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.
I’ve been dissapointed by the my PS3.
I don’t own a 360. So i’ve been staring at games like Splinter Cell Conviction and Alan Wake.
But i’m excited for SOCOM 4, SWTFU 2, Dead Space 2.
Maybe some HL2 Episode 3.
I hope Timesplitters 4 will be out and good, though i don’t know how the Crytek will influence that. I had a lot of time and fun playing Timesplitters 2 multipayer and have to this day not seen a multiplayer that got anywhere close. TS2 had original and very fun multiplayer modes. Sadly no other developer learned from them.
And please could you, for us European guys, use GMT+0, this PDT + AM/PM thing is a hassle.
Time for a new skin on the website, guys. Even if it’s just a white screen or something. Shit looks DATED.
Peace.
Red Dead is the best open world game I have ever played and Mass Effect 2 might be the best RPG I have ever played.
Unlike most I was pretty happy with FF1232 but it isn’t even close to the other great games that have come out this year.
I really liked God of War 3, and am currently really liking Red Dead Redemption. On top of that, the SC2 beta has been keeping me busy since it’s release.
hello chuf again awesome time to chat
first, dudes i honestly have played SO much mass efect 2. the ship is awesome and im always chillin in my room or underneath the elevator deck. wow good times. what else? probably world of warcraft on my paladin. my problem still is the same though emailed you guys about it hopefully i get response.
anyways, super excited with the new lord of the rings game hopefully its good. also, STAR WARS anybody?? chuf knows what im saying!
thank you
I think that Mass Effect 2 has been my game of the year so far. I have no longer been playing MW2 thanks to BC2 so I am forever happy. I haven’t purcheced anything else, but I’m hoping to get Red Dead soon.
yes. i must agree mass efect 2 is really good LOL. red dead is potential and i like western situation but i dont know. they should put mass efect 2 in western, would be totally awesome!!!
what do you dudes think?
thanks
No way, slayerzimm. SciFi may be overdone, but it’s still far cooler than a western. Though the two could be combined for some crazy results: Commander Shepard time travels to take out Sitting Bull at the battle of Little Big Horn, but it turns out that the native americans are actually Krogans, so Wrex/Grunt end up fighting against Shepard unless you have enough paragon/renegade points to talk them out of it.
The games that have given me the best experiences so far this year are Mass Effect 2, Red Dead (playing right now), Bad Company 2, and Heavy Rain. The games that have been personally disappointing were Final Fantasy 13, God of War 3, and Splinter Cell Conviction. If I could make one honorable mention, it would be for Dragon Age: Origins (NOT Awakenings). In between my time with the current releases I’ve played, I find myself going back to Fereldon to explore other fighting styles, find rare items, and explore the differences in dialogue for each given race. Playing as a Black warrior elf right now, I often find myself having to choose the dialogue option that’s most similar to the Wayne Brady skit on Chappelle’s show when dealing with the racist humans. “Seriously, does Theron Haladriel have to choke a bitch in this tavern….?!”
My highlights of the year have been:
Mass Effect 2 – This isn’t just the best game of the year so far, but it is one of the best gaming experiences I have ever had. I have never had a game cause me to stress out on making decisions.
Bayonetta – This was an absolute blast to play. Probably the most fun I’ve had with a game all year.
Dragon Age Origins: Awakenings – Despite some major graphical glitches, this was a fantastic expansion to Dragon Age Origins. I loved being able to continue my character’s story.
Battlefield Bad Company 2 – I found myself surprised by how much fun the single player was. I never enjoyed the first game’s campaign, but the improvements made in this game were significant.
The biggest let downs so far this year have been:
Just Cause 2 – Everyone raved about this game, but after playing it I found myself completely bored and underwhelmed by the mechanics. Shooting was wonky, and the only upside to the game was the grappling hook mechanics.
White Knight Chronicles – Just an awful game with an extremely boring story and gameplay mechanics. I didn’t last more than a few hours with this game, before ridding myself of it.
My favorite games so far are:
Mass Effect 2 was by far the best game I’ve played this year. It righted all the wrongs of the original and exceeded my rather high expectations. It is deserving of all it’s comparisons to “Empire”. What a way to kick off the year…
Just Cause 2 – a game that I didn’t even know about until hearing the Bombcast crew jizzing all over it. I’ve never had so much fun just dicking around in an open world. I don’t see how a developer could ever out-do the infinite grapple-parachute combo (except for a rocket propelled parachute). Hats off to Eidos, Avalanche, and WTF? Square Enix?!?!?
Also, Fallout 3; holy crap Tranquility Lane!
