It's nice to have such a prominent figure in video game blogging living in the same state as myself. I never meet anyone that plays video games unless I'm at a Gamestop.

Rood_Inverse

Other than that, I agreed with much of what was written. In any case, it was a great year for games.

eleventeen

Zero_Beat

FP Bleentastic has cake

mysteryboy2k

Ehardergardens

Kirkpad

There is a big difference from the excitement of:

*death* "Man, that was hard, but I can do better next time."
*win* "Wow, I got through that by the skin of my teeth."

and

*death* "What the hell, there was nothing I could have done there!"
*win* "The only way you can win is by trying over and over until you get lucky!"
.
I'm thinking I might have more fun if I played through on an easier difficulty, whichever one they had in mind when they balanced the games mechanics.
.
Any suggestions? (Normal?)

brent_w

Its when a game tries to be as realistic, serious, and emotional as Call of Duty 4 and still pulls crap like a "15 minutes 2 savez teh werldz!" level.

One completely negates the other.

It would be like putting a slapstick clown scene at the end of Schindler's List list ... it just doesn't fit.

brent_w

Flow is nice, a lot of style, I thought of it more as a nice execution of a sixaxis demo. I didn't play it very far though as the control orientation was non intuitive for me. (but somehow Lair's was???)
but Pain?
Is it really that fun? the premise seemed sort of one note, and the art style looked really unappealing to me. But then i don't really like jackass the tv series either. It reminded me of the fake tv series OW my Balls! or whatever it was called in that movie Idiocracy.

I would have guessed Super Stardust HD or Geometry Wars or Calling all Cars or other things I know I'm forgetting.

Ehardergardens

As a humble native of Greeley, now living in Los Angeles, I ask as a fellow Coloradoite:

What's your take on Mass Effect?

P.S. I think you're on your way to becoming the Ebert of game critics.

(runs away like a squealing shy school-girl and hides behind the couch)

THX5334

And I consider COD4 a lot less cheesy and corny than Halo 3 or Gears of War. All in all it's a step in the right direction in maturing the medium and a step they didn't even have to make to be successful. Games still have a ways to go to meet the same merits as movies (alhough i can think of a handful of games that are more subtle and thoughtful than a slew of movies). Games however have their own merits that movies do not.

Ehardergardens

Cow_Shed

PhantomVI

I did, however, feel like Halo 3 not even making a runner up on the list was a real travesty. It's a great, fun game and adding things like Forge and replays, coupled with online tracking and uploading was just icing on the cake. Overhyped to be sure, but it delivers on almost all accounts.

ビッグ ボス

tk.

Chris Taran

Brian Crecente

(Ok ... I'll shut up ... sorry.)

brent_w

TearsandScreams

First, I have to say, I love the gameplay, I love the ability to shoot through thing walls, I loved targeting for a C-130, firing stingers, etc.

The story is what killed that game for me.

It was so formulaic the entire time I was playing the game I felt like I was watching a war movie I had already seen before.

I actually laughed when the British missions added the "token black guy" with his stereotypical "token black guy attitude".

The missile silo level felt unbelievably out of place, it belonged in a James Bond type film, where some suspension of disbelief is to be expected.
"15 minutes to enter the launch codes and stop the missile!"
That has been done in more popcorn flicks and made for TV movies than I can count.

And the ending I saw coming so far away its not funny.

I remember thinking:
"By the time the game ends I just know that guy is gonna get a tragic death scene."

To be honest, the only thing in the entire game that caught me off guard was the scene after the helicopter crash.

Other issues:
*They put no effort into the difficulty modes.
Making all of the enemies lethal snipers with an SMG from 5 times its accurate range is not the proper way to make a game challenging, its just unrealistic.
Nothing killed my immersion quite as much noticing that every AI's first shot had near perfect accuracy, no mater the weapon, no mater the range.

*Several times I was accosted by a bug in which the AI's will actually shoot you before they've actually come around a corner. I don't mean through the wall, I mean the muzzle flash of the gun appeared out of thin air in a location which the enemy had not yet even reached. (It appears that their AI simulation is not quite in step with their rendering.) Its like seeing lag IN single player! When playing on the hardest difficulty this can be rather frustrating even to the most patient of players.

