Post by Uesugi-dono on Dec 10, 2017 15:01:30 GMT
2006
Yakuza
- The reigning champ of 2006 helped guide me out of a dark place where gaming was not tolerated. (Never date someone who does this. It is just not healthy.) Yakuza (Ryu ga Gotoku) will always have a special place in my heart for its role in bringing me back to gaming and helping me struggle through a very depressing place. Leaping into the role of Kazuma Kiryu I got to immerse in one of the most fantastic representations of urban Tokyo that exists. Although to take Yakuza literally you'd think Japan was the most hostile place on Earth! I ended up playing through Yakuza twice; a rarity for a game of its considerable length, and I may well just do it again if and when I get Yakuza: Kiwami. Without a doubt Yakuza was Uesugi-dono's Game of the Year 2006.
2007
Assassin's Creed
- Although I didn't get Assassin's Creed on launch once I did delve into it what I found was a world like no other. This was historical tourism at its best; I absolutely LOVED walking the streets of Jerusalem, climbing the towers of Acre... sometimes I just sat on a bench in Jerusalem and just watched the people go by. I did that in a video game. That blew my mind. AC was revolutionary in more ways than one. Not only was the immersion incredible but just the ways to move and execute your objectives were just amazing. Although later sequels would far surpass this original entry they will never be able to take away the sense of wonder that this game inspired. To this day I find myself longing to play it again; just to people watch in Jerusalem.
2008
Valkyria Chronicles
- 2008 was a pretty big year for me. I had joined Gamespot, started a blog and, for the first time, the Game of the Year wasn't immediately obvious. This year was a four-way contest between 4 compelling games. On one hand the majority of my time was poured in to Nobunaga's Ambition: Rise to Power, but it eventually fell to the splendor of others. Then the biggest dog in the race was also the naughtiest... Naughty Dog's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. How could any game top this graphical masterpiece? Well, with an awesome story and incredible immersion, that's how. You see I had just finished my second play through of Yakuza when Yakuza 2 was released so I moved seamlessly from one engrossing crime drama to another... and Y2 did not disappoint. A high point in the series, Y2 took the action to Osaka, close to where my wife was from. Now I could readily recognize places that I had visited. Despite all of these fantastic games, however, one game showed up and not only revolutionized strategy games but it did so in such a manner as to end any of the negative talk about games not being Art. Valkyria Chronicles is one of my favorite games of all time. With a heart-rending adult tale of war, VC not only played well it really invested the gamer in the story. VC is one of those games that has a passionate, cult-like following... and for a good reason. While the series still continues in Japan the only sequel we got stateside was the excellent VC2 on the PSP; a great game in-and-of itself but one that stepped down for the solid R of the original to a PG 13 rating. I will, without a doubt, rebuy Valkyria Chronicles when its remastered version hits the PS4... and you should too.
2009
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
- 2009 was a good year for gaming overall and the clear leader for the year was the incredible Red Faction: Guerilla. The destruction in that game was so impressive that I joined the call of thousands of other gamers that more games be released including its GeoMod 2.0 engine. I was just about certain that RF was going to take the year... until October. Uncharted 2 is unquestionably the series' Empire Strikes Back. In every way conceivable it brought the Uncharted series forward and it remains, to this day, many peoples' favorite game... both in the series and overall. By this point the name "Naughty Dog" became synonymous with quality, both in story-telling and in craft. Even though U2 was the 'safe' pick for GOTY; one aped by publications everywhere, it richly deserved the award; even when stacked against the immeasurable powerhouse that was Assassin's Creed 2, which practically reinvented its predecessor. While AC2 gave us Ezio and a completely made over and improved Assassin's Creed Uncharted 2 gave us consistency and advancement all stacked on a Hollywood style story. Looking back I might declare a tie between these two but, as it stood in 2009, Uncharted 2 took the crown.
