HF Game of the Year 2016 - Uncharted 4 Wins

[Mrb1p]

This is my third generation 'back' with Pokemon and I still don't understand half of the mechanics (namely with breeding and competitive training).

I understand most of it, but that's because I have a lot of time on my hand to read

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Uncharted 4 wins, to the surprise of no one that played uncharted 4

 

[Bjorn Le]

20% isn't exactly a resounding victory. Next year you ought to do a run-off between the top 3/5 if no game wins the majority.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Or maybe not have 20 options

 

[Commander Clueless]

20% isn't exactly a resounding victory. Next year you ought to do a run-off between the top 3/5 if no game wins the majority.

I disagree. I like this format.

If we do a "playoff" round of sorts, I think you'll see far too many people voting for games they didn't particularly enjoy or didn't even play just to spite another game for petty reasons. Case in point: the Pokemon discussion.


I think it's best to keep it the way it is: everyone just votes for their favourite game they played that was released that year and the one with the most votes wins the "title".

Simple, honest, and fun.

 

[SniperHF]

I like the options because I consider it more of a survey.

I'm quite sure a lot of people who voted for the options in the 5th-10th place range didn't play some of the others. Or at the very least don't consider the top games all that great for various reasons. So you'd have a situation where people would be voting on a game just because it's on the list or as a vote against something else.


This way fewer people who think a game is merely good/decent vote for that game to be the best.

It's also a good way to see the impact a game has on the populace around here. Skyrim, Witcher 3, and to a slightly lesser extent TLoU (GTA V was out) broke that threshold. In the case of TLoU it's even more interesting when you consider it was exclusive and had the competition it did.


Also the difference between nominations (people who post a lot) and just vote is interesting too.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

I like the options because I consider it more of a survey.

I'm quite sure a lot of people who voted for the options in the 5th-10th place range didn't play some of the others. Or at the very least don't consider the top games all that great for various reasons. So you'd have a situation where people would be voting on a game just because it's on the list or as a vote against something else.


This way fewer people who think a game is merely good/decent vote for that game to be the best.

It's also a good way to see the impact a game has on the populace around here. Skyrim, Witcher 3, and to a slightly lesser extent TLoU (GTA V was out) broke that threshold. In the case of TLoU it's even more interesting when you consider it was exclusive and had the competition it did.


Also the difference between nominations (people who post a lot) and just vote is interesting too.

Honestly the only games I have played on that list are XCOM2 which I voted for and Civ VI and Gears of War 4 both of which I nominated (along with Stellaris).

 

[Jasper]

Voted for BF1 because it's an amazing game.. but pretty much overrun by nerds I think must play it twelve hours a day from my experience with it. So it's not much fun for normal people with normal lives and ****.

Pokemon - Is that not for eight year old kids? I don't have kids so I have no idea but I assume the people who voted for it are kids or people with kids (no offence).

Never played Uncharted, so I'm totally ignorant, but is it like the Last of Us? I assume it's something like that, which I didn't like much. I assume it's a good streamlined shooter as it's a PS game, which I'll never play.

 

[wingsnut19]

Pokemon - Is that not for eight year old kids? I don't have kids so I have no idea but I assume the people who voted for it are kids or people with kids (no offence).

Read the discussion in the thread.

 

[PALE PWNR]

Voted for BF1 because it's an amazing game.. but pretty much overrun by nerds I think must play it twelve hours a day from my experience with it. So it's not much fun for normal people with normal lives and ****.

Pokemon - Is that not for eight year old kids? I don't have kids so I have no idea but I assume the people who voted for it are kids or people with kids (no offence).

Never played Uncharted, so I'm totally ignorant, but is it like the Last of Us? I assume it's something like that, which I didn't like much. I assume it's a good streamlined shooter as it's a PS game, which I'll never play.

Uncharted and Last of Us are similar yea. There are some puzzles and climbing mechanics that make Uncharted a bit more like Tomb Raider or something you would associate Indiana Jones with that make it a bit different. But yes they are along the same lines and if you did not enjoy TLoU then you probably wouldn't enjoy Uncharted either.

