GOTY rank outsiders

So I guess people are starting to think about their game of the year lists, right? Even ignoring the Bombsquads lists, I've always enjoyed making my own personal owns. I've been keeping mine up to date for about the past three months (adding games as I play them - assuming they're good!) and I've loved every moment.

I think we're all expecting Skyrim, Uncharted, Portal 2 and Batman to do well. But what about the less obvious choices? Will anyone be including any of the following in their top 10's?

• Bulletstorm?
• DC Universe Online?
• Little Big Planet 2?
• Child of Eden?
• The Binding of Isaac?
• Terraria?
• Dance Central 2?

Interested to hear what you've got in your lists that others may have ignored/forgotten about!

Unless I play another new release this year Where is my Heart is my game of the year. Limbo, Minecraft, Valkyria Chronicles 3 and Team ICO Collection are the rest of my top 5 but I don't know the order yet. Gonna play them some more and go over their finer points.

El Shaddai. I'm not gonna let anybody ignore this awesome game.

Ghost trick, that came out this year right?

For top 10 lists id say they all have a good shot. Except DC and Bulletstorm.
Bastion should feature highly in brads top 10 i'd say. But as for the actual GOTY.
I'd say it will almost certainly be Skyrim and MAYBE saints row 3

Hey you guys hear of Dead Space 2 (he said ironically)

Binding of Isaac is Top 5 for me. I feel like a lot of people are forgetting about Dead Space 2 since it was released in January. Bastion is Top 10 material as well.

Shit, I haven't got round to playing Ghost Trick or El Shaddai yet! As for Team Ico Collection, I'm personally not including remakes/rereleases on my list. My list could've easily been Ico, SotC, Ocarina of Time, Halo CE, Street Fighter 3, etc. Some of the best games EVER. But I'm keeping my list new.

The Dream Machine, Bastion, Don't Take It Personally Babe, The Witcher 2, Limbo and Dark Souls would probably be on my list.

Maybe the 2012 IGF Pirate Kart (I'm taking that as one big whole), SpaceChem, To The Moon, Gemini Rue and Ace of Spades.

Of the obvious ones, only Skyrim, Skyward Sword, Portal 2 and maybe Deus Ex would make it. Oh and Minecraft if you count it.

I've not really thought about it enough yet.

@Video_Game_King: I saw a bit at someone else's house and I'm really eager to play more.

I found most of the big titles this year disappointing, so the majority of the games on my list are "less obvious choices". I've got Dodonpachi Resurrection, Arcana Heart 3, Hard Corps: Uprising and Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, amongst others.

Bastion is definitely in my top 10, if not top 5.

@SamFo said:

For top 10 lists id say they all have a good shot. Except DC and Bulletstorm. Bastion should feature highly in brads top 10 i'd say. But as for the actual GOTY. I'd say it will almost certainly be Skyrim and MAYBE saints row 3

Brad gets so excited about every game that I have no idea how you can guess what games will be on his top 10. I like his enthusiasm, but seriously, any Quick Look he leads/any Quick Look where he reviewed the game, he tends to sound super positive. Applies equally well to discussions on the Bombcast. However, he seems to have fallen off the L.A. Noire bandwagon pretty hard, along with seemingly the rest of the staff, but otherwise I have no idea what Brad's top 10 would look like.

Solar Twooooooooooooo!

Since I don't play most of the obvious Game of the Year choices, my list will probably be mostly darkhorses. To prove this, I believe I have Terraria in my top 3.

@Kieran_ES said:

The Dream Machine, Bastion, Don't Take It Personally Babe, The Witcher 2, Limbo and Dark Souls would probably be on my list.

Maybe the 2012 IGF Pirate Kart (I'm taking that as one big whole), SpaceChem, To The Moon, Gemini Rue and Ace of Spades.

Of the obvious ones, only Skyrim, Skyward Sword, Portal 2 and maybe Deus Ex would make it. Oh and Minecraft if you count it.

I've not really thought about it enough yet.

I played the first level of The Dream Machine and then stopped because I had to leave. It's been in my bookmarks for about 6 or 7 months now. Is it worth my time to go back and keep playing?

Muthafuckin Dark Souls

Wappy Dog

Remember LA Noire?

• Binding of Isaac is pretty high on my list.
• Also, Ghost Trick is amazing; still my favourite game from this year.
• Another DS game that didn't have much attention paid to it was Aliens: Infestation. The game has a very Metroid Fusion, but set in the Aliens universe feel.
• Hard Reset. I would say the best FPS in recent memory. Some really fun and intense combat.
• Another rogue-like/rogue-like-like that I like is Dungeons of Dredmor. Not nearly as good as Isaac, but still pretty good.

