After discussing what you all are excited for in the second half of the year, we thought the release of Red Dead Redemption signaled a good time to discuss what your highlights of the year so far have been, as well as the game or games that let you down. You’ve got til 6:30 PM PDT today to get comments in for the conversation, so have at it.
Alan Wake, Deadly Premonition and Mass Effect 2 have all been great 2010 games and so far are tops on my list for GOTY.
Aliens vs. Predator is my biggest disappointment so far this year. I didn’t expect it to be good, but I did expect it to at least be decent. And it is not even close to decent. How could anyone release a game called “Aliens vs. Predator” and have us fight against android soldiers?
The two best games released thus far this year are definitely Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption. Mass Effect 2 because the story (and particularly ending) made a huge impact on me (still does, actually), and Red Dead because it’s the most immersive gaming experience I’ve had in a very long time. Also liked Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver, despite the lack of new gameplay mechanics (it is Pokémon, after all…).
My biggest disappointment thus far would probably have to be Splinter Cell Conviction. While I didn’t have any high expectations on it, it certainly didn’t live up to the few expectations I had. Sure, it was cool to hang from a pipe in the ceiling and shoot guys in the face, but that got really old, really fast. Nah, I’d rather play Assassin’s Creed 2, every day of the week.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the easy highlight for me. Alan Wake, while rivaling Dead Space if not surpassing it in atmosphere, was my disappointment. I just expected more of a game that was in development for so long. Three enemy types doesn’t cut it, especially in such a lengthy game.
first, well john mabye you should start to play real games like warcraft! lol i play on my paladin all the time its great.
anyways, try the star wars games they are very good too.
thank you
My highlight of the year so far has been Bioshock 2. I was completely setup for dissapointment with that game, but after finishing it, I enjoyed it more than the original. The ability of use combinations of Weapons and Plasmids really added to the combat of the game.
Games that have let me down; I can’t really think of any. It’s been a pretty solid year in terms of quality releases, and with the amount of games released so far, I’ve only had money to buy the best.
I started Bioshock 2 much like I started Fallout 3 last year: I dropped into this world where I immediately realized I didn’t want to be. After turning it off for several months, I went back and gave it a fair shot. Perhaps I was rewarded with very different experiences, I can say they were similar in that I was blown away by both, and feel ashamed that I didn’t give them a fair shake.
And I swear I’ll get back to Batman Arkham Asylum some day.
Disappointment first, for me it’s easily Splinter Cell Conviction. The game is not fun, at all. The gameplay’s still far too trial and error based, the story is convoluted, I couldn’t care less about any of the character, the mechanics feel gimmicky and contrived. The game just felt like a complete mess to me. The game looked awesome in the build up to release but the final product just didn’t do it for me at all.
Highlight is an obvious one, Mass Effect 2. I feel like everything has already been about that game, it was just a really amazing way to start the year.
ME2 is still my favorite game of this year so far.
Oh and for disappointments?
Lost Planet 2. I was blown away by the first demo, then as release started to approach it’s been nothing but down hill.
I am stuck between ME2 and Red Dead. I think Red Dead pushes ahead because of the ending, and the RPG elements are actually better implemented in Red Dead.
The winner this year was Bayonetta, for sure. Easily one of the best full on game experiences of wild fun I’ve had in ages. I’m playing through Mass Effect 2 right now, but I don’t think it’s going to top the sense of fun Bayonetta gave me.
In terms of disappointments, Final Fantasy XIII. Because I keep going back to it, even though it never does anything for me anymore. I am the JRPGs bitch.
Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, and the Halo Reach Beta have clearly been my defining moments of the first half of this year. They each represented some of the most forward-thinking ideas in their genres, whether you consider Mass Effect’s dialogue and storytelling, RDR’s voice acting and plot, or Halo Reach’s implementation of classes that offer variety rather than imbalanced advantage.
As far as disappointments, the list has been short. As a lover of scores and soundtracks, my biggest disappointment was a beautiful soundtrack composed for a terrible game, namely Dark Void (composed by Battlestar Galactica’s Bear McCreary).
I have to say, 2010 has surprised me in an amazing way thus far in terms of games. I love that we didn’t have to wait ’till the Holiday season to find some quality titles in our midst.
Some of the highlights would definitely be Mass Effect 2 for all the reasons that everyone praised the game for; Beat Hazard (super fun indie game for cheap!); Steam for Mac (seriously, this is a HUGE deal that no one seems to be *really* talking about); Assassin’s Creed 2 (again, another obvious choice) and finally I’d have to say Red Dead Redemption — even though I don’t own it yet, I don’t think I’ve been this excited about a sandbox game since San Andreas came out.
Disappointments? Not many I can think of to be honest. The lack of good JRPGs is a little disturbing though… FFXIII was a huge disappointment to many, but after FFXII (which I honestly did not like at all) I can’t say I’m all that surprised. I guess we could also mention BioShock 2 as a mild disappointment, since it wasn’t the groundbreaking, earth-shattering event that everyone was expecting (or at least hoping) it’d be.
That’s all I can think of from the top of my head. Cheers from Chile, guys, love the show and I’m still FUCKING WAITING FOR THE GAMECLUB TO RESUME! Seriously, did the leprechauns eat your Chaos Theory copies or something? I raced to finish the game to join in on the conversation and now I feel like a total moron.
I still love you guys. No homo.
Penis.
Well, I have to say that my highlight of the year so far has to be God of War 3. The sheer scope and scale of the game had me wowed from beginning to end, and I loved every minute of it. It ended the trilogy on a satisfying note, with a ballsy set piece at the end, which I’ll probably remember for some time. One last word, “Cronos”. One of the most staggering moments of a game I’ve ever played.
In terms of disappointments, i would probably have to chuck Dark Void up there. there was so much potential in the game, and yet they pissed it all away on shoddy mechanics, and a staggeringly by the numbers plot. Also, it marked the end of me enjoying main characters voiced by Nolan North who don’t have the first name Nathan or Desmond. Yikes.
Also, an honorable mention would have to go to Darksiders. surprisingly great game, even if all of the art was drawn by a 12 year old with power fantasies. But apart from that, the game was exceptionally designed, and was an absolute blast to play.
Man, i had forgotten about Bioshock 2. It was still a good game, but it lacked all the charm the original had, and failed to deliver on it’s promises (regarding the big sister being a constant threat). I suppose the fact that I’d forgotten about it shows how little an impact it made on me. Crushing.
Mass Effect 2 has occupied my attention for a big part of this year, in that I played through it and beat it, and am now going back to Mass Effect 1 from time to time to play a completely different character, such as a male adept renegade Shepard.
My favorite game of the year has been, by far, Hero Core. This is a game you’ve probably never heard of. I know you’re distinguished journalists so you’ll do the work on your own but to summarize, its a PC game with Atari 2600-style graphics and Metroidvania exploration and upgrades. I haven’t felt something this exciting to explore since Symphony of the Night and that’s monumental considering I skipped Shadow Complex entirely. I guess I was too cheap at the time and now the hype has dried up.
You can finish Hero Core in a split second if you want; there isn’t anything keeping you from assaulting the final boss directly if you consider you have enough skill. I assume you could beat him, but the game upgrades are so seemingly necessary that you wouldn’t want to go without finding them. Besides, in a game of exploration, why wouldn’t you want to keep exploring? The game has ratcheting difficulty settings which completely remap the world each time so there’s plenty of time to jump into what seems like a short and simple games.
