The Fifth Annual Coint and Plick Poll for Best Video Games of 2011 - Part Three: 21 - 50

Don't Take It Personally, Babe mention is a good place to point out that Christine Love has a new game out, Analogue: A Hate Story which I think is better than either of the previous two. There's not much 'game' as such again but what there is is handled better than in Digital, and the story is really good with less of the ickiness of Don't Take It Personally.

i noticed that, i will be checking it out as part of my newly-intensified Visual Novel obsession

I got so bored waiting for this poll to continue that I went and got hooked on Elephant Quest. Whoops.

PENIS

at #46?

I enjoyed Don't Take It Personally, Babe, though it's nowhere near as good as Digital. Not sure if I'll pay for Analogue, but I keep looking at it and considering..........

unlucky for me, i feel terrible today so i'm home from work.
lucky for this thread, i'm going to use this opportunity to post more results today! also, sorry for posting PENIS last night. i was wasted.

don't need an excuse for posting PENIS on an internet messageboard ime

*imo

Yes, there was a 4-way tie for #47, and now this is #42. obviously i messed something up! shocking! anyway, #42!

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#42: El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron – 360 / PS3 – 22 pts – 2 votes
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polyphonic: The problem with this game is that it's a $20 game selling at full price. But it's a great $20 game. Are you a bad enough dude to find the seven fallen angels, and stop the great flood from destroying mankind?

jjjusten: Gorgeous, frustrating, somewhat flawed. Lets talk bad first - pretty
sure that no one understands what the hell is going on here, not the
writers, not the characters, and certainly not you. The fighting is
semi-repetetive, and yeah there are platforming segments that are
cripplingly unfair given the art style. but holy shit, what an art
style. When game journos start yapping about the best looking game of
this generation 6 years in they are normally just padding out a
review, but man seriously, there isnt another game that looks like
this, its in rez territory where the first time you see it you cant
believe how good it looks, but the difference here is that its a tour
through schizophrenic art style madness, all of which are absolutely
stunning. The gameplay is totally acceptable, but what will keep you
going is the chance to just see what is around the corner, because all
of it is mind-blowing.

i'm intrigued

everyone should be, esp now that it has plummeted into the bargain basement price level.

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#41: English Country Tune – iOS, PC – 23 pts – 1 vote
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bamcquern: Increpare's magnum opus. You are a flop-flopping flat blue square in a cube universe. The game's beginning features several reimaginings of Sokoban. After a few levels, those that were mutants start to feel like new species. Travel to different nodes and interact with the local inhabitants. The Larvae are picky about gravity. You only push the Whales by their six beams of light. You visit a Japanese rock garden of shat green cubes. There is a level called Half-Sided where you are the level designer. The game comes with built-in myodesopsia.

I've waiting for a price drop to buy that, esp. b/c I have no shortage of games right now, but if it's going to hold out at $5 indefinitely then I'm gonna bite. it looks terrific & has been on my watch list since it came out more or less.

Two-way tie for #39:

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#39: Ys I & II Chronicles – PSP – 25 pts – 1 vote
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Alan N: I've been slowly playing through these and they are v. fun. definitely into the stripped-down feel of ys 1. (about 3 towns! just 5 pieces of armor!) basically a perfect diversion for a long plane ride.
first two games def have too much backtracking tho.

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#39: Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 – 360 / PS3 – 25 pts – 1 vote
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#38: Resident Evil 4 HD – 360 / PS3 – 25 pts – 1 vote - 0.33 top game votes
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Jordan: Still in the running for my favorite game of all-time, it will be at the top of the list for any year it comes out. The level design is still stunning, and I finally got to play 'Separate Ways', which was way more rich than I expected.

english country tune sounds like a fever dream wtf

thanks for doing this again ZS; I kinda hit the wall.

also whoa i was not expecting anyone to rate lego harry potter that highly - i havent played it, is it a big step upwards wrt the whole lego star wars vibe

It totally isn't. I think I complained a bit about this year's crop of Lego games on the first part of the thread but LHP5-7 was just tedious.

I thought that LHP1-4 was perhaps the best of all the lego games. Unfortunately 5-7 is just kind of dull.

