What was your sleeper game of the year?
Friday, December 22nd, 2006 - 5:29am
(i.e. - what game did you love that the rest of us bastards didn't play?)
You can put whatever you want in this thread. I imagine on Jan 1st someone will introduce the "Game of the Year" thread and we'll argue over which game was king, which game deserves our collective praise, but right now you have only your own tastes to answer to. We had a few games sneak up on GWJ as a group - Chromehounds, Dead Rising, Viva Pinata, Dwarf Fortress. Yet for me, the sleeper was:
Test Drive Unlimited: screw all of you Gran Turismo snobs, you know who you are, 
I've had more fun with TDU than any racing game in my life. Yes, the physics engine can't quite handle the game's many beautiful mountain curves, but the game is passible in this area and excels at all other road types. If anything, Hawaii wins the Perfectly Cast award, it was custom built for racing by the gods themselves (no potholes, ever!) If you only played the demo, you saw the worst part of the island. Yet for me it comes back to what I love about driving in the first place - an open road, beautiful scenery, no particular destination in mind, and infinite adventure. No other game lets me drive 200 mph for 3 hours straight and never see the same road twice. Gran Turismo always made me feel like a racing monk, practicing each corner over and over til I could shave an extra 1/100th of a second of my best time. TDU introduced an element different from sim and arcade racers which reminds me of real life driving we've all experienced, where you grab your best girl and hit the roads for a weekend of adventure, just the two of you. Just buy it already.
We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all.
"What misconception traveled down the road and made you want to be here?"
Wii Sports?
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I don't even remember what came out this year.
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seconded :-s
Oh wait, I enjoyed Sensible Soccer 2006 until it got too easy.
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For me, it was Okami. I wrote it off as gimmicky as soon as I heard about the drawing mechanic. Heh, actually at first I thought it was a DS game. It's turned out to be a strong contender for my favorite game of the year.
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Okami here too. I was in a total gaming slump then I picked Okami up and it was like a breath of fresh air.
And I totally agree with you on Test Drive, Souldaddy. I still love just driving around and exploring. Though I should probably be shot for all the off roading in very innapropriate vehicles I have done.
Ooh I agree with Okami! I would have passed it up had it not been for the great reviews posted on this board. I can't recall the total amount of hours spent on the game but I don't recall one point where I was bored with it.
Warhammer: Haruspex / Marauder at large
Dark Messiah. I love the multiplayer melee combat. Too bad it was bug ridden and had horrible performance. The latest (second) patch fixes a lot of both problems.
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Defcon. It was slick looking, simple to learn and took hours to master. It also just sort of came out of nowhere, landed on Steam at an awesome price, took the gaming press by storm, and gave the talented guys at Introversion some much needed attention by the gamer community that hadn't discovered their previous masterworks Uplink or Darwinia. That's pretty impressive for a $15 "budget" game.
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Rainbow Six:Vegas
I *really* didn't think I'd enjoy a consolized Rainbow Six. In fact, I was one of the groaners who couldn't believe the name Ubi chose for the next iteration of one of my favourite franchises.
It's not the Rainbow Six of old, but the intensity and lethality is there. The Retrieval game mode is the second most fun game on Live at the moment. (Gears is #1 for me, but it's hardly a sleeper hit).
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Company of Heroes. I really didn't know anything about it until a thread started here around when the demo came out. The multi-player is intense and it was a nice bonus that they let you play LAN games with the same CD key (no CD in the drive).
They better make an expansion!
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I'd have to give it to Viva Pinata. I wrote this game off very early on and sneered at such a silly looking game and concept. We'll with the GWJ as some proof, this game has been a hit with gamers of all ages and the originality depth is well beyond what I had imagined.
Lag used to be a lot worse back in the day. Hell, it took Jesus 3 days to respawn.
Quintin_Stone wrote: The typical American eats 3.5 bigfoots in their sleep each year.
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I would have to agree with this.
I would also like to add Saint's Row. I had written it off as a GTA clone, and since I don't like GTA, I figure Saint's Row would be crap. Well, I was wrong. I love Saint's Row. I wish they would have came out with the MP patch sooner, so everyone at GWJ hadn't already moved on from the game.
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Call of Cthulhu
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-Dr. Evil
I'd like to give a second place nomination to Dead Rising. A lot of people mocked this game and wrote is off as a George Romaro rip-off.
