Board 8 > --Icehawk's Top 40 Games of the Year--

(+) Yeah! (+)

or not LOL

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im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

#33: Orcs Must Die!
(XBLA, Steam)


Orcs Must Die is another entry in the action/tower defense genre that is thriving more and more as of late. At first glance, Orcs Must Die might be the best in this genre. The action elements are really fun. Your bow is great to use, you have magic, and a sword. It's just fun to shoot orcs.

Then, instead of towers, you have traps. Stuff like spike walls that skewer orcs are incredibly entertaining and it's fun to watch orcs get owned by your traps.

So Orcs Must Die succeeds in some important areas, but I slowly began to get annoyed with another important part of the game... the level design. Most tower defense games, you can easily see the entire map. Even other action/tower defense games try hard to keep an open map so you can still easily see most of the map. Orcs must die instead has you fighting in a lot of narrow corridors with twists and turns that make it tough to see the whole map. A lot of levels also have 2 paths that are on opposite sides of the map that lead to your crystal which you must defend.

My problem with this is the general strategy of the game is, set up all your traps on one side, and fight yourself on the other side. This is annoying because A. I don't get to use as much strategy and monitor how my set up is doing. and B. I don't get the enjoyment of watching my spikes and stuff own people. Waaau too many levels are like this, and it's very annoying.

It's still a fun game, don't get me wrong, and I recommend it (ideally when it's on sale) if you like this genre, but I feel like it could have been a lot better. As it is, it's another solid but unspectacular entry in this genre.

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

with this next game, we are to the games I would rate in the 7s. the past games were all 6s which I classify as "good, do not regret purchase, but flawed". These are the games now that I consider flat out "good".

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

#32: Dead Pixels
(XBLIG)


One of the best ways to spend a buck this year. Dead Pixels is basically a river city ransom clone, except with guns and zombies, and it really works.

The gameplay is fast and satisfying, all the guns are fun to use, aided by excellent art and damage animations. I don't think blasting zombie heads off, finding loot, and upgrading my guy ever got too old in the 2 hours it should take to beat it.

Admittedly, it does get a little repetitive, the enemies mostly stay the same, the environments stay the same, and you only have a few different guns, but it is all executed well enough where I think most people will be into it the whole way.

Dead Pixels only real problems comes from not letting you enjoy its action a little bit more. For some reason, ammo is occasionally scarce. That fits some zombie games, but certainly not this one. Grenades are a BLAST to use (epic pun LOL), but they are really rare. I wish the game didn't limit my ability to SHOOT STUFF sometimes.

But thats a pretty small flaw for the most part. Dead Pixels wants to be a zombie equivalent of RCR, and it works. If you have 80 MSP on your xbox right now, do not fear buying this.

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

#31: Binding Of Isaac
(Steam)


Mr. McMillen is kind of an interesting developer. based on Super Meat Boy and Isaac anyway, he doesn't seem too interested in serious innovation, he just wants to perfect genres he enjoys, while adding his own visual flair. (some of his earlier works might not be like that, but WHATEVER).

With Binding of Isaac, it does seem like he has kind of perfected the roguelike, making it very mainstream accessible and quite a bit of fun.

The gameplay is simple enough, it basically plays like a twin stick shooter. But there are little things that make the gameplay a little more interesting. Your "bullets" (which are Isaac's tears) have limited range, and die off before they reach the end of the map. They also move around based on if you are moving while you shoot. They are small things that make you think a little bit as you play. Overall I found the "shooting" to be pretty interesting and fun/satisfying.

One of the best parts too is the loot system that goes with it. As you fight you will find gear that will upgrade your character, and it's always an exciting feeling when you find something that will really help you out.

It can be a little repetitive at times though. You are thrown into a room, enemies appear (most of them pretty simple in design), you shoot them, you are done. It's not a game that is long, it is meant to be replayable, but after so many playthroughs I found myself kind of bored with it.

Probably my biggest disappointment though is the boss fights. Every floor has a boss fight, and occasionally there are mini boss fights on floors. However, none of them are very interesting. Boss fights are a focal point of the game, yet they are really nothing special.

Sometimes the loot system can be a little more frustrating than fun too. The game can be pretty tough, and sometimes you just get nothing, no keys to unlock the loot, or the loot itself sucks. Then you are just pretty much boned on that playthrough.

But in the end, I definitely had way more good than bad times with Binding of Isaac. Most of the things I dislike are probably just elements of the genre, as it is, it's one of the best cheap games of the year.

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

From: Icehawk | #046
For $3 you could do a lot worse than Chester!

Only $1 now!

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SuperNiceDog won the Guru contest. Good job.

oh wow, nice.

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

dont die LOL

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

So like, is this just downloadable games?

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http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr345/Rakaputra/pjbasis.png
SuperNiceDog - 1, pjbasis - 0

it'll be 2013 before icehawk finishes this lol

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I'm no longer a Nadal supporter. Andy Murray is my new favorite player/person. -Princess Anri

So like, is this just downloadable games?

nope, theres 18 retail games on here. I just happened to like all of the retail games I bought this year quite a bit.

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )