Guesses on GB'S GOTY candidates

GOTY DELIBERATIONS ARE UPON US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Update: I'm not sure if this has already been discussed in a different forum post but considering that Troy Baker is the new Nolan North and this year is once again full of Troy Baker, it's high time that the guys be bringing back the most important award category: The Nolan North Memorial Award: The Best Use of Troy Baker - The Return of the Northies)

So recently I was looking through GB's list of reviews and then I started wondering about the games that would potentially end up on the list of GB's GOTY deliberations (and the staff could probably just use this forum post as their guide when they're making the inevitable GOTY Google Doc :P). So I'll just be listing down all the games that have scored 4 and 5 stars that weren't expansions/DLC that have been reviewed so far.

4 Stars

• Octodad: Dadliest Catch
• The Banner Saga
• Titanfall
• Luftrausers
• Infamous: Second Son
• Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (Note: Its more of a prologue for the main game)
• Mario Kart 8
• Wolfenstein: The New Order
• Shovel Knight
• Valiant Hearts: The Great War
• Divinity: Original Sin
• Madden NFL 15 (Note: As much as it scored favorably kinda hard to make a case for it)
• Super Smash Bros. 3DS
• D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (Note: I don't own an Xbox One but dammit this will be one of the first games I'd buy)
• Forza Horizon 2
• Alien Isolation
• Sunset Overdrive
• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
• Dragon Age: Inquisition
• Far Cry 4
• Super Smash Bros. For WiiU
• Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions

5 Stars

• Jazzpunk
• South Park: The Stick of Truth
• Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
• Bayonetta 2

Games not reviewed that could end up in deliberations:

• Dark Souls 2
• Transistor
• Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze

Will be making updates to this as more reviews come in or other games I forgot that the staff has mentioned/talked favorably about in the past year that they didn't review.

UPDATE: I'm calling it now, Jeff's last minute, wild card candidate (hint hint) is going to be WWE SUPER CARD.

UPDATE 2: Brad's last minute candidate not named Destiny is Kingdom Rush Origins.

UPDATE 3: Added Super Smash Bros. for the WiiU. Also a soon-to-be-released game THAT NO ONE SEEMS TO BE TALKING ABOUT: Hatsune Miku Project DivaF 2nd

Thanks, @popeanonymous

UPDATE 4: Added Geometry Wars 3

Hmmm this is a weird year and have no clue what they'd pick as GOTY.

I think it'll either be sunset overdrive, Bayonetta or mordor??

It's hard cuz you have to think about what they all like and usually jeff never agrees with everyone.

Also: I never woulda guessed Last of us would win their GOTY last year cuz even though everyone else was giving it GOTY it seemed like the crew didn't really like that game until December.

It's been a pretty disappointing gaming year for me, I seemed to buy a lot of stinkers this year.

@counterclockwork87: That's what I like about it since they all have very particular tastes so they all end up fighting over it. Hehe! Yeah, its kinda looking like Mordor or Bayonetta might end up being the GOTY winner.

I think Wolfenstein could do pretty well by them.

That list is full of a bunch of games I would consider mediocre at best. Only standouts for me are Mordor and Titanfall which I enjoyed immensely at the time of release. A few months out though? Eh...

Kind of weak.

It's definitely Mordor. Out of the people that will be on the GOTY podcast (No Jason) only Dan played Bayonetta 2 and he seemed to like SoM more.

I'm really disappointed that Transistor is not even going to be mentioned.

Super Mario World.

@corevi: Ah I think they did choose not to review Transistor for the same reasons as Bastion. I remember that the Supergiant guys still have the flip cam that they used back in Building the Bastion and I remember Jeff saying that they might do something with the footage that the Supergiant guys were just randomly filming during development at some point if ever they'll bring back the cam to the GB office though I don't think that'll ever happen now. I'll include the game on the latter list anyway since they did talk about the game extensively in one of the Bombcasts. Thanks for reminding me!

