Zero Punctuation: Top 5 of 2012
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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Not impossible. Costly. In this case it's voice acting and writing. Gary Whitta (writer) is a comic book writer and novelist with substantial credits. Even though this is an adaptation of a high profile comic (no, Whitta is not the comic's writer, though he works closely with Kirkman), it only became high profile after the TV show went as well as it did. The rights to the game were sold before the TV rights, and didn't have nearly enough money behind it. When Activision got rights to the TV Show, they had to rush it out even more in order to compete with what looks to be yet another zombie shooter.JoaoJatoba said:
Telltale's earlier efforts do okay, but not nearly as well as The Walking Dead did. Jurassic Park and Back to the Future should have been printing money as well, but they weren't. TWD was a surprise hit and no one knew it'd do as well as it did.
I think the answer is both. Spec Ops - btw - is technically a sequel to a long dead franchise. Sequels also tend to be not as fresh or interesting as their predecessors. THough as games stake their place as franchises and brand recognition, it'd be hard to review a year of fewer and fewer fresh IPs.gridsleep said:
I highly recommend Alpha Protocol for branching storylines. The game completely shifts and changes based on your choices, which is precisely why Yahtzee was so confused by the story.JoaoJatoba said:
Seriously, do yourself a favor and play through the entire run blind first. Then after do another playthrough if you want. The game is definitely "tailored" to your choices, the plot is not. At the moment you're ruining that illusion. There is no optimal way to play. There are no "good" choices. Still every choice you make reflects on you as a player. I was also disappointed for awhile until I stopped experimenting with the choices and trying to work my way around it. The first run through is the most personal. The rest are more and more experimental.JoaoJatoba said:
Also - keep in mind that "silence" is a dialog option.
And no, the plot will not change. Not by much. But some characters will have different arcs. Others will simply not change no matter how hard you try (they're stubborn like that - and I like that about the game).
Well, I know I'm in the decided minority, but I couldn't stand The Walking Dead. Chalk it up to burnout on zombies, burnout on grimdark storylines, or whatall, but it just didn't sit in with me. It also seems to crib heavily in premise from The Road. The fact that its less a game then a visual choose your own adventure book kind of clicks me off a bit too.
Most of the rest I can more or less agree with, though in Yahtzee's own logic, Dishonored should get credit for trying reasonably new stuff as much as Neverdead?
For my own part, I had Dishonored, Dragons Dogma, Far Cry 3, Tokyo Jungle, and Dark Souls. I don't play nearly enough games for that even to come off entirely credible, nevermind a Worst of category, but I will give some Dishonorable mention to Twisted Metal PS3 (I think that was this year anyhow) and Soulcalibur V.
And on the biggest disappointment note, Assassins Creed 3. Campaign wise, "Whats with you and not stabbing people?!" is pretty apt. As for the rest, if they can't come up with some sort of way to provide randomized assassinations by the next one, they should give up on sandboxing. Sandbox games work if you can engage in the core mechanic in the sandbox, AC's sandboxing is like having GTA without any cars to steal. Hunting/Animal Assassinating was sort of a half-in cop out, but ultimately pointless, and spoiled by the animals having radar level senses, and penalizing you for killing them in anything but the most tedious way.
Most of the rest I can more or less agree with, though in Yahtzee's own logic, Dishonored should get credit for trying reasonably new stuff as much as Neverdead?
For my own part, I had Dishonored, Dragons Dogma, Far Cry 3, Tokyo Jungle, and Dark Souls. I don't play nearly enough games for that even to come off entirely credible, nevermind a Worst of category, but I will give some Dishonorable mention to Twisted Metal PS3 (I think that was this year anyhow) and Soulcalibur V.
And on the biggest disappointment note, Assassins Creed 3. Campaign wise, "Whats with you and not stabbing people?!" is pretty apt. As for the rest, if they can't come up with some sort of way to provide randomized assassinations by the next one, they should give up on sandboxing. Sandbox games work if you can engage in the core mechanic in the sandbox, AC's sandboxing is like having GTA without any cars to steal. Hunting/Animal Assassinating was sort of a half-in cop out, but ultimately pointless, and spoiled by the animals having radar level senses, and penalizing you for killing them in anything but the most tedious way.
