I've been working on some lists for Game of The Year. The truth is that this is probably the year that I've played the less amount of video-games since 97. The games I've spent most time with are - Harvest Moon, Earthbound, FIFA 13, Mass Effect 3, Dirt 3 and of course Red Dead Redemption.

I am one of those people who thingks that Mass Effect 3 ended alright. It wasn't really the ending that I was hoping for, but it wasn't worst, nor better. I will describe why I like the ending more in the Game of The Year article (I'm not saying that Mass Effect 3 is my Game of The Year).

I don't think that you should look at Mass Effect 3 as one game really, I don't think that anyone should. I can't really see the point of bying only Mass Effect 3. If something then this is my complait - it should be even more exclusive for people who've played previous games. Skip all the nasty "reminders" of what happened erlier, just go on - kind of like Halo 4.

You shouldn't count Mass Effect 3 out for Game of The Year. I believe that some sites who will do it will be doing it out of pure pride. Nearly everybody hated on the game at launch and if it wasn't for the amount of shit it got for all the leakes then I think that it would've been a better contender. Which sounds dumb, right? It sounds really dumb but I really do believe that it is that way. Brads journey through the game will kind of show how we would've felt, in someways.

It's not a homerun, of course- but it really should be a contender.

Would you consider giving the award to Mass Effect 3? If yes - why? If now - then what game is up there?

For me it will be a fight between Mass Effect 3, The Walking Dead and Journey.

The sad part is that if Red Dead Redemption was to come out this year that it would've been the Game of The Year by faaaaar.

I've been working on some lists for Game of The Year. The truth is that this is probably the year that I've played the less amount of video-games since 97. The games I've spent most time with are - Harvest Moon, Earthbound, FIFA 13, Mass Effect 3, Dirt 3 and of course Red Dead Redemption.

I am one of those people who thingks that Mass Effect 3 ended alright. It wasn't really the ending that I was hoping for, but it wasn't worst, nor better. I will describe why I like the ending more in the Game of The Year article (I'm not saying that Mass Effect 3 is my Game of The Year).

I don't think that you should look at Mass Effect 3 as one game really, I don't think that anyone should. I can't really see the point of bying only Mass Effect 3. If something then this is my complait - it should be even more exclusive for people who've played previous games. Skip all the nasty "reminders" of what happened erlier, just go on - kind of like Halo 4.

You shouldn't count Mass Effect 3 out for Game of The Year. I believe that some sites who will do it will be doing it out of pure pride. Nearly everybody hated on the game at launch and if it wasn't for the amount of shit it got for all the leakes then I think that it would've been a better contender. Which sounds dumb, right? It sounds really dumb but I really do believe that it is that way. Brads journey through the game will kind of show how we would've felt, in someways.

It's not a homerun, of course- but it really should be a contender.

Would you consider giving the award to Mass Effect 3? If yes - why? If now - then what game is up there?

For me it will be a fight between Mass Effect 3, The Walking Dead and Journey.

The sad part is that if Red Dead Redemption was to come out this year that it would've been the Game of The Year by faaaaar.

Maybe back part of a top 10 but it isn't one of the 5 best games I've played this year in a pretty weak year where a lot of big titles have been moved to February (I expect them to move again too). This was a year of surprises. The two games I EXPECTED to enjoy and love ended up being either disappointing (ME3) or good but lackluster (Dishonored). This was a year that really shaped my taste in video games. Every single game that is going to be in my top 5 I wasn't even expecting to play (or even purchase) but got them on a whim and they blew me away for beginning to end. I look forward to finding more diamonds in the rough in future years because I learned a lot about video games and myself this year.

I don't think I will on my list. I had a blast playing through ME3, but it never quite grabbed me in the same way as ME2. I've played through 2 probably five times; I have had no desire to go back to 3 as of yet.

Not really sure on my top game yet. The Walking Dead is a pretty heavy contender, but I need to go back and make sure I didn't forget anything. Journey is a good mention and will probably end up on mine too. Persona 4: Golden would be an easy winner (since P4 is easily my favorite game), but I would feel kinda cheap giving it to something that already came out. Really need to take some time and look through a list of release games this year...

No. That ending was awful.

XCOM's my GOTY.

ME3 is probably around 5 or 6 for me. Somewhere in there. The Walking Dead is my GOTY, without a doubt.