I think Mordor or Sunset Overdrive (it really grew on most of the staff) are good candidates. They've both been played by the majority of the staff which I think is key.

@gaspower: Nobody on the Bombcast seemed to care for Transistor at all. I don't even think any of them finished it.

@corevi: I remember that there was at least two members of the staff that did end up finishing it (I think it was Brad and Jeff). They mentioned about the skills carrying over to the NG+ so I'm sure there were people who did finish it. I do remember that they liked it but preferred the story and mechanics of Bastion IIRC.

@gaspower: I think Transistor is my personal most disappointing game of 2014. I absolutely loved Bastion but Transistor did nothing for me.

I guess Mordor? I don't know, it's been a pretty awful year for games, honestly and I feel like a lot of games I really wanted to play are on platforms I don't own (Sunset Overdrive, D4, Bayonetta 2). There's still some stuff I want to play before the end of the year but I've been pretty unimpressed by almost all the "AAA" games I've played this year.

@thelastgunslinger: I did start playing Transistor but also never got around to finishing it for some reason. I think the mechanics didn't seemed to click with me. Sometimes I'd end up not being able to pull off what I wanted to do during combat (e.g. Aiming the ability on a line of foes where they were highlighted to hit only to have it miss some targets at times) and it was kinda annoying.

Weird year for games, I don't own anything on that list except Titanfall.

Destiny, Halo, and GTA5 will be all I play the rest of this year and my GOTY is definitely Destiny. Will have to get Dragon Age, Forza Horizon, and Sunset when I have some time though.

Man, looking at this list really confirms my feelings that this has been a super weird and disappointing year for games, at least in my opinion. Honestly, I have no idea what they'll pick but wouldn't be surprised if Bayonetta or Mario Kart took it this year.

I'd say Mordor has a pretty good shot of taking GOTY this year.

Yeah, it's a weird year for that kind of thing. I think South Park will come up, if only for best story and maybe best looking. Mordor will likely be top 3. Destiny for most disappointing. Dragon Age will be in some personal top lists, although unless Patrick, Rorie or maybe Vinnie are involved in the podcast, it probably won't come up for anything official, which is a shame, because it's probably the best game this year.

Its strange for me because GTA V is disqualified as a re-release, and Destiny is easily the most disappointing game of the year. But Im not so sure it isn't also the best...I've certainly put more hours into it than any game not called NBA 2K or GTA this year and neither of those games have a shot for different reasons.

If I were predicting the staffs tastes, it seems like its going to fall to Mordor, Jazzpunk or Shovel Knight. Im not sure how fond the crew are of South Park in its current incarnation and I get the feeling that game came out so long ago and was so simple mechanically that they won't be talking about that game like a five star product when it comes time to make their lists. Id bet it cracks the Top 5 but first or second seems like a stretch, even Im having a hard time remembering exactly what was so lovable about it, I just know that I dug the hell out of it and played nonstop until it was done. I ran mage and never tried the other classes, though.

It doesn't seem like there've been any amazing games this year from my perspective. Some great ones for sure, but no Uncharted 2's or Arkham Asylum's or TLOU's etc. I don't know what they'll pick. Whatever get's the GOTY crown from GB it'll definitely be a weak win.

To be fair, there are 3 star games that I didn't include on this list that could end up on a staff member's personal top 10 list.

• Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth
• Watch_Dogs (somewhat unlikely)
• Child of Light
• Strider
• Yoshi's New Island
• Tesla Effect
• Destiny
• Hyrule Warriors (also unlikely)

Mordor will depend on Jeff. It'd be nice to see Bayonetta take it.

I'm going with Destiny. I mean, look at how much they talked about it!

I'm also calling it right now, I'm sure the staff members are starting to also scramble for time to play some of the 5 star games or have already played all of them by the time they're recording the podcast and I'm guessing Bayonetta 2 might end up winning it. It's just a hunch and I haven't played it yet (don't own a WiiU but I really, reeeeally want to play it) but I have a feeling that it ends up taking it this year.

