Forums > Game Talk > Your game of the year 2010
Starbuck the Third (22596) on 12/28/2010 2:11 PM · Permalink · Report
Self explanitory, what was your single favorite game of 2010 and why?
For me, it is Fallout: New Vegas, simply because it kept me entertained for longer than any other game this year without having to resort to playing through it again for the sake of it/because of something missed or achievement whoring.
Patrick Bregger (308706) on 12/28/2010 2:28 PM · Permalink · Report
Thief II: The Metal Age. Wait, that doesn't count?
Now it is going to be hard. The games which entertained me most were Mas Effect 2, Alpha Protocol and Fallout: New Vegas. All are incredible fun but all have serious flaws: ME2 has a very poor plot and stupid mini games, AP is very unpolished and New Vegas has too many boring quests (gameplay-wise!)
Sure I can't go with Thief II? I never played it before 2010 and it has not one serious flaw. The only reason it is not #1 on my hitlist is that is not Deus Ex.
Starbuck the Third (22596) on 12/28/2010 4:57 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Patrick Bregger wrote] Sure I can't go with Thief II?[/Q --end Patrick Bregger wrote--]
Hmmm... Kinda defies the point, but i'm feeling generous.
Donatello (466) on 12/28/2010 3:15 PM · Permalink · Report
Haven't played much of this year's releases, but I'd say Valkyria Chronicles 2 is worthy of the title at this point. The story and the characters are nothing extraordinary or even great, most of the characters are stereotypical as you can get, but it's packed with content, looks really nice, has fantastic music (first time I actually can say that I like Sakimoto), and the characters actually start to grow on you. The main cast is like Naruto all over again, but they are actually a lot more entertaining and likable.
Unicorn Lynx (181649) on 12/28/2010 3:19 PM · Permalink · Report
It was actually a nice year. Mafia 2, Mass Effect 2, and Alpha Protocol were all nice, but I vote for Fallout: New Vegas as well.
Lain Crowley (6629) on 12/28/2010 6:32 PM · Permalink · Report
Since buying a PS3 I actually have bought a few games made in 2010, but not too many, so I guess it goes, by default, to Spelunker HD, since Gran Turismo 5 certainly doesn't deserve it. I'll get around to adding Spelunkers and Spelunker Black/HD to moby just as soon as someone makes an official announcement about the gamefly deal.
Corn Popper (68971) on 12/28/2010 7:21 PM · Permalink · Report
What else do you need to know about the GF deal?
Pseudo_Intellectual (67532) on 12/28/2010 7:48 PM · Permalink · Report
I don't think it's unfair to expect it might warrant even a wholly nominal news post.
Lain Crowley (6629) on 12/29/2010 2:52 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]news post [/Q --end Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]
This is the entirety of what I want.
Corn Popper (68971) on 12/29/2010 3:39 AM · Permalink · Report
When we're told we can we will.
piltdown_man (255226) on 12/28/2010 11:02 PM · Permalink · Report
The game I enjoyed most this year is Fallout 3. Not a 2010 game but one I played for three months straight and thoroughly enjoyed.
Got it for Christmas last year with all the add-on packages and it was a revelation. The scope of the game was bigger than anything I'd ever played before. The quality of the graphics made full use of my graphics card for the first time.
The attention to detail, being able to go back to an area and find something I'd missed or in the middle of an area of apparent wilderness and to find a relic of someone who'd not survived the nuclear attack.
Little things like that gave great depth to a good story.
Slug Camargo (583) on 12/29/2010 12:22 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start piltdown man wrote--]The game I enjoyed most this year is Fallout 3. Not a 2010 game but one I played for three months straight and thoroughly enjoyed.[/Q --end piltdown man wrote--] High five! Weeeeeeeeeeee!
And you haven't seen nothing yet. Once you finish the vanilla game, make sure you try some of these. Pay special attention to FWE and the quests by Puce Moose. Merry Christmas! :P
piltdown_man (255226) on 1/9/2011 2:40 PM · Permalink · Report
Thanks! These will keep me busy for quite a while. Will let you know how I get on but won't be starting until February as off on a weeks holiday up the Nile river very soon
Slug Camargo (583) on 1/19/2011 3:06 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start piltdown man wrote--]Thanks! These will keep me busy for quite a while. Will let you know how I get on but won't be starting until February as off on a weeks holiday up the Nile river very soon [/Q --end piltdown man wrote--] Well, that's some vacation o_o And I'm counting money to go camping about 60 kilometers from my home for 5 days.
Anyway, I wrote that mod guide, so if you have any problem or doubts just ask away.
