Category Archives: Game Reviews - Page 4

Still Plugging Away, Captain in sight!

Posted by on March 3, 2010 No comments

Ok so I have been splitting a lot of my game time up for the last few weeks.  Star Trek Online really has me stuck in the holodeck and has taken control of the ship.  When I can get some escape from it I have been working my way through Bioshock 2.  Since the time is split on both and finishing up neither it has left me with some wonder on what to post to keep things current out here on the site.  So I will give you the thoughts so far on both of these.  First up, a State of Rapture.

So I am quite a ways into B2 and it’s just, finally, starting to get to a near playable state.  I say that because the first few levels were spent figuring out how to play and building up weapons so they can actually hurt someone wearing just a dress and a plastic mask.  Where as the junkie with a pipe can kill me in my deep sea armor plated dive suit.  Yeah, it’s a lot like that.  It would also appear that the Xbox version has a few bugs.  None of the vending machines give off the familiar “Welcome, to the Circus of Values!”. And I still miss the little sisters reacting to your rescue of them (“No No, No No!”).  Now that I am past the build up phase and getting more into the game, it’s getting a little better.  I may have to agree with the guys in the Joystiq Xbox fancast when they say that maybe using Bioshock 2 to follow Mass Effect 2 is a bad idea.  When you go from a game that is very heavily story based and rich in it’s plot, and you go to something that is basically a re-hash of the first game, it’s bound to leave you a tad bitter.  Fret not though, despite all this, I am still enjoying the game and it’s probably better that I take it slow so that I can enjoy the good parts and be away long enough to forget the bad.

In the meantime I have been enjoying the Trek experience in Star Trek Online.  I have a grand total of 3 characters (BTW, the max is 3), My Main, Boothby, is a Trill Science Commander (Commander 9, soooooo close to Captain) flying the U.S.S. Amazonia which looks like it’s ready to be hatched.  I hate the look of the Commander Science ships.  They have that horrible sphere instead of a saucer section.  I also have my Klingon Character which you are able to start playing after you reach LT 6 with your Federation character.  The nice thing is that you start at LT 6 with the Klingon as well so Lt Lock, Tactical Officer of the I.K.S VeS Qab (WarCrimes), is bringing hell to the Federation.  Finally I have my Alt, Lt Commander Wi’Zzer, Vulcan Engineering officer of the U.S.S. Fairfax.  This character I am running with my friend Doc so we are keeping the characters in line with each other.  When he isn’t on, I play Booth.

So the State of the Galaxy is that Boothby just managed to reach Deep Space 9 out towards Cardassian space.  I like that there are a specific set of missions for each area and a specific enemy that you are working against.  Something I would love to see, though, is a different set of missions based on what you are.  I’m a Doctor not a Tactical officer!  Where are my Science specific missions?  Why does my Engineer character get missions where he needs to scan Nebula’s and gathering Data?  My Science officer is running off on missions to take out 5 squadrons of ships that should be better suited for a Tactical officer.  Now it’s usually better if you are running in a team of course so you have 1 of each type, but that is rare.  Another big complaint would be in the stats and skills.  So I have my ship that I can outfit with a billion different bits and parts.  I loot a science console that gives me +10 to Astrometrics.  I have found no where to tell me what exactly that does for me!  Some of the skills are good in that they give you examples of the skills they benefit, but it’s really hard to keep the granularity straight.

On the plus side, the missions I have run lately have been great for the story.  Learning about the Hobus Star and what happened to Romulus was very intriguing.  Playing as my Engineer and being the tank while Doc tears through with his Escort ship, and even playing through as my Klingon even though it’s just PVP for him.  (Need more Klingon Quests!!!)  I can see that I will be very entertained for quite a while still.  Is it bad that I have had the urge to watch more of the TV show and movies as of late?  Not much else on the radar right now so I will be cooking up some non-review articles in the coming weeks.  Stay Tuned!

Stupid Ezio! or My trip back to Florence.