Not at all. The game disappointed me way too much, not only in regards to the ending, and while I loved Mass Effect 2, it wasn't my favorite game of 2010. So it's not like it's a problem of ME3 not living up to the predecessor. Just an unremarkable, very rushed game.

It's either XCOM, Max Payne 3 or The Walking Dead. Maybe AC3 if I finally find the time to sink into it.

One word; which one has the best ending. Journey is meh, ME 3...well we all know about that one and the winner is Walking Dead. Case closed.

@wemibelec90 said:

Not really sure on my top game yet. The Walking Dead is a pretty heavy contender, but I need to go back and make sure I didn't forget anything. Journey is a good mention and will probably end up on mine too. Persona 4: Golden would be an easy winner (since P4 is easily my favorite game), but I would feel kinda cheap giving it to something that already came out. Really need to take some time and look through a list of release games this year...

Feel the same way. My favorite game ever made but I just can't give a remake a spot in my list. It would be like giving Ocarina of Time last year game of the year. Probably will do a write up of P4G as a special mention, as long as I beat it before I do that.

its in my top5 but behind FC3, TWD, XCOM and Dishonored. Fuck me that's 5 fucking great video games!

I'm sitting at this list atm:

1. Crusader Kings 2
2. Dishonored
3. The Walking Dead
4. FTL
5. Xcom

Haven't played FC3 yet, it apparently comes with my new graphics card so I'll be a little late to that party. Mass Effect is around 6 or 7, it's competing with Hotline Miami, Spec Ops the Line, and Borderlands 2.

@clumsyninja1 said:

One word; which one has the best ending.

Did that really just happen.

Nah, I wouldn't consider giving it the number 1 spot, only because there have been other narrative focused games that undoubtedly had a bigger impact. Pretty good year for some good story driven games this year, between ME3 (if you'd played ME1+2 at least), Spec Ops, and The Walking Dead.

I can't really remember that much from ME3 by this point, which might be an indicator of how I felt about it. Lackluster and disappointing. I still love the universe and would like to see some sort of spin-off. But ME3 is nowhere near GOTY.

Of the new games I've finnished this year (not many, I'll admit) it's a toss up between X-Com, Torchlight 2 and Syndicate. But that might change when I've played Walking Dead.

@Fruitcocoa said:

I don't think that you should look at Mass Effect 3 as one game really, I don't think that anyone should. I can't really see the point of bying only Mass Effect 3. If something then this is my complait - it should be even more exclusive for people who've played previous games. Skip all the nasty "reminders" of what happened erlier, just go on - kind of like Halo 4.

It's not a homerun, of course- but it really should be a contender.

The sad part is that if Red Dead Redemption was to come out this year that it would've been the Game of The Year by faaaaar.

Whoa....

So you should judge Mass Effect 3 based on the promises that Mass Effect 1 and 2 gave us? That's a really weird way to look at it, because some people would say Mass Effect 3 sort of squandered what they promised in those two games.

Granted, people gave Return of the King every reward possible since they were collectively giving Lord of The Rings the praise it deserved. It also helped Return of the King had an ending that made sense.

Also, are you feeling sorry for Red Dead Redemption? That game came out 2 years ago, and 2 years ago it in fact came out with a lot of Game of The Year awards. Hell it even went up against Mass Effect 2, which is a game that's entirely awesome.

Jeff didn't play Red Dead, so it went kind of muted on this site, but elsewhere it did quite well.

I would put it in my top 5, it was a good game, all the mellow drama about the ending just shows how immature the typical "gamer" is.

God, no. It's a decent game, but far from GOTY material.

I've played very few games this year. So I guess my GOTY would be Borderlands 2, if only because I've only played 2-3 new games this year.

i wouldn't give mass effect 3 the top spot, but it's definitely one of year's best. wasn't nearly as disappointed as the internet would have you believe.

but it also didn't reach the same highs as mass effect 2.

Mass Effect isn't making it into my top 10 even. I wasn't someone who jumped on the hate train or anything like that, I just found it very forgettable, and the way it wrapped up the series was kind of bummer.

