It's that time of the year again. Living rooms around the world smell like pine, crazy uncles are having a little too much to drink at family gatherings, and a jolly fat man in a red suit is invading peoples homes and leaving oddities in their socks. Yes, it's time once again for my Best and Worst of the year. Have at thee!
Biggest Disappointment of the Year: You
In past years, I had separate categories laid out for the biggest disappointments in both hardware and software. Seeing as how no hardware really disappointed me this year and it's been by and large a great year for games, I figured it would be best to trim it down a bit and talk about the one item in general to games that's disappointed me the most this year. You know what that is?
You.
This year's recap wouldn't be complete without mention of that weirdo stalker that left me this beautifully rendered image. Well, no, not necessarily you personally. But in general, I'm disappointed with the attitudes that some crowds have really shown this year. Whether it be screeching at others for enjoying a game that's gotten less than stellar reviews, knocking games that they either haven't played or never had any interest in playing in the first place, or simply being dicks for the sake of pissing in someone else's Frosted Flakes, I have witnessed a great deal of unnecessary hostility this year. Yes, it's the internet, and yes, there will always be trolls, internet tough guys, and other such fools in forums, but that doesn't give reason for their behavior to be considered tolerable in any fashion. The fact that some seem to go out of their way to spoil the enjoyment of others or simply stir shit that doesn't need stirring is and always will be a disappointment.
Also, I'd like to give a special shout-out to that psychotic stalker that harassed me to the point that he had to be IP banned after creating a second account just to flood the forums with this glorious image seen to your right. I honestly feel flattered that someone would try to insult me by photoshopping my head into a lazily produced image macro, but dude, you crazy. If you're reading this for some reason, get some help.
Worst Game of the Year: Sands of Destruction
Oh, Sands of Destruction. I had such high hopes for you. Really, I did. A Xenogears-style combat system combined with a premise of adventurers out to destroy the world. That's right. Not save, but destroy. Annihilate. Kill. Kill. And you know, you started off so well, too. Then everything went south.
Where do I even start? I suppose I should start with the failure that is your combat. While it's a variant on the battle system seen in games like Xenogears and Xenosaga, it is also utterly broken. No more than a few hours into the game, and I already had a party that was so ludicriously overpowered that combat encounters devolved into a simple pattern:
Battle Start!
Ridiculously Long Combo!
SUPER ATTACK THAT HITS EVERYONE!
Victory! :D
Hell, even boss battles fall into this trap. There comes a point where the only determining factor of whether you'll win or lose is if you act first or not. Do you act first? One-turn win! Do you go after the boss? You die. Try again.
When I die, this shall be my Hell. Then there's your dungeon design. Simple, straight, forward. More twists and turns in general than Final Fantasy XIII, I'll give you that, but then you throw me into the Chamber of Knights. A teleporter maze from which I could not escape. Frustrating, to say the least. I wandered this damnable room for hours before I finally gave in and turned to GameFAQs in the hopes that someone more masochistic than I had actually put in the effort to map the correct path out. Thankfully, someone like that did exist, and I was able to continue on.
And then there's the disappointment of the plot. Flat, unlikeable characters. A plot twist stolen right out of Chrono Trigger. Rote and idiotic. It shames me as I recall trying you out at PAX 2009 and seeing enough promise to put you on a list of ten potential favorites of the year.
In short, you are a horrible, horrible game.
Best Hardware of the Year: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Arcade Stick
Right, so PlayStation Move and the Xbox 360's Kinect both came out this year, but I only tried a little Kinect back at PAX and didn't touch Move at all. So I can't really award this to either of them. What I can do, however, is say how much fun I've had playing Tatsunoko vs. Capcom with the game-branded arcade stick. There really aren't too many fight stick options for the Wii; it basically comes down to this one, produced by Mad Catz, or the Hori stick, which I do not own. The TvC stick has held up incredibly well, and I found it well worth the money.
Best Fighting Game: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars
Prepare to get Serv'd. Super Street Fighter IV blah blah blah blah blah. Uh, no. Sorry. As was the case last year with Street Fighter IV, I tried getting into Super, and I just couldn't do it. I could only sustain enough interest to play through arcade mode a few times on a low difficulty setting and a relatively few arcade matches before just calling it quits. No, sorry. i got far more mileage out of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars.
Maybe it helps that I was already familiar with a number of the Tatsunoko characters beforehand. Maybe it's the fact that I was just in the mood for something lighter, crazier, and filled with 100% more Doronjo. Maybe I just wanted to thrash dudes as a gigantic cigarette lighter. Whatever the case, I had more fun with TvC than with any other fighting game I played this year.