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#37: Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues DLC – 360 / PS3 / PC – 25 pts – 1 vote - 1 top game vote
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Zora / Surfing at Work: Hoo, boy. I hadn't played this when the noms came out, because my play time has been really limited and I'd just started a new character when I downloaded Old World Blues. I hit level 15 on Sunday and went straight to the drive-in. Old World Blues is so good, I don't want it ever to end. I don't want to go back to the Sierra Madre, even, never mind chilly, serious old Skyrim. When you wake up in a strange place and realise someone's kidnapped you and made free with your essential organs (no, not like that, though there will be some of that sort of nonsense later), you know you're in for something a bit... different. Just how different becomes clear when you meet the floating brains with the TV screen faces, mad scientists all, but even better than that, they are *funny*. OK, so the devs have been playing Portal, and maybe watching a bit of Futurama; it's not the most original stuff in the world, but hey, this is B-movie SF played for laughs, who the hell cares? I haven't had this much fun with a game since LucasArts were top of the charts. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't played it, just go play it if you haven't already, even if you have to buy F:NV especially and grind through 15 levels to get there. Slip the slider down to Easy and have a blast.

ok i should buy that right away then. srsly considered voting for the dead mans hand (thats the one w/the sierra madre right?) because i thought it added a good load of difficulty but i dont tend to vote for add ons in these polls for no real good reason. but yeah that sounds completely amazing.

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#36: Pokémon Black and White – DS – 27 pts – 3 votes
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oppet: It's pokemon innit...you either love it or you don't. This did everything I wanted from a new pokemon game.

jamescobo: I work like 80 hours a week these days and somehow I still managed to put over a day's worth of playclock into this god damned game. HOW. WHERE DOES THE TIME GO.

Salsa Shark: In most ways it's 'just another Pokemon game', but the changes to this generation warrant it having a spot on the list. Aside from having a fairly ridiculous storyline--which can't really be picked on because that's just how Pokemon games roll--there were only a couple of things that I found disappointing. First, the regular game isn't much of a challenge; gyms rarely provided a nail-biting battle and even the Pokemon League were only really difficult the second time around during the post-game content. For me, it's a minor quibble; there are other challenges, such as in post-game content. I also found Black City to be pretty dull, and without a Pokemon White cartridge there isn't much one can really do in this place. The White version, with a Pokemon-filled forest here instead of a city, has a bit of an edge over Black.

On the plus side, being able to reuse TMs is the best development in any Pokemon game ever, and having a completely new roster of Pokemon was refreshing, especially because this time around there's a better balance of types (for example, a lack of watery expanses means there isn't a disproportionate amount of dull water types). There are still zubats and ratatas in all but name, and the addition of Pokemon that look like ice cream cones and garbage bags is a bit odd, but there are enough quality Pokemon that making a team for the League isn't a struggle.

somehow I am a "gamer" & I don't even know what Pokemon is; I thought it was a card trading game? do they make RPGs about this? I dunno it could be fun! just wondering what the deal is & figure searching for "pokemon" isn't gonna help much

one day i'll get round to playing a Pokemon game. one day. that weird Pokemon/Nobunaga's Ambition mashup game is getting a western release this summer.

backtracking a bit- Don't Take It Personally was my disappointment of the year. Not sure if my rant against it is going to show up, but I complained bitterly about it when we first discussed it on ILG. Didn't know about Analogue: A Hate Story and I'll definitely check it out. The author of these is really interesting, even if I think DTIPB was a misfire in every conceivable way.

yeah im with you mordy, although i def had a different biggest disappointment, but i think we talked abt DTIP on a different thread

DTIP is deeeeeeply creepy and strangely boring

hmmm. if emily told me that Analogue was worth buying, I'd pick it up right now but $15 for a game immediately following the DTIP travesty makes me a little gun-shy...

