PALGN users game of the year

[GooberMan]

With Mario Kart out this week, that pretty much brings to the end all the major releases this year.

And what a hell of a year it was for games. I've been saying for a couple of months that I don't remember an end-of-year with this many quality games since 1997, but in my opinion this year fairly well blew 97 out of the water. It's been a while, games, but years like this is what convinced me getting in to the games industry was the right path.

Just look at this probably-not-comprehensive-so-don't-whinge-that-I-left-one-or-more-out list of notable releases from this year, quickly culled from Wikipedia:

Dead Space 2
de Blob 2
Bulletstorm
Total War: Shogun 2
Crysis 2
Mortal Kombat remake
Portal 2
LA Noire
The Witcher 2
Red Faction: Armageddon
Duke Nukem Forever
Infamous 2
FEAR 3
Shadows of the Damned
Alice: Madness Returns
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Xenoblade Chronicles (the western translation)
Dead Island
Resistance 3
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Gears of War 3
Child of Eden
Dark Souls
Rage
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
Forza 4
Batman: Arkham City
Battlefield 3
Sonic Generations
Uncharted 3
Modern Warfare 3
TES V: Skyrim
Assassins Creed: Revelations
Rayman Origins
Saints Row the Third
Plain and Ultimate Marvel v Capcom
Zelda: Skyward Sword
Serious Sam 3
Super Mario 3D Land

With the mentioned Mario Kart and Star Wars: The Old Republic to come.

That's just kinda nuts. Look at all them there games! I don't even. I haven't even played half of them.

But despite the quality of titles on release this year, one title will probably float to the top of your list of games you enjoyed the hell out of and keep on coming back to. And for me, it really is a tough one. So I guess I'll just give a top 5. Likely to change as I actually pick up some of the games I've missed, but it's valid for the now. Straight up, games I haven't played (or played properly) that might influence my list are Dead Space 2, The Witcher 2, Infamous 2, Batman, Saints Row, Zelda, and Skyrim (which I finally loaded up last night).

5. Red Faction: Armageddon

Stupid fun. Deciding you don't like your enemies and throwing an entire building in to them? I found the game benefited from not being open world and actually having some focus.

4. LA Noire

Adventure gaming hiding under an open world. Really didn't use said open world to its advantage, and there were a few missteps with the storytelling, yet it still remained compelling - even up to the "Let's forget how the rest of the game played and make a noir action movie" ending.

3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Modern Deus Ex done fairly well? Sold!

2. Serious Sam 3

Subtle trolling of the FPS genre, followed by the best action the genre has seen in years.

1. Dark Souls

Normally, my game of the year is one that pushes the medium forward in an artistic sense and shows that games are capable of more than they currently are. But as far as skill testers go, I can't rightly put this behind LA Noire. This game got in my brain and wouldn't let go. And even now that I'm looking at the rest of my haul from the year, every day I still want to load it up.

And yeah, I noticed that I left Portal 2 out of my top 5. I think I honestly had more fun playing Red Faction, even though the script was fantastic in Portal 2. Might think about that some more.
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[Cyph]

For me, in order;

1) The Witcher 2
2) Dark Souls
3) Deux Ex HR
4) Potentially U3
5) Potentially Skyrim

^ Need more time with the ones I marked potentially.

Total War: Shogun 2 could've made the list but I found that it was too much of the same thing. Plus, a number of bugs drove me nuts.

[fatpizza]

I'll have to think about the other 3 a bit, but my top two are:

1) Skyrim
2) Uncharted 3
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[Quin]

In no particular order

Tales of Xillia
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Portal 2
Batman Arkham City
Sonic Generations

Honourable mentions
Total War: Shogun 2

It's a shame Super Robot Wars Original Generations 2 didn't come out this year, that would probably be right up there, and Gundam Extreme Vs isn't out until later this week...
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[Frozencry]

This year was riduclous in gaming. Every month or so a title came out and toppled the one before it as a favourite, so it's really hard to pick my 5 favourite games for this year, but those that come to mind are:

5. Total War: Shogun 2

This game came out shortly before I acquired my new PC, and was one of the titles to actually push it and really show off what it can do. Not only that though, but the strategy and gameplay itself was amazing. It looked beautiful, the music was superb and it dug into one of my favourite times in ancient history. Many sleepless nights with Shogun.

4. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Deus Ex was fantastic. While some of the story elements were a bit pretentious, the gameplay was varied, non-linear and represented a lot of what many RPG games lack in todays standards. Artistically and musically brilliant too.

3. Serious Sam 3: BFE

This game is so fucking good I cannot even begin to describe. It is pure, adrenaline filled FPS goodness and reminds me what I miss and loved about the FPS genre. Still playing it after finishing it, the score whoring is addictive.

2. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

I love everything about this game, though that's a given considering my immense love for the books and lore in general. Combat was challenging and fluid, the story was beautifully written and paced, and the visuals...wow. IMO the best looking game out there right now, its technical and artistic detail is a benchmark. This game was my number 1 for a while, until..

1. Dark Souls and Skyrim

Yep, I'm cheating a bit here because I seriously can't decide between these two. As many know, Dark Souls was the only game I ever rated a 10 on PALGN when I was writing. And you know what? I'd give off the same score to Skyrim too.

Both are vastly different games. Dark Souls challenges you to fight against impossible odds and prove victorious. It'll also challenge you to find new ways to do things and constantly experiment, and through this you're rewarded with one of the best RPG games ever made. I've put almost 200 hours into this game, and I still continually love it and replay it.

Skyrim on the other hand doesn't challenge you, it empowers you with adventure. Since Morrowind and World of Warcraft I haven't been as enthralled and immersed by a world in a video game. From the snowy mountains to the underground ruins of the long extinct Dwemer, Skyrim gives you an entire world at your fingertips to play with. It's exactly what Oblivion should've been and is a return to form for Bethesda.

There's a metric tonne of other games I loved this year, but those ones are pretty much the favourites to win it all.
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[GooberMan]

Oh yeah, if I ever load up another Total War or Civilization game, I'll basically become a completely reclusive shut in. Those ones suck me in far too much.
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[Puddingfork]

5. Limbo Master race edition

4. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Does this count? Will people be angry at me for putting the superior remake of 'the greatest game ever' below two games from this year?

3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

2. Bastion

1. Dark Souls

And I only did three.. because those are the only games that came out this year I even remember playing extensively. There was also BF3, but that game doesn't deserve to be in a top 5. Some others that might make #4 or 5 though are Sonic Generations, Hard Reset and maybe even Waves (twin stick indie shooter, I just love the genre though really).

This was a really bad year for me to be a good year in gaming, I've had less time than I've ever had any other year before, so I've missed out on playing a lot of quality titles.

Oh and by the way, just picked up Serious Sam 3 thanks to this thread, yee. Oh and I got Cave Story+ too while I was at it, if that counts it might make it to my top 5 also.

EDIT: HOLY SHIT FORGOT BASTION!
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[PixieGirl]

Oh damn, I was hoping to make this thread like I did last year Anyway I'm going to wait until my Batman arrives because I have a feeling it might be reaching my top 5.
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[Benza]

This year has been kind of nuts.

5Assassins Creed: Revelations
A complete lack of side quests and dissapointing meta story content, as well as kind of lame multiplayer characters stop this from being higher. I've gone on and on about how much I love this series and it's lore and world building. This game starts out kind of average but ends on repeated fucking high notes, the hook blade was an awesome addition the tower defence was great fun, and the writing was probbably the best in the series.

4 CONTRA: Hardcorps uprising
Jesus this game is good. Gorgeous 2D sprites (Although the bg's are kind of lackluster) and fucking spot on controls. An actual decent story (For a contra game) great characters that all feel unique and different, rpg elements that work brilliantlt, fantastic level design that requires memorisation of every enemy position (I know a lot of people hate that but I love it) fucking ace as hell soundtrack.

