PLEASE READ FIRST: Now Loading's Best + Worst of 2011 is based on ONLY titles that I have played extensively for systems that I own. That is why there is no PS3 category / Games in these nominees. Thanks for understanding and enjoy the Nominees!
I've gathered up 16 categories for all the games I've played in 2011 to compete in; from the "highly coveted" 2011 Game of the Year, to best character(s), to best game mechanic, to terrible load/wait times, to most disappointing, they are all here. Today I will be revealing the WINNERS of all the categories.

2011 WORST AWARDS WINNERS – INTRO
These games are given the descriptor of worst, with that said, please keep in mind not all these games are bad, in fact, some of these games might be really great, but sometimes there are just things that don't work out. Things like bad design choices, bad product placement, underwhelming features or just flat out horrible games. Also some of these games have received these awards due to my negligence or just because I didn't end up liking them. Also take note that some of these categories / nominees are more "for fun" than others.

Word of Mouth Award
This award is given to the game which has received good review scores and/or good word of mouth, but when I ended up buying it, I found out it wasn't for me or I simply just didn't like what I played. This award is open to all games purchased in 2011.


WINNER: L.A. Noire - (X360, 2011)
L.A. Noire is the winner simply because it does NOT deserve all the positive word of mouth and excellent high scoring reviews it gets. Sometimes this award can go to a game that does deserve its positive word of mouth but turned out it just was not for me. That just isn't the case for LA Noire it gets praised for its excellent story, great voice acting and surreal facial animations, but that is not enough to drive a videogame and LA Noire's lame gun fights, stupid clue hunts and quiz like interrogations fail to bring the required gameplay.

Runners Up:
Dead Island (X360, 2011), Dark Souls (X360, 2011)


Worst Splurge Buy
There are times when you have money burning a hole in your pocket and you just have to spend it. It could be on a bad game, a game that isn't right for you or even a game you don't really need, but that money has to go before your pants catch fire. These are the games that I bought in 2011 that wished I hadn't seen during that particular day, if you know what I mean.


WINNER: Crackdown 2 - (X360, 2010)
Crackdown 2 takes the award simply because there is no need to own this game, at least the other two nominees were unique in concept, Crackdown 2 is the same game that was released back in 2007 except the city is a bit trashed and there are zombies; that's seriously it. If you don't own the first game then you just have a barely average open world 3rd person shooter not worth playing. Don't buy this, that's all there really is to say.

Runners Up: Bangai-O Spirits (DS, 2008), Splinter Cell: Conviction (X360, 2010)


Play or Not to Play?
These nominees have the dubious distinction of being titles that I bought in 2011 but never got into, never even played or played for only a really short time. This seems to happen far too often for me.


WINNER: Okamiden - (DS, 2011)
This year this award maybe should have been called "hand-held game that I bought but didn't feel like playing on said hand-held"... but that's a mouthful so Play or Not to Play? will work. Okamiden wins the award just because out of the three it is the one I actually wanted to play the most. Instead I got another 3-D game controlled by a d-pad, annoying FORCED AI partners that you have to utilize to clear dungeons and bosses (important AI partners in single player games are a serious pet peeve of mine), gimmicky boss fights and on top of that it is on hand-held and I hardly ever play my hand-held systems (I have a serious history of buying hand-helds and games and never playing them) and you have a disappointment that I put off playing.

Runners Up: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (DS, 2007), Dragon Quest IV: Realms of Revelation (DS, 2011)


Patience Is a Virtua (Longest Game Wait Time Award)
Loading times... Wait times... Ever since games began to use optical disc technology this has be a common fact of gaming. There might also be a few game mechanics that make you wait. These are the worst culprits of this from titles released in 2011.


WINNER: Bastion - (XBLA, 2011)
I only have experience with the Xbox 360 version of Bastion but when your loading times make the game feel a bit unpolished it really hurts. There isn't one loading screen that is less than 15 seconds with the longer loads nearing the 30 second mark. It's a fairly large blemish on a really excellent little game.