2010
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Assbro)
- 2010 was probably the best year of gaming in the last 10 years overall. The launch of Red Dead Redemption was especially epic since it remains to this day one of the best games ever released. This was also the year that saw Bayonetta, Mass Effect 2, Heavy Rain, Dante's Inferno, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Yakuza 3, Street Fighter IV, God of War 3, Nier, Alpha Protocol, MGS Peace Walker, Mafia 2, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Vanquish, Valkyria Chronicles 2, and Persona 3 for the PSP all came out. There were so many heavy-hitters; all such fantastic games that making a decision was next to impossible. Most publications were choosing RDR, and it well-deserved it, but for me Assbro (as I lovingly call it) was more than just a game; it was the game. The game that wrapped up the entire AC series. By the time the final DLC came out, Bonfire of the Vanities, it left the series on such a perfect ending note that I didn't even want the series to continue. Assbro's additions to the gameplay were incredible, such that Ezio truly felt like a master... a striking evolution from the literal baby he started out as in AC2. Although it pained me not to reward RDR the title, in 2010 the game that stood out the most was Brotherhood. It was close, but Assbro deserved it.
2011
Skyrim
- Even now I long for Skyrim. Much has been said about my ability to immerse in games and create my own tales in my head. I do have a vivid imagination and Skyrim allowed me to unleash it completely. For the better part of 2012 I blogged about the adventures of Thorgrym, my Nord, and I persuaded more than one person who had passed on The Elder Scrolls V to give it a try. This was not always a success as Skyrim is like the cave in The Empire Strikes Back; it contains only what you bring with you! Sticking to the quest lines is often the most boring path in Skyrim, rather this open world playground is precisely that; a place to tell your own story. For that reason it handily defeated such great games as Yakuza 4, Mortal Kombat, SOCOM 4, Catherine, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Uncharted 3, and Batman Arkham City which was its most direct competition. With over 400 hours in this game Skyrim reigns supreme as the game I've played the most, in fact I even built a powerful beast of a PC around my desire to play more Skyrim. (And I will once I reinstall all 100 + mods I was running before the game critically crashed.) Skyrim is definitely the elephant in the room. It may not be the best in most categories but when it was put all together it offered a level of immersion and fun not mastered by any other game.
2012
Binary Domain
- 2012 ended up being a Year of the Underdog. While most publications and people named critically acclaimed greats like Journey, Sleeping Dogs, and The Walking Dead I found myself lost in an obscure cover-based shooter by the master storytellers behind the Yakuza series. Binary Domain had to work hard to convince me, but in the end it did just that. I stayed engrossed from start to finish and I loved the cyberpunk world and the characters that lived in it. It was a solid shooter, reminiscent of the excellent Vanquish the year before. There were other great games this year including Capcom's great standout Dragon's Dogma and the near-perfect XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but I was proud to give my award to the underappreciated gem from SEGA, despite the excellent Far Cry 3, which was a direct runner up. Most people this year lauded Dishonored but I felt like its steampunk setting and weak illusion of choice paled next to the orchestrated brilliance of BD. I may be the only blogger on Earth who picked it, but Binary Domain was (and would remain) my GOTY for 2012.
2013
The Last of Us
- After my unconventional choice the year before I admit there were a few respondents who were disappointed that my choice in 2013 aligned with the mainstream when I picked The Last of Us as my GOTY. The fact is TLOU deserved it. Naughty Dog, long the architect of great cinema-quality stories outdid their selves with this post-apocalyptic masterpiece. The culmination of the "Daddening of Video Games," The Last of Us seemed to come out at just the perfect moment in history. Despite some of the silly hate it got from feminists (Ellie totally got to save Joel so your argument that she existed only for Joel to save is invalid) it was universally adored by fans all over the world. There were other great games this year: DmC: Devil May Cry was an unappreciated reboot of an excellent forbearer, Ni no Kuni set anime fans alight, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon amused 80s fans, and Tomb Raider stunned us all with its new survivalist approach to Lara, but despite those and many other great titles none of them could even approach the storytelling and drama of The Last of Us. While Assassin's Creed returned triumphantly with Black Flag (and sold me a PS4 in the process) and I even gave some thought to trolling all the haters with a nod to Aliens: Colonial Marines, but to deny the impact that The Last of Us had would have felt disingenuous. There was a few tear-jerker games out there, mostly at the end... TLOU is the only game that had me crying at the beginning.
