2008 wasn't that great a year for games.
2005: Balls
2006: Getting Somewhere
2007: Fuck yes
2008: Eeeh.
2009: Holy shit! Yes!
2010: Pretty good, not like 2009, but good!
2011: Everything is incredible and nobody is happy.
Raise the flame shield: Your "controversial" gaming opinion.
- Thread starter Laughing Banana
- Start date
2005: Balls
2006: Getting Somewhere
2007: Fuck yes
2008: Eeeh.
2009: Holy shit! Yes!
2010: Pretty good, not like 2009, but good!
2011: Everything is incredible and nobody is happy.
ULTROS!
People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Valkyria Chronicles (I can see it's a nice game, but SRPG isn't my favorite genre) and Persona 4 came out that year.
So yeah, late 2008 was pretty awesome.
I feel the same way, everyone says the game's awesome but i couldn't pass the tutorial when i tried it because of the controls
2008 had some good titles, but there wasn't really anything that felt spectacular. No "must haves" or big tentpole events that gamers gathered around to bask in it's glory (GTA4 big, but it quickly became about how much it disappointed everyone.) Nothing really ground breaking, just nice stuff all around.
And when I think about it, 2010 was close to being like 2008. Except a TON of great games that were targeted for 2009 got pushed to early 2010.
Riposte
Member
In other words "AAA" hyped games which make videogame journos go crazy
Well, it was the year of GTA4. Which will probably be the biggest journalism orgasm ever recorded.
I could go more into it later. But it was middling year with games that were either pretty good (Dead Space, Summer of Arcade), flawed-greatness (Far Cry 2, BK:N&B, Left 4 Dead, Fable 2, Burnout: Paradise, and on and on), disappointments (Mirror's Edge, GTA4), or MGS4/Fallout 3. Overall a disappointing followup to 2007 (the year of BIOSHOCK, MARIO GALAXY, CALL OF DUTY 4, AND THE ORANGE BOX), and 2009 onwards were so much better both in a qualitative and a quantitative sense.
TaroYamada
Member
How are their consoles horrible? I mean 3DS has its share of issues, hinge wobble, squeaky dpad, the cartridges going in at a angle, scratched screen. What was wrong with the original DS line though? Or Gamecube, outside of the meh library? Their systems up until Wii and 3DS have had very good build quality, and even Wii was more reliable than PS3/360 in the polling figures we saw.
So, so, true. TWEWY was just ok I think. Touch screen controls also harmed the Zelda games on DS.
I preferred Dreamcast over PS2. Hope I'm not the only one though.
If I look at the year and a half cast was on the market, its first year and a half, compared to PS2's like first 3 years I think Cast would be the winner. However, overall, I think the PS2's library is just hard to top in terms of quantity and quality. It's hands down one of the best systems ever.
Still I love the Dreamcast and the Shenmue games are my favorite of all time, if I had to pick between the two (PS2 vs. Dreamcast) I am not sure I could. It'd be an extremely difficult decision for me.
dirtywhirlwind
Member
2011 was one of the worst year in gaming. Except for Catherine nothing really stood out, and it was mostly just sequel after sequel. Everything played the same.
Katamari, while an awesome concept, is just not very fun to play. Once you get a decent ball rolling it's mostly bookkeeping and the game seems intent to either bore you or grate with the terribly annoying sound effects. I think most Katamari lovers just like it because it's quirky and it makes them look quirky by proxy.
TaroYamada
Member
You obviously missed out on arguably the best year for indie games ever.
dirtywhirlwind
Member
Nope. There were a few great ones, like Frozen Synapse and Blackwell Deception, but overall they didn't make much of a lasting impression on me.
canebarbone
Neo Member
my two cents:
every open-world game is boring (except fallout 3, dunno why). I want to be told a story, not to create mine...because most of the time it's just "why the fuck mister NPC wants to kill mister miniboss?...ok whatev..."
every open-world game is boring (except fallout 3, dunno why). I want to be told a story, not to create mine...because most of the time it's just "why the fuck mister NPC wants to kill mister miniboss?...ok whatev..."
Oxigen_Waste
Banned
Final Fantasy VII is a steaming pile of shit... I've tried playing it 3 times, nailed it the 3rd, worst game I ever played. Great story, fantastic soundtrack, everything else is terrible. I love IV, VI, IX and even X, to some extent... but VII is hands down the worst game I ever completed. Absolutely disgusting. Story's still great, though.