Funniest Game of the Year: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game
Nostalgia, ho! In order to really get the humor behind this game, there are really two things you need. An understanding of the Scott Pilgrim source material, first and foremost. Without the use of dialogue, the game goes a long way in showcasing the humor of the original graphic novels. The other thing you need is a fondness for the beat'em ups of yore, from River City Ransom to Golden Axe to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There's nostalgia at play here, folks, and if you don't have a willingness to embrace it, then you probably won't find much to laugh at in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. However, if you do, you'll find more than a few sight gags that are certainly worthy of a hearty laugh or an Asian Catholic schoolgirl's giggle.
Best Soundtrack: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game
And with that nostalgia factor in mind, Anamanaguchi's retro-inspired soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim is among the game's most brilliant touches. From the peaceful world map music to the boss themes, the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack is one overflowing with a style that's pitch perfect in tone for both the game or for just listening to on an MP3 player.
Best Downloadable Game: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game
I just awarded it the previous two awards. So why the hell not?
Best New Character: The Persona 3 Portable Heroine
Whether you call her Minako, Hamuko, or anything else, she was the best new character this year. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 had already been released twice. Once in its original form, then in the enhanced FES package. In both cases, the game had you playing as a male high school student interacting with other students, hanging around the town, and fighting monsters in a giant, psychedelic tower. So after two trips to the well, how could the game remain fresh?
Easy. Make the protagonist a girl. Though a simple change on the surface, this one alteration has a major impact on the way other characters interact with the main character. While it doesn't ultimately change the primary flow of the main narrative, the aspects of the daily life that she leads provides a fresh perspective on a high school that players of the previous games had already grown to know fairly well.
Best RPG: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
The Kingdom Hearts fanbase is a divided one. There are those that think that the story has gotten too deep for its own good and wanted it to stop with the first. There are those that enjoy the entire series. And then there are those that don't like seeing their visions of certain characters ruined by new canon and refuse to play those games.
Aqua goes through so much shit in this game, she should be wearing a janitor's jumpsuit. I'm of the second mind. I've enjoyed most every Kingdom Hearts game to date ( Re: Chain of Memories being the lone, notable exception). Birth by Sleep, this year's KH release for the PSP, was welcome to me because it offered the chance to play as three new characters (never mind that one of them looks and sounds like Roxas). It offers a tale that predates the original Kingdom Hearts along three separate paths, a revised combat and character progression system that mixes traditional KH hack-and-slash with Panzer Dragoon-style firepower, and answers to questions that have been lingering since Kingdom Hearts II.
While not all of the new characters are entirely likable ( Terra is one of the biggest maroons I have ever seen in a video game), others more than make up for their faults. Aqua's story arc was particularly heartbreaking, simply because of the position she's put in and the way she seemingly has to clean up the messes others leave behind. The game also introduces a small collection of Disney worlds new to the series, including the worlds of Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Lilo & Stitch, giving it a fresher feeling than other entries in the series. (Best part, NO AGRABAH. Thank Christ.)
Best Remake: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable
New female protagonist, and new Social Links for her. This might be the second time that Persona 3 has been remade, but that doesn't make it any less worthy of this award. Though sacrifices were made in the visual department for the PSP format and the game's structure feels more like a visual novel when outside Tartarus, the game does enough things right to be a more than worthy rendition. Anyone that's screamed at Mitsuru as she'd cast Marin Fucking Karin should love the fact that the game now allows for full party battle control, and as said previously, the new female protagonist adds a great deal to a narrative that had become well tread territory. Operation Babe Hunt takes on a whole new brand of ridiculous when it's just Junpei and Akihiko.
Best PSP Game: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
The best RPG of the year is also the best PSP game of the year. Birth by Sleep may not aspire to the interstellar grandeur of Mass Effect 2, but that doesn't make its story less compelling. It's one of the best games in the series with one of the most interesting stories that has a lot to offer those that put their time into it. It also has Mark Hamill and Leonard Nimoy both voicing characters in the game. Geek. Gasm.
Best DS Game: Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
More MegaTen, more Jack Frost, ho. The DS had no shortage of RPGs of its own this year. Dragon Quest IX, Etrian Odyssey III, Glory of Heracles, Infinite Space, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, and, uh, Sands of Destruction, are all entries that saw release on the platform this year. But of them, Strange Journey stands out in my mind as the best. Taking the classic MegaTen dungeon crawling to a dimensional hellhole in the Antarctic, the player guides a U.S. Marine on a very, well, strange journey. Using a special Demonica Suit, the player can scan for enemies, negotiate with demons, and wind their way through an adventure that Atlus very nearly titled Shin Megami Tensei IV. It would not be unworthy of that name.
