ZombiePie's End of the Year Awards for Video Games, T.V Shows, Anime, and Other Stuff

Author's Note: Every year I hand out a number of "Special Distinction" awards to the personal highlights that I had in the last year. Truthfully always struggle to create top ten lists at the end of the year in large part because I usually fail to play ten truly notable games by the time the year comes to a comforting close. So three years ago I decided to cheat and start a new type of GOTY Awards show that discusses the gaming, television, anime, and even food related events I think are worth discussing. It is important to point out that few of these awards are for the mush sought after "Best of" nature, and instead are simply for things I wish to talk about before the ball drops and we have yet another year to drudge along to. So without further ado, and I know that you have been oh so waiting for this, it's my YEAR IN REVIEW EXTRAVAGANZA!

Biggest Disappointment Award - Season Four of The Boondocks

Goodness who would have thought that one of the most anticipated television returns of the year would have self imploded so unceremoniously? The fourth season of The Boondocks was such sham in comparison to the wonderful first three seasons of The Boondocks. As fans of the original run of the show can testify, the show went on an extended hiatus for four years. During this time fans were practically begging Cartoon Network finance a return of the show. Then this year we got it, but everything was wrong. The vulgarity and characters were there, but not the heart and intelligence. The voice actors were all the same, but gone was the caring guidance of Aaron McGruder. The last season of The Boondocks truly failed to continue the series' penchant for intellectually engaging real social issues that are present in American society, and instead set its sights on easy targets and re-hashing already classic moments that the series had done before. Instead of tackling mass media in a witty satire like "The Hunger Strike," season four gave fans yet another origin story for Uncle Ruckus, and yet another return of Sinkmeaner who once again possessed Thomas Dubois. So it is on that note that the show has died in a whimper, and not a ball of fire as it should have.

What really shows off the problems that I personally had with the fourth season was the final episode of the season, "The New Black." The title “The New Black,” suggests that the satirical thrust of the episode was related to the perception that gay rights are being treated as the “next step” for activism, and how this movement is often compared to the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties. Almost immediately after proposing this topic the episodes moves on to mock the mentally handicapped with Ruckus just hanging around during the episode, being racist. That is the gist of the entire episode, and it proved to be a disappointing and undeserved end to an otherwise fantastic series.

Also this last season of American Horror Story has been nothing but disappointing.

Food Revelation of the Year Award - BLACK LICORICE IS GOOD Y'ALL, AND I LIKE GOOD & PLENTY

Every year I discover a new food related item that draws me into it and I embark on a gluttonous journey that usually last for about three to four months. This year it was Good & Plenty. On a relatively consistent basis I have been eating a box and a half in a week. It all started when my parents invited me to watch a movie at a local, family run, movie theater. When we went to buy concessions we discovered that they had four possible concessions: Snickers Bars, Juicy Fruit, Kettle Corn, and Good & Plenty. Not knowing what Good & Plenty where, but knwoing that Juicy Fruit was for punks, I ponied up the three dollars to buy a box and I haven't stopped eating the candies ever since. Might I add that this experience occurred in June and right now as I type this blog there are two empty boxes of Good & Plenty in front of my computer screen.

Join the fight against the communist and reject that the "one true licorice"is red. Do this for freedom!

Yoshi's Island Moment of the Year Award (i.e. Everyone is Crazy, and I'm the Only "Right" One) - Kill la Kill

I have gone on record as saying that I do not, have not, and never will like Kill la Kill. I will even go on further and say that I think Kill la Kill is a bad anime. Now what makes this my "Yoshi's Island Moment" was my attempt to continually express this valid and logical sentiment on the internet. Now to the internet's defense I did verbally attack and decry every piece of Kill la Kill artwork and mashup that appeared on my Tumblr account vitriol and misplaced anger. Now to MY DEFENSE certain members of the Kill la Kill community, who will go un-named (i.e. @aurahack, @daveyo520, and @aaox), innundated my Tumblr account with Kill la Kill related bullshit.

