Honorable and Dishonorable Mentions

[Ashcrexl]

I can't deny the self-mutilation scene is one that has stayed with me like few other moments in games, and not just because I think all parents of small children should have their extremities cut off.

I still don't get why this was such a prominent moment. You sit down, press 3/4 buttons simultaneously and off screen you

Spoiler: Spoiler for people who haven't played Heavy Rain

cut off your finger

Maybe I'm desensitised to such things but I'd like to think I'm not and it was the games fault for not engaging me.

it was the presentation. see, video-games-are-not-art critics, this is why they are a legit medium. i watched 3 saw movies before i gave up the series in disgust, but never before have i actually unconsciously fallen off my seat and tried to put as much distance between me and the screen as possible as i did while playing that scene from Heavy Rain. bloody (haha) brilliant section in a bloody amazing game. GOTY fo sho. but i do understand yahtzee's problems with it, they just didnt bother me so much when compared to sheer brilliance of the rest of the game.

 

[Yan Hunt]

For me. the biggest downer was Alien vs Predator. What a totally empty, badly written pile of poop. It should have written itself for F##ksake. Imagine if it was third person instead of 1st and given the same love and care that Arkham Asylum was. predators and aliens use hand to hand moves so why use a format that wastes that? Melee doesn't work 1st person! Was so deeply and bitterly disappointed with that one.

Buy a pc game and if there's a character on the screen its left hand w-a-s-d to move, aim with the mouse, function keys for abilities. job done. end of story.
So why can't console gamers expect the same thing? why do some games (like the affore mentioned floating turd in the bowl of gaming) have to re-map their keys differently? why should i have to look at the manual to re-load etc. Call of Duty won. they're the biggest! just use the same control configuration as them!

 

[ImBigBob]

I can't deny the self-mutilation scene is one that has stayed with me like few other moments in games, and not just because I think all parents of small children should have their extremities cut off.

I still don't get why this was such a prominent moment. You sit down, press 3/4 buttons simultaneously and off screen you

Spoiler: Spoiler for people who haven't played Heavy Rain

cut off your finger

Maybe I'm desensitised to such things but I'd like to think I'm not and it was the games fault for not engaging me.

To me, it wasn't just "he cut off a finger, how painful", it was the fact that there is so much detail in that scene for something so small. You can drink some alcohol to dull your senses, you can stick a piece of wood in your mouth to grit your teeth against the pain, and you have the freaking choice of using a scissor, a saw, or a butcher's knife. Having the choice to make Ethan breathe slowly before he does it just raised the tension further for me. Even after the fact, there's disinfectant for you to use on the wound! All those things are very small, but they made the scene so memorable for me.

 

[Moeez]

A little Alan Wake love, yes! Yahtzee should have played the DLCs (so now is your reason to get back into the game now) where the combat and exploring balance is tightened, environments never feel stale i.e. less forest sections, and you're thrown gameplay surprises every 5 minutes.

Game of the Year for me, sublime combat when you're on NIGHTMARE difficulty and it feels like a dance.

 

[Worgen]

Is Yahtzee insinuating that Bayonetta was an honorable mention?

sounds about right to me

 

[GonzoGamer]

I felt the same way about Mass Effect 2. Actually, I feel that way about all Bioware games: like I really could've just as well read a novelization of the game and walk away with the same entertainment value.
They put a lot of emphasis on story but you don't really own the story like you do with something like Fallout 3. So you're left wondering "what the hell do you need me for?"

Bioware needs to focus more of their attention to engaging gameplay rather than just simply telling an engaging story.

I'd almost say that the majority of the gameplay in Mass Effect 2 felt more like a very interactive DVD menu.

That's a good way to put it.
I can see why everybody likes it but I find it about as immersive as one of those old choose your path books.
I'm not saying that they have to copy Bethesda or even make their games real open wold dealies. I just think they have to give the player a way to own the story.

 

[Nomanslander]

Mass Effect as a series still gives me this feeling of strangeness I can't quite put my finger on.



That's because Mass Effect 2 is the Avatar of video games, it's a video game made by a cooperate committee, done right! It has enough of everything to get every gamer interested, but no real depth to fill a niche. It's not really a shooter, it's not really an RPG, it's not really a story based game, and it's not really sandbox. It takes all the best qualities of every genre and throws them into a blender, and with millions of dollars to back the game up, the developers are able to make it look as slick and polished as any other AAA title.

Is Yahtzee insinuating that Bayonetta was an honorable mention?

sounds about right to me

No, unless a game with boobies sticking out (being its only memorable feature) can be considered honorably...lol

 

[Casual Shinji]

That's a good way to put it.
I can see why everybody likes it but I find it about as immersive as one of those old choose your path books.
I'm not saying that they have to copy Bethesda or even make their games real open wold dealies. I just think they have to give the player a way to own the story.

It's the same problem I had with Dragon Age: Origins: On the first playthrough, I absolutely love it because my curiosity for the story blinds me from the gameplay. But as soon as I start a second playthrough, the mediocre chore that is the gameplay suddenly reveals itself and the whole game starts to feel like inventory duty.

 

[Tempest13]

IDK, Mass effect has it's cons, but it felt more lively than, say, Fallout New Vegas. If ME2 was like marionettes on a string then NV is like trying to tie the strings onto the marionettes while being stared at by creepy stuffed animals.

 

[Little Duck]

On the off chance you read this yahtzee, female shepard portrays believable emotion into the role. Play a while as her.