Oh, and the boss fights are fantastic. Except for the Giant Tau machine. Anthony will know what I’m talking about.
I win at grammar.
I’d have to say first, Darksiders as it took me off-guard in a really good way. Mass Effect 2 was very enjoyable, although I have some reservations about it compared to the first. I’ve yet to finish Assassins Creed 2, else that may also be worth mentioning.
Meanwhile… League of Legends has been taking up most of my time from other games :S
For me, Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition, Alan Wake, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Mass Effect 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2 were the biggest and best games for me, they are not perfect by any means, but all these titles made me appreciate gaming this year so far.
My early-2010 disappointment was Army of Two-40th Day. I know you guys disliked the first AO2 and said that 40th Day (while still not necessarily “good”) was an improvement, but I felt the opposite to be true. I really enjoyed the first AO2, and was terribly let down by its sequel.
I’ve not had much time to game as I’m finishing up senior year of college as an engineering student, but when I’ve not spent a night in the library or getting piss ass drunk I’ve been pouring over Plants vs Zombies, Assassin’s Creed 2, PB Winterbottom, and now Red Dead Redemption.
So far the highlight of the past 6 months has been Red Dead, I never have cared for GTA, I’ve loved most of the “GTA with *insert noun here*” games such as Bully and this one does not let me down. The highlight of the game so far has been the attack on the fort: despite working out already that day and being up for 18 hours that day, my heart was pounding as West Dickens walked up to his carriage and tapped on it’s walls.
Biggest let down? There hasn’t been one really, but from what I’ve seen it’s been the PSP Go. I’ve gone from wanting the device now to not wanting to buy any Sony systems, including the PS3, as they seem to be clueless with direction and what the customer wants.
So far, Bayonetta has let me down for the time that I owned a copy. It played better than Devil May Cry 4 and there were tons of crazy/campy stuff that happened. But after I beat the game, I didn’t have the heart to do the extra challenges. I guess they were too hard for my liking.
Dark Void had to be one of the biggest disappointments for me, Seeing it last year in E3 videos gave me a giant boner for it but even just the demo was depressing, Red Dead Redemption certainly made me feel better, playing it now having spent 12hours yet only progressed 37% into the story its still fun (also: donkey woman) MW2 may not have been released in 2010 but I didn’t get a fixed 360 til 2010 and the box was taunting me as M$ had their way with my RROD’d 360 and once I got playing it was not anything like how I’d expected, they say the Spec Ops is better but I have no friends, why can’t gaming companies make games for actual socially awkward basement dwelling gamers? That reminds me, I have to haul some cargo in Eve Online to work the market….
Between Mass Effect 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, Super Mario Galaxy, Alan Wake and Red Dead Redemption (to say nothing of some great downloadable titles like Toy Soldiers) it feels like we’ve already had a full year’s worth of great games and it isn’t even June yet. I fucking love 2010.
Like a lot of other folks, I was disappointed at how ass-smashingly linear Final Fantasy XIII was…and that’s about it. If I can make it to the end of the year with FFXIII as my only gaming disappointment of the year, I’ll be a happy fat man.
Let’s see, some of the great times this year would have to be PAX East and meeting all of you fine gentlemen sans Tyler, although I did smell him and it was wonderful.
Let downs would probably be not feeling the same retro magic I love when playing New Super Mario Bros Wii. I know I’m a bit late to the party on this one, but I was hoping that it would bring the same smile to my face that I get when I pop in SMB3.
Oh, and one more let down, not being able to star in my own personal deepthroat/bukkake extravaganza with the Rebel FM crew at PAX. Maybe next year.
I felt the same about NSBWii until I played it with the same guy I’ve been playing Mario with for 25 years. As a two-player experience it brought back all those old feelings for me. Solo is pretty lifeless.
Mass Effect got me Mass Erect. Twice, if you know what I mean
Hah!
way to show the mass “effection” sanzee
-blam!-
I’ll start with my biggest disappointments (I promise I’m not trolling): God of War 3 and Heavy Rain. The former was my most anticipated game in years, and the whole experience felt soulless and empty. Looking back it will no doubt be my least fondly remembered entry in the series. I appreciate Heavy Rain’s design ambitions, but for a game that emphasizes story and character development so heavily, said characters and story were confusing, inconsistent, and often laughably terrible.
My highlight of this year has to be Mass Effect 2. I had never played the games before and the hype around ME2 caused me to finally cave and check out the original. As engrossing as it was, playing Mass Effect 2 right after the first one blew me away. It was great to see a sequel so eager to fix the problems of the original while still retaining the same spirit.
Also, after all the word of mouth it got from podcasts, etc., I must say I was pretty let down when I picked up Darksiders. It was competent and mostly entertaining (if a little cheesy), but I feel like it was talked up to be an absolutely awesome, must-play experience.
From all the reviews I read and watched, I got the impression that this was a must buy game if on sale. I’ve yet to play it, but heard that although it was no Okami, it was one of the better Zelda clones out there.
Best times thus far have been Red Dead Redemption and Heavy Rain. After a long bout of gaming fatigue, these games pulled me back into playing on a more regular basis.
Also, relationship letters have been top notch.
Letdown wise, got a whiff of white amber last week at Whole Foods and I gotta say, not impressed but I’m not the target audience for the magical elixir anyway.
Mass Effect 2 is definitely my highlight so far. I haven’t been sucked into a game like that for years. I poopsocked it over a weekend, only leaving my apartment late at night for food and cigarettes. For that entire weekend the only other person I met was the clerk at 7-11 and it was actually worth it.
I actually really enjoyed Brütal Legend a lot as well. It’s no Psychonauts or Full Throttle, but I still think it’s pretty underrated.
I have a game that fits both. Split/second. I beat the game recently and realized that it was really good but also frustrating and broken at the same time. When you are good at timing and setting off things it works well. When you are doing well in 1st place and someone sets off a power play that is unavoidable you suffer for no other reason than you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I like it when a bit of skill comes into play. There is no skill if you are in the dead center of an explosion and just get set back. Granted some of them you can avoid but some just screw you with no way around. Also when you get set back it seems almost impossible to catch up. It gets better in multi-player because others will screw people over in front of you allowing you to get a chance, this rarely happens in single player. Also the handling of the cars is shitty at best. The slipstream handles the best. Seems to have the most enjoyable/controllable drift mechanic.
I did enjoy a lot of what the game had and got gold on most of the tracks the first time through. It is rare that I plow through a game this quickly so it does have a lot going for it. The huge set pieces that explode and move around you as you play are great. I was a bit annoyed by the rare occasion they talk about you being in a TV show. Seemed like it was tacked on. What happened to gets having crazy shit happening for no reason?
Since both split/second and blur were reviewed by Rebel FM hosts I am looking forward to playing Blur and seeing how it compares. Considering Split/Second got the better score.
Also for some break music why not some Classified, Hill Top Hoods or even sevendust?
Great show, thanks – been listening since the first one.
Jeremy
Mass Effect 2 is easily my highlight so far this year, though Red Dead is getting close. Not enjoying Knights of the Old Republic, and not having played Mass Effect, I kind of bought it on faith(the good hopeful kind, not the hateful, homophobic, and racist kind). I expected the game-play tweaks and technical fixes to create an enjoyable experience, but goddamn that game is fucking great.