4 star games that I feel like has a strong likelihood to end up in 10:

• Mario Kart 8
• Wolfenstein: The New Order
• Sunset Overdrive
• Dragon Age: Inquisition

4 star games that staff member's will fight to the death for it to get into the top 10:

• Divinity: Original Sin (I have a feeling Patrick might fight for a spot for this game but)
• Alien: Isolation (highly unlikely IMO but it could be the game Patrick might sacrifice for the former...or could be the other way around)
• D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (Alex might fight for this game as well)

Games that might end up being sacrificed to barter for another game's spot or majority/half of the staff is lukewarm towards it:

• Divinity: Original Sin (see above)
• Dragon Age: Inquisition (could end up as a bargaining chip for Divinity since it is also a fantasy RPG but the staff might end up siding with this game)
• Alien: Isolation (see above)
• Far Cry 4
• Infamous: Second Son

I could see Destiny coming in as both top game and most disappointing - has there been anything as divisive as Destiny was this year?

Lots of 4 star games, not a lot of 5 stars, and really no front runner for Game of the Year. Found lots of great games this year, but nothing really clicked for me like Destiny did (though have edged away from it in the last month). Sunset Overdrive and Morder were both great, but again never really got their hooks into me (which seems to be a common thing for me with open world games).

Could Call of Duty be a dark horse finalist? Maybe Unity for biggest disappointment?

Shadow of Mordor, just for the surprise

Dota 2. It got a new map or something.

Yeah, both Bayonetta and Shadow of Mordor are probably shoe-ins for the Best Surprise category.

It will almost certainly be Shadow of Mordor. Bayonetta 2 and Wolfenstein will both rank well but no other game got as much praise from the staff overall as Mordor got (Brad, Dan, Patrick and Alex were all pretty big fans). Even the people really into Bayonetta like Dan still preferred Mordor so it seems like a lock to me. Sunset Overdrive and South Park also seem likely to be on the list. After that, we run into the games that only some of them played or liked but will fight hard for. Jeff probably fights for Far Cry 4, Patrick fights for Divinity, and then maybe Alex fights for Jazzpunk.

Really hope Forza: Horizon 2 gets some more mentions.

The original received 5 stars, but when they brought it up during GOTY they swept it to the side because it was a racing game. I think Horizon 2 is a better game then the first so i'd put that as one of my top games as well as Sunset Overdrive.

@zombie2011: I don't think Horizon was swept last time because it was a racing game but rather the staff in general felt more strongly for other games.

Agree that it's not an incredible year (the games I'm enjoying the most are enhanced rereleases...GTA V, Halo MCC, Sleepy Dawgz, etc). I'm guessing those wouldn't be seriously considered.

Mordor deserves it. D4 is great as well but there's no way I could see them giving GOTY to something like that.

Loved Titanfall but it admittedly doesn't belong the top 3 or 4. For dark horse runner-ups, I'd guess Jazzpunk and Sunset. I'm sure Bayonetta will occupy a runner-up spot.

@kanerobot: Oh yeah D4 for sure isn't gonna end up in the top 5 but I feel like for what it is I think at least a mention within the top 20 or even in top 10 is likely.

By the way, does anyone remember who organized the GB community GOTY polls last time? Was it @marino? 0_o

UPDATE:

Looks like Inquisition will end up in the top 10 after all:

I'm not sure that I agree that Bayonetta 2 will win, but I do think this is 5 of the ten, along with Jazzpunk.

• Jazzpunk GOTY

It's hard to make a solid guess without knowing for sure who will be in on the deliberations. You have to figure that Jeff, Dan, Brad, and probably Drew will likely be there but I could see the top 10 varying wildly based on the additional presence of any combination of Jason, Rorie, Patrick, Alex, and maybe Vinny, though he seems a bit out of the loop game wise this year due to all he's been up to. So far the only things I'd guess would be locks for the top 10 are Mordor and Bayonetta but I'm not sure either will be number 1.

But if Gang Beasts is officially released at some point this year I like to think it would probably win.

