Game of the Year

2007-12-29 06:05:16 pm

Viking

Precursor

The year is coming to an end, so time for this topic!

Post your own lists and stuff. I intended to do categories, but screw that. It'll just be a top five. No, I never got to play Corruption this year.

5. Knytt Stories [PC]
One of the best indie games in a long, long time. Probably at least the third best freeware game ever created. Part of what makes it so fantastic is the level editor - very easy to use. It's almost an engine rather than a game, but just counting the official "Strange Machine" level, it's STILL awesome in enough ways to make it worthy of this spot.

4. Mountain of Faith [PC]
The twelfth official game in the Touhou series may very well be the best of the lot. Reinventing the powerup and bomb systems plus adding a not TOO anal scoring system, cutting back on the amount of playable characters to two with three weapon settings each, coming up with a new lineup of awesome characters, creating more beautiful bullet patterns... there's just one thing to say - ZUN does it again.

3. Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 [NDS]
Definitely the best game in the series. Obviously, the gameplay is the same, so it's everything else that does it. The soundtrack is fantastic. Being able to skip chargeup is the best thing ever. And they did the impossible and made Doumeki Kai even manlier. SEKAI WA SORE WO AI TO YOBUNDAZEEEEEEE

2. God of War II [PS2]
God of War was the best thing the PS2 had ever seen. It was magnificent, epic, awesome. The sequel improves on -everything-. More bosses, more weapons, more of everything. By far and wide the best thing that the last console generation ever got. Yes, even better than Echoes.

1. Portal [PC]
It was no contest here, really. A short, but oh-so-sweet game. The ratio of play time to awesome factor is higher than anything ever seen. The puzzle-based gameplay was done fantastically, and I fell in love with how the story was presented throughout the game. Add to this one of the most awesome enemies in gaming history (the turrets, obviously), the second best end boss ever and the best original video game song ever, and you have something which can only be described as pure gold.

Thread title:

The year is coming to an end, so time for this topic!

Post your own lists and stuff. I intended to do categories, but screw that. It'll just be a top five. No, I never got to play Corruption this year.

[b]5. Knytt Stories [PC][/b]
One of the best indie games in a long, long time. Probably at least the third best freeware game ever created. Part of what makes it so fantastic is the level editor - very easy to use. It's almost an engine rather than a game, but just counting the official "Strange Machine" level, it's STILL awesome in enough ways to make it worthy of this spot.

[b]4. Mountain of Faith [PC][/b]
The twelfth official game in the Touhou series may very well be the best of the lot. Reinventing the powerup and bomb systems plus adding a not TOO anal scoring system, cutting back on the amount of playable characters to two with three weapon settings each, coming up with a new lineup of awesome characters, creating more beautiful bullet patterns... there's just one thing to say - ZUN does it again.

[b]3. Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 [NDS][/b]
Definitely the best game in the series. Obviously, the gameplay is the same, so it's everything else that does it. The soundtrack is fantastic. Being able to skip chargeup is the best thing ever. And they did the impossible and made Doumeki Kai [i]even manlier[/i]. SEKAI WA SORE WO AI TO YOBUNDAZEEEEEEE

[b]2. God of War II [PS2][/b]
God of War was the best thing the PS2 had ever seen. It was magnificent, epic, awesome. The sequel improves on -everything-. More bosses, more weapons, more of everything. By far and wide the best thing that the last console generation ever got. Yes, even better than Echoes.

[b]1. Portal [PC][/b]
It was no contest here, really. A short, but oh-so-sweet game. The ratio of play time to awesome factor is higher than anything ever seen. The puzzle-based gameplay was done fantastically, and I fell in love with how the story was presented throughout the game. Add to this one of the most awesome enemies in gaming history (the turrets, obviously), the second best end boss ever and the best original video game song ever, and you have something which can only be described as [i]pure gold[/i].

Hejira

2007-12-29 06:35:42 pm

5. Halo 3
If only because the only games I bought that aren't on this list are Sims 2 expansions and/or unremarkably forgettable. Very shiny helmet in the Legendary edition, yes.

4. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All
Why yes I am Australian, how could you tell? This makes me hope Capcom doesn't screw us over so much with Trails and Tribulations and that upcoming Harvey Birdman game. They make Nintendo look good in this department, FCOL.

3. Mass Effect
Just got it a few days ago. Am on the second playthrough. Brilliant story and stuff, but damn the elevators are frustratingly slow. Couldn't Shepard play Pong on the omni-tool or something to pass the time?

2. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
The first Metroid game I've ever finished. Makes me wonder what's coming next. Please? Something? Anything? Some freaking word that it's not over, come onnnnnnnnn...

1. Portal
Cheesecake is a pie
Cheesecake is a pie
Cheesecake is a pie
Cheesecake is a pie
Cheesecake is a pie
...or something like that.

5. Halo 3
If only because the only games I bought that aren't on this list are Sims 2 expansions and/or unremarkably forgettable. Very shiny helmet in the Legendary edition, yes.

4. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All
Why yes I am Australian, how could you tell? This makes me hope Capcom doesn't screw us over so much with Trails and Tribulations and that upcoming Harvey Birdman game. They make Nintendo look good in this department, FCOL.

3. Mass Effect
Just got it a few days ago. Am on the second playthrough. Brilliant story and stuff, but damn the elevators are frustratingly slow. Couldn't Shepard play Pong on the omni-tool or something to pass the time?

2. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
The first Metroid game I've ever finished. Makes me wonder what's coming next. Please? Something? Anything? Some freaking word that it's not over, come [i]onnnnnnnnn...[/i]

1. Portal
Cheesecake is a pie
Cheesecake is a pie
Cheesecake is a pie
Cheesecake is a pie
Cheesecake is a pie
...or something like that.

Mr. Aran

2007-12-29 09:08:19 pm

everybody knows it's true

5. World in Conflict
4. Metroid Prime 3
3. Orange Box
2. Super Mario Galaxy
1. Crysis

I don't feel like explaining.

Da Dood

2007-12-29 09:57:57 pm

Dood Trigger™

I only got to play two original 2007 games, though this year I played many games I hadn't played before.

Super Mario Galaxy and Corruption, this order.

GreenMamba

2007-12-29 11:32:13 pm

What luck, there's french fry stuck in my beard.

The correct answer is Super Mario Galaxy.

iamthejackie

2007-12-30 12:11:07 am

Um... for games released in 2007? Uh...
1. Pokemon Diamond

It's the only 2007 game that I have. If I had more games, I would definitely not have that game on my list, game was way too slow.

Yoshi348

2007-12-30 01:07:12 am

PAGE BREAKER

Ready and willing.

I don't exactly understand how a turn-based RPG can be slow.

Toozin

2007-12-30 01:17:49 am

Not impossible

just highly unlikely

Zack and Wiki, Phantom Hourglass, Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy, God of War 2, Super Paper Mario.

In no particular order.

DJGrenola

2007-12-30 05:51:12 am

in no particular order

portal

spineshark

Edit history:

spineshark: 2007-12-30 06:40:05 am

2007-12-30 06:36:47 am

in the name of justice!

5) Portal - I got to this one months after everybody else (played it at a friend's house about a week ago) so the impact of "the cake is a lie" and such things was vastly dampened by hearing them about eleven thousand times. But it was still fun and clever. And short, which I can stand for.

4) Grim Grimoire - I wrote a huge essay about this in another thread, so I'll spare the details, but its excellent 2D aesthetic, hilarious teenage wizard story, and simplified Starcraft-inspired RTS gameplay make this one a winner in my book.

3) Etrian Odyssey - the one problem with old-school RPGs is that they are old. Etrian Odyssey follows the time honored traditions of being really hard, having a grid based, first person viewpoint, requiring map-drawing, which is built into the DS and executed awesomely, and a simple story and blank-slate characters. It looks nice, overcoming the technical limitations with great style, and the music is another awesome soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro (although it naturally can't live up to Streets of Rage 2 =p). I've barely started but I'm so in love. And they're making a sequel. I'm almost ready to call my top five of 2008*.

2) Senko no Ronde - this game got depressingly abysmal reviews, from know-nothings who all decided that "this should be an XBLA title." I'll admit, I only paid half price since I didn't pick the game up until months after it came out, but I've spent well over a hundred hours on this delightful bullet ballet and loved all of them. Fantastic gameplay, excellent music, and hilarious characters put this hybrid fighter/shmup over the top. It's fun even if you suck...I speak from experience!

1) Persona 3 - I fear the amount of text I could write praising this game. The designers knew the sort of game I'd want to play better than I did, as I wouldn't have ever guessed that a half high-school sim, half random dungeon RPG would be probably my favorite game of all time. It's a focused and fast-paced RPG, as the days fly by and there's no extraneous crap like vapid minigames or sidequests designed to eat up your time. And it still lasts 70 hours at a minimum. It's full of style, and the localization is possibly the best I've ever seen; well-written (a must, as the game would be intolerable if it was bad) and with good voice acting...for a game anyway. I've played it twice and still have more to do, but I'm waiting for the now seemingly imminent English release of the Fes expansion. Persona 4 also seems to have been slyly revealed (not announced) for PS2. I feel like a spoiled child.

