Welcome to Day 2 of our internationally beloved award show. Once again we take a look at a variety of topics and come to hastily made decisions on what the staffers of Video, Gaming at 30 believed to be the best and worst of 2011.
Worst New Trend in Fighting Games
What the hell, Capcom? Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds came out on February 15th, and I liked it well enough to not give it too much heat, but then less than a year later, you have ULTIMATE Marvel vs Capcom 3? This isn't the only horse you're beating to death, either. Street Fighter is suffering the same fate of having two released in a single year. That's just terrible moneygrabbing.
Best Thing to Happen to Fighting Games
Capcom, I want you to take a long hard look at what Mortal Kombat put out this year. I saw this game, and immediately dismissed it as a cash in to the fighting game boom. I am so glad that not only did I pick it up, but that I was wrong in how great this game is. The story mode is the single best fighting game story mode ever written. It takes you through a retelling of the Mortal Kombat 1, 2, and 3 story lines, with all of the characters, and a good chunk of the lore in place. The game made me want to play, offered me unlocks of costumes and moves for doing so, and just had the complete package. MK, you keep coming up with original material like this, and you'll be back on top of the heap in no time.
The "Could Have Been Great, But Just Ended Up Being a Money Grab" Award
Atari had something really special going in the early beta of Heroes of Neverwinter, a Facebook game that allowed you to loosely follow Dungeons and Dragons 4e rules and explore Wizard's Neverwinter. It started off as very unobtrusive, you could do whatever you needed to do without spending money, just manage some downtime, get a few friends to play with, and you were set to go. Soon, friends weren't able to help you as easily, and sending gifts became cumbersome. Atari took out methods people used to get the best items without having to spend money, only time, and began demanding that we bring more friends in. With a level 10 cap, the no new areas to explore, and the top user created dungeons all being variances of how to hit achievements easier, there's little reason to play anymore.
Best Game for the Wii (that we actually played)
VG30 actually played a Wii game this year. It was The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and it was one of the purest Zelda games that I've had the pleasure of playing in quite a long time. The motion controls finally give us the control that we wanted over Link's sword arm, and each enemy is like a new puzzle to figure out how to solve rather than swing wildly. The final boss fight was a disappointment for me, but I loved how the game sets up the world of Grooseland Hyrule. If you have a Wii and are a Zelda fan, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up.
That's it for Day 2, come visit us again tomorrow to see what very impressive awards we give out then!
