Giant Bombcast Giant Bomb Game of the Year 2012: Day Four

But Assassin's Creed 3 is the second best of the series, if not the best. I guess the frame rate being bad for like 10 seconds every 5 hours and this 40 second mission not being well designed makes it one of the most disappointed games of the year? Eh.

But man everything with Connor and Haytham was so much fun and so interesting with every turn it took, it kept me hooked. The Homestead and all of the characters there were so much fun to add to that place and get their different abilities and do their little quests made it feel like I was building my own JRPG town. And finding everything in the Frontier, all the different animals in each area, running through the cornfrields of Concord, searching out all the Frontiersmen's strange legends, etc. just all so cool and interesting to do. Oh and the AI and missions were hard for once, not like really actually hard, but provided a challenge and use of a gameplay outside of hide in the hay the whole time. Especially coming off of replaying AC2, which is great, and while I love Ezio and the setting probably more, the world itself is so much more flat, straightforward and "easier" in every way. It felt a lot less "designed" even if it was more exotic. Even the naval battles were well done, and I didn't give a shit about all the upgrades and different missions and side missions you could do with it but I still always liked it in the main story.

Also the Desmond stuff was ALWAYS TOTAL GARBAGE. And the missions in the game with him are like 5 minutes long.

Also Mass Effect 1 was 10 times more disappointing than 3. I mean the world they built was fantastic and the Citdel was cool and full of stuff but the rest of that game...ugh. So flat, shallow, and so much lost potential.The Exogeni mission was the only thing where there was stuff going on that had something to it. Noveria was...yeah and Virmire was just an excuse to kill Kaiden. The rest was Saren Chaser. Bleh.

@clumsyninja1 said:

The only good thing that MGS has is the story, even if it's really complicated and doesn't make sense. The gameplay is atrocious.

1998.

At the time, nothing did anything like it. It might not have aged well, but you can't say that the gameplay was bad for the time. Most games from that era suffer from the limitations of gameplay and graphics of then that make it hard to play now, but I find MGS easier to go back to, than say, Blasto.

I really don't like this new trend of hating old games just because looking back, they "played awful". 10 years from now, the COD engine might be "horrible", but it revolutionized at the time.

I don't care what opinions people may have about it, to deny the significance of Metal Gear Solid's gameplay for the period it came out in is just completely wrong. It was one of the major innovators of the third-person shooting game genre.

Its a shame that this year has not been a particularly great one, because the guys at least seem energized and up for these podcasts this year, which didn't seem to be the case last year. Last year, they just seemed really tired and worn out (although the personal Top 10 lists were excellent), and it was kind of flat. This year, they seem happier and more lively, but it also seems like a case of 'All dressed up and nowhere to go'. it seems like they want to talk about great games, but there haven't really been that many. So its been kind of disappointing again, but for a reason which is out of their control this time.

I think they should have taken Brad's advice and turned the Download games category into a love-in, because it was a chance for them to enthuse about games they really enjoyed, in a way they haven;t been able to do in most of the rest of these podcasts, due to the rather barren year that its been. Most of this year has been them going through the motions of saying 'X was pretty good, Y probably deserves this... Oh hey, let's talk about Walking Dead again, because we actually really loved that... except that we probably should wait until later...'

When they started talking about the download games, their mood seemed to lift noticeably, due to the fact that these were the games they felt most passionately about. I just feel like this whole process of picking winners for various categories has been a bit of a dead end this year, and a good long discussion about why they loved the download games that came out, because that was where the year's real joy was to be had, followed by choosing their overall GOTY, would have been more satisfying.

Because download games aside, this has been a bit of a rubbish year. And the categories have forced them dwell on all the reasons the year sucked, and not many of the reasons why the year was great (i.e the rise in quality of download games).

As long as it makes money Wario will wish he made it

@Undeadpool said:

@ZeroV2 said:

@Tesla said:

Hey Patrick, there's a difference between you being bad at Metal Gear, and Metal Gear being a bad game.

Jesus christ thank you.

He always talks about how if you get caught you might as well just restart like it's a terrible thing. That's kind of the point, Patrick

Always fun to see a little revisionist history as I believe it was Jeff last week saying how Metal Gear Solid straight-up sucked and Patrick vociferously defending it.

I was just going off of what Patrick said in this podcast during their Mark of the Ninja discussion, when he said quite plainly that Metal Gear is bad. I'm not quite sure how I am revising history if he contradicted this opinion last week. I have no control over what the man says.

I realize everyone has opinions and all, which is fine. However, I'm really starting to fucking hate how much Patrick keeps repeating how shitty stealth games are. Like, seriously.

@Tesla: I'll admit, I got a little overly aggro and I don't remember him saying that it was bad (I remember hearing Jeff say that both on this AND last week/two weeks ago)...

Emotional rollercoaster while listening to this in the office.

Brad calling out the The Walking Dead disparity to everything else in Best Downloadable (FTL!!), and Vinny and Brad sticking up for ME3 (calling out Patrick's bullshit especially) made my heart swell.

ME3's multiplayer was the clincher for it being my Game of the Year, as I judge it upon my personal experience with the game (no DLC, multiplayer sporadically throughout the year). The lack of a paywall and the ongoing nature of the new content in the multiplayer was such a boon to that game as a purchase. I wish Extended Cut never existed, the original ending was fine, left me feeling both agency and closure.

TWD is running away with it a bit too much for my liking. For all the ground that it broke, the technical issues, placeholder gameplay mechanics, and aging engine were an obstacle to me being immersed in it's story and feeling truly invested in the characters in the same way that I did with my crew from either Mass Effect or FTL.

No love for Tokyo Jungle T_T. I guess these guys introduced me to the game in the first place, so at least I have that. This can be a rough week..soon Brad Muir will be back on a Quick Look, and I will, once again, cry only tears of joy.

Good lord, what is with this hate on stealth games? Stealth games are not per definition bad, be they old or new. DE:HR is great. The old Thief games are great. The old MSX Metal Gear's are great. If anything, I would say Mark of the Ninja is one of the ones I've enjoyed the least out of any that I've ever played.

Brad sounds bad.

@LegendaryChopChop said:

@clumsyninja1 said:

The only good thing that MGS has is the story, even if it's really complicated and doesn't make sense. The gameplay is atrocious.

1998.

At the time, nothing did anything like it. It might not have aged well, but you can't say that the gameplay was bad for the time.

Consensus at the time was that it played fine. Not revolutionary, not especially terrible.

I think I would've dropped Space Team for Syndicate for Best Multiplayer. Either that or Journey but the argument for Journey seemed way to strong to cut. Still, Syndicate is a damn fine game and it should get its.

@clumsyninja1 said:

The only good thing that MGS has is the story, even if it's really complicated and doesn't make sense. The gameplay is atrocious.

Not MGS3 or 4. Those games have a ton of little easter eggs and things to poke at in their world, especially during a new game plus where you get to mess around with more and more items and weapons and do more exploring, while it is a bit clunky, still a ton of fun to me. It is such a bummer that 3DS version is so mediocre, cause goddamn I love MGS3.

@Tesla said:

@Undeadpool said:

@ZeroV2 said:

@Tesla said:

Hey Patrick, there's a difference between you being bad at Metal Gear, and Metal Gear being a bad game.

Jesus christ thank you.

He always talks about how if you get caught you might as well just restart like it's a terrible thing. That's kind of the point, Patrick

Always fun to see a little revisionist history as I believe it was Jeff last week saying how Metal Gear Solid straight-up sucked and Patrick vociferously defending it.

I was just going off of what Patrick said in this podcast during their Mark of the Ninja discussion, when he said quite plainly that Metal Gear is bad. I'm not quite sure how I am revising history if he contradicted this opinion last week. I have no control over what the man says.

To be honest the actual stealth part is pretty hit or miss in MGS and what is really fun is playing with the wacky stuff like the cigarettes that knock people out & the gator head in MGS3 and the grenades that make people laugh, the old matlock gun that can randomly fire a small tornado, or the Big Boss camo in MGS4 than the actual sneaking around guys and areas. That stuff is a ton more fun and satisfying in something like Dishonored or Mark of the Ninja.

Really disappointed by Hitman: Absolution getting no mention in the Most Disappointing Game category. Since the only talk of it was Brad and Patrick saying they didn't even get beyond the first couple levels. Considering that Patrick played Blood Money just this year and loved it.

@Iceland said:

Really disappointed by Hitman: Absolution getting no mention in the Most Disappointing Game category. Since the only talk of it was Brad and Patrick saying they didn't even get beyond the first couple levels. Considering that Patrick played Blood Money just this year and loved it.

so disappointing they forgot about it

Brad is the only rational person here.

How the hell does Walking Dead win best downloadable game over those other amazing games that are actually fun to play. Just yesterday they said "Walking Dead is good--but the part where you actually play the game, not so much". How quickly the tides turn!

@George_Hukas said:

Brad is the only rational person here.

How the hell does Walking Dead win best downloadable game over those other amazing games that are actually fun to play. Just yesterday they said "Walking Dead is good--but the part where you actually play the game, not so much". How quickly the tides turn!

Testify!

I love the guys and the site, but they are in a Walking Dead bubble at the moment. That said, some form of bubble is virtually impossible to avoid in their situation.

@Bistromath said:

Brad sounds bad.

Bad sounds brad.

@George_Hukas said:

How the hell does Walking Dead win best downloadable game over those other amazing games that are actually fun to play.

Gaint Bomb Staff:

No download game resonated more this year than The Walking Dead, which told a damn good story, emphasized meaningful player agency, and hewed to the sort of piecemeal episodic release schedule that got people talking around the water cooler in a way they haven't for a long time.

That about sums it up.

@IzunaDrop said:

@George_Hukas said:

Brad is the only rational person here.

How the hell does Walking Dead win best downloadable game over those other amazing games that are actually fun to play. Just yesterday they said "Walking Dead is good--but the part where you actually play the game, not so much". How quickly the tides turn!

Testify!

I love the guys and the site, but they are in a Walking Dead bubble at the moment. That said, some form of bubble is virtually impossible to avoid in their situation.

Right, them and seemingly every other sight out there. Have you seen how many game of the year awards TWD has won? Maybe you are the one in the bubble.

@MstrMnyBgs said:

@IzunaDrop said:

@George_Hukas said:

Brad is the only rational person here.

How the hell does Walking Dead win best downloadable game over those other amazing games that are actually fun to play. Just yesterday they said "Walking Dead is good--but the part where you actually play the game, not so much". How quickly the tides turn!

Testify!

I love the guys and the site, but they are in a Walking Dead bubble at the moment. That said, some form of bubble is virtually impossible to avoid in their situation.

Right, them and seemingly every other sight out there. Have you seen how many game of the year awards TWD has won? Maybe you are the one in the bubble.

Games are more than just what is fun, and Walking Dead is a game. Everyone has different tastes and views on what is actually fun as well, for instance I think immersion is fun to me and that means a lot of games that are technically inferior sometimes are better experiences for me than others that I could objectively say are 'better games'. Halo 4 is a very very solid game, probably better at being a game than any game I enjoyed this year. Halo 4 is also not a game I had as much fun playing as a handful of others.

Games shouldn't be solely measured on their 'fun' factor, for the same reasons you shouldn't just measure any other form of media based on one criteria. Open your head and realise games can be more than getting the higher score, or how well the sensitivity of the controls allows for a smoother and better feeling aiming scheme for headshots.

Kristen Bell's character was reveled to be a Templar in a DLC for Revelations. Basically, AC3 has the same problem as Mass Effect 3 in locking the player from important story beats behind paid content. It's too bad the guys didn't know that because I would have much preferred Mass Effect 3 to get most Disappointing.

@DeviTiffany said:

Kristen Bell's character was reveled to be a Templar in a DLC for Revelations. Basically, AC3 has the same problem as Mass Effect 3 in locking the player from important story beats behind paid content. It's too bad the guys didn't know that because I would have much preferred Mass Effect 3 to get most Disappointing.

The winner for PLEASE STOP was DLC that should be in the main game. Them knowing that an important piece of information is in DLC would most likely have solidified AC3's place as most disaapointing.

Goddamn this is a tasty bubble. Hubba Bubba is back!

@Wastrel said:

@DeviTiffany said:

Kristen Bell's character was reveled to be a Templar in a DLC for Revelations. Basically, AC3 has the same problem as Mass Effect 3 in locking the player from important story beats behind paid content. It's too bad the guys didn't know that because I would have much preferred Mass Effect 3 to get most Disappointing.

The winner for PLEASE STOP was DLC that should be in the main game. Them knowing that an important piece of information is in DLC would most likely have solidified AC3's place as most disaapointing.

It probably wouldn't have changed much, but I feel it would have at least put both games on a more even footing. It felt like they acted like AC3 had huge chucks of story missing when it didn't. Both games have mostly the same problems, lackluster resolutions and important information locked away behind paid content. AC has always been divisive, even within the group while Mass Effect seems to be unanimously loved and had way more to live up to. I guess without the rest of the information on AC3, it wasn't worth dragging the podcast out another half an hour because I know Brad wouldn't allow ME3 to get Most Disappointing. Oh well.

"Assassin's Creed III and Mass Effect 3 are both so disappointing, we only gave them four stars out of five."

Weird.

ITS LIKE A VIDEO IN MY MIND

Okay, so how many other people totally figured that girl for a Templar from the ending of Brotherhood? I thought it was pretty obvious, I mean there were red foot prints going into your base!

Jeff was being awfully reductive about the Mass Effect multiplayer while Brad was being quite objective and reasonable.

Jeff allowed his disdain for the way ME3 ended, and his overall dislike for the way ME3 let him down personally, cloud his objectivity to rating ME3 Multiplayer. Playing a ton of ME3 MP, love it. Its understandable, but kinda saddening.

I don't agree when Patrick (and if I'm not mistaken, the rest of the cast agreed with him) said someone like Peter Molyneux shouldn't be on Kickstarter. Should only certain people be allowed to get crowd funding? Is it okay for Tim Schafer to do it, because somehow he's a more 'noble' developer or something?

'Yeah I get it, but at the same time, it's just another multiplayer driving game.'

I totally think Most Wanted totally should have won, because it really isn't just another multiplayer driving game, but Jeff was really selling the ME3 multiplayer short. It's not just another horde mode. Vinny touched on why pretty well by mentioning the classes and the differences in enemy factions.

Jeff had a point when he said it's probably different now. When ME3 first came out, you could see that it wasn't just another horde mode, but there still wasn't that much there to really sink your teeth in. BioWare capitalized on that with every MP update bringing more enemies, more classes, and more gear.

But if you just want to compare out the box, on release multiplayer modes, it's still a disservice to reduce it to being just another horde mode.

Man....it really grinds my gears that these guys don't share the same opinions on games that I do.

When hearing them talk about "Most Disappointing Game" among other awards it has become clear to me that the staff has no interest in talking or thinking about how games play. Why is there almost zero discussion on game mechanics or systems?

Klepek really hates Metal Gear because he thinks it's about trial and error... I always saw it as being about observing your environment, being careful and being decisive in your actions, otherwise you get punished. It's the same risk-reward I enjoy in games like Dark Souls and Monster Hunter. Ironically he loves Mark of the Ninja, which is a game that also hands you your ass if you don't pay attention. I just don't think he knows much about Metal Gear and is extrapolating from severely limited experience.

I'm currently playing through Walking Dead after all the talk over this week.

Oh yes, it's really fucking good. I haven't been so emotionally invested in characters possibly ever. It's such a realistic story, each character's death is FUCKING KILLING ME INSIDE.

@bunkerbuster05 said:

I'm currently playing through Walking Dead after all the talk over this week.

Oh yes, it's really fucking good. I haven't been so emotionally invested in characters possibly ever. It's such a realistic story, each character's death is FUCKING KILLING ME INSIDE.

I'm with ya on that. My first time playin. Episode two had me struggling mentally. Decisions I thought were just ate away at my soul after seeing peoples reactions. Clementine means the world to me now.

Resident Evil 6 is more disappointing than Assassins Creed 3. I enjoyed running around burying my tomahawk in people's chest. I still enjoyed climbing towers to synchronize the map. The ending in AC3 was disappointing but I still enjoyed the hours before the last few minutes.

Resident Evil 6 is just FUCKING terrible. I was totally jazzed to play RE6 until I heard about how terrible it is and renting it and playing it for myself. The movement sucks. The amount of screen tearing that game is infuriating. It relies too much on bad quick time events. Its just BAD.

But hey that's just my opinion

Hmm, what did I miss ... why did they drop Borderlands 2 that fast on MP? In fact it seems weird BL2 hasnt been mentioned at all in any of the other categorys.

@bluefoxxy said:

I'm with ya on that. My first time playin. Episode two had me struggling mentally. Decisions I thought were just ate away at my soul after seeing peoples reactions. Clementine means the world to me now.

Welcome to the club, cry&hug meetings every sunday.

@Dylabaloo said:

Jeff was being awfully reductive about the Mass Effect multiplayer while Brad was being quite objective and reasonable.

Which means the world did end and we're all dead and in purgatory.

@inappropriate_touchscreen: I think its more about the fact that Peter Molyneux has the ability to get funding else where and not from crowd funding, a system that is mainly to promote smaller projects and experiments that normal means of getting money for in the gaming industry wouldn't fund. Molyneux is a well enough known name that I believe he could get a contract that is beneficial for him (IE the publisher doesn't have all the power in how the game is created) and make what he wanted. And When someone like him goes to crowd funding, it kinda over shadows what Kickstarter was for. Also, maybe Patrick has a bad taste in his mouth from Curiosity becoming pretty much a ad, and that Molyneux is known to not deliver on what he promises. Which can hurt the reputation of the already fragile belief in the Kickstarter project.

That or he just forgot about the whole Double Fine thing, or just has a biased towards them.

I think ME3 could have won MP if someone at least knew more about the game and its history as well as Brad and Vinny fighting harder knowing that. I don't personally think it is the best this year but better than Need for Speed.

None of them seemed to know about all the free DLC and updates the game has received since it came out leading to Brad and maybe Vinny talking from a totally different stand point than Jeff since he only played it on release. There are a ton of new class/race combos added with new abilities, a lot of new maps, new weapons, new mods, new equipment and a challenge system that rewards banners. All of that has also been free and is still being released.

Also Patrick up to his usual tricks of speaking way out of turn with his bullshit on needing to pay to unlock stuff.

If I ever suffer from insomnia I know I can rely on a recording of Patrick trying to retell a story to help me fall asleep.

@Iceland said:

Really disappointed by Hitman: Absolution getting no mention in the Most Disappointing Game category.

so disappointing they forgot about it

@JBrosk89 said:

Jeff allowed his disdain for the way ME3 ended, and his overall dislike for the way ME3 let him down personally, cloud his objectivity to rating ME3 Multiplayer. Playing a ton of ME3 MP, love it. Its understandable, but kinda saddening.

That is your opinion though and you don't know what is going on inside Jeff's head. I could just as easily say that Brad let his hype for having recently played ME3 and wanting to enjoy it lead to him defending it. I for one don't think that ME3 MP is anything special at all and to say that the shooting mechanics is better than GOW3 is crazy to me. Brad's argument was "many people enjoyed it at launch" while not actually saying what was good or bad about it, at least Vinny tried to say "eh.. powers?"

One thing they're all getting wrong in the AC3 discussion is the fact that it was not just a throwaway line in AC3 that made her character a Templar. There were multiple clues you could find in Brotherhood which established that her character was already in communication with the Templars. I stumbled across this, IIRC, while reading through people's e-mails in the Desmond sequences.

I can't wait to hear the most disappointing talk

I actually thought Brad's fillibustering fr ME 3 multiplayer to be too much. I just dont think the multiplayer is THAT good as Brad and even Vinny pointed out. Also Brad's point of the shooting in ME3 being better than Gears to be somewhat strange. I think the shooting isn't necessarilly better in ME 3 but I think he just likes the feel of the weapons in this game since MOST of the weapons barely have any recoil and spread which makes it easier to just spray with the automatic weapons and even the ones that have more spread more often than not are a lot better in midrange. It just makes the shooting more stable while running around considering how often you can get overrun in the MP but I just dont think the feel of the weapons makes it a better shooter than Gears.

Today's podcast wins the "Fuck you Brad for Brute Forcing Skyrim as 2011 GotY" award as they just destroy every game Brad wants on the lists (or does not want in the case of Most Disappointing) to the detriment of better games. Again though, I wonder if Journey came out at the end of November if people would feel stronger about it.