Your favourite gaming moment this year (..spoilers)

It was tough this year for me to choose. Things that were good:

Playing Puzzle Agent1 & 2 in a day. So crazy but mellow.

Loving the Dead Space 2 eye section and not knowing what to do for 12 tries on that part, the best part and the most amazing bit of Dead Space 2 was the sound design, it was so memorable and so psychologically tuned to near perfection. The best example of this was before you enter the whole spiralling set of corridors, that lead up to the eye moment, there is barely any music but you are heading to a door. As you get closer the door you can hear this mid to high pulsating noise coming from the door, pulling you in to explore behind it. Immediately, when you walk in, this mid to high tone changes to low to DEEP with this huge rushing monstrous sound that changes with the pulsation of this epic beam of light that this spirally corridor is circling round. This has the affect of making the brain work more because that sound has that rushing noise that sounds totally organic and natural in background which changes the waves at every moment because the noise is most likely random but the bass tone makes it flow, when incoparated with the visual element of the light beam the whole sectikn feels dense and stressful because you are linking it with the difficult enemies they throw in that section. So I feel that lead up to the eye part was more important than the actual eye part..... wow that was alot of writing on a sound

I've only just started Batman: Arkham City.... so I think the bit where you walk into the penguin's museum where the T-Rex roars at you is pretty good and walking round listening to the collection tour was interesting but that T-Rex part made me think, "yeah these are the guys that made a level that made me think my PC was broken" and I'm only 5 hours in, also meeting 'tiny' was cool as well. Batman might be my favorite game this year because there is so much effort to make me love it and I do. But, so far, it doesn't have my favourite moment. That belongs to an off the side moment in Portal 2. (Before I start I want to say I like that Vilify/Exile song by The National that was in Portal 2 than the end song in Portal 1).

Portal 2 has many moments of exploration and promotes and rewards it but the my favourite moment this year was walking into the a section pressing buttons hearing Cave, or it may have been Glados, talk about what happened but you are exploring and you open a door to this huge room, huge! You could build a ship in that space... the Borealis. The story of the entire ship just disappearing one-day and no-one knows what happened was not spooky. It was maddening. This huge question gets thrown at you and I truely was in wonder. I even jumped at the safety barriers a few times to try and explore more but you cant get over that barrier. So I stood and stared at the huge area creating ideas of what could have happened and wondering if the thing that occured was something truely terrifying. Either way it is the love of the mystery that makes me love that moment so much. But, does the G-man wants Gordon Freeman to go to Borealis & why?..........

Anyway.. enough about me. What is your favourite, or even favorite, gaming moment this year?

:)

The Moon bit from Portal 2 really blew me away but I loved the Cave Johnson stuff, and although it wasn't this year (I think it still falls into the 2011 bracket) the Fight Club style end to CoD: Black Ops actually really got me. Pretty much all of Skyrim, but I really loved Sheogath's character.

Having said all that, I haven't played Saints Row III.

Lots of favourite moments from Yakuza 4:

• When that one guy betrayed that other guy I was all like: "Oh no you didn't!",
• Then when that other guy betrayed that guy I was like: "oh, you did?"
• Then when that girl betrayed that guy I was like: "Yeah ok, that makes sense"
• Then when it turned out that this one dude was like a Quintuple-Agent, five levels deep I was like: "what the fuck!?"
• That time when I played Pachinko for a few hours, trying beyond all hope, to understand how that fucking game is played

A lot of people get betrayed in that game, and it turns out Pachinko arcades are addictive, and Yakuza 4 is awesome.

Infamous 2 when Cole and Zeke are just hanging out on the couch. Showing two friends just hanging out while shit is still going down to remind everyone, hey, these are still regular joes who enjoy watching westerns while drinking some cold ones. This scene was amazing and makes the evil ending that much more powerful.

@SerHulse said:

Lots of favourite moments from Yakuza 4:

• When that one guy betrayed that other guy I was all like: "Oh no you didn't!",
• Then when that other guy betrayed that guy I was like: "oh, you did?"
• Then when that girl betrayed that guy I was like: "Yeah ok, that makes sense"
• Then when it turned out that this one dude was like a Quintuple-Agent, five levels deep I was like: "what the fuck!?"
• That time when I played Pachinko for a few hours, trying beyond all hope, to understand how that fucking game is played

A lot of people get betrayed in that game, and it turns out Pachinko arcades are addictive, and Yakuza 4 is awesome.

Lulls, the pachinko part. Did you eventually get it? I never did, it was only when i got something who's played pachinko before to play it and explain that i finally grasped the basics.

Saints Row The Third, that whole game. But really, just when you get your VTOL. And then calling your VTOL to be delivered, and watching it fly right into the road in front of you and exploding....

Murderbrawl is up there.

Either "Power" in Saints Row, the potato battery bit in Portal 2 or the beginning interrogation in The Witcher 2.

@Shirogane: I did, eventually, when I heard "Pachinko" I thought of Price Is Right Pachinko "Oh this'll be easy" noooooo, the Japanese don't play around with Pachinko machines.