Three honorable mentions go to:
6. Eternal Sonata (I'm obviously just a ridiculous tri-Crescendo fanboy, as I can't think of any really good reason to love this short, easy and unspectacular RPG)
7. The Red Star (forgiving shmup boss battles and cool beat-em-up stages make for the best of both worlds, but the lacking music hurts it for me and my inarguably unfair standards there)
8. Mountain of Faith (I like it enough and have spent quite a bit of time with it...but you're crazy, Kenny :D)

Quote from Yoshi348:

I don't exactly understand how a turn-based RPG can be slow.

Unless I remember wrongly and/or things have changed (as the last I played was Gold) Pokemon doesn't show much of anything in the graphics, which ironically slows things down as innumerable text boxes pop up to explain everything that happens. I guess they're trying to teach kids to read or something, but you know, I think I've got "It's super-effective!" down pretty well.

*Next year when this topic comes up, I'll want to see the following list, which contains my predictions for my five favorite games of 2008 (not calling the order though, that's just ridiculous!):
Fragile, No More Heroes, Infinite Undiscovery, Etrian Odyssey 2, Persona 4

edit: I don't have a wii yet, is anyone surprised? I just played mario galaxy for the first time twelve hours ago, for about five minutes.

5) Portal - I got to this one months after everybody else (played it at a friend's house about a week ago) so the impact of "the cake is a lie" and such things was vastly dampened by hearing them about eleven thousand times.  But it was still fun and clever.  And short, which I can stand for.

4) Grim Grimoire - I wrote a huge essay about this in another thread, so I'll spare the details, but its excellent 2D aesthetic, hilarious teenage wizard story, and simplified Starcraft-inspired RTS gameplay make this one a winner in my book.

3) Etrian Odyssey - the one problem with old-school RPGs is that they are old.  Etrian Odyssey follows the time honored traditions of being really hard, having a grid based, first person viewpoint, requiring map-drawing, which is built into the DS and executed awesomely, and a simple story and blank-slate characters.  It looks nice, overcoming the technical limitations with great style, and the music is another awesome soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro (although it naturally can't live up to Streets of Rage 2 =p). I've barely started but I'm so in love.  And they're making a sequel.  I'm almost ready to call my top five of 2008*.

2) Senko no Ronde - this game got depressingly abysmal reviews, from know-nothings who all decided that "this should be an XBLA title."  I'll admit, I only paid half price since I didn't pick the game up until months after it came out, but I've spent well over a hundred hours on this delightful bullet ballet and loved all of them.  Fantastic gameplay, excellent music, and hilarious characters put this hybrid fighter/shmup over the top.  It's fun even if you suck...I speak from experience!

1) Persona 3 - I fear the amount of text I could write praising this game.  The designers knew the sort of game I'd want to play better than I did, as I wouldn't have ever guessed that a half high-school sim, half random dungeon RPG would be probably my favorite game of all time.  It's a focused and fast-paced RPG, as the days fly by and there's no extraneous crap like vapid minigames or sidequests designed to eat up your time.  And it [i]still[/i] lasts 70 hours at a minimum.  It's full of style, and the localization is possibly the best I've ever seen; well-written (a must, as the game would be intolerable if it was bad) and with good voice acting...for a game anyway.  I've played it twice and still have more to do, but I'm waiting for the now seemingly imminent English release of the Fes expansion.  Persona 4 also seems to have been slyly revealed (not announced) for PS2.  I feel like a spoiled child.

Three honorable mentions go to:
6. Eternal Sonata (I'm obviously just a ridiculous tri-Crescendo fanboy, as I can't think of any really good reason to love this short, easy and unspectacular RPG)
7. The Red Star (forgiving shmup boss battles and cool beat-em-up stages make for the best of both worlds, but the lacking music hurts it for me and my inarguably unfair standards there)
8. Mountain of Faith (I like it enough and have spent quite a bit of time with it...but you're crazy, Kenny :D)

[quote="Yoshi348"]I don't exactly understand how a turn-based RPG can be slow.[/quote]
Unless I remember wrongly and/or things have changed (as the last I played was Gold) Pokemon doesn't show much of anything in the graphics, which ironically slows things down as innumerable text boxes pop up to explain everything that happens.  I guess they're trying to teach kids to read or something, but you know, I think I've got "It's super-effective!" down pretty well.