Lag used to be a lot worse back in the day. Hell, it took Jesus 3 days to respawn.
Quintin_Stone wrote: The typical American eats 3.5 bigfoots in their sleep each year.
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Same. I was skeptical, then surprised, then addicted.
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EBA and Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime. So many good DS games released this year
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Test Drive Unlimited for me as well. I'm not a huge fan of racing games, but this one feels like Oblivion with cars. I dip in and out of the challenges and missions, seeking new rides as if they were rare pieces of armor, but for the most part I'm content to take in the sights and attempt to drive on every single road there is. The game is huge!
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Sleeper hit of the year? Dwarf Fortress.
Game of the year? Probably a tie between GalCiv2 and Company of Heroes. Those are the games I spent the most time with and got the most enjoyment from. I have yet to play Oblivion, which could change everything for me.
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
I heard the 1up guys lamenting how said it was that this game was one of the best adventure games and wasn't getting it's due.
We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all.
"What misconception traveled down the road and made you want to be here?"
Hexen on XBLA. The combination of the puzzle and minimalist industrial music is just... hypnotic. I'd spend hours sitting on the couch moving little pieces around. And I don't even like puzzle games!
I'm gonna say Uno on XBLA because it started a whole Uno craze in my family. we play four rounds with the real cards every night now and my kids invariably ask for Round 5 and 6. It's been great fun playing with them all and a bit eye-opening too.
I've learned my 6 year old likes to peek at people's cards. He tends to lose cause he hangs onto the special cards too long. He also likes being on the receiving end of a +2 or a +4 which boggles my mind, but he looks at them very optimistically as a chance to get more special cards. It makes me smile to see how positively he deals with a potential negative as his Uno hand gets bigger and I hope he holds onto this optimism in the face of challenges as he grows up. It's very refreshing.
My almost 4 year old, who is always the comedian has his Uno one liners. Everytime he checks his cards and doesnt have one he can play, he makes a point of saying "I dont have a card." and forces us to say "Take one from the deck." He knows he doesnt have to say it, its almost like a ritualistic joke at this point. If he hits a piece of bad luck, either with a draw, or being on the receiving end of a +2/+4 etc, he has this funny way that he says "Waah Waah Waaah." Cracks us up everytime. Honestly though, he tends to win A LOT, I don't know why and am humbled.
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Hexic, Hexic! Damn you, I thought I'd be able to download Hexen and start turning people into chickens. You've ruined Christmas.
Geometry Wars. I got way more enjoyment out of that $5 than I could have ever expected.
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Sleeper Game of the Year goes to Titan Quest. Diablo gets a new coat of paint, in a new setting. I can't wait for the expansion.
True game of the year goes to Company of Heroes or Oblivion.
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Test Drive Unlimited, Rayman Raving Rabbits, Wii Sports
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Elite Beat Agents
For something I thought would be just another gimmicky DS game, I've spent a ton of time playing it. It's tough, but in a good way.
Tomb Raider: Legend
Another vote for this one. I went in expecting a bucket full of mediocrity and came out grinning. I even played through it again just to get all the secrets, and it's pretty rare when I do that!
Hitman: Blood Money
I love, love, love this game. I really dig the series in general, and while it's not perfect, it's never felt so good to kill people in such wonderful ways. Great atmosphere.
Saint's Row
Why aren't more people playing this game? Most of my Greatest Individual Game Moments have come from playing Saint's Row. For someone who's not a huge fan of the GTA series, this game abso-f'n-lutely rocks. There's an amazing amount of chaos and destruction to be had, and the journey from punk to kingpin is a lot of fun. Even moreso because you're avatar is your unique creation.
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Rugby 06. Best sports game of the year, and still sadly not on the BC list for the 360.
Dead Rising. This game could have gone wrong in so many ways but as it is killing zombies in the mall will never ever get old.
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Another vote for TR:L. I played the original and never bothered with any of the many sequels after reading the reviews. I bought an X360 and decided to try it out. Enough of the familiar puzzle/exploration elements from TR1 were there to make me overlook the goofy motorcycle chase crap and enjoy the game. Nice comeback for a worthwhile franchise.
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God Hand
Mm, what fun that game brought me. Too bad Clover as we know it was dissolved, but let's hope the team members put out some more great titles.
Yet even then we ran like the wind,
whilst our laughter echoed under cerulean skies...