Runners Up: Back to the Future: The Game (WII, 2011), Deus Ex: Human Revolution (X360, 2011)


Worst Game Mechanic
You need good ideas to make a good game and while some ideas sound good on paper, these particular ideas should have stayed on the paper, then got tossed into the fire. What I am saying is that these mechanics actually made their respective games less enjoyable. These are the worst game mechanics of the 2011 released titles.


WINNER: Dead Island's Weapon Breaking - (X360, 2011)
While weapon / armor breaking and degradation could probably win Worst Game Mechanic every single year as it is in the same territory as Escort Missions, Forced Stealth Sections and Block Pushing Puzzles... no one honestly likes it. Dead Island takes this design taboo and makes it so prevalent that you need to carry even crappy white level loot just so you don't run out of weapons after a serious fight against a hoard or tough enemy. Add in the fact, this mechanic makes rare and powerful weapons of questionable use because it is cheaper to maintain and upgrade a crappy white drop than it is to try to keep your purple in good quality. DUMB, ANNOYING and most importantly NO FUN.

Now the Nominees: Bejeweled 3 - Quest Mode Missions + Randomness, L.A. Noire - Interrogations


Most Disappointing Now Loading In-Depth Game of 2011
Not every game I choose to play on NLID will be a winner, in fact, some of them might just be not-so-good games to begin with. This award goes to the NLID game in 2011 that bummed me out the most after COMPLETING it.


WINNER: Secret of Mana - (SNES, 1993)
Sure, BioShock is a crappy game and Majora's Mask's time gimmick didn't do anything for me... but finally taking the time to play a game that you've been hearing nothing but great things about since you were 12 years-old and then finding out almost 19 years later that it is one of the most overrated games in the history of gaming could not bum one out more. Shoddy hit detection that can't register simultaneous hits, a grindy magic system, clunky over done menus, stupid AI partners, non-exsistant story, zero exploration... I could go on, but I will just say this, one of the worst games on the SNES.

Runners Up: BioShock (X360, 2007) (NLID #24 - #26), The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64, 2000) (NLID #3 - #7)


Most Disappointing of 2011
Since I don't intentionally play bad games this award goes to the game that just didn't meet whatever expectations that I had for it. Whether if that was because of poor gameplay, because it was a rehash or just because I couldn't get in to it like I hoped I would. This is award is only open to games published in 2011.


WINNER: Saints Row: The Thrid - (X360)
This is a strange one. It's pretty ironic to have enjoyed your most disappointing game of the year so much. I won't lie to you, Saints Row 3 is a really fun game with some cool missions, some hilarious moments... but it just doesn't work for me. Saints Row 1 and 2 were parodies set somewhat in reality with silly humor but with some occasionally gritty storylines and interesting characters that you loved or you hated. Saints Row 3 puts the Saints in to a parody of a parody and loses all the character and story had built in the first two games. They start the game by killing off the best character 10 minutes in and ditch everything else for telephone conversations to begin missions for the rest of the game. Then of course there is the fact that this game just lacks many of the features that Saints Row 2 helped build up with less clothes customization and fewer missions and activities that almost all of which lost their introductions which gave them context. I'd say Saints Row: The Third was rushed but it was development for 3 years instead of 2 like the bigger and better Saints Row 2. Saints Row: The Third is a soul-less oversimplified game that non-Saints Row fans go on about because they can laugh at sex jokes and blow stuff up.

Runners Up: Shift 2 Unleashed (X360, 2011), L.A. Noire (X360, 2011)


2011 BEST AWARDS WINNERS – INTRO
These games are given the title of best in their cIass, there is nothing better than these games or aspects of these games. You can't go wrong with any of them; in fact you should play them all.

Best Downloadable Game (WiiWare/XBLA)
This award is given out to the best downloadable game game that I played this year. Open to ONLY 2011 released Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) or WiiWare titles.


WINNER: Torchlight - (XBLA)
This was probably the closest award this year. Both Torchlight and Bastion were pretty much tied. I decided to go with Torchlight because it just has more hours of gameplay than Bastion's 3 or 4 hours. Plus, Torchlight is the game I thought Bastion was going to be so it gave me the gameplay I wanted. Of course Bastion trumps it in story, mood and setting. Downloadable games like these two keep getting better every year and soon they might just blow me away enough to put them up for Game of the Year honors one of these days. NOTE: The XBLA version of Torchlight was released in March 2011, whereas the PC download version was released in 2009 with a retail release in 2010.

Runners Up: Bastion (XBLA, 2011), Bejeweled 3 (X360, 2011)


Best Character in 2011
This award goes to my personal favorite hero/heroine or main character(s) from any game I played in the year of 2011.


WINNER: Wheatley - (Portal 2, 2011)
As you can see Wheatley isn't much to look at which is why his voice actor Stephen Merchant is the real winner of this award. He just plays this dopey character so well and as I said brings him to life hilariously. As noted previously talking too much about Wheatley's role in Portal 2 would be major spoilers.

Runners Up: The Kid (Bastion, 2011), Sam Gideon (Vanquish, 2010)


Best Surprise in 2011
This award is given to a game purchased in 2011 (any year published) that surprised me that it was so good or turned out that was even better than I thought it was going to be.


WINNER: Half-Life 2 - (X360, 2007)
What better a surprise than to find out you owned a really great game this whole time and all you needed to do was to play it for more than 3 hours!? That's what happened with me and Half-Life 2 the first time I tried to play it I didn't really like what I played around 3 hours in, lots of running away and piloting an air boat. If I just would have played a bit longer I would have discovered the GRAVITY GUN, a CIassic shotgun and some great pacing and really well designed levels. Not to mention some great characters and story. SURPRISE!

Runners Up: Two Worlds II (X360, 2010), Enslaved: Journey to the West (X360, 2010)


Best Game Mechanic
Awarded to those game design ideas that REALLY worked out. These ideas worked to perfection and added just that much more to their respective games. This category is open to ONLY 2011 releases.


WINNER: Dragon Language Shouts - (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, X360)
FUS-RO-DAH! *watches dumb bandit fly off a mountain* Actually my favorite is IIZ-SLEN-NUS which turns your enemies into living Popsicles. The shouts provide a nice middle ground between straight up magic and simple techniques, giving your warrior or thief a little trick up their sleeve.

Runners Up: Batman Arkham City - Grapple Boost Gliding, Portal 2 - Gels


Best 2010 Game Played In 2011
You can only play one game at a time and often you fall behind the release curve. This Award goes to the best 2010 game that I played during the calendar year of 2011.


WINNER: Vanquish - (X360, 2010)
There isn't too much that is needed to be said as to why I chose Vanquish as my best 2010 game played in 2011. It is a great fast paced third person shooter that excels in all areas, gameplay, characters, level design and art design. With that said, I will leave you with this... if I had played it in 2010, it would have been my Game of the Year.

Runners Up: Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii, 2010), Enslaved: Journey to the West (X360, 2010)


Best Nintendo Wii Game Played in 2011
The poor old Nintendo Wii is showing its age and with lack of releases this is the award that goes to the best Wii game that I played in 2011.


WINNER: Super Paper Mario - (2007)
None of the Paper Mario series games have let me down and Super Paper Mario is no exception. Fun platforming gameplay, quirky characters and a neat world flipping gimmick make for a fun departure from the first two game's RPG mechanics.

Runners Up: Donkey Kong Country Retruns (Wii, 2010), The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (WII, 2011)


Best Xbox 360
This is the award that goes to the best 2011 published Xbox 360 game.


WINNER: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
There wasn't a single game that I played more on my Xbox 360 than Skyrim. I have spent over 120 hours with my first character and will probably spend 100 more before I am done. My first 100 hours was done without even barely touching the main questline which is still one of the most impressive things about Bethesda's games. The more in your face combat and the fun Dragon Shouts add just enough to complete the package.

