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

@UCRaider said:

Rabbids Land got completely robbed in Miiverse Community of the Year!!!!

AGREEED!!

Oh man, thanks for reminding how great of a soundtrack Spec Ops has! Also no Silent Hill Downpour's use of Born Free appreciation? ;P

Funny how Patrick talks about how the twist in ep 2 of the Walking Dead was predictable (which it was), yet everyone was surprised by the ending of ep 5 (not the after credits ending, but the before credits ending). I called that with my roommates while playing ep 2 that the entire season was going to end that way. I just wish they gave you control of the final moment...

Who else is already behind....fuck

the Rabbids game has the best Miiverse community period.

I find Far Cry 3 defense as surprise of the year as fuckin beyond understanding. Glad Asura kept it from winning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewRjZoRtu0Y

Love the top comment. lol

ZombiU and Tokyo Jungle should have won their appropriate categories. QUIT HATING EVERYTHING I LOVE GIANT BOMB.

RE: Best Surprise - Remember that ZombiU was very quickly redeveloped since in just one year it changed from Killer Freaks to ZombiU.

Planetside 2 is good, but it really could be much better.

Get to work, SOE.

Issue #1: That Janky Ass Draw Distance.

I know they barely played it but Lollipop Chainsaws use of Hey Micki is excellent. It uses licensed music well in general.

Note to self: Never trust Brad during a zombie apocalypse.

I'm surprised that Spec Ops wasn't talked about in Best Surprise

Stealth games are terrible, Patrick? Really? Now I hate you... Well not really, now I am just reassured I shouldn't give any personal weight to any of gb's opinions on stealth games.

I fuckin' love sneaking...

@Milkman said:

I'm with Patrick. There's no way that a game called Far Cry 3 is more surprising than a game called ZombiU.

Although his high opinions of ZombiU weren't shared by everyone on the site nor by everyone on the internet. Only surprising if you thought it was as good as he did.

Can I just say that you will regret overlooking the Rabbidsland Miiverse community. Unsubscribed!

@Weatherking said:

Stealth games are terrible, Patrick? Really? Now I hate you... Well not really, now I am just reassured I shouldn't give any personal weight to any of gb's opinions on stealth games.

I fuckin' love sneaking...

They've had that discussion on the Bombcast enough times that I know what he means. Whether you like them or not, stealth games are, in general, pretty awful from a game design perspective. It's a tough nut that developers are still trying to crack. I love stealth games in theory, but there's very few of them that have a light enough touch for me to actually enjoy them. Mark of the Ninja does a good job with that, as does Dishonored from what it sounds like. Compare that to, say, some of the levels in the original Splinter Cell where the game would force you back to the nearest checkpoint for putting your foot an inch too far to the side in an area shock full of enemies, a single intended path through and zero margin for error. That sucks. And that's what most people will take away from most stealth games.

@bushlemon said:

I'm surprised that Spec Ops wasn't talked about in Best Surprise

I'm surprised I didn't notice. Spec Ops surprised the hell out of me. Surprise. Suuuuuuur-prize. Words sound so strange when you repeat them.

Episode 2 of TWD was by far the weakest of the 5. The only redeeming quality was offing Larry other than that it was nothing but clichés.

Can't wait to hear the walking dead talk

@Rox360: Like everything in gaming it's an acquired taste. Saying that Stealth games are in general awful because you dislike some of the core mechanics of the genre is like saying Fighting Games are on average terrible because you have to memorize all these combos. Same logic can be applied to anything really. I like stealth games, and I don't think it's a nut anyone is trying to crack anymore as much as it's a genre that is being refined in subtle ways over the years. Dishonored while a fun game is not exactly a great stealth game because it does a very poor job of letting the player know when they are actually hidden. The movement and interaction is super slick but when your job is to sneak around without being seen and you never really know if you're visible behind this box or not, thats a major problem. Mark of the Ninja on the other hand is excellent. The early Splinter Cell games were also very good, back when Sam still had all this super cool gadgets instead of a broken car mirror.

@George_Hukas said:

Who else is already behind....fuck

Fuuuuck.

@Humanity said:

@Rox360: Like everything in gaming it's an acquired taste. Saying that Stealth games are in general awful because you dislike some of the core mechanics of the genre is like saying Fighting Games are on average terrible because you have to memorize all these combos. Same logic can be applied to anything really. I like stealth games, and I don't think it's a nut anyone is trying to crack anymore as much as it's a genre that is being refined in subtle ways over the years. Dishonored while a fun game is not exactly a great stealth game because it does a very poor job of letting the player know when they are actually hidden. The movement and interaction is super slick but when your job is to sneak around without being seen and you never really know if you're visible behind this box or not, thats a major problem. Mark of the Ninja on the other hand is excellent. The early Splinter Cell games were also very good, back when Sam still had all this super cool gadgets instead of a broken car mirror.

