[Question] The Gamingforce Game of the Year 2010: Vote a Go Go

The start of a new year rolls around and here as 2011 begins who can help but cast an eye back over the 12 months we've just left behind. Sure pretty much all major publications and any blog vaguely related to gaming under the sun has already had their say and told you what they consider the best of 2010, but as ever the real question is what does Gamingforce consider the best of 2010?

As with the 2008 and 2009 voting here's how this is going to work: each person has 100 points to vote for games released in 2010 (doesn't matter where, but games have to have been commercially released in 2010) and you can allocate them to as many games as you like as long as it totals 100 in the end. The only rule is that you can't award any single game more than 40 points. So you could vote two 40s and a 20, or a 40 and six 10s, or any other combination of points as long as it adds up to 100.

To vote all you have to do is post a reply with your top games of 2009, how many points you're giving each, and a brief explanation of why you feel the game deserves your points.

Example:

GAME A - 40 points
Man I loved game A because...

GAME B - 20 points
I ended up playing so much of game B that...

GAME C - 15 points
Game C gets some points because...

GAME D - 15 points
I couldn't decide between this and C, so gave both points, but D rocks because...

GAME E - 5 points
Good, but not necessarily great, but I figure E deserves some points because...

GAME F - 5 points
Like E, F gets a few points because...

REFERRED BY: ... Wait what is this?

There is change afoot: to try and encourage a little spreading of the love this year there will be a referral system in place. If you convince someone else to vote and they put your name in their post (of the style "REFERRED BY: x") then you gain an additional 5 points to make use of. The same maximum of 40 points exists so you can't use these additional points to exceed it, but you can boost the points of any game not yet at the 40 limit, or you can use the extra points to vote for another game. There's a maximum of 20 points that can be gained from referrals to be distributing within the rules however you please.

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Voting will close on Saturday 15th January at 18:00 GMT (that's Englandland time), at which point I'll add all the points together and work out GFF's top 20 games of 2010, posting the results in a new thread for discussion/people to bitch about.

Get voting.

Oh, and get other people to come vote too. This year it earns you some extra voting power.

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FAQ

Q. Is Minecraft eligible for voting since it hasn't officially been released?
A. This is a tough one since it is a game you can purchase, but it hasn't been officially released, and that has been one of our long standing rules for being eligible for votes. Unless someone can make a suitable argument for me to change my mind then I'm going to say no, Minecraft won't be counted.

Q. Why should a person's opinion carry more weight because they happen to have more internet friends?
A. Their opinion doesn't carry more weight. If you look at the rules you are not allowed to grant more than the already stipulated 40 point maximum to any one game. Also since you only get an additional 5 points for each referral up to a maximum of 20 points we think this is low enough to prevent any silliness. This could be a big old mistake and if it is naturally we won't do it again, but we're trying to generate a little bit of a reason for you to go out and tell someone else to get involved. We'll see when the dust settles whether or not it was just about those people with lots of 'internet friends'.

Q. Do expansions count as games?
A. I think things could start getting messy on this front as how much of a standalone experience does something have to be to count as a game sort of in its own right. I'm not sure there's a clear-cut answer here and if people want to put points into particular expansions I'm going to allow it as long as (as always) the expansions were official releases in 2010.

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Disclaimer/Rules:
1. If you allocate any game more than 40 points your vote won't be counted.
2. If your points allocation totals more than 100 points [unless affected by 2a] your vote won't be counted (totals less than 100 are fine).
2a. Referrals allow an additional 5 points each to be used in voting, up to a maximum of 20 additional points.
3. Votes for games not released in 2010 will be ignored.
4. Only official commercial releases in 2010 count.
5. No negative points. I'll point and laugh and then ignore your vote.
6. Whole integers only. Fractions and decimal places will also lead me to ignore your vote.
7. Any other such idiocy will also probably lead your vote not being counted.

And as ever, I take no responsibility for Skills fucking with stuff, which if you ignore these points he almost certainly will do somehow.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Sorry for the short reply but I'm currently checking stuff on my phone. I've seen there's a few questions to address and I'll get right on that when I'm back tomorrow (hopefully).

There's nowhere I can't reach.

OK guys I've added a FAQ to the top post, but here are the answers to the questions I've been asked so far anyway:

Q. Is Minecraft eligible for voting since it hasn't officially been released?
A. This is a tough one since it is a game you can purchase, but it hasn't been officially released, and that has been one of our long standing rules for being eligible for votes. Unless someone can make a suitable argument for me to change my mind then I'm going to say no, Minecraft won't be counted.

Q. Why should a person's opinion carry more weight because they happen to have more internet friends?
A. Their opinion doesn't carry more weight. If you look at the rules you are not allowed to grant more than the already stipulated 40 point maximum to any one game. Also since you only get an additional 5 points for each referral up to a maximum of 20 points we think this is low enough to prevent any silliness. This could be a big old mistake and if it is naturally we won't do it again, but we're trying to generate a little bit of a reason for you to go out and tell someone else to get involved. We'll see when the dust settles whether or not it was just about those people with lots of 'internet friends'.