Runners Up: Portal 2, Batman Arkham City


Favorite Now Loading In-Depth Game of 2011
This game is my personal favorite NLID game that I COMPLETED in 2011.


WINNER: Resident Evil 4 - (Gamecube, 2005) (NLID #40 - #42)
I loved Vanquish, adored Half-Life 2, but Resident Evil 4 had me on the edge of my seat trying to survive its intense and challenging gameplay for only the second ever time since I completed it back in 2005. This was another of the close awards where I had trouble choosing and all three games are worth playing and deserved of the award.

Runners Up: Vanquish (X360, 2011) (NLID #36 - #37), Half-Life 2 (X360, 2007) (NLID #16 - #18)


Game of the Year 2010
This is the big one, the Game of the Year. Of course it goes to my PERSONAL FAVORITE game that I played that was published in the calendar year of 2011, not necessarily the best overall.


WINNER: Portal 2 - (X360, 2011)
As the description for this award says: it goes to my PERSONAL FAVORITE of the year, not the best overall. That's why Skyrim won X360 and Portal 2 is my Game of the Year for 2011. I really enjoyed Portal 2's great puzzles which are expertly designed with neat training puzzle that train you on a puzzle element so you can employ it later on more difficult puzzles. This keeps you in the head of the puzzle designer almost insuring that you won't get stuck for too long. That's not say of course the puzzles are easy, but it eliminates one of the frustrations of puzzle games where you just have no clue how to win because no one explained it to you. This is all wrapped up with some great humor and great characters that will have you laughing out loud when you aren't straining your brain on the puzzles. As an added bonus there is a really fun 2 player co-op mode where you need to not only have cooperation but good communication and timing to get through the tricky puzzles. Congratulations to Portal 2, Now Loading's Game of the Year for 2011!

Runners Up: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (X360), Batman Arkham City (X360)


Thank you for reading all about the winners of my 2011 Best + Worst Awards, I'm sure you probably guessed some, but were you surprised by any of my choices? Also thank you for joining me for my 2011 Wrap Ups Super Special and I will do all again next year. With that coming to a close I will talk to you next on Monday, January 16th when Now Loading In-Depth returns for Season 2! Happy New Year! Loading Complete!

PLEASE READ FIRST: Now Loading's Best + Worst of 2011 is based on ONLY titles that I have played extensively for systems that I own. That is why there is no PS3 category / Games in these nominees. Thanks for understanding and enjoy the Nominees!
I've gathered up 16 categories for all the games I've played in 2011 to compete in; from the "highly coveted" 2011 Game of the Year, to best character(s), to best game mechanic, to terrible load/wait times, to most disappointing, they are all here. Today I will be revealing the nominees and explaining all the categories. Obviously the games come in 2 flavors: Best and Worst, first we'll take a look at the worst categories and then of course the best ones. Each category requires a few nominees, one of which one will come out with the award

2011 WORST AWARDS NOMINEES – INTRO
These games are given the descriptor of worst, with that said, please keep in mind not all these games are bad, in fact, some of these games might be really great, but sometimes there are just things that don't work out. Things like bad design choices, bad product placement, underwhelming features or just flat out horrible games. Also some of these games have received these awards due to my negligence or just because I didn't end up liking them. Also take note that some of these categories / nominees are more "for fun" than others.

Word of Mouth Award
This award is given to the game which has received good review scores and/or good word of mouth, but when I ended up buying it, I found out it wasn't for me or I simply just didn't like what I played. This award is open to all games purchased in 2011.

Now the Nominees:
Dead Island (X360, 2011)
Dead Island is a game with so much potential and it deserves any positive word it might get, but unfortunately for myself the obscene amount of weapon degradation and the fact it is more of multi-player game killed it for me.

Dark Souls (X360, 2011)
Dark Souls also derserves all of the positive praise that it gets. The thing is, it's a difficult game and I don't really have the patients and rather not get frustrated attempting something 20 or more times to get it right.

