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

lol at 6 point trickery, i suggest a interval of 5 rule for the future to make this less complicated

hey hey, don't kill that ILX charm

#94: Knights of Pen and Paper + 1 Edition – iOS/Android/PC – 8 pts

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

Website | Metacritic | Rock Paper Shotgun | Edge | Tips & Cheats | Trailer

Pen & paper is really fun, if a bit short. i blew through the main storyline (although they're supposed to be releasing new ones) and now its all postgame grind.

That said, this is like an early FF style rpg. lots of classes, characters, different team builds with each class really different and skills for tanking, etc. So probably a lot of replay there if you're into playing with that stuff. - s.clover

Knights of Pen and Paper is funny, charming. Definitely worth it if you like throwback RPGs like Breath of Death, and Guadia Quest, but the gameplay has got some nice little hooks. - Nhex

how would we distribute 100 pts with a real sense of scale without small intervals?

Like what's the recommended "default" way to split up the points in a decreasing way?

I did 20, 13,12..7, 5 5.

When we get to the ten pointers I think you'll see a good counterargument for only using intervals of five.

fine fine

#93: Time Surfer – iOS/Android – 9 pts

http://i.imgur.com/qcDoRKG.gif

Website | Metacritic | Pocket Gamer | Droid Life | Original Soundtrack | Trailer

Have you played Tiny Wings? If so, Time Surfer will feel very familiar, but in a good way. Like its inspiration, Time Surfer has you control a character by making him dive into a landscape of rolling hills. Dive onto a downward slope, and your surfer gains momentum, soaring higher and farther to a better score. Mess up, and you slow down, which leads to your inevitable death. Time Surfer does just about everything Tiny Wings does, but it adds a great new idea to the equation: time control. - Chris Reed, Slide to Play

Tiny Wings but not peaceful. Except for the peaceful mode. And not hellish. Except for the hell mode. The big win isn't more modes though, or even more... things. The win is more missions. You grind tiny birds until you can master even the trickiest mission, because you can't skip, and you can't move any way but forward. Except I can't beat some missions, and so I got stuck. With Time Surfer there's the same mechanic, but always something new to try. - s.clover

nice gif!

poly are you gif building?

I cut that out of the trailer and added the overlay. Nothing too fancy.

these last few games are a total world of mystery to me

this is what happens when the only mobile games you play are 5 iron solitaire or whatever and that goddamn simpsons game

knights of pen and paper is loads of fun for a few hours but it eventually proves not to have much of an endgame. it's more like a mechanic demo. totally worth a few bucks though

#67 (tie): Solforge – iOS/PC – 10 pts – 1 votes

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

Website | Steam | Steam First | Multani Gamer | Trailer

The core game of SolForge pits two 30-card decks against one another in a race to do 100 damage to the opponent. The player that goes first draws five cards off the top of their deck, then plays one card before discarding the rest. The next player draws five cards, then plays two before discarding. From this point on each player's turn consists of a draw of five cards, the playing of two, and a discarding of the remainder. Every four hands, players shuffle their discard pile back into their deck and continue the cycle of draw, play, discard until one player's life total falls to zero.

Cards are split into three varieties: creature, structure, and spell. Creature cards permanently summon a creature to one of five lanes on the battlefield and are the primary form of attack. Structures behave similarly to creature cards, with their function generally being to bolster the player's creature or hinder the opponent's creature occupying the same lane. Spell cards are one-off effects that may impact one or more cards on the battlefield.

The five-lane structure of SolForge makes creature positioning just as important as deck composition and card selection. Each turn, once they are able, creatures will attack the creature opposite them in the lane or the other player directly if the lane is clear. Unlike most Trading Card Games (TCG's) and DCG's, creatures attack on both the player's turn and the opponent's turn, making dramatic swings in momentum a significant probability. - Giant Bomb

Really into Solforge - Gravel

that time surfer gif is hypnotic

67, holy shit

oh ha i begin to see your point

how did we go from #93 to #67?

a lot of ties

I was thinking there can't be 23 in a dead heat? Surely not.

26 even

There always is.

i suspect defaulting to a ranked ballot instead of 10 pts 10 ways would probably help with this phenom.

#67 (tie): TownCraft – iOS – 10 pts – 1 votes

http://i.imgur.com/Gb5kDfp.jpg

| | | |

In an isometric medieval world, your chosen avatar starts with nothing. Taught to harvest sticks and stones from the nearby area, you are shown how to use rudimentary tools in order to obtain more useful resources, which can then be made into more useful objects- and the cycle continues as your crafting projects become bigger and bigger. - Lee Garbutt, God is a Geek

make tools! mine resources! build things! but no creepers, no violence. - Euler

Website | Metacritic | Thunderbolt | Cult of Mac | Trailer

#67 (tie): Hotline Miami – PS3/Vita/Mac/Linux – 10 pts – 1 votes

http://i.imgur.com/sy7YvKg.jpg

Website | Metacritic | Darkstation | Game Planet | Soundtrack | Trailer

Coint and Plick 2013 - The Sixth Annual ILX Video Game Poll

oh man, hotline miami is awesome. - Mordy

Ok now that I got it for free, and have spent 30 minutes on it, someone please explain to me why hotline Miami isn't completely unfun and horrible garbage. - jjjusten

sticking with that blurb 1000%

I can understand not liking the graphics but I love how that game plays. It's very tense and fun imo.

yeah, very classic arcade'y gameplay. i loved stringing together big combos.

best to think of it amazing twitch kill-puzzle plan-your-movement game, not a reflex game

idk man, got to first real level, played it, died 15 times over (which i largely blame on the implementation of gamepad + idk me sucking at it) deleted it from the hard drive.

everyone sucks at it at first! also, i have to wonder how that game is remotely playable w/controller - you need the mouse precision aiming. you might be better off trying it on PC/Mac

i played it through on vita and i found that the dual sticks worked ok, liked it as a bite-sized handheld game

i've developed so much more patience for "difficult" games as-of-late. i don't think hotline miami would've appealed to me even 5-6 years ago but it was crunchy + actually felt really responsive + slick to me. i played probably 70% of it w/ keyboard + trackpad and maybe 30% was hard enough that i needed the extra agility that the mouse provided.

speaking to the aesthetics - the extreme violence kinda wasn't my bag (i always felt vaguely uncomfortable playing it) but the washed-out lsd neon 80s look appealed to me

What kind of game would you guys like next

maverick bird

How is Hotline Miami so far down the list!? I should have voted, that game was easily in my top 5! You're supposed to die a million times, it's like Super Meat Boy in that respect. I loved the music, too.

Yeah that was my vote so I should defend it. Hated the PC controls actually, had the exact same experience as jjj originally and didn't play any further until the Vita version came along. Loved it on there though, because yep, most of the twitchy stuff can be avoided with planning anyway. And it's a game that expects you to fail lots, but the restarts are super fast so that doesn't stop it being fun.

What I liked most though was the 8-bit look and feel. Like, there were loads of ZX Spectrum games which in my memory were just like this (even though in reality they were turgid and clunky where this is fast and smooth). So most of my vote is just for well-nailed nostalgia.

xp bc only non-pc players could vote for it this year. it placed higher last year.

huh, i thought i was the only vote for it

Jim has the only vote for it in my inbox.

i guess it just missed my ballot. or maybe i figured since it placed last year it already got kudos... anyway great game

I voted for HM last year. I think I might have been the sole vote, at which point I chastized you all for not playing it

the nostalgia/80s angle is a factor - one thing I love is that no actual games could have looked/sounded/played like this back then, it uses modern tech with the "old" aesthetic to do something unique

i think i also voted for it last year, i don't like voting for games 2y in a row :/

Ah, I see. I didn't realize the PC version came out last year. I played it on PC.

#67 (tie): Impossible Road – iOS – 10 pts – 1 votes

http://i.imgur.com/QnFl4gn.jpg

Metacritic | Touch Arcade | Eurogamer | 242 Points | Trailer

An endless roller. How many gates can you roll through?! - polyphonic

that reminds me that i played a bunch of giant boulder of death this year then got bored real quick. totally forgot about it by the time c+p rolled (ahem) around.

MOAR MOAR MOAR MOAR

mini-wrap up:

Honorable Mentions:
Black Crown Project – Browser – http://blackcrownproject.com/
Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep DLC – PS3/X360/PC/Mac – http://www.borderlands2.com/dragonkeep
Doki-Doki Universe – PS3/PS4 – http://us.playstation.com/ps4/games/doki-doki-universe-ps4.html
Fiz: The Brewery Management Game – iOS/Android – http://brewfiz.com/
flower – PS4/Vita – http://us.playstation.com/ps4/games/flower-ps4.html
Guacamelee! (including Gold Edition) – PS3/PS4/Vita/Xbone/PC – http://guacamelee.com/
League of Legends – PC/Mac beta – http://na.leagueoflegends.com/
Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut – PS3/Vita – http://www.lonesurvivor.co.uk/
NES Remix – WiiU – 5 pts – http://nesremix.nintendo.com/
People – Browser – http://www.dangerouspixel.com/people.html
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies – 3DS – http://www.ace-attorney.com/
Poker Night 2 – PS3/X360/PC/Mac/iOS – http://www.telltalegames.com/pokernight2
Quadropus Rampage – iOS/Android – http://www.butterscotch-shenanigans.com/p/quadropus-rampage.html
Resogun – PS4 – http://us.playstation.com/ps4/games/resogun-ps4.html
Rymdkapsel – iOS/Android/Vita – http://rymdkapsel.com/
The Swapper – PC – http://facepalmgames.com/the-swapper
The Wolf Among Us: Episode 1 - Faith – PS3/X360/Vita/PC/Mac/iOS – http://www.telltalegames.com/thewolfamongus/episodes/1
Type:Rider – iOS/Android/PC – http://www.bulkypix.com/game/typerider
Ultra Business Tycoon III – Browser – http://aliendovecote.com/uploads/twine/tycoon/crime.html
Year Walk – iOS/PC – http://simogo.com/games/yearwalk

#95: SteamWorld Dig – 3DS/PC - http://steamworldgames.com/
#94: Knights of Pen and Paper + 1 Edition – iOS/Android/PC – http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/knights-of-pen-and-paper-1-edition
#93: Time Surfer – iOS/Android – http://www.timesurfergame.com/
#67 (tie): Solforge – iOS/PC – http://solforgegame.com/
#67 (tie): TownCraft – iOS – http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/www.towncraftgame.com
#67 (tie): Hotline Miami – PS3/Vita/Mac/Linux – http://hotlinemiami.com/
#67 (tie): Impossible Road – iOS – http://toucharcade.com/2013/07/02/impossible-road-review