3 Ghost Trick
Just gorgeous animation, seriously some of the best animation I've seen this year and being pushed out of the DS is kind of amazing. There's so much personality to every fucking movement. The story is great with heaps of neat twists and turns, the characters are great fun, the gameplay is really clever. Not really a bad word I can say on it. Other then the fact it'll never get a sequel

2 Saints MOTHER FUCKING Row 3
HOOOOLY SHIT. I was worried that the game wouldn't live up to number 2. Esspecialy with a couple of dissapointing early signs like a more limited character customization etc. I spent most of last night on a hoverbike rounding up hoards of zombies then leading them to the waters edge and turning them into a shooting gallery. The amount of stuff to do in this game is fucking obscene. And the amount of time spent doing nothing is even greater. I love the prof genki's distractions, the only thing holding it back from being number 1 is the weird decisions on wich activities they carried over. Stealing hookers and trafficking frankly suck. And the fact that those carried over from number 2 in place of The Fuzz and hte Bodyguard distractions is just... a weird decision.

1 Skyrim
Holy shit, I had zero expectations for this game, I never played morrowind, barely touched Oblivion, was kind of eh on Fallout 3, never touched new vegas etc. So I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I've sunk so much time into this game it's fucking obscene. Just the amount of stuff you can do is bordering on ridiculous. The only problem I've found (Aside from the PS3 save glitch) is that the story and characters are just dull. I really wish that they'd gotten better writers for this, but as an RPG it's fucking outstanding.

I was never much of a fan of Oblivion, never played Morrowind, kind of eh on Fallout 3. I had literally no oppinion or expectation of this game at all when I started it. Hell the only reason I even bought it was cause my mate was buying it and we wanted to see how different our play throughs would be (Pretty fucking different)

The Thursday I got it, I stopped for sleep and that was pretty much it for like three days.
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[Karai Pantsu]

TES V SKYRIM: I can't even remember the last time that any game sucked me in like this one has. Hater's can hate - it's lush, epic in scale, and amazingly satisfying to play through. Cram that in your whinge holes, this game takes all of the cakes and fucking well eats them in front of you.

Holding a tentative sot at number 2 is Super Mario 3D, but I am yet to actually pick up my copy from work and give it a play.

Taking the rear at third spot is the surprisingly awesome re-awakening of the Deus Ex series, Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I was sure that it was going to suck... dead sure. To my delight, the title did nearly exactly the opposite of that. I say nearly, because well... have you played those boss fights? I mean, really... !
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[grim-one]

1. Dark Souls
2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
3. Portal 2
4. The Witcher 2 (still not finished yet!)
5. Shogun 2: Total War

Notable mentions: Frozen Synapse and The Binding of Isaac for being awesome indie games

I haven't got around to playing some of the big hits like Skyrim, Arkham City or Revelations. Otherwise they might be in my list, but Dark Souls wins anyway
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[Nietzsche]

I thought this was an ok year but ended with a few knockouts.


4. Portal 2

This game is probably the best comedic video game ever created. Some of those Cave Johnson lines are hilarious and every character has some great lines. Everything about the end is amazing with that mad dash towards the end is makes me want to put that disc straight into my 360 again. Plus the song! There are some problems however. I think I'm going to get a heap of crap from people but I'm out going out to say it. This is nowhere as good as the first Portal. But it still is pretty awesome. I love that instead of trying to recreate what made the first Portal so good they blew it out but it I miss that old intimate feeling. Also about halfway through the game I realized that I didn't love the puzzling. I loved the reward of dialogue after every puzzle more.

3. Saints Row 3

I was predisposed to like this before I played it. My favorite GTA was San Andreas and the Saints Row games have always felt like the true continuation of that style. I loved the first and the second while feeling like a quick and cheap sequel was still entertaining but in this Volition has created it's own beast. This game is nuts. There are two sides to Saints Row 3. The childish brat side that has you beating people in the nuts with giant purple dildo's and the far more awesome, geekier just plain random side that has you play a text adventure in the middle of a stage. And the weird things is both sides work and blend together perfectly. By far the best thing to come out of this game though is the musical touches done by Volition. Perfect songs at the perfect moment.

2: Bastion

The little game that could. This game is near flawless. The gameplay is tight, he story is one of my all time favorites, it is gorgeous to look at, the music is insanely good and used perfectly, the world just kept unraveling and unlike almost every other game I played this year, this game has real emotional weight to it. Everything with the proving grounds is a masterpiece. Learning the stories of these broken characters through intense gameplay is well done. The voice over which could have easily been overdone is at the same time both informative and funny. Zia's Song is a breathtaking moment in a game full of great moment.

1. Skyrim

It turned out to be a pretty easy choice. No other game has sucked me in this much. 65 hours in three weeks is kind of excessive. While I enjoy the grand story and the excellent lore and world building its the little moments that are so great. Has a great sense of progression, the gameplay is a nice mix of things that are easy to kill and things that kill me in three seconds and it just feels great. The only true downside is after playing both Oblivion and Fallout 3 for ridiculous amount of time (think 150 hours then add osme change for each game) I know the Bethesda formula. It doesn't stop me from loving it but it is familiar. Also the first 10 or so hours of playing it, and just discovering it are feelings that go away after playing it for so long. [/b]

[emech]

Yes it's been a great year! Sequalitis has ensured quality (if not innovation) as good games are made great. My top 5 reflects the latter as I felt like I was playing something new.

DISCLAIMER: yes these titles also build on previous genre titles, and yes there are proberbly a dozen other examples you can provide that do the same thing and therefore, yes these may not be any more innovative then the titles I've dismissed as being sequalised upgrades...BUT these lists are always subjective and this is my first experience with the dynamic and thus reflect innovation to me....

Bulletstorm

Duke nukem attitude, enslaved graphical stylings, sci-fi and the point system of the club. A balls out thrill ride from start to finish with plenty of oppurtuinity for replayability through highscrore level completion.

Shadows of the Damned

Its twisted, it dark, its atmospheric, its challenging, and its fun. The market boss fight will forever be in my memory. Bring on lollipop chainsaw.

Dead Island

Its buggy, its yet another zombie game, and its 80% fetch quests with respawning undead so you eventually feel like you achieving nothing. And yet.. this was the only game this year I didn't feel compelled to finish and move on. The story line didn't matter. The quests didn't matter. I was a bad-ass survivor on an undead island and I could do it all day. Just as the beach got samey, the city opened up providing a whole new feel to the game. shame it didn't get that little bit of extra polish or just cause 2 may have been dethroned as my all-time favourite sandbox.

Uncharted 3

A sequel makes the list, but only by uncharted 2's disqualification (in that I didn't play its multiplayer) - a complete package. A thrilling cinemetatic single player (with more plot holes then I care to think about but enjoy the ride) with amazing set-pieces; A seperate co-op experience that offers more than just beefed up enemy numbers and actually requires teamwork to complete the levels; and the multi-player. As I've said elsewhere - everything I hoped brink would be. Assaction creed (spelling deliberate) it rewards skill and also carries the high-action feel that is in the single player in a competitve environment without cutscences.

Outland

Going to quote a review, because it sums up my feelings well.

You could easily fill an entire review with the grocery list of games from which Outland cribs its gameplay elements -- Ubisoft's own marketing specifically calls out Ikaruga and Prince of Persia as "inspirations," but Outland manages to take those "inspirations" and create something that feels like genuine innovation. Housemarque has deconstructed its recipe, and presents each of the core components in a way that reminds you what was so enjoyable about them in the first place, then folds all those elements seamlessly together over the course of a seven-hour story. The world of Outland is remarkable to see, with layer upon layer of depth within its intricate lattice of 2D silhouettes, dramatic lighting and particle effects, and fluid, sumptuous animation. Outland handles like a complete dream. Your character moves swiftly and climbs (and wall jumps, and slides, and charges, etc.) deftly, and leaps with pinpoint accuracy (along with a measure of aftertouch in the air to help ensure a safe landing). Following the pattern of colors, shifting your own polarity, then recognizing when it's time to go on the offensive, makes for a nerve-wracking ballet that will have you flexing muscles you haven't used since you had a Super Nintendo.

Simply: My GOTY.

WHAT DIDN"T MAKE THE CUT - Honurable mentions.