@mosespippy: Oh those guesses were just for the 4 star games since I'm assuming all the 5 star games will probably have a spot in the top 10 anyway.

@pyromagnestir: Gang Beasts is probably a very interesting choice to be considered into top 10 if it does end up getting released but I think the biggest caveat of this game is the fact that I think it'll be local multiplayer only even when it finally launches. I know its a weird argument against the game but Gang Beasts is only fun when there are other also other people playing along with you.

Maybe Shovel Knight will sneak out on top. That seems like a game that they could all firmly stand behind. It's a classic.

@gaspower: But this being Giantbomb's game of the year thing I don't think that matters, they aren't thinking about "what game is most important" or universally enjoyable or whatever, it's just about what game as a group they happen to like most, and it's hard to find a game this year they all universally enjoyed more than Gang Beasts and I think if they include it as eligible it'd finish quite high if not outright win as a result.

Dark Souls 2 (the best game by far) will be in the top 5 as will Bayonetta 2 (Nintendo's official "spot" is 3rd or 4th), Mordor will win without any debate whatsoever other than token references to other games; and Mordor's a good game so hard to complain. Curious where Alien winds up, might be the only game I've ever played that justified being pitch black the entire time without it just being incredibly annoying. It would have been an interesting debate without Mordor but also a much shittier year. Titanfall makes it somewhere probably. Destiny has a Mass Effect 3 puncher's chance of being number 10, but I doubt it. Dragon Age, Wolfenstein, Sunset Overdrive, Shovel Knight, and Isaac probably make it somewhere.

@pyromagnestir: Oh yeah that's true but then again they would probably consider that caveat as part of their discussions and not necessarily because of the whole universally enjoyable part or it needing to have some sore of importance but rather it is a requirement for the game to be played with a lot of people for it to be really enjoyable. I think Gang Beasts is fun but at the same time I think it only works as a fun party game when you get more than two players together. Samurai Gunn came out last year as well and I remember the staff enjoying that game a lot, too but it didn't end up on last years deliberations. I do remember Divekick ending up on the top 10 though.

@fredchuckdave: Considering Isaac is practically a re-release I don't think it'll be considered. Not saying its a bad game though!

@gaspower: Well just depends if they get other people to play it or not (also if rereleases all worked liked that then RE4 would be 100+ hours long by now). D3 RoS and Hearthstone are both fairly strong contenders I forgot to mention, D3 probably supplanting anywhere Destiny could possibly wind up.

XCOM vs Bioshock Infinite vs Mordor would be an interesting discussion.

Maybe they should give it to GTA V since they shockingly left it off the list last year and the next gen versions have just hit. I mean fucking Divekick was in the 2013 top ten for christ sake.

Seriously I think of all the games they could reach a consensus on, it will be Far Cry 4 with Shadow of Mordor and Wolfenstein to place highly. I doubt the other 5 star games will even get on the list, though Dan could argue Bayonetta into #10 like Jeff did for Syndicate.

@pyromagnestir: If Gang Beasts comes out this year, and it was GB's Game of the Year, I'd lose my goddamn mind at how ballsy of a pick that would be.

Also, is Alex the resident 4X expert on the site at this point? I feel like Ryan used to be that guy, but I guess it falls on Alex, even if he's mostly a Civ 5 guy over anything else. I'm disappointed we never got an Endless Legend Quick Look and review out of Alex. He'd probably like it more than Civ: Beyond Earth.

@walkertr77: I'm one of the few people who like Jeff really liked Syndicate.

@gaspower: Syndicate was really cool and deserved to be in the top ten.

I think Bayonetta is a weird one. It's a game I've seen only positive remarks about and yet, I don't think the GB crew (excluding Jason and Dan) have had any motivation to play it.

S3CRET SUPER WINNER... CAPTAIN TOAD TREASURE TRACKER

@bisonhero: Well Ryan only played like 3-4 games a yearish, would be tough for that to cover the 4X genre (obviously he was amazing for what he did anyway so not like it mattered). Drew maybe?