Posted by on February 23, 2010 No comments

There have been two bits of Down Loadable Content released for Assassin’s Creed 2 since I played and reviewed last month.  Sequence 12: Battle of Forli and Sequence 13: Bonfire of the Vanities fill the gap in the story between Sequences 11 and 14.  If you have played through the game you know about how apparently there is some degradation in the data stream that causes the two sequences to be corrupt and thus, un-obtainable by Desmond and the crew.  Well Rebbecca, your tech lead, manages to “repair” the data and you can now access it.

Sequence 12 opens up back in Leonardo’s shop and you are inspecting the newly acquired Apple.  It’s too dangerous to keep it hidden in some random spot (like is has been for the last few hundred years) so you clearly must put it in a fortress with lots of people around it.  A visit to Forli and the Strong willed Caterina Sforza brings trouble in the way of a full on attack from a new target for Ezio.  Without going too in depth, this story played out well, had good cut scenes, and overall good gameplay.  My only complaint about it was that it felt very short (and no achievements).

Sequence 13, however, had me crying out expletives about every 2 minutes!  The Apple was taken and ends up back in Florence under the control of the Mad Monk, Girolamo Savonarola, who is using the Apple to influence the people to do his bidding.  In order to garnner discontent umong the people, Ezio needed to take out 9 of the Monks top people.  Normally I would think this was fine but about 5 of these were “Oh by the way don’t alert the 80 bazzilion guards in the area when you do it”.  I think I may have scared the dog a few times screaming at the TV.  God Bless the invention of the Sniper Rifle.  I think this one went on a tad long (maybe to make up for 12 being short) and could have done fine with maybe 5 Assassinations instead of 9. Also….Needs Achievements!

Overall I was very happy with the story except that it all should have been in the game to begin with.  It’s not like a new story, or a special side mission.  This was all info that was a part of the main story!  So why not include it in the main game.  I also found the DLC to be a tad glitchy.  There were many times where the Dialogue was not heard at all and just the subtitles were what I had to follow along with.  After one mission I was spawned inside a building and couldn’t get out without having to quit.  That mixed with the standard frustration of alerting guards and failing out of a mission about 50 times really made this part of AC2 more of a Chore than enjoying the added story.

My Advice?  Download the DLC THEN play the game so it’s all one coherent story.  Where I gave the Main game an 8.8 out of 10 Florins, The DLC is getting only a 6.5.

Farpoint 2010 The Returning

Posted by on February 16, 2010 No comments

Man I wish it wasn't so Blury!!For those of you who are unfamiliar with conventions like Farpoint, it’s a small fan run convention up in Timonium Maryland.  I have been to Farpoint a number of times and it’s become kind of a “home base” con for me.  It used to be held at the Hunt Vally Marriot hotel but from what I understand there was some Staff issues that caused them to change venues to the Crown Plaza.  I really have mixed feelings about the new hotel.  I really loved the Marriot because there was ample space for small gatherings of friends for hang outs.  The Crown Plaza was like everything all lumped into one very large room so it was one super big party.  Like its own little Nerd Prom.  So on the one hand you were more involved in Con related stuff, but missed out on the smaller gatherings.  My hotel verdict is still out.

So the main reason for attending Farpoint was that Felica Day would be there.  Given that she is a LA Native and a frequenter of most of the West Cost cons, having her at something in the east, and a small con to boot, was awesome.  Also at the con was the premire of Trenches, the web series produced by Shane Felux of Revelations and Pitching Lucas fame.  Also known as the sole reason I have an IMDB Film credit!  Trenches, which you know from the earlier post, Officially debuted today at Crackle.com, but con attendees were allowed a early viewing of the whole series on Saturday.  After the showing, Shane’s wife Dawn presented the DVD copy to Felica Day for her library. (Felicia Day was unable to attend the viewing due to her signing schedule.)

