chess

Yeah...a little bored.

It seems like I end every holiday season with a list of games to pick up the following year, and this is the first year I can recall where I have nothing on the list.

Thinking back to what I've bought and played this year, it seems like all the best games came out May or earlier. This fall, we got another Halo, another Call of Duty, and another Gran Turismo...none of which did anything interesting as far as I can tell. Fallout was broken, and Fable 3 was apparently not as good as 2. The only bright spot this fall for me was Enslaved.

Games I've enjoyed most this year:

Mass Effect 2: January (haven't played yet, but based on the demo )
Darksiders: January
Battlefield Bad Company 2: March
God of War 3: March
Red Dead Redemption: May
Super Mario Galaxy 2: May

Did something compelling come out this fall/holiday season, and I just missed it?

gryffinmaster

AC: Brotherhood?

chess

Good call. AC2 was on my list from fall 2009, and I played it last summer.

The big surprise for me was that it has a robust single player, and I'll definitely get it sometime this year. Ubisoft games always get cheap quick, so I never buy them new.

fumanstan

I think most publishers decided to stay away from releasing around Black Ops.

Decker

Donkey Kong Country Returns was pretty awesome, but very difficult.

chess

As much of a Nintendo fan as I am, I never got into the original ones and thought of Returns as a second tier game. I'll probably get it for my kid at some point though.

Now Kirby...that looked pretty interesting.

chess

I think you're right.

It makes good business sense in the short term, but it seems shortsighted. Something has to be the next CoD right?

Decker

Kirby is beautiful with a really unique and cool art style, but not that much fun. It's too simplistic and easy. It's far from the worst game of the year (though for some inexplicable reason, EW picked it as such), but it didn't exactly thrill me either.
DKCR is something special. It's great looking and really challenging. There's something different in every level. If you liked Mario Galaxy 2 a lot (and I know you did), you'll probably like this as well.

kefrank

Exactly. I never played the SNES games, but Returns is probably the best platformer I've played this generation. It's top tier all the way.

chess - you have it backwards...you should get Kirby for your kid and DKCR for yourself.

chess

Cool...will look for it in the $20 range.

That reminds me. I forgot that Epic Mickey was a major disappointment as well.

Just not a good latter half of the year.

Michael Corvin

Going back to May, lets see, off the top of my head:

Halo: Reach
Rock Band 3
Dead Rising 2
Black Ops
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Metroid: Other M
Enslaved
Fallout: New Vegas
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Fable III
GranTurismo 5
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

What am I missing?

Decker

That the point of the thread was that there weren't a lot of big games during the 2010 Holiday Season.

pinata242

Well, no shit Sherlocks. Everything is always delayed from every holiday season ever and always.

chess

At least five of those were major disappointments, and none of them compare with Uncharted 2, Arkham Asylum, Borderlands, etc. last year.

I'm not on a crusade or anything...just an observation.

Raul3

Someone! Report to the mods that jeffbase34 hacked chess account!

cruzness

So is there really nothing that you are looking forward to for this year?

fumanstan

Major disappoints just for you, or are you speaking generally? I think for the most part, those games have been reviewed very positively.

cruzness

Here's a look at some of what is coming this year:
January
11th - DC Universe Online (PC, PS3)
18th – Little Big Planet 2 (PS3)
18th - Mass Effect 2 (PS3)
25th – Dead Space 2 (PS3, 360)

February
15TH – Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (Xbox 360, PS3)
22nd – Bulletstorm (Xbox 360, PS3)
22nd – Killzone 3 (PS3)

March
8th – Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
8TH – Homefront (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
8th – Dragon Age 2 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
22nd – Crysis 2 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
22nd – F.E.A.R. 3 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

April
20th – Portal 2 (Xbox 360, PC)
– Mortal Kombat (PS3, Xbox 360)

Slated for Spring
Red Faction: Armageddon (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
Pokemon: Black & White (DS)
Need for Speed: Shift 2 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
Ico & Shadow of Colossus Collection (PS3)
L.A. Noire (PS3, Xbox 360)
BRINK (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

September
6th – Resistance 3 (PS3)
13th – Rage (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

November
1st – Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception (PS3)
11th – Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

Slated for Fall
Batman: Arkham City (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
Alice: Madness Returns
Forza Motorsport 4 (Xbox 360)
Call of Duty: Untitled (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
Gears of War 3 (Xbox 360, PC)
SSX: Deadly Descents (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii)
Mass Effect 3 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One (PS3)
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)

Michael Corvin

fixed.

murray731

2010 holiday season? I thought it was delayed until 2011! What I really want to know is which month is the Great Gaming Month Ever for 2011.

chess

I'm looking forward to many of the 2011 games...will likely even preorder some stuff. I'm talking about 2010 here.

chess

My intent wasn't to make a thread about me but rather to discuss the quality of the late 2010 releases.

That said, my take:

Halo: Reach (Halo Fans seemed happy enough with it)
Rock Band 3 (Great reviews and on my list...disappointing sales)
Dead Rising 2 ($20 zombie game)
Black Ops (if you were going to play one shooter this year, BFBC2 would be the one)
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood ($20 game, but only because it's Ubisoft)
Donkey Kong Country Returns (I orginally thought disappointing but am warming up)
Kirby's Epic Yarn (appealing but easy)
Metroid: Other M (disappointing all around)
Enslaved (great game)
Fallout: New Vegas (disappointing and fully broken)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (disappointing demo...maybe better game)
Fable III (indications from podcasts are that they broke Fable 2)
GranTurismo 5 (disappointing)
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (personally disappointed that it didn't feel a bit more like BP)

cruzness

Oops.

fumanstan

Right, which is why I said that in general, most of these games were reviewed pretty well and wouldn't be considered critical disappointments.

Michael Corvin

Which is funny because I look at the list cruzness put together I'm mildly interested in 3 of the 33. Not a single "must buy" on there for me. It's all personal preference.