*Next year when this topic comes up, I'll want to see the following list, which contains my predictions for my five favorite games of 2008 (not calling the order though, that's just ridiculous!):
Fragile, No More Heroes, Infinite Undiscovery, Etrian Odyssey 2, Persona 4

edit: I don't have a wii yet, is anyone surprised?  I just played mario galaxy for the first time twelve hours ago, for about five minutes.

XSlicer

2007-12-30 07:03:08 am

5. Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2
Same as Kenny

4. Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass
"Zelda", Nuff said.

4. Orange Box (Portal)
Im making a note here, HUGE SUCCES

2. Metroid Prime 3 Corruption
Ah well, metroid.. I always like metroids, and this is no exception.

1. Super Luigi Galaxy
"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" ~Luigi (I hate mario)

arkarian

2007-12-30 10:24:04 am

red chamber dream

Pokémon Pearl/Diamond
Phantom Hourglass
DDR SuperNOVA 2
Zack And Wiki

Coruption and Galaxy definitely don't deserve to be on the list. Haven't played Portal yet.

Yeah.. 2007 wasn't all that great of a year for games. Movies are a different story, but still, '08 should be much better for both. Can't wait for No More Heroes and Sin City 2.

Banjonator

2007-12-30 12:50:28 pm

10. Metroid Prime Pinball (NDS)
9. Prince of Persia - Rival Swords (Wii)
8. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (NDS)
7. Anno 1701 (NDS)
6. Super Paper Mario (Wii)
5. Resident Evil 4 - Wii Edition (Wii)
4. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii)
3. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
2. Bioshock (XBox360)
1. Assassin's Creed (XBox360)

LDreamNinja

2007-12-30 03:32:31 pm

Quote from Yoshi348:

I don't exactly understand how a turn-based RPG can be slow.

Every time you choose a move in battle, there's a weird pause before the animations for he turn play out. It's just long enough to be annoying.

Banjonator

2007-12-30 04:59:45 pm

You can turn the animations off

iamthejackie

2007-12-30 05:26:15 pm

Quote from Banjonator:

You can turn the animations off

I did. It was still pretty slow. I put everything on the fastest settings, text and animations, and the game still felt slower than its RBY/GSC days.

JaggerG

2007-12-30 05:52:46 pm

Shifty Leader

That M2k2 guy

Good times....

Fano7

2007-12-30 06:01:02 pm

Every Bit Counts

5) Super Mario Galaxy - fun game with nice gravity controls

4) Guitar Hero 3 - fun game, even though I just beat my first song on medium Rolling Eyes

3) Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - do I really need to say anything? awsome game, and the best first person adventure / shooter for the Wii.

2) Portal - just awsome, going in and out of portals is always fun. except I probably need a new video card to play it.

1) Team Fortress 2 - awsome class based FPS, except I probablyt need a new video card to play it.

Note: The best games ever made are Super Metroid and WoW (World of Worldcraft)

UchihaSasuke

2007-12-30 06:43:29 pm

my umbrella goes directly to Bankai

RBY/GSC/RSE has pretty comparable speeds. DP is purposefully slow in comparison. the first few minutes i played i was getting annoyed by the slowness. due to that, i'll level up only DP-only pokes in DP and everything else will be leveled in the 3rd gen games. you can do about 2x the leveling up in any of RSE compared to DP in the same amount of time.

lol almost went all off-topic. i'll post my top 5 2007 games (i play few games so my lists don't have that much variety)

5- Metroid Prime 3 (yeah i was disappointed lolz)
4- Super Metroid (the controls were a pain but the rest of the game was good. have to replay it soon. btw, does this count? if not, then put Planet Puzzle League here)
3- WarioWare Smooth Moves (i dig the series and i liked the game a lot. almost forgot about it until i replayed recently)
2- Pokemon DP (would be #1 if it wasn't for the asstacular text speed)
1- Mario Galaxy (imo it is the best 3D Mario. not so hard to beat since SM64 was a really early 3D game and SMS had some annoying crap around)

now, here's my top disappointments of the year:

1- Super Paper Mario (be it the change in gameplay or lack of magic but this game is worse than the other 2 paper marios. the second half is lacking and feels like a chore to go forward. i hope there's a paper mario 3 that is full RPG like the first 2. platforming can go to NSMB 2)
2- Metroid Prime 3 (evidence that i played few games this year)
3- Mario Party 8 (how can they ruin the framerate of a game that barely has any graphical upgrades on a more powerful system? also, they took away many things like the decathlon and stat tracking for board wins and the extra minigames blow especially since they don't pop up in regular boards.)

there's other games that didn't turn out too hot but i wasn't expecting much so they didn't really disappoint. Mario Strikers i didn't expect much of a difference. same for brain age 2.