And Walking Dead is getting an honorable mention from me this year. It has story and character development that are leaps and bounds above what's come to be expected, but that's because that's all it has. The only parts where they tried to make a game out of it are incidentally the worst moments in the series. I can't get behind calling it Game Of The Year. Animated Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Book of the year? I'm on board.

XCOM is at my top spot right now, followed by Journey, and Hotline Miami. FarCry 3 looks pretty fucking awesome, but unfortunately I probably won't get to play it at all until after the new year.

It's not anywhere close to top 10. Top 20 maybe.

I am about 10 hours in and I can safely say without even knowing the ending (or really giving a crap) this game does NOT deserve anything. Is it a good game? Yes. It lacks imagination though. It is the same damn formula as ME2 except instead of collecting allies (which you still do along the way) you collect "war assests". I get this is practically the same formula throughout the games, but it just really stands out. It feels rushed and just bland.

I mean on the Turian homeworld mission, the lead general says "Hey, we can't fix this radio tower, it is too heavily defend". So I go there and shoot 3 of those zombie things (I forget the names at this moment). 3? Really? A whole fucking army of Turians could not take out 3 of those pathetic things?

Just no effort. The time between this and ME2 shows that. I just feel cheated by the dramatic buildup to the "end of a trilogy" and for it to just be the same game. Also the leveling up system is just bad. ME2 was not great either. This game went from an action RPG to just a third person shooter in my eyes.

Like I said good, but still a big disappointment.

No. It was good, but still an utterly huge disappointment.

@clumsyninja1 said:

One word; which one has the best ending. Journey is meh

You watch your mouth, sir!

It is not a contender. It does not contend.

I've started thinking on the subject as well, though... I'm a bunch of games away from finishing my thinking on the subject, so this is still pretty early thinking - and I haven't really started to prune my list.

For what it's worth, while I thought this year would be disappointing, it's actually been an insane year for gaming for me, currently sitting at 59 games.

I expect I'll finish Far Cry 3 this week, (edit: followed by Walking Dead,) and that I'll have time for at least Dark Souls... and probably work off a couple of other games in my backlog... and I'm thinking about Little Inferno, from all the talking that's going around about that.

That said, I fully expect Mass Effect 3 to make my top 10. Regardless of how I twist and turn it, despite how angry and disappointed I was (and boy was I angry and disappointed), I can't shake 2 facts:

1) Other than that last bit, Mass Effect 3 was the game I wanted it to be, the brilliant emotional rollercoaster, the great gameplay.

2) It's probably the game that has impacted me the most this year. For good or bad, I've not thought as much about any other game, before, during and after playing it.

Working against it: (and please, let's not discuss this here, it's just my opinion, I accept that others disagree or agree, but not here, please), that poor end may have permanently ruined the Mass Effect franchise. It was so offensive that despite 95% of the game being amazing (as well as having a great Multiplayer component), my gut reaction to Mass Effect 3 is negative, and many others seem to have similar reactions. That makes me really sad, as it's not a bad game. Oh well.

... but we'll see. Few more weeks...

I loved Mass Effect 3 and it's one of the best games I've played this year. Still, I'd have to give it to The Walking Dead for managing to surpass it in terms of the quality in writing and storytelling, not to mention a group of characters that I think has been the most well developed and "realisitic" people I've ever come across in a video game.

@Mnemoidian said:

... I can't shake 2 facts:

1) Other than that last bit, Mass Effect 3 was the game I wanted it to be, the brilliant emotional rollercoaster, the great gameplay.

2) It's probably the game that has impacted me the most this year. For good or bad, I've not thought as much about any other game, before, during and after playing it.

... my gut reaction to Mass Effect 3 is negative, and many others seem to have similar reactions. That makes me really sad, as it's not a bad game. Oh well.

I very much agree with these statements, especially the strong negative feeling amid the logical realization that it is a great game. I can see why ME3 could be on a short GOTY list. I don't think it should be Game of the Year just because of the ending. It's probably on my top ten, but not in the whitled down list. Journey is my game of the year right now, I am working through Walking Dead.

Hell yes I would consider it for game of the year. It's a fantastic game. I think people fail to realize that the entire game is the ending, not just the last couple of minutes. How could they cram all of those choices into the last bit anyway? Makes sense that they sparse it out through the game. And hey, nobody can say that their choices from Mass Effect 1 and 2 didn't matter in the stuff that happened in 3.

