[The Coggies] Best Action Game

[DoctorFinger]

I know what some of you are going to say: "But Soul Calibur and Smash Bros. are fighters, not action!" That's a good point, but fighting games are also action games, and in this particular year, with light lineups of both fighters and pure (non-shooter) action games, we felt it best to consolidate the two related genres. So, vote away. Remember, your votes count!

Best Action Game

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/dead-space.jpg
Title: Dead Space
Available For: 360, PS3
Developer: EA Redwood Shores
Publisher: Electronic Arts

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/GTA4.jpg
Title: Grand Theft Auto 4
Available For: 360, PS3, PCi
Developer: Rockstar North
Publisher: Rockstar

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/mgs4.gif
Title: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Available For: PS3
Developer: Kojima Productions
Publisher: Konami

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/mirrors-edge.jpg
Title: Mirror's Edge
Available For: 360, PS3
Developer: DICE
Publisher: Electronic Arts

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/SC4.jpg
Title: Soul Calibur 4
Available For: 360, PS3
Developer: Project Soul
Publisher: Namco Bandai

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/ssbb.jpg
Title: Super Smash Bros Brawl
Available For: Wii
Developer: Sora
Publisher: Nintendo

[Commissar Rob]

Man, those are some tough choices. My son will beat me senseless for not choosing Brawl, but I really, really enjoyed MGS 4.

[Mr. Murphy]

I almost went with MGS4, but in the end the 'action' of that game wasn't really what kept me playing it. I loved it, but if you stripped out every cut scene and all the stealth, I probably wouldn't have loved it. I'm probably splitting hairs.

[Kojak]

Ahh i guess out of all of them I liked dead space the most, if only it had Sam Neil in it...and they called it Event Horizon.

[Gorvi]

MGS4. It was the best game period this year.

[President Fred]

I haven't played enough MGS4 to be able to vote for it with confidence or I am sure I would have. But I enjoyed Dead Space and thought that GTA4 was so-so.

[civil]

Throw my hat into the "MGS4" ring. Fucking amazing, emotional and absorbing experience.

[menage]

Kind of a strange mix. Soul Calibur and Dead Space belong in the same category?

If I had to choose between these 6, probably MGS.

[itchyeyes]

Well, I haven't played SC4 and all I've seen of Mirror's Edge is the demo, but out of the rest I'd give my vote to Dead Space.

[Lint of Death]

This choice is easy for me.

BRAAAAAAAAAAWWWLLL!!!

[Purple Santa]

Throw my hat into the "MGS4" ring. Fucking amazing, emotional and absorbing experience.

Emotional and absorbing yes. Best action? Nope. I think more of the emotion and absobing experience were from the long cinemas. I loved the game...just can't see it as best action.

[menage]

Emotional and absorbing yes. Best action? Nope. I think more of the emotion and absobing experience were from the long cinemas. I loved the game...just can't see it as best action.

Yeah, I kinda agree, the action itself wasn't that intense in the gameplay dep. Like I said, strange list. I only put it up because I think it's the best game overall.

[Hellbug]

GTA4 consumed way too much time for me to dismiss it. I still load up the game whenever I feel the need to evade cops and perform death defying jumps in motor scooters.

[Raen]

I had to go for SC4, as it's the only one I've played. I liked the demo of Mirror's Edge, but I haven't actually played the full game.

[EternalGamer]

Shouldn't we get to vote on the games that make the list first? Personally, I think this list is not that great. Where are:

Tomb Raider
Prince of Persia
Gears of War 2
Dark Sector
Ratchet & Clank
God of War: Chains of Olympus
Ninja Gaiden 2

Just to name a few. Genres break down is really just rather silly at this point anyway because the categorization is so porous. Especially with something like "action" game. How much gun do you have to use for it to be an "action game" rather than a "shooter"? At least the latter made sense when we were talking about First Person Action games. Now it just means, what? A game with guns in it? What kind of category is that? "Best game where you use a gun." I nominate "best game where you use a key or pull a switch" as a new category for next year.

