Forgehub's GOTY Submissions

Halo 3.
Even though it was released last year, it should still get GOTY.

If that isn't possible.. I nominate Castle Crashers

 

I c wat u did thar.

I agree with mastar. Go Halo 3!

 

You really really don't know much about your game companies.

First off, Left 4 Dead was made by Valve. Valve made Portal. Valve also made Counter Strike, Half Life, and Team Fortress primarily. Sorry, but Valve is one of my favorite developers, and it drives me crazy when people can't identify them.

Second, you either haven't played that many games of 2008, or your gaming preferences are very limited. Worst games of all time? I would honestly like to hear why you would state such a thing, because I believe quite the opposite. This year offered so many great games, that is why their is so much controversy over game of the year. They are all good, but deserve "GOTY" in their own way. I can probably offer you many years worse for gaming that this. So your statement, just seems plain ignorant.

And here is my list of games that don't make it on my list of GOTY and why. Note, there are more games to be included, such as Far Cry 2 and Mirror's Edge, but I doubt anyone would read as much as I have already typed, and I just wish to point out the typical favorite choice games. I am adding COD WaW to the list now, because to think of people suggesting it sickens me.

GTA IV - While a fun game to play, and amazing when you first put in the disk, the game simply looses its draw on the gamer, resulting in less and less time spent in liberty city, and more and more time on other games. Length was not an issue, an entertainment factor was.

Left 4 Dead - Now, I can't remember who said this in another topic, but I quote them by saying "Valve made this game for the community, not GOTY." Hats off to you for true wisdom. While the game is incredibly fun to play, balanced, and some of the most fun I had in a while, it isn't GOTY perfect. To me it is perfect, but not as pristine as a GOTY game is. Valve's greatest games were created by the community, such as Counter Strike being a game developed by people who originally modded the Half Life engine. Vavle just knows how to serve its community, and they gave us this amazing game. However, animations aren't the smoothest, not the best FPS control in the world, odd walking, and sub-par graphics, but I could care less from a gamers aspect. However, as a reviewer, or someone considering GOTY, that does take a heavy toll.

Gears of War 2 - Great game, that's been recieving a load of underseved bullshit from it's community. The game was a vass improvement from the first, with a few flaws that they are working on for future patch, and is a practical perfection of the first Gears. While some may argue that this makes it only a Gears 1.5, you cannot ask for more than what EPIC gave us right off the shelf, and they will only continue giving in the future. However, with so many great games, GOTY will be decided on whether or not the game brought something new to the table, while remaining a fully polished game. Gears doesn't have that, but I never expected them too do something like as inovative as the AI Director in L4D, nor ever wanted them too. This game will remain in my collection, but I won't be slappon on a post-it with "GOTY" on it.

CoD WaW - First off, let me plead you to think about the impact of such a choice. The game gets GOTY, but the developer and Publisher get to wave it around, in this case, Treyarch and Activision. First off, Treyarch hardly did anything with the game, but add in their own perks and additions, and reskinned the Modern Warefare enviornment into another history lesson. What people love about CoD 4 and CoD 5, is in no way associated with Treyarch, for Infinity Ward were the original desingers, and already got an award for such. Also, Activision, the dictator of all that has sequels, does not need another trophy to further corrupt them into believing that they will continue getting away with remarketing games as sequels to attract more and more buyers, cause the gaming world does not need that. They need Activision to recieve a swift kick in the balls, and to have a meeting because their old corparte scheme isn't working as well as it used to. I thought CoD WaW would bring such a day, but it did not, and in fact pushed it further away. I will not touch the game itself, what I said is reason enough for it not to recieve GOTY.

Now onto my list of Games that deserve to be Nominees, but I just can't choose between.

MGS 4 - The Metal Gears Series is known to have practically created, and pushed the bounderies of stealth action gaming. However, Hideo Kojima re-invented what they created with MGS 4, and it was beautiful. There are several main reasons why it suceeded so.
​

1. It gave players the option to play the game in the shadows, sneaking around and silently taking out enemies, or go out guns blazing. Sometimes, it forced you to do one or the other, but even if it was against your typical playing style, you could not help but appreciate the fun in running and gunning, or the excitement of sneaking up on a guard and taking him out. It just worked.
2. Some of the best aesthetics to date. Eye Popping graphics, amazing sounds, and incredible voice acting, all some of the best to date. Did I mention an epic soundtrack?
3. While it re-defined what stealth action should be, and changed gameplay alot since previous metal gears, it stil stayed true to its fans, who had little complaints.