*The friendly AIs were incomparably frustrating. They apparently enjoyed jumping in front of my sniper bullets, pushing me out of cover and into enemy fire, and although I'm not quite certain, I'm pretty sure a few times they actually shot me in the back.
And the enemy AIs apparently know you are the Hero, because it quickly became painfully obvious that they will only fire at friendly AIs when they can't see you. (Another immersion breaker)

*The CoD4 Checkpoint System is a nightmare of poor planing.
I coulden't believe my eyes when, in the same level, they literally had 2 checkpoints at either end of an empty hallway, and then later had you hold off multiple waves of 100+ enemies with no checkpoints to be found.

Ok, I could go on but I should really stop before this post gets any longer.
.
To answer your last question, I've beaten it on Veteran, except for the Mile High Club, that kicked my ass. And also played through moves of the game on Normal as well.

brent_w

Silverbackne

Silverbackne

SuperFox

Nightshift_Nurse

From this standpoint, I have to completely disagree with your choice of GOTY, as any other option would be a better pick for myself.

SuperFox

It also made me really hate war, something I've never really felt from any movie.

Spoffoth

brent_w

brent_w

Brian Crecente

And Crecente's admiration for the cheeziest and corniest parts of the game just gets under my skin.
.
I don't understand how people are going so nuts over the story of this game as If they've never seen an action flick before.

A type of movie, may I point out, which is never lauded for its brilliant writing.

brent_w

dead_red_eyes

ThisCharmingMan

canchegundam

cactaur

Pornosaur

I am a huge fan of Bioshock, and would probably still put it on the top of my list for 2007, but I can completely understand why COD4 tops so many others'.

In retrospect, 2007 was an awesome year for gamers.

doubtful

A good game to be sure, but it wouldn't have appeared in my list of contenders for Game of the Year.

Nightshift_Nurse

R3load

NotoriousJnX

Bishmon

As much as I can appreciate the over-advertised, achingly repetitive gameplay of COD, I'm a fan of original concepts that do not compromise and actually deliver an amazing gaming experience in a mass-market digestible timeframe. It's so much like a good novel it's scary.

Ellomdian

El-Suave

Sorry Brian, graphics and online are not the only things to consider in a game.

Acute Gamer

the-hypnotoad

RonJeremy4Pres

Infinity Ward produced something really special with COD4 that goes beyond graphics and game mechanics and touches on the potential of games as a storytelling medium that could rival film. I hope other developers take note.

rawg

TOCATL

But I just can't get over insulting the Bioshock ending and praising the CoD4 ending.

CoD4's end ending is copied from a hundred war and action films and I saw it coming from 2 levels away.

And the level before the "ending level", that 15 min missile level, was the dumbest pile of cheese they dared put into the game.

I don't understand how so many can compliment such a corny and cliche'ed ending, I really cant.

brent_w

Okay, got that off of my chest. Shooters tend to wear thin quickly for me unless they have co-op.

tk.

*swoons*

7ucky

www.alt-controls.com
www.altcntrlgmr.com

SAKY

Machines

baked ham

...yeah, I'm nitpicking a bit but i think it would be nicer to see your body in frilly cloths than the Adonis figure in a toga :p

angry_gamer

Falconrith

Falconrith

MikeSheehan

Luis

I cant quite explain it, but I think it deserves game of the year.

Astrofox

SuedeGopher

Toasticus

Deadeyereborn

kidko

It's because I care. :P

ShaggE

MikeSheehan

I played it through, and it was a great game, don't get me wrong.
But IMO, it was also every bit as overhyped as Halo 3.

There are a number of flaws in CoD4 that people just seem to overlook and ignore, I really don't get the obsession ...

And the storyline and "film" elements you seem to salute I found absolutely rediculous.
.
Playing CoD4 felt just like watching your standard action movie.
It has all the war movie cliches, right down to the infuriatinly cheesy and unrealistic "you have 15 minutes to stop the missile" ending ...
.
IMO Bioshock and Galaxy both proved more entertaining.
I've not yet had the chance to play Uncharted.

brent_w

kidko

Jomo7

Brian Crecente

mgs fans pwned :)

bOOmStiCK83

R3load

Brian Crecente

Grumpz®

mgs fans pwned :)

FranUnFine

Toasticus