TSM Forums Game of the Year poll

[AndrewTS 0]

Okay, here's the vote, up and ready to go. I'll take votes up until the end of Sunday, Jan 7.

 

Note: I only could add 10 choices for question, so most entries for console GOTY will get their own choice, but there is an Other option, and a listing of the other nominees. Select Other and reply with your choice from *among the nominated choices* to vote for it.

[AndrewTS 0]

Um, when I tried to vote it forced me to select a PC option, when I didn't want to. So I edited the Poll to display (No Vote) option for portable and PSP. And although it shows me as having voted (Votes: 1), it erased my actual voting selections. Doh.

 

So, the ones I selected where:

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for console

 

Elite Beat Agents for portable

 

and I want a No Vote for PC.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

For the consoles, the Game of the Year is Twilight Princess, hands down. It might be the game of the decade thus far for that matter. For portables I went with the first side-scrolling Mario game in 15 years, and my PC isn't good enough to run pretty much anything that was released this year.

[The Flamboyance 0]

Of all of those I've only played and beaten Kingdom Hearts, and Okami. I'm currently playing FF12 and I think it's amazing but I wont vote for that because I don't think it's fair to vote for a game I have not finished. I'll have to go with Okami. It's just a totally original game. The story got confusing at times but it didn't really even matter. Also, I was very pleased that it lasted a long time to beat. It took me around 45 hours to finish.

 

Kingdom Hearts 2 was great but so much easier than the first one and not as memorable. Also, the beginning started off EXTREMELY slow and boring.

 

The new Onimusha game is also a worthy candidate. It was 2 discs long and was more similar to an RPG than the previous Onimusha games. The story was great as was the gameplay.

[Red Baron 0]

Other:

 

Deadrising.

[World's Worst Man 0]

It feels like a cop-out, but I picked Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Nothing else this year has been at an elite level. TP and FFXII were at similar levels, but neither were great. Disgaea 2 was a really good game as well, but like TP, doesn't get the nod because it doesn't do a whole lot different than it's predecessor. Gears of War was the biggest disappointment of the year by far. The game has no replay value, and takes 8-10 hours to finish. Bad combination there. It's a shame, because the gameplay was great.

 

So yea, MGS3S, even though it wasn't a whole lot better than the original. It was basically the greatness of the original game plus some extras. If anything else was truly great this year, I wouldn't have voted for it. But what are you gonna do?

[Blue Bacchus 0]

The only trouble I had with your poll is whether to vote for a grand rebirth of a classic (New Super Mario Bros.) or the next installment of one of the greatest franchises ever (Castlevania: PoR). New Super Mario Bros. was perfect in every way, C:PoR on the other hand, wasn't. Even though I'm a huge mark for Castlevania, Mario wins this round. However I might have even voted for MGS:PO if I had played it.

[Anya 0]

I vote Gears.

[MrRant 0]

It feels like a cop-out, but I picked Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Nothing else this year has been at an elite level. TP and FFXII were at similar levels, but neither were great. Disgaea 2 was a really good game as well, but like TP, doesn't get the nod because it doesn't do a whole lot different than it's predecessor. Gears of War was the biggest disappointment of the year by far. The game has no replay value, and takes 8-10 hours to finish. Bad combination there. It's a shame, because the gameplay was great.

 

So yea, MGS3S, even though it wasn't a whole lot better than the original. It was basically the greatness of the original game plus some extras. If anything else was truly great this year, I wouldn't have voted for it. But what are you gonna do?

 

Gears has good replay if you enjoy co-op from what I understand. I haven't picked it up yet.

[MrRant 0]

It feels like a cop-out, but I picked Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Nothing else this year has been at an elite level. TP and FFXII were at similar levels, but neither were great. Disgaea 2 was a really good game as well, but like TP, doesn't get the nod because it doesn't do a whole lot different than it's predecessor. Gears of War was the biggest disappointment of the year by far. The game has no replay value, and takes 8-10 hours to finish. Bad combination there. It's a shame, because the gameplay was great.

 

So yea, MGS3S, even though it wasn't a whole lot better than the original. It was basically the greatness of the original game plus some extras. If anything else was truly great this year, I wouldn't have voted for it. But what are you gonna do?

 

Gears has good replay if you enjoy co-op from what I understand. I haven't picked it up yet.

