Giant Bomb GOTY Spectulation

What games do you think will be strong contenders in the Bomb Staff's Game of the Year deliberations? Let's go deep. Analyse the tastes of each member. What games will the duders fight about? Will Brad push for Destiny?

It will be very interesting this year with all of the coasts of Giant Bomb and now we have Dan and Jason who will push for more Zelda, Metal Gear and fighting games, respectively. It has also been a polarizing year as a lot of AAA titles have had mixed reviews.

Jeff, Brad, Drew, Vinny, Alex, Patrick, Dan, and Jason.

What's gonna happen?

Also, the year's not over. Still have Far Cry 4 and Dragon Age: I, and Toad Tracker, AC, etc.. But let's speculate so far.

Mordor will be up there but there's very little else that strikes me as having a unanimous positivity among the group. I don't see Brad pushing for Destiny as he's running out of steam with that game.

I think it will be between Shadow of Mordor, Wolfenstein, Dark Souls 2, Destiny maybe... I dunno

I doubt anyone will push for Destiny. Just because a game is addicting doesn't mean it's good. Brad will push for Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor because he loves it. Was it Jeff that played Wolfenstein? Someone will push for that because that was a surprise according to everyone. Maybe we'll see Far Cry 4 in there. I don't know what else though. Transistor?

After today's quick look, I can imagine a game like Pix the Cat eking out to the site's top 10. I'm very curious to see how South Park does at the end of the year. Some of the staff were glowing about it, but the rest were indifferent because facilities of the license. But with a hitherto unfulfilled year, I can see Jeff letting it slide into the top 10.

I hope they remember that Transistor came out (and that it's the best game of the year).

Also, I wonder if they'll include Jason in the GOTY podcasts. They don't really seem to be pushing him into a lot of the regular content, but that might change by December.

The only games I can think of people being unanimously positive about are Mordor, Wolfesntien and Shovel knight. There's been some other pretty good stuff, but it's been mostly mixed.

I could easily see Destiny taking most disappointing. I'm sure others would say Watch Dogs, but as the crew has said in the past, they didn't really expect a lot out of it after all the delays. Destiny had so much potential and fervor surrounding it, but it came out and dissapointed pretty much everyone to varying degrees.

I think Far cry 4 will be Jeff and Dan's GOTY and it will probably be between that, Mordor and a few others.

Looking through the list of reviews this year, I see Modor, Jazzpunk and Stick of Truth are the only games to get 5 stars this year. I feel like those 3 are secure top 10 material. I can maybe see Titanfall in the top 10 if Jeff pushes for it which he probably won't. Unlike previous years, no one has been particularly strong about any games really. I don't listen to Bombin the AM so I don't know how strongly Alex or Patrick feel about any of the games they review.

Also, get Rorie in on the deliberations.

GOTY: Far Cry 4

Most dissapointing: Destiny

I hope Brad pushes for Destiny, I understand all the complaints, but I've been having so much fun with this game. But with all their personal tastes taken into consideration I can see them all agreeing on Far Cry 4 for GOTY if it's as good as FC3 was.

I don't remember all the categories they have, if someone could post them we could make our predictions for each.

I hope Stick of Truth doesn't get forgotten, yeah. Wolfenstein will definitely be talked about. Alex will totally be going all in on Jazzpunk.

(I really hope that Dan and Alex really push for Mario Kart 8 for some form of discussion.)

Winner: The Last of us remastered

Runner Up: GTA V for One and PS4

Bayonetta 2

Did anyone on the staff like Dark Souls 2? I only recall Patrick and Vinny playing it and I remember them both being kinda luke-warm on it at best.

If Far Cry 4 does not disappoint I can easily see Jeff going for it, considering his appreciation for Far Cry 3.

DSII has no chance of winning.

Shadow of Mordor might run away with it if a consensus on another game can not be reached. It has the a very broad appeal among the GB staff.

Destiny for most disappointing game if Brad can be convinced.

Bravely Default!

(in my dreams)

I think it'll be between Dark Souls 2, Mordor, and Forza Horizon 2.

I really hope they don't forget about The Banner Saga, but I'm not holding out much hope. The only one who would really argue for it is probably Alex, and it seems he's forgotten about it as well.

I also think that Dragon Age might be a dark horse contender. They seem to have learned their lesson from DA2, and you should never count out BioWare. That game might be great. Otherwise, Shadow of Mordor seems like the strongest contender of the year so far.

It's been a pretty shitty year for games, huh. So many disappointments (Watch Dogs and Destiny tops that list) and there's nothing that anywhere near as good as last year's Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite. JazzPunk it is!

That would be just nuts. There's already 7 people in the deliberations (Jeff, Brad, Dan, Drew, Vinny, Alex and Patrick), and three of them will be calling in with Skype from two different locations. Including Rorie would just make it madness.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker as the dark horse candidate.

I fail to see the problem.

Matt doesn't really get to voice his opinions on games so I would like for him to be there but you're not wrong.

Based purely on Firaxis' track record, Beyond Earth stands a pretty good chance of cracking the top 10.

If Far Cry 4 is anywhere close to 3, I think Jeff will get it to the top by sheer force of will.

But with that being said, the top 10's this year might be even more scattershot than usual. It's been a year of good, not amazing, games.

Yeah, they were pretty lukewarm on DS2, I was mostly fishing for games to list. This whole year have been lukewarm in terms of great games.

i don't think Destiny will win most disappointing. they have way too much of a love/hate relationship going on with it, and i'm pretty sure brad wouldn't let that stand.

watchdogs for sure, even though that turned out to be another 3/5 game they harped on for an extended amount of time (not as much as Destiny though)

@johncallahan: Yeah, DSII didn't seem to have as much lasting power with the guys as the previous ones did.

I don't know if Titanfall will get anywhere in the discussions. Mordor will definitely be the back-up game to win GOTY if nothing else. It has XCOM levels of everyone-on-staff-likes-this. I'm hoping Bayonetta 2 surprises.

No notable handheld games this year, eh?

Oh! What do you think the weird web game of the year will be?

I wouldn't be surprised if most disappointing just went to next gen consoles in general. It's been a full year with them and all the major releases that were supposed to be better on the new consoles (titanfall, destiny, watch dogs) are pretty much the same on the past gen ones.

As for GOTY, I'm really hoping it's something that hasn't been released yet as shadows of mordor is the only one that they have unanimously agreed on and so deliberations on that may be boring to listen to for once.

@sgtpierceface said:

I think almost the entire Bombcast played Transistor, and I think almost the entire Bombcast was pretty lukewarm on it. They talked a fair bit about how neat it was to combine the powers, but overall it sounds like they didn't connect with the story or the world (which is a pretty common reaction). It'll make some personal top 10s (but nowhere near #1 on these lists), but I doubt it'll win any major category for the site as a whole. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't fantastic either.

SHOVEL KNIGHT!!!!!!! Probably not...

I hope Bayonetta 2 makes it onto the list. Metal Gear Rising was shafted last year and Wonderful 101 wasn't even mentioned.

Seeing a surprise game like Transistor or Roundabout make it would be great.

Shadow of Mordor has made a big impression on the staff so a top 3 contender I'm sure of it. I personally hope Infamous: Second Son is considered but Watch_Dogs I don't think will make it.

I would be shocked if Destiny wasn't most disappointing. I bet Shadow of mordor or FC4, if its good, will take it. DA3 won't because most of them don't like RPGs

Probably not GOTY, but I bet it's gonna be top 5.

Dark Souls 2 wins my, only game mentioned so far in this thread that I have played award.

Shadow of Mordor seems like a safe bet.

I just hope the guys won't devolve to a series of grunts and moans. Or maybe I do I don't even know.

Alex will lift for Jazzpunk as he did with 3D World, but alas it gets cut.

South Park?

Pretty sure Dark Souls 2 won't be in the GOTY discussion since they didn't even bother to look at the DLC for that game so they don't probably have any interest in it anymore.

Shadow of Mordor and GTA V might be the top contenders if nothing interesting comes out later this year.

Hearthstone is gonna win! I'm pretty sure everyone liked it. Mordor and Jazzpunk. South Park. Destiny, for some people. It'll probably make top 10 unless the games that come out from now to christmas really hits home, which isn't impossible, especially since they'll be in recent memory. I can see Dragon Age 3 coming out and being good enough for enough crew members to take a spot on the top 10, for instance.

Would be nice to see something from a handheld or Nintendo console on there, but I don't see that happening this year with this crowd, unless Dan manages to argue really hard for something like Mario Kart 8. I hope they'll honor the lackluster "launch" titles with some kind of award.

I predict that Jeff will nominate Destiny for most disappointing game(Because he has already said so). Brad will suggest Watch_Dogs instead. Patrick might suggest Dark Souls 2, because he has mentioned being let down by it after coming right from Dark Souls 1. Even if they themselves weren't actually that disappointed by Watch_Dogs, Watch_Dogs will win because it's the one that won't upset anyone else. It'll be like when Mass Effect 3 was nominated but Brad really liked it.

Mordor, South Park, and Jazzpunk seem to be so far some of the very few games they even really like. Those are the only 5 stars awarded thus far.

Of those three I don't think Jazzpunk has a real chance. So it would come to Mordor vs South Park, 2 very different games with very different budgets. Their love of SouthPark was heavily qualified to the humor and whether it worked for you or not, so I'd think they'd probably give to Mordor

Divinity, Titanfall, Wolfenstein, Luftrausers, Shovel Knight, D4: Dark Dreams, Alien Isolation and Valiant Hearts only got 4s, but I suspect most of them will be in the top 10 especially Shovel Knight. Metal Gear V: Ground Zeroes was incredibly short, I can't see them letting that onto the top 10.

Dark Souls II was not scored but their words made it feel 4-ish. Transistor wasn't scored either but the way they talked about it made it sound 4ish as well.

Banner Saga strikes me as most like;y to be totally forgotten despite the 4 stars they gave it.

As long as Far Cry 4 is competent that would be best bet for a winner imo, it has the right mix of gameplay that appeals most broadly to the staff and Fc3 was really good.

The next best bet would be Dragon Age : Inquisition, but most seem skeptical going into it. They were also pleasantly surprised by Mordor at E3, so my guess is that impression will hold true for DA:I as well. Chances are the final product will not be very different from what they saw.

However the lineup is so weak I could see a darkhorse Nintendo product like Capt Toad: Treasure Tracker sneaking in or maybe even Super Smash Bros Wiiu if they are really good in ways that surprise Jeff. Another Darkhorse would be Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. While just an expansion it did get a couple of them really back into the game in a way they never got in with the original release.

Wait Madden 15 got a 4. Oh God what if Madden wins?!

I feel like Mordor has a good shot to make it based on the level of positivity the crew have been discussing it in. I don't think it's quite deserving of overall GOTY though, especially if Unity ends up being as good as it's looking to be.

My guess is Far Cry 4 depending on how many of them play it. It's so hard to predict because their gaming habits are so different and they so often have games in the final 15 or so that only one person has played. Last year was weird, with Dota going in because Brad had invested like 600 hours and loved it, but those 600 hours meant he didn't play a lot of the other titles being discussed. It didn't seem like anyone was especially amazed by TLoU, but it was like the one thing that everyone played and mostly agreed was pretty good.

Last year's GOTY was definitely the weirdest year. It felt like there was minimal confrontation that previous years and the deliberations vs results had confusing connections. But last year was a tragic year too though so you can't blame them. This year will be exciting again, I can smell it!

Rollercoaster energy.

I bet Mordor will win goty. Or Shovel Knight. Or by some fluke Dark Souls gets up there even though almost none of them finished it.

Wolfenstein is going to be a contender.

Otherwise I don't think there is much that could be agreed on for that level of praise. Maybe Transistor, but eeeeh I ain't feeling it. Though that can be bias from not really enjoying the game myself.

It's such a shame since I'm pretty sure Transistor is going to end up being my favourite game of the year. I guess I'm a part of the (overwhelming) minority to prefer it to Bastion.

I don't think Jeff will let Destiny win it, but I wouldn't be surprised if Brad and Patrick push for it to be up on the list. Right now I'm leaning toward Shadow of Mordor being it, against FarCry 4 being super good, or Dragon Age Inquisition. Shovel Knight also feels like something that could make it high on the list, or at the very list in the middle.

As much as I love Dark Souls 2, Vinny seems like the only person who has anything positive to say about the game (Patrick turned pretty hard on that game a few weeks after he finished it). I don't think Brad finished it? He really should before Goty comes up if he hasn't already.

Dan might push for Smash Bros.

Someone will probably push for Diablo III as 2014's 2011 game of the year. Jazzpunk will probably win, followed by Wolfenstein and Shovel Knight.

Did Titanfall really have any sticking power with any of them? In retrospect I think they'll count it as one of the year's many disappointments along with Destiny, Watch_Dogs and maybe Dark Souls II.

Spelunky! Year of release be damned, it's going on my list! In all actuality I could see it being in the site's "2014's old game of year", or whatever the fuck they're going to call that category this time. I'm sure Dark souls will get brought up in that category as well.

As far as actual game of the year...hmm. I hope some of the upcoming releases make a big enough impact that they can be considered goty material, because so far I'm not seeing anything that stands out to me. It's been another weird year of releases, and I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. I have a feeling that there will be far more contention for "biggest disappointment" than there will be for "game of the year".