Game of the year

robinph

Article
Bioshock got the Game of the year award which is fine by me. I'm really not too sure about their choice of Dirt for best driving game though, that has to be wrong surely.

Stephen

The Orange Box is my favourite of the year. Honourable mention goes to Super Mario Galaxy.

Retr0gamer

Mario Galaxy for me but the sheer value for money that is Orange Box almost took it. If portal was an 8 hour game it would be a different story.

The best multiplayer award to Halo 3 is a joke. Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty 4 make a mockery of it.

hottstuff

COD 4 for me.
And i agree whilst i had great fun with DiRt , PGR4 beats it by a mile.

Creamy Goodness

i don't think portal would of been as great as it was if it was double it's length.

the beauty about it was it knew when to stop, but still has the extra playability with the challenges and also with half life series having a strong modding community i'm sure map packs will be released.

going to pick up mario galaxy soon when all assignments are finished which is next friday

bioshock getting game of the year to me is a travesty, it's a standard shooter that just ripped the whole system shock series off and brought it to the mainstream.

0ubliette

Cremo wrote: »

bioshock getting game of the year to me is a travesty, it's a standard shooter that just ripped the whole system shock series off and brought it to the mainstream.

And thats a bad thing why?
If SS2 is so great, whats so terrible about a game created by its original developers, using it for inspiration for a brand new IP? Seriously, ffs, it would be worse if they decided to use daikatana for inspiration. Bioshock may not be the most original game but its story, setting, gameplay and characters are sublime so who gives a **** if it copies some game from 1999 that 90% of people who bought bioshock probably never played?

[/rant]

Goty for myself, jeez i dont think i can pick jsut one this year, its too hard. Between Halo 3, Bioshock and possibly the darkness. EP2 is great but i just never think of it as being a full game because of the shortnes sof it. Portal i think was good but overrated.
Also id disagree with pgr4 beating Dirt, i like both games but the awful difficulty spikes in pgr4 put me off it.

Retr0gamer

0ubliette wrote: »

possibly the darkness.

There's not possibly about it for me. The game was a rancid puddle of **** and one of the worst games I've played in a very long time.

tman

Pffft!
Who needs the spike (?) game awards when you can make your own vote count in the boards.ie game awards!

And I also loved the Darkness, but given the huge divide of opinion on it, I can't see it winning GotY anywhere...

(Mass Effect, followed closely by Mario Galaxy and Portal for my GotY btw...)

humanji

But SS2 was so much better than Bioshock, so, other than the graphics, it was a lesser knock off. It was still good, but by no means the game of the year, IMO.


There's so many to choose from. It'd be a toss up between the Witcher, which I thought had a great story, great atmosphere, gratuitous sex and violence (I'm easily amused), or Portal, which was just a fantastic breath of fresh air.

armour87

I have to say I don't think Galaxy deserves so much credit. I have the game and Im on 70 stars but I cant put it anywhere near my favourite games like HL2, Res4, Halos,

it feels & looks old.

The wii is a dissapointment 4 me with the xception of the virtual console.

Saying all that, Galaxy is very enjoyable and a must for Mario heads but I just want more from the wii. As it stands Wii sports is still its killer app!

0ubliette

Retr0gamer wrote: »

There's not possibly about it for me. The game was a rancid puddle of **** and one of the worst games I've played in a very long time.

Fair enough, but it had some of the best acting, (jackie, jenny, uncle paulie) memorable scenes (who can forget sitting on the sofa with jenny watching tv? And the first ever first person kiss that didnt look laughably ridiculous?) the nightmare WW1 setting that had more atmosphere than alot of other games released this year..i could go on. Personally id rate it higher than current xbox darling COD 4, which is IMO, the GOTY alright...as in, most overrated game of the year. Its a game, liek MOH:A, that tries to put a new spin on the FPS genre, and tho it doesnt always succeed, its successes more than make up for its failings.