You're absolutely right. Some of the traditional stealth game conventions are virtually intolerable from a game design perspective, though. They only get away with it because no one's figured out how else to do it yet. It's not that all stealth games suck, it's that stealth game mechanics still feel weirdly unrefined compared to that of a lot of other genres. I haven't played Dishonored, so I wasn't sure how that played into it, but I recall that being part of the conversation when Patrick said what he did. I'm not sure if I'm even defending his point anymore, this is just how I interpreted what he said...

@Rox360: Well in all honesty I think Patrick often has very awkward opinions that are heavily subjective and elbow out any objectivity you might expect in a serious discussion. I'm not sure which part you're speaking of as I skipped around this bombcast a lot and was mostly just responding to your opinion that most stealth games are bad (which you explained better and now I understand what you meant) I agree that most stealth games still use old mechanics which may seem silly but in a way they've become part of the genre. When you alert one guard and magically all other guards know, or the alarm is instantly sounded - this is bad stealth game design that has gotten tweaked over the years but it still exists in a lot of titles.

I think Mark of the Ninja for a downloadable title does everything completely right in terms of stealth gameplay. Frequent checkpoints, agile movement, and complete player awareness. I think all future stealth titles, whether 2D or 3D, big budget or indie, should seriously study Mark of the Ninja and make a checklist of all these elements they got absolutely right. Dishonored while amazing in player mobility and smooth animation, is completely lacking in any player awareness of your surroundings. Some things make noise, others don't, some things keep you in cover, others don't. Just like you though, I don't even know what I'm arguing anymore apart from the fact that yah I like stealth games and happily they seem to be getting better and better with time, apart from a few slip ups (like Splinter Cell Conviction or Hitman Absolution)

Wait, so Journey didn't even got a mention for Best Debut? I'm pretty sure the dudes really like it (at least some of them). Did they just forgot about it? That's kinda crazy.

I need to play the Walking Dead.

Disappointed by lack of Dragon's Dogma mentions. I think that game is way too important (in terms of money spent by Capcom) to not talk about it.

To Brad, I can't see the crisis of the Walking Dead ever ending. The zombie plague where everyone who dies becomes a zombie means zombies or their threat exists all the time. It fundamentally changes things like emergency response (cops, firemen, and EMT's aren't going to be rushing to save critically injured folks) or heck CPR, hospitals become armed camps from the waiting rooms to the OR's, and just sleeping with your loved one gets a whole lot more meaningful if they were to pass away in the middle of the night.

I'd like to say in Cyber Connect's defense, they make pretty much the best Naruto games out there. And definitely the most beautiful ones, so that part wasn't really surprising about Asura's Wrath.

No mention of Spec Ops for biggest surprise makes me sad.

Big ups on you Ryan, for mentioning Club Foot. Just watched on youtube, and it was definitely worth mentioning.

Excellent use within the game. I feel bad that I didn't play it this year. I do own it, so maybe I should fix the whole "haven't played it" thing.

It jut dawned on me that Asura's Wrath deserves an honorable mention for Best Use of Licensed Song. During the sequence where the Earth gets stabbed Dvorak's New World Symphony plays. That moment was epic and that track was also used at the end of the Crocodile fight in One Piece. These podcasts continue to be immensely entertaining. Can't wait for the rest.

I was actually least impressed with episode 5. I liked episode 1 and the other 3 episodes because it had those really cool "zombie" moments and they all had a "base" where you go back to regroup and recover. Yeah the convenient store sucked, but eveything else about it was awesome because it actually had those "zombie apocalype" moments. Like "what if you were there, what would you do" moments.

The fifth episode was shorter and it was all about wrapping up the story. Which was great, but I'm one of those guys who's main attraction is living in the zombie apocolypse instead of the drama. Don't get me wrong, I love the characters and story, it's just not what draws me to the walking dead. You've got to keep the zombies scary

I love Stealth Games. There are definitely frustrating parts to many of those games, but I love the whole process of sneaking and getting "ghost" runs...even if I have to reload several times. It's no worse than dying a billion times before completing a level of Hotline Miami or Super Meat Boy to me. :)

I know this requires a ton of context, but Sean Vanaman has talked about how he came up with the concept of The Walking Dead's story while driving around listening to the song that plays over the end credits (Take Us Back by Alela Diane). I think being the entire basis for a beloved game is a pretty freakin great use of a licensed song. Not that any of the songs you guys went for are bad choices, I just think it's an amazing story.