2014
Shadow of Mordor
- "Revolutionary" is an overused word nowadays. Much like "Awesome" people throw around "Revolutionary" so much that it almost loses its meaning. Not so with Shadow of Mordor. The Nemesis System of creating unique enemies out of nameless fodder was a masterpiece. While games like Far Cry 4, Alien: Isolation, Destiny, Dark Souls II, Dragon Age Inquisition, and The Wolf Among Us deserve the lavish praise they received for me it was never even a contest. Shadow of Mordor did virtually everything right and it did it in such a way that I and many others would like to see the Nemesis System, or something like it, appear in most new games. This year also saw some notable bungling such as the Watch Dogs graphics fiasco and the AC: Unity disappointment. Failures like that just made the single-player only Shadow of Mordor look that much better. While SoM did have a rather disappointing ending, setting it up for an altogether unnecessary sequel, it did not taint the game overall. In fact if they were to repackage a Director's Cut with a more appropriate ending I would buy it all over again.
2015
HELLDIVERS
- And that brings us up to present with my most controversial pick ever. I guarantee you that I am the only blogger to pick Arrowhead's twin-stick shooter HELLDIVERS as my game of the year but it totally earned it. Yes, even against giants like The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, and Metal Gear Solid V HELLDIVERS stands out as the most fun, the most compelling, and the hardest game to put down. It doesn't have the graphics, it doesn't have the story, but what HELLDIVERS does have it has in spades. HELLDIVERS stands as the single greatest multi-player game in human history; a statement so bold that I had to put in bold face. HELLDIVERS is a co-op game that actually encourages true cooperative play. A skill-based game, this is not like the broken Call of Duty games; you can't buy your way to success and a high level Diver is not automatically better than a noob. Sure there are DLC items but not a single one is an absolute necessity. The best gun in the game, arguably, is a shotgun unlocked at the earliest levels of the game. Everything in HELLDIVERS comes down to teamwork and skill and the system works gloriously. Nothing against the other great games of 2015, but HELLDIVERS stands above and alone as the greatest game of 2015; it brought the joy of playing with friends back to gaming, and it certainly held its appeal longer than Rocket League.
Yakuza
- The reigning champ of 2006 helped guide me out of a dark place where gaming was not tolerated. (Never date someone who does this. It is just not healthy.) Yakuza (Ryu ga Gotoku) will always have a special place in my heart for its role in bringing me back to gaming and helping me struggle through a very depressing place. Leaping into the role of Kazuma Kiryu I got to immerse in one of the most fantastic representations of urban Tokyo that exists. Although to take Yakuza literally you'd think Japan was the most hostile place on Earth! I ended up playing through Yakuza twice; a rarity for a game of its considerable length, and I may well just do it again if and when I get Yakuza: Kiwami. Without a doubt Yakuza was Uesugi-dono's Game of the Year 2006.
2007
Assassin's Creed
- Although I didn't get Assassin's Creed on launch once I did delve into it what I found was a world like no other. This was historical tourism at its best; I absolutely LOVED walking the streets of Jerusalem, climbing the towers of Acre... sometimes I just sat on a bench in Jerusalem and just watched the people go by. I did that in a video game. That blew my mind. AC was revolutionary in more ways than one. Not only was the immersion incredible but just the ways to move and execute your objectives were just amazing. Although later sequels would far surpass this original entry they will never be able to take away the sense of wonder that this game inspired. To this day I find myself longing to play it again; just to people watch in Jerusalem.
2008
Valkyria Chronicles
- 2008 was a pretty big year for me. I had joined Gamespot, started a blog and, for the first time, the Game of the Year wasn't immediately obvious. This year was a four-way contest between 4 compelling games. On one hand the majority of my time was poured in to Nobunaga's Ambition: Rise to Power, but it eventually fell to the splendor of others. Then the biggest dog in the race was also the naughtiest... Naughty Dog's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. How could any game top this graphical masterpiece? Well, with an awesome story and incredible immersion, that's how. You see I had just finished my second play through of Yakuza when Yakuza 2 was released so I moved seamlessly from one engrossing crime drama to another... and Y2 did not disappoint. A high point in the series, Y2 took the action to Osaka, close to where my wife was from. Now I could readily recognize places that I had visited. Despite all of these fantastic games, however, one game showed up and not only revolutionized strategy games but it did so in such a manner as to end any of the negative talk about games not being Art. Valkyria Chronicles is one of my favorite games of all time. With a heart-rending adult tale of war, VC not only played well it really invested the gamer in the story. VC is one of those games that has a passionate, cult-like following... and for a good reason. While the series still continues in Japan the only sequel we got stateside was the excellent VC2 on the PSP; a great game in-and-of itself but one that stepped down for the solid R of the original to a PG 13 rating. I will, without a doubt, rebuy Valkyria Chronicles when its remastered version hits the PS4... and you should too.
