The Fifth Annual Coint and Plick Poll for Best Video Games of 2011 - Part One: 74-109

are we getting new games listed tnite?

like really this whole operation would be better off with someone creating a tumblr and me pointing the domain at it self xps

Played a chunk of Amazing Breaker last night. Biggest issue for me is the loading screen you get between hitting restart and actually getting to restart. It's probably about .4 of a second so it feels insane to complain about it, but there are so many other games these days that manage to eliminate it altogether, so it's become kind of essential for true just-one-more-go addictiveness.

Biggest issue for me was that I'm not very good at it, and I didn't find it engaging enough to get better. Which is weird - it's a game where the reward is a Big Explosion! - but when I got through each one I just went 'meh, what's the next one' (only played up to lvl 15). I probably played a little longer than I should just to see what wasn't clicking :)

What I didn't realise was that "Think Breakout with [..] a slingshot mechanism instead of a paddle" means "think Angry Birds", which I wasn't the greatest fan of (despite playing all the way through). Not sure why, something about it being in an awkward spot between arcade and turn-based gameplay. But I love Orbital so ¯\(º_o)/¯

Played a chunk of Amazing Breaker last night. Biggest issue for me is the loading screen you get between hitting restart and actually getting to restart. It's probably about .4 of a second so it feels insane to complain about it, but there are so many other games these days that manage to eliminate it altogether, so it's become kind of essential for true just-one-more-go addictiveness.

― JimD, Friday, 17 February 2012 10:53 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This was often raised as an issue by spectrum reviews in 1983. you'd have thought they'd have worked it out by now!

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#109: De Blob 2 – 360 / PS3 – 5 pts - 1 vote
Official Game Site
http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/De-Blob-2-Review-Artwork.jpg
”Who is the hot girl in de blob 2 commercial?”
Metacritic
Gametrailers
jjjusten: - My number one palate cleansing chill-out game for 2011 is a somewhat slight charmer that manages to at least bring the 360 a taste of the charm of the PS2 era Katamari stuff. INFINITELY superior to the first one, which was cute enough but cursed with the dreaded wiimote sickness and inaccuracy of play. You do have to ratchet back your pulse rate to really dig in on this one, but once you do it is full of rewards.

Was it better than De Blob? I liked De Blob for a while, but lost interest halfway through –– the controls were too annoying, and the difficulty ramped too quickly. As emil.y said elsewhere, it really sucks to die in some games, and this was one of them: the timed challenges, the lack of save options, the repeating of dumb shit and cut-scenes ... does 2 fix any of those?

^^^ This about the controls. It was super fun until the difficultly level got higher and the controls became more and more annoying to deal with.

I probably should mention that Amazing Breaker is one of my favorites of a new style of gaming that I guess you could call "intentional time wasting": it's good for commutes and waiting in offices or playing as I fall asleep and whatnot but I never felt compelled to break it out and play as relaxation. iOS games excel at this and I'm not sure how you "score" something that is diverting first, foremost and only.
I smell an essay!

In any case, would anyone argue that it ain't worth a buck?

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#109: Dungeons of Dredmor – PC / Mac – 5 pts - 1 vote
Official Game Site
http://media.techworld.com/cmsdata/products/3292694/dungeons-of-dredmor_590_3.jpg
PC Gamer Playthrough
Metacritic
Ars Technica Review
fennel cartwright: Probably the most hilariously written game on this list. Excellent roguelike gameplay.

De Blob was fun until the "flick to jump" mechanic came in. Then it was painful. wtf were they thinking :(

Dungeons of Dredmor was okay, but in a year with Binding of Isaac...

RE: C+P website, polyphonic kinda is already doing the direct posting o the poll for years past?

huh?

jamescobo you mean?

er yeah sorry i need to eat and my mind is woobly

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#109: FIFA 12 – 360 / PS3 / PC – 5 pts - 1 vote
Official Game Site
http://cdn4.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/fifa_12_screenshot_3.jpg
Metacritic
Gametrailers
oppet: I agree with most of the critical moans about this year's edition, though I did eventually come to grips with the initially frustrating new defensive controls. The single player element of this game is terrible but I've played so many great matches against my housemate that it would be churlish not to at least chuck 5 points into the pot on its behalf.

http://i44.tinypic.com/313lo4l.jpg
#109: Fisher Diver – in browser – 5 pts - 1 vote - FREE!
Official Game Site
http://cache.erstgames.com/uploads/games/pictures/VR4HZKUZEMNB.jpg
Rock Paper Shotgun
Soundtrack

http://i40.tinypic.com/vg5us8.jpg
#109: A Game About Game Literacy – in browser – 5 pts - 1 vote - FREE!
Official Game Site
http://174.120.103.90/images-freegameaccess/a-game-about-game-literacy-big.jpg
The Stranger
jjjusten: I don't really get into browser or iOS games because they all seem kinda flimsy and insubstantial to me, so maybe the reason that I dug this so much is that it spoke to me on an elemental gamer level - like we're all in on the same joke so why not just accept it? AGAGL is very very smart and very very good.

forksclovetofu: If you’re looking for a smartass, didactic way to explain the base mechanics of gaming to a non-gamer, you could do worse. I’d be curious to see this idea expanded on in more depth for an iOS game where you start with Pong and end up controlling Infinity Blade-esque characters. Non-gaming folks gotta have a starting point!

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#109: Groove Coaster – iOS – 5 pts - 1 vote
Official Game Site
http://bradnicholson.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/GrooveCoaster.jpg
Ars Technica
Metacritic
Touch Arcade Review
Jeff: Good music saves a hackneyed premise! I never thought I would play another rhythm game again (and especially not on iOS) but this one held my attention solidly for at least a week.

