The survival horror genre is probably the fastest-dying of them all, but it’s games like Amnesia that really get the spotlight when they hit it home on the scare factor. Amnesia stays true to the genre, and this is due to the fact that there’s no combat whatsoever. Zero, zilch, nada, you can’t fight. If you see a creature, you have to hide or run, and this is what adds to the tension. If you can fight, you can just kill it, but if you can’t, then you have to really think about what to do, which can make you not want to continue.
Amnesia may be a first-person adventure game, but your only weapon is light and against your own insanity, not creatures. Staying in the light is key, and oil for your lantern is as precious as 9mm ammo in Silent Hill. It’s scarce, and you try to savor every drop or just use tinderboxes as an alternative. You can light candles, lamps, or any source of light to guide your way to preserve oil or if you run out. Daniel can see in the dark somewhat, but it’s hard to solve puzzles like this.
As your sanity slowly drains, you will hallucinate, walk slower, the screen will distort, and creatures will hear you. Seeing traumatic scenes can do this too, as can looking at creatures for too long. You will also lose sanity if you don’t progress or solve puzzles, so it keeps you on your toes, but don’t worry, I only encountered a couple of times where Daniel went totally insane and lost it. You’ll more likely go insane from fright before he ever does.
And that’s the thing about amnesia: it frightens you with atmosphere, pacing, and tension from the environment instead of zombies popping out. The music and ambiance are haunting, and they make you paranoid throughout the whole game. One scene had me in a room where I was picking up a letter, and suddenly something started bashing down the door. I literally jumped and tried to find a place to hide. A wardrobe! I grabbed each door and swung them open and hid, and as I peeked through the crack, Daniel started freaking out, so I had to not look. I heard the creature breathing, moaning, and moving around, and I was afraid it would start bashing down the wardrobe! It soon turned away, and I could continue hunting for puzzle solutions, but was I ever so scared?
The haunting story doesn’t help either, with you just waking up in a castle and not knowing who you are. You read letters along the way, trying to discover some orb and stop the shadow from consuming you. I can’t go into more detail because it will spoil the story, but it’s very creepy and disturbing and was well put together.
The second part of the game is the puzzles. These vary from object hunting to physics and pathfinding. I have to admit that Frictional has always been known for obscure puzzles, and some of the time I didn’t know what to do and was completely clueless. You rarely get hints, and this can lead to frustrating backtracking and pixel hunting, so an FAQ needs to be handy. Other than that, the puzzles were clever and really stuck to the story, and they all felt necessary.
Amnesia is a horror classic and is even better than Frictional’s Penumbra series. This game will scare the pants off of you; it even clocks in at a nice 6–8 hours and has three different endings to see. I really hope for a sequel or another game similar because Frictional found the survival horror sweet spot.
Game of the Year is one of the hardest decisions because so many games are created every year. But to come out on top the game must be excellent in its genre (usually re-define it) and have great production values, and not feel repetitive, and usually, it changes the way we think about games.
What sets Red Dead apart from all of these other excellent games is how authentic its world is. It feels so real and feels just like the wild west. With excellent voice acting, a huge open world to explore, lots of missions, and it’s just the subtle details that make it a winner. Hunting, gambling, horseback riding, even down to the drinks, attitudes of the people, clothing, accents, it just all adds up to something spectacular and really shows what a game can do. It’s Red Dead’s subtle details that truly make this game shine over the others.
A good strategy game consists of balanced gameplay, lots of units to use, a good story, and great ways to execute strategy on the enemy. A lot of strategy games fail on this part, and tend to be overly complicated, and is mostly stuck on the PC due to complicated control schemes.
What sets StarCraft apart? It’s the epic story? Perfectly balanced units? Competitive Multiplayer? It’s everything about the game from the well-crafted missions, excellent and diverse factions, and the fact that it keeps strategy simple. It may not be fair to pit other strategy games against an icon like StarCraft, but it happens every few years. StarCraft II is an instant classic and should be loved by strategy goers everywhere.
Shooters probably take the most flak from gamers and tend to be the most hated. Most gamers don’t like shooters due to their true-to-life reenactments, or just killing people with guns doesn’t sit well with most. No doubt shooters helped push consoles graphics-wise, and have some great stories to tell, and excellent cinematic moments.
Black Ops not only has astounding multiplayer, but the single-player campaign is probably one of the best this year when it comes to shooters. Most shooters have shallow stories, but Black Ops‘ Vietnam/Cold War story is gripping, with some of the best set pieces seen in shooters. Excellent graphics, memorable characters, and awesome weapons make this a winner.
RPG’s most important element is the story. This is what sets RPGs apart from other genres. The games also must have excellent lovable characters and good combat whether it’s turned based or real-time. RPGs also tend to be very long, but they are getting a bad rap in Japan due to never changing their formula.
While New Vegas isn’t as good as Fallout 3 just the sheer vastness of the wasteland, the memorable characters, and the deep amount of content the game provides. There are a seemingly endless amount of quests, and the game has excellent dungeons, great shooting mechanics, and the mod community for the PC version is enormous, and New Vegas wins because the game lasts beyond the box, and it stays true to RPG standards: Leveling up by killing, completing quests, and tons of loot.
The Rhythm/Music genre has always been about great music, and whether your rocking out, dancing, or singing you are meant to have a great time, but the game also has to have responsive controls. If the game can’t also be read without thinking your game is broken. Making a good rhythm game is hard since the genre is so bloated these days. The game also has to have good sturdy hardware that’s responsive.
Rock Band 3
Rock Band isn’t a unique or original game anymore so why does it win for the second year in a row? The new peripherals and the fact that it actually teaches you how to play music now. With the addition of the new keytar and being able to play with a real guitar? That’s ingenious, and while the gameplay hasn’t changed much that addition of excellent hardware makes it a winner.
Puzzle games aren’t just supposed to bend our minds, but also offer unique ways to play puzzles we’ve grown to love. Some have stories, some require reflex, and some just make you think.
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
Professor Layton brings puzzle games to life with a charming story, visuals, and deep clever puzzles. What sets it apart from the rest is the way puzzles are presented with the DS hardware and the way you think about them. Professor Layton has set the standard for puzzle games, and you don’t just have to have the quantity to make a puzzle game great.
A great platformer has responsive controls, unique gameplay, good puzzles, and good graphics. Platformers go all the way back to the beginning of video games so there’s is a lot of scrutinies involved in them.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
While Mario may be the same thing over and over again the Galaxy games really show what the Wii was meant for, and truly offer unique gameplay, charming visuals, and fun combat and puzzle-solving. Galaxy 2 succeeds on the first game with pretty much better everything. The game is more epic, it feels like it’s on a larger scale, and you just can’t get enough of that Galaxy feel.
Driving games are all about the cars whether it’s a simulator or arcade racer. A good driving game has responsive controls, slick cars, fun tracks, and customization options that suit the game.
While it has its flaws and was overhyped there’s no denying the attention to detail in GT5. With over 500 cars, tons of real-world tracks detailed to every crack, excellent tuning options, and a slick interface what’s there not to like? With the new special events, GT5 is oozing with awesome content for car lovers. So flaws aside it’s the attention to detail that won this over the rest.
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Try multiplayer. A lot of fun !