In addition, it brought back the found memories of true boss fights, as you fought some of the best bosses in a shooter of this time. I also loved the suit, it's ingenius encorpation into the game was great. However, it does have it's faults. Multiplayer didn't feel like all it could be, and remained a bonus. You might be saying "well ya, it was, MGS is about single player anyway" however, over time it has the GTA IV effect, and you get bored. Not within in a single campaign, or two, but several. In some ways, it feels like it can't be helped, but for some reason I felt like it was missing something after several play throughs. But, it is still on my list.
​

Fable 2 - This game won G4's GOTY, and to much controversy, but in the end, I side with Sessler on the fac that this is a truly brilliant game. People complain it did not live up to what was promised. That is wrong, it lived up, in everyway, to what Lionhead and Peter said it would, fans just got carried away. Really, it was great, and imersive. First of all, the graphics, are stunning. Their is an art style there, that just worked. I often found myself running through Oakvale, only to stop, and pan the camera around just to look at it. The light is marvelous, and the foliage is the best I've seen. Furthermore, while the final boss fell flat, the story was good, and got me emotionally involved at the same time. But you're probably saying "What happened to bringing something new to the table?" I'm getting there. Single button combat, while not a new concept, was executed in a way I have not yet seen. 3 buttons, each controlling a seperate attack, worked. It did more than that, actually. While some say the game is easy, the brilliance in the combat is that it allows casual gamers to pick up the game, and just mash away at the X button, and feel accomplished. However, more hardcore gamers can also appreciate the depth in combat. You can mash X, but you can hold to block or pull power attacks, or press in a rythm to create a flourish, ending with a satisfying kill, or press it at the right time for a cool counter attack. I will always remember that fight I had against a bandit, where I did a 180 turn, slicing a guy, then impaling him with my sword to a wooden fence, before removing it and watching his body fall off the cliff. Also, you can combine Melee, Range, and Magic, for great combos. Also, the leveling system is simple, and effective, something lost in most games these days.
​

The game does have flaws, though. First off, is a number of glitches Lionhead missed, hampering gameplay. They are on the road to fix this. Also, undesigned co-op. But let me just counter that. First off, co-op was a patch in the game, allowing them to continue to update co-op, so don't remain disapointed. Second, it is not necessary, for single player is enough. "But it is short for an RPG" and yes, while that is true, there is more in the game to do, like becoming all powerful, and the fact that the outcome of the game can change sooo much, you play through this game several times through. I'm on my second playthrough, after exploring the crap out of my first profile, and am finding new places still. For the new DLC, I'll be making another new account. So in the end, the pros in this game outway the cons, except the glitches and bugs.
​

Fallout 3 - I have not played this game or own it. *Gasp* But hear me out. I want to own this game, and could be getting it this Christmas. Also, I have read enough and watched enough to know why this game deserves GOTY, my reasons won't be as in depth regretably, but this game deserves just as much attention as the other 2. Let me first say, great graphics. I can also brag that the graphics onthe 360 are better than on the PS3. TAKE THAT FANBOYS! Anyway, moving on. The world appears huge, and I am sure it is. Hearing the dad of my friend's friend just talk about this game as we discussed games made we want to get it right then. You just fee like your in an apocolyptic wasteland, waiting to be explored. Also, it is an RPG with FPS. This is definately cool, and very well fits the game. Also, marketing music was awesome, gotta love good old Horace Heidt, and other such music, just so creepy. But what I think makes this game the a great nomination, is VATS.
​

VATS is ingenious, and I don't know how, but I know why. We live in a world of FPS, where the typical gamer needs to be able to control his reticle, and where he shoots. That is why many RPG's fail, because the game auto targest, you just click on an enemy and tell it to attack. But this game, gives you both options, where you can control the accuracy, or click on the enemy and rely on in game calculations determing the effect of a hit, if one at all. What is more, it is used more than manual aiming! Now how did they achieve that? How did they make it so people wanted to select an enemy to attack, and let the game do the work? I don't know, honestly. It could be the fact that you can target indivdual sections of the body, rendering different effects. It could be the intense cinematics. I don't know, but it just works.
​

