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

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

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

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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

#67 (tie): Fez – PC/Mac/Linux – 10 pts – 1 votes

http://i.imgur.com/TWfP4tO.gif

Website | Metacritic | Action Trip | Hooked Gamers | Fish Quits | Trailer

fez

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

I love this game so much! - Some people

I hate this game so much! - Others

lol, very honest quotes there

hahahaha

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

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

Website | Metacritic | Arcade Sushi | Touch Arcade | Trailer

anyone interested in board games would do well to check out Agricola. It's $6.99 and well worth it. I've played the real life version a few times and they did a very good job with the conversion to iOS. it's probably best on a iPad but i just have an iPhone and it still works well.

for those who haven't played Agricola irl, it's a european-style board game (decent learning curve, strategic resource gathering decisions, you're looking for the most victory points at the end, etc) that has been near the top of boardgamegeek's list of greatest games for years now. it's a lot of fun! - Karl Malone

looks very cool

i am some people, but i played it last year so i didnt vote for it this time around wrt fez

i played fez for the first time this year but i got bored pretty quickly and did not vote for it

sheesh, whoever is playing the irl version in that screenshot is WAILING

I bought Agricola on the strength of that quote but haven't played it yet but dammit I will one of these days

i will pimp for sticking with fez for a while mordy, its much much more than the initial feel once you start digging. never finished it because distracted by shiny new ps3 but loved everything about it

I beat Fez (although not the postgame crypogram stuff). It didn't take that long and was pretty satisfying. On the other hand, the navigation system in the game is really poorly designed so I can understand why people get annoyed and quit. Especially since the game is all navigation/discovery rather than fast twitch interaction.

yeah, just not 'gamey' enough for me i guess. i got up to a point where i could go to a whole bunch of different islands but i couldn't really figure out what to do in them or where was the best place to go next and i fell into myst malaise. but since i'm no longer buying video games for a while maybe i'll go back to it.

the navigation system in the game is really poorly designed so I can understand why people get annoyed and quit. Especially since the game is all navigation/discovery rather than fast twitch interaction.

i got up to a point where i could go to a whole bunch of different islands but i couldn't really figure out what to do in them or where was the best place to go next and i fell into myst malaise.

^yep, this was my experience

when i was a kid i would have methodically explored every last cranny, then made a giant homemade map on notebook paper and designed the fastest way to get all the pieces, etc. but in 2013 i just turned off the system and did a logroll out of the room, forgot about it forever

and i want everyone to know that i did the logroll out of the room through a normal sized door - visualize THAT

anyone else remember trying to map the underground maze puzzle in the original Zork where you have to drop leaves to track rooms and there was no logic to where different directions led?

Is _Hotline Miami_ based on an oldish (90s, I guess) game?
It looks really familiar, but I have no idea what the game it reminds me of is. Definitely top-down view and ultraviolent. With pretty smooth animations, as I recall it. Not sure if Amiga or PC. Probably PC.

Will be fun to follow this thread, since though I was a big gamer in the 90s, I know virtually nothing of the games of the past decade, barring general cultural osmosis (vague idea what Minecraft and WoW are like; have tried GTA Vice City, Half-Life 2 and Angry Birds)
My main gaming enthusiasm was adventure games ala Monkey Island. I've been told those have made something of a comeback, so I'll be interested to see what may pop up. A co-worker suggested _Machinarium_, but that didn't look particularly appealing.

I really like the way you're presenting everything, polyphonic, and really appreciate all the links.

i assume kentucky route zero will show up (re adventure game revival), and the fables game already placed in honorable mention. last year's walking dead was hugely popular (i loved it) and it had a standalone game come out this year as well as the beginning of season 2. if you're into that kind of stuff, telltale is doing a lot of it.

hahaha be careful which walking dead game you get, there was also a universally hated shooter that came out last year based on the show

I thought Fez was even older than last year....

My main gaming enthusiasm was adventure games ala Monkey Island. I've been told those have made something of a comeback, so I'll be interested to see what may pop up. A co-worker suggested _Machinarium_, but that didn't look particularly appealing.

There are some of these, and I should have at least a couple of recommendations, but I am very tired and my brain has gone blank. Though I did play the demo of Machinarium and really liked it, so maybe you wouldn't go for any of the things I'm into either?

oh yeah, i haven't played it yet, but Broken Age came out this year too. don't know how likely it is to place (esp since as i understand it it's not actually complete)

(broken age was made by tim schafer who co-designed monkey island)

the new wave of point and click games have refined the process so you don't have to point or click, just stare at hours of cut scenes