Also on Saturday I got to attend the Q&A Panel that Felica was holding to see her speak on many different topics.  Everyone knows that She is an avid gamer but I was curious to learn what else she was playing.  Turns out that she has a large stack of games that are waiting for her furious writing schedule to allow, and in the drive is Mass Effect 2.  She also will be doing the voice of the Upcoming Wii Game Rock of the Dead, where she will be the Female love interest to none other than Neil Patrick Harris.  The questions she answered ranged from the standard “what would you like to work on” to the obscure “What are the best desert places in LA.” (Which was answered in the most serious tone.  BTW, she is a sucker for the cupcake places!)  I did get the brief chance to meet up with her and talk a little about gaming and conventions (very very brief).  She also wouldn’t give out her Xbox Gamertag (kind of expected) but did mention that she will be doing an Xbox Game with Fame event.

The rest of the weekend was spent with my lovely wife (who tolerates me most of the time) and enjoying our 1 year anniversary, as well as Valentines day.  I will spare you the mushy details but it involved awesome turtles and fishes.  Also, there may or may not be pictures of me in  BSG BDU’s doing possibly bad things to the statue in front of the hotel.  I’ll go ahead and say, it wasn’t me!  I swear, it was Alan Rickman who happened to be a surprise guest at the hotel and, and, man can that guy drink! (Honest!)

Returning from the Alpha Quadrant, or, Shore leave on Hoth

Posted by on February 8, 2010 2 comments

Well, the snowpocolypse 2.0 has taken it’s toll on us, and the house.  We got about 20+ inches of snow and spent most of Saturday and Sunday clearing it off the driveway and everything else.  Some of my neighbors have drifts in front of their houses (mostly because of the plows) that measured up to about 9 feet tall!  This of course meant that most of the time, not spent shoveling snow, was spent inside playing games.  Sarah was on the Internets, until she picked up Overlord 2.  Andrew was on Mass Effect 2, after he finished with Uplink, and I was playing Star Trek Online, no after there, it was all STO.

Over the weekend I have managed to make it to the rank of Lt. Commander, I have 4 different ships to choose from, and I have 5 bridge officers.  (Also, I have at least 3 tribbles.)  The long arduous road to Lt. Commander was painful right at the end, mostly because of the lack of realization that I needed to spend skill points to earn the promotion instead of just earn them.  Made it all the way to Lt rank 11 before I figured that out.  Once I had earned the rank I ventured back to the Sol Sector and attended my promotion ceremony.  It was very touching.  After that it was off to claim my new ship.  I had actually been saving up energy credits for my entire career so that I could buy an extra ship so one Cruiser and one Escort.  Since I am still new to the heavier ships, I will hold off on the pluses and minus until later.  Instead lets go over some of the things I loved and hated about my time as a young Lieutenant

Things I loved:

Who needs friends with an away team like this? – Every time I had to beam down to a planet I always had an away team with me.  For starters it was just me and my Engineering officer along with a few security guys, (those poor red shirts) but after a while I had my science officer, my tactical officer, and my ferengi, ok so he is a engineering officer too but he’s my token.  Each officer has a special ability that they use on their own or by my command.  Even coming around and reviving me if I get knocked out.  It’s very helpful!

Autogrouping with Others. Now I know this may be a plus or a minus depending on the type of person you are but I found it to be very helpful.  If you and 3 other people are working on the same mission at the same time (as is the case in most missions), it will auto group you together and adjust the level accordingly.  The amazing thing about it is that without even sending a hail, everyone just worked together!  This avoids all of the Awkward conversations and ninja tagging.

Dead Klingon = New Mark II Engine – Everything that I needed for my LT Career was found in loot.  I had no need to spend credits on anything because it was all available in loot.  This allowed me sell anything excess that I had looted and didn’t need so I could have the money to buy the second ship.


Things I Hated:

Oh god more Patrol missions – To boldly go where everyone has gone before.  The patrol missions are really more of a love hate thing.  I love that there is a large variety of types of missions, but they start getting repetitive after a while.  Clearly they are meant to be filler around the other larger missions, so my advice….don’t run them back to back.  Run one system, go do a main mission, come back and do another system.

