Giant Bomb 2008-2012 Game of the Year: Do you agree?

Why do you hate good games.

Disagree across the board -

2008 - MGS4

2009 - SFIV

2010 - SC2

2011 - SWToR

2012 - TWD

Grand Theft Auto 4 and Skyrim ended up just boring me, so I disagree on those. Not to say I think they're bad games, but they just seem a little "quantity over quality" for my tastes. Absolutely agree with Mass Effect 2 and XCOM as GOTY winners, both are fantastic games. I say that as somebody that would've fought tooth-and-nail for The Walking Dead before i'd actually played XCOM.

He doesn't, but he does a good job of recognizing some middling games it seems.

If you're calling XCOM middling I will fight you.

2011 was such a good year, my game of 2011 is Deus Ex: HR but LA Noire and Infamous 2 are up there. SR3 and Skyrim are very good and I really enjoyed them but aspects of both games rubbed me the wrong way a little too much.

2008- Fallout 3

2009- Uncharted 2

2010- Super Mario Galaxy 2

2011- Elder Scrolls V Skyrim (Portal 2, so close)

2012- Halo 4

I agree with their decisions, although I have other favorite games from each year. What I mean is that I love Botanicula but I don't think that should have been Giant Bomb's 2012 GOTY. I agree with their decision of choosing XCOM as their GOTY.

@lordxavierbritish: XCOM is pretty good. It made number 9 for me.

I was more hating on GTAIV and Skyrim (plus RDR) as I am wont to do.

Skyrim is the first game I've played for more than 300 hours since probably Quake 3 so I can't disagree with that one.

As for the rest, that would not be my list but I think it's perfectly reasonable. It's not like there's Dark Souls in there or something.

SAINTS ROW IV

THE WALKING DEAD

Accept no substitutes.

Disagree with all of them, though GTA4, ME2 and XCOM are choices I can kind of sort of get behind.

2008 Fallout 3

2009 Dragon Age

2010 New Vegas

2011 Portal 2

2012 Journey

So far, looks like most people disagree with Skyrim and XCOM and agree with Uncharted 2.

Probably due to the ungodly amount of backlash Skyrim gets now for whatever reason and the fact that tons of people love The Walking Dead. I can understand not liking Skyrim, but the amount of people who all of a sudden came out of the woodwork to shit on that game kinda baffles me.

2008: Disagree. MGS4.

2009: Disagree. UC2 is excellent, but Warhammer 40K: DoW II and Assassin's Creed II came out the same year. I'd probably go with ACII.

2010: Disagree. Probably Civilization V. Besides, ME2 was my least favorite of the trilogy...

2011: Disagree. I liked Skyrim a lot, but The Witcher 2 or Forza 4 would be my pick.

2012: Didn't vote. I haven't played XCOM yet, and could definitely see myself agreeing.

Disagree

Disagree

Disagree

Agree

Agree

2008 Disagree. MGS4

2009 Uncharted 2 - I Agree.

2010 Mass Effect 2 - I Agree.

2011 Skyrim - I Agree, though my personal #1 was Ghost Trick.

2012 Disagree. Persona 4 Golden is where it'll always be at for me.

This process has successfully made the word "agree" sound weird to me.

2008 - Fallout 3. Played a little bit of GTAIV and thought it was really boring, and it's narrative did absolutely nothing for me. Fallout 3 was rough around the edges, but it was an absolute delight to explore its world.

2009 - Dragon Age: Origins. This is one example of my tastes not exactly overlapping with that of the Bomb crew, excepting Dave and sometimes Vinny. Also, I didn't own a PS3 in 2009, and I still haven't played UC2.

2010 - Red Dead Redemption. Mass Effect 2 is a game that I played once, loved while I was immersed in it, and thought less of the further removed I was from playing it. I will probably fondly remember RDR for a long time, especially the atmosphere, the music, and the ending.

2011 - TESV: Skyrim. There was only one right answer to this one, and they nailed it. I don't care how crazy Saints Row the Third is. I still haven't played it. It doesn't matter. Skyrim is not only the best game of 2011, it's the second best game of the generation...after Oblivion.

