Disclaimer: There will be spoilers for Metal Gear Solid 4 and Arkham City so read at your own risk. Also I'm assuming you've played MGS4 and Arkham City.

Second Disclaimer: This will be a rather exhaustive post on this odd subject.

So I'm a bit late to the party on this but I want to talk about endings and perhaps rant a bit about how the story in Arkham City is kinda of awful. I'll be jumping around a bit but let's start with an inflammatory list on the endings of two games.

• Metal Gear Solid 4 has a surprisingly mature ending
• Arkham City has a surprisingly 90s Watchmen chasing ending

Am I locked yet for clearly trolling? No? Alright let's expand on this starting with MGS4.

On the bombcast a while back the crew discussed Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes The Phantom Pain Snake's Revenge and with it the ending of Metal Gear Solid 4 came up. They felt the ending was a cop out. Snake lives to be squished into another game through nonsensical de-aging nano-machines or something right? That's MGSV right?

Only one problem with that though.

This isn't snake it's Big Boss. Sure they look exactly the same and they even use to have the same voice actor but the point is that it isn't Snake. Clearly Snake decides against suicide for another, perhaps story based, reason. Clearly you could argue they were merely keeping Snake alive as an option if you want to retain your cynic's badge but there are still logistical problems.

Why bother keeping Snake alive in such a state that you have to come up with unparalleled levels of bullshit to de-age him when you not only have Big Boss but also Raiden who is clearly presented as "badass" now. MGS4 sets up a means to continue the story forward without Snake in a leading role. Raiden is not only turned into Grey Fox but given a stronger supporting cast in the form of his son. Sure like all of this story it's incredibly hokey and not all that well executed but it's still there staring you in the face.

So why have Snake live? because this a game about war and Snake's relationship with violence. Obviously. I mean we all knew this right? Hell if I had more time I could point out why I think this is one of the best anti-war games I've ever played (haven't played spec-ops) and how this edge article is total wrong. The point is Snake thinks himself nothing more then just an old killer sent to do some wet work. Every other character in the game tries to convince him otherwise.

Meryl is obviously concerned during the Europe stage and keeps trying to talk him down from getting involved until Snake pisses her off. Otacon desperatly asks Snake to leave the incredibly suicidal fight near the final act. A lot of characters met along the way are uneasy about Snake taking all this on. Yet Snake is needed to get the job done, in some ways war could be necessary, at the cost of only living for the violence of war. In some ways Snake is only himself in the midst of violent tactical espionage so when he's given a reasonably heroic reason to die in the form of not only this suicide mission and the foxdie mutation it seems like a good end for Snake right?

Wrong.

Let's ignore the part near the end when the foxdie in his body is countered by other foxdie because if Kojima wanted Snake to shoot himself then he wouldn't have had that line in there. Instead let's focus on the, again poorly executed, side proceedings to MGS4.

• Sunny cooks eggs
• Meryl has her own squad
• Mei Ling is running a ship
• Meryl gets married

These events aren't just "where are they now" or fan service bits but something rather different to a non-snake Metal Gear Solid. These are people with lives that move forward. Sunny gets better at a mundane skill, Meryl moved on from just a soldier to someone in command, Mei Ling has also moved up in the world (kinda), and then Meryl gets married and Snake doesn't show up.

Why doesn't Snake show up? He's still Snake and he hasn't had life that moves forward. His life is still in war. His function is the "killer" and that's no longer needed after bringing down the end boss hallway. He doesn't quite think of himself as a person with a life that can continue after all the violence. He wouldn't fit in at the wedding and he wouldn't be comfortable there. He's going to kill himself even though he doesn't have to. He just wants to die.

Then he gives a subtle bit of a whimper while that gun is in his mouth. If he killed himself right there would that have been better? Is moody always better? Why is it bad that Solid Snake's dad basically comes in at the last second and asks him not commit suicide for no reason? Is this ending inherently inferior to the Joker dying in Arkham City?

Why bring up Arkham City? It's the complete opposite of Metal Gear Solid 4. All of it's individual scenes and moments are incredibly well executed but the story connecting them is absolute garbage. The only thing that both do is use the gameplay to make you feel like the character you're playing as. They're both good games for different reasons.

At the end of Arkham City the Joker dies and it's treated like some big moment where everyone gasps and awes. It wasn't exactly lauded as a moving ending but it wasn't considered a cop out. In fact I'm likely the only person, besides maybe Chris Sims of Comics Alliance, to tell you that killing the Joker was unintentionally pandering and incredibly shallow. It'll help if you've played Arkham City for this. In fact go play Arkham City right now because it's a good game.