No, mister Klingon, I do not want to enter an chance enemy encounter. – Flying around in sector space I found myself automagicly sucked into enemy encounters, which under normal circumstances would be fine, but these are on a timer, and the timer is ALWAYS ticking down from like 5 min to start.  So I won’t be sitting around for 5 min for my “chance” encounter.

Still a tad clunky – Ok so this is an overall grievance.  Unfortunately the game is still a little rough around the edges.  There are minor glitches in the graphics, in the performance, in the interface.  BUT…  It’s a brand new MMO and it’s still finding it’s place and growing into some very large combat boots.  After wittnessing the launch of SWG, EQ2, AOC, LOTRO, WoW, COH, and who could forget The Matrix Online!  (Wow, I have tried a lot of MMO’s, and many of them from launch!)  I can easily see how things will get ironed out and the issues are really minor.  I have seen nothing that is a show stopper.

Final verdict: For a starter MMO, I give Star Trek online a good 7.5 out of 10 Tribbles.  But I reserve the right to change this score after 1: I play more since it doesn’t really end and, 2: Time mends all glitches.

Just in time too as tomorrow I will be venturing back to Rapture for Bioshock 2!

Snowpocolypse 2.0 or What do you do with a drunken Yeoman?

Posted by on February 5, 2010 No comments

So it’s supposed to snow for the next, like, 48 hours solid bringing around 24 inches of cold insanity with it.  I have finished Mass Effect 2 and have no Bioshock 2 to take it’s place.  (Yeah, I think I should have slowed down on that one.)  So what am I to do with all this time on my hands and locked indoors.  I guess I could spend time with my family…….yeah well We know I do that enough and Snow time is Game time!  Yesterday we had gone to the mall to take care of some appointments and I just happened to walk into the Gamestop, you know, by accident.  There I see it,  the Star Trek Online box, just calling to me.  The following is the conversation that took place:

Me: Ooooo  STO!  And Look at all the stuff  you get!

Sarah: So if you want it, get it!

Me: But…  But…  Wait a sec, why aren’t you fighting me on this?

Sarah: Am I supposed to tell you not to get it?  If you buy it, then I will get to play it too!

Me: I Love You!

So safe and warm did STO come with me home and get installed.  I managed to Create Captain Boothby of the U.S.S Wizzer last night and began my exploration of the galaxy (the other galaxy, not the one I just finished saving from the Reaper/Collector attacks, you know, so we can keep this straight.)  I am not sure I am ready for a good enough review at this point,  so here are a few key points that I have found so far.

  1. Upon loading into the game I noticed that the first Intro mission was Glitchy as all hell.  At first I thought my system wasn’t good enough to handle it, but when I got to the rest of the game it ran just fine.  The only thing I could think of is that That certain battle had WAY too much going on it it and it over taxed the system.  But I guess that’s a good way to weed out people eh?
  2. Flying your ship looks Amazing.  The graphics are outstanding.  I would put this about half way between EVE Online and the Space side of Star Wars Galaxies.  Your control over the ship is a bit more hands on and granular than Eve, but not as twitchy at SWG.
  3. The ground game is not bad.  It probably could use a little more polish, but it’s new so I will give it a chance.  Nothing has stood out as “bad”, but nothing amazed me either (unlike the space side)
  4. I have had the chance to do a variety of missions and it plays out like “Episodes” of the show.  You can do Diplomatic missions, combat stuff, and exploring and sciency type things.  So there is something for everyone!

I think that will do for now.  Feel free to message me in game if you would like and remember to stay warm!

To Boldly Have Gone. or Mission Accomplished

Posted by on February 3, 2010 No comments

Here I am, only minutes after finishing Mass Effect 2, and I am still processing all that happened.  I may end up actually replaying from my last major save point because I am not completely happy with some of my choices.  For now I am going to let them bake in my head and deal with the consequences.  (And mourn the loss of Jack, Grunt, Thane, and the Colonists.  In the words of Joker:  “Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit, What the Shit!?”