Best Wii Game: Metroid: Other M
Go Fish! If you've been keeping track of my activity in the forums and my blog this past year, I'm sure that you all saw this coming. I've written at great length praising and defending the game. But instead of rehashing all of those arguments here, the gameplay, the characterization, the fact that Samus isn't the only friendly character in the game, allow me to simply say this. Other M is the Metroid game that I had been waiting for for many years, and I was not disappointed by it in any way whatsoever.
Best PS3 Game: Final Fantasy XIII
Some people were disappointed by Final Fantasy XIII. I was not one of those people. Rather than get my hopes up regarding what I wanted Square Enix to provide me, I stayed away from the hype and the expectations. The end result that I received was a game with a linear quality not unlike Final Fantasy X, with a roster of interesting, likable characters with depth in sometimes surprisingly subtle ways, and with one of the best combat systems that the series has yet seen. In short, I got a kick-ass Final Fantasy game.
Also, chocobos! That in mind, I still don't really understand what other people wanted or expected; Final Fantasy XIII seems like a natural entry in the series that was undone by unreasonable fan expectations. Look, Final Fantasy VI is and probably always will be my favorite entry in the series, but I don't expect or demand a repeat performance from each new game. Final Fantasy has always been a series about changing things up and trying different ideas from game to game. Final Fantasy XIII gave me just that. A different experience than the previous entries that was both fun to play and a marvel to look at. So what if it took Square Enix five or seven or however many years to produce? It's fun, and I enjoyed it. That's all that really matters in the end.
Best Game of 2010: Metroid: Other M
Exactly what I wanted. Once again, if you've paid close attention to me at all this year, this should not be a surprise in the least. While others were put off by Samus's characterization; the revelation that she isn't an emotionless killbot, or by the fact that analogue stick controls aren't an option, or any other number things that people bitched about upon its release, I was enthralled. And yes, I even like Samus's voice. And like everything else about this game that I've discussed to death, I've gone on record at length about that as well. I could go on at length about my views regarding Other M again, but this isn't the blog for that. Instead, I'm simply going to proclaim that yes, Metroid: Other M is my Game of the Year for 2010, and I hope that the next Metroid game continues what Other M started.
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@Hailinel: Not other M, thats for sure. Dunno, Heavy Rain was good(best story) and so was Red Dead Redemption(Best new character). This year wasn't as good as last year to be honest.
Glad to see FFXIII support. Personally, I'd hardly played Final Fantasy before (bad experiences with VIII and Tactics Advance turned me off the series), but I played XIII and had tons of fun - really engaging battle system, and some of the narrative points were really quite interesting and unexpected. Maybe it's because I have no history with the series I liked it so much? I don't know.
So, is Birth by Sleep so good that I should play it despite my difficulty playing Kingdom Hearts games in the past (Kingdom Hearts I and Chain of Memories, specifically)? Because I'm always looking for handheld RPGs.
Heh significantly different from your standard top picks of the year which is interesting. Although It seems like you played Scott Pilgrim and went "holy shit" and filled half your list at that point :P , haven't seen any scott pilgrim related media myself. Should get around to that.
Summarized: I love Japanese shit, and am pissed that a whole bunch of Giantbomb users were ragging on Japanese shit all year. *See: FF13, Metroid Other M*
" @Hailinel: You lose all credibility with TvC:AS as Best Fighting Game. Not entirely serious... "
Okay, then...
@Capella said:
" Glad to see FFXIII support. Personally, I'd hardly played Final Fantasy before (bad experiences with VIII and Tactics Advance turned me off the series), but I played XIII and had tons of fun - really engaging battle system, and some of the narrative points were really quite interesting and unexpected. Maybe it's because I have no history with the series I liked it so much? I don't know. So, is Birth by Sleep so good that I should play it despite my difficulty playing Kingdom Hearts games in the past (Kingdom Hearts I and Chain of Memories, specifically)? Because I'm always looking for handheld RPGs. "
Birth by Sleep is mechanically much improved over the original Kingdom Hearts and plays nothing like Chain of Memories. You might have an easier time of it.
@Brendan said:
" Summarized: I love Japanese shit, and am pissed that a whole bunch of Giantbomb users were ragging on Japanese shit all year. *See: FF13, Metroid Other M* Who cares what others think man? "
I love how people keep coming to this conclusion despite the fact that I don't mention anything regarding Japan or Japanese game development at all.
