my hopes up.
8. The Bruce Willis was a Ghost the Whole Time award for "Biggest Surprise" goes to.....
I'm going to call this "Raiden Syndrome". Because like Metal Gear creator Kojima, Square Enix seems to be really trying to push me to like Lightning as a character. She's easily the most angsty protagonist in the FF Universe (a place that has Squall and Cloud, so that's impressive), it makes a game about trying to find this person and bring her back not great motivation to finish the game.
And really, the game is probably the most frustrating thing about 13-2. It seems like every complaint I (as well as many others) had with the game, they seemed to fix by replacing them with new equally annoying problems: World Maps came back, but you jump from map to map through excessively busy and boring menus. You get new interesting protagonists, but they are joined by the ragtag band of unlikeable douches from the last game. The story still doesn't make a lick of sense. Worst of all, I literally fall asleep every time I try to play.
Glad they tried to fix some things, but if I'm nodding off while playing your game that's obviously a step in the wrong direction. Maybe they'll fix it in 13-3 but I am not getting my hopes up.
8. The Bruce Willis was a Ghost the Whole Time award for "Biggest Surprise" goes to.....
Slender (PC)
Up until its release, I would have just stared at you blankly if you asked me who the "Slender Man" was. At the suggestion of randoms I downloaded this free PC title and gave it a wild shot in the dark. Initial impressions were that it was slow and boring.
But what followed to me was a shining example that there are some people in the game development world who understand what makes a horror game terrifying. Bone chilling audio, Creepy visuals, and a genuinely terrifying lore spawned by some very creative people produced a survival horror experience that I have not had in quite some time. It just makes me wonder what they could do with an actual budget.
Slender is still free to download. So if you haven't had the opportunity to sit down with it yet, I suggest you do so. And make sure you have a fresh set of pants or two on standby.
7. The Lets Make Every Fucking Meme on the Internet Grumpy Cat award for "Most Overhyped game" this year goes to.....
6. The Antichrist Superstar to Mechanical Animals award for "Amazing then Forgotten" game of the year.
Unfortunately, the game only has 6 levels. And for a 60 dollar game, that is a real problem with me. I will admit that the levels in this game are way longer than you would expect, but it seems to me like it would have been better served to break them up some. If you cut each level in half the game would have 12 stages that take 15-30 minutes to complete each. That would make the passage of time as you play seem much more realistic, and make the game seem to move at a faster pace.
If the combat was sped up a bit, and the cut scenes had a skip option, this game stood a real chance to have been my game of the year. But for a new IP Lollipop Chainsaw made a pretty strong showing, just not a long one. For the amount of game this had it should have been 30 or 40 bucks tops. Miss Starling accepts the award for worst value.
4. The "I've only done a few bumps, I haven't done lines." award for "Best Value" goes to....
3. The Phil Dawson 28 of 29 honorable mention goes to....
I and many other people still hold Silent Hill 2 as one of the best games ever created. It has an incredible soundtrack, and excellent story, is genuinely scary, properly paced, and has good replay value with multiple and varied endings. Giving it the nice HD gloss over gives it an opportunity to bring it to new audiences as well. Since I couldn't think of one game that stood out enough this year to be the Game of the Year, I decided to give the honor to a game that really deserves it. Disappointed? Well fuck you. Silent Hill 2 and 3 are amazing.
But what followed to me was a shining example that there are some people in the game development world who understand what makes a horror game terrifying. Bone chilling audio, Creepy visuals, and a genuinely terrifying lore spawned by some very creative people produced a survival horror experience that I have not had in quite some time. It just makes me wonder what they could do with an actual budget.
Slender is still free to download. So if you haven't had the opportunity to sit down with it yet, I suggest you do so. And make sure you have a fresh set of pants or two on standby.
7. The Lets Make Every Fucking Meme on the Internet Grumpy Cat award for "Most Overhyped game" this year goes to.....
Halo 4 (XB360)
I really don't know what else I can add to my previous "hate speech" as its been called. This game came out to praise like it cured 5 forms of cancer when it came out of the packaging. I played a fairly pedestrian and samey FPS with staggeringly little innovation to the original formula. I was able to see it through to the end, but I was incredibly underwhelmed.
My review was called into a question on xmas by a colleague of mine from PijigaMonkey Productions (I'm not sure he has actual company name yet, but you can find him on youtube) where he basically said he disagreed with my review. I asked him what he took issue with in the review to which he responded with "Well, I like the game".
Which pretty much summarized my main point, Halo is successful because it has a feverish and relentless core of fans based solely on nostalgia. Nostalgia for a solid game in a weak launch lineup. It wasn't innovative at the time, and its not innovative now. Its not a bad game as far as FPS games are concerned but because there are so many better options it shocks me that people praise this game as much as they do. There are better FPS games.
My review was called into a question on xmas by a colleague of mine from PijigaMonkey Productions (I'm not sure he has actual company name yet, but you can find him on youtube) where he basically said he disagreed with my review. I asked him what he took issue with in the review to which he responded with "Well, I like the game".
Which pretty much summarized my main point, Halo is successful because it has a feverish and relentless core of fans based solely on nostalgia. Nostalgia for a solid game in a weak launch lineup. It wasn't innovative at the time, and its not innovative now. Its not a bad game as far as FPS games are concerned but because there are so many better options it shocks me that people praise this game as much as they do. There are better FPS games.
6. The Antichrist Superstar to Mechanical Animals award for "Amazing then Forgotten" game of the year.
Mass Effect 3 (PS3/XB360)
This game had some real possible "Game of the year" implications, but I was incredibly torn on if it would hold up over time. Since the games release, DLC controversy, and subsequent firestorm of crybabies being unsatisfied with the ending (The likes of which I've never seen striking a deep wound to creative integrity as far as I'm concerned). Mass Effect 3 turned out to be an excellent 3rd person shooter that leaned more towards the Gears of War style of game play rather than the Action + RPG elements space saga I was hoping for.
My problem comes in once I was finished, that's it. I was finished. The multiplayer had no draw for me and neither did the DLC. Instead of adding cool innovative features (say some form of spaceship combat? I mean, its only three 40 hour games. I'm sure the Normandy had to fight something.) the game just regressed to a cover based shooter that became surprisingly linear. What happened to the freedom to explore random planets?
I can't call the game "underrated" since it is winning a few game of the year honors, and was considered a commercial success. But I do find myself questioning who is still playing it or how successful the DLC has been. I'm sure I'll eventually come back to it, but like Dead Space 2 last year, it feels like a flavor of the month title that was immediately pushed aside when the next big AAA game came out.
My problem comes in once I was finished, that's it. I was finished. The multiplayer had no draw for me and neither did the DLC. Instead of adding cool innovative features (say some form of spaceship combat? I mean, its only three 40 hour games. I'm sure the Normandy had to fight something.) the game just regressed to a cover based shooter that became surprisingly linear. What happened to the freedom to explore random planets?
I can't call the game "underrated" since it is winning a few game of the year honors, and was considered a commercial success. But I do find myself questioning who is still playing it or how successful the DLC has been. I'm sure I'll eventually come back to it, but like Dead Space 2 last year, it feels like a flavor of the month title that was immediately pushed aside when the next big AAA game came out.
5. The 89 Cent Taco Bell Cheese Roll up award for "Worst Value" goes to....
Lollipop Chainsaw (XB360/PS3)
I found myself surprisingly enamored with this release as time passed. This feeling was intensified as I was at PAX East and unable to try it there. Thankfully, it managed to deliver as a fun to play zombie hack and slasher with a penchant for the ridiculous story and lots of costumes to unlock.
Unfortunately, the game only has 6 levels. And for a 60 dollar game, that is a real problem with me. I will admit that the levels in this game are way longer than you would expect, but it seems to me like it would have been better served to break them up some. If you cut each level in half the game would have 12 stages that take 15-30 minutes to complete each. That would make the passage of time as you play seem much more realistic, and make the game seem to move at a faster pace.
If the combat was sped up a bit, and the cut scenes had a skip option, this game stood a real chance to have been my game of the year. But for a new IP Lollipop Chainsaw made a pretty strong showing, just not a long one. For the amount of game this had it should have been 30 or 40 bucks tops. Miss Starling accepts the award for worst value.
4. The "I've only done a few bumps, I haven't done lines." award for "Best Value" goes to....
Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss (PS3 DLC)
I was really struggling with what I was going to to give my Best Value Award to. Because there were a handful of games I played quite a bit after I bought them. But really this makes the most logical sense. Dark Souls released a DLC add on that added about 2 or 3 new maps, about 4 or 5 new bosses, and some new weapons and abilities.
I worried that 20 bucks would be a bit steep for the DLC, but frankly? Its gotten me to play a game I've already logged well over 250 hours with another 150 more. More so than that, its made the game feel completely brand new again as I tried new builds, new weapons, and new attacks.
I know the game like the back of my hand and well after a year of release, I'm still not bored with it. I was temped to make Dark Souls my game of the year again but that seemed like a cop out, but it certainly deserves best value for all the time I've put into it.
I worried that 20 bucks would be a bit steep for the DLC, but frankly? Its gotten me to play a game I've already logged well over 250 hours with another 150 more. More so than that, its made the game feel completely brand new again as I tried new builds, new weapons, and new attacks.
I know the game like the back of my hand and well after a year of release, I'm still not bored with it. I was temped to make Dark Souls my game of the year again but that seemed like a cop out, but it certainly deserves best value for all the time I've put into it.
3. The Phil Dawson 28 of 29 honorable mention goes to....
Resident Evil 6 (XB360/PS3)
Resident Evil 6 got a good deal of well deserved flack for basically not being a traditional Resident Evil game. I complained about it quite a bit on this very blog about it being more of a generic 3rd person shooter with too many genre elements added in, if anything.
But the one thing I should probably make mention is despite all the faults I had with the game, I still find myself enjoying it. If it was just replaying the stories over and over, that might get tiresome. But I never bore of the Mercenaries mode. I can easily toss that in and kill an hour of my time and still be looking to play it. I caught myself trying to rank in the Residentevil.net world events. It may have gotten a bit of a beating in the reviews but its sold very well, and really is a pretty solid title.
I play this game a lot still, so I think it deserves the honorable mention.
But the one thing I should probably make mention is despite all the faults I had with the game, I still find myself enjoying it. If it was just replaying the stories over and over, that might get tiresome. But I never bore of the Mercenaries mode. I can easily toss that in and kill an hour of my time and still be looking to play it. I caught myself trying to rank in the Residentevil.net world events. It may have gotten a bit of a beating in the reviews but its sold very well, and really is a pretty solid title.
I play this game a lot still, so I think it deserves the honorable mention.
2. The Having to meet the "Tickle Monster" in the Penn St. Locker Room award for "Worst Game of the Year" goes to.....
Dishonored (XB360/PS3)
I was pretty hard pressed for a worst game a year because as far as actual playable games go, nothing really stood out as exceptionally poor to me. Really it came down to what games did I play more than others, or I suppose in this case, what game did I want to play more of.
Dishonored is one of those games that was completely marketed out the ass around its release and nearly all the trailers I saw featured no game play footage. After Dead Island, I don't trust that. But since I knew nothing about it and I had no expectations going in, so I can't mark it as a disappointment.
But I can say that I spent a large number of hours playing an incredibly underwhelming title, all the while wishing I was doing something else. First person stealth doesn't scratch the itch like 3rd person does. The combat was visceral enough, but again I would have liked it more in 3rd person. Graphics don't fit the style and violence of the game, no real notable music than the nursery rhyme that I can remember, uninteresting predictable story, awful Bethesda controls.
