Game of the Year 2013: Day One Recap

It really bugs me that the whole bit they used for Bioshock wasn't representative of the gameplay at all. Everything they praised about the game had to do with the presentation or the story, but no one commented on the constant combat you're doing for 3/4s of the game.

I pressed play then had to pause 14 seconds in cause I'm already crying........this week is gonna be pretty fucking stupid.

The first 6 minutes of this video are amazing, some of the best work you guys have done all year.

Bioshock Infinite *sigh* that video makes me remember how amazing the first part of the game is, then the combat starts. I really wish they had more of the "real" world coming into the infinite one, like going through real world places for moments with Elizabeth would have been cool, instead we got what we got, and boy is it a mixed bag for me, it started out amazing anyway. The game took place in the 80's? Theres a scene where she opens a portal and theres 80's music playing?

Brad was so fucking good. Also Rorie.

Quoted for truth.

Vinny's channeling his inner Geddy Lee and Burke Shelley there.

Exactly what I did. My god jeff in that shirt and wig. Hahaha.

Holy shit. The coked out Brad is amazing. This. This is why you glorious bastards get my subscription every single year!

Oh man, Brad is great.

hahaha! This is great

Shirtless Rorie is my GOTY.

If these videos are going to go the way I think they are I am so excited to see the 80's Giant Bomb.

P.S. Brad is bad at games.

I was mesmerized by Jeff's bare feet

Oh my god Brad. You ridiculous son of a bitch.

Vinny is so good at this.

Oh damn, shirtless Rorie. Looks like biking to work paid off, huh.

Pretty good characters. I wonder if each video is going to be a new decade? So today it was the 70's, I presume, and tomorrow it will be the 80's etc.

Also Bioshock Infinite is a pretty good game you guys.

I did like a triple take on that Rorie part. I wonder if KlepTok will make an appearance this year. Bioshock Infinite is my #1 too.

Those are some majestic wigs.

Really? Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch wasn't even nominated for Best Looking?

So rather than slickly edited top 10 videos we have them sat at a PC reading a word document?

Boring and lazy, fellas.

Wow, the bit where they say "I don't remember what happened with best looking game, but this game looks fucking great" seems like a great bookend to the disappointment I felt an hour ago when I heard them cut it because only Drew and Alex made arguments for it. It doesn't change anything but atleast they recognize its beauty now.

Man... I can't watch this on my Apple TV cause I can't explain it to my wife...

I wanna party with Bradley the snowman.

I dont get it. Dont you guys usually dress up and do skits every year? Why are you just on the couch doing a regular show?

They kind of did that at the beginning; that being said, I like this better.

lol i know, i was making a bad joke.

I hope so!

Yeah BioShock Infinite is actually a pretty shitty game in a gorgeously designed wrapper.

I mean its not the best, but I personally really enjoyed the combat.

I love Bioshock: Infinite. Also I'm glad they picked that sequence to look at. The first time you meet the Songbird was a great moment.

I would have if the weapons were more varied, I actually preferred the combat in 2 but all BioShocks have had enemies that felt a bit too bullet spongey. I thought it was worse in Infinite though, those patriots were annoying as hell to take down once they started appearing quite frequently.

It felt like traps were a bit pointless in Infinite and you didn't have the cool different ammo types for almost every gun, the combat was less sandbox and more linear so you never really had time to set up a room like you did when scouting a Big Daddy.

Hold onto your lugnuts, boys!

Bioshock Infinite is really awesome.

I really like the theme, and that Rorie cameo...

Honestly, I was pretty underwhelmed, "Drugs make you act different!" is not a joke that supports 5 minutes of video.

But man, assuming they jump ahead a decade a day?

NWA rap video for the 80s.

90s grainy public-access show.

Oughts self-parody.

Late teens Oculus Rift space filled with fake cyberjargon.

This could be amazing.

Surprise Rorie cameo! And Vinny looked fantastic as always.

Getting a strong Raoul Duke vibe from Brad. I dig it.