I would say that Alien vs Predator is my main disappointment of the year, it was not horrifically terrible but the hype was pretty big. When the demo came out i was completely turned off by the oldness of it, the poorly thought out aliens control scheme, the predator being reduced to a marine with a bad invisibility and no guns, and the marine was either a juggernaut or the starting point for a long train of contextual kills.
Couple of others, Game Room, not an ACTUAL disappointment but i just realised i don’t want to play games from that era.
Also the Halo reach beta didn’t hold my attention very long except for the invasion mode which was awesome.
The game that has done it for me this year (and was released in 2010!) is Super Street Fighter IV.
On the surface you’d think it wasn’t a justified release, but it oh so is! And for the budget price of £24 it’s just so awesome. I love it.
I’ve got to say that the most fun, and the most impressed I’ve been with a game this year would be with Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing. Sure not the best game, or even the best racing game, but the pure kart racing goodness is something I find myself going back to after the Mass Effects, the Alan Wakes, the Bioshocks, and the Red Deads. Definitely my biggest hit so far this year.
As for disappointment, unfortunately it’s Bayonetta. Despite loving the demo, and hyping it up to everyone and anyone who would listen, I just couldn’t get into it, and found myself gravitating towards Darksiders, which absolutely took my by surprise with how awesome it was. I can’t quite place what didn’t click, and tried giving it multiple more chance, but after about five hours I just got fed up and shelved it.
It has to be Splinter Cell Conviction. I still remember the first time i pulled off a 4 man execution and seeing the bodies just drop around me and Sam Fisher’s angry expression.
Worst so far of the year for me has definitely been FF13, barely made it 6 hours in and was falling asleep on the couch. Dante’s Inferno was alright, but pretty meh overall, at least I finished it.
So far this year I’ve really enjoyed: Darksiders, DoW2: Chaos Rising, ME2, AC2, Mario Galaxy 2, Bad Company 2, SC: Conviction, Halo Reach beta
Still need to pick up: Forgotten Sands, maybe a few others, but I am on a budget
Highs:
+ Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta.
Lows:
- Battlefield Bad Company 2 post launch (they just ruined it on the PC at least)
- Mass Effect 2 because I thought the game turned into a planet grind like the first game. However instead of trying to find the cause, you had to just find your crew. The level design was really poor like a first generation cover game with cover obviously dotted around all over the place. Also the worlds were very linear and static and there aren’t many interesting side missions. I found the script writing to be really poor with very cheesy moments and characters like the guy smoking a fag. Also the combat is like a poor shooter and the RPG elements are hardly anywhere to be seen. Don’t get the hype for it other than people jumping on the Bioware band wagon.
- Metro 2033 had some really poor shooting, poor A.I and just never compelled me to finish. I was also hoping for a Half-Life like progression, instead there are different levels warping you to different locations. I hate that in an FPS, I like one continuous path never split up like Half-Life.
- Splinter Cell, I was hoping for a Jason Bourne like experience. Instead it just turned into another cover shooter and they seemed to have gotten rid of all the stealth elements of the last games. My fave part of that game was the melee stupid, like smashing peoples heads on sinks n shit. I really hope someone makes a proper good Bourne game.
The PC has had a really shitty year so far, I hope for better things to come.
Best games this year:
For me it’s been really hard to pick for the first time in awhile. The StarCraft 2 and Halo Reach Betas consumed a lot of my free time, along with Read Dead Redemption.
RDR has been the game that sucked a lot of my casual gamer friends back into the mix, due to its story and random events out in the wilderness. Talking about your first Mountain Lion experience, or seeing a prostitute get stabbed can’t really be rivaled by any other game.
…except for Mass Effect 2. Hearing people talk about that game and playing that game, I now understand how LOST fanatics talk.
Now it’s all Super Street Fighter 4, they fixed almost all the problems I had with vanilla Street Fighter 4, and the larger roster of characters makes fighting online a lot more interesting. No more Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Zangief storm that the first game had online.
Biggest let downs?
Blur really showed promise, and after playing the beta I realized it wasn’t the game for me. The driving was meh, and I didn’t agree with the weapons and layouts they decided to put in. It just seemed like a clusterfuck of people boosting and shooting out shunts.
Alpha Protocol, I watched on 1ups game night, and after seeing the character hobble around like an old man and shoot an enemy 4 times with a shotgun from point blank range, I knew it was going to be bad; queue the reviews.
About a week ago, I went back to the doctor who suggested that I was going through tapering withdrawal, and that my IBS came back because anti-depressants are prescribed to control the condition. ,
Such superb analysis! No idea how you wrote this article..it’d take me weeks. Well worth it though, I’d assume. Have you considered selling advertising space on your website?