Coint and Plick 2014 - The Seventh Annual ILX Video Game Poll

^ yeah this exactly, ilthe game dynamics actually require the character design to be that way, it's not just aesthetic laziness.

#66: Animal Crossing: New Leaf – 3DS – 10 pts – 1 votes - 1 top game votes

http://i.imgur.com/RT3jv0t.jpg

Website | Metacritic | Guardian | Toronto Sun | Wikia | Trailer

Same as most Nintendo stuff these days, this is just the same game again except a bit better. In the past though I've always played solo and the fun has come from sending rude notes to cute bunnies. What made it great this time was playing it as a proper family game, we had two parents and a child all living in the same village, working towards shared goals, competing in bug hunts or fishing tournaments, comparing furniture collections. One letter I got from our little lad was so amazingly cute that it wasn't just a favourite gaming moment ever, it was probably a favourite parenting moment. So yeah, my game of the year. - JimD.

hi will m i also w0rk for a vg gjbdfgjdbf;gkjd i am terrified to post this

i rly need a new username but i've branded this one so well!!

hahahahaha WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO US

many xposts, but do ppl on here play fallen london???

― cardamon, Friday, February 21, 2014 1:34 AM (14 hours ago)

It's been included in the poll a couple of times. I think most people got bored of it, though, but I still play it sporadically.

for me i see no real separation between hotline miami and retro city rampage in pure ugliness, in fact i could have included retro city rampage in the same rant - again, part of my ire for hotline is that it just straight up should NEVER have been ported to console, its basically unplayable imo. or i suck. or both.

wrt thomas was alone, the minute i saw "minimalist design" and "narrator" i knew it was not a game for me, as the worlds biggest hater of that super narrated thing from last year that i have apparently blocked from my memory. so, the biggest and only draw of a game is the awesome (hint: probably not awesome) narrator? well make a fucking text adventure then.

you did include it, i just got rid of it. sorry!

retro city rampage is purely directed homage/reference/Family Guy-style 8-bit ugliness, won't argue for that one, it is what it is

hotline miami though is this delicious stew, everything from the grotesquely detailed bloody pixel animations and the weird intense music and the saturated colors, it's all quite deliberate and artful, if often ugly. side note: i wonder the creators were into skateboarding as kids, the aesthetic definitely reminds me of that era

bastion, that was the one from last year i hated. wise old narrator bullshit blahhhhh

like portal i guess has a narrator of sorts, but its done right, nearly everyone else gets it horrendously wrong, i get the feeling that the stanley parable might do it pretty well but my mac is the equivalent of a treadle driven sewing machine at this point so i will never actually know.

holy shit even refurbed Macs are expensive, what the hell

stanley parable narrator is okay, just barely this side of not embarrassing

I liked Thomas Was Alone just due to the contrast between the stripped-down design vs the lives all these blocks were living, as imparted by the narrator.

apparently i own thomas was alone from some past humble bundle so i will play it now

still hoping Steam Machines will come through decently I can still keep Mac'in away, but thankfully 90% of these higher profile indie games go Mac now. i think Stanley Parable is planned, and Antichamber just got ported for Humble Bundle, I see

i should try Thomas Was Alone, too

stanley parable definitely already ported. i have it on steam + have played it on my mac

yeah stanley isn't "about" the narrator like other games of the ilk are "about" it -- at least not all the time. it has a lot more surprises packed in it.

oh nice, i didn't realize. come on HIB 12!

Hotline Miami had some kind of narrative thing going on but 90% of the game is in the gameplay, which is fast and viscous yet at the same time not unlike figuring out a puzzle.

sorry if i am coming off as a hater in this thread, not trying to be a dick i just have my own hangups i guess abt game design

I think the core of your point is completely correct. We're just never going to agree which nostalgic games are the terrible ones.

NES emulation proves that you can't go home again.

but SNES emulation + N64 emulation are fantastic

hotline miami is basically unplayable with a gamepad, though, so the critique makes sense.

the game doesn't actually play anything like a(ny) NES game though. it doesn't look like a gamepad was in mind for that all, and they shoehorned it in

NES emulation is great for the great games, just like any other system

This discussion is making me want to try out the game just so I can pick a side

cardamon i still play fallen london every day and i have for about a year now

i really don't know why anymore

Noooooooo I have just realized I committed a terrible error on my ballot by not realizing that a particular game came out in January fuck

If it hasn't showed up yet i can adjust

Haha well it's me so of course it hasn't showed up "yet"

Message sent, ignore if it's a pain in the ass

you can always revote for it next year

Oh that was unclear, didn't realize something came out in jan 2013

If it came out in January 2013 there isn't a problem.

No no, it came out in 1/13 and I failed to vote for it, hence the problem

Aaaaaaaah. I thought you were saying you voted for something that wasn't eligible. Late night comprehension is poor.

I BEAT HOTLINE MIAMI ON A PS VITA IT ISNT SO BAD ON DUAL STICKS

oh damn, that is legit impressive. i figured that doing it with a touchpad instead of mouse was a pain in the ass, but can't imagine.

Yeah i was convinced mouse+keys is the only way to play but I imagine dual analog sticks working pretty well.

I played Retro City for a minute, it was sort of fun, but Hotline Miami is leaps and bounds above and would've made a great game even with top of the line graphics. RCR not so much.

Yeah, Retro City Rampage was so disappointing

alas my vote change is not meant to be because it would bone up the ranking numbers. poly if you just want to post it as a nonplacer with a picture of me all sadfaced next to it, or i can do the same when the time comes, i would hate for people to miss out on that blurb (not mine, the one i sent you). or i can just talk about it in the post rollout.

Sorry, busy morning here. I'll try to get some new ones up this afternoon.

u soulless monstar

it is still technically afternoon where i live just sayin

It's nearly bedtime where I live, ya dawdlers.

#65: Pokemon X & Y - 3DS - 10 pts - 2 votes

http://i.imgur.com/o0IraCl.jpg

Website | Metacritic X | Metacritic Y | Eurogamer | Polygon | Trailer

I've been playing for about a week now. The new graphics are nice but I don't think it's a huuuuuuge step up from Black/White.

Random things I like about this game: Hawlucha, Restaurant Le Yeah's triple battles (it made it so easy to get my team levelled up between the 30s/40s without grinding), the storyline giving you a few really decent Pokemon in the first half of the game, new moves, new 'fairy' type, being able to see distribution of EVs, Pikachu's voice acting

Dislikes: only Pikachu gets voice acting, poor camera angling and lack of any on-screen map when in lumiose city, 'horde battles', that some of the ppl who challenge you to battles are a bit freaky/zombie-like in their 2D drawings, too many challengers with fighting types, two dimensional Stunfisk. - salsa shark

#64: Fish Out of Water! - iOS - 11 pts - 1 votes

http://i.imgur.com/BU0Gbzz.jpg

Website | Metacritic | 148 Apps | App Smile | Trailer

Fish Out of Water is easy to dismiss. You pick up a fish, you throw it. That’s it. It bounces off the water, and eventually falls in. The crabs hold up cards with scores, you feel like you failed to throw the fish well. But, amazingly, you do learn that there are right and wrong ways to throw fish. And then this stupid game becomes very intricate with a whole bunch of depth. - s.clover

yay an 11-pointer!