[General Discussion] The Gamingforce Game of the Year 2009: Use Your Vote Time

After looking at everyone's lists I can safely say I have different tastes from all of you, not that it's really much of a bad thing.

Harvest Moon: Animal Parade - 35 points

Quite surprising that this game made it to the top spot on my list, and I've only played it for a few days. I haven't played many HM games, but this one is definitely the best I've ever played. Quite simply, it adds lots of new features that makes farming a lot easier and gives the game more customization than ever before. I love the idea of purchasing new clothing/accessories for yourself and your children and using the camera to take pics of your family and your animals, etc. The town's nicer and there's more animals to take care of, etc. The new pet system is great. With all the game has to offer, I decided to put it on this year's list.

The Sims 3 - 25 points

I love the Sims series, but the newest addition to the franchise doesn't take the top spot. Don't get me wrong though. It's the best one in the series. It added some much needed improvements such as diagonal positioning, no more needing to befriend 20+ people just to advance in your career, and no loading screens. The new trait system is leagues beyond the original personality system from the first two games (your Sim can be a Grumpy Unlucky Slob who is Frugal and Hydrophobic). The career system is much better, and you can dictate how your workday goes. There are lots more ways to make money without actually having a career, like painting, writing and selling minerals/space rocks/insects that you find outside. There are oodles of other features but I won't go into them.

The only reason why it ranks lower than HM though is that although it is clearly a better game than the first 2 games before it, it is still a base game and therefore not much to see and do. However, that will change when the expansions start coming out, and they promise to have a lot more depth to them than the Sims 2 expansions.

King's Bounty: Armored Princess - 20 points

The sequel to King's Bounty, one of the games I've also mentioned in this thread last year, AP has the same gameplay but with new items, new units, a flying horse, and a new pet dragon system that replaces the Chest of Rage from the original. It's no surprise it shows up also on this year's list. Only reason this didn't rank higher than the original though is because it's shorter and, other than the new stuff, it still plays exactly like the first game. That could be good for some, bad for others. The gameplay is awesome already though so it's not such a big deal.

Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection - 20 points

Yes, this game came out last year, but I'm talking about the PS3/360 versions which came out this year. It outdoes the PSP/Wii/PS2 versions by adding HD graphics, achievements (for those who like that sort of stuff), and three brand new tables to the already impressive line up: Tales of the Arabian Nights, No Good Gofers and Medieval Madness. Out of all the video pinball games I've played, this game has the best presentation and polish. The only reason it doesn't rank higher is because although I love pinball, there are lots of other people who don't. Also, the other games obviously are more indepth than a simple game of pinball.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Dark Spire

I had to put this somewhere in here. I don't think it's GotY material, but it's very good for what it does. It's quite an old-school 1st person dungeon crawler with a very nice Shadowgate graphics style and some impressive music to boot. It also is challenging, full of puzzles and has the sweet 'classic' mode that renders everything in wireframe to traverse the dungeon faster. For what it is, I very much preferred Dark Spire over the ever popular Etrian Odyssey series. Too bad it didn't get many sales though. I'd sure would love to play a sequel.

Props to Meia for mentioning the game. One word of advice though. The music on the lower floors are much better in Classic mode. There's no sign of a singing voice anywhere. I think I've already mentioned it on your backloggery though.

Resident Evil 5

I'm tossing this one in mainly because of the co-op. It's fun playing with a friend although that kinda sucks the whole scary aspect out of it. Also, the PC version (what I have) is simply flawless. No glitches or bugs whatsoever and it runs incredibly smooth. It also has the 3D mode which I haven't tried. I hear it's awesome, having enemies pop right out at you. One thing for sure though, it's no RE4.

Jam it back in, in the dark.