The boss fights in God of War III are also a highlight for me. The Poseidon battle gets a lot of talk, understandably, but The Hades and Hercules battles were fantastic as well.
My highlight of the year was most defiantly Red Dead Redemption. As I don’t really keep up with gaming news all that much, I tend to miss most of the juicy gossip and spoilers that come along with all the big game releases. So imagine my surprise to see that not only had Rockstar released a new game, but it was set in the Old West and it would have a completely original soundtrack; one of my favourite things about Rockstar games are their soundtracks. Indeed, a fantastic game with all the little quirks and oddities that makes a truly great game.
Like a lot of other people, Mass Effect 2 and Just Cause 2 are really high on my most enjoyed games of this year so far. Though, I was thoroughly disappointed with BioShock 2 and Alan Wake. BioShock 2 didn’t really have much of an impactful and thought-provoking story, but it made up for it with some great gameplay (plasmids, level design etc). Alan Wake was quite the opposite: excellent story but boring and repetitive gameplay (shine a light on an enemy, shoot him, throw a flashbang etc).
The surprisingly good game, for me, this year was Deadly Premonition. Though it’s not available in Europe, I’ve watched the GiantBomb Endurance Run of the game and it seems like a fantastical game held back some lack of foresight and graphical appearance.
I’ve still to get my hands on Mario Galaxy 2, Blur and probably a whole host of other games I’m forgetting, but it’s most deffinalty shaping up to be another great gaming year.
#Alan Wake bit
The fact that the game was pretty linear also made it kind of boring. It’s almost as if Remedy wanted to make a movie rather than a game.
WTB edit button
Highlights of my year (so far) include some games from last year I only just got into.
Uncharted 2′s multiplayer, Borderlands, Super Street Fighter, Arkham Asylum…
As for games that came out this year that have kept me pumped:
- BioShock 2
I don’t care what haters say about the narrative, from a gameplay perspective it was more enjoyable and the online multiplayer was surprisingly fun. The first BioShock’s ending twisted my brain but BioShock 2′s last hour or so twisted my heart. Really appreciate the messages the game has about parenthood toward the end, even if they are a little hamfisted. More games need to approach the theme of parenthood, I think.
- Super Mario Galaxy 2
It blows my mind that after two decades the release of a new Mario platforming game is just as imaginitive and polished and exciting as it was when I was a kid.
- Super Street Fighter 4
Congrats to Capcom for finally bringing the fighting genre back into the more mass-market appeal. I don’t know how SF4 got me hooked given that I’ve never been a SF fan in particular, but it did, and SSF4 was a game I bought day one and continue to play for about 5 hours or so every week on average.
- Final Fantasy 13
I’ve been enjoying the characters and story more than I expected, and after I got into the meat of the game I’m actually really liking the combat approach and flow, too. The use of facial expressions and fully voiced dialogue actually goes a long way toward making the characters more likable and relatable for me. Sazh in particular is well-localized and feels rather genuine to me.
- Monster Hunter Tri
This game shocked me with its addictive qualities and breadth of content. Even with just a single friend to play with online this is easily my 2nd most favorite online Wii experience to date.
- Bit.Trip Runner
This series continues to evolve and expand, and this entry in particular is really well-done for what it is. I got to interview the lead designer and the creative metaphorical narrative behind this game series makes me love it even more.
Letdowns?
- Heavy Rain
While I did enjoy Heavy Rain a pretty good amount, I was disappointed at how the story doesn’t REALLY branch off anywhere. Also, the voice acting and writing were either really good or pretty awkward. I DID appreciate what it tried to do and it did succeed at times for me, but as a whole I was left wanting more.
- God of War 3
Gameplay-wise and pacing-wise, stellar experience. The battles on the Titans were some of the most amazing moments in an action game. But they should’ve focused more on this scale, I feel like. More importantly, while I like the gameplay tweaks, the story felt like it stumbled at the finale. Very disappointing to me. Given that the series as seen three directors and all three had a different vision of the ending, I’m left wishing I got to see what Jaffe’s take on things would’ve been. It’s not that I don’t appreciate what message it was going for, it’s just that the whole rest of the game wasn’t leading up to that type of resolution, and furthermore, the very last minute of the game had a sorta cool surprise but ultimately left things too open-ended and unclear for me. At least with LOST I felt satisfied and at peace with the conclusion and its message. Not so here.
This year so far has been overwhelming with great games. Mass Effect 2, Super Street Fighter IV, Just Cause 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Toy Soldiers just to name a few. It’s like game publishers blew their load too early in the year which makes me worry about end of the year gaming season.
Having too many choices in the beginning of the year when it is usually slow is a highlight. There are so many choices out there that if you can’t find an awesome game or 3 to play that came out this year yet, you might still be tripping on those ‘shrooms’ during that college party in January.
There are always going to be games out there that people will hate on so my biggest disappointment this year in gaming is too much talk about being a “gaming journalist” and how those people have to defend what they say, write or do. Can we just stop the hate and go back to appreciating the hard working people that provide the public with the latest happenings in the gaming industry or their “opinion” on the latest game they are reviewing.
I admit, I am jealous that I don’t have a job working in the biz but I do realize most people that are there now worked hard to get the job and continue to work hard to keep it. They are just normal people like everyone else, except Tyler….he is just straight pimp.
Metro 2033 is this year’s Zeno Clash. I enjoyed it very much, despite its flaws. The passion of the developers shines through brilliantly in their respective titles like few AAA big budget titles can. And man did Metro 2033 looked beautiful when the DX was turned up to 11.
Unexpected greatness – BFBC2 mainly for multiplayer. Excellent heroic moments.
Unexpected crapness – Mass Effect 2 felt restricted, silly ending and left me not bothered about ME3.
My three top games have been Mass Effect 2/Red Dead/Deadly mother fucking premonition.
Heavy Rain was by far the biggest disappointment. If I wanted a horribly acted drawn out french film I’d go to netflix not my gamestore. Nothing is more disappointing then people ranting about it being the “mature” game when the story is absolute shit.
3D Dot Game Heroes was a pleasant surprise. Never heard about it until it was out and I’ve found it to be the most beautiful retro game ever. Also really like Angry Birds. I’ve spent more time playing a 99 cent iPhone game than a $70 console game.
I still don’t understand the hate over Heavy Rain, it is by far my favorite. I guess I just bought into the idea more than others but ultimately the intensity of some of the scenes really affected me.
Also thanks mostly to Anthony I picked up Darksiders after he talked about it earlier this year and I fell madly in love. That game is just plain fun and while it is far from perfect, I really like War as a character and I look forward to the sequel.
And of course Mass 2 was fucking awesome but that’s been beaten to death.
While it may surprise some my biggest disappointment of the year so far has been red dead, maybe Im just burnt out on open world games but red dead has failed to grab my attention, i keep going back to it in hopes that it will click but so far it hasn’t. Biggest surprise of this year for me was split/second it really satisfied that burnout itch in me, and I was totally not expecting it to be great.
Other great games so far this year for me have been mass effect 2, bfbc2, splinter cell conviction, skate 3, and Alan wake, and I’m sure some others I’m forgetting.
Put Tyler on the damn front page already.
Battlefield Bad Company 2 has been all I’ve playing online recently.
Final Fantasy 13 was definitely the biggest disappointment of the year for me. It’s not just that it was bad, as there have been plenty of Final Fantasy games I didn’t like, but the way that Square revealed they don’t trust gamers to figure anything out on their own was incredibly disappointing and a sign of why Eastern game development is lagging behind.
