It comes as little surprise, but September was a great month for gaming. Signalling the beginning of the holiday rush, it was packed with enjoyable releases and subsequently high scores, which made our always intense staff vote all the more interesting. This isn't the first time that we've argued amongst ourselves regarding the winner of our Game of the Month award, of course, but September's victor is sure to rub many the wrong way.
And so, we'd best just come out and say it: Destiny emerged from our vote victorious, beating out the likes of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Velocity 2X. Despite editor Sammy Barker's dislike of Bungie's latest, it's clear that many of our writers are still enamoured with the release. "Bungie's smash hit isn't the gameplay revolution that some wanted, but its accessible RPG systems, sublime gunplay, and incredible presentation over all aspects of the release elevate it beyond some of the very best shooters on the market," wrote this relatively impressed author for our review, before cracking open a piece of blue loot to find a respectable score of 8/10.
Speaking of which, 8s were found in abundance last month, but one title actually managed to climb to the summit of our scoring system – a place where few games ever get to tread. "Velocity 2X is everything that a game should be," reviewer Mat Growcott declared, giving FuturLab's incredibly smooth creation a hallowed 10/10.
Meanwhile, climbing not too far behind was Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, which received a rather good score of 9/10 from Joey Thurmond. "It’s one of the best games that we’ve played this year," the Lord of the Rings enthusiast wrote, before concluding that "this game is like the One Ring: it’ll take much for it to ebb away into the shores of time, but will surface in our memories for years to come due to its 'preciousss' novelty". Clever.
Rounding off the shortlist for our all-important award were FIFA 15 and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution – two titles that descend from a long line of solid releases. Writing about the former, this particular associate editor came to the realisation that "numerous alterations don't promise much individually, but affect the game in a largely positive way when combined," which meant that this year's instalment could sprint up the pitch clutching an 8/10. As for our colourful ninja friends, we called Storm Revolution "the most thoughtful entry in the series yet," and closed by saying that "once again, it's the brilliant and intense spectacle of all-out ninja warfare that'll keep you utterly glued to your controller". An 8/10 for you, too, Mr. Uzumaki.
That's our vote done and dusted, but what was your favourite game of September? Did Destiny disappoint? Did FIFA flop? Refresh your memory with our list of reviews, vote in our poll, and reason with us in the comments section below.
Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited - 8/10
Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate (PS4) - 8/10
Velocity 2X - 10/10
Madden NFL 15 - 8/10
The Last Tinker: City of Colours - 6/10
The Golf Club - 6/10
Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition - 8/10
Destiny - 8/10
Flockers - 7/10
Murasaki Baby - 3/10
NHL 15 - 4/10
Fairy Fencer F - 6/10
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution - 8/10
Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate (Vita) - 7/10
Run Like Hell! - 5/10
KickBeat: Special Edition - 5/10
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments - 7/10
Watch Dogs: Bad Blood - 7/10
FIFA 15 - 8/10
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor - 9/10
What was your favourite game in September? (40 votes)
- Destiny
- FIFA 150%
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
- Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution
- Velocity 2X
- Other0%
Please login to vote in this poll.
Comments 36
So a 9/10 can't outdo a 8/10 game for GOTM? Especially when that one game is Destiny?
@Punished_Boss Haha. The Game of the Month is group voted, so that's what's happened there. I will say that it was incredibly close between Destiny, Mordor, and Velocity — in fact, there was one point separating all three!
I traded in Destiny to get my $43.50 back at least. ugh, it was a good game at the start, but even after lvl 24, it clearly has shown a lack of content in everything. For a game based on $250+ million dollar budget, it should have had much more content. I'm sure the expansions are going to be smaller compared to the base game, so for me, this was a good trade and Destiny won't be missed. In my eye's, Bungie is showing me they are nothing more than a one trick pony. I also remember Activision's Bobby Kotick saying how games should be more expensive and I think if you add the next two expansions to Destiny, that should have really been the base of the game right there. So basically you are paying close to $90 just for the base of the game when all is said and done.
@Demi_God Apparently LOTS of stuff went wrong with Destiny and the original vision of the game and the Story was much more ambitious than what we have now. There are posts all over the internet detailling all the content that has been cut. Im gutted about all that because I really love the world they created, but without a cohesive story and background info to all tie it together neatly, what value does it all have really hm? After 75 strikes and about 65 hours of gameplay Im pretty much burned out.
I think all that content that was cut is to make it so you buy the expansions. They are trying to make the full game more expensive by doing it this way, which is most likely going to backfire as they probably will get lower than expected sales on those expansions. The base game sold a lot but of course that was hype.
@Scollurio To be fair, 65 hours is a lot!
I was cynical as hell about Destiny when it was released. I only bought it because a friend had nobody to play online with when he bought a ps4. So while I agree with most criticisms, I will say that personally I've had a lot of fun with it. I don't generally play online, but Destiny has been the only game that I'll make time to play online with friends. For that reason I'd say it succeeded.
Amusing anecdote: I was at a party on Sat talking to a friends boyfriend. Now this guy is a total glam rock cliché. Bleached hair and denim, ripped t shirts. The whole deal. Anyway he thought that Destiny was my daughter because I mentioned it that much, to the point that I'd taken time off work and been up late with it.
Game of the month man.
I dont have time to explain why I dont have time to explain why destiny is not my game of the month.
Shadow of Mordor is tho!
@Johnnycide - "he thought that Destiny was my daughter because I mentioned it that much"
I know people give their kids some - err - "unique" names these days, but COME ON!
Now if you'll excuse me I have to pick up little Bayonetta from school.
Destiny is a pretty good FPS up to getting to Level 20 and/or finish the 'story' but it's just not a game of the month and certainly shouldn't be having its name uttered in relation to game of the year. I've played ios on my phone with deeper story and character interaction. I would certainly give Shadow of Mordor game of the month over Destiny....it's didn't come close to being anything more than a very very pretty but very repetitive FPS that wasn't the game changing revolution it was meant to be. However my copy of Bungie's latest is long gone and its DLC expansions and sequels will never harass my PS4.
I'd go for destiny yep, I've not played enough of Mordor to judge if its as good yet.
@Scollurio I got burned out at a hundred hours so I've taken the week off, might jump back on it this weekend, I'm probably gonna trade it in when I reach level 30 and then maybe re buy the game after the expansions are released, the strikes and raids ain't all that IMO. I do like the crucible a lot though, CoD AW will keep me busy until the expansions anyway.
@Scollurio I'm totally with you...I loved Destiny's world but the game tells me next to nothing about it...not even a real reason for shooting all those aliens. I believe there was more in the game, as posts on the Internet seem to support, and I believe the DLC are chunks of the original game...cut for profit above artistic integrity.
@get2sammyb Concerning money per hour of fun wise I can't complain. But considering what Destiny supposed to be, what was teased and especially after reading about the leaks, the cut story, the development problems etc...
Also, Destiny wasn't supposed to be a 65 hour romp, it was supposed to establish a franchise fans will love and invest in the coming decade. In that regard, I fear, it failed miserably. I had really high hopes, enjoyed the time I played, but now... I only see bleakness...
Shadow of mordor came out in October! So it should be in next month
@ZeD Sept 30th actually bro!
@mitcHELLspawn 3rd October in UK, bro.... So yea, October for is.
@ZeD When it's on the line like that between NA and EU, we go with the US date. It's a really difficult one, but it seems to make sense. (Just about.)
@get2sammyb that's ok. It would probably get lost in next months list xD
So yeah... destiny. Opinions on this game are so polarized it's crazy. I haven't seen a game that split public opinion like this in a long time. I've got to admit when I started playing it I was having a blast. The campaign was really light on any kind of story whatsoever, but I was playing it coop so we weren't really focusing on it that much anyway. We were just having fun killing aliens.
The biggest problem with destiny for me is just that I feel we were promised so so SO much more than what was delivered, and that's why so many people (including myself); feel sorta cheated. There just isn't enough content there to keep people coming back in my opinion.
My character is level 27 and I had a blast getting up there, but I haven't played destiny in going on 3 weeks now.. and I highly doubt I will be playing it for quite a while. I'm definitely not buying the expansions until I find out from other people just how much content is in them.
Once shadow of mordor and forza horizon 2 came out, that was it for me... I had no desire at all to go back. Both of those games are great. It's really hard for me to say which one deserves game of the month.
@ZeD yeah I know dude. I was just saying it was out on the 30th though which is why it was part of the debate for game of the month, that's all.
@mitcHELLspawn damn American's stealing the thunder! 😝
@ZeD haha no American here just a good ol Canadian boy. Haha
As I have ranted about my views on Activision here before, I won't bore the comment section more. But yea it seems Activi$ion has ruined Bungie just like they ruined Infinity Ward.
I saw the pic. on the pre-order PSN page associated with the first batch of DLC upcoming for Destiny. Gee, want to rip off the look of the alien from Alien much? What a joke. Come to think of it, maybe Bungie is just overrated? Who knows.
Shadow of mordor over destiny every time for me. Can't put the game down.
@get2sammyb so you didn't want destiny to win? I feel you lol didn't much care for it.
Really only 3% for Naruto Storm Revolution? Nooooo lol and I think that's cuz I voted too....
@LDXD no he's Canadian, however Canada is located in North america, but its not american soil. Mexico, is also located in north america even though its not apart of america either... Idk they would name the continent america if only the states are truly American soil. Sounds very narsissitc to me... And i live in america :/ please don't yell at me as I don't know what continet you live in or if your being sarcastic >.>
@Scollurio who do you feel is to blame? Activision, or Bungle? I'm just wondering.
Oddly enough i love Destiny.. i was super skeptical going in, infact i was going to pass on it altogether. Glad i didn't I'm having a blast with the PvP.
I, for one cant wait for the destiny hype to die,,,
Got to level 14 or 15 in Destiny, got bored and traded it in. Don't regret that decision for a second either. The gunplay is as well done as ever from Bungie but everything else about the game is just meh. Infact, Sept. was so terrible on PS4 that I voted for Velocity 2X, great game but when I'm voting indie over AAA that's bad. Didn't play Shadow of Mordor.
Destiny is an awesome game! The pvp for me never gets boring and that's the main reason I bought it. Some people have unrealistic expectations.
I get the feeling that if Destiny wasnt made by Bungie, and it wasnt Bungies first multiplat game that people wouldn't be defending it so much.
If any other developer promised as much as them, and failed to deliver as much as them they would have been slaughtered.
@get2sammyb Yeah, I think I'd consider a game a success if spent that much time on it. How much time are people expecting out of the game? The entirety of their social life and a third of the time spent gaming in a year?
so I have been a devout follower of Push Square for many years, your review scores have almost never led me astray, and I've picked up & loved many games based on feedback from this site. but I finally had to make an account to call you out on this. I am utterly heartbroken that you awarded this to Destiny instead of Velocity 2X. Destiny (in my opinion only, of course) is so derivative & half-assed that I gave up after about 8 hours. To me, the game is like Brazilian fart porn: I respect that people enjoy it, but it does nothing for me. You folks had a chance to highlight a game made with heart by a company with limited resources, but instead jumped on the 500 million dollar Activision bandwagon. Poor FuturLab. Anyhow I know this post doesn't really affect anything, and as saddened as I am by this pick I still say to the staff at Push Square - keep up the great work...
Such a shame to see that the majority of the writers like an unfinished game more than a well-designed complete game. I stopped supporting Destiny, and sold it right after I realised it was just a snore-fest, that has had the vast majority of it's content held back to bleed more money out of people. Yes, it looks pretty, but the game is barren. It's lazy, and partakes in underhanded activities, and for that it's completely undeserving of GotM.
The game has also made me lose a lot of respect for Bungie, who I always thought were a developer that had the fans in mind, and didn't think of them as just another sale. Instead, they jumped in to bed with Activision, and gave a game that is just a product for the consumer above all. If EA put something like this out, the industry would call them out and attack them viciously, but because it's Bungie, people are blindly loyal to it.
There are moments of fun in the game, and it can be enjoyable to play, but we're just allowing these tactics in the industry, letting developers hold back content deliberately, and allowing them to make false promises they have no intention of keeping. Peter Molyneux got slammed for constantly lying about the Fable franchise, and it's affected the game in the public eye. But Destiny carries on sailing past on its ship of gold.
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