Last game you finished and your thoughts

Splinter Cell Blacklist (wii U)

A very good game let down by some bugs (system crashes, voices cutting out in cut scenes) & weird design choices like the motion control UAV drone sections, it would vary from being too sensitive to not enough & at one point it started controlling itself causing many failed missions.

Despite that the good out weighs the bad especially the very handy touch screen inventory that makes snap judgements easier.

7/10

Little Inferno
This was one of the games that I was sad I couldn't play because I don't have a Wii U. Then I discovered that I already own it on Steam, having gotten it god knows when as part of one of many Humble Bundles. I really enjoyed it: it has that same witty-but-quickly-sinister tone that World of Goo had, and working out enough combos of stuff to burn to progress through the game never outstayed its welcome. And Sugar Plumps and Miss Nancy were strokes of genius. The only frustrating thing was having to wait a while for some items to be ready for you to use. Burned through it (HAHAHA!!!) in about 3 hours but I only got fifty-something combos out of the possible 99 so there's still plenty for me to go back to too.
8/10

Pikmin 3

Finally sat down and played through Pikmin 3. Man, I love the Pikin games!

Aesthetics
Gorgeous graphics; the Pikmin games were always the closest Nintendo got to photo-real, and the HD sheen here really pushes the boundaries, especiallly the fruit. Obviously, this is a Nintendo game so the animations and creature designs are imaginative and brilliant and couldn't care less about realism.
The music is great, as are the creature noises. There's no proper voice acting but the cute alien chatter makes more sense anyway. The narrator at the beginning and end is crap, though.

Gameplay
With the Wii Remote and nunchuk plus a gamepad on the side, controls are spot on. Pretty much all the little bugs and niggles of the previous two games have been ironed out and the aiming etc are perfect. The gamepad map, and the way squads can be split up and sent here and there makes this feel closer to an RTS than any prior Pikmin but there's still nothing else like it.

Overall, I'd put this game above Pikmin 2 but it still doesn't match Pikmin's feeling of alienation and desperation. The characters aren't quite Olimar and the mission doesn't feel like such a struggle, even though there's a world on the line this time.

9/10
well-deserved GNamer GOTY 2013

It wasn't GOTY

It won the Wii U's First Birthday vote, which was close enough to GOTY 2013.

Yeah but like a few said at the time some didn't vote for Mario 3D World as they hadn't given that enough time and of course that's only games on the Wii U. There were better on the 3DS if we only went for a GOTY on Nintendo systems.

I'm not saying pikmin 3 isn't good and isn't a 9/10 but GOTY 2013 it certainly isn't.

I don't know what would have won GNamer GotY 2013. I still think Pikmin 3 would have taken the crown on Wii U - a lot of people have expressed disgruntled sentiments about SM3DW, self included. And while the 3DS has almost undeniably had a better year, each of its great games has had its detractors. For me, ALBW and LM2 could have been in with a shot, yet I know Cappa was disappointed by the latter, and I can't imagine he'd like the former either. I'm sure he's not alone in those.

Pikmin 3 seems to be universally favoured by those who have played it, and I'm not sure if that can be said about any other game of 2013. It'd definitely be between that and ALBW. (Other format games can get stuffed.)

Your just jealous as you didn't have anything to play Bioshock Infinite on (you might be more of Ni Nu Kuni guy) anything,

but yeah most liked pikmin 3, so your right it might just be our GOTY 2013 as like you said everyone that has played does seem to like it.

Funnily enough, I have actually played BInfinite! My father downloaded it onto his Mac, and he's even worse at games than I am, so I got to have a go. I like the aesthetic, and if I could manage the controls (I'm awful with a keyboard and mouse-pad, and indeed at most things that require aiming) I might have got on better with it; but for me, it's got nothing on ALBW.

I really really want to play NNK though.

I hate using a mouse and keyboard,

I would say it's worth getting a PS3 just for Ni Nu Kuni and a few RPGs like that, as I know I've seen 40gb PS3s for £49.99 used now. Like someone said in the awards, it is a great time to be a last gen gamer. You could go pick up all the gems a bit like Buska is doing with his PS3 now.