Mass Effect 2 story wise, RDR for pure immersion and teh sheer amount of challenges and things to do.
Bayonetta and Mass Effect 2 have both hit early this year with enough force that for once, I won’t be forgetting early-year entries for GOTY discussion.
Disappointments? God of War 3 for not being equal to or greater than it’s immediate predecessor and Heavy Rain not really being a significant enough step forward from Fahrenheit to make up for all the hype that it got
p.s. Arthur is both a xenophobe and a gynophobe for hating on Bayonetta while making excuses for Dante’s Inferno. Enjoy your year full of xtreme titz n bluuddd games that lack any sense of irony, jerk!
ALAN MOTHERFUCKING WAKE.
The biggest disappointment was Heavy Rain. With being a big fan of Indigo Prophecy, I was let down by Quantic Dream’s latest effort. The only thing they added to their formula was great voice acting and animations. I can’t really vouch for anything else…
I hate to say this because everyone is entitled to there own opinion but do you think that maybe you are being a little harsh. I mean come on, the differences between Indigo Prophecy and Heavy rain are substantial. I loved Indigo Prophecy and i found the first few hours of Heavy Rain really slow but to say that all they added were great voice acting and animations is pretty silly dude.
that game was challenging and crazy intense. it set a mood better then the vast majority of other games. it manages to make you care about characters that seem like they could be real people, not just animations on a screen.
You’re no longer entitled to your own opinion if you think the voice acting in Heavy Rain was “great.”
I’d link “Press ‘X’ To Jason” here, but I’m afraid it contains far too many spoilers.
Hey, I’m a new listener.
Just Cause 2 has been a big highlight for me this year as a good stress reliever – the island of Panau is an extremely relaxing place to explore. I don’t really enjoy the story or the combat that much, but the traversal mechanics of para-hookshotting (or whatever) is a really relaxing way to just explore the sprawl.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 wins everything. I’m currently at 135 stars in the game after only a few days of playing it (and shuffling between that, Skate 3, Red Dead Redemption, and Alan Wake). I’m pretty sure I’m going to need to look up some videos for certain green stars.
Oh, and the three previously mentioned games are also great.
The Good:
Battlefield Bad Company 2 was a surprisingly competent single player experience with a multiplayer, that in some cases, is better than COD:MW2
Steam for Mac. More platforms means more development money means more developers. All good things.
Dragon Age: Origins – A strong return for decent Western RPG’s.
Torchlight – Good, cheap fun but no co-op out of the box? Sadness.
Bayonetta – Over-the-top, hyper-sexualization, wrapped around a pretty decent movement and combat system. Music was annoying as hell, however.
Continued trend of year-round releases. Awesome for gamers who want something to play over the summer holidays.
The Bad:
Ubisoft’s continued hatred of PC gamers through their draconian DRM measures. Enough already.
Witcher 2 delayed until 2011.
The whole Activision / Infinity Ward thing.
Borderlands. I understand the initial appeal but without multiplayer all the way through, it’s tediously repetitive and I don’t really understand all the love it gets.
I have purchased no new titles from this year. 2010, for me, has been playing games I got for Christmas. Assassin’s Creed 2 (which would count because I did purchase the DLC packs in 2010) has been the highlight of my year so far. Hopefully I can get the money over the summer to purchase some good titles from earlier in the year (like ME2). And I don’t even need to play it, but just looking at the Iron Man 2 commercials on ESPN every night solidifies my opinion that it is one of the worst games of the year.
Highest point of this year was the Tali love scene. It made me want to be Shepard haha.
Mass Effect 2 has definitely been the highlight of my gaming year. Never before has a game had me hooked on for so long. The amount of player interaction which goes into the game is amazing, and as Arthur said in an earlier show, there is almost no way that two people can get the same ending. I have beat the game twice already and I am playing it a third time just for the hell of it to see what kind of ending I will get this time.
2010 really hasn’t been a year of surprises for me thus far. The games I knew would be good were (Heavy Rain, God of War 3, Mass Effect 2, Bad Company 2 to name a few), and the one game I knew would disappoint me did (Final Fantasy XIII).
Then there were the surprises. I knew Read Dead Redemption would be good but I didn’t expect it to blow me away the way it has. Likewise with Bad Company 2 – I knew the multiplayer in would be fun, but didn’t expect the sheer meatiness and satisfaction it has provided, not to mention the solid and fun single player campaign.
Finally a surprise in the form of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories was pleasant for me. As a non-360 owning fan of the GTA series, and one that thought the episodic content would never see the light of day on the PS3, I was extremely pleased to finally get to play them.
If I had to name one game that I never thought would disappoint me, and did, I’d have to say God of War 3. While it is not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, I felt it lacked the great puzzle and level design that spoiled me in GoW 2. It could just be that God of War has thoroughly run its course and/or my expectations for it were way too high.
I have been very lucky this year. I have yet to really be let down by anything. Mass Effect 2 was the first game to ever make me feel like i wasnt setting in my living room playing a game. It made me forget that I was a cook and a married man living a typical existence. For those incredible 20+ hours I was Condor Shepperd and the human race depended on me and my crew. I hope that one day, another game will amerce me so completely and take me away to a new life, even if its only for a little while.
I did fins the opening acts of Heavy Rain to be kinda slow but man when it picked up I was hooked. Red Dead Redemption has been amazing and I can’t wait to ride my horse through those beautiful fields again.
Final Fantasy XIII was meh. I loved the battle system but the story for the most part was shit.
Loved Alan Wake and playing through older games like assassins cred, shadow complex.
Looking forward to Rock Band 3 now with keytar!
I would have to say that Mass Effect 2 caught me by surprise. I didn’t play the first one at all. After hearing numerous podcasts and websites praising it I tried it. I was blown away with it, and can’t stop playing through it with different results. Biggest disappointment would have to be that they keep delaying rFactor 2 for the PC. I am a huge Sim racing buff and I want a new sim to sink my teeth into.
The lag in Bad Company 2 makes me upset….
My favorite game so far this year has got to be Mass Effect 2. I loved every seconde I spent with it and am planning on doing an insanity run once they’re done releasing dlc.
The biggest surprise for me this year would have to be the Starcraft 2 beta. I don’t play alot of rts games but the hype really got to me for this so I pre-ordered it to get a beta code. I have played at least one match a day since then and have some of the most fun playing this game that I have ever had. Unlike most competitive games I actually feel like I’m getting better at it the more I play.
My biggest disappointment would have to be Halo:Reach. I got into the beta but stopped playing after a few days out of boredom. I guess I’m just not into that kind of game anymore.
Awesomeness:
ME2
BC2
SC: Conviction
RDR
Alan Wake
Surprisingly good:
MAG
White Knight Chronicles
Darksiders
Deadly Premonition
Monster Hunter Tri
Just Cause 2
Disappointments:
Bayonetta
FFXIII
Heavy Rain (The second playthrough ruined it for me)
Red Steel 2
The best: Batman: AA
The worst: Being on a budget and not being able to buy new games day and date. Ask me again in 6 months.