[civil]

Emotional and absorbing yes. Best action? Nope. I think more of the emotion and absobing experience were from the long cinemas. I loved the game...just can't see it as best action.
For me...

The Crying Wolf segment was easily the best "action" sequence in any game I played this year, hands down. Nothing even came close, IMO.

[Karmakin]

Of the options given, I'd pick Mirror's Edge.

[Suave Peanut]

Honestly, I don't think any of those were that phenomenal in relation to one another. I will have to give this some thought.

[Shieldmaiden]

With the ambiguity of the category, I'd be inclined to throw Wrath of the Lich King in there. It's had some of the best action moments I've experienced all year.

[menage]

For me...



If were talking all games here I would like to name Gears 2, now there's some action. Goddamn that first ride on the tanks was incredible.

[civil]

Spoiler bitch! Some of us haven't played it!


EDIT: Of course, I say "bitch" with love.

[DoctorFinger]

Remember, there are 16 other categories to be voted on, so if you favorite isn't here, it will likely be represented somewhere.

[Shieldmaiden]

Gears 2 has tanks in it! Goddamn, civil's right, that was an evil spoiler. :D

[DoctorFinger]

Shouldn't we get to vote on the games that make the list first?We did that 2 or 3 years ago at EvAv and it just made things more difficult. Frankly, we agonized over a lot of these decisions, but in the end I thought we ended up with a good list. I know everyone won't be happy, but the same thing would happen if we had 10, or 12 or 20 nominees in each category.

[DoctorFinger]

Gears 2 has tanks in it! Goddamn, civil's right, that was an evil spoiler. :DNo, a spoiler would be telling you about the scene where Marcus loses a leg.

[Shieldmaiden]

That was either a joke, or you're a sick, sick man.

Hang on a minute, this is Gears we're talking about. It has a plot?

[menage]

Oops, didn't think it was that much of a spoiler. This bitch apologizes:D

[civil]

Alright, alright. I deserve all the mockery. Sheesh!

[pheriannath]

Gears is in the "Shooter" category, coming later. ;-)

[EternalGamer]

We did that 2 or 3 years ago at EvAv and it just made things more difficult. Frankly, we agonized over a lot of these decisions, but in the end I thought we ended up with a good list. I know everyone won't be happy, but the same thing would happen if we had 10, or 12 or 20 nominees in each category.

Well, I would just like to see things not automatically end up being "Which of this list of the big marketing budget games." Granted, it is inevitable that that will happen on its own, but it would be nice if the potential to vote for something lower on the radar wasn't cut off from the start.

But with this particular list, the choice is easy for me. I don't even think MGS4 was my favorite game of the year, but I find it so far superior to everything else on this list that it isn't funny.

[Ink Asylum]

Hard for me to vote in this category since I've only played three of the titles, but I have to give credit to Brawl since this is the Action category. In terms of pure action gameplay it provided me with more enjoyment than any of the others I've played this year.

[muddi900]

You haven't played MGS, until you've played it on hard!

[Iron Past]

Aw, I thought Ninja Gaiden 2 would have been on there, I probably would have voted for it. I will if it's in another category, but from those, Dead Space, absolutely.

[DoctorFinger]

Well, I would just like to see things not automatically end up being "Which of this list of the big marketing budget games." Granted, it is inevitable that that will happen on its own, but it would be nice if the potential to vote for something lower on the radar wasn't cut off from the start.
Which "small marketing budget games" would you have put on the list for best action title?

[itchyeyes]

Which "small marketing budget games" would you have put on the list for best action title?
It seems to me that Ninja Gaiden 2 and Prince of Persia are the two most obvious choices, although I suppose PoP is pretty light on action and could still fall into another category. I doubt either one of them would have won, but given that the poll's can handle up to 10 choices, it seems somewhat silly to arbitrarily cut it off at 6.

[Dark Prince]

If only Mirror's Edge was able to balance its action with at least decent combat, I would've picked it.

Grand Theft Auto IV bored me for the most part, then again I never really liked the series in the first place.