This also means that I am now un-distracted until next Tuesday!  A fact that I am sure Sarah and Andrew will be happy about.  (Or not.)  In the mean time I have to say that I have become increasingly tempted by Star Trek Online based on what I have seen about it online and the few friends who have tried it.  I am probably only slightly less of a Star Trek fan than I am a Star Wars fan.  (Which is to say, pretty damn rabid.)  Although I do not own any Star Trek costumes, and I am not sure I will any time soon, I have always enjoyed the shows and the inspiration they provide.  I loved many of the other trek games, even though they were widely un-popular.  I even have a copy of the Star Ship creator lying around here somewhere.  I am curious to the designs of the ships and to see the variants.  Ok damn, this is really not helping.

Maybe if I go read the Next Gen Tech Manual I can get my mind off it.

And yes, I have it.

And the Original series one.

The DS9 one too.

Oh God I need help.

Saving the Galaxy, aka, Wintereenmas

Posted by on February 1, 2010 1 comment

Wow so this weekend flew by at FTL through a Mass Effect Relay.  Sarah had to head down to Richmond for an appointment so that left me and Andrew at home for Wintereenmas!  Add on to that the snow all day Saturday and that sets up the perfect conditions to sit on the couch with Food and drink close by and focus attentions on what needed to be done to save the Galaxy.   Andrew was armed with Bioshock 1 on the upstairs and I with Mass Effect 2 Downstairs, I believe we saw each other once or twice through the day.  I think the only real break we took was alternating taking the dog out, Shuffling off to Dinner at Hard Times Cafe (Through the snow), and then of course getting the dog to throw up because he got into the chocolate (Not my Fault!  He is just really Nosey!)

So Micro Review time!  I have spent a lot of time in ME2 so far and have no collected all but 1 of my crew and done their loyalty quests.  I have scanned probably about 1/3 of the systems to 100%, and am trying to finish up every side quest on my way out to the Omega 4 Relay.  I would like to speculate that I am maybe about 1/2 through the whole game.  So lets just run down the list of loves and hates:

Loves:
This is only a small small selection of things I love about this game

  • The whole galaxy is yours to explore, and it’s Beautiful.  I could spend hours just flying around and checking out all of the different Nebula’s.
  • The Seamless Conversation trees.  This was a great part of ME1 and continues to be awesome in 2
  • Moral Choices out the Yin Yang! So many times I was faced with the choice of “Do I do what is Morally right, or Do what I need to keep my teem member happy so he performs well.
  • In Depth Story. Any time a story makes you want to sit on the couch ALL DAY LONG means they did everything right.  Big time Movie directors and writers need to take a serious look at how games like ME do things.  The writing for a 20+ hour game ends up be 100 times better than your standard movie.
  • Fun Mini Games. In Assassin’s Creed 2, there were Subject 16 mini games that got a little frustrating.  Their length and complexity detracted from the rest of the game.  Thankfully ME2 didn’t follow in that.  the Hacking and Bypass mini games are just right.  I can see that in the future they may start getting more complex but none of them seem like they would detract.

Hates (or maybe just Dislikes)

I wish I could say that there was no dislikes but there is always something.

  • Too Much Choice. I know this seems like a silly thing to dislike but I ran into it in Assassin’s Creed too.  When there is too much to do, you can easily loose focus on what needs to get done.  I know they are also trying to build the game so that there is some re-playability but with So many different team members, and only be able to take 2 of them at a time, I am missing out on interactions and dialogue that would be nice to see.
  • Mining Mini game. Mining sucks.  Pretty much any game I have played that had mining in it, it’s sucked.  It’s a way to get the player to sit and waste time to get the resources they need to continue.  Very rarely do I see mining integrated into a fun system.  Mining in ME2 takes forever (even with the upgrade) and I ended up with Way too much of one Mineral and not enough of another.
  • Glitches.  No game is without them unfortunately.  There was one point where I found myself walking through the geometry and out into a blank space. Had to reload.  Also the “Skip Conversation” button should never be tied to the “Select Conversation Tree”  Far too many times I went to skip a line of Dialogue because The Character speaks too slowly and I had read the subtitles faster and it selected the next default conversation piece.  Very annoying.