I wanted to add a few comments on titles that I'm sure would make the popular vote this year. These are soild titles that I loved, but:

Dark Souls

I loved demon souls. My dissapointment with dark souls flows directly from its open-world design. There simply isnt enough sign-posting as to which direction to head (apart from you immediate death). Graveyards skeletons seem like they should be a low-tier enemy but thats an area best left for later (for example). The NPCs are sparce and despite having much to say, offer very little. Finally, the loss of "levels" took away some of my feeling of achievement as I "conquered" an area through skill and determination.

TES V: Skyrim

Its pretty, its open, its has dragons and its exciting. But I've done it before - twice now. The dragon voice is more a gimmick then an innovation and after demon souls the combat seems shallow (particularly the swing animation which rarely deflects off things and has a hard to judge combat distance)

Assassins Creed: Revelations

I like the story ALOT. It was less epic but so much more personal. Unfortunatley most of the gameplay wasrepeating what had come before. What had been added (base defence and 3d puzzle enevironments) were under-cooked and added little to the experience, and the level design of the "dungeons" was uninspired and little more then keep moving forward and climbing. Solid, but one for the fans.

Frozen Synapse

ONLY becasue it can boil down to an RPG spam removing much of the strategy. Everythng else is AWESOME....

Biggest disapointment

BRINK - a TF2 want-a-be whose cinematic had 100 times the excitement of the game. Thankfully Uncharted has exceeded this games asperations for a parkour based multiplayer shooter.......
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[Stoneroth]

Dark Souls and Catherine are standouts for me.

I've played some other great releases, with some yet to be played, but they didn't have the same impact as these two.

[mrcool37]

I guess I'm going to be on my own here. I thought this year was kind of boring in terms of games. There was nothing really original, it was just the year of the sequel, so games that I initially fell in love with I grew tired of quickly (Batman, Skyrim). Meanwhile, games where I loved the gameplay, I just couldn't get into their respective stories to enjoy them (Deus Ex HR, Witcher 2). I had high hopes for Battlefield but it's turning out to be quite average at the moment. I don't own anything Nintendo and I am waiting on my copy of Dark Souls to arrive, and will grab Potral 2 over the holidays. So I don't really have anything to list.


VVVVVVVV had plenty of charm for me to consider it a favourite this year. And I'm biased to the shmup genre, so having never played the original, I immediately fell in love with the Radiant Silvergun remake on Xbox Live this yeaer, so I'd consider this as my number 1. Tough as nails, epic music, and had original elements within the genre that I hadn't come across before so this takes the cake for me this year.

[Pagan's Mind]

5. Catherine

Something a bit different and not quite what everyone was expecting. I loathe puzzle games (except for Lumines) but this one was pretty good. The story alone was what made me like it and of course it's SMT which is my favorite game franchise.

4. Xenoblade Chronicles

It's not the "best JRPG in years" that people claimed it to be but it's still a very good one.

3. Shadows of the Damned

Take the combat elements from RE4, add Suda 51's humor and style and Akira Yamaoka's music and you have a pretty awesome game.

2. Dark Souls

It was hard not to put this game in the number one spot. There's literally nothing I can fault DS with. It's a brutal and immensely enjoyable experience. Wonderful monster designs and a deep combat system. It felt a little more of the same after playing Demon's Souls but it's hard to say that's a bad thing.

1. Child of Eden

My GOTY and hardly anyone played it.

[Cyph]

In reply to Pagan;
I want to play Catherine but was hoping to buy it from someone locally who had finished it. Never found a good second hand sale unfortunately. That said, it is scheduled for PAL release Feb next year, so I'll pick it up then.

And I have Child of Eden but have yet to play it. I will though!

[LeonJ]

Wow, Dark Souls is getting some serious love.

I can't comment here till I finish Skyward Sword and 3D Land.
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[Scrav]

I haven't played too many games released this year, but my limited picks are:

1: Xenoblade - Almost solid game mechanics, absolutely loved the relationship world chart - made side quests so much more worth doing.

2: Skyrim - Trying not to min max the game and am having a great time doing so.

3: Anno 2070 - I love Anno games and city builders.

4: The Witcher 2 - The combat still frustrates me to no end and I still haven't finished it, but it is a good effort nonetheless.