Perhaps, but that still doesn't make it any less stupid. People claim that it's to distinguish between different sub genres of shooters which is all fine and good. The problem is that it's a derotagory term. I don't particularly like romantic comedies, but I don't go around using terms like "Kissykissypukebarf" to describe them.MegaManOfNumbers said:
I would actually prefer to use the word "romcom", especially if I wan't people to take my opinion seriously.TJC said:
If you find this site to be so corrupt, why don't you just leave?Sylveria said:
Also, I have an idea... Maybe it was the Escapist GOTY because a lot of people here actually liked it. [incoming sarcasm] Na you're probably right I'm sure the site's been bribed by EA. [/sarcasm] And before you go screaming things like "you're just defending them because you're a Mass Effect fanboy", I'd like to tell you that I didn't even vote for it for GOTY. I liked it, but not as much as Borderlands 2. Also, I hated the ending as much as most people but the EC fixed most of my problems with it.
Anyway... OT:
Pretty solid list Yahtzee. I know how you hated Borderlands 2 so it came as no surprise to see its absence. All of those games you listed were great. My favourite from your list is Dishonored.
I haven't played any of the worst games but they all look quite dreadful.
That's the whole point mate. He's sick of seeing these samey, bland, mainstream appealing, triple AAA FPS's and believes they are the lowest form of gaming, so he's giving them a name that he thinks suits these games.FallenMessiah88 said:
Sometimes artists do controversial things like this, and it's completely understandable that not everyone can follow their notion, or just thinks it's silly because everyone likes to do things differently. He's made his point though, Croshaw made it very clear what he is sick of seeing in modern day shooters. So you can think of it as it ticks him off as much as this term ticks you off.
Maybe from the beginning when these repetitive military shooters were being over developed, but it's been going on for so long now that it doesn't really matter if certain people can't take you seriously. I think this new name is the step up from that, making it clear where you stand on the issue.FallenMessiah88 said:
I'm curious if Yahtzee would name CoD4 SGWW, I found that game to be a really good experience.
So, you respect someone missing on a great game just because its not fun? Why should be judge Spec Ops for it's fun factor, when the game has different goals? I mean, games are so varied, why are people judge them only on how much fun they had? Games are not toys anymore, people should learn this if they think that games are art.weirdguy said:
Also, why are people saying that the gameplay was bad? It wasn't worse than say Gears of war, and people seem to like that game. It was competent enough to get you through the story, the actually important bit.
I'm honestly not surprised Spec Ops: The Line made Yahtzee's No.1 game of the year since he gushed so much about it. I haven't played it and have no interest to, frankly, but I read the Wiki page on it and it does sound like it has a complex and detailed plot. Dunno about a 'good' one, though, since it sounds extremely similar to a lot of modern Hollywood movies that are all about painting the American military in a bad light. Which is what leads me to wonder: did Yahtzee like it so much for complex characters, character development, an intriguing, thought-provoking plot...or did he just get a big stiffy over something that took a great big shit on the U.S. Army and gave him the chance to kill characters that were American?
The problem with this is that quoting someone in an edit means that your post doesn't show up in their inbox, which is how most people keep track of things.WaitWHAT said:
Actually, a lot of sequels, remakes and spiritual successors have been really, really good:jmarquiso said:
*Half-Life 2
*Portal (spiritual successor of Narbacular Drop)
*Skyrim
*Silent Hill 2
*Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
*Assassins Creed 2
*Arkham Asylum (not the first batman game by a long shot)
*Doom II (probably my favorite game of all time)
"Spec ops: the Line" sounds like one of those titles that sacfrice fun to make an "artistic" Point that immediatelly falls flat on its ass because when "the Game tells me to do something" it's often the best Choice i and/or the Character could make based on the Information presented. It is very hard to avoid this and i doubt anyone in the entire industry is even capable of doing this once, let alone through an entire game, seeing how companies who rely on story to drive their games fail regularly at rather simple moral dilemmas.
But Yahtzee recommended it, so i will give it a chance.
But Yahtzee recommended it, so i will give it a chance.