Q. Do expansions count as games?
A. I think things could start getting messy on this front as how much of a standalone experience does something have to be to count as a game sort of in its own right. I'm not sure there's a clear-cut answer here and if people want to put points into particular expansions I'm going to allow it as long as (as always) the expansions were official releases in 2010.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Guess I should probably get my votes in before I forget like some sort of numpty.

Vanquish - 30 points
You know when a game has well and truly got its hooks into you when the act of talking about it causes you to be overwhelmed with the desire to play it again: Vanquish is that game. There’s so little to dislike about this game that it’s a grand shame more people haven’t experienced its multitude of delights. There’s so much awesome on display in this game you spend half the time wondering how Platinum Games pulled it off, but pull it off they did. The various balancing acts in play - with the risk-reward of your boost bar, the weapon upgrades, which weapons to carry - it all works together wonderfully. If it weren’t for Bayonetta also appearing in 2010 this would be a clear front runner for my favourite game of the year.

Bayonetta - 30 points
Bayonetta appears to be just about one of the daftest things going, but looks are deceiving and the game lurking beneath the latex-clad mile-long legs and gratuitous lollipop sucking is deadly serious. Sure stick the game on normal and you might survive for a while by button mashing, but you won’t get far and you won’t look good doing it. Start to learn the timing, learn different combos, play with different weapons and you really start to see the magic of game shining through. But then you move onto the next area and suddenly the boss you just fought is the regular enemy and new enemy types have their own subtle quirks that need ways of dealing with. Once you finally make it through normal mode you might just be about ready to take on hard; maybe. And all of it is wrapped in that deliriously silly and wonderful shell and story with all kinds of homage and references to old Sega titles. Bayonetta is ridiculous certainly, but ridiculously brilliant too.

Red Dead Redemption - 20 points
Like all the best open worlds Red Dead Redemption’s wilderness is one you can’t help but get lost in. It’s a testament to the excellent atmosphere generated in Rockstar’s game that some of the most affecting moments are its quietest. It’s also to Rockstar’s story telling and script-writing credit that despite some lengthy and possibly silly distractions the game keeps you invested in the trials and adventures of John Marston and introduces some fun characters you’ll spend time interacting with. It’d be far too easy to dismiss this as simply GTA-Wild West, but to do so misses the point entirely. Even if it was just GTA dressed up in cowboy boots it’d be a good game, but all the tweaks and changes make it a great one. Oh, and the soundtrack is amazing with such well placed vocal tracks that you can’t help but get swept up in the moment.

Split/Second: Velocity - 10 points
My friends and I were fortunate enough to sample this game at the Eurogamer Expo in 2009 and we left agreeing that without a doubt it was the highlight of the show and one to pick up when it finally arrived. That kind of hype can be a hard burden for any game to bear but thankfully Split/Second (complete with silly and unnecessary suffix 'Velocity' in Europe) was up to the task. The premise is a bit goofy – you’re the star of a near-future reality TV show, with clearly far more money than sense, that puts on races around city-sized race tracks rigged with explosives and traps – but the action is spot on. Building up your power bar allows you to gain an advantage either through shortcuts or at the expense of your opponents thanks to well timed explosions and obstacles. Save up for a full power bar though and you can unleash a show stopping event that can end up altering the race course route itself. And no matter how many times you experience it the sight of a massive tower collapsing on top of your opponents opening up a shorter route to first place, or seeing a huge cruise ship careen across the track, or a jumbo jet come crashing down in front of you… it’s exhilarating every single time. Oh this makes no mention of some of the excellent secondary modes, like the fantastic survival mode. Sure it would have been nice if there was a few more tracks, a slightly longer campaign, but this was easily the best arcade racer of the year for me; and when Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is the competition that’s no small complement.

Mass Effect 2 - 10 points
I was late to the Mass Effect party; in fact, I didn’t play the first game until just before number 2 arrived on the shelves. However, the short time between playing the games served to show off just how much BioWare improved things. The whole experience is streamlined and feels like a much slicker production. Thankfully the Mako was tossed out the nearest airlock and on top of that the sequel has diverse and interesting side-missions that feel like they inhabit the same game world as the main story missions (rather than the identikit buildings with various configurations of boxes to shoot around that plagued the first game). As ever the story and characters are really well developed and it’s all too easy to get caught up in the trials and tribulations of your mission and your crew, and the game will make you feel it if you manage to get any of them killed during the end-game. Bring on number 3.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Put Balls

There is a hole in the rules with which I don't know what to do. It is only passingly mentioned that the points for the games should add up to 100. Well, for me, this doesn't realistically happen, because of the arbitrary, pointless 40 points maximum. (You could do better with a minimum number of games one can have in the list. Or create any set of rules that apply with different cases.) Anyway, fail rules.

Or, you know, fail at reading on your part, but who's keeping score:

Originally Posted by OmagnusPrime

2. If your points allocation totals more than 100 points [unless affected by 2a] your vote won't be counted (totals less than 100 are fine).

I was speaking idiomatically.