 

[BrotherRool]

I can't deny the self-mutilation scene is one that has stayed with me like few other moments in games, and not just because I think all parents of small children should have their extremities cut off.

I still don't get why this was such a prominent moment. You sit down, press 3/4 buttons simultaneously and off screen you

Spoiler: Spoiler for people who haven't played Heavy Rain

cut off your finger

Maybe I'm desensitised to such things but I'd like to think I'm not and it was the games fault for not engaging me.

In all honesty? It's you. I've definitely heard far too many people pick that one thing out and talking about it from "that's intense" to "most awesomely memorably moment in gaming". Including me

There's probably a lot of people in your camp and people gell with different things, I know people who can't get into Pixar movies because it CGI, but it's really not the games fault either.

 

[Canid117]

Ha and some escapee thought Yahtzee was dead!

 

[Carbo]

Yahtzee likes Super Meat Boy?

Holy shit.

 

[Bad Marmoset]

That's because Mass Effect 2 is the Avatar of video games, it's a video game made by a cooperate committee, done right! It has enough of everything to get every gamer interested, but no real depth to fill a niche. It's not really a shooter, it's not really an RPG, it's not really a story based game, and it's not really sandbox. It takes all the best qualities of every genre and throws them into a blender, and with millions of dollars to back the game up, the developers are able to make it look as slick and polished as any other AAA title.

I pretty much agree with this and what Yahtzee said. Mass Effect 2, for me, doesn't deserve either high praise or particular condemnation. It was pretty enough and the combat was ok, but the story and characterisation were poor. The dialog was some of the most banal crap that Bioware have ever come up with.

On the other hand Dead Rising 2 and Just Cause 2 were both games that I tried to play but failed for various reasons. I don't mean I couldn't figure out the control scheme or something I mean that after the first few sections of each game I basically lost interest. Maybe I'll try again with DR2, I sold JC2.

 

[jmarquiso]

Yahtzee calling out a game on random humor. Oh sweet, delicious irony.

To be fair, he's implying it's BAD "random" humor.

 

[Grey_Focks]

Really have to disagree with most of you guys on Mass Effect. I can understand not liking the gameplay (though I personally liked it a lot), but saying the characterization was poor just strikes me as silly. I also really didn't have any issues that yahtzee seemed to have, and really the dialog felt great to me. But hey, tomato, tomato (That really doesn't work when typing...)

Oh yahtzees two favorite games of the year, I didn't try Just Cause 2, and Dead Rising 2 just REALLY didn't look like my thing. Killing zombies is fine and all, but to me Dead Rising always looked like "Dynasty Warriors: Zombies" with weapon creation. I guess the whole "time management" thing is appealing to some people, and killing zombies with different weapons can be fun, but good god how does it not get old fast?

 

[Cyberjester]

LIES!!!

Brotherhood isn't out and won't be until March.

...

On PC.

In Aus.

-.-

First world backwater ftw.

Although I did like Darksiders, it was in the vein of God of War. And I happen to enjoy the odd bit of mindless violence in movies and games. Less pretentious than any Mass Effect, less boring than any Call of Duty. I mean, if I can't play a good game, I at least want some decent violence in it and Darksiders fills that need.

For shock value and political commentary, I think Modern Warfare 2's scene where you gun down people in an airport beats pistol whipping a drug dealer imo. I mean, I'd have no qualms about shooting a drug dealer, game or no game. Being in the virtual body of a terrorist like that however was the closest thing I've come to having an emotional response to a console game. Didn't come out last year, but all the comments on Dark Rain so far place it as boring.

I'll agree with Splinter Cell: Conviction though, not because I've played the game, but because I was unable to get the damn copyright to work properly so I could actually play. Go Ubisoft. -.- They apparently changed their system from "always connected" to "Only connect when you start the game, then you can play" so I may give it another shot. Eventually

the only person in the room who actually does know the words to Auld Lang Syne

...*raises hand sheepishly*

'half raises hand, pauses and looks around the room'

Come on! Really?

 

[Seneschal]

Mass Effect as a series still gives me this feeling of strangeness I can't quite put my finger on.



That's because Mass Effect 2 is the Avatar of video games, it's a video game made by a cooperate committee, done right! It has enough of everything to get every gamer interested, but no real depth to fill a niche. It's not really a shooter, it's not really an RPG, it's not really a story based game, and it's not really sandbox. It takes all the best qualities of every genre and throws them into a blender, and with millions of dollars to back the game up, the developers are able to make it look as slick and polished as any other AAA title.

Wow, I've never heard anyone putting it like that. But I agree completely. I personally loved Avatar; it was an enthralling cinema experience, a thrill-ride in the same category with crowd-pleasers like The Matrix and Jurassic Park. However, it wasn't influential, boundary-pushing or particularly profound.

And ME2 is practically the same thing. The main plot is unimaginative and forced, it changes nothing and adds little to what was established in ME1, but there's an exasperating attention to detail, to the setting, the environment, the look, function and backstory of every single thing in the universe. And of course, the gameplay is almost perfect.

Similarly, Avatar is enchantingly pretty to look at, has enough (surprisingly scientifically accurate and researched) canon to satisfy even the weirdest fan, and is very capably directed. I just think that Avatar had a far better-structured and paced plot, while ME2 had much more developed characters, but that's due to the difference in media.

I think I can agree on ME2 being the "ultimate videogame blockbuster". But this would make Black Ops and similar titles the equivalent of The Expendables, only they earn much more. Nicely shows just how mature we are as an audience.