2009
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
- 2009 was a good year for gaming overall and the clear leader for the year was the incredible Red Faction: Guerilla. The destruction in that game was so impressive that I joined the call of thousands of other gamers that more games be released including its GeoMod 2.0 engine. I was just about certain that RF was going to take the year... until October. Uncharted 2 is unquestionably the series' Empire Strikes Back. In every way conceivable it brought the Uncharted series forward and it remains, to this day, many peoples' favorite game... both in the series and overall. By this point the name "Naughty Dog" became synonymous with quality, both in story-telling and in craft. Even though U2 was the 'safe' pick for GOTY; one aped by publications everywhere, it richly deserved the award; even when stacked against the immeasurable powerhouse that was Assassin's Creed 2, which practically reinvented its predecessor. While AC2 gave us Ezio and a completely made over and improved Assassin's Creed Uncharted 2 gave us consistency and advancement all stacked on a Hollywood style story. Looking back I might declare a tie between these two but, as it stood in 2009, Uncharted 2 took the crown.
2010
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Assbro)
- 2010 was probably the best year of gaming in the last 10 years overall. The launch of Red Dead Redemption was especially epic since it remains to this day one of the best games ever released. This was also the year that saw Bayonetta, Mass Effect 2, Heavy Rain, Dante's Inferno, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Yakuza 3, Street Fighter IV, God of War 3, Nier, Alpha Protocol, MGS Peace Walker, Mafia 2, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Vanquish, Valkyria Chronicles 2, and Persona 3 for the PSP all came out. There were so many heavy-hitters; all such fantastic games that making a decision was next to impossible. Most publications were choosing RDR, and it well-deserved it, but for me Assbro (as I lovingly call it) was more than just a game; it was the game. The game that wrapped up the entire AC series. By the time the final DLC came out, Bonfire of the Vanities, it left the series on such a perfect ending note that I didn't even want the series to continue. Assbro's additions to the gameplay were incredible, such that Ezio truly felt like a master... a striking evolution from the literal baby he started out as in AC2. Although it pained me not to reward RDR the title, in 2010 the game that stood out the most was Brotherhood. It was close, but Assbro deserved it.
2011
Skyrim
- Even now I long for Skyrim. Much has been said about my ability to immerse in games and create my own tales in my head. I do have a vivid imagination and Skyrim allowed me to unleash it completely. For the better part of 2012 I blogged about the adventures of Thorgrym, my Nord, and I persuaded more than one person who had passed on The Elder Scrolls V to give it a try. This was not always a success as Skyrim is like the cave in The Empire Strikes Back; it contains only what you bring with you! Sticking to the quest lines is often the most boring path in Skyrim, rather this open world playground is precisely that; a place to tell your own story. For that reason it handily defeated such great games as Yakuza 4, Mortal Kombat, SOCOM 4, Catherine, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Uncharted 3, and Batman Arkham City which was its most direct competition. With over 400 hours in this game Skyrim reigns supreme as the game I've played the most, in fact I even built a powerful beast of a PC around my desire to play more Skyrim. (And I will once I reinstall all 100 + mods I was running before the game critically crashed.) Skyrim is definitely the elephant in the room. It may not be the best in most categories but when it was put all together it offered a level of immersion and fun not mastered by any other game.
