The "Storytelling brilliance" Award
To The Moon
It plays a little like a classic RPG like Chrono Trigger, but with no real combat to speak of. It's funny, dramatic, thoughtful, sad and exciting all at the same time. It has some similar elements to Total Recall and Inception. I won't say anything about the story, just GO BUY IT NOW! I completed it in a single sitting together with someone very dear to me and it was like watching the most brilliant romance movie conceivable. Just BUY IT ALREADY!The "Overrated Game of the Month" Award
Borderlands 2
Locate quest marker, shoot something, out of place reference, find mediocre guns, run of out inventory space. Pathfinding is frustrating sometimes with several quests and quest items being located in spots with very vague routes to the,. Worthless in single player, fine in coop, mediocre overall. Good controls though. Get it on PC or PS3/360, but the PC version is vastly superior.The "I can't decide which is worst" Award
Mindjack & Legendary
These are LEGENDARILY bad. Mindjack is a nonsensical, stupid and uncontrollable mess. Legendary is a 4 hour snorefest with random difficulty spikes and no proper ending. I paid a total of 10€/12$/8£ for these two combined. I got a few laughs from them. There's nothing more to say. Available on PS3 and 360, and PC too in Legendary's case.The "Yeah, that was okay..." Award
Bioshock 2
While it lacks some of the twists and turns of the original, the combat is superior by far. The story picks up about 3 hours in with a lot of interesting areas and a real sense of exploration. While the linearity of the first game was more of a plot point than a gameplay issue, this game gives you more freedom to explore and rescue Little Sisters. Overall a great game. Get it VERY cheap on PC, PS3 or 360.The "Game of the Year Contender" Award
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
Sequel to 9 hours, 9 persons, 9 doors. It's a mix of point and click adventure/room escape games and visual novels. Fantastic story and great use of multiple timelines. Get it on 3DS or Vita.The "Repetitive Sounds, Repetitive Sounds" Award
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
This is the blandest game ever. Sort of. I love the rogue's gallery and the controls. I hate the gameplay and the inane repetitiveness. This game has the same problem as the Force Unleashed games. If something's worth doing, it's worth doing a hundred times. Some levels are brilliant and others are just utterly inept. Pouring a water tower on to Sandman is fun once. Getting told that you're going to do it twice more upon doing it the first is stupid. Saving scientists from future, genderbent Doc Ock is is fun, doing it 12 times is ridiculous. Has a great Deadpool cameo. Get it on Ps3, 360 and, oddly enough, PC. DS version is a different beast.The "Black" Award
Black
This game is REALLY black. It's also fun, and 7 years old. The destructible environments were impressive at the time. Story makes little sense and the voice acting is so muffled and not subtitled, making it all a bit of a mess. I hated the last few levels with the unforgiving checkpoints and borderline unkillable juggernaut enemies. The bridge and forest levels were great though, and it's definitely worth a look if you own a PS2. (Or original Xbox)And the rest:
Singularity: Bland. Just so bland. Knocks off everything from Bioshock to Half-Life 2 and does a halfway decent job at it, but it's just sooo generic. I also hate game enemies that swarm you while being too hard to hit. Lots of interesting guns, but the limit to carrying two at a time is frustrating. This one gets a massive "MEH". Loved the endings though.Soul Calibur V: Completed the story mode in 40 minutes. It's so generic that I couldn't tell you a single plot point right now. The mechanics of the game are fine, but why on earth does the main character forfeit his shield to use a TERRIBLE "alpha" version of his fighting style and is suddenly awful is combat for the last half of the game. Dull, and pointless.
Streets of Rage 2: Yes, I wanted to play a side scrolling beat'em up for some reason so I figured why not. I can't recall completing it before so it totally counts. I liked it. Got a little hard on the final boss so I had to continue once. Overall, just simple fun.
Mafia 2: A little too much driving, but the story is EXCELLENT! The gunplay is tight and the length is perfect. A very nice game that I would recommend to anyone. Just don't expect something with the scope or madness of Saint's Row or GTA.
TRAUMA: Very artsy and the narrative is weird. The voice-overs vary greatly in quality and the live action aesthetic is both amusing and frightening. It does what it does reasonably well, but I'm not entirely sure what it tried to do. I didn't hate it by ANY stretch. I just completed most endings with a "Well that was certainly different."- Feeling. Try it out.
