So, one of the two things I left off from my Tentacle-y Game of the Year post was a lot of detail about why the other contenders didn’t get a mention! I’m going to talk about why each game didn’t make it to the final post, which is basically how each game was disappointing. Just to say – this whole post will probably end up sounding quite down, what with a lot of games having disappointing aspects, but I do want to say…I do like games, I liked a lot of these games, sure, but as I’ve talked about before – I try my best to judge everything I play on its own merits without history, fans, advertising spiel etc. All I try to answer is ‘was it a good game?’
Just a quick aside, all links are to either my own review or further mentions of games or to Peter Reviews…reviews or mentions of games. I don’t link to anywhere else, if you’re worried.
LittleBigPlanet 2 – I did enjoy it, it was fun. It didn’t feel as great as when I played the first one because of the new, bright, shiny novelty I assume. The bigger problem was that…it wasn’t much of a game. There were levels, and each level told you about (or showed off to you about) a gameplay mechanic and then it moved on. It was pretty short, and then the onus is ‘on the community’ to make levels. And while I have played some very nice user created levels not a lot of them are as good as the ones in the game. So, the novelty wears off…I played some user levels for a while and then I was kind of done. It felt like a bit of a let down, in the end.
Killzone 3 – Again, not as good as the previous game in the series. It felt very shallow and a step backwards after the care and attention in Killzone 2 (the great train sections in particular, I still get reminded of whenever any game tries to emulate it). The ending in particular, where I assume they were trying to ‘one up’ the death of Visari (a bad idea if ever there was one) by killing most of the people on Helghan in one giant dramatic…thing…just seemed silly, too.
Dynasty Warriors 7 – At the risk of contradicting my previous sentiments about Dynasty Warriors 7 being a good game (which it is, as a fun ‘pick up and play’ hack ’em up) it lacks the depth to really be my game of the year. There will always be a place in my heart for mercilessly slaughtering hundreds of Chinese people to a metal soundtrack, but L.A. Noire it ain’t.
Mortal Kombat – It felt really nice to be playing a gore filled beat ’em up game but it had difficulty bloat that no amount of nostalgia or love for the IP could overcome.
Portal 2 – It was not as good as the first one. I disliked how silly they made Glados. I disliked Wheatley and thought his character, in particular, was lazy and repetitive. I also thought (if they really wanted to make a point of having multiplayer) that the multiplayer should have been longer and more varied. I did like Cave Johnson however. We’re done here.
Infamous 2 – In a lot of ways it was hard to get over the initial, huge, glaring problem of the main character not actually being Cole McGrath but being some annoying, whine-y kid with a bad attitude (is that supposed to be impressive?) It had a lot of niggling differences to the original, but mostly the game had difficulty bloat in comparison to Infamous 1, with enemies being more tough and your powers being diminished. The overall feel of the game was also quite different. Infamous 1 felt more like a comic book in motion – it was more adult (and we all know how much I like adult), whereas Infamous 2 feels cartoon-y, over saturated, and dumbed-down to (at least in my opinion) appeal to a younger, ‘trendier’ game audience.
Alice: Madness Returns – While I really liked playing this game, simply because it was different, it could never have made Game of the Year. It was very much a case of ‘style over substance’ and while it was fun to experience the first time through, I didn’t find myself wanting to go back and re-experience its story. It had more that its fair share of frustrating gameplay mechanics (difficulty bloat and badly designed combat to name but a few) and in a lot of ways, the story could have been…more than it was.