Only real thing that bugs me about Mass Effect 3 is the crew. I really miss having my rag tag group of soldiers with me. My two favorite characters from the entire trilogy, that being Grunt and Thane, weren't even recruitable. Damn shame.

Edit. And EDE. She just blows. Really did not like that.

I enjoyed Mass Effect 3 quite a bit, but I only played it 3 weeks ago and have forgotten most of it. I remember every moment of Mass Effect 2. ME3 just didn't live up to the quality of the previous games.

It's 3rd on mine, behind Persona 4 Arena and The Walking Dead.

No. Not even in the top 10.

And the ending isn't even a significant part of my opinion. It ended, and I just said "...all right, time to go make a sandwich". It was bad, but that's not why I think the game doesn't belong in a top 10. It's not a bad game overall and there are some genuinely good parts to it. The controls are much better, the RPG elements (i.e. numbers, leveling up) are better than they were in 2, and it has a handful of cool story moments in it.

None of those good points completely save it from the things I didn't like. The story is kind of wonky - it's the end of the world and no one can set aside their differences for one fight? All right, that one is a stretch, but you're telling me that one dude is going to successfully solve every single major political problem the galaxy has? That's not really good storytelling. Beyond that, though, the writing in general is too cheesy and too overdramatic. It comes across as hammy in a bad way, like it's trying to be super serious but nothing about it should be super serious. The levels and enemies eventually get pretty boring to fight, mostly because I had a hard time caring about what's going on. But, all in all, the word boring really damns Mass Effect 3 for me. It's not a bad game, it's a mediocre one. And if you enjoy it, great. But I, for one, cannot recommend it to anyone or put it on any sort of top 10 list.

For those saying ME 3 is not even top 10 on their list I would be curious of 10 games that you found better.

In no particular order my top 5 of this year

1.) The Walking Dead

2.) Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

3.) The Witcher 2 (though technically last years release)

4.) Mass Effect 3

5.) Assassin's Creed 3

As much as the endings for AC 3 and ME 3 weren't that good I found the games overall to be very enjoyable and I practically did all there was to do in both. Hell I practically did all there was to do in all the games on this list.

I'm just getting ready to compile my list, still a couple of games to try, but Mass Effect 3 is right up there. Personally, I was not offended by the ending; the payoff of your choices was not in the final moments, but seeing how the genophage played out, or the conflict between the Geth and the Quarians. A friend of mine argued that the ending is actually great, because let's say you played mostly renegade throughout the series - you could then redeem yourself at the end by choosing the paragon option. Or vice versa, having played as a virtuous paragon, you could allow your world-weary self to annihilate the enemy in a cathartic rush of fuckness. For me, the gameplay was still solid, the story beats effective and the ending acceptable at worst. What is pushing it towards the top of my list is the fact that the multiplayer was a surprising addiction this year, still playing it months later, it's still a great challenge and I love it.

@Yodasdarkside said:

I'm just getting ready to compile my list, still a couple of games to try, but Mass Effect 3 is right up there. Personally, I was not offended by the ending; the payoff of your choices was not in the final moments, but seeing how the genophage played out, or the conflict between the Geth and the Quarians. A friend of mine argued that the ending is actually great, because let's say you played mostly renegade throughout the series - you could then redeem yourself at the end by choosing the paragon option. Or vice versa, having played as a virtuous paragon, you could allow your world-weary self to annihilate the enemy in a cathartic rush of fuckness. For me, the gameplay was still solid, the story beats effective and the ending acceptable at worst. What is pushing it towards the top of my list is the fact that the multiplayer was a surprising addiction this year, still playing it months later, it's still a great challenge and I love it.

I think it's pretty telling that something that a lot of people didn't think they wanted still has a fairly strong community of people still playing it.

This is somewhat of an interesting one since you need to decide if you are judging the game at the time it launched or as it exists right now.

Looking at the game at the time it was launched, then I say no way should it be in the Top 10. When the game came out, it was buggy as hell, including a bug that prevented you from importing Shepard's appearance in from ME2. Although this might not sound like a big deal, given that hardcore fans are pretty attached to their Shepard, and that the error message was pretty much the first thing you saw when booting the game, it was pretty unforgivable. Add to this an ending that might generously be described as "incomplete" and a multiplayer component that although fun, only had something like four maps and the whole package felt like a major step backwards.