5: Dungeons of Dredmor - Indie roguelike rpg that I have apparently spent 82 hours on according to Steam.

Edit: I have no idea what Dark Souls is, maybe I should look into it...

[DancesInUnderwear]

The only games I've bought this year are Skyward Sword, Saints Row 3 and Pokemon Black. I'm still plugging through Zelda and SR3, so I'm not ready to commit to any order just yet.

EDIT: I also downloaded the new NBA Jam. Thats 4 games now! Wow!

[StorminNorman]

I want to be cool and sound like I've played all sorts of video games and that I'm some hip gamer dude so I can nominate some moderately obscure-yet-awesome game as GOTY, but honestly Skyrim is all I can think about right now.

Honorable mentions to the utterly brilliant Child of Eden and the overlooked Jamestown.
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[Frozencry]

Jamestown was fucking amazing. I LOVE that game.
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[matt30822]

My top 5

1. Batman: Arkham City

Personally can't believe that this hasn't appeared in this thread yet. I LOVED this game - it was so close to being perfect. The story i thought was solid enough, it was longer with more things to do and explore and the voice acting blew me away. Can't wait for Arkham 3.

2. Assassin's Creed Revelations

Echoing what was said above - i think this was the "dullest" of Ezio's trilogy but i think it had the strongest story after you got past Sequence 3. I think the MP is improved enough to make me alternate between it and BF3 for my MP needs. However not enough was changed for me to put it above the Dark Knight.

3. L.A. Noire

TBH i hadn't really followed this game AT ALL until like 3-4 days till launch as i wasn't really interested. But the more i found out about it the more i was intrigued and eventually felt the need to pre-order it 2 days before launch. Once i started playing i never looked back. Unlike others who i know have played the game i enjoyed both the first and back half of the story although i did enjoy the ending much. If a game has such a pronounced effect on you that it makes you look at other games and look at their facial animations and it makes you wince - then you know you have played something special.

4. Portal 2

Its Portal...2. Enough Said.

5. Crysis 2

I think this game was underrated. While i wanted to see Nomad's story continued and felt that this was deliberately distancing itself from the first game so as not to alienate console users (which i was quite angry about at the time) i felt overall it had quite a good tale to tell. While it wasn't the graphical system changer that Crysis 1 was that forced every man and their dog to upgrade to play it, i thought it looked great even without the DX11 features.

Honourable Mentions:

From Dust

I still haven't gone back and finished the last 2-3 levels of this but i really enjoyed this game. It was a very interesting take on the god genre.

Deus Ex: HR

Haven't finished it which is why it isn't higher (due to thesis) but from what i played of it so far it at the very least deserves an honourable mention.

(Apologies to my copies of Forza 4, Skyrim and Witcher 2 - i will see you December 25th!).

Who knows though... Come December 20th i might be shaking up my list to include The Old Republic if the beta was anything to go by.

[Jarrod]

The Conduit 2

The best first person shooter on the Wii and a good contender for the best first person shooter of this generation. Stunning life-like graphics prove the Wii is just as strong as the 360/PS3, and tight, refined controls make you wonder why you'd ever want to play with a pad or mouse. Level design is incredible. I play this ever day.

4. RAGE

In this alternate reality RAGE wasn't the most disappointing shooter id has ever developed, nor evidence of several years of development hell and wayward direction. Instead it was almost perfect. What? No. No, I'm not crying. My eyes are leaking. From the, err, awesome.

3. Dead or Alive: Dimensions

Every time I boot this game up I cant stop from furiously masturbating over the busty barely legal girls. I especially like that you can shake the controller to make their boobs jiggle. If it had more boobs it might be my No.2 but alas it will remain my No.3(6DD LMAO).

2. Uncharted 3

Naughty Dog once again raise the bar for triple A platforming, shooting and story telling, with graphics that put every other game on the market to shame. This generation's best new IP. Other developers, are you even trying?

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

The final epic conclusion of the epic Modern Warfare trilogy tells an epic story with epic set pieces and epic characters. The war is so real it made me cry because I felt for the plight of my characters. Most balanced multiplayer ever and probably the best game ever made.
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[Nietzsche]

Wow Jarred, my taste is complete different.