I can totally point cointandplick.com at the existing blog for now. Where is that at?

Is groove coaster worth the $3?

Groove Coaster is ABSOLUTELY worth a buck.
Three is more open to interp.

http://cointandplick.wordpress.com/

On a river bed, I found an old man doubled over holding his head. A woman was laid out in front of him, bloody and dead. When I stopped and walked up to him, he stood up and shakily held a gun to his own head. I ran up and pushed him. He dropped the gun and began weeping and then finally glaring at me angrily until I rode away. That’s not a video game, that’s a Cormac McCarthy short story.

re: de blob 2 - yeah the controls are 100% better because yknow buttons are for jumping, not jerking a wiimote around. note: i did not play all the way through, so it might suck in latter points, but its cheap now and a lot of non-frustrating fun so far.

Dungeons of Dredmor was okay, but in a year with Binding of Isaac...

Groove Coaster is ABSOLUTELY worth a buck.
Three is more open to interp.

Who's the cool guy who voted for Fisher Diver?

it wasn't me, but fisher diver was on my shortlist and probably would've made a ballot of 20-25 games

Fisher Diver is pretty cool!

I'm pretty sure it was me who voted for Fisher Diver. I figured it was on the list, someone else would be repping for it, but nope, just me? I thought it was a great version of that sort of game - it needs a bit of skill, but not so much that it drives a bad gamer mad, and you can grind and upgrade a bit if you are shit, and the story is a very very sweet addition to the gameplay.

(I'm unsure if you can tell, but I'm not a games journalist)

I made www.cointandplick.com a CNAME for the wordpress site for now. jamescobo are you out there? I can transfer the domain to you if the wordpress thing is going to be the home of freshly created coint and plick content like Mordy's essay going forward. Webmail me.

I LIVE~

and fortuitously enough I have been a-portin' this year's entries to the blog tonight anyway so holla at yr boy & tell me what I need to do. also whoever's making the header images for each entry, plz fix the one for Civ 5 so that I can add it.

I would be totally down for making this a repository for ILX gaming essays btw, lord knows there are plenty of times when I get the urge to make lists or erect profane strawmen in defense of random-ass games but have no outlet. how should we handle this? I can just make a gmail where folks can send their blathering missives to and then share the login info w/ a Learned Council of ILX Gaming Elders if that would be easiest.

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#109: Madden NFL 12 – 360 / PS3 – 5 pts - 1 vote
Official Game Site
http://media.operationsports.com/shots/400/16338.jpg
Metacritic
Gametrailers
tomofthenest: This was my first this-gen Madden and I liked it even if I honestly haven't played it much. Truth is that I don't really understand American football so well and the depth is lost on me. In an average game, either me or the lad will find a play that works most of the time, and the other will spend the entire game trying to find a defensive play that neutralises it whilst losing to a score better suited to cricket than the NFL. Then we repeat the other way round.

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#109: Monsters Ate My Condo – iOS – 5 pts – 1 vote
Official Game Site
http://media.edge-online.com/files/imagecache/article/articles/reviews/monsters_ate_my_condo.jpg
Eurogamer
http://www.ienticement.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Monsters-Ate-My-Condo1.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5xuHViALpo
http://www.modojo.com/media/games/monsters_ate_my_condo/ipad/18.jpg
Touch Arcade Forum Thread
http://www.maclife.com/files/u307916/2012/01/reviews/condo.jpg
DJP: Another fucking finger strain game. I am sending Apple my medical bills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5xuHViALpo
Monsters Ate My Facebook
http://assets.ilounge.com/images/reviews_games/92311/6.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuT2tI0_JBo
Metacritic
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/FCKEditorFiles//five-stars-monsters-ate-my-condo.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THfP-CgLIEE
http://www.modojo.com/media/games/monsters_ate_my_condo/ipad/18.jpg

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#109: Oh! Edo Towns – iOS – 5 pts - 1 vote
App Store Download
http://cdn.pocket-lint.com/images/CWDT/aotd-kairosoft-oh-edo-towns-0.jpg?20111109-193656
Metacritic
Touch Arcade Review

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#109: PataNoir– PC – 5 pts - 1 vote - FREE!
Official Game Site
http://indiegames.com/patanoir.jpg
KillScreen

Oh my god that KillScreen review of PataNoir is so bad

Good God, Monsters Ate My Condo looks like a psychedelic nightmare. Very tempting.

I voted for PataNoir, because I am a massive dork. It's a pretty good example of word-game based IF, and in a way I wish I'd given it more points, but I do remember being frustrated with it a few times (parser problems, necessary items easy to overlook, some descriptions not fleshed out - all in quite a minor way, this is actually a pretty polished game, but just enough intrusions to break the flow of play).

Also, I voted right at the last minute and didn't nominate, so the only text adventures I could remember were from the comp (I voted for two). I'm sure there may have been better ones released last year, I just couldn't think of them.

Oh, and yeah, ugh, people writing IF reviews in the style of IF is so ridiculously cliched and awful.

I might need monsters ate my condo I think

me too. And I don't even play games on my phone.

i think PataNoir is really good, emily -- its been a few years since I kept up with IFComp and new releases like I did in high school + college, but I remember thinking it was pretty striking, esp the entire manipulating metaphors to solve puzzles idea. Still not the best IF noir (which is actually my fave IF game: Slouching Towards Bedlam).

Oh yes, I re-played STB on your recommendation, actually. It is very good, definitely up there.

I've actually been thinking bc of Codecademy that I might write another IF game in the near future...

Only someone who isn't familiar with the NFL could vote for this year's Madden. Very fitting.