This is all very early speculation as I have not finished the game yet but it’s all based on what I have seen so far.  There will be much more playing.  Of course I only have about 1 week left until Bioshock 2 comes out.  I think that will be another Upstairs game so Sarah can watch along.  This will also give Andrew the chance to play ME2 downstairs with the DLC on the downstairs system.  In the mean time, I need to get back and play!

Training week…

Posted by on January 25, 2010 No comments

So I am in training all week for .  The training class is located in the Ballston Common Mall in Arlington VA, and is right across from the Gamestop.  The Gamestop of course has a metric F^%$ton of posters for Mass Effect 2 that are taunting me.  I have managed to avoid all the various advertisements and trailers (with the exception of print posters and the like).  I would very much like the experience I have in game to be un-spoiled.  With some of the big name games I have been trying to do that more and more.  It seems that lately some of the games are approaching “Avatar” levels of advertising and showing so many in-game videos and screen shots that it boggles me why I should even play the game any more!  I probably would have seen all the important parts.  (I know I haven’t, but still)  So with Mass Effect 2 and the upcoming Bioshock 2 (another sequel!) I have avoided it all.  I pick up ME2 tomorrow and will dive in tomorrow evening.

Wish me luck.

Uncharted 2

Posted by on January 20, 2010 No comments

Continuing with the growing supply of sequel titles that were released this year, Uncharted 2 found it’s way to my very, very dusty PS3.  Even thought I rarely play my PS3, I was eager to get my hands on Uncharted 2.  The first game was a stunning way to show off the PS3’s capabilities as well as having a great story.  Naughty Dog goes the extra mile when it comes to writing for these games.  Uncharted 2 is no different.  Every element of the game is stunning.  From graphics, to story, to music, to voice acting, oh, and also that gameplay thing.  (I guess we should talk a bit about that as well.

Uncharted 2 really is only a sequel in name and characters, the story is very stand alone and that is a great draw.  In this story, our Hero, Nathan Drake, finds himself chasing down the fabled treasures of Marco Polo.  This time around we don’t have the family tie that he had with Sir Francis Drake, but who needs more motivation than a giant Sapphire right?  Through his adventures we meet new characters, new love interests, and even bring back some of the old characters.  (It wouldn’t be the same without Sully.)

Drake travels all over Nepal, Istanbul, and the Himalayas as he tracks down the different clues that will lead him to fortune and glory.  Through tropical jungle to snowy mountain peaks, the visuals are amazing.  This is what the PS3 should be touting as true Next Gen graphics and the whole reason I picked up a 1080P TV.  Far too often did I find myself marveling over the distance shots and the detail taken to render the smallest details.  I would encourage you to take a stroll through the snow levels just to watch the dynamic of the trails and the build up of snow on Drakes legs.

Where this game really shines is in the story.  I know there was the infamous PS3 commercial where some guy can’t get his girl friend to stop watching because she thinks it’s a movie, well, it’s believable.  Except that this movie can last a week long and probably had a much longer over all script.  Mixed with the extremely well done voice acting, Uncharted 2 could easily be mistaken for a big budget CGI film.  Every cut scene delighted and encouraged me to just set the controller down and enjoy.  I know it sounds like I am raving about these few simple elements of a game that may be considered small parts but they really aren’t.  You could have the best game play in the world but without a good story to guide it, it’s just a shell.

Thankfully the game play keeps with the high standard set by the other elements.  You step seamlessly from cut scene to game play and back so it truly feels immersive.  Most of the controls were easy to use and intuitive. (Although since I come from more of an Xbox background, the trigger and aim controls being on the shoulder buttons is odd to me.)  There is not a lot to say about game play when it’s solid, no bad camera angles, fluid motion, and god bless the Hint system!  Every game should be required to have a system like this.  If you don’t want to use it you don’t have to, but every now and then I ended up in an area wondering “what the hell am I supposed to do next?!”  Thankfully the hint system would pop up and advise “Look at that open window up there stupid!”  Far too often it saved me from looking things up in a guide or just getting frustrated and walking away.  That’s a huge deal for me.

