LogFAQs > #939084435

Headliner Analysis:

2010 never had the insane peaks that some other years had, but it got the wins where it needed to. Though just like picking two Busts was difficult, finding two Headliners was also difficult; Mass Effect 2 was a lock, but while deciding between Mario and Pokemon, I realized that I couldnt pick one without the other, because they both had the same reasons to both be and NOT be included here.

Of those two questionable picks Im gonna start with Pokemon, because its probably the one that would have the strongest objections lobbed against it. Skyrim was the overwhelming favorite to make it out of Division 8, but there were whispers of Pokemon upsetting it and making it as far as the Finals! Even those who strongly objected to such notions thought that Pokemon would at least make Skyrim squirm a bit in Division Finals; instead it ate a 60-40 loss, putting it on par with Mario Kart 8 lulz.

Im not gonna deny that was fairly embarrassing after all the hype, but this PCA is naturally gonna be filtered through my perspective. I never felt that Pokemon had a shot at Skyrim, or that it was gonna possess GSC level strength; its REALLY debated match was with Nier Automata, and a lot of smart people thought HGSS was gonna lean more towards modern Pokemon, ie weak as shit. Their eightpack being turbotrash outside of themselves meant that we were flying into this match completely blind, and it ended with Pokemon having a small but comfortable win that Nier never really threatened to take away. A hyped match ending with a 52-48 lead that never threatened to switch sides is always the most boring; you dont get the intensity of a wire-to-wire fight, nor the hilarity of one side just running away with it ala SMB and Sonic. Pokemon did well to hold its ground, and looked to be almost in the middle of X/Y and G/S/C, which in this era of Pokehatred is probably the best it could have asked for.

So what about Galaxy 2? Why is it being blessed with the title of Headliner when it lost all the way back in Round 3, in a match some thought it could win (lol). Well, its godstomp of Obra Dinn was one of the most entertaining moments of Round 1 (no disrespect to that game, I hear its excellent and I fully intend to play it), and providing the biggest blowout of the contest meant the Galaxy>Witcher upset crowd was finding a voice. Though ALSO going out in a 60-40 fashion doesnt look great, wed find out that getting blown out by Witcher is hardly an indictment of the games strength, and once the final x-stats are done I suspect its gonna be a lot closer to Odyssey than initially expected. Thats more credit than Galaxy was being given pre-contest!

But only one of these games is unambiguously the Headliner of the year, and thats Mass Effect 2. Though it was a slight favorite to win its Division, it was dogged with doubt all contest long, starting all the way back in Round 1 with what was perceived to be an embarrassing underperformance against REVII. People started thinking that fucking Fallout 4 was gonna upset it. Fallout 4. The beginning of the end of Bethesdas gamer cred, and part of the reason Witcher killed so many top brackets in the semifinals. Shepard ended up picking the Renegade option in that match and fucking decked it, with a near doubling that stunned everyone and made them question everything they knew at that point in the contest. Was indie fear not warranted and that 70% on VVVVVV was as bad as it would have looked if you ignored the Hollow Knight and Bastion matches (yes)? Was REVII actually good (yes)? Was Mass Effect 2 ok (yes)?

The downtime between Round 2 and Round 3 was the only respite ME2 got all contest; it went 55-45 against Horizon Zero Dawn, which I guess some people were disappointed with because its match with RE2 was considered a massive question mark. As one of Horizons biggest advocates I was pretty certain that ME2 was fine, and it was. The RE2 match was exactly the kind of boring 52-48 affair I described earlier, which after an entire contests worth of doubt was exactly what ME2 needed. Unfortunately it was the weakest 1 seed left, and would have lost to anything other than the non-1 seed in Quarterfinals. Still, no shame in being obliterated by the LAW; plenty of strong games and characters have been sacrificed on the altar of Zelda, and we think no less of them.

Other thoughts:

You know, the more I stew on it, the less I think of this year. Mass Effect 2 was the only real highlight, and even then it was ultimately a 1 seed that did what it was supposed to do and won its Division; every other game did what it was expected to do, with little deviation from the script. None of the wacky Pokemon or Mario upsets panned out, but even more reasonable upsets like Civ 5 > ACIV or New Vegas > God of War didnt happen. But hey, it works the other way around, too; outside of SMB and RDR, nothing got upset, and there was plenty of potential for it with Life is Strange and Dark Souls III being perceived as threats to Halo Reach and New Vegas (and NV holding off DkSIII after the original proved super legit was pretty good for it in retrospect).

By the way, can we talk about how Halo and Blops managed to sneak into bracket? These games dont even warrant any respect points like Modern Warfare 1 or the earlier Halo games, and as the sites userbase shrinks and is boiled down to its base elements, these casualbait FPS games making it in is all the more surprising. I guess the fact that they made it in over Halo 4 or 5 and the 70 Call of Duty games that have come out since then speaks to how the turn of the decade was the last time anyone could stomach this shit, and they ARE pretty representative of their era. Getting godsmacked by Breath of the Wild and Bloodborne is exactly the kind of vindication I needed.

Seven of these games would turn out to be pretty damn weak by any reasonable standard, too: Heavy Rain, SMB, Starcraft II, Blops, VVVVVV, Halo Reach, and Ghost Trick are definitely in fodder town, and Civ 5 isnt that far off if not already there. How Halo, VVVVVV, Starcraft II, and SMB managed to worm their ways into an 8, 9, 9, and fcking 4 seeds, respectively, is beyond me. As this is the first year of the analysis idk how bad a 50% fodder density is, relatively speaking, but I cant imagine its good. Still, when no one expects anything of you, its hard to care when you get blown out.

And thats ultimately where 2010 lies. Its really nothing crazy, either in a positive or negative way.

Final Rating:

C - Mostly did what was needed and expected to be done. No more, no less.

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