So Arkham City starts out with a catwoman segment that kills the pacing with Bruce Wayne, who is Batman *gasp*, getting captured by Hugo Strange.

Batman is captured. Professor Strange knows his secret. Great opening.

Oh what? All that's ignored afterward so that Mark Hamil can have a dramatic exit? Oh. Great.

The game's story starts out strong enough by having Batman escape but with the caveat that if Strange wants to he can tell the world that Bruce Wayne is Batman. This provides far better tension then when Joker latter hits with some foxdie of his blood. It's an intellectual threat rather than the physical bodily issue of poisoning. If you are remotely aware of Batman you know that he's almost unfair in how easily he overcomes death traps and crowds of thugs. The game is great at making you feel like you're Batman not just by beating up mash pits worth of enemies but through the Riddler's death traps in the form of puzzles.

Then Riddler is what makes the collectibles brilliant in that it turns the game into a puzzle game that also makes sure you're improving in your expertise of gadgets. When you finish enough collectibles you're treated to saving a Riddler hostage stuck in a death trap. You know Batman will save them and there's no tension on the story front but you get to do it!

The problem with the Joker gassing you is that it's a death trap you know Batman will get out of but you have no part in completing. There's no story tension but with the threat of revealing Batman's identity there is. You could have his identity revealed and still have another game but Batman dying from poison doesn't let you have another game.

So what is done with the threat from Hugo Strange? Nothing. There isn't even a mission where you have to prevent him from telling anyone. He just decides not to. Sure you could say he was delusional and thought he would win either way, that he had beaten him, but the story never explores that. Hugo Strange is pushed off to the side because the Joker is more interesting and has more cultural cred. Hugo Strange is disposed of in the most careless of ways.

Hugo Strange wasn't even the threat that we showed you at the beginning it was Ra's al Goul. Why Ra's al Goul? He's the guy who plots right? As the player you shouldn't even know him that well and only met him for a limited time. Yet imagine if you watched Batman Begins or have been reading the comics for a while. You know him better then poor old Hugo then.

This game is more interested as treating the story as a play pen for all the characters the audience is familiar with then telling any sort of story. This becomes even more clear when the Joker dies.

So before the Joker dies and you meet Ra's for the first time you also meet Talia and her transparent pants.

She shows up talking about how great a time she and Bruce had in Metropolis. That's the extent of her character beyond being a crazy assassin bent on bringing "order" to the world with her immortal father that wants Batman to kill him or something. It's not like there's time for the audience to understand why Batman has such a damn hard on for her, emotional speaking because physically speaking she really isn't wearing any pants, when latter he wants to abandon everyone to go save her.

Yes Protocol 10 is in effect and everything is exploding! Batman wants to leave all the criminal scum, plus some wrongly imprisoned citizens, to burn while he saves Talia. Alfred and Oracle intervene and it's supposed to be some kind of emotional moment that we aren't privy to because all we know about Talia is that her and Batman go it on in Metropolis once.

Now if you read the comics or watched Batman: TAS you'd know better and as fans of these things, and one of the writers for the animated series, the developers clearly knew more then they bothered to tell you. Why is this important? It's another thing they set up and then abandon when the Joker dies.

Yes the Joker dies after causing quite a bit of mayhem and killing Talia. Talia is that person in the image above that we spent a few paragraph detailing how much Batman loves her and is willing to let everyone else blow up ten times over. So after all the curtains collide and the smoke dies down who does Batman carry out mournfully and sets down lovingly on the hood of a police car?

The Joker.

Making a gay joke would be immature and likely very offensive that's not the point. The point is that there is no consistency to this story and characters do things without motivation. The only reason anything has meaning is because you've seen outside material related to the character. The only upside is that the individual moments are so well executed that you're tricked into thinking they have some kind of depth to them.

Noticed how I didn't say something like resonate with you or otherwise more personal things that you can totally have with this game because it's still a good game cursed by the current state of mainstream games storytelling.

It's not like the Joker dying couldn't have been a well thought out story. It's been done before in a certain comic that played to the Joker's character and his relation with Batman. Here he's groveling at the shattered vial at the end after stabbing Batman in the arm. It's ironic right? He tried to get the cure but then through his own efforts he failed! or put into better sounding words: the Joker trying to kill Batman instead killed himself.

Except for the part where the Joker isn't just a crazy guy who tries to kill Batman sometimes. Killing Batman is easy. Corrupting Batman is what Joker is there for. Why doesn't Batman just kill the Joker right?

At the end Batman says he would have saved him.

Sounds good right? Exactly the thing about trying to corrupt Batman and Batman resisting right? Wrong. The Joker doesn't do anything to try to corrupt Batman he just wants his cure.

It would be one thing to have Joker arranging for the moral dilemma of choosing Talia or saving the inmates of Arkham City but he doesn't he just wants some plot mcguffin. That's boring.

The Joker's death is meaningless. Solid Snake living is meaningful.

Yes this where I explain why the hell I've been talking about these two games.

Solid Snake whimpers at the feel of the gun in his mouth, it humanizes him, it shows how pathetic it would be to commit suicide for no reason instead of simply going to a wedding. He finally decides not to do it. He decides to move on from war and all the violence. It's a triumph. It is NOT a corporate cop out meant to let you have a billion more Solid Snake games.

Joker whimpers at dying without having had much meaningful effect on the plot for the entire game and without challenging Batman at all. He serves no function in the plot. He's useless here. His death is about as edgy as any comic written in the 90s trying to imitate Watchmen like they're a kid who watched something kewl on TV.

Conclusion

Don't worry this is almost over and thank you for staying with me through this long ass post.

The reaction to the ending of MGS4 I feel is based on the idea that true art is edgy and subversive... or maybe it's because MGS4 was super confusing and kind of poorly executed moment to moment...

Yeah OK it's probably the latter.

Disclaimer: One Draft + 2AM = this long ass post

Let's be honest here Game of the Year is the most important annual event in gaming. It is of incredible importance that each gaming publication take great time to decide upon this life or death decision. It is actually life and death when you think about it. Will giantbomb.ru starve the family's of Gearbox employees because they didn't name Borderlands 2 GOTY? I don't know but if they don't name Borderlands 2 GOTY then they wont be able to release a GOTY edition of the game down the road thus preventing little jimmy from buying all that dlc on one disc. If little jimmy doesn't give gearbox his cash then who is to put food on the table for the family's at Gearbox? Not Aliens: Colonial Marine that's for sure.

Game of the Year is serious business the publications have to be absolutely right in their individual judgement. With the full of weight of the situation their is only one solution: No GOTY this year. Be honest with yourself: does any game deserve GOTY this year?

Syndicate?

The value wasn't there even when the multiplayer was active. Also Deus Ex came out last year.

SSX?

It's a snowboarding game and thus is disqualified for being sports related.

Mass Effect 3

More like Ass Effect Mass Erect Ass Erect? Ending. Jeez guys even I know the ending was horriable and murders babies without even having to play the game.

Diablo III

Had a crappy mmo launch without being an mmo but it's OK because that's how mmo's launch anyway. Those darn devs never know how many people want their game. Also the late game is bad which means the whole game is retroactively ruined, also known as the Ass Erect effect.

Persona 4 Arena

Is a visual novel like The Walking Dead and thus not a game except for when it's a fighting game but that doesn't count because I don't understand fighting games.

Sound Shapes

Was meant to sell the me and you on a Vita and can't be a GOTY because it's related to the Vita.

Darksiders II

Was padded out and Patrick didn't like it and Patrick is some sort of authority on heavy metal things like death or rock and roll...

Guild Wars 2

Is an mmo. Sorry.

Borderlands 2

Has Tiny Tina and decade old internet memes.

Torchlight II

Is just another Fate clone. What? I call it like I see it.

Resident Evil 6

Camera, shooting, bland supporting characters that aren't Sherry, and co-op. Also your decisions in past resident evil games aren't reflected in this one. What happened when I took that shotgun back in Raccoon City!

Dishonored

Is the greatest Has a crap story, terrible stealth in comparison to Mark the Ninja, and a binary morality system.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Refuses to inform the player of the actual chance that you'll hit with that shot.

Forza Horizon

A console exclusive for the 360. It can't be GOTY because no one played the superior PC version.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted

Had a Vita release. End of story. VITA BAD I OWN A PSP.

Assassin's Creed 3

Had frame rate issues and was generally aimless having no coherency with it's systems.

Halo 4

Console exclusive. Change of scenery, story, and guns was true for about five seconds.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Ollie North, decapitation, and left trigger right trigger.