Little Big Planet - In the cloudy river banks of dark and gritty shooters, we find this rare gem, LBP. Sadly it is covered with the much that is PS3 Exclusive. This has hindered me from playing the game, since I do not own a PS3, but no matter, this game deserves to be here. I am not kidding when I say this is a rare gem. It's cutesy, it's a sidescrolling platformer, and it is one of the greatest creative tools ever to hit a console. Some say the fact that this game is bright, cheery, and fun is why it scares gamers away, and makes this a bad game. Please, gtfo nub, because I do not want to hear such criticism for a game that is not involved with the Wii in any way shape or form. Second, this game doesn't have to be light and fluffy. I saw a user created level inspired by God of War, a level drenched in blood and involving human sacrifice. Which brings me to the sole reason this game deserves to be in the running for GOTY; the level designer. We here at forgehub love forge, and some of us love Far Cry, but LBP gives us something both those map creators did not, and one cannot say exactly what it is. As you run through the single player levels, you smile at the fact that you are given the exact same tools the developers used to design the ground your jumping on. With "infinite" possibilities due to an unlimited budget (or so I heard), easy to work with tools, and elements that allow nearly anything to be possible, this game is the examplar player creation tool. I've seen binary calculators made, intense platformers, recreations of games like Mirrors Edge to Super Mario, vehicles, planes, the list goes on. Honestly, creativity is the limit in this game, and that is something we are missing in today's games. Also, it brings back sidescrolling, and platforming, in a memorable way. There is not much NOT to love about this game, unless you just can't stand a casual game that does not include blood and dirt in every pixel.
​

This game was destined to be a PS3 Exclusive, developed by Media Molecule, which caused it great harm. Few owned a PS3, and the fact that it was on the more pixar-ish side, prevented people from going over to PS3 solely for this game. It also has a few bugs, but that is only expected in a game. Though it might not have suceeded in sales, LBP sure created a fond memory in the minds of all who have played it.
​

So there you have it, my 4 picks: MGS 4, Fable 2, Fallout 3, and Little Big Planet.

 

I think Oblivion was the best game of all time and eats all your little games for dinner. Don't say it didn't come out this year because, yes, it didn't, but it's so epic that its release date exists in all times, past and present. Therefore, it is constantly being released!

 

Rockband2, GHWT, Wii Fit <-holy **** yes? lol

Spore/crysis? if not crysis warhead/WoW WOTLK

 

I also nominate Castle Crashers.

Best

Xbox

Arcade

game

ever.

 

Crysis: Warhead came out this year.

 

Portal is Valves

End War is a terrible strategy game. It's cool and all that you can use your voice but the gameplay is terrible.

CoD5 is Waw.

I think you quoted the wrong person. I know it was made by Valve. Why would I have linked to a page on wikipedia of Valve corporation.

The only great games this year were GTA 4, L4D and GoW2. Those are the only games I play now if you don't count the non mainstream games.

Also, ignorant is when a person just doesn't know and chooses to make half assed opinions on the subject. So, your use of ignorant is wrong. Fix that up please.

Next, the worst gaming year is clealy opinion. And in my opinion, I believe this year sucked. The games that came out were okay and way, way overhyped.

Now, have you thought that my standards for games is just much, much higher then yours? Hmmm, no, I guess that can't be it...

 

GTA IV has flatlined. There was a recorded 200 people who played it through a span of 24 hours about a month or two ago.

 

I don't wish to start a war here, but your opinion makes no sense, you haven't backed it up. I agree, I used many wrong words in that post of mine, and am hoping to rewrite a new post further explaining my theory in what makes GOTY this year.

Your reason is that they were over-hyped, and I disagree. Hype is the result of a fanbase eating up the marketing of the game developer. You can not call a game bad because it is over-hyped. Now, I am not saying that you are saying that, but it comes off that way. No, I want to see how you evaluate the standards of games. I look at games quite differently, and it is tough to explain, but when I review games, I ignore opinion and look at it for waht it should be compared to other games of the genre.

For example, End War is a decent game, but when compared to other RTS's, it falls flat. This is because it is console based, and due to the fact that it is voice command, they pregroup units for you, which in standard RTS games is not how that works. I ignore that game completely from the running then, because it was meant to be an RTS, but in the end was not.

Then you have GoW2, a serious contender, and it would make it on my nominee list, but I had to cut alot of games based on my logic, which I will explain in a bit. Simply, GoW2 is an amazing shooter, and what it sought to do it passed with flying colors. But before I go on, let me now explain my reasoning behind GOTY.

You are asked to determine which of 3 cakes is the best baked cake in the world, personal taste aside (such as not being a fan of vanilla). You have a chocolate cake, a vanilla cake, and a lemon cake, all baked to perfection. Compared to cakes of the same name, these 3 are the best of the best. Now, how can you decide that one is baked better than the other, when all 3 are baked to the best quality possible for the type of cake it is? You can't. However, what if each of these 3 cakes had one unique flavor added to it? You now base these cakes on that extra flavor. Why? Because the cakes were all equal before, but the flavors are not. For example, the lemon cake had this extra flavor, but this flavor was slightly to sour, while the chocolate cake addition was a fine balance of sweetness, and the vanilla cake's added flavor was a tad too tart. Now, which one is the best baked cake? The chocolate one, of course, because it's extra flavor needed the least amount of tweaking to make it better, while the other too had obvious flaws.