@Johnny5 said:
" Heh significantly different from your standard top picks of the year which is interesting. Although It seems like you played Scott Pilgrim and went "holy shit" and filled half your list at that point :P , haven't seen any scott pilgrim related media myself. Should get around to that. "
The game is funnier when you've either read the graphic novels or watched the movie. Some of the more subtle jokes come through better.
To be fair, I'm in the: "I like Kingdom Hearts in a flippant, yet ironic way" camp. As a game it's a fairly mashy brawler, but as a weird crossover between lighthearted Disney and self-important Square I find the resultant melodrama to be unintentionally hilarious. It's fine for what it is.
I almost want to say that Other M was my least favorite game experience this year but I feel like that was a failure on my part and less on the game and the developers. Also I should have had the common sense of realizing that game was not gonna be what people told me it was.
Anyways you should be honored with your stalker. Between Matty and mracoon having someone publish a furry video with their names attached to it and errin having a picture of her with MS Paint penises drawn all over it I feel really unloved on this site.
Nice write-up! Can't say our tastes are quite the same but I absolutely agree with Scott Pilgrim's soundtrack as the year's best. Holy shit that shit was catchy and well-produced. And screw all these haters man. I guess they don't see the point of a forum - they assume that just because they don't agree, you are wrong and they have the right to insult you. Bunch of ignorant, self-important douchebags.
And thanks for reminding me that I still need to check out Other M!
@BBQBram: Thanks. And yeah, the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack is amazing. I never thought I'd be singing the praises for any licensed movie game outside of GoldenEye, but Ubisoft and Anamanaguchi proved me wrong on that one.
i don't see what you find so appealing in Birth by Sleep. Then again, I don't see what anyone finds appealing in the series, beyond the disney characters. Other than that, I have no huge issues with your choices, though I would certainly have made different choices in most every category. Anyway, cheers, virgin :P @Mrsignerman44 said:
" @Hailinel: Not other M, thats for sure. Dunno, Heavy Rain was good(best story) and so was Red Dead Redemption(Best new character). This year wasn't as good as last year to be honest. "
Wasn't the main character in the previous game, Read Dead Revolver? Or are you talking about a different character? @ZombiePie said:
" I almost want to say that Other M was my least favorite game experience this year but I feel like that was a failure on my part and less on the game and the developers. Also I should have had the common sense of realizing that game was not gonna be what people told me it was. Anyways you should be honored with your stalker. Between Matty and mracoon having someone publish a furry video with their names attached to it and errin having a picture of her with MS Paint penises drawn all over it I feel really unloved on this site. "
I definitely took it as an honor that someone went through the trouble of making an account named "AgentJsucks" . Just take it in Hailinel, all the best GB users get trolled at some point. It's part of initiation.
@AgentJ: Twenty-nine years and counting, man! And yeah, the worst trolls like to pick the better posters as targets. It happens.
Oh, and no, the cast of Red Dead Redemption is completely different from the cast in Revolver. Some of the Revolver characters were made available as downloadable skins for multiplayer, though.
@Mrsignerman44: There are better and more productive ways of expressing differences of opinion than the method you've chosen.
" Summarized: I love Japanese shit, and am pissed that a whole bunch of Giantbomb users were ragging on Japanese shit all year. *See: FF13, Metroid Other M* Who cares what others think man? "
If being Japanese is the reason people have been ragging on the those game, then we should all be pissed at those people.
The problem is that everyone cares what others think, and insist on insulting people for their preferences in games. It's really unfortunate, but there's a lot of it happening on Giant Bomb.
" I almost want to say that Other M was my least favorite game experience this year but I feel like that was a failure on my part and less on the game and the developers. Also I should have had the common sense of realizing that game was not gonna be what people told me it was. Anyways you should be honored with your stalker. Between Matty and mracoon having someone publish a furry video with their names attached to it and errin having a picture of her with MS Paint penises drawn all over it I feel really unloved on this site. "
Do you want me to create a ZombiePieSucksDick account and troll the forums to make you feel better, bro?
I haven't played most of those damn games, I'm too damn slow. That said, I'm still looking forward to Metriod: Other M (I'll get to it soon!!) despite all the hate >.>
" nice list! what's your favorite hentai or manga rape/sex scene of 2010? "
Your username is remarkably apt in this instance.
@mylifeforAiur said:
" I haven't played most of those damn games, I'm too damn slow. That said, I'm still looking forward to Metriod: Other M (I'll get to it soon!!) despite all the hate >.> "
I'm getting the feeling that a lot of people haven't played the games I played this year. Oh well. I hope you enjoy Other M when you do get around to it.
86 Comments