[Question] The Gamingforce Game of the Year 2012: Results now in!

New Super Mario Bros. 2 - 30 points
This game plays just like NSMB Wii with elements added from the DS game (hold item, Mega Mushroom). Seriously, even the soundtrack is almost the same. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, I still had a lot of fun with this game. So much so that I think if I had to choose a game of the year this would be one of the top contenders. The theme of the game seems to center around coins being EVERYWHERE, so it's pretty easy to grab 100 for an extra life. The game also has DLC that can be used in the Coin Rush mode (which is a series of three random courses without losing a life and while collecting as many coins as possible). One of the DLC courses consists of past Mario 1 and 3 stages remade for this game.

If there was a must have title for the 3DS this year, New Super Mario Bros. 2 is one of them.



Theatrhythm Final Fantasy - 25 points

Here's the OTHER top contender for my game of the year and one of the other must have titles for the 3DS. This game, is straight up addictive. Mixing Guitar Hero-like gameplay with music from the Final Fantasy franchise is a pretty sweet combination. You take control of chibi creations from each main hero of the series, but you can also unlock secondary characters. You use them to either travel the fields and battle monsters, but you also go with the music on some of the mashed up videos of the past games as well. The DLC, makes this game even better adding some more of my favorite songs from the series. At 99 cents a song, even though it adds up to paying for the game again it is definitely worth it. Good move by Square-Enix on this one, I can't praise it enough.



Dead or Alive 5 - 20 points
I love this series. While not a whole lot has changed gameplay wise (the timing of the counters is now more precise so you can't be a complete counter-whore here), the graphics have definitely gotten a face lift...literally. The game also introduces sweat for the characters. Once you complete a match, you can see beads of sweat coming from the characters face. Another example to show for this is one female character named Hitomi wears a white tank top. As the match progresses on while she sweats, you can start to visibly see the black bra she's wearing underneath the shirt.

While the game includes some new fighters for the franchise, it also includes fighters from the Virtua Fighter series to be selected. They must have also taken notes from Mortal Kombat 9 because the story mode follows the same style: you play through some fights as one character, then you're switched to the next character as you progress forward.

The online mode is where this lost some points. While it seems some of the lag issues from DoA4 were fixed, some of the options from it's predecessor have been removed such as gameplay modes (Survivor and Team Battle) along with the lobbies where you can run around with your own custom avatar while watching the matches on the TV. Still a decent fighter.



Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance - 10 points
Another decent entry in the series, you take control of Sora and Riku respectively as you progress through the game. Your companions this time are Dream Eaters, cute colorful creatures who will aid you in your quest as long as you raise them right. I dunno, I kinda preferred just having Donald and Goofy. Also, while you can switch between characters whenever you want each one has a time limit with the drop meter. Once the drop meter reaches zero, it doesn't matter if you're in the middle of a fight or walking around picking your nose you will switch characters against your will. This is kind of annoying.

Soundtrack is good as usual. The story though, if it wasn't confusing before my God is it all over the place now. One good thing about this is the way they ended it, there's no way Kingdom Hearts III isn't next.



Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - 5 points
Pretty much an upgrade to the Source game, just 5 bucks cheaper. Introduces it's own version of Gun Game called Arms Race and Demolition which has you level up to your next gun depending on if you got a kill in the previous round. Some of the Hostage Mission maps are still missing, I believe there are still only two currently. Why they weren't included in the final game, I can't say for sure. Still waste about an hour on this every week.



Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II - 5 points
The game isn't that bad, I think the gameplay is a little better than Episode I and the team attacks have saved my ass on several occasions. The special stages play more like Sonic 2 which is kinda neat.

However, this has some of the most EAR-PIERCING MUSIC of the series. There are some good tracks but you'll need to turn your volume down for a majority of it. Don't believe me? Go here and try to listen to this without cringing or wincing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bSROlWwPxs.



Ninja Gaiden III - 5 points
Yes, they dumbed down the difficulty and I'm okay with that. Yes, the story wasn't that great and I'm still fine with that. The game was still better than Ninja Gaiden II. Why? Because I was able to finish the game without an update causing the whole fucking game to crash in several levels where certain cutscenes played and the only way to finish it was to uninstall the updates and play the rest of it offline. Yes, I am still bitter about that bullshit.


Honorable Mentions:

New Super Mario Bros. U - Plays like NSMB Wii and NSMB2, almost the same soundtrack, still fun but not enough to make the list. It's still probably the best WiiU title out right now.

Mario Tennis Open - Plays like Mario Power Tennis from the Gamecube and also has online play. Fun tennis game, but just barely missed the cut.

Jam it back in, in the dark.