Technically sound games this decade

[MiracleOfSound]

The last decade has seen many unfinished games released to some angry gamers.

Be it getting stuck in a rock in Fallout 3, fugly character models in Dragon Age, glitched multiplayer in MW2 or GTA4's frame rate dropping anytime you drive too fast, this generation of gamers are no strangers to bugs and flaws.

So...

Which games this decade got it right, ran smoothly and were mechanically sound?

And which ones were utterly broken?

I'll start us off with Dead Space, which I thought was almost perfect in every mechanic. The shooting, movement, visuals, frame rates and sound all worked perfectly to immerse the player, barring one or two horrid on rails turret sections.

Biggest technical mess I played? Saints Row 2.

 

[Plurralbles]

You forgot Empire Total War! Geez I almost feel sorry for the modders. So much freakin' work just to make it acceptable with the shit they handed us. And Napolean's even worse without a core mechanic and another added that had the talent set to break the game even further.

I can't name a technically good game as you dont' notice something until it goes wrong.

 

[F-I-D-O]

Borderlands was really good when it came to a solid framerate.
Worst game wold have to be Conduit. Just terrible on the tech side. I might say Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex edition, but that had a very smooth tech, but very bad graphics.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Halo3, not alot wrong with it other than ugly graphics, NFL 2k5, splintercell was good unless you broke the AI.

 

[Amondren]

Be it getting stuck in a rock in Fallout 3

oh god this happens to many times with luck this wont happen in the new one coming out soon >_>

 

[Pingieking]

The Good:
God of War 2 probably pushed the PS2 as far as it could physically go. And it did it well.
Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain and Killzone 2 all did a great job showcasing the visual prowess of the PS3.
Non-WoW Blizzard games generally come out sparkly clean in terms of bugs. Don't know about WoW, since I've never touched it.

The Bad:
Empire and Napoleon Total War. Recent Total War games have a tendency to come out broken.
Hearts of Iron 3. The first game that I've encountered where a game was actually 80+% unplayable two weeks after release (the stupid infinite supply needs thing).
Bayonetta PS3. How do you f*ck up a PS3 port this bad? With the screen tearing and texture issues to go along with the deathly load times (the load time thing is now fixed).

 

[dududf]

Wolfenstein didn't have any bugs.

And hell, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat didn't have that many, just short performance lag every now and then.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

You forgot Empire Total War!

Never played it (I'm awful at RTS games)

Borderlands was really good when it came to a solid framerate.

It was great for the most part, but some sections had drastic frame rate drops, like the final level with the snow effects, or anytime you headshot someone through a sniper scope.

 

[Hiphophippo]

fugly character models in Dragon Age

Really? What was your problem with them? I thought they were really nice. For my own submission to this thread I submit everything Bethesda has done in the last 10 years.

 

[Meggiepants]

Ooh, well if I get to pick from the whole decade, I'm going to have to go with Beyond Good & Evil (2003). I played that game through 100% three times. Everything from the visuals, to the creative gameplay, to the soundtrack, to the clever story. Perfect game.

Worst game? I think I'm going to have to agree with Saint's Row 2. Fun to play, but my Xbox never crashed so much. I think I could count on it crashing at least twice an hour. This made playing it online double the fun, since you now have two 360s crashing twice an hour.

 

[shadow skill]

Hmm technically sound: The Ninja Gaiden games deserve a mention. God of War 2, Dante's Inferno. (Say what you want about whether you like the game or not. Visceral is clearly skilled.)

Unsound:Orange Box on 360 basically it let you unmap weapon switching. The Darkness had a game breaking bug that prevented you from finishing it if you did a certain side quest before the final chapter.

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

Halo3, not alot wrong with it other than ugly graphics...

Ugly graphics? They were some of the best I've ever seen.

The worst I experience I had was Far Cry 2. That game was plagued with bugs and balance issues; it looked pretty though.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

fugly character models in Dragon Age

Really? What was your problem with them? .

Well, for a start, they looked like anorexic Thunderbirds puppets.

Horrible reddish brown colouring, sloppy animations, armour that magically passed through itself...

And Morrigan's wierd skinny twig arm.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Ohh God the latest Total Wat installments.

Its like someone punching you in the face and kicking you in the balls but you still need to play it.

 

[Hiphophippo]

fugly character models in Dragon Age

Really? What was your problem with them? .

Well, for a start, they looked like anoxeric Thunderbirds puppets.

Horrible reddish brown colouring, sloppy animations, armour that magically passed through itself...

And Morrigan's wierd skinny twig arm.

Just curious, what platform did you play on?

 

[DustyDrB]

I don't remember Prototype or Killer 7 having any bugs or gamebreaking issues.

As for broken, play Gods And Generals..

Ooh, boy.

Yea, I don't remember glitches in Prototype, which is pretty impressive considering how much can be happening on screen at any moment. God, that game was stupid but pure fun. Some people complain about the graphics, but they look fine to me. I'm not picky on those things.

Oblivion was chock full of glitches. There was a temple in the Shivering Isles where I consistently fell through the floor. I had to reload a last save. You learn to save often, because a fuck up is just waiting around the corner. Also, some people would make their death groan way late. It was kind of funny, I'd kill them and they'd fall limp then moments later you hear a random "Uuunnnhh".

 

[MiracleOfSound]

God of War 2 probably pushed the PS2 as far as it could physically go. And it did it well.

That was indeed a very well programmed game. You could tell they worked thier asses off on it.

There was a little screen tear here and there, but other than that it was flawless.

Halo3, not alot wrong with it other than ugly graphics,

I thought the graphics were fine in Halo 3. A little low rez in parts but generally pretty big and epic looking!

 

[MiracleOfSound]

fugly character models in Dragon Age

Really? What was your problem with them? .

Well, for a start, they looked like anoxeric Thunderbirds puppets.

Horrible reddish brown colouring, sloppy animations, armour that magically passed through itself...

And Morrigan's wierd skinny twig arm.

Just curious, what platform did you play on?

360 version.

And yes... I have heard the PC version looks better.