New Super Mario Bros. U

It ain't so new and something about the WiiU sucking or something...

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale

The title is to long and unweildy to be considered for GOTY. Those physical playstation trophies cost a lot to get engraved.

Hitman: Absolution

I heard it was misogynistic and homophobic and linear to some effect. To be honest I haven't played many of the games on the list...

Far Cry 3

PC version is better! Suck it! Ash is a loser!

Journey

Doesn't count becuase it came from thatgamecompany

The Walking Dead

Is a visual novel and doesn't count and also please for the love of god don't spoil that game I haven't played it have mercy!

Awesomenauts

Eh...yeah OK it's a contender I guess

All those games aren't GOTY material as each has at least one flaw that will be used to judge them till total damnation is upon them. Wouldn't it be simpler to do away with GOTY this year then to muck about the life and death choice of it? Wouldn't it be easier to just take GOTY less seriously and simply see it as what it is? An excuse to think critically about the year's releases and see the good and the bad of games this year?

No? Too new wave for you? Enjoy Batman vs Superman then.

So what was negative about this year's releases and what was positive?

Second, much more minor, question: can you see a moba or rougelike being a popular GOTY for even this site?

With the recent release of modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 combined with the even more recent and predictable announcement that yes there is another Call of Duty game on the horizon I got to thinking...

No not about how stale the modern militarily shooter genre is or how angry I am at the bros and ten year olds in England that keep yelling at me about how weak my game is but how much I love the Call of Duty series existence. no that isn't sarcasm and I have never spent my money or anyone else s on a Call of Duty game ever...in fact I've played Black Ops on a rental and that's it.

Now as much as I'd like to explain why I love CoD's existence I have to take a moment and address the gimmick of this article. Pokemon hasn't had a major release all that recently so it isn't exactly topical but what have people said about Call of Duty lately? That they should do something? That they should stop making the same game again and again? What are the main detractors to Pokemon? That they should stop making the same game again and again? Now granted that's a very minor thing to have in common but the main take away is that both series are getting stale and it feels like the same game with different Pokemon to collect or in the case of CoD now a days different Perks/weapons/attachments/etc to collect all over again by leveling.

Why hasn't either series made any drastic changes as late? (This doesn't count the new killstreak system in CoD or the story twist in Pokemon Black/White)

Simply because they don't need to and people rarely take risks when they don't need to. Whenever a new CoD game or Pokemon game arrives on store shelves it sells gangbusters and you know what? That's good...would you rather the Video Game industry turned into the Comic Book industry?

Actually that's a bad example seeing as how the Comic Book industry is now trying to take risks in the hopes of revitalizing their industry...actually they aren't...but that's a discussion for a another time on another site. The fact is that some games or properties in general are made exclusively to make money. This isn't a new thing every medium has their various Cash Cows and they can't always be as interesting as The Dark Knight or Uncharted 2. Here is a good set of properties that you've most likely spent a few minutes arguing about how stupid they are: Micheal Bay's Transformers, Twilight, and last but not least Call Of Duty. If the money that a studio makes from any of these "stupid" properties helps to get some new original IP made and shown to a wide audience then is it not worth it? Not every property can be the pinnacle of gaming but can't we let these stale games be used to greater end?

Extra fun fact storytime...

I'm guessing you've played Arkham City, did you like it? Well in that case you should send a thank you card to the Playboy Mansion....

Let's trace Arkham City back to Hugh Hefner shall we? What do you think got Arkham Asylum made? Perhaps it was any of those two Nolan films, why did those Nolan films get made? probably because people knew who Batman was, why did the mainstream know who batman was? The Burton movies most likely combined with the Adam West TV show...

This brings us to the big link, why did they green light that show? Probably some executive thought it a good idea...and that executive was in the company of Hugh Hefner during one of his crazy comic book parties (read:not joking in the slightest). At this party they were watching the old 40s serials and crazy old Hefner had actors dressed up as comic book characters saying phrases commonly used in 60s comics at the time.

Side Note: I know this from a special feature on a dvd except for some other certain facts I gleaned from a tumbler blog when I was googling how to spell Hugh Hefner.)

So basically you have this guy:

You dawg hear about this blogger initiative that Sweep started up back in September? I did...and promptly forgot about it...checking back in recently I noticed it was over...dammit.