Highlight: Graduating
Let Down: Still unemployed
Red Dead’s really good, it reminds me of some places near where I live (Alberta), where people wear cowboy hats and boots totally free of irony. I should probably hate it then, actually, but I really like the way they’ve mirrored the prairie environment. Seeing Big Horn Sheep in Red Dead reminds me of going to Banff and seeing sheep chewing on an RV’s tires in a parking lot, and then having to wait in a traffic jam caused by a black bear standing in the road. Now I know left-wing feminist city slickers like A.Gies probably hate all wild life and the people depicted in the game, but I think it’s really cool being able to shoot a horse and then skin it. Also, you can hogtie a guy and put him on the FUCKING RAIL ROAD TRACKS and he’ll explode when the train comes. By the way, if any of you know anyone in Edmonton hiring new grads that would be pretty cool. I love you Arthur
Darksiders was by far the game I enjoyed the most this year. I loved pretty much everything about it. It was a combination of many different gameplay mechanics and all were pulled off flawlessly. The setting was great. The character designs and art style were out of this world with an amazing story. In the end it is what I had always wanted Zelda to be and in many ways it out Zelda’ed Zelda.
As for my most disappointing game of 2010. That would be Dante’s Inferno. That game was a lesson in frustration and awful level design. The game was designed around frustrating combat arenas followed by bad platforming in a dull setting.
My favorite game and yet the biggest letdown from the year is MAG. I initially switched to it after being one of those crazy people that played Metal Gear Online, and with a good set of friends, I enjoyed the hell out of it. After 2 months though, and the lack of any new content, it quickly grew old. Now, MGO is my stand-by.
-Mass Effect 2
I’m surprised and happy that Mass Effect 2 is still on the minds for “best of 2010″. As with most of the secondary missions in the game the DLC mission packs have not been enjoyable; the worst so far was the Firewalker pack — “The Hovering Mako Missions”. With Bioware announcing upcoming DLC packs as fillers between ME2 and ME3 I’m hoping for more fun times with Shepard and gang. I’m still playing this game, probably 10th playthrough. Oh and with the recent patch, mining mineral seems less of a chore now. Hopefully it can still be mentioned by the end of 2010.
-God of War 3
Hated the first game and never finished the second (did see the ending on YouTube the night before GoW3 release to get caught up). This was an alright game, typical GoW you’d expect to see just in HD. After finishing the game I did watch the behind the scenes videos and it gave me an appreciation of how much hard work went into the “Scale” factor of the game.
-Super Street Fighter 4
Played it with friends and seems more accessible now. Just pick a character and fight. But putting it out a year later Capcom? My copy of the original SF4 is useless now…
-Lost Planet 2
Very disappointed, all this is game is MT Framework graphics showcase. “Oh look at the sense of scale when fighting these huge akrid bosses.” “Look guys it’s not just snow now, we’ve got jungles, deserts, urban areas, underwater, and OUTER-SPACE!!!” Multiplayer and friends is the only thing that keeps this on my shelf. I’m probably behind my friends, because I’m playing Mass Effect 2 instead.
That’s what I have so far. Getting Red Dead Redemption soon and hope to have fun with that as I did with GTA IV. 2010 rolls along.
As with seemingly everyone else mass effect 2 was definitely a highlight of my year, especially since i played through mass effect 1 for the first time in the day before i got ME2. The ‘streamlining’ of RPG elements in it disappointed me though
. Bad company 2 was also great, mainly because it’s so rewarding to play medic or engineer.
Breath of Death VII is the only indie game i’ve purchased on XBL and it seems pretty damn fun, i’ve only played an hour or so – but for 80 points i already feel like i’ve got my money’s worth
It’s hard to think of disappointments really, i’ve generally been happy with what i’ve played thus far. I was disappointed by Splinter Cell Conviction insofar as it was a splinter cell game, if they had made it a game based around Jason Bourne or something it would have seemed less out of place. The reboot of sparkster sort of disappointed me, i’ve only played the demo and i didn’t like the art style or the difficulty… It just seemed too easy.
At the halfway point, my favorite game has been Mass Effect 2. Gameplay, music, atmosphere, and story have made it the game I come back to. Coming in a close second is Alan Wake, although i have not finished it yet. At the very least thr music in that game Is sick as hell.
Biggest dissapointment is Bioshock 2. It’s my fault but I was expecting so much more from that game. There was nothing really wrong with it, it just left me wanting. Cheers!
Top five for me are
Mass Effect 2 – Could still easily stay as my favorite of the year. One of the best experiences I’ve had in a game.
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom – Best Wii game imo. Though I haven’t played Super Mario Galaxy 2 but just such a great game.
3D Dot Game Heroes – I don’t know what to say about this game. Soooooo fucking great.
Red Dead Redemption – Finally a good Western game.
Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver – Nostaliga overload.
Biggest disappointment me for is are Dante’s Inferno and Bayonetta. I mean the combat in both are good Bayonetta especially but the rest of both games let me down. First time Hideki Kamiya let me down.
Biggest disappointment was BioShock 2. Didn’t feel like it brought anything new to the world of Rapture, just another lap through the same old crap.
I haven’t tried it, but have been disappointed with the reception for the new Prince of Persia game.
Highlights:
Bad Company 2, for being such a formidable competitor for Modern Warfare 2. I was never really a Battlefield man, but this one really grabbed me.
Just finished Alan Wake and it’s probably my favorite of the year so far, such a great story.
I haven’t played Red Dead Redemption yet but it sounds amazing.
Holy crap I forgot about Darksiders. Highlight!!
The only highlight I can think of is Steam on Mac. I got my first ever Mac in January and I’ve never been a computer gamer until now.
The dissapointment has been not playing more games because of Mexican retailers going mad. All standard games (including Wii ones) cost around 77 bucks and special editions are worse (Halo Reach Legendary retails for 215).
Excuse the shitty format. I’m killing time on the bus on my way to a concert (Paul McCartney
).
Biggest Disappointment:
My Friends — They convince me to get Borderlands, then by the time I do they’ve got 4 characters at level 40+ and don’t want to start another character to play at my level. They get Left 4 Dead 2 and I only get to play through 2 stories with them before they finish it all off and move on to the next game. Now they want me to get Red Dead Redemption to form a posse with them. I’m sure by the time I finish my other games and can afford RDR, they’ll have moved on to something else. Fuck that! No more buying games to play with them.
At least you have friends who try different stuff. All my friends play CoD religiously and hardly get new games. Have to play with randoms most of the time through Xbox Live. (shudder)
Turning off the map and name displays in Red Dead’s multiplayer and recreating a The End style sniper duel.
Mass Effect 2 and how intense the final part of the game was. I can honestly say that I have never felt so nervous about losing characters in a video game quite like that. Also, Monster Hunter 3 made me feel great when I found out how good the online mode was for a Wii game.
The only thing that has really let me down has been my computer. Over the past few months my computer has been unable to run many of the games I was used to be able to play because of the new Steam Client not liking single core processors. My single core also made me have to wait for a patch to play Mass Effect 2. I can’t to wait to get a new computer.
Highlights; Heavy Rain and RDR
Lowlight: Mass Effect 2
I may be the only one, but I really couldn’t stand ME:2. I absolutely loved Heavy Rain and Red Dead Redemption though. It’s probably a reflection of why I play videogames. ME:2 suffered from the same things that led me to not like Uncharted 2 last year, it focused mainly on the setting , story and characters which, in my opinion, led to actually playing the game not being fun Both games had just god awful shooting and monotonus enemy encounters. Run up on some dudes in a room designed solely for a shootout and take cover and take them out, repeat ad nauseum. At leasr uncharted 2 looked really pretty. ME:2 tried really had to make me care about the characters and your choices but I couldn’t get into it.