 

[Mikeaveli]

Voted for BF1 because it's an amazing game.. but pretty much overrun by nerds I think must play it twelve hours a day from my experience with it. So it's not much fun for normal people with normal lives and ****.

Pokemon - Is that not for eight year old kids? I don't have kids so I have no idea but I assume the people who voted for it are kids or people with kids (no offence).

Never played Uncharted, so I'm totally ignorant, but is it like the Last of Us? I assume it's something like that, which I didn't like much. I assume it's a good streamlined shooter as it's a PS game, which I'll never play.

Tell an eight year old kid to breed for IVs and see what happens

 

[Jasper]

That was meant tongue in cheek aside from BF1.. which admittedly wasn't very obvious in hindsight.

 

[Oscar Acosta]

I always thought HF had a great history of GOTY winners - I mean no game journalistic site or person would have ever put South Park the Stick of Truth as a winner - but we did. And it deserved it.

I voted Uncharted 4, but I think it's the weakest of all the Uncharted games. It is what it is in 2017, you want a great game to play - that's the one. I had a lot more fun with others.

Same sort of deal with the Walking Dead. You get people voting from all standpoints - fun, playability, scale, graphics all combined into one winner. I don't feel you get that from your general "Game of the Year" awarding sites. Lot of the time it seems like this is expected to be game of the year so yeah, pander to the masses so they're relevant on hits. I mean hell, Grand Theft Auto V lost here - and the game is still relevant years later. I thought Last of Us was good, but not GTA V good - but the people here spoke and I don't think we've been wrong yet - even if I voted otherwise multiple times.

 

[Oscar Acosta]

I would suggest though - a weighted vote, like they do for NHL trophies. You vote 1st, 2nd, 3rd and each is weighted out to a total value.

I think we might see different results over people voting in a head to head they know will be a final two or putting their vote in on a final two that are in the lead. Was my GOTY Uncharted 4? No. Personally it was either MLB the Show or Batman the Telltale Series, but I wasn't going to waste a vote on them. So my 3rd place pick that had a chance of winning it was. I mean hell, the fact MLB 16 got 4 votes alone tells a lot about how great the game is.

And from that you'll see a good top ten games of the year people might be inclined to pick up.

 

[Pip]

Uncharted won?

lame

 

[syz]

Eh, this place is mostly an encapsulation of the post-Xbox era casual gamer demographic, and that's not surprising given that this is a sports website. Always going to have something that's more of a lowest common denominator with the biggest marketing budget on top of a poll, with Walking Dead narrowly winning in an incredibly weak year being the lone outlier thus far (although that shouldn't have won, either, and Journey didn't even make the poll).

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Tell an eight year old kid to breed for IVs and see what happens

If I'm being honest I still don't really understand IVs. Most things added between gens 2-4 still baffle me



And guys...this is a hockey message board. Expectations should probably be lower when it comes to a thread that allows one single vote to count amongst a largely casual audience. We could argue that an actual ballot may result in a more accurate result...but how many people who voted played so much as a third of the games on the poll? Hell, certain games in the running for GotY elsewhere didn't even make the poll because not enough people played it yet (Dishonored 2 coming out so late in the game basically precluded it from the list). Hell, I probably play a lot more games than most people who voted here, and my copy of Uncharted 4 is still in its shrink wrap.

And frankly GotY is nothing more than a fun thing to debate anyway. Certain genres don't appeal to certain people, so no matter what wins it'll never be unanimous, and nobody is inherently wrong for having different tastes. No amount of me proselytizing Tokyo Mirage Sessions is going to make that appeal to people who aren't inherently into JRPGs, and the same in reverse when it comes to stuff like Dark Souls just outright not appealing to me at all. The winner of these kinds of topics are almost always going to be the best game that appealed to the most gamers...that's why the best of genre awards always appealed to me more (but even that can be tricky considering how wide genres can be...Dark Souls 3 and Tokyo Mirage Sessions are probably in the same generic RPG category and are about as different as games can be).