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#35: Tropico 4 – 360 / PS3 / PC – 28 pts – 2 votes
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Zora / Surfing at Work: Casually racist, more than casually sexist, burdened with painful, not-quite-funny writing that the voice actors just don't have the chops to rescue, Tropico 4 has nevertheless sat firmly at no. 3 on my regular play list since the day I installed it. I just love this game - now that I've turned the sound down to zero on the dialogue. The big change since Tropico 3 is that they've done away with the semi-open structure, and put in a linear narrative. It's daft as hell and the story can be safely ignored, but it does give you a sense of progression that was lacking in earlier releases. They've upped the number of random events, and introduced more complexity with the Council of Ministers (whose incompetence can get you into hot water) and more foreign powers. You're forced by the narrative's set goals to explore gameplay options I never touched before, like eliminating people using the secret police, which can feel contrived and irritating but ultimately works. With the voices off, my only GAH! moments come from the unskippable cutscenes when a tanker overturns near the island or the volcano erupts. Nobody needs to see a poorly-rendered wave picking up a boat in exactly the same way 15 times, especially not me, el Presidente.

this is good news for me, because i played the demo for tropico 4 and it seemed a little awkward wrt console controls, but i want to like it because the old skool ones were always so fun and half insane. might have to go hunt that one down this week i guess.

nothing makes a game more appealing than a description that starts with "Casually racist"

ok fair, but given that it is a wacky tropical dictator scenario that was kind of inevitable

i kind of want to start a thread about why casual racism/sexism get more of a pass in video games than in movies etc these days but i am afeared of what might happen there

I downloaded Tropico 4 the same week I got Skyrim so suffice to say I haven't played it much. It struck me as being more like an expansion of 3 than a new game.

after many years of playing WoW I think the answer is "because game developers know and understand their audience"

did you ever see the link about the competitive gaming show Capcom tried to sponsor where one of the coaches screamed at and browbeat his female team member into forfeiting her matches by shouting "RAPE HIM RAPE HIM RAPE HIM YOU FUCKING BITCH" in her ear while she tried to play

Tropico 4 doesn't seem especially racist to me by video game standards. It depicts banana republics and suffering in a cartoonish way, but it has a fairly cynical view of everyone ... the US, Russia, China; labor, government, big business; environmentalists, tourists, ... Actually I find it much more sophisticated about global affairs and politics than other political games set in modern times. It's practically The Wire of Sim City clones. Bribe government officials! Kill off dissidents! Give empty speeches to appease interest groups! Kill a cash crop to make foreign powers happy! Deemphasize education to keep your populace dumb!

ok, i'll have 3 more queued up that i'll post later tonight, and if there's a god i might post some more as i watch the cardinals game. for now, i'm going to go do anything other than sit at the computer.

i kind of want to start a thread about why casual racism/sexism get more of a pass in video games than in movies etc these days but i am afeared of what might happen there

bc most gamers are scum of the earth? (<3 all u gamers but u know it's true)

i wonder if part of it is because games are often a solo experience (though not always of course) whereas movies, at some point in their release cycle at least, are experienced collectively? in other words, because the casual racism is easier for people to swallow by themselves as opposed to in a group?

i think it's bc games are competitive experiences and competition brings out the worst in human beings

made the thread btw :Why is casual racism/sexism more accepted in video games than other forms of media (these days)?

thanks to the thread i'm checking out Digital: A Love Story.. the visual novel medium is something i've never really experienced and it seems like it has a huge potential for storytelling/gameplay/etc.

unfortunately i'm stuck, there are no new messages on the BBS and i cant figure out what else i can do

also, i'm playing around with the Ren'Py engine that the christine love games were made in so if anyone wants to write a script for ILX the game, i can program it ( :

try dialing into some other bbs's? posting messages on forum? sending PM's? Digital is a decent first visual novel but stay away plz from her second game.

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#34: Coletânea Esses Games Violentos – PC – 29 pts – 1 vote - 1 top game vote
Download and read more about it here
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bamcquern: A game presented as two sides (Lado A e Lado B) of a record. You play through each game as if they were tracks on those sides: skipping around isn't allowed. All of the games were made by children from - I believe - Porto Alegre, Brazil, with some technical assistance from Pedro Paiva. The graphics are their drawings made in pencil, pen, marker and crayon. The sound effects and the music, including a slightly bruised but still recognizable version of the Super Mario Bros. theme, are made with their voices. Most games are in the Game and Watch format, meaning that the moving parts make blocky, discrete movements and are rendered black. The different tracks feature dragon slaying, egg catching, drunk catwalk walking, machine gun shooting, and bootleg DDR playing (and more, of course).

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#33: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars – 3DS – 29 pts – 2 votes - 0.5 top game votes
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jamescobo: Arguably the best 3DS game until Mario 3D Land came along, depending on how crazy you are about Ocarina.