-iOS devices are a platform most gamers should own. Beyond just "throw away titles' and "cheap mobiles", you can get a full range of every genre and most every sub-genre for free or dirt cheap and never have to spend much at all.
No that doesn't mean "cheap throw away titles", but full titles for most every genre and sub-genre that can take as much time as most any PSN/XBLA/Wii Ware game. Shmups in particular offer a rich amount of new and old content that has put it up there with my Neo Geo.
It's not there as a replacement for other consoles or to fight 3DS and Vita, but alongside other consoles as an addition. If you want you don't even have to pay a single pence to have a strong library of games on the device thanks to all the free games.
-Dark Souls is a poor game, it lost itself trying to being better than Demon's Souls and got lost trying to be more.
- Dark Void is the best new franchise Capcom has made since the 90s, even if Dark Void Zero is the only good game in said franchise.
- Bejeweled is one of the best designed PC games of last decade.
- Zone of Enders is set in Metal Gear Solid's future.
- Alpha Protocol does dialogue options better than Mass Effect. You want to be a jerk, but not a "faux-evil" guy, you can in it.
- Kameo is better than Banjo-Kazooie
- The best Mario Kart is in the arcades.
No thought into the "high-score" quest aspect of it? Going for the best points/biggest Katamari? Jumboman?
Despite not being a fan, I do want to see it remade. There is a good game in there, it just needs to have most of the left-overs from the 16-bit days removed and random time wasters of travelling and mini-games removed.
No that doesn't mean "cheap throw away titles", but full titles for most every genre and sub-genre that can take as much time as most any PSN/XBLA/Wii Ware game. Shmups in particular offer a rich amount of new and old content that has put it up there with my Neo Geo.
It's not there as a replacement for other consoles or to fight 3DS and Vita, but alongside other consoles as an addition. If you want you don't even have to pay a single pence to have a strong library of games on the device thanks to all the free games.
-Dark Souls is a poor game, it lost itself trying to being better than Demon's Souls and got lost trying to be more.
- Dark Void is the best new franchise Capcom has made since the 90s, even if Dark Void Zero is the only good game in said franchise.
- Bejeweled is one of the best designed PC games of last decade.
- Zone of Enders is set in Metal Gear Solid's future.
- Alpha Protocol does dialogue options better than Mass Effect. You want to be a jerk, but not a "faux-evil" guy, you can in it.
- Kameo is better than Banjo-Kazooie
- The best Mario Kart is in the arcades.
No thought into the "high-score" quest aspect of it? Going for the best points/biggest Katamari? Jumboman?
Despite not being a fan, I do want to see it remade. There is a good game in there, it just needs to have most of the left-overs from the 16-bit days removed and random time wasters of travelling and mini-games removed.
TaroYamada
Member
Gemini Rue? Cave Story +? I consider CS the best indie of all time, and CS+ is a solid remake. Then there was SpaceChem? Jamestown? Stealth Bastard? Trine 2? Wizorb? Terraria? Or To The Moon? You didn't like any of those?
Amazed you liked Blackwell but not Gemini Rue.
Yeah but you have to buy a new iOS device like every year and a half or so because newer releases drop support for older generations pretty quickly. That and the controls are terrible. Agree with you on Alpha Protocol, I think it was better than Deus Ex: Human Revolution too.
Thought of another; Animal Crossing is meh, I think it's a poor franchise.
Oh good point. I don't like high score games (unless there's a very immediate gratification like big splashes of text going ULTRA COMBO and cool sound effects), but I can see how it's a much better game if you do.
dirtywhirlwind
Member
There were good games last year, yeah, I'm not arguing about that. But good games doesn't equal fantastic games, and 2011 lacked games that made an impact on me (although, there's only like 3 games this generation that have had that impression on me so maybe I'm being a bit harsh here).
Cave Story+ is fantastic though, but I played the freeware version years ago, so I barely count it as a 2011 release.
TaroYamada
Member
Yeah I hear ya there, CS is one of my favorite games ever but I decided not to count the + version in my GOTY considerations, which Gemini Rue almost won btw.
Without paying anything for them I have a good 25 games on my iPad alone, even if newer devices come out it's still going to hold up as a gaming device for me. Older consoles only have that many games, sometimes less like the Master System or Playstation, for me and I still like them despite newer devices replacing them.
I won't argue with controls, that's a fair issue if it's just not for you.
Aye for Human Revolution.
I hate life sims and Animal Crossing is one of the worst things to ever exist to me, but the joke of those games being a purgatory, a Silent Hill, for people has let me accept they exist.
Playstation Controllers are terrible, using shapes for buttons doesn't make any sense
"press circle! circle"
On top of that every sony first party game I have ever played feels kind of.....soulless
I don't know why, there is something about the presentation/gameplay that just feels off.
Even stuff like MLB: the show
"press circle! circle"
On top of that every sony first party game I have ever played feels kind of.....soulless
I don't know why, there is something about the presentation/gameplay that just feels off.
Even stuff like MLB: the show
Finaika
Member
I'm sorry, but ICO, Wander & Last Gaurdian are the exact opposite of soulless.
If you think Catherine was the only good game from last year, you.might as well quit gaming.
Christ. This post makes me want to vomit. You have horrible taste.
Captain Tuttle
Member
I hate using a mouse and keyboard to control games (except strategy games)
There's literally nothing that I find remotely appealing about JRPG's.
There's literally nothing that I find remotely appealing about JRPG's.
Riposte
Member
Some people don't like videogames all that much, even if they think they do. Nothing to make yourself vomit over I think.
I assume you don't like Catherine. I actually thought it was among the top 5 games of the year. I hope it has nothing to do with you being bad at it. Since you think that's the only way someone can dislike Gears of War 3 (or FPS/TPS in general? lol). (Which I like to some extent, btw. The campaign and to a lesser extent the horde stuff is pretty trashy though.)
EDIT: Try to resist urges to "choke the shit out of me".
I assume you don't like Catherine. I actually thought it was among the top 5 games of the year. I hope it has nothing to do with you being bad at it. Since you think that's the only way someone can dislike Gears of War 3 (or FPS/TPS in general? lol). (Which I like to some extent, btw. The campaign and to a lesser extent the horde stuff is pretty trashy though.)
EDIT: Try to resist urges to "choke the shit out of me".
dirtywhirlwind
Member
I'm not saying it was the only good game last year, but it was the only one that stood out from the crowd. In the retail space anyway.
And yeah, 2011 almost made me quit gaming.
tekumseh
a mass of phermones, hormones and adrenaline just waiting to explode
Halo, while having a few interesting play components, was easily one of the most overrated games I've ever played. Constant use of repetitive textures made a great majority of the game seem to me like walking through the same hallway for 10 hours.
Developers are populated by software engineers and programmers that are fundamentally and technically sound rather than being true game designers. It's probably a result of games getting bigger and bigger and longer to make and that everyone is just told to churn out levels as fast as possible.
Ever since Grand Theft Auto made it big all we ever see is open game worlds where the player is put into the world and populated by fetch quests or kill this dude. There's no level design.
I would really like to see more games like Demon's Souls that really think about how a game is designed, how the combat is designed and what the level design is like. In Demon's Souls, during combat my mind is filled with interesting choices, it affects the game play. The level design is full of corridors, and interesting rooms that are different shapes and looks and feels like a maze. It's multi dimensional, the level has elevation and breadth to it. Every inch of it has been carefully designed. I feel like something like Skyrim is just a vast open world populated with random towns and caves that feel real but not fun from a level design perspective. It's just plonked down with no respect to the gameplay. Same with GTA IV, at its core the buildings don't mean anything to the gameplay, its just stuff to drive around.
I don't think Japanese developers are necessary better either... FFXIII even when you get to Gran Pulse is just a wide expanse of land... it is saved by its artistic design.
I think more time needs to be spent on gameplay and level design, like in old school 2D games like Mario where every block and platform was perfectly placed.
That's why its really bizarre to me how Skyrim can win so many GOTY awards, I understand its an amazing world to explore, but to me it seems like this team is great at building a world but only tacked on some gameplay around the world.
Ever since Grand Theft Auto made it big all we ever see is open game worlds where the player is put into the world and populated by fetch quests or kill this dude. There's no level design.