I have to disagree with what they said about Bioshock. I'm actually playing Infinite again right now; just stopped about an hour ago. I also got all the DLC for it and to say the least, I think Burial At Sea made Infinite even slightly better than I had originally felt because it connects the two worlds in interesting ways, so I think about the characters, such as Fink, and how he comes into it all. I think Infinite's an overall superb game, but the thing I disliked was that it takes liberties, so what I loved about Rapture was lessened in Columbia, perhaps purposely, to feel less important because it was more focused on characters and the multiverse story (which I really love).

Columbia just seems like this other place that has it's own stuff going on, as does Rapture now in some ways, but because of the first one and how it was well realized in that and even two, Columbia to me just doesn't compare even though I think it's great. The sense of wonder is a good description since it's what I feel like is lost in some ways. I also didn't love the way they went about the shooting. I liked the shooting itself, but I didn't like how it was basically arena based more similar to your typical shooter. The thing though, is ever since yesterday after I beat Burial At Sea, some of these problems have been, to a small extent, alleviated because there's a reason to it all.

I think everything in Infinite took a backseat, when it comes to importance, to the multiverse and characters. I went into Infinite expecting to become entranced and completely immersed in the world as if it was this individual entity that wants to be consumed, and I came out of it conflicted since that's not really what it was about. What I love now though is how, though perhaps the worlds (Rapture and Columbia) aren't the focus as much, at least the characters collide in interesting ways. I loved returning to Rapture in Burial At Sea; it did take a somewhat Infinite approach to it, but it was extremely well done and showed how strong Rapture still is of a setting. The sights and sounds are incredible.

I'm conflicted about the end of Burial At Sea, because it makes me wonder where it'll go from there since it seems like it could just keep going, and it was a bit evil feeling. I won't go any further beyond that, though it's not all I have in mind.

As someone who has spent waaay too much time analyzing every trailer, voxophone, piece of propaganda and song lyric in Columbia I still love Infinite so much. I also hate it for being a complete compromise and backpedal on the game design side compared to its legacy. But man, at this point I am just way to invested for any objectivity to diminish my enjoyment. I'm just such a sucker for Irrational's pulpy, artsy, sometimes pretentious style of storytelling and world-building.

I want a post-mortem on the game so badly, the complete transition Columbia and Elizabeth made from the first demos to the final game is still such a mystery for the fans. The story was completely rewritten less than a year before release, and the art style changed dramatically. Moreover, the game never delivered the true dynamic AI and open level design promised in the E3 2011 demo. And that wasn't an early conceptual vision of the game or anything, at that point they'd been in pre-production for years and were actively developing that game until it went off the radar and emerged completely different.

Oh well.

Brad successfully creeping me out. Thanks D:

It's the old Whiskey couch! :,)

I thought the combat in Infinite was fine. I play video games you guys, and it was a much easier game than I had expected, so the guns and abilities were mostly a fantastic flare to the simple gunplay.

The powers were interesting and agaiin made the game even easier and a lot of the times Elizabeth threw you life saving health packs and salts, throw in some skyhooks and rails to move creatively around the environment and you have an easy yet fun and varied combat system. Oh yeah and you have Gear that made it even easier with sheilds that explode/shock/returns health or makes ghosts out of your previous weapons. Bullet sponges? Yeah there were a lot of enemes that felt that way but again it was an easy enough game that it all felt mostly balanced. Get better I guess? If you think the combat was hard just come out and say it because I don't hear may reasons on why the combat is bad, just that they think it IS bad.

Guys you can shoot crows that stun literally every single enemy on the feild and it is AWESOME.

I am so glad the old couch is back in the spotlight like this

Bioshock Infinite is really good. I still haven't really thought of how I'll order my GOTY list, but it's going to be high up there.

Bare foot Jeff! shirtless Rorie! 70's Giant Bomb is even more unprofessional then modern Giant Bomb.

holy fuck this is great

Freaking funny! Love it!

This is awesome! Vinny looks like Ozzy Osbourne! :-D