Adzuken (836) on 12/29/2010 12:21 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
The year's not over yet, but whatevs:
As it stands, I'm giving this year to Deadly Premonition. In a year jammed full of sequels, spin-offs, retro-revivals, and continuations, Deadly Premonition stood out for me as something rampantly unique. Sure, it looked like ass, and a lot of the mechanics were pretty loose, but the quirky characters, bizarre plot, and memorable moments made it stand out for me. Other games this year may have been more technically and mechanically proficient, but none that I've played can match its soul.
I reserve the right to change my mind later, though. There are a lot of runners-up for me, and a lot of games that I was unable to play since I was unemployed for most of the year.
j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】 (114195) on 12/29/2010 4:10 AM · Permalink · Report
This. What a fantastic game. This is the sort of game that people made all the time back in the late '90s...weird, ambitious, experimental games that were technically deficient but had a ton of heart poured into them. Nobody makes games like this anymore -- only the indies would take a chance like this, but they don't have the budgets to.
Super Meat Boy was also an incredible game. It's kind of sad for the industry that one of the year's most forward-thinking and polished games was a 2D platformer. I think I logged a solid 20-25 hours in this game the week it came out. Just waiting on the patch to pass certification and I'll be going back to it again. So much fun.
I'll also tentatively throw Nier into this discussion. I've only played an hour or so of it, so I can't say anything definite as of yet, but everything I've seen, read, and played of it so far tells me this is a fantastic game. It's like if Bullet Witch was a post-post-apocalyptic action RPG and...you know...actually a good game. And I liked Bullet Witch.
(Also, I am apparently Brandon Sheffield and/or Tim Rogers.)
duffers on 1/18/2011 7:25 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start 雷堂承太朗 -djsw- wrote--]This. What a fantastic game. This is the sort of game that people made all the time back in the late '90s[/Q --end 雷堂承太朗 -djsw- wrote--]
Like what? The only thing I can think of that's similar is Flower, Sun and Rain. I've only played DR for a few hours, but it has my vote for game of the year too. Stellar bit of work.
j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】 (114195) on 1/19/2011 3:45 AM · Permalink · Report
The first thing that comes to mind for me is Disaster Report. What I mean is that major console games today are never particularly risky, much less downright bizarre. Deadly Premonition is a game that shuns marketing and focus testing, in favor of just trusting the director's gut instinct. It's an honest game. Swery himself is an...interesting guy, too.
Spy Fiction is by the same team that did DP, but I haven't gotten around to playing it yet. It looks similarly bizarre, though...first game I've come across that touts garbage searching as a key feature.
Slug Camargo (583) on 1/19/2011 2:42 PM · Permalink · Report
I usually don't give a flying fuck about console exclusive games since chances are I'm not gonna get to play them ever, but for some reason I ended up at your review of this; and I gotta say you did a wonderful job at selling it.
While you were describing it in "the good" I was thinking to myself, "Well, that all sounds very very Twin Peaks-ey --how come we don't have more games that remind of Twin Peaks? Agent Cooper would make the most fantastic game protagonist ever!", and then you went ahead and mentioned the show in that stew analogy, and that ended up the selling thing. So I guess what I'm saying is well done.
Too bad I'll never know whether all that praise of sorts was deserved (well, maybe when a 360 emulator comes out, but I get the feeling it may take a while).
Pseudo_Intellectual (67532) on 12/29/2010 2:08 AM · Permalink · Report
I think I probably logged the most time in 2010 grinding in Echo Bazaar (which, since they're now charging money to provide Fate for all sorts of extended story options, can now be entered here).
Slug Camargo (583) on 12/29/2010 4:54 AM · Permalink · Report
I had saved a spot for New Vegas since like February, but, even though it is admittedly better than just about every other game out there, it also disappointed me in a bunch of aspects I wasn't expecting --lame dialogues, phony open-endedness and, above all, mind-numbingly BORING quests-, ultimately coming out way behind Fallout 3 in my book.
Thus, I declare Frictional Games' Amnesia to be my GOTY. Not only it's the best horror game released since the first Silent Hill, it brought back my faith in the genre; it made me remember why it was that I liked it in the first place.
While we're at it, my new year's resolution will be to come kicking the door of every forum thread mentioning Dead Space 2, FEAR 3 or any other such garbage and yell about how Amnesia already overshadows any of them even before they leave Alpha. There may be some cursing involved.