So, out of the rest of those choices I'd probably go with Dead Space mostly because it had a pretty damn good story with a fleshed out background and balanced action and tension.

[jpc_theoneandonly]

Dead space was incredible if you ask me. There were a few moments that made me jump but I don't think that it was as creepy as it was made out to be. Excellent game though. And I love the DC. The new suits look pretty damn cool. I have yet to beat it on the hardest setting. Oh, for those of you who plan on playing it, start out on the hardest setting possible. If you do not and you start a new game on a harder setting, none of your upgrades or suits will carry over. They will only exist if you play through on the same difficulty.

[Wackman3000]

I went with MGS4, although Dead Space was a really close second. GTAIV almost had my choice but after the second island it really lost it's charm and I haven't had a single urge to finish it.

[Wraith]

Can't wait to see the RPG nominations. No shortage of titles for that one. Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, Valkyria Chronicles, FFTA2, Disgaea 3, Persona 4, TWEWY, Chrono Trigger (if ports/remakes qualify), Fallout 3, Fable II, WoW: WotLK, to name a few.

[DoctorFinger]

It seems to me that Ninja Gaiden 2 and Prince of Persia are the two most obvious choices, although I suppose PoP is pretty light on action and could still fall into another category. I doubt either one of them would have won, but given that the poll's can handle up to 10 choices, it seems somewhat silly to arbitrarily cut it off at 6.The more choices you give, the less likely you are to get a winner. We set the limit at 6 (except for GOTY) because there has to be some limit. The nature of nominating is that no matter how many spots you giev, there's always someone/something left out.

[Morangie]

I can't really vote for any of those because I don't see any of them as action games. Dead Space is horror, Mirrors Edge is a platformer, SC4 and SSBB are fighters, I haven't played MGS4 and GTA4 sucks.

I vote for Mercenaries 2. :)

[total]

MGS4 would be GOTY for me so this was an easy choice for me. I haven't played Dead Space yet (still waiting for it from Amazon) and GTA4 was a huge let down for me. Actually all of the GTA games are disappointments for me but I keep buying them expecting that at some point I will find what everyone loves about these games.

[Wackman3000]

I wonder if the BEST fighter COGGIE is gonna have Fallout 3 in the list. :P

Really guys, there could have been MANY other games to replace the 2 fighters in there.

[bapenguin]

Shouldn't we get to vote on the games that make the list first? Personally, I think this list is not that great. Where are:

Tomb Raider
Prince of Persia
Gears of War 2
Dark Sector
Ratchet & Clank
God of War: Chains of Olympus
Ninja Gaiden 2

Just to name a few. Genres break down is really just rather silly at this point anyway because the categorization is so porous. Especially with something like "action" game. How much gun do you have to use for it to be an "action game" rather than a "shooter"? At least the latter made sense when we were talking about First Person Action games. Now it just means, what? A game with guns in it? What kind of category is that? "Best game where you use a gun." I nominate "best game where you use a key or pull a switch" as a new category for next year.

That's the problem really - there's simply too many friggin games out this year. Everything gets buried.

[Deadend]

I am skipping this one.

No Devil May Cry 4, Ninja Gaiden 2, Dead Space is a shooter, GTA IV is more of a driving/shooting game than anything else. Smash Bros, and SC4 are FIGHTING games, and they are on here, why isn't MKvDC or SF2HD?

Action to me should be games like Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden, or 2D shooters like Weapon of Choice, Geo Wars 2 and such.

Hell, I don't LIKE the category even, as almost every game counts as an action game.

[Adam Blue]

Yeah, some things are omitted...but does it matter? Dead Space is on there. That is the GOTY. I want to play through it again soooo bad....but I have a list of games to go through. I'm going to Gamefly it again after I complete a few more games and 'keep' it.

Although...The Bourne Conspiracy is totally an awesome action game. Just way too short.

Edit: I just realized Morangie mentioned Mercenaries 2. That one is fun as fuck. (great use of alliteration).

[Sandman]

Out of that group I vote for MGS4.