Mouse and Keyboard is great for games that are designed to be played with them.

No major FPS has been designed like that for upwards of the last five years.

Aye pikmin 3 was definitely the forums GOTY. ( only Masofdas would argue otherwise)

I'm surprised you're not a proponent of ALBW, Jas!

Or ZombiU.

Blimey guys, I'm not saying it's my game of the year, I'm just saying it won the GNamer vote
and I'm glad it did because it's a nice little game that deserves recognition.
I'm playing mass effect at the moment, so that should keep mas happy.

Balladeer wrote:

I'm surprised you're not a proponent of ALBW, Jas!

Oh ALBW was my personal favourite of 2013 but I was just pointing out that pikmin 3 was the forums.

It wasn't GOTY year vote though it was a 1st anniversary vote. I agree it's the most universal liked game of 2013 and very deserving of the best game on the Wii U in year 1 but overall GOTY of 2013 no way (Top 10 yes but the cap between it and bioshock infinite is like the one between Man City & Utd) .

ALBW is on a different system for a start, how could it be the forums GOTY which apparently is now the game that won the 1st anniversary vote.

So if ZomibU had of won would that of been are game of the year 2013 even though it came out in 2012.

This is why agreed with you Balla GOTY award should of been a thing in the forum awards.

Blimey. Buskalilly, you should feel very bad for the confusion you have caused and take a time out, you unbelievably awful person

Yeah, Buska!

Jas, the vote was Wii U games only. I'm talking about the forum's game of the year full stop - which still wouldn't have been BInfinite, but might have been ALBW, had the forum taken a vote.

Someone on the podcast said there GOTY was Pokemon XY, I would vote Infinite, Jas ALBW, Stu New Leaf, Andy GTAV or something.

So it would be a hard one to call, I the think winner wouldn't be very clear cut it get like 3 votes.

I guess you didn't notice me saying favourite of 2013? I can't see how anyone can deny that pikmin 3 was the one of the most universally praised games on the forum.

I never said it wasn't.

Just like I never said it was the all around GoTY.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood



I've been playing through the Assassin's Creed series as of late. The first time I played through Brotherhood, I certainly enjoyed it, but I couldn't see where everyone was coming from in heralding it the best in the series.

Going from Assassin's Creed 1 to 2, there's a such a marked increase in quality; graphically, mechanically, aurally... it builds upon the successes of its predecessor whilst eliminating its flaws. The story had a playful sense of adventure despite being rooted in death and deceit. It was a dream to control, as Ezio moved quicker and more fluidly than Altair. I still maintain it's the best sequel in terms of improvement.

Fast forward to Brotherhood. People sing its praises, and whilst it's by no stretch of the imagination a bad game, it just feels like a glorified expansion.

What worked:

• Building your brotherhood. Having a squadron of bad-ass killing machines to call upon at any time is just fantastic.
  
• They took the increased speed and fluidity in movement from AC2 and applied it to the combat in Brotherhood. The combat goes by like a whirlwind of death, and you feel like a master assassin as a result.
  
• The sheer scope of the game. There's a lot to do - the usual collectibles, assassination missions, destroying Leonardo da Vinci's war machines, flashbacking to Ezio's youth, exploring Roman tombs - and none of it feels like padding. Well, maybe the fucking flags.
  

What didn't work

• The addition of bonus objectives to the missions feels restrictive as opposed to adding an additional challenge to complete. It's a completionist's nightmare as they're required for 100% completion, and they try to steer you away from completing the mission any way you want. The freedom afforded to you is lessened.
  
• The game suffers from setting it solely into Rome. AC2 had differing surroundings which broke up the action somewhat. Here, it's Roman architecture for the full 20 odd hours.
  
• Storywise, the playful charm of the previous game's story is missing, and it's not great for the story. The first game suffered from being po-faced, and to see Brotherhood return to that somewhat is disappointing.
  

That being said, it's by and large a brilliant experience. It plays like a dream and there are some great concepts in the missions. Playing it by itself with a year's break between release of AC2 and Brotherhood, I can see why people rated it highly. But playing it so soon after AC2 - its shortcomings are made all too apparent.

8.5/10