Jack Sheehan

humanji wrote: »

But SS2 was so much better than Bioshock, so, other than the graphics, it was a lesser knock off. It was still good, but by no means the game of the year, IMO.


There's so many to choose from. It'd be a toss up between the Witcher, which I thought had a great story, great atmosphere, gratuitous sex and violence (I'm easily amused), or Portal, which was just a fantastic breath of fresh air.

Is SysShock2 better? I think we're all just clouded by memories here. Yes it was and is a brilliant game but we need to face some facts about it. The graphics aren't great, the difficulty level was obscene at times and the later levels seem rushed and unfinished.

In my opinion BioShock take all of the elements that made SS2 great,takes out the bad bits, adds a few more and then ramps up the experience with stellar graphics, an amazing story and the best voice acting around. On top of that its only the second game to feature a believable Irish accent!

I think it deserves GotY hands down.

humanji

Well the graphics were great for the time. You can hardly, fairly compare that. In several years time Bioshock is going to look dated too. But the gameplay and the atmosphere was incredibly. Biochock just takes these ideas and puts them in a different location. I finished Bioshock and I doubt I'll ever go back to it. I've finished System Shock a couple of times and I still go back to it.

Retr0gamer

0ubliette wrote: »

Fair enough, but it had some of the best acting, (jackie, jenny, uncle paulie) memorable scenes (who can forget sitting on the sofa with jenny watching tv? And the first ever first person kiss that didnt look laughably ridiculous?) the nightmare WW1 setting that had more atmosphere than alot of other games released this year..i could go on. Personally id rate it higher than current xbox darling COD 4, which is IMO, the GOTY alright...as in, most overrated game of the year. Its a game, liek MOH:A, that tries to put a new spin on the FPS genre, and tho it doesnt always succeed, its successes more than make up for its failings.

COD 4 has one thing over the darkness other than the graphics. It was fun to play. The darkness was an absolute dog of a game and the decent acting or atmosphere can't save it. The story was emo pish as well.

Vegeta

Retr0gamer wrote: »

The best multiplayer award to Halo 3 is a joke. Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty 4 make a mockery of it.

QFT my man

j0e

The wii is a dissapointment 4 me QUOTE]
agreed i bought it at release kept it till october but then had enough, in the end sold it and bought a xbox and never looked back, game of the year id say should be cod4 it proves that well designed is the fundamental point in any game also the graphix rock. This game alone has made 2 of my flatmates get 360s. Biggest disappointment id say would be paper mario

edit: just read the catogories biggest pile of ****e ever, best military game? but no best sports game which imo would have went to skate

[DF]Lenny

LoTRO was probably the no1 for me (although i bored after the stupid level 50cap),Orange box a close 2nd and Crysis/CoD 4 third

Oh and Albatross18 S3 for freeware

edit:Bioshock i cant comment on but SS2 was up there with Deus Ex in the classic department , if its a rip off on that well that a good thing!

tman

j0e wrote: »

The wii is a dissapointment 4 me QUOTE]
agreed i bought it at release kept it till october but then had enough, in the end sold it and bought a xbox and never looked back, game of the year id say should be cod4 it proves that well designed is the fundamental point in any game also the graphix rock. This game alone has made 2 of my flatmates get 360s. Biggest disappointment id say would be paper mario

edit: just read the catogories biggest pile of ****e ever, best military game? but no best sports game which imo would have went to skate

Why wait for almost a year and then sell it when Metroid Prime 3 and Mario Galaxy are about to come out?

and skate. was utter ****e, abso****inglutely terrible!

MooseJam

I vote COD4 on PC as my game of the year

super_furry

Torn between Halo 3, CoD4 and Rogue Galaxy. Halo 3 has the edge in multi-player, but Rogue Galaxy is the best Jap RPG in 10 years. Probably Rogue Galaxy, just.

armour87

Release of this Rogue Galaxy over here in the works?