Based on all that I've heard, I'm sort of shocked that Uncharted 3 is nominated. I mean, reviews seem to suggest that it's worse than Uncharted 2 in almost all ways. And I thought LBP2 was charming as fuck. Why isn't this on the list? Because it isn't the sort of thing that Spike VGA-viewer would play? Probably.

Kirby's Return to Dreamland

@mosespippy: In my opinion yeah absolutely, Bear in mind that the first episode is a slow start, more about establishing the mundane side of the world.

I would like to see Ghost Trick and Solatorobo get some recognition in the handheld department. Are the DS and 3DS getting lumped together for awards this year?

Also, I bet Jeff will have something to say about Trackmania 2 as a GOTY contender.

I really liked Killzone 3, though it seems no one else did.

@AmatureIdiot: I liked Killzone 3! It's in my top 20, but there were 10 other EXCELLENT games that just eeked it out of my top 10.

Do we think that Dark Souls is classed as a rank outsider? I'm kinda expecting it to be in a lot of folks' top 10's. It's EASILY my number 2.

I wouldn't call Zelda a rank outsider, but you didn't mention it in your post, so I feel obliged to say that it is most definitely my GOTY.

Throwing my hat in the ring for Iron Brigade. I loved that game

Alice madness returns or Shadow of the damned on anyones list?

Binding of Isaac and Bastion.

L.A. Noire is a video game, not bad news.

Dead Space 2. That's a heck of a game. So it's The Witcher 2.

Why has no one mentioned Dead Island!?

That was a great open world zombie RPG, loved it much more than L4D and L4D2 and every other zombie game I have played to date.

@Still_I_Cry: Too much junk and not enough goods, I would say.

@Winternet said:

@Still_I_Cry: Too much junk and not enough goods, I would say.

I liked the loot system (I have no idea what you're talking about :D).

Edit: Oh, I get it. I think the goods outweigh the junk.

@Still_I_Cry: x) Guess not enough people thought that. And it didn't particular excel in any specific area. At least, that's what I think of it.

Fight night champion was great, but I don't expect any mention of it at all.

@Winternet said:

@Still_I_Cry: x) Guess not enough people thought that. And it didn't particular excel in any specific area. At least, that's what I think of it.

Eh, well I liked it at least, especially the controls. Felt like you were actually swinging a weapon at a zombie (as much as you can feel this when using a controller).

I am a sucker for zombies and open world/sandbox RPGs though, which is probably why I liked it so much :P.

What a fucking incredible year for games.

Terraria will be somewhere on my top 10

As it sits, I''ve got Ghost Trick at #4 on my list and Bastion at #9. I guess those would be considered "outsiders?"

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, Tactics Ogre, Corpse Party, Shadows of the Damned, Ghost Trick, and Catherine will all most likely make it in my top 10 list.
 
Sadly, I bet few other lists will include most of these games :(

• Catherine
• Ghost Trick
• Radiant Historia
• Bulletstorm

Each of these will be in my top 10 (probably) and will most likely not be considered all that much in the E3 deliberations.

@Video_Game_King said:

El Shaddai. I'm not gonna let anybody ignore this awesome game.

Don't worry. Everything's fine!

I will rank Binding of Isaac in my GOTY list.

@Jeust:

I would, but it doesn't really fit any of my categories. If it makes you feel better, though, one of those categories is named after The Binding of Isaac.

@Video_Game_King said:

@Jeust:

I would, but it doesn't really fit any of my categories. If it makes you feel better, though, one of those categories is named after The Binding of Isaac.

ahhhh awesome! :D

the gunstringer if only for its mind-blowingly awesome/stupid DLC

I enjoyed E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy but I understand why it can't make the list.
Drakensang: The River of Time though is a great game.  RPG players should check it out.

After finishing Gemini Rue, it is easily in my Top 5. Such a fantastically executed story.

I've only played like four games from this year.

1. Battlefield 3

2. Halo: Anniversary

3. Duke Nukem Forever

4. Bulletstorm

Those are my games of the year by default thanks for tuning in.

I'm probably going to be alone on this one: Warhammer 40K: Space Marine. It also has the honor of my most "surprisingly good" game of this year.

I might consider Bulletstorm and Catherine as well.

L.A Noire exclusion is criminal. Dark Souls has major flaws, but damn if it wasnt addictive as hell.