If you want to judge the game as it exists today, then there is a better argument for including it. The face import bug got fixed, more maps were added to the multiplayer, and the ending got "fixed" (or at least extended). Once you remove those problems, the rest comes down to a matter of personal taste and whether you liked the changes they made from ME2 - ME3. Personally, it still wouldn't make my Top 10 list. I thought it was graphically ugly (no film grain?!), and the gameplay focused way to heavily on the "OMG!! LOOK AT ALL THE STUFF BLOWING UP!!!" rather than the story beats that made the first two games really good. I am also thoroughly a single-player person, so the addition of multiplayer to the mix doesn't really do anything for me, even if it was well made.

I totally disagree that the game with "the best ending" should win. I'm much more of the mindset, "Which game did I have the most fun with" mentality. If I had a blast playing a game for 50 hours and the ending was "meh," I still had fun for 50 hours prior to it, and that weighs more for me.

It'll be up there for me but I don't know if it'll be number one. I really enjoyed it and I didn't play much this year that I thought was really great.

ME3 was as big as a disapointment as AC3 for me this year.

@Bobby_The_Great said:

I totally disagree that the game with "the best ending" should win. I'm much more of the mindset, "Which game did I have the most fun with" mentality. If I had a blast playing a game for 50 hours and the ending was "meh," I still had fun for 50 hours prior to it, and that weighs more for me.

My thoughts exactly. And in this case it was an amazing time til the end and then it was - for me - just fine. I was hoping for more, but it was just fine.

After some thought, ME3 would probably crack my top 5, if barely. Which is saying something considering when I first beat it I didn't want to even look at it again lol. I suppose after the initial negative feelings i had for it faded, it really has merits that were forgotten in the light of that abysmal ending. So yeah, solid top 5 title of the year, certainly not my GOTY tho.

It is in my #7 slot. It is a great game that closed out my favourite series of this generation; it had its fair share of issues, and for that, it isn't higher. But I still had a blast. My top three of the year being:

1. The Walking Dead
2. Mark of the Ninja
3. Dishonored

Ending issues aside I thought ME3 was a well crafted game. However in the final third it did suffer a series of mis-steps and felt a little flabby at times given the universe is supposed to be at war. I also didn't particularly like the whole war assets mechanic at all which frankly felt a little clunky, removed and reductive in terms of what you were achieving.

The hate is still palpable after all these months. At the very least it should get an award for that.

As someone who had no problem with the ending, I'd say it gets a spot on my list, but that's maybe because this year hasn't been all that great. I wouldn't have betted on ME3 getting on any list after finishing it.

@Yodasdarkside said:

I'm just getting ready to compile my list, still a couple of games to try, but Mass Effect 3 is right up there. Personally, I was not offended by the ending; the payoff of your choices was not in the final moments, but seeing how the genophage played out, or the conflict between the Geth and the Quarians. A friend of mine argued that the ending is actually great, because let's say you played mostly renegade throughout the series - you could then redeem yourself at the end by choosing the paragon option. Or vice versa, having played as a virtuous paragon, you could allow your world-weary self to annihilate the enemy in a cathartic rush of fuckness. For me, the gameplay was still solid, the story beats effective and the ending acceptable at worst. What is pushing it towards the top of my list is the fact that the multiplayer was a surprising addiction this year, still playing it months later, it's still a great challenge and I love it.

The krogan baby was enough for me!

Great game but not the the best game this year.

Mass Effect 3 is my most dissapointing game of the year by far.

But it doesn't make me hate the franchise, i can't wait for the next game in the ME universe.

Put Mass Effect no.1 on your list if you want, it's your list

ME3 is my game of the year... I'm alone in this.

I like Mass Effect 3. It May be on my top 10 list. Never made that yet.

Journey and The Walking Dead. No other games even come close to me.

Haven't finished it yet but so far it's absolutely on my list. I don't think the last third of the game is gonna change that.

Its my pick for GOTY

@TheSouthernDandy said:

Haven't finished it yet but so far it's absolutely on my list. I don't think the last third of the game is gonna change that.

Install the Extended Cut before the end. Just trust me. It'll keep Casey Hudson from stabbing you in the heart with a fucking spoon.