Conversely Heavy Rain had awful characters and story, but playing the game was the most intense experience i’ve ever had with a game. And Red Dead had an actually servicible story line and playing the game was a fucking blast from start to finish. The act of playing the game (why I play games) was so satisfying in both these games, so I had a great time playing them.
Like everyone else I say that Mass Effect 2 was amazing.
Darksiders was a surprisingly awesome love letter to Ocarina of Time.
Red Dead Redemption is almost the western game I have always wanted (would love to see Bethesda’s take on the genre).
Borderlands was another surprisingly addictive game that turned out way better than I thought it would. I know it came out last year but I didn’t get around to it until this year.
Yet another surprisingly good game that came out a while back that I didn’t get around to until this year is the 2008 Prince of Persia. I loved the art style and the game-play was very good.
Another surprising game that I didn’t try until this year is 1 vs 100. I had really wrote it off until me and a few friends jumped in on a whim and ended up having a blast.
I was also surprised by how much fun Just Cause 2 was considering how much I didn’t like the first game.
I can’t really say that I am disappointed by Game Room because I didn’t expect much, but I can see the potential in it and I am afraid that they will never make the changes it needs to be as compelling a product as Nintendo’s Virtual Console is.
I have been disappointed by DLC in general so far this year. The Assassin’s Creed 2 DLC was weak, the Mad Moxi DLC for Borderlands was weak, the Mass Effect 2 DLC has been weak. 2009 was such a strong year DLC wise and so far IMHO 2010 isn’t even coming close to matching it. Maybe I am just playing the wrong games this year while I was playing the right ones last year.
Lastly I have found Starcraft 2 to be a bit disappointing in a strange way. This is going to sound weird but I am kind of disappointed because it feels too much like Starcraft to me. Of course if it didn’t feel enough like Starcraft then I would be disappointed by that so I guess I am just one of those stupid internet douche bags who are never happy.
Deadly Premonition is definitely my surprise of 2010 and currently my game of the year. I just can’t resist its quirky charm. I can confidently say I enjoyed the characters and story much more than Mass Effect 2 (though Mordin is still awesome). FK in the coffee.
No real disappointments (that I have played anyway).
Mass effect 2 has been my favorite game and it’s almost objectively the best game out.
Red Dead I feel has a great first impression but it wears off after doing the same thing all the time which is compounded by the fact that I beat GT4 and LATD so I think I’m finished with overly realistic Rockstar games. But the story in Red Dead is probably equal to ME2 especially the ending although the whole Mexico part could be taken out to create a much better game. Plus I don’t like horse riding.
Splinter Cell has been my biggest disappointment so far. Extremely short game with a really bad story and the game struggled to choose between an action game and a stealth game and failed at both as Batman had far better stealth and as an action game Mass Effect 2 (an RPG) knocks it out of the water. Plus the black and white effect which you are in almost all the time makes the game look bad.
Borderlands was great fun, Battlefield did become my shooter that I always play but didn’t hold my attention as long as I wished as I went back to MW2 about a month or two after it. Still hoping for a BF3 on PC with a massive player count.
That’s about all the games I’ve finished, looking forward to picking up Bioshock 2 when it’s cheaper, Alan wake when I can find some money and some of the XBLA titles I have missed. Plus if someone ever gives me a PS3 a whole shit ton of backlogged games.
Supringly I think Red Dead Redemption isn’t as good as Mass Effect 2. I know that their two different games but nothing can match Mass Effect 2… as far as storytelling and just raw intensity. And I think we can all admit it was one hell of a shooter I mean that in itself is something to commend.
Alan Wake was fun but did not meet my expectations.
I loved Dragon Age: Awakening, though it had a million glitches I still thought it was a good expansion.
Hated Bayonetta, Splinter Cell: Conviction, and Heavy Rain.
God of War III was a technical masterpiece but Kratos was annoying as fuck.
I also loved the Borderlands DLC, we can’t forget about that! (Secret Armory of General Knoxx)
As far as non-hardcore games go, Super Mario Galaxy 2 rocked my socks off. What little I’ve played of it was dope as shit. The way they play with gravity is insane. That to me is a more important technical feat than God of War III’s scaling was. Gravity beats size anyday. Albeit GoW III still rocked.
I honestly didn’t think anything would come close to matching Mass Effect 2 in quality but Red Dead Redemption and Super Mario Galaxy 2 have proven me wrong yet again.
Oh yeah, ALPHA PROTOCOL! PLEASE TALK ABOUT THAT! I WANT TO KNOW YOUR IMPRESSIONS SO FAR! IT COMES OUT TOMORROW!
I haven’t played Red Dead yet, but so far my top game has been Toy Soldiers surprisingly. Alan Wake was good, but didn’t keep me playing like TS. I love that cheap downloadable games can have enough content now to be a “real game” and not some 2 hour experience you never go back to.
Nothing has topped Mass Effect 2 yet in my opinion. The way I felt through out the final hour or so of gameplay probably won’t be matched again this year. Never knowing if someone will die, including your own character, was a great experience that I hope Mass Effect 3 will expand upon greatly. Honorable mentions go to Monster Hunter Tri, Super Street Fight 4, Tilt to Live, and Mount&Blade: Warband.
The biggest disappointment in my eyes was Final Fantasy XIII, it’s just old Japanese tropes with a new coat of paint, the story is so convoluted (even for a Final Fantasy game) that I honestly had no idea what was going on until the final third of the game. Secondary characters came and went, no development, no personalities, Doesn’t anyone question these Fal’Cie things? It didn’t help that every chapter was a literal hallway, and they forced characters on you. Just horrible, and a waste of my money. Honorable mentions here are Splinter Cell: Convictions (No Spy vs. Merc?!) and the Stimulus package for Modern Warfare 2.
Also shout out to my buddy Luigi, it’s a boy!
Mass Effect 2 – An absolutely wonderful experience from beginning to end. The improvements over ME are very impressive.
Bayonetta – This could end up being my game of the year. The visuals and gameplay were incredible. But, the biggest thing for me was how the handled the difficulty. I will freely admit that I’m a super shitty gamer. Devil May Cry, and the like, are way outside my ability. This game’s Easy Difficulty Setting made it possible for me to beat the game while having a thrilling, fun experience. They made too many wonderful game design choices to go into here, but suffice it to say, other game designers should take a very close look at this game.
Dragon Age Origins (plus Awakenings) – I spent so many hours paying this game. I loved every minute of it.
Alan Wake – Absolutely beautiful and immersive. A forest at night has never been rendered so perfectly. I have no real idea what happened by the end of it, but I still enjoyed it very much. There are definitely aspects of the game I could pick apart, but in the end, they were so insignificant as to not matter at all.
God of War III – This game was just fun, fun, FUN!
Final Fantasy XIII – I put probably 140 hours into this game, and that is likely and underestimate. I have never played a Final Fantasy game before. Yes, really, never. This game beat me black and blue, but I simply couldn’t stop playing it. Long after I would have ejected and smashed the disc of a similarly punishing game, I kept plugging away at this one. I eventually beat it, finished all but 6 side missions, and bought the soundtrack (I’ve never that either). When it was all said and done, despite many, many things I would have changed, I ended up really loving this game.