2012
Binary Domain
- 2012 ended up being a Year of the Underdog. While most publications and people named critically acclaimed greats like Journey, Sleeping Dogs, and The Walking Dead I found myself lost in an obscure cover-based shooter by the master storytellers behind the Yakuza series. Binary Domain had to work hard to convince me, but in the end it did just that. I stayed engrossed from start to finish and I loved the cyberpunk world and the characters that lived in it. It was a solid shooter, reminiscent of the excellent Vanquish the year before. There were other great games this year including Capcom's great standout Dragon's Dogma and the near-perfect XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but I was proud to give my award to the underappreciated gem from SEGA, despite the excellent Far Cry 3, which was a direct runner up. Most people this year lauded Dishonored but I felt like its steampunk setting and weak illusion of choice paled next to the orchestrated brilliance of BD. I may be the only blogger on Earth who picked it, but Binary Domain was (and would remain) my GOTY for 2012.
2013
The Last of Us
- After my unconventional choice the year before I admit there were a few respondents who were disappointed that my choice in 2013 aligned with the mainstream when I picked The Last of Us as my GOTY. The fact is TLOU deserved it. Naughty Dog, long the architect of great cinema-quality stories outdid their selves with this post-apocalyptic masterpiece. The culmination of the "Daddening of Video Games," The Last of Us seemed to come out at just the perfect moment in history. Despite some of the silly hate it got from feminists (Ellie totally got to save Joel so your argument that she existed only for Joel to save is invalid) it was universally adored by fans all over the world. There were other great games this year: DmC: Devil May Cry was an unappreciated reboot of an excellent forbearer, Ni no Kuni set anime fans alight, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon amused 80s fans, and Tomb Raider stunned us all with its new survivalist approach to Lara, but despite those and many other great titles none of them could even approach the storytelling and drama of The Last of Us. While Assassin's Creed returned triumphantly with Black Flag (and sold me a PS4 in the process) and I even gave some thought to trolling all the haters with a nod to Aliens: Colonial Marines, but to deny the impact that The Last of Us had would have felt disingenuous. There was a few tear-jerker games out there, mostly at the end... TLOU is the only game that had me crying at the beginning.
2014
Shadow of Mordor
- "Revolutionary" is an overused word nowadays. Much like "Awesome" people throw around "Revolutionary" so much that it almost loses its meaning. Not so with Shadow of Mordor. The Nemesis System of creating unique enemies out of nameless fodder was a masterpiece. While games like Far Cry 4, Alien: Isolation, Destiny, Dark Souls II, Dragon Age Inquisition, and The Wolf Among Us deserve the lavish praise they received for me it was never even a contest. Shadow of Mordor did virtually everything right and it did it in such a way that I and many others would like to see the Nemesis System, or something like it, appear in most new games. This year also saw some notable bungling such as the Watch Dogs graphics fiasco and the AC: Unity disappointment. Failures like that just made the single-player only Shadow of Mordor look that much better. While SoM did have a rather disappointing ending, setting it up for an altogether unnecessary sequel, it did not taint the game overall. In fact if they were to repackage a Director's Cut with a more appropriate ending I would buy it all over again.
2015
HELLDIVERS
- And that brings us up to present with my most controversial pick ever. I guarantee you that I am the only blogger to pick Arrowhead's twin-stick shooter HELLDIVERS as my game of the year but it totally earned it. Yes, even against giants like The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, and Metal Gear Solid V HELLDIVERS stands out as the most fun, the most compelling, and the hardest game to put down. It doesn't have the graphics, it doesn't have the story, but what HELLDIVERS does have it has in spades. HELLDIVERS stands as the single greatest multi-player game in human history; a statement so bold that I had to put in bold face. HELLDIVERS is a co-op game that actually encourages true cooperative play. A skill-based game, this is not like the broken Call of Duty games; you can't buy your way to success and a high level Diver is not automatically better than a noob. Sure there are DLC items but not a single one is an absolute necessity. The best gun in the game, arguably, is a shotgun unlocked at the earliest levels of the game. Everything in HELLDIVERS comes down to teamwork and skill and the system works gloriously. Nothing against the other great games of 2015, but HELLDIVERS stands above and alone as the greatest game of 2015; it brought the joy of playing with friends back to gaming, and it certainly held its appeal longer than Rocket League.
I meant it was unexpected.