Welcome to the Flap Jaw Space Power Rankings (text edition), a written recap of the dynamic perversion and informal melee that unfolded on the previous episode of Flap Jaw Space: The Digital Chumps Podcast. Power Rankings is a running segment where we continually update the ten best games of 2012 every episode. If you’re new, there’s quite a bit of nuance and havoc that goes into these deliberations, most of which you can read about in the origin story here. The important thing to remember is that Chris had this idea approximately one (1) week before the similarly themed concept from Polygon. So, without further delay,
THE FLAP JAW SPACE POWER RANKINGS – EPISODE 51 – MAY 8TH, 2012
Going in:
1 – Journey, as played on PlayStation Network by Chris, Eric and (somewhat begrudgingly) Steve
2 – Fez, as played on Xbox Live Arcade by Chris and Eric
3 – Xenoblade Chronicles, as played on Wii by Eric
4 – Mass Effect 3, as played on Xbox 360 by Chris and Eric
5 – Twisted Metal, as played on PlayStation 3 by Eric
6 – Syndicate, as played on Xbox360 by Chris and Eric
7 – Trials Evolution, as played on Xbox Live Arcade by Chris
8 – Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs attack, as played on PlayStation Vita by Chris and Steve
9 – NFL Blitz, as played on Xbox Live Arcade by Chris
10 – Ghost Trick, as played on an iPhone 4S by Chris
Up for Nomination: The Darkness II – Super Monday Night Combat – Awesomenauts – Pushmo
Going out:
1 – Journey, as played on PlayStation Network by Chris, Eric and (somewhat begrudgingly) Steve
2 – Fez, as played on Xbox Live Arcade by Chris and Eric
3 – Awesomenauts, as played on PlayStation Network by Chris and Eric
4 – Xenoblade Chronicles, as played on Wii by Eric
5 – Mass Effect 3, as played on Xbox 360 by Chris and Eric
6 – Trials Evolution, as played on Xbox Live Arcade by Chris and Eric
7 – Pushmo, as played on 3DS by Steve
8 – Twisted Metal, as played on PlayStation 3 by Eric
9 – Syndicate, as played on Xbox360 by Chris and Eric
10 – Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs attack, as played on PlayStation Vita by Chris and Steve
Recap: With only 28 cubes under his belt, Steve busted out of the gate by suggesting we move Fez ahead of Journey. Neither Chris nor I were prepared to make this move. In fact, upon the revelation of Fez’ monster mind second layer, we both entered with the intention of moving Fez down a few places. Out of nowhere Steve then compared Fez’ music to an unconscious fondness for living in our respective mother’s wombs, which, despite being a time that none of us remembered, we all conceptually agreed with. Born out of this resolve was an affirmation that Fez was good enough for second place – for now.
Awesomenauts was undoubtedly the greatest surprise. From a game that we were only vaguely aware of a few weeks ago to what’s currently the third best game of the year was quite a journey. Chris and former Flap Jaw Space special guest Chris Smith played enough to achieve the unrecognized rank of master, while my ultimate appreciation was held back by an unrefined skill set. In any case it was a lot of fun and held true to Chris’ line of, “it’s like Capcom made a Mega Man MOBA” which has now sold the game to five different people. Steve claimed he would be buying Awesomenauts before the next podcast, Chris and crew seem to be cruising past infatuation and into long term commitment, or at least that’s what they’re saying until Diablo 3 comes out and everyone goes Leonard Shelby on everything else from 2012.
In Steve’s second left field instance of the evening arrived Pushmo. If you’re paying attention you would notice that Pushmo actually came out on December 8th, 2011. After a bit of discussion we decided the Flap Jaw Space Power Rankings would run from December 2011 to December 2012, which sort of makes sense considering everyone usually ignores games released in December. In any case I had no idea what the hell Steve was talking about when he was describing this game, but after a brief demonstration he killed off any chance I had at finishing Resident Evil Revelations and motivated me to pick it up immediately. The staggering amount of content, apparent challenge, ridiculous price, and fondness for portable puzzle games makes Pushmo sound like a no-brainer that requires a brain. If nothing else, like Steve said, it proves there’s still a space out there for original puzzle games.
Chris also brought Super Monday Night Combat to the table, however its strength was weakened when he discovered it was merely a MOBA conduit for Awesomenauts. It was thereby resolved to the nebulous, “It’s pretty cool, but I don’t know” category occupied by hits like Tribes Ascend and Quell.
I brought and immediately rejected The Darkness II on the grounds of it being a largely miserable experience. I liked the art style and the idea of using the darkness as an extension of Jackie’s melee set, however that’s pretty much what it boiled down to; a whip and a gravity gun. The narrative, which split time between an mental hospital and the ‘real world’ and tasked the player with figuring out which actually happing, was sort of cool, but not enough to trump the monotony of soulless shooting and a repeating hell of bad guys.
NFL Blitz and Ghost Trick fell off by the simple math associated with process of elimination. While we lost two downloadable titles the obvious trend remains; we’re playing (and loving) a lot more sub-$15 games.
And thus ends the Flap Jaw Space Power Rankings for Episode 51. Check back on May 22nd when Chris and Steve talk endlessly about Diablo 3 and Eric finally engages the 2010 PC game of the year 2011, but on a console in 2012. Or something.
