Best stand-alone game this generation?

[Magicmad5511]

Vanquish.
Speedy, shooty, bullet timey robot fun. Also Giant robot tanks, nicely powerful weapons and a Russian in 2 flying mech suits.

It's a bit over the top and definitely has a Japanese feel to it but it still makes me feel cooler than many other shooters.
and not many other games can rival being able to speed across the floor, picking off the limbs of a giant megatron-esque tank before smashing a smaller robot with you melee causing you to flip into the air and then pick of the rest of the guys in slow motion in mid air with a shotgun.
It just feels supremely awesome.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Well, since we have a topic on the best series of this generation, I might as well put up a similar thread for people to talk about what they think was the best game of the generation, even stuff that was ported onto it (such as Okami), that has no sequels or prequels anywhere.

For starters, since I brought up Okami, that's probably a very major contender (well, the Wii version would be, since that's what's in this generation). Also, The World Ends With You, for its incredible story and unique gameplay that actually works, and from the independent side, VVVVVV (just play it already; it's only like five dollars.)

What do you guys think of this generation's best, and/or everyone else's taste in games?

Captcha: 1710, naphow
Better hit the history books. For Lord Inglip!

Okami has a sequel on the DS called Okamiden, just sayin'.


OT: I'm actually not sure. VVVVVV was mentioned above, and forget indie games, that's my personal game of the year for 2010, period. I second the notion to go play it. I paid $15 to get it in the Humble Indie Bundle, and even though it's the only game in the bundle I really wanted, I absolutely feel like I got my money's worth. At $5, it's a total steal. For the best game of the generation, though, I can't decide.

Even if I were to narrow it down to just multiplayer first person shooters (which is the main genre of games I play), I couldn't decide; this is the generation that brought us TF2 and Battlefield 2, either one of which could be held up as shooter of the decade. Heck, Battlefront II technically came out after the start of this gen, and the PC version is graphically comparable to an early 360 game, so you could throw that into the mix, too. This is without looking at the various entries in the CoD series, or at games like Mag and Crysis, both of which did some pretty cool things. Basically, there are a lot of gems in this generation, even if there seems to be a bit more dross than usual, too.

Edit: Derp, best standalone game of the generation. I'm going to honestly answer that question with VVVVVV. It's everything I loved about platformers as a kid, with none of what I hated. Just play it, guys.

 

[blizzaradragon]

Well we cant make this decision until the end of this generation. Some big hitters coming out later this year like Skyrim.

So far, Oblivion or Fallout: New Vegas are fantastic games.

Heavy Rain deserves mention, a very cool experience.

Civ V was good.

Starcraft II was apparently good.

Minecraft as well, amazing game.

Well out of all the games you mentioned, only Heavy Rain and Minecraft would work for what OP was going for. When he says standalone, he meant has no prequels or sequels. Since all the rest are part of a series, sadly they don't work

 

[HazelrahFiver]

Deadly Premonition. It gets my vote for one of the best games ever.

I agree it's awesome, but not the best. /cheers though!
As for best standalone game, I would also want to say Demon's Souls... but I don't want to cheat. Not only is it a successor of the King's Field series, but it has it's own successor coming out in twelve days. I also want to put down Red Dead Redemption, but wait, that has Red Dead Revolver as a first. Frankly, all the best games are in a series, because they can work out the formula and improve the game.

Ah ha! Mirror's Edge or Heavenly Sword. I'm not going to pick one because as much as I adored both, and consider them some of the best games ever made, they both have faults that could definitely be improved with sequels (irony?).

For everyone above: Okami is last generation. Batman: AA is not a standalone game so very soon. Oblivion and Skyrim are both not standalone titles. Saint's Row is a series. Borderlands is no longer standalone. Half-Life 2.. oh come on. GTA4... seriously?

 

[Alphakirby]

Imagine Babies 2006.

Probably.

That is obviously game of the year material,the story,the graphics,the gameplay,everything about it blew me away. It revolutionized video games for all time.

OT:I have no idea seeing as most of the games I played were not stand alone and I'm a bit hesitant to give the prize to Hard Reset.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Oblivion for me.

Dude. And everyone. I'm only going to say this one more time.

Oblivion is part of the 'Elder Scrolls' series, along with Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind and Skyrim. As such, it's not 'standalone' by this thread's definition.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Its going to be grand theft auto 4 for me

its not exactly a sequel to gta san andreas sooo yea.

No, it's just a sequel to Vice City. And GTA3. And GTA2. And the original Grand Theft Auto. And then we have Tales of Liberty City, Chinatown Wars and Ballad of Gay Tony.

 

[Alphakirby]

Oblivion for me.

Dude. And everyone. I'm only going to say this one more time.

Oblivion is part of the 'Elder Scrolls' series, along with Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind and Skyrim. As such, it's not 'standalone' by this thread's definition.

Like that will stop anyone.
Also,does The World Ends With You still count even though Neku is going to be in KH: Dream Drop Distance? Your icon made me think about that game.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Well we cant make this decision until the end of this generation. Some big hitters coming out later this year like Skyrim.

So far, Oblivion or Fallout: New Vegas are fantastic games.

Heavy Rain deserves mention, a very cool experience.

Civ V was good.

Starcraft II was apparently good.

Minecraft as well, amazing game.

...Why can't people on the Internet read?

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Angry Birds - It's genuinely fun in a casual way and almost universally loved by most age groups.

There was a flash game that came out years before Angry Birds that was the EXACT same thing called Crush the Castle. But then again this kind of thing happens to flash game all the time.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Also,does The World Ends With You still count even though Neku is going to be in KH: Dream Drop Distance? Your icon made me think about that game.

Kingdom Hearts also uses characters from Final Fantasy and Disney, yet it's not considered part of the Little Mermaid series, or even Little Mermaid (or anything else) canon. I doubt Neku's brief trip into Twilight Town or whatever it's called will affect his life in Shibuya in any meaningful way, except maybe getting more people to play the game, and that's a good thing.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Im going to go with Skyrim, or one of the Saints Row games

Uh, hello? This is for best standalone game this year. Skyrim is part of Elder Scrolls, and Saints Row is a massive franchise. Neither belongs here. Lern2readkthxbai.

Take a deep breath and relax. He made a mistake.

OT: I have no idea. The only games that are stand alone that I can think of are LA Noire.

I guess Minecraft. Nothing really managed to be as "Holy Shit" good as that game in a while.

 

[Xathos]

You already said The World Ends With You, but I just have to say it again. Love that game so much. Spent like 130 hours on that game.

But I guess some other ones would be Heavy Rain (that game play style! Those graphics!), Nier (That music! The sadness!), or Bayonetta (the...over the top weird stuff!). Hmm, come to think of it, I haven't really played any stand alone type games in a while. Really got to try out stuff like Lost Odyssey or Bastion.

 

[SaikyoKid]

Angry Birds - It's genuinely fun in a casual way and almost universally loved by most age groups.

There was a flash game that came out years before Angry Birds that was the EXACT same thing called Crush the Castle. But then again this kind of thing happens to flash game all the time.

I dunno if Angry Birds should be bundled together so much with Crush the Castle. Yes it does use the same engine and basic goal, but it does have it's own separate characters as well as a plot line. (Albeit a terribly watered down plot and pretty basic characters but they're there nonetheless) Plus, a quick search has shown that Crush the Castle apparently DOES have an actual sequel. I say Angry Birds could be nominated in it's place.

 

[pyrosaw]

Um, Bulletstorm maybe. Nice FPS. (Has come to the realization that he plays lots of franchises.)

Edit: Well, I don't play many stand-alone games this generation. I like Beyond Good and Evil, Okami, Bully, Painkiller, etc.

 

[Mikkaddo]

Personally I think my favorite stand alone game of the generation, is only a stand alone if you don't count DLC as a sequal, despite how much of a sequal the DLC may end up being.

But, to not dance around the point any more than I did there:

RED. DEAD. REDEMPTION.

It was a great story, had a genuinely likable and better yet UNDERSTANDABLE lead character. You actually cared about him and what he was fighting for. Sure you could bring him to a bar to get drunk and start bar fights but that made sense even, since the whole point of "The American Dream" was to be free of anyone's will but your own and he himself was held so tightly to someone else's will it makes sense that he'd sometimes want to do something to forget every trouble and even memory he's ever had.

Even the way he acted toward NPCs without your direct intervention.

Example:

When walking around any given town (Thieve's Landing is the best for this) there are going to be whores. As you walk past they yell out to you to partake of their services, but John, being both married and loyal to his family, responds with quotations such as "no thanks ma'am . . ." or "Sorry, not for me, I got a family." This tells you more than just that he won't pay a whore for sex. It tells you he cares about his family enough that he would turn it down constantly despite how long he's obviously gone away from his family. It doesn't matter what horrors he's seen. How often he's come close to dying so many times. That doesn't matter . . . he's got a family to go home to and he couldn't live with himself if he betrayed his family that way.

Spoiler

Even after the game ends, when John is killed and buried and his son takes up the gun and goes out to tame the wild west for himself, he as well will not partake of the whores, he himself is racked with sadness over the passing events.

This game's lead character, it's gameplay . . . the story, it's all so perfect. And so far there's not a sequal to it that I'm aware of. And it's also not a direct sequal to Red Dead Revolver either but a "Spiritual" Sequal, like Shadow of the Colossus was a spiritual sequal to Ico.

(praise Inglip, peace be on his name XD)

 

[the spud]

Hmm...it's kinda sad that I am having a hard time thinking of a game without a sequel...

OT: I really loved Shadow of the Collosus, since that technically counts.

 

[BiggyShackleton]

If you're counting SotC then it's an easy choice, if not I'd probably go with Metro 2033 (although that soon will be disqualified cause of Last Light).

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Angry Birds - It's genuinely fun in a casual way and almost universally loved by most age groups.

There was a flash game that came out years before Angry Birds that was the EXACT same thing called Crush the Castle. But then again this kind of thing happens to flash game all the time.

I dunno if Angry Birds should be bundled together so much with Crush the Castle. Yes it does use the same engine and basic goal, but it does have it's own separate characters as well as a plot line. (Albeit a terribly watered down plot and pretty basic characters but they're there nonetheless) Plus, a quick search has shown that Crush the Castle apparently DOES have an actual sequel. I say Angry Birds could be nominated in it's place.

I just think it's unfair to give Angry Birds the nod when it's the exact same as a prior game. That wuld be like giving True Crime the nod for being revolutionary without giving GTA3 proper regocnition, you know what I mean?

 

[Sheamus]

this thread is fail, most people haven't followed the directions and the video game industry is based off sequels, if something is good it gets a sequel, hence the majority of good games are banned from this list.

OT: Heavy Rain would get my vote, followed closely by Bayonetta


edit: shadow of the colossus is last gen as is Okami, remakes/ports shouldn't count..
and

RED. DEAD. REDEMPTION.

is a spiritual successor aka sequel, red dead revolver... nice try