The Fabulous King (1332) on 1/9/2011 3:16 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze wrote--]...lame dialogues, phony open-endedness... [/Q --end Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze wrote--]
While I'm sure you say "lame dialogues" just to spite some of us into reaction, because lulz Bethesda, but WHATDOYAMEAN phony open-endedness? I've played for 30 hours and haven't even touched the plotline! Are you sure you're using the right words?
Unicorn Lynx (181649) on 1/9/2011 4:26 PM · Permalink · Report
I also don't understand Doc's complaints. "Lame dialogues"? Compared to Torment maybe, but compared to Fallout 3, they are candidates for the Nobel prize for literature.
And the open-endedness is hardcore. New Vegas is the most open-ended RPG since... well, Fallout 2.
Slug Camargo (583) on 1/9/2011 8:58 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start חד-קרן·山猫 wrote--]I also don't understand Doc's complaints. "Lame dialogues"? Compared to Torment maybe, but compared to Fallout 3, they are candidates for the Nobel prize for literature.
And the open-endedness is hardcore. New Vegas is the most open-ended RPG since... well, Fallout 2. [/Q --end חד-קרן·山猫 wrote--] Deus Ex had good dialogues; it had strong ideas, interesting counterpoints, and all of that was told through lines you could quote and remember for years. The dialogues in New Vegas are generic, forgettable ramblings that simply serve the purpose of pushing the plot forward and don't attempt anything else. Plus, more often than not they're way longer than they need to be. There's a lot of potential in the game, the ideas are certainly there, and that's what bothers me: If each faction had at least ONE character with a strong personality things would've been much better. As it stands, can you remember even ONE name other than Caesar?
I never said Fallout 3 had better dialogues, they're just as terrible, mind, but the game seems to acknowledge that by being much less about talking and much more action-based. New Vegas has entire quests based exclusively on walking back and forth between two points of the same f'ing map and clicking through painfully dull line after painfully dull line (pretty much every quest in Freeside comes to mind). I'm all for games based heavily on dialogue, but if you're gonna attempt that you better get an army of good writers and have them give proper personalities to your characters. Again, Deus Ex made a MUCH better job at that.
As for the open-endedness, maybe that wasn't the right word: I meant the supposed freedom of choice regarding the main quest, which is way more restrictive than it cares to admit. As I said before elsewhere, it's not that noticeable when you make the decision of being someone's lapdog since you're following orders after all, but the Yes Man questline is a GIGANTIC letdown full of ridiculous constraints. Come to think of it, since going the pseudo-anarchy way ends up being pretty much the same as going with Mr. House, maybe the entire Yes Man option should've been removed for good.
I think it's still a great game anyway, don't get so touchy about it, it's definitely among my top 3 for the year; I just don't think it's THAT much better than FO3 as everyone else seems to think.
It's certainly not better than a nicely modded FO3 --I mean, "hardcore mode" my ass.
The Fabulous King (1332) on 1/16/2011 3:23 PM · Permalink · Report
I don't know who Yes Man is yet. And I'm only now on my way to Primm to finally do They Went That Way.
And perhaps if I finally get into the main quest I can get what you're complaining about. But judging from your post, it just seems that you're complaining about what has been the standard way to do main quests in open-ended games. And 4 choices is actually quite a feat. For the main quest is always somewhat restrictive in these kinds of games. It's just one quest amongst many. You play these games for the world, and I think the world in New Vegas is nicely built. At least it has what I look in these kinds of games.
When I explore the open-ended world, I want to talk to people and actually hear something unique to that character and that area, unlike in Oblivion or Morrowind where the characters of one location are interchangeable with characters from other locations, cause they all say the same thing.
Now let me think of a few examples about other open-ended games. In Gothic for example, you had three factions to choose from, who only changed how the middle part of the game played out, but in the end you still have to fight the big bad monster. Or Arcanum, you still have to uncover the true secret of Nasruddin.
And not surprisingly, all of the main quests in open-ended games tend to follow the same formula. It's always about chasing or investigating something. In New Vegas you chase (or should chase in my case) after the guys who shot you, in the process getting involved in the political conflict in the area. In Arcanum you chase after Nasruddin, in the process learning horrific things about the old religion in the country. In Ultima 7 you chase after EA, in the process learning horrific things about the new religion that spreads in the country. In Fallout 1 you chase after water chip, in the process learning horrific things about the new religion that spreads in the country. In Fallout 2 you chase after Vault 13, in the process learning horrific things about american government. In Morrowind, you're hired to influence Empire's power in some remote province, only to learn in the process horrific things about the local religion.
And in these games you don't get 4 different choices. Mostly 2, some of them even without a possibility to change the outcome at all.