Giant Bomb doesn't understand what a "debut" is.

A licensed game, based on a mega-popular long running comic series, made by a studio that's been successfully iterating on the adventure game formula for like ten years? Yeah, sure, it's a debut, fuck it. Let's write yet another paragraph about how unbelievably great The Walking Dead is.

Tomorrow, Giant Bomb awards "Best New Artist" to Psy.

@AngriGhandi said:

Giant Bomb doesn't understand what a "debut" is.

A licensed game, based on a mega-popular long running comic series, made by a studio that's been successfully iterating on the adventure game formula for like ten years? Yeah, sure, it's a debut, fuck it. Let's write yet another paragraph about how unbelievably great The Walking Dead is.

Tomorrow, Giant Bomb awards "Best New Artist" to Psy.

Good thing The Walking Dead was amazing. And for the first game of the walking dead it is a debut so I think they understand what it means more then you.

...now I really wanna play Asura's Wrath.

@Jeff@patrickklepek@Vinny@Brad@Ryan

It's pathetic that you never even mentioned this:

And you call yourselves garme jurnazlizms!? Pathetic.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=505420

@feelingsunicorn said:

I know this requires a ton of context, but Sean Vanaman has talked about how he came up with the concept of The Walking Dead's story while driving around listening to the song that plays over the end credits (Take Us Back by Alela Diane). I think being the entire basis for a beloved game is a pretty freakin great use of a licensed song. Not that any of the songs you guys went for are bad choices, I just think it's an amazing story.

Yeah, but it's because it requires context that that wouldn't make it- it's use is only good if you know the story. Paper Planes is amazing even if you've never heard the song before.

*SPOILERS for The Walking Dead game*

Did anybody else think the guy talking to Clem on the walkie talkie was going to be a relative of the guy that Lee was convicted of killing? I wish that's who it was rather than station wagon man.

Two thing, the reasonning to cut Sleeping Dogs in the best debut and how you almost cut it in surprise is ridiculous. Saying there's other open games that are good so we cut it when this game was amazing on it's own is annoying.

As for the surprise, Patrick is wrong in my opinion, Far Cry 3 everybody had dismissed it thinking it would be crap, but everyone who were getting a Wii U were getting it for Zombie U and the previews from E3 had every reviewers/journalists praising it saying it was cool, but they were all bashing Far Cry 3 and the multiplayer demo.

If there was a best use of music I would have to give it to Max Payne 3, it was so powerful when you get to the airport and you have the theme song (Tears) that starts to play. Not only that but they used the song in a dynamic ways where it gets more and more powerful as you progress through the stage.

Walking Dead Spoiler *****

I thought episode 3 was kind of boring........ Just for clarification I have been reading the Walking Dead comic for a long time and I understand why someone would think episode 3 was awesome (a.k.a the Duck stuff) if they were not that exposed to the Walking Dead comic. As soon as I saw Duck in episode 1 I knew he was gonna die, there is no way for a dumb little kid like that to survive in the Walking Dead universe. Don't get me wrong it was emotional, but I found the kid and his dog scenario in episode 4 much more emotional. Plus I thought the whole train stuff game-play wise was sooooooooooooooooooooo boring, it took forever to walk from one side of the train to the other.

I would have gone with 2,4,5. Choosing a winner would have been tough, but I would go with either 2 or 5 ( 5 was my favorite but it was mostly because of the ending and because shit got real and it felt most like the comic)

@Regular_Kirk said:

*SPOILERS for The Walking Dead game*

Did anybody else think the guy talking to Clem on the walkie talkie was going to be a relative of the guy that Lee was convicted of killing? I wish that's who it was rather than station wagon man.

That was my very first assumption, yeah. I didn't have a problem with him being the station wagon guy though and I quite liked him as a character - he gave off a very subtle The Elusive Man vibe.

Also @patrickklepek I'm surprised you were talking up the end of Episode 3 where you take control and end Duck's life (if you choose that option). We know you're a big fan of Metal Gear Solid 3, but you might have forgotten the ending of that game where the game gives you control of Snake and you have to pull the trigger on The Boss. It's just as emotional, and I think MGS3 was the first one to do this sort of thing.

My favourite episode is 2. True, everything was contained but that's precisely why I liked it - it just felt like a compact product, and I loved the twists and turns.