 

[Pilky01]

I think this was a horrible, horrible year for games, and I guess the lack of enthusiasm for HF's 2016 GOTY is just symptomatic of that.

I played 1 game on this list, Pokemon Go.

I am still just playing MGS5, Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption, GTA 5, Arkham Knight, NHL 16 and Rocket League.



AAA games are tired and stale; the 'arthouse' sorts of walking simulator games that media is in love with are boring.

Bring back NBA Jam, NHL Hits, NFL Blitz and MLB The Bigs!!!!

 

[vdB]

Voted for BF1 because it's an amazing game.. but pretty much overrun by nerds I think must play it twelve hours a day from my experience with it. So it's not much fun for normal people with normal lives and ****.

Pokemon - Is that not for eight year old kids? I don't have kids so I have no idea but I assume the people who voted for it are kids or people with kids (no offence).

Never played Uncharted, so I'm totally ignorant, but is it like the Last of Us? I assume it's something like that, which I didn't like much. I assume it's a good streamlined shooter as it's a PS game, which I'll never play.

lol don't call Pokemon for kids. The fan boys here will bit your head off!

Fair enough regarding your view on Naughty Dog games, but that kind of voice acting/story is hard to come by.

 

[Mikeaveli]

I think this was a horrible, horrible year for games, and I guess the lack of enthusiasm for HF's 2016 GOTY is just symptomatic of that.

I played 1 game on this list, Pokemon Go.

I am still just playing MGS5, Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption, GTA 5, Arkham Knight, NHL 16 and Rocket League.



AAA games are tired and stale; the 'arthouse' sorts of walking simulator games that media is in love with are boring.

Bring back NBA Jam, NHL Hits, NFL Blitz and MLB The Bigs!!!!

Agreed that this year wasn't great but you played the worst game on the list lol

If I'm being honest I still don't really understand IVs. Most things added between gens 2-4 still baffle me

I kind of wish they would make EVs, IVs and all that more transparent in the actual game instead of leaving it for the fans to figure out how it actually works (eg. key item that allows you to just see your pokemon's EVs instead of having to keep track of them yourself while training). But then again that's part of the fun so maybe not lol

 

[Afino]

Agreed that this year wasn't great but you played the worst game on the list lol


I kind of wish they would make EVs, IVs and all that more transparent in the actual game instead of leaving it for the fans to figure out how it actually works (eg. key item that allows you to just see your pokemon's EVs instead of having to keep track of them yourself while training). But then again that's part of the fun so maybe not lol

They've made IV's more accessible in Sun and Moon than ever before. Not to the EXACT number (unless it's best), but good enough so you know for competitive breeding.

 

[Mount Suribachi]

20% isn't exactly a resounding victory. Next year you ought to do a run-off between the top 3/5 if no game wins the majority.

I posted the winning percentages for previous years on an earlier page - Truly great games get a higher percentage. Merely good games get a lower percentage. 2016 was a relatively weak year.

For comparison:
2015 - Witcher 3, 35% (strong competition from Fallout 4)
2014 - South Park-Stick of Truth, 16%
2013 - The Last of Us, 29% (strong competition from GTA V)
2012 - Walking Dead ep. 1-5, 21%
2011 - Skyrim, 49% (!)

 

[vdB]

AAA games are tired and stale; the 'arthouse' sorts of walking simulator games that media is in love with are boring.

Get off your high horse bud. You chirp these games yet have only played Pokémon go (which again, is a game for kids).

If you actually played these "arthouse" games, I'm sure you would have a much more informed opinion.

 

[Trap Jesus]

I posted the winning percentages for previous years on an earlier page - Truly great games get a higher percentage. Merely good games get a lower percentage. 2016 was a relatively weak year.

Looking back at those threads makes it seem very cyclical for gaming years. 2012, 2014, and 2016 seemed to be pretty weak when you glance at the nominations whereas 2011, 2013, and 2015 seemed to be overflowing with amazing games.

 

[McPuritania]

I would have voted Blood and Wine had I known this thread existed before the poll closed.