So in the tradition of open-ended games, New Vegas seems to be raising the standard. But then again, have yet to go to Primm.
And I like the hardcore mode. It brings me back to games like Ultima 7 and Betrayal at Krondor.
Slug Camargo (583) on 1/19/2011 3:20 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Rabbi Guru wrote--] And perhaps if I finally get into the main quest I can get what you're complaining about. But judging from your post, it just seems that you're complaining about what has been the standard way to do main quests in open-ended games. And 4 choices is actually quite a feat. [/Q --end Rabbi Guru wrote--] Maybe my problem is my lack of experience with the genre then. I've never played RPGs before, but I did see an impressive evolution in other genres over the years, so I expected RPGs to show something similar, I expected them to be much more intricate and complex by this day and age than they apparently are, according to your words. You just murdered whatever expectations I could have had in that regard =( And whatever interest I could've had in those games you mention.
As I said time and again, New Vegas is good -it's great, actually-, but I was expecting more. Everyone went insane with that thing in Alpha Protocol where every little action would have major consequences in the world and whatnot, and I was expecting something along those lines for New Vegas --only bigger, badder and better :D Instead, what I got was basically Fallout 3 with a faction war not unlike the one I already saw in Call of Prypiat.
[Q --start Rabbi Guru wrote--] You play these games for the world, and I think the world in New Vegas is nicely built. At least it has what I look in these kinds of games. [/Q --end Rabbi Guru wrote--] I agree with that sentence to the letter, it's just that I found the world in Fallout 3 much more compelling than the one in New Vegas. I found the Capital Wasteland more rich in terms of story, and I found those stories to be more interesting than the ones I found in the Mojave. I guess it has to do with the fact that I like urban environments and New Vegas is basically a futuristic western. Or I'm just more of a Bethesda fanboy than an Obsidian one.
[Q --start Rabbi Guru wrote--] And I like the hardcore mode. It brings me back to games like Ultima 7 and Betrayal at Krondor. [/Q --end Rabbi Guru wrote--] I'm taking a stab in the dark here and say we could agree in liking the idea behind "hardcore mode" (hell, I know I should like it, it's been lifted from my favorite Fallout 3 mod), but my problem is that it's too easy for what it attempts to do. Resources and money are way too abundant for primary needs to be an important factor. In practice, "hardcore mode" only means you have to open the PipBoy every now and then and click on one item or other, plus the character can carry so much weight that running out of supplies is completely out of the question.
The game started promisingly tough, what with the dangerous creatures in the desert and such, but once I reached level 5 or 6 the difficulty curve came crashing down and I was breezing through the rest of the game like I was merrily frolicking in the park. At first I was hoping "hardcore mod" would enhance the challenge, but the truth is I barely felt it at all. Hell, I never even got to find out what -if any- was the penalty for not satisfying my needs in vanilla.
Bethesda already had made the mistake of making their game way too easy and resource-generous, and I was hoping these guys would fix that. Instead, they apparently wasted their time faffing about with those stupid card games and melee moves noone even uses anyway because the engine sucks ass at melee fighting, and left the really interesting additions untested and seven kinds of half-broken --Seriously, how much testing would you say went into the ammo workbench thing? An hour?
Play Fallout 3 with FWE, and then tell me about it. Seriously, after FWE I just can't use the vanilla "fast travel" and not feel I'm cheating.
Even better, play New Vegas with any of the dozen mods that already are making hardcore what it should've been. Here's a good one. And here's an even better one. Here's one of the most complete ones. Or maybe you're masochistic enough to try this one.
Chris Wright (85) on 1/9/2011 1:54 PM · Permalink · Report
Angry Birds, which I give an 8 / 10.
Modern gaming sucks, for the most part.
Indra was here (20738) on 1/9/2011 4:43 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Mount&Blade: Warband by an unknown Turkish developer, should a good enough reason to let them enter the EU. Er, maybe not. :p Lack of story and complex building modes does get to you eventually.
X3 Terran Conflict. Ambition is always a good thing in games. Hope all those can be finished in less than 24 hours games just die and go extinct (reserved for strategy and RPG games).
The Fabulous King (1332) on 1/9/2011 5:27 PM · Permalink · Report
New Vegas.
It reminded me what good gaming was and so I uninstalled all my other games. It saved me from a masochistic self-imposed life of pure misery and pain, which would have only concluded in suicide after I would have realized what truly sad things I was doing to myself in the name of entertainment. New Vegas... is good. It just good. Like Jesus said: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." And what is truth if not good? New Vegas set me free.
I shall not do bad shit anymore. Amen.