L.A. Noire (X360, 2011)
L.A. Noire on the other hand does not deserve most of the positive word of mouth that it gets. Sure it has a cool story and the acting and facial animation are on another level, but the action gameplay is boringly simplified and the other gameplay amounts to Easter egg hunts and multiple choice quizzes.

Worst Splurge Buy
There are times when you have money burning a hole in your pocket and you just have to spend it. It could be on a bad game, a game that isn't right for you or even a game you don't really need, but that money has to go before your pants catch fire. These are the games that I bought in 2011 that wished I hadn't seen during that particular day, if you know what I mean.

Now the Nominees:
Bangai-O Spirits (DS, 2008)
Bangai-O Spirits looked like a cool game, but this "missle-hell" level based shooter does a horrible job at preparing you for even the first levels of the game. So what happens is you get blasted in a matter of seconds and you have no clue what to do to avoid it.

Splinter Cell: Conviction (360, 2010)
Finally it looked like there might be a Splinter Cell game that I could enjoy so when I saw Conviction for like $20 I picked it up. While it is slightly (I MEAN SLIGHTLY) less about stealth, running and gunning is not really an option either. It's still mostly a stealth game and they are mostly not for me.

Crackdown 2 (X360, 2010)
Even after the horrible demo version pretty much proved this game was going to suck, I still picked it up for $20 when I saw it... I figured, what the hell. My demo impressions where correct and I failed miserably with this pick-up.

Play or Not to Play?
These nominees have the dubious distinction of being titles that I bought in 2011 but never got into, never even played or played for only a really short time. This seems to happen far too often for me.

Now The Nominees:
Okamiden (DS, 2011)
I didn't spend the time with the sequel to Okami because of annoying touch screen controls, an annoying partner character that you have to order to do things and just the fact it is on the DS and that I should never play portable games.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (DS, 2007)
Another lengthy DS game that I will never spend enough time with because I don't really like playing games on hand-helds. It seems like a cool game but as I said...

Dragon Quest IV: Realms of Revelation (DS, 2011)
A serious commitment would be required to play through this 60 hour RPG and I will not put my neck through that kind of strain to complete it on a hand-held.

Patience Is a Virtua (Longest Game Wait Time Award)
Loading times... Wait times... Ever since games began to use optical disc technology this has be a common fact of gaming. There might also be a few game mechanics that make you wait. These are the worst culprits of this from titles released in 2011.

Now the Nominees
Back to the Future: The Game (WII, 2011)
In this port of Back to the Future for the Wii the loading times between scenes are almost 20 seconds and when you hit a piece of key dialog or use the correct item the loading pauses of 5 seconds will make you wish you had a time machine DeLorean to get back all the time you lost to loading screens.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (X360, 2011) - Title Screen Load
This is slightly special case. The time between the title screen appearing and the time you are allowed to actually press start must be 20 seconds or more. I thought the game had frozen the first time I played.

Bastion (XBLA, 2011)
This interesting hack and slash 2-D action game with seemingly simple graphics is hampered by load times that last in to the 20+ second range and that really ruins the experience.

Worst Game Mechanic
You need good ideas to make a good game and while some ideas sound good on paper, these particular ideas should have stayed on the paper, then got tossed into the fire. What I am saying is that these mechanics actually made their respective games less enjoyable. These are the worst game mechanics of the 2011 released titles.

Now the Nominees:
Bejeweled 3 - Quest Mode Missions + Randomness
Bejeweled 3 has some cool new game modes including the Quest Mode with neat little challenges for you to complete... the problem is almost all of Quest Mode is affected by the random element of Bejeweled's puzzles. Because of this most of the time completing challenges is just a matter of luck more than skill.

Dead Island - Constant Weapon Breaking / Repairing
Dead Island's most MAJOR flaw is the constant weapon breaking. Most weapons have 30 or less uses before they "break" and become useless for damage. You then have to repair them by paying money at a workbench (yup, you pay the actual work bench), the rarer the weapon the more it costs to fix, making rare (and powerful) weapons too much of a monetary risk to use.