[bean]

Huh. . . if you are going to make the choices so broad to include Mirror's Edge and Soul Calibur 4 why aren't other ones included like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Prince of Persia, Saint's Row 2, and Ninja Gaiden 2 included.

I would vote for Saint's Row 2 if it were an option, but since it isn't I have to decide between GTA 4 and MGS 4. . . My guess is that this is a two-horse race between the two of them anyway. Edit: Wow. I enjoyed Dead Space but didn't love it. Why do you guys like it more than MGS and GTA?

Edit: Also, Editor's Choice? While I'd be interested to know how a few of you vote for and WHY if they wrote it out, I don't care about how all of you vote. Is this supposed to be an "expert" panel or something? One of the attractions of this site over a site like Gamespot is that the average user is as game literate as the editors of most gaming sites.

This is harmless except that it prevents us from reading why editor X voted for Y game or it makes us look in two threads for the same information. I'm as interested to read what Spigot and Kelegacy vote for as I am to read about baps or fits (just a few examples, there are other well-reasoned editors and normal colonists who opinions I also find interesting).

[DarkDay]

isn't it just an honor to be nominated? Also, not big on the choices, so going to just spectate.

[DoctorFinger]

Huh. . . if you are going to make the choices so broad to include Mirror's Edge and Soul Calibur 4 why aren't other ones included like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Prince of Persia, Saint's Row 2, and Ninja Gaiden 2 included.

I would vote for Saint's Row 2 if it were an option, but since it isn't I have to decide between GTA 4 and MGS 4. . . My guess is that this is a two-horse race between the two of them anyway. Edit: Wow. I enjoyed Dead Space but didn't love it. Why do you guys like it more than MGS and GTA?

Edit: Also, Editor's Choice? While I'd be interested to know how a few of you vote for and WHY if they wrote it out, I don't care about how all of you vote. Is this supposed to be an "expert" panel or something? One of the attractions of this site over a site like Gamespot is that the average user is as game literate as the editors of most gaming sites.

This is harmless except that it prevents us from reading why editor X voted for Y game or it makes us look in two threads for the same information. I'm as interested to read what Spigot and Kelegacy vote for as I am to read about baps or fits (just a few examples, there are other well-reasoned editors and normal colonists who opinions I also find interesting).PoP, Saint's Row 2 and Ninja Gaiden 2 were all preliminary nominees, which were knocked out when winnowing the field to 6. The ones there are all ones we liked personally, or felt had the best chance of winning (not alwyas one and the same), or made real contributions to the category.

As to why our opinions matter more than anyone else's: they don't. We're gamers just like you. But at the same time, we're trying to establish an editorial direction and identity for the site, and to that end we felt it best to have vote on our own winners independant of what you all choose. Is it partly ego? Probably, but what's wrong with that? I thought about asking all of the editors/mods to give me a blurb for their choices in each category, but I don't think it would enlighten things too much.

[Mortis]

I would have voted for SR2, I went with Dead Space from this list.

[EternalGamer]

Well, I hope in the next few categories you guys provide more choices. It isn't exactly "readers choice" if a lot of the reader's choices are not available. I don't see what it would hurt to give 8 or 9 choices.

[Stoke]

I went with SC4 since I think it's the best fighter released this year and it looks like there won't be a fighter category.

[J Arcane]

None of the above. There's only two of these titles that are even available on the PC, and neither would I put in a game of the year award, especially not fucking GTA 4. And Brawl was actively bad, a serious step down in quality for a series that as it was mostly banked on franchise novelty.

Where the fuck is Left4Dead in this list? Just off the top of my head, I'd give that at least a nomination before any of these games. And I didn't even think it was that great.

[DoctorFinger]

Where the fuck is Left4Dead in this list? Just off the top of my head, I'd give that at least a nomination before any of these games. And I didn't even think it was that great.Maybe it's in one of the 16 other categories?

[Psykoboy2]

None of the above. There's only two of these titles that are even available on the PC, and neither would I put in a game of the year award, especially not fucking GTA 4.

This is just the action game category, not Game Of The Year category.

