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

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.

Only one vote for that? I'm still umming and ahhing about whether to buy it for my wii. I'm definitely on the edge, I just need to be tipped over.

doesn't play on US Wiis though, or does it / can it?

I think the domestic version came out this week

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#31: Radiant Silvergun – XBLA – 30 pts – 1 vote - 1 top game vote
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Alan N: been playing radiant silvergun for the the first time in years lately. I could never get fully behind ikaruga (too fussy) but I'm having a lot of fun with RS. they way your ship levels up as you log playtime is really satisfying.

6335: radiant silvergun is weird, i could never get the hang of it

lots of fun playing radiant silvergun this year with my girlfriend (who prefers it over ikaruga)

favorite memory would be her mockingly suggesting that i use the wimpy sword. until we realized that it becomes the HYPER SWORD and pwns all

so, I was the one that put it at the top of my list. I do love it but also barely played any new games this year and stuck it on top bc it was already an old fave.

stand by that old quote too. never got the hang of ikaruga's color swapping mechanic and that mechanic IS ikaruga. otoh, you can play radiant silvergun and try to rack up elaborate chains or you can just blow stuff up and try not to die. (this is what I do.) I like that flexibility.

Two-way tie for #29:

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#29: Dead Space 2 – 360 / PS3 – 30 pts – 3 votes
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ShariVari: Dead Space 2 is pretty much what you'd expect if you've played Dead Space. It's good but doesn't seem as engaging or atmospheric as the first one did. Worth having though.

bnw: more of the same. kind of like this year's Bioshock 2. unnecessary and running out of juice.

despite some issues, I really enjoyed dead space. but my favorite thing about it was easily the atmosphere/sound design. cranking up the action was v much not what I wanted from the sequel. still worth playing?

witcher 2 and el shaddai now on my radar, thanx ilg. gotta play jamestown one of these days too.

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#29: Grand Prix Story – iOS – 30 pts – 3 votes
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Woof: God I wish I could stop playing these kairosoft games. I like the ones
where you manage the little people then compete (this, Game Dev
Story), not the ones where you plan buildings then manage the little
people (Pocket Academy, Mall Story). Yelling at tiny incompetent
mechanics, that's my idea of fun.

Kingfish: Grand Prix Story actually has you watch your guys race around in the cars that you do the stat increases on. Other than that, same sorta dynamic. Different that Hot Springs or Academy, tho, and more like Game Dev, since you're working on improving a product over time that goes into competition, rather than laying out landscape tiles harmoniously.

dead space 2 was a 'more of the same' type of sequel for sure but at least in the most positive way – ie tightened up and expanded without losing any of the appeal or strengths of the original. i will repeat what I said about the first one tho, if you play on normal it’s a novelty scifi shooty game, but if you play on hard it is an awesome survival horror scifi game

cool. I'll prob pick it up if I see it for ten bucks or so.

that quote of mine upthread about the spirit of '97 is actually about the witcher 1, but it probably applies as well to 2 even if i haven't played it. the first game wasn't very ambitious and in retrospect i went kinda overboard w/ it but it was solid and twisty and full of interlocking stuff to do and did not have cutscenes every two minutes and gave you a real RPG sense of having semideliberately sculpted a character and i experienced it partially as just a plenty-good-enough fallout/planescape nostalgia trip. people complained about the combat (in witcher 2 as well i think?) but honestly it hits exactly what it's aiming for, which is to be just one notch more demanding than diablo. there were things about the universe i dug, too. will play the second one at some point; i am its target market.

witcher 1 just got ported to mac os x, too, so i will finally play it... sometime. hooray for steamplay!

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#28: Mario Kart 7 – 3DS – 30 pts – 4 votes
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Salsa Shark: In most ways it's 'just another Mario Kart game', but there are a few additions that make it worthy of the list: new items, better kart customisation, innovative ideas on some of the tracks, etc. On the downside, this doesn't really get difficult until 150cc, but between 150cc and the online multiplayer, challenges can be found in the game, so it keeps it fun for a variety of player skill levels.

CraigG: Mario Kart in 3D with online play. About damned time. I really feel like Nintendo is on the cusp of having a workable online system, and this really shows how far they've come. Not a huge change in gameplay, but considering I still power through at least one of the old Mario Kart games every 6 months, a new one is always welcome. It would have rated higher, but it is still a little too iterative.

looking forward to witcher 2 360, hopefully.

^^ some footage surfaced today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAn1qFbxcTk

I will rep MK7 forever if only because they did away with snaking so it is now possible to play online (provided you don't end up in Maka Wuhu or w/e over and over)