Never heard of it.

What platform?

johnny_ultimate

tman wrote: »

and skate. was utter ****e, abso****inglutely terrible!

Quoted for painful truth. Never has a game irritated in such uncompromising ways. Maybe it just caught me on a bad day, but everytime I ran into one of those goddamn curbs I wanted to yell expletives loudly. Im all for realism, but skate. annoyed the hell out of me, and it can bail in EA's special, uber-flamey levels of hell.

As for game of the year, BioShock was great so not too many complaints there. Of course, the entire contents of The Orange Box and Super Mario Galaxy were better, but at least a worthy contender took the title. All these lists though are far too contentious, and Ive learned not to get worked up about them. Except the Spike awards of course, which can join skate. down yonder.

And lollers at Retr0 and his ravenous outbursts everytime the Darkness is mentioned

(I rather liked it)

Ciaran500

Loved The Darkness too, really got into it.

Your opinion is wrong retro

0ubliette

Retr0gamer wrote: »

COD 4 has one thing over the darkness other than the graphics. It was fun to play. The darkness was an absolute dog of a game and the decent acting or atmosphere can't save it. The story was emo pish as well.

yeah those respawning enemies and their magic hand grenades that can land at your feet from a mile away are a ****ing paragon of gaming fun. Not to mention the wholly original and completely compelling storyline of Russians collaborating with arabs to bring down the free world with DOUBLE YA EMM DEES!! Tom Clancy himself would've been embarrassed by it

Retr0gamer

Well the darkness didn't exactly have a great story either. It was just a terrible revenge story with a main character with a case of the tentacles and some awful WW1 horror levels to increase the emo.

As for the combat, I can live with enemies with accurate grenades. What I can't stand are enemies with AI so dumb that it belongs in a world before Wolfenstein 3D. Creep right up to a bad guy with your tentacles and the proclaim 'WTF!' and stand there for 5 minutes ignoring the creepy tentacles until you get bored and rip their hearts out. The weapons are piss poor and are practically useless, only good for taking out lights which you do for 90% or the game and the majority of darkness powers are just as useless. the darklings seem to only exist to get stuck in the scenery because they never killed one bad guy for me. Enemies are just the same generic thugs over and over but even though CoD 4 has the same problem it makes up for it with a variety of different and unique set pieces while the darkness provides bad guys standing in plain view taking pot shots without ever looking for cover.

I'd rather play a game with some semblence of fun instead of a light bulb shooting sim which is the gaming equivalent of chinese water torture. It remains the only game I've bought that was so bad that I traded it in.

super_furry

armour87 wrote: »

Release of this Rogue Galaxy over here in the works?

Never heard of it.

What platform?

It came out on the PS2 during the Autumn. It's by the same team that made the Dark Cloud games and Dragon Quest VIII - highly recommonded.

While I'm at it, I'd have to throw Puzzle Quest in there too as GoTY material - I've probably spent more time playing it than any other game this year.

Chumpski

Game of the year for me was the first game i played this year, Zelda Twilight Princess. God of War 2 a close second.

I'm sure the last game i play this year Mario Galaxy could top it yet! Cant open it until the 25th.

Portable game of the year for me would definetly be Anno 1701 for the DS.

Chumpski

super_furry wrote: »

It came out on the PS2 during the Autumn. It's by the same team that made the Dark Cloud games and Dragon Quest VIII - highly recommonded.

Don't think they made DQVIII. That was Square Enix, Level 5 developed Rogue Galaxy. Havn't played it anyway. After trying to enjoy FF12 for 4 hours i may be off JRPG's for life.

It is better than FF 12 isn't it? Might get it for xmas if someone can tell me that.

