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What was your personal all-platform GOTY 2012? [roundtable]
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Feel free to list your top whatever. One... three... eighty... I shall go with my top ONE. The one game that truly blew me away this year... *drum roll* Spelunky!Yes, Spelunky is fucking awesome. It is the only thing stopping me from storming MS headquarters with a burning pitchfork. I've always been fascinated by the idea of the Roguelike, the endless promise of a procedurally-generated game, as well as the fascinating emergence that comes from overlapping many simple systems together to create a satisfying, challenging whole. Well, Spelunky takes all of that and encases it in a scrumptious arcade action shell. I actually waited for this game to go on sale before grabbing it. Subsequently, the demo (which covers about a fourth of the game!) became one of my most-played games of 2012. Spelunky is hard as fuck, but it always keeps you coming back for more. You go back to zero every time you die, but, in classic Roguelike fashion, your personal skills and strategies 'level up', which allows you to get a bit farther each game. It's a great feeling. And when you die (over and over), instead of getting discouraged and (virtually) shelving the game, you just jump right back in for another go. Partially because death in Spelunky (as in Smash Brothers) is almost always hilarious, and partially because you're not REALLY playing to win or to unlock anything. You're playing for the sheer joy, the sheer nail-biting thrill of playing. Almost like a classic coin-op game. Except this one is RANDOMLY GENERATED, so the fun can theoretically go on forever! I seriously can't say enough good things about Spelunky. 2012 was a year when narrative received an incredible amount of attention, but Spelunky excelled by being the gamiest game in Gametown. It's just so pure. Like fucking Everclear. Spelunky is also available for free on PC, but I wouldn't really recommend that version, since it lacks the refinements that really put the XBLA version over the top. If you have the means, here's the motive: Go play Spelunky!! Okay, now it's your turn! URL to share (right click and copy)
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02/02/13, 04:13 Edited: 02/03/13, 15:44
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Farsight doesn't have one engine that applies to all of their titles? So that when they improve the physics model, it applies retroactively to every table? Octorockin said:Rhythm Heaven Fever and Spelunky are up there for me as well. High five, Anand! High five, dawg! I'm so happy that someone else 'dug' Spelunky! I'm a bit disheartened that it hasn't received more heat in Game of the Year discussions. It's SO GOOD. Of course, the Rhythm Heaven series is always brilliant, as well. I have to put more time into Fever. Speaking of which, judging by all of your replies, I seriously have to put more time into Kid Icarus Uprising. It's almost a sweep! I think the main reason that I haven't played very far yet is because I need to set up the stand for the ideal Icarus experience. And, as stated before, I am a lazy, lazy man... @Mop it upThat IS surprising! It looks like the next entry will be a Wii Party, so I guess you'll have to wait a while to see how Mario Party continues to evolve after this. @warerareAlso surprising! I do kind of want to get into board games again. Playing games communally is so much more fun than drinking or watching some stupid movie. |
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@AnandWell, each table is individually tweaked to resemble the table in real life. They have gotten better and better at doing this each month. The engine itself feels pretty consistent, though there have been certain tweaks and glitch fixes that haven't yet been applied on all tables. There is a reason for this and it isn't laziness. Whenever they make changes to a table, it has to be approved by multiple parties... the pinball manufacturers, any license holders for tables like Star Trek, Twilight Zone, Monster Bash, etc., and finally the device manufacturers. It's a real pain, so they release updates when they feel that they are significant enough to warrant doing so. This is the reason why the tables can be buggy for awhile as well. It's not that Farsight is totally incompetent, which a lot of vocal Facebook users assume. I guess they have been working on improving the engine overall in certain areas, the most exciting of which is with the flipper physics... the game would immediately feel more realistic if you could pull off livecatches and other advanced techniques. I have no idea when to expect this. |
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Anand said:High five, dawg! I'm so happy that someone else 'dug' Spelunky! I'm a bit disheartened that it hasn't received more heat in Game of the Year discussions. It's SO GOOD. Of course, the Rhythm Heaven series is always brilliant, as well. I have to put more time into Fever. Speaking of which, judging by all of your replies, I seriously have to put more time into Kid Icarus Uprising. It's almost a sweep! I think the main reason that I haven't played very far yet is because I need to set up the stand for the ideal Icarus experience. And, as stated before, I am a lazy, lazy man... What amazes me about Spelunky is that it can be beaten in under 10 minutes, yet it's appealing enough to play for hours. Let me tell you, I felt like a Spelunky champion after beating Yama! I must have replayed the game dozens of times to get to that point, but each attempt was enjoyable in some way. Like you said, rather than being discouraging, failure is a big part of the experience. It's the desire and ability to succeed that kept me playing. The Rhythm Heaven series was the start of my interest in music-focused gameplay, and Rhythm Heaven Fever might just be my favorite game of its kind. The fun visuals and songs synch up with the simple controls perfectly. I really enjoy getting into the grove and feeling the music. With Kid Icarus: Uprising, I think the game is hard to put down once you find a comfortable way to play it. Jump back in, dude! |
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@GameDadGrantYeah, even during the DS days, I was not a big fan of stylus in one hand/system in the other play. And having to maintain the 3D sweet spot makes things even dicier. With those types of games, I usually just lay on my stomach and rest the system on a pillow so that I don't have to hold it. But the stand is a nice alternative. @Secret_TunnelAutofire!! I don't think that I knew about that. @HinphI am impressed by the quality of your Farsight intel. Didn't they run a Kickstarter to try to license some classic tables, or something? @Mop it upHow can you loathe Miis? They love you! @OctorockinHeh, you have shamed me. I still haven't quite beaten Spelunky, since I only started playing the ACTUAL GAME (and not just the demo) recently. Maybe I'll try tonight... I'm, like, addicted to killing the shopkeeper. Every time I see him, I concoct some sort of horrific trap and use up all of my bombs trying to kill him and steal his shotgun. |
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