I'm sure these are all things that western RPG fans like, but I didn't. I will probably never pick up Dishonored again, so it takes away the award for my worst of the year.
Dishonored is one of those games that was completely marketed out the ass around its release and nearly all the trailers I saw featured no game play footage. After Dead Island, I don't trust that. But since I knew nothing about it and I had no expectations going in, so I can't mark it as a disappointment.
But I can say that I spent a large number of hours playing an incredibly underwhelming title, all the while wishing I was doing something else. First person stealth doesn't scratch the itch like 3rd person does. The combat was visceral enough, but again I would have liked it more in 3rd person. Graphics don't fit the style and violence of the game, no real notable music than the nursery rhyme that I can remember, uninteresting predictable story, awful Bethesda controls.
I'm sure these are all things that western RPG fans like, but I didn't. I will probably never pick up Dishonored again, so it takes away the award for my worst of the year.
1. The Can't Name Dark Souls again because it won this award last year Award for "Best game of the year" goes to...
Silent Hill HD Collection (PS3/XB360)
I spent weeks trying to figure out what my game of the year was. Saints Row: The Third was really really fun, but it wasn't from this year. Dark Souls won it last year, and even though I played that more than anything this year, it wouldn't be fair to give it again. Resident Evil 6, Dragons Dogma, the Atelier Series, and Mass Effect 3 were all great games I played often, but none of them stuck with me enough to be my Game of the Year.
But then I watched my Omniderp video and remembered that I played the Silent Hill HD Collection. Are these games new? No. But I'll tell you what? With a bunch of new voices and slick new HD graphics made it feel brand new to me. I managed to play Silent Hill 2 like 4 times again. Managed to play Silent Hill 3 like twice. After writing that huge diatribe for Hashtagnerd, it just made me fall in love with these games all over again.
But then I watched my Omniderp video and remembered that I played the Silent Hill HD Collection. Are these games new? No. But I'll tell you what? With a bunch of new voices and slick new HD graphics made it feel brand new to me. I managed to play Silent Hill 2 like 4 times again. Managed to play Silent Hill 3 like twice. After writing that huge diatribe for Hashtagnerd, it just made me fall in love with these games all over again.
I and many other people still hold Silent Hill 2 as one of the best games ever created. It has an incredible soundtrack, and excellent story, is genuinely scary, properly paced, and has good replay value with multiple and varied endings. Giving it the nice HD gloss over gives it an opportunity to bring it to new audiences as well. Since I couldn't think of one game that stood out enough this year to be the Game of the Year, I decided to give the honor to a game that really deserves it. Disappointed? Well fuck you. Silent Hill 2 and 3 are amazing.
I can't believe that after all this time I am still writing on this thing. I'm even more surprised when I find out someone is actually reading it. With only 6 followers and no comments I seriously thought I was just putting this up here for me. But if people are actually enjoying my stuff, then for that I thank you greatly. More to come soon!
Happy 2012 bitches, see ya next year.
Happy 2012 bitches, see ya next year.
Glad you have SH the top spot. It goes to show true merit has longevity and that's a long time for a title to hold up. Congratulations on a successful year! As always, the award titles were hilarious. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteThis was really entertaining to read as usual! Congrats on a great year of blogging... keep up the good work because your writing rocks. The only thing I want to ask is, "why can't a game win 2 years in a row?"
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Chris! Glad to see you stuck with the blog. I always read your new entries, even though I may not comment. I also love the award titles. Seriously funny.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I didn't want to give Dark Souls the game of the year again, is because I was trying to stick to games that came out within the year Jan to Dec (or games I got for xmas that year). I wanted to keep it to the newer stuff that I actually reviewed. Awarding a game that I raved about a year ago seemed like a cop out. There were really a lot of great games this year.
ReplyDelete