If we are being honest the show fell apart halfway in, and not immediately at the beginning. The lack of character progression in regards to Matoi was a continual disappointment. The need to cram in references to previous works was oftentimes baffling. The reveal of what the Life Fibers were and where they came from was…beyond stupid. I just feel thoroughly disappointed and cynical about the show. And those references, every single time Kill la Kill referenced another anime from the past it came across as lazy and pretentious. Good writing endeavors to stand on the laurels of its own content and not the content of others. Making continual references without engaging and discussing those references essentially elevates yourself to Seth MacFarlane’s standard for humor and storytelling….and FUCK THAT! It doesn’t help that everything that is related to the original Kill la Kill canon really falls apart with the introduction of Nui. To be honest that’s really when I started to dislike the show.

I found Kill la Kill’s narrative incongruity unbearable. A hammy and heavy handed dark period where Matoi is a mopey protagonist undergoing an existential crisis is really out of place when you have a character like Mako acting like a doofus. Honestly if you want a nostalgia trip then just go to Netflix and stream some Dragon Ball Z, EVA, or Tenchi Muyo. You are better off doing that than watching this nonsense.

I'm a Terrible Human Being Award - Bad Rats: the Rats' Revenge

This year I gifted seven copies of Bad Rats: the Rats' Revenge to various members of the Giant Bomb moderation team and community. When the game went on sale on Steam for the paltry sum of $.19, I spent around a dollar buying these copies of the game which I could I spent on an actual game that I most likely could have enjoyed. As part of this in-authentic gift giving I sent messages claiming that Bad Rats would lead them to salvation. If you are looking for a summary of Bad Rats the game...it is bad, and just bad.

I am a bad person for doing this. This award is in dedication to all of the victims of my Bad Rats giveaway. I am sorry but you will not be saved if you play Bad Rats, you will just question your humanity and the the purpose of your existence as part of an existential crisis.

Funniest Piece of Entertainment Award - Jazzpunk

I really enjoyed the mind shattering irreverent nature of Jazzpunk. The game had a ton of style and knew had to use it. It may not have been the most "interactive" game of the year, but it was one of the few games that actually made me laugh. I was thoroughly impressed at how the game continued to subvert my expectations and surprise me with its lunacy. The game also played on my tendency to look through every nook and cranny when playing games by complimenting that quirk with even more mini-games and in-game events. Also, can we award Jazzpunk the award for best use of Street Fighter II in 2014? Sorry Fighting Game Community, and EVO. I also played the wedding themed Quake parody game way more than I'm willing to admit.

The Giant Bomb staff have credited much of their enjoyment of Jazzpunk to its "style," but I think a large amount of credit should be given to the writing. There are endless dialogue "streams" that all conclude in hilarious and irreverent ways, and that is a monumental accomplishment.

Quickest & Least Painful Installation of a Piece of Hardware Award - Amazon Fire TV Stick

It took eight minutes to set up my Amazon Fire TV Stick, and it would have been shorter if I hadn't decided to watch the introductory video that automatically plays when you hook up the device to the internet for the first time. Is it unfair to compare this limited device to the likes of the Xbox One or PlayStation 4? I sure think so, but it was a pleasant surprise to finally have a piece of hardware seamlessly install itself without issue. Another nice touch on Amazon's part? They pre-install your Amazon account into the device meaning that the only thing you really need to input into it is the password to your internet and/or Netflix account. Also I would like to echo that the Amazon Fire TV is a terrible gaming platform. I did not bother to buy Amazon's beleaguered game controller, because I am not a crazy person, but trying to play games using the default remote is about as enjoyable as kicking a hornet's nest, and those hornets are on fire.

Flatout the Worst Piece of Entertainment of the Year Award - Season Two of The Following

Oh BOY, the second season of The Following may well be one of the worst experiences I had short of contracting shingles. Who would have thought that anything could remove the charisma and energy of Kevin Bacon and force him to be yet another hard-boiled cop with no personality. The first season of The Following was not that great of a viewing experience if I am being entirely honest, but the show was so weird in its last three episodes that I felt a sense of obligation to watch season two. Well...that proved to be shortsighted.

The problem is that the show never really committed to what type of person Joe Carroll was. In the first season, he was megalomaniacal and felt that he should answer to no authority other than himself. In this season, he’s oddly measured and dare I say “logical.” This problem is compounded when Ryan Hardy decides to do everything “off the books” in his attempt to bring down Carroll and the FBI decides to do nothing to stop Ryan and his oftentimes obsessive and dangerous attempts to bring Carroll down for good. You add-on a love triangle which depicts the power of love curing the mental instability of a bi-polar patient of his symptoms (i.e. “The Twins”), and some terrible acting on the part of Connie Nielsen and her cadre, and you have the makings of one of the worst television shows I have seen in a while. The fact that there is going to be a season three for this show is beyond baffling, and just downright terrible.

The "Big" Game I Enjoyed the Most Award - Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Assassin's Creed Unity was a major bummer this year.The interface has become incredibly cluttered and the map is nigh impossible to use because no one at Ubisoft wants to condense all of the icons they have into a handful of easy to distinguish symbols. To go from Assassin's Creed Unity to Shadow of Mordor was a shocking experience to say the least. Yes, the story in Mordor is not that great and sure to infuriate those dedicated to the Tolkien brand, albeit that anger should probably be directed at Christopher Tolkien. That said Mordor makes up for that by being fun to play and straight to the point when it comes to its best parts. The Nemesis System opens up almost immediately when you get into the heat of things and it never lets up. The Nemesis System is without a doubt the best part of the game, and interestingly deal with a big problem that I have with open world role playing games. That problem is that I never really feel motivated to tackle minions and underlings if I can avoid them. Each minion usually falls into a category and can be dealt with using the same exact techniques as the last one. In Mordor each enemy feel random enough to where you feel like you have to spend a bit more thought to tackle down these enemies, especially the ones with nametags.

You top the Nemesis System with a combo system that is easy to use and makes sense, albeit it came from Batman, and a certain amount of randomness that ensures that no one play-through will be exactly the same, and you have what was for me a great gaming experience. I'm not ignoring that there are shortcomings to Mordor, but those shortcomings were easy to ignore and did not detract from my experience.

Factory Sealed Shame Award - Dishonored

The "Factory Sealed Shame Award," is an award that I bestow to the game that I bought at the beginning of the year, and it has remained untouched and factory sealed by the end. Last year I was able to avoid this distinction on account of me buying most of my games digitally. This year this badge of shame is back and I am sorry to report that it is for the entirely acceptable game, Dishonored. A while ago the 360 copy of the game was on sale for $9.99 and figuring that it was worth the risk I bought a copy. That happened around February, and as you are going to quickly discover I had the time to actually play through this game and potentially enjoy it, but that didn't happen and that's on me and not this game.

Oh God I just looked at the box and it looks like it has a healthy layer of dust on it.

This of course also leads me to the Steam games that I have bought and still have not played...which for me is beyond shameful. These games are: Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Aquaria, Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians, The Binding of Isaac, Closure, Dead Space, Deadly Premonition, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Fez, Game Dev Tycoon, Gemini Rue, Gish, Gone Home, Gunpoint, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Mark of the Ninja, PixelJunk Eden, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Sleeping Dogs, The Swapper, Teleglitch, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Jesus...someone send help.

Ostrich Moment of the Year – Dota 2

I still own a copy of Dota 2...and I still have not touched it!

I have no regrets about this fact.

I'm Still Playing This Game from 2004, Please Help Award - Rome: Total War

I have this unorthodox tradition of beating the "Short Campaign" of Rome: Total War every year, and that tradition once again continued this year. Julli, Hard , Hard. What makes this tradition ridiculous is that I have superior strategy games to play, and as you already know plenty of un-played games on my Steam account that I need to get around to playing. Instead of playing those games I am playing this outdated, ten plus year old RTS game. So I am asking the Giant Bomb Community to help me...please convince me to stop playing this game. I need help.

My Ridiculous Idea for 2015 Award - Watching Animes Based on Video Games

I have a pretty ridiculous idea that I have been tinkering around with for a while. For the last month I have been thinking about starting up a new blog series where I attempt, and I put extra emphasis on "attempt," to watch every single anime that is based on a video game. That includes watching Pokemon, and other shameless promotional tie-ins for that matter, on a bi-monthly basis. Part of this idea started when @unastrike mentioned the Fatal Fury anime on a live-show, and also when I was discussing how bad SiN: The Movie is (hint: it's really bad). I make no guarantees that this feature will become a reality, but I will confirm that I am thinking about making it a reality.

Also, I'm pretty sure that if I did this feature that it would kill me, because OH MY GOD I do not want to watch the Halo anime again.