CraigG: So good. With the news that they were ruining XCom (before they released the news that they weren't ruining XCom) by making it a first person shooter, this provided a great little haven of turn-based combat. Unlike most, my first turn-based combat wasn't with the original XCom, but with Task Force (a random PD game) on the Amiga. While Shadow Wars lacks the details - like in-depth weapon and equipment selection, the missions are linear, and the leveling very basic - it fills that niche nicely.

thanks, whoever fixed it! :)

Two-way tie for #31:

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#31: Xenoblade Chronicles – Wii – 30 pts – 1 vote - 1 top game vote
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zappi: best JRPG in years, seriously
just does so many simple things right (save anywhere, instant travel almost everywhere, simple but fun combat system, no forcing of who is in your party, exp awarded for exploring the vast areas (which load incredibly quickly, some serious voodoo going on here), not having to return to 90% of quest givers etc etc)
negatives? it's pretty enough until models etc are close up and then things look terrible. this only really comes into play during cutscenes which are all in-engine, then the textures & low poly counts become really obvious. the english dub is very uneven, after a while it does take on a campy charm but the repetition of lines during battles can be very wearing. the story is pretty good for a JRPG but, well that's one hell of a qualifier - its a JRPG dood.

yeah blazblue was the last fighting game i had the skill, patience and time to become 'competitive' at but mvc3 is flashy and stupid enough to just have a lot of fun fucking around w/. certainly is the first fighter since blazblue that ive wanted to play more than once

i never got blazblue - will pick up that latest release sometime this year, it looks awesome, i enjoyed watching the evo streams too

ste: does the vehicle handling NOT suck in ANY GTA/alike game? i've totally accepted it now, and prefer the arcade slip of SR

no i've always enjoyed the car handling in gta.

i really wanted to like SR, it seemed like a lot of fun that GTAIV wasn't, but i just can't get over the bad car handling and also I don't really want to drive wacky looking cars either.

I like the car handling in GTA in general, but IV seemed way too realistic.

motorbikes in IV, now they were fucking annoying

Actually the thing I really didn't like about GTAIV is that as the vehicles became more damaged they would start listing to one side or another. Proper GTA = you steal a car, you ride it like a maniac until it is 1 sec from exploding, you get a new car. None of this realistic damage nonsense.

nah, San Andreas vehicles were brutal to drive with the tires popped and it added to the hilarity, pretty sure there is a crude damage implementation even in the v. first GTA

I remember playing Destruction Derby for the first time, I think it was on the Saturn. I was impressed at how the damage affected the cars driving, I loved it. the best parts of the game were in the Bowl arena when only a few cars remained driving around all battered up barely able to turn.

in fact in gta one of my favourite cars is the 'already' beaten up, wing missing, rusty thing, that you can't even get fixed in a paynspray.

i'm pretty sure i voted for SR3. i keep trying to formulate a post in the video game racism thread where i explain why i didn't find its sexism/homophobia/racism upsetting, whereas i was bothered by deus ex human revolution, but i can't quite say it the way i want to. it's something about how it's so gleefully inane that it is hard to ascribe malice to it. it's not just that it insults everyone (which ppl have pointed out is often the refuge of the racist) but that the way it insults ppl is so guileless, so silly.

ftr, my fave part of the game is Genki. have u all seen tim + eric's thing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5O9x7aL7QE

i just think that personally SR weirds me out a little too much.

it's really weird

normally, i hate Tim and Eric, but they were the perfect guys to do that video

btw, did any of you guys ever randomly run into Genki in the game, because holy shit, he's scary.

fukit. I'm a load this shit up and see if i can like it.

i liked sr3 but i didn't love it. as manic as it is its still an uglier reflection of arrested gamers attitudes to women, and that gets icky after a while. and its just pretty cheap and shoddy wrt gameplay compared to gta4, esp compared to ballad of gay tony, which was just about perfect IMHO in terms of lunatic but grounded urban sandbox.

The Fifth Annual Coint and Plick Poll for Best Video Games of 2011 - Part Four: THE TOP TWENTY

played sr3 for a few hours last night after being reminded by this thread and man, its stupid, but still one of the most fun games i played last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0C59h1nlwg

heh, nice!