What's your game of the year so far?

So what do you guys think?
Some of the highest rated game so far in this year is either sequel or a game in an existing franchise.
Choose and write down your reason.
Have fun. ;D

 

wasn't mass effect 2 last year? It feels like ive had it ages

 

It was out in around February if not mistaken.
But I doubt it will get game of the year. It's a great game but there are superior like Mario galaxy 2 and Sc2.

 

Monster Racer and Miles Edgeworth!!! xD nah, I haven't got a lot of 2010 games yet though there are quite a few interesting ones for the DS coming =P Mostly looking forward to Last Window, Golden Sun and Ghost Trick ^^

 

It was out January, i did some research
I also found this: Mass Effect 2 had shipped over two million copies worldwide within a week of release, and has also received highly favorable reviews. It is ranked third on the Xbox 360 according to GameRankings, and is, overall, the fourteenth best reviewed game of all time. The game holds over 30 perfect scores and has an average of 94 and 96 for the PC and Xbox 360 on Metacritic respectively.

Im voting Mass Effect 2.
Ive played heavy rain and god of war 3 they are both overrated and wont get game of the year.
Mario Galaxy is not my kind of game. I haven't played red dead or starcraft.

 

DQ IX

 

There is nothing special about ME 2. Most of the perfect scores came from Xbox 360 fanboy site/magazine. On PC, PC sites/magazine are not very impressed by it. It should have been 90-94. 96 is Sc2 or Mario galaxy 2 level.
Ship 2 million is not sold 2 millon. It is less than 2 million sold so far.

 

Its still the best on your list(that ive played).

Dragonquest IX should be up there, it wont though because its not on a top system and hasn't got awesome graphics.
Im going to look through all this years releases because i cant remember any.

 

I agree with MSG. While Mass Effect 2 isn't the most perfect game out there, it's one of the few games this year that actually introduced more new mechanics and enhanced everything from the first (even though it streamlined things).

God Of War 3 and from the things I've heard and played from SC2, it's more of the same from it's predecessor. Mario Galaxy 2, even though the game is hella fun, it didn't offer me a memorable experience and storyline like ME2 or even GoW3. So ME2 is MY GotY so far this year.

Also SC2 has just come out last week, it's far too early to consider it GotY, when you get a new game and it's good, you automatically think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Also DQIX is my handheld game of the year, I'd prefer MGSW if I could stomach the aiming system.

Also Red Dead was extremely disappointing. At first it was alright single player wise, but there's a format to EVERY mission, talk to a guy, ride across plains for 5 minutes while you converse, do something, ride somewhere else/finish the mission. That five minute ride grew extremely annoying and you couldn't skip it, I'm surprised no critics don't bring it up. The multiplayer also wasn't that great.

 

Sc2 more of the same multiplayer wise but it has a lot of improvement when it comes to U.I. Even people who hate RTS love it. The balance is almost perfect yet the radical difference between the three factions is untouched.

The single player campaign is where things changed a lot. There is point and click adventure game type between mission. The research system, mercenary hiring system, the buy what you want system.
There is newcast, juxebox, lab, cantina and armory. You can interact with other characters within those hubs. You choose any mission you want to take first depending on what unit you want to unlock first.
The choice that you make can affect what enemies you will face in the next mission, not just what unit/upgrades that you get.
Each mission is varied and there is not a single mission that feels the same. Each mission has it's own mechanic tied to it.
For example there is a mission where every 5 minutes lava rises
A mission where you must escape from a supernova
A mission on a giant alien space-platform where the very space-time is slowly damaging the longer the units are in the field.
A day/night mission where zombies come out in the night and must be eradicated in the day.
A mission where you have to control a giant laser drill to steal an artifact and fending off the aliens.
A mission where you have to evacuate colonists while aliens invasion is raining from the sky non-stop.
And much more...(there are total of 26 mission in one play-through).
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/starcraft2/video/6272120?hd=1&tag=topslot;watchlink;1

 

Argue it as much as you want, the gameplay fundamentals are more of the same. Especially in the multiplayer, which is apparently the part that most people play the game for.

While you can say ME2 hasn't changed all that much, it's ratio on RPG elements and shooter changed a lot. For the better albeit, while people argue this downgraded the game, it definitely streamlined the game and made it feel a lot less like a clunky shooter like the first or the horrible Alpha Protocol.

And again, it's been out for little more than a week, it's FAR too early for anyone to claim it a GotY imo.

 

Would Sc2 be forgotten after few months? NO.( in fact, none of Blizz's)
ME 2 still keeps the fundamental gameplay as well while tweaking and streamlining some stuff.
Same for Sc2, the fundamental remains the same but they added and tweaked a lot of stuff.
The single player gameplay feels different from repetitive RTS campaign. No RTS done it before. Play other RTS then you will know.
For the fundamental gameplay itself.
They introduced the action-queue mechanic, the watchtower, destructible, multiple-building selection, smart-casting and the best pathfinding A.I ever seen in an RTS. All of the change result in a vast improvement in gameplay over past RTS.
Also, there is high-ground advantage mechanic when it comes to unit sight. Not in Sc1
There are areas where units can hide and ambush. Not in Sc1.
All of these are done without dumbing down/ streamlining/removing a single core gameplay element.

 

For me Final Fantasy XIII

 

allkratos loves to argue.

Ima go with SC2 though, i masturbate to thoughts of this game.

 

+1

 

Allkratos, you only seem to be comparing starcraft 2 to starcraft 1, listing improvements, missions etc.

 

Well, just wanna deny that "it's more of the same" argument from haters out there.
Same goes for ME2, it is an improvement over ME which contains several major flaws. There is nothing ultimately original in ME 2 and Sc2. Both are in the end of the day, a sequel. Not a new IP, or a spin-off.

How to compare improvements in ME 2 over ME with improvements in Sc2 over Sc? They are both wildly different genre.

The only thing to compare here is features and variety.
Starcraft 2 is a game having both robust multiplayer component as well as multifaceted campaign.
The matchmaking system in Sc2 puts others of the same type to shame. It is the first matchmaking system that I found reliable in an online experience regardless of game genre/platform.
ME 2 has a superb single player gameplay but it has no multiplayer at all.
Sc2 has both.

 

Other: Pokémon HG/SS, and waiting for Halo Reach.

 

Halo Reach will probably get it . Being an FPS and Halo combined.

 

I couldn't settle on just one so I broke them down into categories.

Action: Bayonetta
Strategy: Record of Agarest War(go figure it's the niche japanese game...)
RPG: Dragon Quest IX

That's about it so far. I've got some other games that I really liked, but those ones take the cake for me thus far. The year isn't over yet though so maybe I'll get some surprises.