Atlus and Peabody colliding in mid air.

For me, the best moment of this year by far - my friend and I actually high fived in real life, DAYS after we did this in Portal 2's co-op. We also made our characters hug as soon as they landed. Not gay.

I actually really liked the Dom scene in Gears of War 3 where they used Mad World. I'm not a hardcore Gears fan or anything but it got me choked up a little (also not gay)

@selfconfessedcynic said:

Atlus and Peabody colliding in mid air.

For me, the best moment of this year by far - my friend and I actually high fived in real life, DAYS after we did this in Portal 2's co-op. We also made our characters hug as soon as they landed. Not gay.

Ha my brother was just constantly acting like a dick!

I actually really liked the Dom scene in Gears of War 3 where they used Mad World. I'm not a hardcore Gears fan or anything but it got me choked up a little (also not gay)

@SerHulse: You may have just sold me on Yakuza 4.

I should add that I have Yakuza 3... sealed on my shelf.

Any time Garcia and Johnson would read a story together was amazing.

A male with chalk white skin, florescent orange hair and moustache, wearing a sickly green pirate shirt, purple slacks and green high heels, head into his over-sized crib and tries on his recently unlocked purple mo-cap suit. Heading back outside, he breaks into a sprint before drop kicking a un-suspecting policeman. As backup arrives he fearlessly despatches each foe with a combination of guns, brain-controlling octopuses and wrestling moves; however sensing the situation is getting a little too out of control he dashes towards an empty cop car, leaping through the windscreen into the drivers seat. Roaring the engine with the handbrake down causes a cloud of smoke to surround the car; the tyres ache to get into action, pulling off the brake the wheels screech and the car lurches forward knocking down two riot shield-wielding law enforcers before ramming pass an armoured SWAT van. As he speeds away, he spots a police chopper and several police cars already on his tail.... "its time to put on some music" he thinks to himself. Switching on the radio he is greeted by the luscious tones of "It's My Life" by Talk Talk.

A great soundtrack to accompany him as he drifts round corners at breakneck speeds pursued by everything the law has to throw at him, but unfortunately before too long the song comes to an end. Wanting to change the pace slightly he switches radio station. Ah, the Ride Of The Valkyries; the pacing of which fits beautifully with the mayhem occurring as pedestrians bounce off his car, while he sprays SMG fire out the window. Again, the song ends all too soon. This is when it happens, this is when it all comes together for one of the greatest moments of the year...

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Oh, the end of Act 3 in Gears Of War 3 was similarly spectacular; closely followed by the end cut scene which tied up the series perfectly.

@Vexxan said:

@Humanity said:

I actually really liked the Dom scene in Gears of War 3 where they used Mad World. I'm not a hardcore Gears fan or anything but it got me choked up a little (also not gay)

This. So much this. I could not have asked for a better way to handle this scene.

Yes this, i also liked the way the entire attitude of the crew was changed after that moment.

-The first time I fought a dragon in Skyrim was amazing. The music swelling and running after it with a fucking mace while my team was hiding was fucking incredible.

-Driving a perfect lap in a Bugatti Veyron around Nurburgring in Forza 4 was awesome.

-I don't remember it perfectly but that segment in Dead Space 2 where you fly head first at break neck speed through space.

-The level in Bulletstorm with the spinning wheel that chases you.

-The ending of Portal 2. And when Wheatley changes sides. And the opening of Portal 2. And when Wheatley tries to crush the player in a big iron maiden. And...all of Portal 2.

-Everything about Stacking...

-...and Bastion.

@IkariNoTekken: Awesome! If you want my advice I would start with Yakuza 3 before jumping into 4, not for story reasons, it's just the Yakuza games tend to be slow burners, in Yakuza 3 you only have to go through the slow burn once (for Kazuma)

With Yakuza 4 however there are 4 characters, which means you'll have to go through the slow burn 4 times, as it sets each character up.

@SerHulse: Okay, will do.

In fact I think I'll put Yakuza 3 near the top of my back catalogue pile so I can dive into it sooner, thanks.

@JasonR86: Oh yes! Bastion. Totally agree with you there. That was fantastic.

MGS4, which i bought THIS year and its that epic to still qualify so hush hush.

Lemons in Portal 2

Moon in Portal 2 and the whole penning of Dead Space 2 really stand out to me.

I wanna say all of Dead Space 2, but when Isaac goes back to the Ishimura. Goddamn if that moment wasn't insanely tense.

Bastion when that song kicks in. The most memorable part of the year for me.

Basically when i saw my partner in Skyrim get hit by a giant and fly a mile in the air.

@gingertastic_10 said:

I wanna say all of Dead Space 2, but when Isaac goes back to the Ishimura. Goddamn if that moment wasn't insanely tense.

This!

Every boss battle in Dark Souls.

@Abyssfull: I've just seen a video of the Dark Souls bosses.... they're bloody insane.