Creamy Goodness

Zelda was a hot contender for last year, wasn't it?

humanji wrote:

But SS2 was so much better than Bioshock, so, other than the graphics, it was a lesser knock off. It was still good, but by no means the game of the year, IMO.

this was what i was trying to say more so than anything else. Bioshock brought nothing really new to the table except good graphics and a decent enough story line and there were better contenders for GOTY.

koneko

Bioshock would probably be in my top 3 for the year, but I think my GOTY would have to be Mass Effect.

0ubliette

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Well the darkness didn't exactly have a great story either. It was just a terrible revenge story with a main character with a case of the tentacles and some awful WW1 horror levels to increase the emo.

Cause there were so many emo's in WW1?
Believe it or not the darkness did have a pretty good story and if youd played it to the end youd have seen it also had a fantastic ending. Fair enough if you didnt get on with it but saying its completely **** is just wrong.

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/927014.asp

The game has some fo the best characters in a game, incredibly well acted (for a game) and memorable set pieces (stalking the halls of the boat stabbing people with the tentacles was just evil) and it has mike patton, which instantly makes it cooler than 99% of anything else released this year. I just find it sad when generic 'terrorist-em-up's' like cod4, which is mroe or less identical to every previous cod game, gets wanked all over and something a bit new or different like the darkness gets the bums rush.

super_furry

Chumpski wrote: »

Don't think they made DQVIII. That was Square Enix, Level 5 developed Rogue Galaxy. Havn't played it anyway. After trying to enjoy FF12 for 4 hours i may be off JRPG's for life.

It is better than FF 12 isn't it? Might get it for xmas if someone can tell me that.

Level 5 made DQVIII for Square. It even uses the same engine as Rogue Galaxy.

jasonbourme.cs

have played most of the big name games this year

Halo 3 . singleplayer was good nice graphics , multiplayer nothing too original , more of the same from the halo team .

Bioshock . really enjoyed this game . but really couldnt be @rsed playing more than once , would have liked a multiplayer for this using plasmid in DM would have been cool

COD4 , loved the single player ( despite the rediculas story ) , admittedly played it/cleared it on veteran so have full appreciation for the game as it was intended to be played not the n00bs who ran through it on easy in 5 hours . multiplayer is awesome the whole unlock system giving added incentive for online play

would defo have to go with COD4 for GOTY . Mario Galaxy a very close second .

id say rockband might have toppled either of those choices as number 1 or 2 if they'd get their finger out and release it in europe !!!!! :mad:

mewso

I wouldn't argue with Bioshock really but it wasn't just inspired by SS2 it was virtually a carbon copy. I can think of very few aspects of Bioshock that weren't taken almost as was in SS2. Oh they did change it so you didn't have to turn on the regeneration booths. By all means take your inspiration from a classic game but ffs try and advance it a bit. It had a great concept and well realised world and I did enjoy it. It just irked me how much of it reminded me of SS2 but as has been said I would be in the minority. At the end of the day I think it says alot about games that Bioshock is a GOTY using ideas that were developed 7 years ago.

The Freeman

i'd go with cod4 personally for sheer fun

the darkness was a joke of a game to be honest

thelordofcheese

j0e wrote: »

Biggest disappointment id say would be paper mario

wait, WHAT?
are you mad?

Spunge

I played Bioshock and really enjoyed it. GOTY? I do not know i havent played many games this year, id probably say the witcher was better but im only into the first 2 or 3 hours of gameplay.
On the topic of SS2, i replayed SS2 a year or 2 ago with the high resolution texture pack thing and the game was totally great again, and i thought on second time round could be one of the best games ever.

Retr0gamer

0ubliette wrote: »

Cause there were so many emo's in WW1?
Believe it or not the darkness did have a pretty good story and if youd played it to the end youd have seen it also had a fantastic ending. Fair enough if you didnt get on with it but saying its completely **** is just wrong.

I did finish it and still thought the ending and story were awful. The only thing that kept me playing was how amazing I heard the ending was and the fact that it was mercifully short. What I got from the ending was a series of scripted sequences with no player control showing how the game really should have been and mike patton spout absolute rubbish.