2012 - Crusader Kings II. This game was only acknowledged as existing by this site twice (one great QL, one Bombcast by the outstanding Dave Snider). XCOM is an outstanding game, and very worthy of being GB's GOTY (it's more deserving that TWD at least)...but the people who play niche PC grand strategy games know that CKII is the shit.

• Disagree
• Disagree
• Disagree
• Disagree
• Disagree

disagree with all;

2008 I can't remember very well, but not GTAIV.

2009 either I guess, but I never played UC2.

2010 was Nier, which is the best game ever made and ME2 and RDR pale in comparison.

2011 I could have agreed had it been SR2. I mean I much preferred witcher 2 but SR2 was at like 3 on my list or something so...

2012 never played xcom. Probably will like it though! CK2 is still gonna be better though.

2008: Persona 4 (Saints Row 2 and Fallout 3 would be my runners up.)

2009: Batman: Arkham Asylum

2010-2012: Agree

2008 - MGS4. I thought GTA 4 was a good story wrapped in some of the worst 3rd person combat to ever grace this generation.

2009 - Uncharted 2. Loved every inch of Uncharted 2.

2010 - Red Dead Redemption. Amazing world, characters and story. Not only that but the combat was much improved over GTA 4.

2011 - Skyrim. I still play Skyrim to this day. (Although SR3 totally won the argument and should have been Giant Bomb's GOTY)

2012 - Journey. 3 hours of some of the most purely immersive and emotional entertainment I've ever experienced.

2008: Only played GTAIV out of the top two, but the right answer is clearly Fallout 3.

2009: Didn't play Uncharted, don't really remember what other games came out that year. No judgement.

2010: ME2's great, but Red Dead Redemption, Just Cause 2 and Fallout New Vegas are all greater.

2011: While I agreed with Skyrim being game of the year (it's my favorite game of ALL TIME, so of course I agree), the way they got to that decision was painful to listen to and I don't think it should have won based on the conversation that lead up to it. Also, while Saint's Row is wacky fun, it doesn't do anything that hasn't been done before in terms of anything outside of the story.

2012: Agreed. XCOM's a great playing, video game-ass-video game, Walking Dead is a coldly-calculated experiment in emotional manipulation.

2008-2010 I completely agree with. I love all of them to death.

I agree with all of them except last years. I would have gone with Journey instead.

I agree with all of them except skyrim

MGS4, Uncharted, Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim, XCOM. 3 out of 5.

2008 - GTA IV, agree with that.

2009 - Batman: Arkham Asylum. Uncharted 2 is a close second place though.

2010 - Red Dead Redemption. Mass Effect 2 is honestly pretty good, but I'm just not a "story over gameplay" type person.

2011 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Did not enjoy Skyrim at all.

2012 - Far Cry 3. Didn't play X-COM, so I honestly can't rail on it. I'm just glad The Walking Dead didn't win.

I agree with years 2008-2011 since I too think those are great games so I really have no reason to disagree, 2012 however I haven't played XCOM so I currently have to disagree and also Far Cry 3 was a blast so that for me would be a hard one to top.

So, should I consider the release year to be the initial release, or the release which I played - eg. Braid initially came out in 2008, but came to PC in 2009.

The only one I agree with is Uncharted 2. It is disappointing how many big games get absolutely zero mention during the GOTY deliberations, like LittleBigPlanet 2.

• 2008 - I love me some Fallout 3
• 2009 - Batman Arkham Asylum was a great fucking game
• 2010 - Yeah I'd take Mass Effect 2, still haven't played Red Dead, tried it for like an hour and it didn't hook me, I played Batman AA instead
• 2011 - Portal 2 vs Skyrim is a tough call for me... On the one hand is a game I sunk 150 hour into (and still haven't finished), and on the other hand is a fantastic game that was over in, what, 10 hours? But those 10 hours were well-nigh perfect, almost as if it were designed just for me, thus I shall take Portal 2
• 2012 - I did love me some XCOM, but I haven't played a ton of the 2012 releases

Actually that last statement holds true for most of those years. I've probably only played about 10 games per release year for most of those years, and mostly not even playing the games in the actual year of their release but well later. So obviously there are plenty of big games in each year I've yet to really play: Starcraft II, MGS4, Dragon Age Origins, The Walking Dead, the aforementioned Red Dead... the list goes on. Not to mention all the other less... acclaimed releases which, you never know, might have wound up being my favorite of the year.