RBY/GSC/RSE has pretty comparable speeds. DP is purposefully slow in comparison. the first few minutes i played i was getting annoyed by the slowness. due to that, i'll level up only DP-only pokes in DP and everything else will be leveled in the 3rd gen games. you can do about 2x the leveling up in any of RSE compared to DP in the same amount of time.

lol almost went all off-topic. i'll post my top 5 2007 games (i play few games so my lists don't have that much variety)

5- Metroid Prime 3 (yeah i was disappointed lolz)
4- Super Metroid (the controls were a pain but the rest of the game was good. have to replay it soon. btw, does this count? if not, then put Planet Puzzle League here)
3- WarioWare Smooth Moves (i dig the series and i liked the game a lot. almost forgot about it until i replayed recently)
2- Pokemon DP (would be #1 if it wasn't for the asstacular text speed)
1- Mario Galaxy (imo it is the best 3D Mario. not so hard to beat since SM64 was a really early 3D game and SMS had some annoying crap around)

now, here's my top disappointments of the year:

1- Super Paper Mario (be it the change in gameplay or lack of magic but this game is worse than the other 2 paper marios. the second half is lacking and feels like a chore to go forward. i hope there's a paper mario 3 that is full RPG like the first 2. platforming can go to NSMB 2)
2- Metroid Prime 3 (evidence that i played few games this year)
3- Mario Party 8 (how can they ruin the framerate of a game that barely has any graphical upgrades on a more powerful system? also, they took away many things like the decathlon and stat tracking for board wins and the extra minigames blow especially since they don't pop up in regular boards.)

there's other games that didn't turn out too hot but i wasn't expecting much so they didn't really disappoint. Mario Strikers i didn't expect much of a difference. same for brain age 2.

Toozin

2007-12-30 08:51:42 pm

Not impossible

just highly unlikely

Damnit, I forgot to mention Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Oh well.

RT-55J

2007-12-31 01:40:18 pm

Armor Guardian

Given the fact that I can only think of 3 games released in 2007 that I have played for more than an hour, making a list should be very easy.

3. Kid Icarus (VC)
2. Super Paper Mario (Wii)
1. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

arkarian

2007-12-31 05:19:25 pm

red chamber dream

Quote from PiccoloCube:

RBY/GSC/RSE has pretty comparable speeds. DP is purposefully slow in comparison. the first few minutes i played i was getting annoyed by the slowness. due to that, i'll level up only DP-only pokes in DP and everything else will be leveled in the 3rd gen games. you can do about 2x the leveling up in any of RSE compared to DP in the same amount of time.

Weird, I never found Pearl to be slow at all. I actually think the touch controls made it feel faster. Go thumb tapping.

Also, "purposefully slow"? I don't think Nintendo would have made it slower on purpose.

mikechenkeha

(user is banned)

2007-12-31 05:59:24 pm

my wii is modded.

#1 soulcaliber ledgend (wii)
#2 courruption (M-wii)
#3 portal (xbox)
#4 smack down vs raw 2k8 (M-wii)
#5 wii play (332 in charge!)

UchihaSasuke

2007-12-31 06:18:10 pm

my umbrella goes directly to Bankai

Quote from Arkarian:

Quote from PiccoloCube:

RBY/GSC/RSE has pretty comparable speeds. DP is purposefully slow in comparison. the first few minutes i played i was getting annoyed by the slowness. due to that, i'll level up only DP-only pokes in DP and everything else will be leveled in the 3rd gen games. you can do about 2x the leveling up in any of RSE compared to DP in the same amount of time.

Weird, I never found Pearl to be slow at all. I actually think the touch controls made it feel faster. Go thumb tapping.

Also, "purposefully slow"? I don't think Nintendo would have made it slower on purpose.

i think they did. it's even more glaring when you compare the pokemon appears sprite scroll (the moment since you encounter a poke until you can start choosing commands) and find out that it is faster in DP. making the menus slower is just plain lazyness (but you might not remember if you haven't played any older game for a while)

RT-55J

Edit history:

RT-55J: 2008-01-01 07:46:46 pm

2008-01-01 02:53:23 am

Armor Guardian

After having played Knytt Stories a bit, I believe I can honestly say that this world qualifies for the #1 spot on my list.

PS. If you play it, be sure to turn the volume up.

PPS. And no, it is not a screamer.