Another big deal that has found quite a hold on the video game industry is music.  I had the chance to attend a Video Games Live concert and it really opened my eyes to video game soundtracks.  (Not that I wasn’t aware of them before, but I am much more keyed into it now)  Uncharted 2 delivers a soundtrack that is on par with that of many major motion pictures.  It feels out the mood set by the setting and graphics and delivers the punch to make you feel the entire experience.  Many times I can recall pausing and taking note of the amazing music.  It’s almost sad to me when I look back on playing a game and realize I can’t recall the music because it just faded into the background.  I love when music pops and Uncharted 2 does just that.

Now that I have covered all the good, lets talk about bad.  Don’t worry, there isn’t much.  Much like many free roaming over the shoulder games, sometimes the controls don’t translate well.  There were certainly less instances of “Stupid Ezio (Drake)” and most of them I think were really my fault, it was still there.  And the only other bad note I can think of would be Multi-player.  WHY??  Seriously, with Uncharted 1 you had a solid story game that was well received.  Uncharted 2 had a solid story game, why should you feel the need to add multi-player?  Plus, if you are going to add multi-player to a game, make it a co-op for the main story!!  Far too many games tack on a “lets run around in a map and just shoot each other” multi-player and forget why we bought the game in the first place!

So there you have it.  Uncharted 2 is a very solid game and I am eagerly looking forward to Uncharted 3.

Uncharted 2 gets a solid 9.5 out of 10 Stolen Artifacts


Game Developers Choice Award Nominations

Posted by on January 19, 2010 No comments

Looks like the Game Developers Choice Awards are coming up and they released the contenders for each catagory.  I am happy to say that I have played most of these and am really happy with the choices.  There are a few that I am extra happy to see get some love since they kind of flew by really quick.  When it comes to GOTY, I know it’s gonna be tough to chose from the titles listed, All were favorites for different reasons.  The other nice thing about nominations like this is that it gives me the chance to see something that I may have missed in the release year.

Games I think I may want to check out like Demon’s Souls and Plants Va Zombies.  Anyways, here is the list:

Best Game Design

Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady)
Assassin’s Creed 2 (Ubisoft Montreal)
Flower (thatgamecompany)
Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
Plants Vs. Zombies (PopCap)

Best Visual Art

Borderlands (Gearbox Software)
Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
Assassin’s Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal)
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward)
Flower (thatgamecompany)

Best Technology

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward)
Red Faction: Guerrilla (Volition)
Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
Killzone 2 (Guerrilla Games)
Assassin’s Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal)

Best Writing

Brutal Legend (Double Fine)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)
Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare)
Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
Halo 3: ODST (Bungie)

Best Audio

Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare)
Rock Band: The Beatles (Harmonix)
Flower (thatgamecompany)
Brutal Legend (Double Fine Productions)

Innovation

Scribblenauts (5th Cell)
Flower (thatgamecompany)
Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
Plants Vs. Zombies (PopCap)
Demon’s Souls (From Software)

Best Debut

The Maw (Twisted Pixel)
League Of Legends (Riot Games)
Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor (Tiger Style)
Torchlight (Runic Games)
Zeno Clash (ACE Team)

Best Downloadable Game

Plants Vs. Zombies (PopCap)
Trials HD (RedLynx)
PixelJunk Shooter (Q Games)
Shadow Complex (Chair Entertainment)
Flower (thatgamecompany)

Best New Social/Online Game

Restaurant City (Playfish)
Farmville (Zynga)
Dungeon Fighter Online (Neople/Nexon)
Free Realms (Sony Online Entertainment San Diego)
Bejeweled Blitz (PopCap)

Best Handheld Game

Scribblenauts (5th Cell)
Flight Control (Firemint)
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (Rockstar Leeds/Rockstar North)
Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor (Tiger Style)
Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo EAD)

Game Of The Year

Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)
Demon’s Souls (From Software)
Assassin’s Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal)