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Forums - Gaming - Gamespot's Game of the Year is... (Drum Roll)

twesterm on 30 December 2007

Ultimately, it came down to Super Mario Galaxy as our top game because it is (by a narrow margin indeed) the best overall package of polish, gameplay, and presentation for what it is--a traditional but highly evolved platformer. Let's face it, this is a game that Nintendo could easily have phoned in and still sold about a zillion copies. We could've seen a game that took very few risks and more or less replicated the same old stuff we've seen in previous games. We could've seen a game that relied heavily on nostalgia value and trotting out the same old characters and reprised music tracks instead of adding in fresh and exciting new content. Traditionally, every Nintendo console has been christened with a blockbuster Mario adventure, and with every Nintendo console launch, fans everywhere are always ready and waiting to grab their copy simply because the game features their favorite video game plumber.

Hmm, I wonder what game they were hinting at?

I couldn't resist


 

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naznatips on 30 December 2007
SilentWolf said:
naznatips said:
I hate the idea of anyone giving it to CoD4. Bioshock I can tolerate, although it's given more credit for originality than it really deserves (As anyone who owns both it and System Shock 2 can tell you). CoD4 though plays EXACTLY like CoD2, but with better online multiplayer, and a really short campaign. I think they had a lot of opportunities to evolve the CoD franchise with CoD4 and didn't take any of them...

My #1 choice for GOTY if it's not SMG is Orange Box without contest. Again, I don't mind Bioshock getting it either.

I don't know naznatips, it really is just a preference thing. If I go by your post history, then you seem to like a fleshed-out singleplayer game over a fleshed-out multiplayer game, so of course you are going to prefer Biochock over CoD4.

Non of the CoD games were a very good source of a single-player game for me. They excel at multiplayer, and that is what most fans seem to have come to expect out of them.

Just so you know, for my goty, I would have to give a tie to SMG and CoD4. I liked Bioshock and the Orange Box, but the other two were more fun for me.

I do have to ask though, when you say that CoD4 plays exactly like CoD2, do you mean in terms of controls or in gameplay experiences?

Edit: Correction, my goty is a tie between the pc CoD4 and SMG.

Edit 2: And please explain your answer, thanks.


I meant in controls.  Sorry if that wasn't clear.  I would have liked to see a cover system added, as it's great in squad based shooters.  Because of that, I actually was more impressed with R6:V from a controls perspective.  As far as the actual experience goes, yeah it was epic and full of big cool explosions, but I am tired fo being fucking ordered around.  Let me take command of the squad. 

Also, how about a little less linearity and some less retarded AI?  They were like sheep going in a straight line waiting to get killed.  Yet, when it came to tossing a grenade, apparently they were all Tom Brady and Peyton Manning clones cause they dropped them between my feet from 100 yards out, and the stupid grenade indicator doesn't stand out enough for me to get out of the way on time.  



Ari_Gold on 30 December 2007

hoorray for SMG.... meh @ gamestop :P



SilentWolf on 31 December 2007
naznatips said:
SilentWolf said:
naznatips said:
I hate the idea of anyone giving it to CoD4. Bioshock I can tolerate, although it's given more credit for originality than it really deserves (As anyone who owns both it and System Shock 2 can tell you). CoD4 though plays EXACTLY like CoD2, but with better online multiplayer, and a really short campaign. I think they had a lot of opportunities to evolve the CoD franchise with CoD4 and didn't take any of them...

My #1 choice for GOTY if it's not SMG is Orange Box without contest. Again, I don't mind Bioshock getting it either.

I don't know naznatips, it really is just a preference thing. If I go by your post history, then you seem to like a fleshed-out singleplayer game over a fleshed-out multiplayer game, so of course you are going to prefer Biochock over CoD4.

Non of the CoD games were a very good source of a single-player game for me. They excel at multiplayer, and that is what most fans seem to have come to expect out of them.

Just so you know, for my goty, I would have to give a tie to SMG and CoD4. I liked Bioshock and the Orange Box, but the other two were more fun for me.

I do have to ask though, when you say that CoD4 plays exactly like CoD2, do you mean in terms of controls or in gameplay experiences?

Edit: Correction, my goty is a tie between the pc CoD4 and SMG.

Edit 2: And please explain your answer, thanks.


I meant in controls. Sorry if that wasn't clear. I would have liked to see a cover system added, as it's great in squad based shooters. Because of that, I actually was more impressed with R6:V from a controls perspective. As far as the actual experience goes, yeah it was epic and full of big cool explosions, but I am tired fo being fucking ordered around. Let me take command of the squad.

Also, how about a little less linearity and some less retarded AI? They were like sheep going in a straight line waiting to get killed. Yet, when it came to tossing a grenade, apparently they were all Tom Brady and Peyton Manning clones cause they dropped them between my feet from 100 yards out, and the stupid grenade indicator doesn't stand out enough for me to get out of the way on time.


Hmm..  Well for the first paragraph, it sounds like you simply want more control and more options.  However, I wouldn't really call CoD a squad based shooter.  Although you do often find yourself in groups, you're really a one-man army for the most part.  I do agree that perhaps it could be more fun if they added a few modes where you could take command of a squad.  Although I will say that the simplicity of the controls in modes such as Death Match make the game more fun for me, and adding more options would only help to complicate the game and take away the fun of straightforward shooting.  And personally, I am more accustomed to playing against hackers in the original CoD, where advanced/more controls tend to be beat out by a fast trigger finger.

For the second paragraph, I have no rebuttal for the your dislike of the linearity of the game.  I can't think of any downsides to having more choices on how to finish it.  You could choose to go straight through and hope that you are faster and more accurate than the enemy, or you could go around the enemy and finish with stealth. If that is what you are talking about, then I agree with you.  

I don't know so much about the AI.  They seem to not be totally stupid, and will take some cover, and can sometimes out smart you.  I think that when making most games a developer has to make a choice; do you make hundreds of enemies who are dumb as a rock(or worse), or do you make a few enemies and make them better than the player(or somewhere in the middle).  I think Infinity Ward chose a mix that was slanted more towards the large dumb army.  I guess that I would prefer to of had smaller, smarter numbers, but this mix was good enough for me.  

I agree with you about the accuracy of the enemies when throwing the grenades, and that did frustrate me a times, but the sound of the grenades and the icon were enough for me to normally avoid an explosive death. 



SilentWolf on 31 December 2007

In short, this game isn't perfect and it isn't right for everyone(I dare you to find one that is), but if we go by sales, scores by gamers, and scores by critics, CoD4 seems to be an at-least-good-enough game for many people to be considered a contender for goty. Not everyone will think this(Naznatips should be proof enough of this), but it seems that more people think the opposite. This is my opinion at least.



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SRLemmiwinks on 31 December 2007

Too bad twice as many people thought COD4 was better. Which is pretty amazing since there must be far more Wii owners to stuff that SMG ballot.



a.l.e.x59 on 31 December 2007
leo-j said:
Thank you for more ps3 bashing, and 4 of those 6 360 games are also ps3 games.

Dude, just stop. It is really getting annoying. It is not Playstation 3 bashing! It's the truth. No Playstation 3 game was chosen. They chose the Xbox 360 versions of those four games, okay? Now if you excuse me, Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, is waiting for me. I still haven't opened it yet, but I will... Soon. By the way, I like the Playstation 3 more than you do.

 



a.l.e.x59 on 31 December 2007
ShadowPro said:
Looks like Microsoft failed to deliver their monthly check.

The fact that 6 Xbox 360 games made it to the nominees, itself, may be grander than Super Mario Galaxy's GOTY award. Did Gamespot deliberately, not choose, any Playstation 3 game? I mean, Uncharted, Ratchet, and many other games, could have been in the list. Forza Motorsport 2? Come on. It's just another racer. They are all the same. That game could have been replaced with a Playstation 3 game.

TheBigFatJ on 31 December 2007
Legend11 said:
Did anyone really expect Gamespot not to give it to SMG? I would have been shocked if another game got it simply because I expect Gamespot to play things safe after what happened earlier this year. Expect no surprises or shockers from them for at least the next year.

I thought it was fresh and new, actually. I think most expected SMG to get GOTY from Gamespot because it was the best game released this year.

And it looks like consumers agree as Galaxy is on its way to being the best selling game released in 2007 (it will surpass Halo 3 in a couple of months at the current rate).

Forza Motorsport 2? Come on. It's just another racer. 

Have you played Forza 2 much?  It's easily the best racing simulation game ever released for a console, hands down.  It's unlikely anything will be released that will have more accurate physics until Forza 3 comes out. 



grandmaster192 on 31 December 2007

Mario Galaxy is vastly overrated. I don't see how the game is better than the PS3's Ratchet. There's not a single game ever made that deserves a freakin' 97%. How could that be at 97% with Ratchet only 88%?