[World's Worst Man 0]

The co-op is almost identical to the single player. It's better in that you get a good partner as opposed to having the AI play the secondary character, but they way they did the split-screen was awful (horizontal split and not vertical? wtf?). I played the co-op first and have no desire to play it again by myself. I would wager that the situation would flip-flopped if I had played the single first.

[Guest Legalise Drugs and Murder]

Rather than get all objective about it and compare one game to another, I'll just state that I've had more fun with Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II than I have with any other game I've played in a really long time.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Guitar Hero II is this year's We Love Katamari - it's a great sequel, but it just doesn't feel right proclaiming it the best game of the year when it's basically a repackaging of a phenomenal predecessor. (I don't know if I'd have any reservation calling Guitar Hero the 2005 Game of the Year, though. Ridiculously fun game.)

 

The four entries that leap to mind for me this year are Twilight Princess, Okami, Final Fantasy XII, and Kingdom Hearts II. From what I've played of FFXII, it's a great return to form for the series, but it's not exactly an industry-shaking event. Kingdom Hearts II is a remarkable leap forward for the series, but the slow start keeps me from considering it for my vote.

 

And that leaves the Zelda game and Okami. Okami is a wonderful game and it is easily the best game of the "old gen" this year...but I just can't get around Twilight Princess for my Game of the Year. It's a fantastic game, with innovation (the Wii controls) as well as industry impact (best launch game ever?) on its scorecard for this year.

[Guest Legalise Drugs and Murder]

I just rented Okami, plan on diving in tonight while I enjoy my short vacation.

 

As fun as Guitar Hero I is, I can't help but think II is a drastic improvement. It's not as picky about the hammer-ons, which operate a lot more realistically now in most cases. The characters and backgrounds look a little cooler, I think.

 

The next games in the series should offer things like a "Jam mode," where it gives you a blank canvas and lets you pick around, change the distortion effects, save it if it's cool. Make it unlockable or something. Also, how about making the different guitars actually sound a little different? For instance, the Epiphone hollow-body electric in II would sound worlds different than say, the flying V.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Other: NCAA Football 07

 

It's the only game I played this year besides Major League Baseball 2K6.

[Red Baron 0]

I just rented Okami, plan on diving in tonight while I enjoy my short vacation.

 

As fun as Guitar Hero I is, I can't help but think II is a drastic improvement. It's not as picky about the hammer-ons, which operate a lot more realistically now in most cases. The characters and backgrounds look a little cooler, I think.

 

The next games in the series should offer things like a "Jam mode," where it gives you a blank canvas and lets you pick around, change the distortion effects, save it if it's cool. Make it unlockable or something. Also, how about making the different guitars actually sound a little different? For instance, the Epiphone hollow-body electric in II would sound worlds different than say, the flying V.

 

The 360 is suppose to have an explorer, which I hate playing in real life. I'd love see a good ol' strat if not a Gibson Firebird model instead.

 

Apparently Stairway to Heaven is suppose to be in GH III.

[Guest Dirty Killingsocks]

Game of the Year for console: Metal Slug Anthology - Wii.

 

And I don't play portable/PC games.

[AndrewTS 0]

Game of the Year for console: Metal Slug Anthology - Wii.

 

And I don't play portable/PC games.

 

 

I know you just joined, but votes only count towards the nominated games (the other columns were for some of the lower profile nominees). Doesn't make it any less good, though.

[Guest Dirty Killingsocks]

Ah, I thought I could vote for Metal Slug under the "other" option, but I see nobody nominated it in the other thread. Oh well.

 

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence then.

[AndrewTS 0]

That's cool--didn't want you to waste the vote, though.

[Guest Legalise Drugs and Murder]

I just rented Okami, plan on diving in tonight while I enjoy my short vacation.

 

As fun as Guitar Hero I is, I can't help but think II is a drastic improvement. It's not as picky about the hammer-ons, which operate a lot more realistically now in most cases. The characters and backgrounds look a little cooler, I think.

 

The next games in the series should offer things like a "Jam mode," where it gives you a blank canvas and lets you pick around, change the distortion effects, save it if it's cool. Make it unlockable or something. Also, how about making the different guitars actually sound a little different? For instance, the Epiphone hollow-body electric in II would sound worlds different than say, the flying V.