Picross 3D – This is a fantastic update to the original Picross. Picross 3D has been in my DS since the game came out, and is not likely to leave anytime soon. Simply, a great game.
I would have to say mass effect two was something that i played way too much. It had me hypnotized the entire time. It was almost impossible for me to put down.
Heavy Rain while very interesting in concept was just okay for me, the voice acting was okay in most parts. The controls did not seem to be a problem for me.
My suprise was Bad Company 2, the online had me from the second i fired a gun.
Love the show, keep up the fantastic work
I have to say I was let down by Mass Effect 2. While I really liked the story, I wish they hadn’t taken out some of the more traditional RPG elements.
Pros of this year:
-TF2 updates: Yes, they are great and Valve keeps putting them out for free
-Bad Company 2: Fantastic squad game, there haven’t been that many good ones since Republic Commando, well at least I think so.
-Humble Indie Bundle: It was a great thing to do.
-Rockstar saying, “Our games are not designed for young people,” said Lazlow Jones “If you’re a parent and buy one of our games for your child, you’re a terrible parent.” Hopefully that will stop people from saying that video gamers are killers.
Cons:
-EA’s DRM for PC. Heck, it stopped me from getting Splinter Cell. But No I have not pirated it.
Love the show. Listening since Episode 1. BTW New Shirts?
Heavy Rain was both an achievement and a disappointment. I’d been looking forward to the game ever since Indigo Prophecy came out – I loved that game. The amount of fear and genuine physical reactions created during the action scenes of this game are like nothing I’ve played before. But the plot was sub-Bone Collector, Se7en-lite schlock, and the voice acting really was distracting and grating. I switched it to French any time the kids came on.
Special mention to Deadly Premonition, whose in-car monologues with Zach are some of the best writing of the year. Mass Effect was great. Heck, I just started playing Sands of Destruction and I don’t hate it! That’s an achievement!
Let me be the first to say, because it appears to have been completely overlooked here, that I think Mass Effect 2 was a pretty good game.
My biggest disappointment this year was definitely Heavy Rain. It just didn’t connect with me. I’d been looking forward to it since the first rumblings of it from E3 of ’06. I was excited about a mature game with serious themes, but the amateurish writing (and terribad voice acting) just couldn’t carry the game to its lofty goals of emulating a crime-thriller movie experience.
I accept that I’m mostly alone in this opinion, though.
I haven’t really bought many new games this year, so my list is short.
Mass Effect 2 really let me down. My 360 bricked the week before release, so I didn’t finish it until three weeks ago, and after hearing about how great it was, I just expected more. I liked the talky bits, but I thought they were a bit too sparse, and I REALLY didn’t like the combat. I preferred ME1′s system, but that might just be related to me playing on the second to hardest difficulty.
I played a number of XBL Indie Games, with their cheap prices and what not, they seemed like a good thing to waste some time with. The two games which really struck a cord for me was Flotilla and The Impossible Game. Flotilla is a turn based space battle game, which I thought was really fun and had a great art style. The Impossible Game is just a fun thing to play with friends.
The Halo Reach Beta was fun, but I thought it lost some of the depth that Halo 3 had. And no zombies.
My highlight of the year thus far would have to be Mass Effect 2. Everything about that game, the music, story, it’s ability to make me bond with those characters in a way I have never imagined possible in a video game, it blew me away every step of the way. Also, As a Yvonne Strahovsky fanboy (The voice and face of Miranda Lawson) being able to get it on with her was certainly a plus.
My biggest disappointment would be God of War III, I love the first two games..Good old fun and bloodshed. However, games have evolved since then, games have been improved. God of War III decided to stay in the past, with a terrible camera, awful story, and gameplay sections that felt like they were developed 10 years ago. I don’t know if I just liked the old God of War games because I was younger then..but I do know that I was looking so forward to God of War III that I bought the limited edition, to trade it in after playing 5 hours of the game.
One more dissapoint, I thought Deadly Premonition would be fun for a 20 dollar game. WRONG. Giant pile of crap no matter how you look at it. Not worth 5 dollars.
Being counseled by Mordin on biotic sex positions in Mass Effect 2.(pursue Jack)
Putting Hermes in a wheelchair, had he lived any longer. God of War 3
Killing Crawmerax legitimately with a group in Borderlands.
PS. As good as Lost Planet 2 looks is as bad as it plays. Start and Select buttons on a controller ARE NOT ACTION BUTTONS!!
I dont know if this counts, but i just got an iphone 3gs and its probably been the standout for me. Its completely replaced both my ds and psp. Especially since the games are only a buck or two each, i can get a great handful of games for the same price as a single ds game.
If that doesnt count id give it to either Mass Effect 2 or Heavy Rain. Film is and always will be my biggest passion and those games are really trying to blend what i love about film while still giving me the control i enjoy in games.
I havent been dissapointed with anything so far this year. Bioshock 2, GoW 3, Bayonetta, Dark Siders, Bad Company 2, Dot Game Heroes, Red Dead, Galaxy 2, Alan Wake. All those games had way more that i loved about them then I didnt so i really cant complain at all. Everything is AWESOME!
…except the oil spill and arizona
I guess I’ll start off with the easy answer, Mass Effect 2.
ME2 was an improvement in almost every way to the first. The story, while some people may hate on, was so much more personal because it was so character driven. Every single Loyalty Mission felt thought out and part of the overall story. The Combat is probably the easiest improvement to point out, just look at it! On top of that, all of the classes have were improved and refined (even if Adept and Engineer could still use some work). On a side note, I played through ME2 seven times, and will play through it again once the Overlord DLC hits.
Alan Wake was a bit of a surprise for me, even if I had been following this game for years. The story was amazing, I never wanted to put down the controller. I loved how the game was cut into episodes, even if they could have been chopped up more. And even though a lot of people give the ending a bit of crap (because they don’t understand it), I think that’s the sign of a GOOD ending, especially for a game being compared to Lost. It gets people talking about what may or may not have happened, and from that, they form theories. The unanswered questions will probably be the reason I pick up the second one, behind the amazing character design and combat (which I really enjoyed). Oh, and I agree with Matt, this is the best Nighttime hands down.
Red Dead Redemption was probably the biggest surprise this year, just because I HATED GTA4. I never thought I’d be spending hours just skinning animals in a GTA style game.
I’ve only had two disappointments this year thus far. First one would be Final Fantasy 13. Ugh, Sesame Street Writers for the lose! And the sudden death of Rebel FM Game Club. That made me a sad panda
At this point repeating the obvious but Mass Effect 2 has easily been my favorite game of the year. Along with Super Mario Galaxy 2 only 30 stars in but this game has several game play mechanics that many games would just take one of them and base the whole game on. Probably my favorite mario since Mario world.
Also would have to say BF Bad company 2 surprised me as well. As I have been and for the foreseeable future will be a PC gamer I was glad they did the game justice on the PC when you see so many games ported from 360 to PC with little worry about whether or not its still as involving on the PC.
Also @ those saying Super Mario Galaxy 2 is not a hardcore game wtf are you thinking. It is harder than many of your “hardcore” games on the PS3, 360, and the PC in the last several years.
Final Fantasy 13- Not really a disappointment because I expected it since not really caring for a the series since 9 was released and was a throw back to the good ole FF days.
Mass Effect 2 is one if the finest games I have ever played. It merits countless play throughs and makes you want to go back and play the original game. I don’t think any sequel will be able to capture that magic this year or even next year. At least until Mass Effect 3.