On the positive side it doesn't mean I can't post a blog and I have a backlog of user blogs to read through. So getting down to business here's a blog about a two year old game.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Like many of you I played this game back in 2009 while we were all still riding the wave of adrenaline that Christopher Nolan stabbed into our veins months prior. Not only was it an excellent revisiting of Batman the Animated Series and some of the more darker toned comics but unlike many a person I actually managed to avoid almost all information about this game before it got into my hands! Now to be fair I hadn't found this site and was even less technology savvy then I am today. (Read incoming side note.) When I got down to playing it, after a lengthy install spent looking at a grey picture of Poison Ivy, I was more or less blown away. This was not just due to the quality of the game but also because I was a Batman fanatic!

I blew through the game in a matter of days and was left with an unsavory taste of post-game depression and challenge maps starring me in the face. During the two years between then and now I've thrown my best at those challenge maps and downloaded the free dlc. Right now the Freeflow Gold trophy is laughing at me...I can hear it...

What I want to do is S-Rank Arkham Asylum before I get Arkham City. Now make no mistake I'm not Vinny when the 18th rolls around in a few days I'm playing Arkham City regardless of failure or success but I gotta try dammit! It would be my first platinum trophy and it would help get my reflexes ready for Rocksteady's magnum opus to bat fans. What do I have left to finish? freeflow gold and predator gold both of which require you to get all bat medals in their respective category of challenge rooms. Before writing this I gave two of the combat challenges the good old public high school try and learned a few things.

Side Note: I originally tried to record my trials and tribulations in the challenge rooms but after a few minutes trying to rip a DVD I gave up...because I'm a wimp. So you'll have to be content with boring prose.

Other Side Note: I'm assuming that you've played Arkham Asylum before.

The first map I played was Sewer Bat extreme a rectangular map with gun racks and some throwing objects. Something I immediately remembered from my most recent attempts at S-ranking the game is that I would try to throw a thug away from the group and then go zipping across the map like David Tennant after cake to punch him in the ass...this sounds a little odd out of context. Unfortunately I noticed that the way the map is set up, it being kinda cramped, I would often find myself hitting the edge of a wall or nudging a thug on my way there that would negate my flow. This made getting past the first round more then just a little frustrating as I kept trying to get the flawless freeflow bonus. After I made it passed the first round and lazily shuffled my way to the 4th and last round I had two out of three medals and was feeling pretty decent. Then I was just overwhelmed. An insane amount of thugs that are blocking you from getting at the stragglers that are ripping concrete from the walls and busting out the assault rifles. I didn't think my issue would be dying so much as getting points but I was DEAD wrong...I'm sorry I'll never do that again. So yeah I died trying to swim through the thugs on my way to a gunman. I left the Joker taunting me on for a solid minute after his animation...there was no anger only Shock and Awe!

Damn it all I'm sorry...the next map I tried was Shock and Awe extreme and I basically just dicked around there trying to find some more entertaining ways to play. The map itself has a timer and is sectioned off into three platforms. The platforms that you don't start on are useless ignore them. I know this because I tried running to either of the other two platforms and placed an explosive charge to knock the incoming thugs this worked with proper timing...until you run out of dudes to uppercut. There was also no way to get to another platform in under a second, how long you have till your counter drops, so if you run up to one of these platforms your really gambling that enemies will consistently climb up to the same platform...beyond this I really didn't do anything of note here.

Rage Quits

Now I could post a video of a guy jumping out a window as an epic rage quit but let's talk about Arkham Asylum more because I know you couldn't possibly be tired of that! Whenever I was hit in the first round or my flow halted I just flat out restarted, now I usually don't restart parts of a game when I don't like the outcome unless the situation is special. Example: The first Bioshock when your protecting a little sister I rebooted my ps3 when I failed to protect the first little sister they give you. Now granted there is no ingame penalty for letting them die but the atmosphere that game built made me actually care on some level. In an odd way my sheer suspense at getting 3 medals in the Arkham Asylum Challenges gave me a similar sense of dread. I felt the need to get as much as I could out of the first round and kept going back to chucking dudes across the room because that's what a lot of the hint guides said and refused to play out the rest of the map. What I want to ask you guys is if you have ever rage quitted because you wanted to avoid a story from going in one direction or for gameplay purposes like those Asylum challenge maps?

So that was my first shot at a blog under strenuous conditions, my batter life has gone down to abysmal and I need to bend the charger in dangerous ways to get a charge that wont stick, hopefully it wasn't to boring a read...oh and here's an apology if it was...