Now, that is all a metaphor to the games, and I will bring up two games right now. GoW2 and Fable 2. GoW2 was a shooter, and was perfect in the terms of a shooter. Fable 2 was an RPG and did what is expected of an RPG. Now onto that extra flavor, or in this case, addition. GoW2 had horde mode, Fable 2 had Co-Op. Horde mode was fun, intense, and challenging, and Fable 2's co-op was a great addition to the tradition single player RPG. But they are far from perfect. Let's focus on what could have been done better.

Horde - Wave 1 is the same enemies as Wave 11, and so forth, just they got stronger and stronger each time. Enemy numbers did not change, or enemies themselves, hence it grows repetitive. They simply could have added some enemy variation throughout the waves, but did not.
​

Co-Op - Due to the fact that both players are limited by being forced to occupy the same frame, the camera is annoying. In the combat of Fable, this quickly became frustrating, as flourishing an enemy out of the boundaries of where your player can go became annoying and the gun aiming was severally impacted.
​

Now, I can go in depth, but this is for comparison and explanations sake, and I will later post somewhere a full evaluation of my top games, with addition "extra flavors". From what I stated, Horde mode was closer to perfection than Fable 2's co-op, so if it was between those two games, I would give GoW 2 GOTY. However, I do not, for reasons I will not state yet. The point is, you need to look at games at what they are, and what they were attempting to accomplish, and once you have the best of the best from each category, the only way to make one better than others in an unbiased matter is to pick on a single aspect that is not typical of that games genre, and seeing how close to perfection it came.

That is my standards for games in this competition, and my logic behind them, and I hope my metaphor and explanation can get my point across. If it doesn't I understand, it is hard to explain, but just know that I find this a sound method to use. I have a high standard for games, but look at it for what it is meant to be and whether or not it reached that point, keeping personal taste as far away as possible.

EDIT: About the Portal and Valve thing, that is typical Valve fashion. Most of its games had nothing to do with the original company itself, but other people who they take in.

 

Infinity ward gets the title cod5. World at war is not cod5. If you went up by correct numbers, it would be like cod7 or 8.

And sorry for the portal thing, but I had many people tell me graduates at didi penn unniversity in washington made portal and then sold it to valve.

 

Look up the new CoD game. And they got rid of the game numbers at 5.

Left 4 Dead isn't on the PS3 but is on the PC.

 

Company of heroes: Opposing front. idc if it's late '07, it trumps this ****.

 

Midnight Club: LA


Best racing game I have ever played, and I'm finding it to be more fun than many other shooter games I had been anticipating (i.e. Far Cry 2)

 

Fallout 3 is also on PC.

 

Here's some extra info I wrote for it.


Open World
TONS of Cars
Online is really fun, and offline is just as fun
Really realistic, but has some casual touches like power-ups, but they're not easy to come by.

Some of the races are really hard, really, really hard, and they get kind of annoying after some time.

Highway races are the coolest, and easiest. Series races consist of multiple races, in which you have to win like, either 2 out of 3, or wins the racer that wins 3 races first.

The cops get a bit annoying, and even if you do manage to escape them, somehow, they manage to SPAWN right behind you, which gets somewhat annoying, but I love how the HUD tells you what you're doing wrong, like for example, it will tell you to slow down, if a cop is nearby, then you slow down, ditch him, and speed back up.

There's also this thing called Rate My Ride, in which you submit the cars you ''pimped'' out to their online thing, and people get to rate your car, and you can even put it up for sale online, and people can buy a copy of it, and you get the cash, but you still have your car, because they bought like, a copy of it.

Also has some extras on the Internet to check out at the Social Club, like GTA, since they're both made by Rockstar.

Pimping out your ride is really fun too, I just love doing that. Oh, and you can also Test-Drive cars you haven't even unlocked in the car shop yet, like a Saleen S7, for example.

Online has different modes like, regular racing, and others like Keep-a-way, in which you have to capture a flag, and hold it with you for longer than other racers. They can take the flag from you by bumping into you. There's also Team Capture the Flag, which is similar to keep-a-way.

Oh, and you can also take pictures of your car, and upload them to the Social Club.

Despite the races being kinda hard, what makes up for it, is the Rep system. You win rep every time you do a race, win or lose. But, of course, you get way more if you actually win the race. With the rep system, you unlock new rides, new car parts, new challanges, etc.

/rant

Link to Social Club