Nothing has really blew my mind this year, but there has been some strong games coming out for sure.
A few game that i have fond memories are:
Heavy Rain: I used to love point’n'click adventure games when i was younger and this really is modern, more serious evolution of those good old scumm games. Story was great(for a video game..) and whole format of the game left me wanting more.
RDR: Just got the game but man, this is exactly what i needed after finishing Deadwood just last week.
Most dissapointing game:
Mass Effect 2: Yeah, it was a good game, but the story was kind of shit. Way too many crew members with not enough time to explore individual characters. Overall story arch was just dumb and way less exciting than what ME 1 told us. Also, most unnessecary boss fight i can remember *sigh*…
It has been a good year for me so far, mostly because I have been playing and also finishing a lot of games. I often do not get to the end of most of the games I want to so soon into the year.
One of the most surprising moments for the year so far for me was how much I enjoyed God of War 3. I was never heavily invested in the lore or combat, but after playing the first two briefly when the collection came out I started to see how a third game might develop. I enjoyed the combat quite a lot, and playing this back-to-back with Dante’s Inferno it gave me an idea of what was working in GoW that just wasn’t right in Dante. I am sure it was a different experience for fans of the series who went in with different expectations, but for someone who skipped the PS2 era it was a good catch up of an action game series I had never tried.
Alan Wake was a game I had been excited about since Remedy first showed a trailer five years ago, so it was difficult to walk in with that kind of lead time considering how much games and my tastes have changed. Having just about finished it, I think it is a great game, but it is one that feels dated in a lot of the design decisions. The lack of progression in the gameplay and the constant reset of inventory feel outdated, that coupled with an overwhelming sense of familiarity with the Max Payne series makes Alan Wake a little less spectacular for me. It handles context, story and dialogue in a way that I do not believe most games can match right now, but even that feels hampered by a strong tie to collectibles and cutscenes rather than letting the game itself convey what it is trying to say.
Splinter Cell was a bit of a let down for me, as well. Not that it was a bad game, but I expected a lot from what I had seen of the mechanics and it felt underutilized because of a limited AI. Loved the art style and a lot of the ideas, but I finished with it hoping that there could be strides made towards a more structured competitive multiplayer experience and smarter enemies to really make the last-known-position mechanic more satisfying.
My letdown of the year so far has been Dark Void. I don’t know how you make jetpacks unfun and a story involving Nikola Tesla boring as hell, but apparently Airtight has a secret formula.
As for highlights, Bayonetta may be the greatest character action game to be released since Ninja Gaiden Black, and playing Mass Effect 2 after hating the first game made me believe that reading that first novel back in fall 2007 might not have been a complete waste of time. Alan Wake is probably my front-runner for Game of the Year so far.
One thing I wasn’t expecting about 2010 is how much time I would spend just playing iPhone games in small 5 min chunks. Those chunks sure do add up over time and peggle and PvZ are largely to blame for that.
Breath of Death VII for XBLA was a huge surprise to me. It’s a parody/homage to 8-bit jrpgs. Funny, well written, nostalgic… and it only costs a dollar. Content on XBL and PSN keeps getting better and better, and it’s affordable. Thank god for that, I can’t really justify 60+ dollar game purchases anymore.
This has been the most insane non-holiday release schedule ever. Seriously. Not since november of ’08 have I been so utterly flabberghasted (SP?) by the sheer amount of awesomeness coursing through my consoles. I’m surprised my 360 hasn’t literally melted. I’m surprised my PS3 hasn’t spontaneously just stopped working (Oh, wait, it did, didn’t it? Hurr hurr hurr *snore*)
I’ve been so utterly captivated by new releases this year that I almost don’t give a shit about the rest of it. E3 is going to have to have machine guns loaded with heroin syringes peppering the crowds to make anyone think that the late-year ’10 and early ’11 releases will even hold a candle to the past 6 months.
Then again, there is Xbox Three-six-Wii and PS-Wii coming… *wink*
for me,
Red Dead Redemption – one of the best of the year for sure.
Bioshock 2 – level design and uniqueness of the artistry is not as great as the original, but a great game none-the-less.
Darksiders – probably the biggest surprise of the year in the form of a Gothic Zelda.
Nier – probably the second biggest surprise of the year, try it.
Bad Company 2 – multi-player better than Modern Warfare, but with a lamer single-player.
Just Cause 2 – thrilling, ginormous sandbox game equivalent to the best dumb action movies Hollywood can produce.
wishes..
the 360 exclusives weren’t exclusives
why?
RRoD/s made me jump ship to the playstation
The games I love the most this year was: Final Fantasy 13 Star Ocean: The Last Hope International and Super Street Fighter 4.
The only game that disappointed me was God of War 3. The reason it disappointed me was that Kratos is a straight up DICK in this sequel! I love the fact that this game stayed true to it roots but man, the chooses that Kratos makes in this game just competely turned me off to the game. I did beat GOW III and it was epic but Kratos (OMG You’re an dick seriously)!!!!
Can’t believe there has been no mention of Chaos Rising. More of Relic showing how expansion packs should be done. Not only did they add the new Chaos race (F YEAH!) but they took all of the complaints about the first campaign, tightened it up and made it easily the best RTS campaign I have ever played.
Bad Company 2 was the game that finally got me back playing a online game with a group of my mates each night, it is awesome.
Heavy Rain was another great game (rented it and borrowed my friends PS3 just to play it. Even though it had some problems I really enjoyed the experience. The one thing that I really felt they could have added which would have made the story that much more interesting was to change who the killer was depending on your actions (see Chaos Rising), there was a big opportunity’s for that with the many Red Hearings which were present.
I also think the Humble Indie bundle was another highlight of the year so far.
Mass Effect 2 is the best game of the year by far in my eyes. Although the conclusion lacked purpose and made almost no sense the other 50 plus hours were nearly perfect. It may be my favorite game of all time. It made me care about consequence more than games like Heavy Rain or Fable 2 did. I felt like I wasn’t ensured with survival, and that every action could be my last. Great gameplay mechanics and about everything else.
Another highlight would be the last DLC for Borderlands. Secret Armory of General Knoxx was awesome, and I played for like 30 hours in a piece of DlC!
Well I didn’t play much games this year but I have to say that Mass Effect 2 was pretty great. I’ll never forget that cut-scene where they showed the new ship. Gave me goosebumps.
Chuf, any response to the call-out your Blur review got from the writey-guy at Penny Arcade?
I’m with him, the game is way the eff better than Split Second. Still, it’s kind of cool to elicit such a response from a dude that has his own gaming convention. Kudos!
Forgot to answer the question!
Bayonetta and Monster Hunter Tri have been my best surprises of the year. Bayonetta was the pinnacle of the genre in my eyes, I’m not sure what else can be done with character action. MHTri is just crazy-rewarding, in terms of loot and the skill you build over your playtime.
I was not as hot for Mass Effect 2 as everyone else. I felt the combat sequences were too frequent, and the mission structure too predictable. “Bit of story, 4-5 rooms of dudes to headshot, bit more story, back to the Normandy.” The game rarely surprised me.
Alan Wake’s storytelling is great, but the combat kinda suffers in the same way ME2′s did. I’d really rather skip it to get straight to the good characterization and storytelling.
Mario Galaxy 2 is awesome, of course. MLB 2k10 being pretty good this year is another nice change.