I would really like to see more games like Demon's Souls that really think about how a game is designed, how the combat is designed and what the level design is like. In Demon's Souls, during combat my mind is filled with interesting choices, it affects the game play. The level design is full of corridors, and interesting rooms that are different shapes and looks and feels like a maze. It's multi dimensional, the level has elevation and breadth to it. Every inch of it has been carefully designed. I feel like something like Skyrim is just a vast open world populated with random towns and caves that feel real but not fun from a level design perspective. It's just plonked down with no respect to the gameplay. Same with GTA IV, at its core the buildings don't mean anything to the gameplay, its just stuff to drive around.
I don't think Japanese developers are necessary better either... FFXIII even when you get to Gran Pulse is just a wide expanse of land... it is saved by its artistic design.
I think more time needs to be spent on gameplay and level design, like in old school 2D games like Mario where every block and platform was perfectly placed.
That's why its really bizarre to me how Skyrim can win so many GOTY awards, I understand its an amazing world to explore, but to me it seems like this team is great at building a world but only tacked on some gameplay around the world.
catashtrophe
Member
I love the Res Evil series and REmake and Res Evil 2 are 2 of my fave games but i think Res 4 was poor and the most over-rated game of last gen. The series went from great survival horror to an average TPS
Also Bayonetta is complete trash and one of the worst action games i've played this gen. Abysmal story, cut scenes, character design, trash bike and missile section, can't believe the repeated bosses got a pass from people.
Also Bayonetta is complete trash and one of the worst action games i've played this gen. Abysmal story, cut scenes, character design, trash bike and missile section, can't believe the repeated bosses got a pass from people.
The_Hitcher89
Member
Jak 2 is better than Jak & Daxter
clay_ghost
Member
OOT as in zelda?
Who had said it looked like a dreamcast game? 1st time i heard anything about this.
Unless OOT refers to another game?
*fist bump*
Jak 3 was pretty great too. Probably the strongest of the 3 when I try to remember them, though I think I preferred 2. I'll find out next month when I buy the collection, it's been a long time since I've played any of them.
Jak 1 will always get more love because of Gaf's inexplicable love affair with the more "pure" platformers, which I still think is near the top of the most boring, bland, and unoriginal genre list.
Ivan A Nguyen
Member
Add a 3 to that comment and I'd cosign it.
Star Coins are the worst thing to happen to Mario.
Criminal Upper
Banned
The Playstation was one of the worst things that has ever happened to the industry and alot, if not all of the problems we have today would have been avoided if the PSX had never come out. I'm talking in terms of marketing, demographics, trying to be "cool" and "edgey" etc.
Totally agree with you on this, TRU was an awesome game, shame about the camera. Also, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is the single best TR ever created.
Yes. Yes. This.
That double life commercial is still one of the coolest commercials ever, but by god are you right.
Gonna go ahead and agree as well. Wouldnt say its better than Uncharted OVERALL but it definitely did many things better. The puzzles were a lot better and actually made me stop and think and the platforming felt a lot more organic. Im always bothered by the fact that in Uncharted, the levels always feel as if they were built specifically for someone to climb.
What?! Jak 3 was easily the lesser of the 3. Shorter campaign, difficulty toned down too far from Jak 2 (which was actually a welcome challenge for me at the time), too much focus on vehicles, mostly useless weapon upgrades (the red upgrade that shot a ring at the ground was good for smaller, swarming enemies though), dumb twist attempt at humor/homage near the end, the one-time love affair that went nowhere, and the new (at the time) facial technology
leading to a major reveal seeming less believable
I usually switch between Jak 1's pure platforming experience and lighter atmosphere vs Jak 2's varied scope and stronger story (controversy!) as for which game is better, but both easily outclass Jak 3.
That shit was already happening for years with the Genesis.
Agreed. Those 2 are the only JPN companies that make games I want to play. Well, I'll be playing Bayonetta soon, but that's about it.
2008 rocked for me. GTA IV + DLC is my Game of the Gen, Gears2 was awesome, L4D was great for co-op, and Dead Space scared the shit out of me.
You should definitely consider it if you found 2011 boring, or going handheld-only. I hear those platforms are great for gamers who only enjoy games like Catherine.
Black Ops was considerably balanced.
It's definitely possible that I remember 3 being better than it was. Like I said I don't really remember a ton from those games since it's been so long, but most of my memories seem to be from 2...I think.
crazy monkey
Banned
come on. It is very ergonomic. It is easy to use.
agreed.
so much this.