Duke Nukem Forever – It was definitely fun and silly to play. I liked a lot of the detail in silly little things like being able to microwave popcorn, but the game was also very badly put together (the loading times, in particular, made it almost unplayable at times) and probably should have been released a long time ago, rather than having the stupid… ‘meme-y’-ness that the game has around it develop.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – It was a very pretty game, and I appreciate what it was trying to do later on in the game with its more hub-based and social-driven gameplay. But the opening was still terrible – it needed a better tutorial and a better easing into each of the games’ mechanics, rather than the very combat heavy first mission. Playing it made me want to play Metal Gear Solid 4 or (a ‘magical alternative universe’ actually completed version of) Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – I did really enjoy playing Space Marine. Sure, you can say it’s a shooter in a different skin, (like all shooters, ever) but it is a shooter that lets you stomp around in giant blue armour, yelling, and smooshing Orcs. It felt fun and free, but short. I did still, in the end, want more. I also didn’t like, in a lot of ways, the cliff-hanger ending, and I’ve never been a fan of multiplayer…so I haven’t really played it since I finished the game (DLC please?). Read Peter Reviews…review of Space Marine, here.
Batman: Arkham City – It was trying too hard to do too much in the same small ‘city’. Said small ‘city’ was too small and dull. Mostly it made me want a Cat Woman game. Can I have a Cat Woman game, please?
Resistance 3 – Despite really enjoying Resistance 1 – with its split screen multiplayer and enjoyable story (though sadly it is now a little too dated to play comfortably) the second and third games in the series have been real disappointments. Resistance 3 was very pretty, but it was also what I would call ‘just a shooter’ – where gameplay is literally a series of environments with the objective of running from one side to the other, shooting all in your way. No variation, no imagination. It was also a pitiful excuse for a story. Maybe it should have just been canned after 2.
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception – I do really like the Uncharted series. The third did not disappoint. It was very pretty, had its clever moments, fun dialogue, and dramatic set pieces. But as a game it has no real sticking power. You play it once, and that’s that – a great ride while it lasts. I hope Naughty Dog will consider making other games because in a lot of ways I think Nathan Drake is done.
Magicka – I found Magicka to have a really nice sense of silly and self-aware humour. It’s just a shame the game really is too much to play on single player. Even if I did have more people to play it multiplayer with, it doesn’t change the fact that the offered single player experience needed to have a different difficulty setting. A real shame.
Back to the Future: The Game – I do really enjoy Telltale Games products, I own most of them. It wasn’t quite as compelling as I thought it would be. In a lot of ways series two and three of Sam and Max are much better demonstrations of what Telltale games does well.
Total War: Shogun 2 – I had the original Shogun:Total War (for some reason I always remember the name that way around). Sadly, the new version annoyed me right from the get go with it’s terrible UI design in all its tiny, tiny glory. It’s a huge and cludgy (awkward and thick) game to swath through and in a lot of ways having played a Total War game to death before, I don’t really feel the inclination to do so again. I think in a lot of ways I may enjoy a Civilisation Revolution 2, more.
Terraria – A very cute and competent, creative game (definitely, in my opinion, a good alternative to the disappointing Minecraft). But it is far from perfect. It has a lot of implicit rules and game play that you don’t really know going into the game the first time, and also suffers from the type of difficulty bloat that Magicka does – it’s designed as a multiplayer game while still offering a single player experience.
F.E.A.R. 3 – I really enjoyed the first F.E.A.R. It melded first person shooter and horror together really well. F.E.A.R. 3 was more in line with other F.E.A.R. franchise games – underwhelming as a horror game (the part that I really care about) It was also a game really designed for multiplayer, and I assume is better played with a friend. As a result (and like Terraria and Magicka) the single player is a little lacking.
Puzzle Agent 2 – I like puzzle games. Puzzle Agent 2 feels like another small part (even smaller than the first one) in the Puzzle Agent story. It makes me want more. Sadly, in comparison to the first game I didn’t think much of the puzzle selection. Puzzles were either too awkward in a ‘either you know it or you don’t’ kind of way or they were too simple. The final puzzle where you draw lines between the four objects was also a little frustrating to me – as it didn’t make it clear that you made one fluid connecting movement rather than 4 small lines to connect them. A better puzzle description is needed there I think.
So, there we go. All the contenders mentioned (minus the winners, of course). There are still some games leftover from last year that I will, in time, buy (or borrow, or rent, or whatever) and play. That’s all for now!