Mojo End of Year Poll: 2010 WAS...

[Remi]

In terms of gaming that is. Gaming related to this site.

 

Don't go all emo on us and post your bad poetry here. (Or do, we might just post it in the article!)

[Aububuh]

2010 was a year.

[AlfredJ]

I was 2010.

[Kroms]

Who on earth voted it as a terrible year?

[SyntheticGerbil]

Me, just now.

[Ascovel]

Who on earth voted it as a terrible year?

 

I didn't, but I now wish I did.

[Kroms]

Wankers. I love you all.

[MarioColbert]

2010 was IMPOSSIBLE.

 

I'll summarize:

 

Double Fine released a game without a publisher pulling out at the last second.

Double Fine released a game without delay.

Telltale ZOMG BTTF WHAT, except we didn't notice because we had TOO MANY OF THEIR POINT AND CLICK ADVENTURES TO PLAY.

Ron Gilbert released a game.

Then another one, because he effin' could.

And all the while he was like "hey, some peeps made this Monkey Island 2 SE thing."

Then Ron went to Double Fine.

Where Tim Schafer works, or sleeps, or something.

 

Could anyone point me to the direction of a better year in the last decade?

[Icebox]

Bogus year. No good games, LEC is being a dick again, Telltale's starting to get boring, Double Fine's not releasing for PC, Ronzong couldn't manage a hit.

 

1 Star out of 5.

[Snugglecakes]

Bogus year. No good games, LEC is being a dick again, Telltale's starting to get boring, Double Fine's not releasing for PC, Ronzong couldn't manage a hit.

 

1 Star out of 5.

 

Telltale is getting boeing? Does the fact that they released more adventure games of vastly superior quality in one year than LucasArts managed in a whole decade not count for anything?

 

They gave us TMI too, a fantastic release that just by itself would make it a good year for Telltale.

 

Add The Devil's Playhouse and it's approaching spectacular. Then they announce Back to the Future and Jurassic Park!

 

I'm very confused by your post.

 

For ten years, nothing happened. Now we have great games, and Ron & Tim are all over the news. Yes, LucasArts is "being a dick" as you put it, but how is that different from every other year before this one? Even when they released awesome titles in the 90s, they were still "being a dick". LucasArts is a rude old dinosaur of a company who don't care about their customers but that information as old as the hills.

 

I found the last year to be very exciting for adventure gamers. We have TMI, Sam & Max, classic releases, special editions (as crap as they were)... hell it's been the most spectacular year in years.

 

I don't think you really like adventure games.

 

I can't remember the last time I didn't have enough time to get through all the games I wanted to in a year. It happened this year.

[Icebox]

Telltale is getting boeing? Does the fact that they released more adventure games of vastly superior quality in one year than LucasArts managed in a whole decade not count for anything?

 

They gave us TMI too, a fantastic release that just by itself would make it a good year for Telltale.

 

Add The Devil's Playhouse and it's approaching spectacular. Then they announce Back to the Future and Jurassic Park!

 

I'm very confused by your post.

 

For ten years, nothing happened. Now we have great games, and Ron & Tim are all over the news. Yes, LucasArts is "being a dick" as you put it, but how is that different from every other year before this one? Even when they released awesome titles in the 90s, they were still "being a dick". LucasArts is a rude old dinosaur of a company who don't care about their customers but that information as old as the hills.

 

I found the last year to be very exciting for adventure gamers. We have TMI, Sam & Max, classic releases, special editions (as crap as they were)... hell it's been the most spectacular year in years.

 

I don't think you really like adventure games.

 

I can't remember the last time I didn't have enough time to get through all the games I wanted to in a year. It happened this year.

 

Adventure games are my favorite genre of game.

 

That said I have a varied gaming diet and spend a lot of time playing things less time consuming.

 

For the most part the rest was exaggeration. However, a good chunk of this year's AG crop were 3D, and Telltale's, at least, I feel are terribly designed, poorly written. Too short, ugly, easy for my attention.

 

I feel that the genre has reached its nadir and the only AGs which remain worth playing are the classic/classic-style 2D ones.

 

However, this year I did enjoy Machinarium and the Whispered World, neither of which were Telltale designed.

 

Costume Quest, although I did not get to play it, looked good. So did Deathspank, although I will reserve judgement on both of them.

 

MI2:SE turned out better than I could have hoped, and was more than enjoyable to play through. However TMI was lackluster, designed poorly, ran poorly to the extent of bricking my Wii in the later stages.

 

Puzzle Agent was actually p. good. It's the first Telltale game I've legitimately liked.

 

But this year failed to produce any one adventure game to restore my hope for the genre. The best of this year would have been barely par in previous generations, and the genre won't go anywhere until it starts evolving from the stagnation we left it in 10 years ago.

 

Just because it's popular again doesn't mean it's any more excellent. In fact, the opposite may be true.

 

That means more complex games in the style of the Last Express, Blade Runner, Phantasmagoria or Riven. Or, if cartoony point-and-clicks are still in vogue, puzzle chains at the bare minimum more complex than MI2. Not bite-size episodic games.

 

Sorry if my ironic disdain confused you, bro.

[Ascovel]

Not bite-size episodic games.

 

If you don't like to play bite-sized episodes, why don't you wait for whole series to get released before playing?

 

and the genre won't go anywhere until it starts evolving from the stagnation we left it in 10 years ago.

 

Where do you want the genre to go exactly?

 

That means more complex games in the style of the Last Express, Blade Runner, Phantasmagoria or Riven.

 

For something a'la TLE's time-rewinding puzzles I strongly recommend you to try Braid.

 

For a new Blade Runner like thriller with many alternative paths with occasional timed sequences, you should try Heavy Rain.

 

I have no idea what aspect of Phantasmagoria do you consider complex. I thought it was a rather standard and limited FMV (but with a strong tense finale).

 

As for a complex game world with integrated puzzles like Riven - I agree there hasn't been anything like it since its release.

[Gabez]

I find Telltale boring as well. I liked TMI quite a lot, but that was because I was already in love with the franchise, and they did a good job continuing it.

 

The conveyor-belt nature of their production process might be to do with this, or it might just be my personal problem. Their games feel a bit like a packet of individual wrapped cakes. Nice enough for tea, but not as interesting or as satisfactory as one large cake, even if you eat each of the individually wrapped caked one after the other. You're still just eating five bland plops of Battenburg. Not Lemon Drizzle. Not even Victoria Sponge.

[urluckyday]

Meh.

[Remi]

Poll is now closed.