[itchyeyes]

The more choices you give, the less likely you are to get a winner. We set the limit at 6 (except for GOTY) because there has to be some limit. The nature of nominating is that no matter how many spots you giev, there's always someone/something left out.
A fair point. Limited to this genre and six choices, I think you guys did a pretty good job picking the contestants. I didn't mean to be too critical. I realize these can be difficult choices.

I do echo EternalGamers sentiments though, in that I hope that these aren't going to simply turn out to be a contest for whoever had the biggest marketing budget. If all I wanted was to see people heap praise on [insert AAA title of the month] I'd just watch the VGA's. Here's hoping the CoG community can show a bit more insight than Spike TV.

[J Arcane]

This is just the action game category, not Game Of The Year category.
Many sites break down GotY by category, with an overall single winner and many genre picks.

[EternalGamer]

A fair point. Limited to this genre and six choices, I think you guys did a pretty good job picking the contestants. I didn't mean to be too critical. I realize these can be difficult choices.

I do echo EternalGamers sentiments though, in that I hope that these aren't going to simply turn out to be a contest for whoever had the biggest marketing budget. If all I wanted was to see people heap praise on [insert AAA title of the month] I'd just watch the VGA's. Here's hoping the CoG community can show a bit more insight than Spike TV.

And be reflective of some titles not just released in the last three months. I feel a lot of titles got overlooked from this list just because they came out earlier in the year.

[itchyeyes]

And be reflective of some titles not just released in the last three months. I feel a lot of titles got overlooked from this list just because they came out earlier in the year.
Eh, I don't have so many problems with this particular list. I can't think of anything that absolutely should have been there that isn't. Chains of Olympus will likely go in a handheld category. Of what's left, most notably PoP and NG2, the decision between including them and something like Mirror's Edge or Brawl is pretty subjective. Personally, I would have given more choices, but they've given a pretty good reason for why it's limited to 6.

I'm speaking more in terms of what we see going forward, and also how the community votes. For some of these other genres there are going to be tough choices between popular hits and critical darlings.

[tombofsoldier]

Left 4 Dead

[Ghost Rider]

MGS4 wins for me. Still good list, I can imagine it must be hard deciding what gets left out etc. but good job.

[Variable Gear]

I vote for Weapon of Choice. It's a pure action game, unlike any of this shit.

[Iron Past]

Left 4 Dead

...is a pure shooter. Arguably, Dead Space is not. I never ceases to amaze me at how people can complain about absolutely everything, including a list that has nothing to do with anything. It's not like anyone's forcing you to vote, and not having your favorite on there is the same thing as the game you did vote for not wining.

[J Arcane]

...is a pure shooter. Arguably, Dead Space is not. I never ceases to amaze me at how people can complain about absolutely everything, including a list that has nothing to do with anything. It's not like anyone's forcing you to vote, and not having your favorite on there is the same thing as the game you did vote for not wining.
I think there's fair cause to complain. This is a site that prides itself on it's community contributions and interaction, but here we have an award where the nominations were just picked out of the blue and thrown up seemingly without any contribution or consultation from it's userbase.

That's bound to grouse a few people.

[bean]

MGS4 wins for me. Still good list, I can imagine it must be hard deciding what gets left out etc. but good job.
It probably was hard. . . and also unnecessary. Like washing rocks.

[Psykoboy2]

It probably was hard. . . and also unnecessary. Like washing rocks.

Hey! I found some really nice ones a few weeks back while trying to level out some ground. And I washed them.

Neither hard nor unnecessary...they were pretty. So there. :p

[Food Nipple]

I too am a bit underwhelmed by the nominees. I think the consensus is that there must be a better way to do this next year.

On the other hand, none of the other games people are suggesting would get more votes than MGS4, GTA4, or Dead Space. Then again, I bet there's a lot of games that would get more votes than the stragglers on the list.

[Primus]

I felt the selections were kind of weird (you don't often see fighters and horror survival up against each other), but I guess Brawl technically had the best action, both quality and quantity.

[DoctorFinger]

I think there's fair cause to complain. This is a site that prides itself on it's community contributions and interaction, but here we have an award where the nominations were just picked out of the blue and thrown up seemingly without any contribution or consultation from it's userbase.

That's bound to grouse a few people.Like I said, we opened up the nomination process at EA a few years back, and that produced even more grousing. Instead of 'we weren't consulted' it was 'I was ignored'.

And while there was no formal poll or anything by the community, we did factor in people's reaction to a number of games. Only 1 of the editors was really a big fan of Left 4 Dead, but because we knew it was a huge hit in the community, it got a lot of nominations.

[Variable Gear]

In addition, including fighting games in an "action" category is fucking stupid.

Just have a category for fighters.

[Suave Peanut]

I ended up picking Dead Space, mostly because there's not a "4" in the title.

[rinichanraar]

Wow, 27, 29, and 28 for Dead Space, GTA4, and MGS4? Close fucking race.

[J Arcane]

Like I said, we opened up the nomination process at EA a few years back, and that produced even more grousing. Instead of 'we weren't consulted' it was 'I was ignored'.

And while there was no formal poll or anything by the community, we did factor in people's reaction to a number of games. Only 1 of the editors was really a big fan of Left 4 Dead, but because we knew it was a huge hit in the community, it got a lot of nominations.
So you don't do the nomination system in a public thread. You take email submissions, or set up a form, where people can write in their nominations, take whatever the top 6 or whatever are, and anything that didn't make it, well, tough, it didn't get enough votes.

This, and the other thread however, just read like someone just grabbed whatever the last 6 games to be released in X category were, and called it good.

[MagGnome]

I voted for Dead Space, partly because it's the only game on that list that I've played, but also because I've really enjoyed the first four chapters. It's very well put together.

[DoctorFinger]

This, and the other thread however, just read like someone just grabbed whatever the last 6 games to be released in X category were, and called it good.Really? The games in this category released in October, April, June, October, July and January. In racing they were released in February, April, May, September, September and July. That's a pretty good spread in both cases.

[Disgustipated]

Well, I hope in the next few categories you guys provide more choices. It isn't exactly "readers choice" if a lot of the reader's choices are not available. I don't see what it would hurt to give 8 or 9 choices.

Agreed. This is more like "Reader's pigenholed, hackneyed choices." I'd say allow the editors to make their choices, and then let us vote on the games we thought were good. And also break down the categories for us. Gears of War 2 could easily be construed as an action game, for example.

I'm not bagging on the admins, but this was pretty poorly done, and it shows that it lacks community input.

[Norse]

Like many others here I do miss some games. Maybe we should start a separate GotY process so everyone has a chance to nominate their favorites?

Anyway, Dead Space should be the clear winner in this category.

[Variable Gear]

Weapon of Choice.

[Telefrog]

I find this poll interesting because of the results so far. It looks like Dead Space, GTA4, and MGS4 are the frontrunners. I think it may have to do with them being the only real "action" games on the list. I suppose a case could be made for ME, but most people felt that it wasn't worth the price of admission.

[Squidbot]

None of the above.

[DarkDay]

I am skipping this one.

No Devil May Cry 4, Ninja Gaiden 2, Dead Space is a shooter, GTA IV is more of a driving/shooting game than anything else. Smash Bros, and SC4 are FIGHTING games, and they are on here, why isn't MKvDC or SF2HD?

Action to me should be games like Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden, or 2D shooters like Weapon of Choice, Geo Wars 2 and such.

Hell, I don't LIKE the category even, as almost every game counts as an action game.

Not like its really a big deal in life, but I second Deadend on this. Terrible choices. A couple doozies. but where the hell are the ACTION games?

Edit..

This is my vote, and it also counts. Even if people don't like it, seems though im not alone.

[pseudopseudo]

There're two fighting games on here - you couldn't boot one of them to make room for Saint's Row 2?

(Sorry, I know comments like these don't help anything - but I haven't seen a single poll that seemed... truly representative of the genres they're supposed to cover.)

[H.Bogard]

Dead Space doesn't count as a shooter?