• 2010 - Disagree - should have been RDR
• 2011 - Disagree - Skyrim is a good game, but it lacks the depth and customization I expect from an Elder Scrolls game.
• 2012 - Agree, XCOM is amazing

I agree with ME2 and if put to it... I agreed with U2 at the time though maybe in hindsight Arkham is better.

I always felt like the Saints Row The Third v.s Skyrim debate of 2011 was forced - as there weren't any other contenders and they had to fill GOTY time...

Idk though, I listen to way to many bombcasts.

XCOM was definitely GOTY for 2012. I really enjoyed TWD, and it's high points were better than anything else last year, but it was just too inconsistent in too many ways to take the trophy. I also agree with a comment made on the Bombast (by Patrick I think) that eventually in TWD when characters die, you begin to figure out the game is just screwing with you to get an emotional reaction. In XCOM, when characters die, it's because you actually made a shitty decision that you have to deal with.

It had the same problem that RAGE did. It was gorgeous, impressive, controlled well, and... got pretty boring easily.

None of the staff game of the year choices have lined up with my own.

2008: Persona 4, although I played it in 2009.

All the others I have lists for. Too lazy to write them out here.

@believer258: Aside from controlled well you just successfully described Bioshock Infinite

Hurray for Uncharted 2, others not so much.

I'm surprised there aren't more votes for agreeing with 2012, seems like you guys really dug X-Com. It's just not my kind of game.

2008: Don't care.
2009: Uncharted 2: yes!
2010: Mass Effect 2 vs Red Dead is a choice that stabs me in the heart.
2011: Skyrim: hell no. Ryan betrayed us with a lame plot twist.
2012: XCOM the wrong answer. Brad betrayed us all by not pushing for The Walking Dead.

I have to agree with 2008 and 2009, but for the following years I would give it to:

• 2010: Red Dead Redemption
• 2011: Saints Row: The Third
• 2012: The Walking Dead

@president_barackbar said:

My theory is that most people only start to realize how shallow and boring Skyrim is after a significant amount of play time. You're caught up in the hype and excitement of the idea of the game for the first ~10 hours. Shortly after that phase, you start noticing the MMO-caliber quests, copy pasted dungeons, very poor mashy combat, bad writing, NPCs that nevershut the fuck up, etc. What I just described has been my experience with pretty much every TES game.

I disagree, I enjoyed Bioshock Infinite a whole lot. It isn't a perfect game but it's a pretty damn good one. I should also note that Bioshock Infinite was carried by its story story and visuals; its gameplay was good but it isn't what made the game, so if that's what you're looking for then you didn't get it from Infinite.

But then, you didn't get amazing gameplay from Uncharted either.

2008- Persona 4 probably, didn't make a list that year. Rock Band 2 was pretty great also.

2009- Borderlands, weird to think after Borderlands 2 being such a bummer

2010- Red Dead Redemption, started playing it once again, definitely one of favorite games this generation.

2011- Rayman Origins

2012-The Walking Dead, been meaning to dig into X-Com, but I play it for thirty minutes and then drop it.

So I've never agreed with the GB's Goty.

Wrong

2008 Call Of Duty

2009 Call Of Duty

2010 Call Of Duty

2011 Call Of Duty

2012 Call Of Duty

@bigjeffrey: Shit, you're right... I can't believe I forgot about CoD.

Personally, I'm really proud of their choice of X-Com last year. Considering I'm not much of a strategy game fan (with Starcraft 1 being the last title in the genre I loved) I was blown clear away by X-Com.

I thought it was a bold choice and I was happy to hear so much love for it from the bombers.

The only one I outright disagree with was Skyrim.