I'm going to stop talking about the darkness now because that game just riles me up the wrong way.

I'd also whole heartidly recommend Dragon Quest VIII to any RPG fan. It's a far better game than FFXII. Haven't gotten around to playing more than 15 minutes of Rogue Galaxy but if it's as good as DQVIII and the other level 5 game Jeanne D'Arc then it should be excellent.

whitetrash

My choices for GOTY would be: Bioshock, Portal, Mario Galaxy.

Halo 3, no way cause it's just more of the same in every way with no real innovation (don't care about making movies or forge) and the single player wasn't brilliant.

COD4 was more of the same as well, but it's just done so much better than the previous games and halo for that matter. And they have innovated in multiplayer by bringing in the leveling system tied to unlocking bonuses. It's just a lot more fun to play than halo, in single and multiplayer.

Mass Effect was excellent in terms of style and presenting the story, loses points for graphics problems (not really it's fault though), being too easy towards the end, and being a lot more linear than it was pretending to be.

jayteecork

I haven't played Bioshock yet but I hope it's nothing like System Shock 2, which I thought was appalling. After seeing it in so many "best pc games ever" lists I bought it for some ridicolous price off Ebay. I got right to the end but just realised it was a chore rather than something to be enjoyed.
I sold it again on ebay for a profit.

whitetrash

jayteecork wrote: »

I haven't played Bioshock yet but I hope it's nothing like System Shock 2, which I thought was appalling.

SS2 was amazing for it's time in terms of storytelling, depth and presenting a complete and convincing world.

Bioshock is amazing now for those same reasons. It does play in some ways like SS2 with a new skin, but they've made a lot of improvements in terms of gameplay and story telling. Some people complained that Bioshock was dumbed down, but they were really just complaining about the absence of things that were in system shock 2 that they said provided depth but were really just a pain in the ass (like weapon degradation or inventory management),

steviec

Gotta be the Orange Box by a large margin, or more specifically Portal, though TF2 is growing on me more and more as I continue to play it.

Other contenders for me would be Ratchet & Clank, Assassin's Creed, Heavenly Sword, Crackdown and Mass Effect.

I don't agree with most of the games that seem to be scooping all the awards this year to be honest. Bioshock got boring after a couple of hours and I couldn't be bothered going back to it, COD4 is solid but it's just another war game, Mario Galaxy is brilliant in some ways but the core of the game, the controls and camera, are a pain compared to the superior mechanics of Ratchet & Clank I'd been playing beforehand. And Halo 3 is totally over-rated, but then everyone's realised that by now, as I discovered by the rubbish trade in value for it in Game last week.

silvine

steviec wrote: »

And Halo 3 is totally over-rated, but then everyone's realised that by now, as I discovered by the rubbish trade in value for it in Game last week.

You probably got a rubbish trade in value because 1) there's a lot of copies of it floating about and 2) Gamestop give rubbish trade ins .

Sure the singleplayer is overrated, but the multiplayer is incredibly addictive and easy to play. And it is THE Xbox flagship title. It's hard to imagine another game being as big as this one. And before people point to GTAIV, I mean games that are solely for the XBOX 360.

Gotta be the Orange Box by a large margin, or more specifically Portal, though TF2 is growing on me more and more as I continue to play it.

Maybe but a good portion of Orange Box is a game from three years ago. And the other games are a bit short to stand up on their own.

I enjoyed Bioshock but it was hardly as revolutionary as some people made it out to be. It was a a LOT like System Shock 2 except revamped for the next generation. It did have a compelling storyline though. But I doubt I'll be playing it again no matter how much DLC (extra plasmids etc) they release for it. I will be buying Bioshock 2 though

And as for Assassin's Creed.

Most overrated game of the year would be a more fitting award.

No-one seems to have mentioned Mass Effect yet. I haven't played it yet but from what I've read, it seems like a contender.