 

The 360 is suppose to have an explorer, which I hate playing in real life. I'd love see a good ol' strat if not a Gibson Firebird model instead.

 

Apparently Stairway to Heaven is suppose to be in GH III.

 

I'm not sure if you thought I was referring to the controller or not. What I meant was the different guitar selections in the game.

 

Good ol' Stratocaster? Puke on Fender.

[The Man in Blak 0]

It would take a little more money to produce (to procure the different guitars), but I think having different guitar sounds could definitely be feasible. Not so sure about the possibility of different configurations of effects boxes, though - then you're basically getting into amp modeling on a software platform that is mostly geared towards playback of audio files (rather than real-time processing of the sound).

 

To move back on topic for a second, is PC gaming in that much of a rut that people could only think of two games?

[Star Ocean 3 0]

I vote Gears.

 

Gears has good replay if you enjoy co-op from what I understand. I haven't picked it up yet.

 

Heck yeah, XenoGears wasn't realeased in 2006, but it transcends these pitiful notions of time and space. It even transcends the word "transcend."

 

Not sure about the co-op part, unless you mean that you enjoy cooperatiing with the best cast of characters ever, then yeah, that's right.

[AndrewTS 0]

I vote Gears.

 

Gears has good replay if you enjoy co-op from what I understand. I haven't picked it up yet.

 

Heck yeah, XenoGears wasn't realeased in 2006, but it transcends these pitiful notions of time and space. It even transcends the word "transcend."

 

Not sure about the co-op part, unless you mean that you enjoy cooperatiing with the best cast of characters ever, then yeah, that's right.

 

[The Man in Blak 0]

Well, the nomination was funny, at the very least.

[World's Worst Man 0]

To move back on topic for a second, is PC gaming in that much of a rut that people could only think of two games?

 

I probably could have come up with other games if the standards were as low as they were for the console list. It hasn't been a good year in general, seeing as how there were only two games I would actually give a GOTY type score to.

 

Also, I forgot to nominate the real GOTY, just because I thought it was released in 2005. Suikoden 5 smoked TP and FFXII and deserves it more than MGS3S just for not being a re-release.

[AndrewTS 0]

To move back on topic for a second, is PC gaming in that much of a rut that people could only think of two games?

 

Blah blah non-RPGs suck, blah blah.

 

In case you haven't noticed, this isn't a big forum for PC gamers. If it were, or if the forum were monstrous like the GameFAQers or GAFtard boards, there would be plenty more PC noms.

 

I would assume S5 is decent...but considering both critically AND by worth-of-mouth (or lack of) it's apparently tepid at best (and it's in a genre I hate), it wasn't even considered. It's pretty much a fart in a windstorm just like Star Ocean TTEoT was in '04.

 

Feel free to post a review of this awesome game on the board if you think it's so underappreciated.

[World's Worst Man 0]

Yes, I know. The point was that based on game quality, PC gaming in 2006 wasn't in such a huge rut that only two worthwhile games were produced this year. It was more like there were only two (maybe a couple more) that actually deserved some sort of GOTY recognition, along with a slew of games that were slightly below that level. Which would make it quite similar to console games this year.

[AndrewTS 0]

I'd say this year was pretty damn fantastic for console gaming...unless all you owned was an original Xbox and/or a Gamecube

 

OTOH, I'd say 2003 was a really weak year for console gaming. Sands of Time and KoToR were typically named GotY almost by default.

 

You had a lame Zelda and a lame Final Fantasy in the mix there, when normally they'd be tops. There were a few good sleepers though (BG&E, Sphinx).

 

EDIT: Oh, SC2 came out on consoles then. That's pretty good. And Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando was terrific as well.

[World's Worst Man 0]

I'd call 2003 better, just based on the high-end games being better than most of what came out this year. 2003 had Wind Waker, FFX-2, FFTA, VF4:E, KOTOR, GGXX, SC2, GTA:VC, Mario Kart:DD, SimCity 4, Deus Ex 2 and Mario Golf:TT. I'll take the first 4 over anything from 2006, outside of Suikoden 5. I don't see the depth of high-end games this year, even though there may be a greater depth of "good" or "very good" games. When given the choice, I prefer absolute high-end depth over anything.