L.A. Noire - Interrogations
Interrogations in LA Norie amount to multiple choice quizzes that make sure you were paying attention to the clues and the overly subtle twitch that the person being questioned made. If you push the questioning the wrong way there is no going back and your witness or suspect will just refuse to talk to you about that topic EVER again because didn't answer the arbitrary quiz correctly.

Most Disappointing Now Loading In-Depth Game of 2011
Not every game I choose to play on NLID will be a winner, in fact, some of them might just be not-so-good games to begin with. This award goes to the NLID game in 2011 that bummed me out the most after COMPLETING it.

Now the Nominees:
Secret of Mana (SNES, 1993) (NLID #27 - #30)
I finally took the time after 18 years to finally play the "legendary" Secret of Mana to completion only to find out that this is one of the worst action games on the SNES. It has crappy hit detection, grindy magic system, horrible menus... probably the only good thing is the music

BioShock (X360, 2007) (NLID #24 - #26)
This is one of the most over-rated games of the current generation. A terrible blend of first person shooter and role playing game neither hold up. Add in an arbitrary "morality" system where you are either a saint or the epitome of evil and you have disappointing game.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64, 2000) (NLID #3 - #7)
It's hard to totally fault Majora's Mask but the 3 day time limit and repeating those 3 days over and over is not a fun mechanic to have in an exploration game. Plus the constant switching of masks in a menu will have you thinking switching boots in Ocarina was nothing.

Most Disappointing of 2011
Since I don't intentionally play bad games this award goes to the game that just didn't meet whatever expectations that I had for it. Whether if that was because of poor gameplay, because it was a rehash or just because I couldn't get in to it like I hoped I would. This is award is only open to games published in 2011.

Now the Nominees:
Shift 2 Unleashed (X360, 2011)
A racing game where your car behaves differently on every single corner ruining the feel of the entire game. It's not uncommon to lose control of your car on STRAIGHTAWAYS and start bouncing from wall to wall. Add in an overly aggressive presentation that dwells on the fact auto racing is dangerous and you got the complete package of disappointing.

L.A. Noire (X360, 2011)
I'm glad this is the last time I will have to write anything about LA Noire. Crappy action gameplay which asks you if you want to skip it if you fail more than three times, clue hunts that are equal to the Easter egg hunts of your childhood and interrogations which are multiple choice quizzes which test to see if you were paying attention. Do I need to say more?

Saints Row: The Third (X360, 2011)
Saints Row 3 is a really fun game that forgot about its fans, you know, the ones that actually ENJOYED the first two Saints Row games for what they were: fun open world crime games with a sense of humor. Instead they made a game with the Saints Row name that takes things too far over the top and only lives only by its below stupid sex jokes and potty humor. Less customization + fewer good characters + less story + fewer missions + a crappy soundtrack x killing off Johnny Gat = A Huge Disappointment.

2011 BEST AWARDS NOMINEES – INTRO
These games are given the title of best in their cIass, there is nothing better than these games or aspects of these games. You can't go wrong with any of them; in fact you should play them all. What makes them great you ask? All you have to is just play them; it should be readily apparent right away.

Best Downloadable Game (WiiWare/XBLA)
This award is given out to the best downloadable game game that I played this year. Open to ONLY 2011 released Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) or WiiWare titles.

Now the Nominees:
Bastion (XBLA, 2011)
Bastion has a really interesting story and a neat way of telling through "live" narration. The other gameplay aspects are pretty fun too with cool weapons and a neat counter blocking mechanic.

Bejeweled 3 (X360, 2011)Bejeweled 3 is another solid release from PopCap games and with some cool new modes added to the game. It remains as simple and as addictive as ever.

Torchlight (XBLA, 2011)
Torchlight is very fun and pretty simple dungeon crawler where you kill hoards of monsters in search of loot drops. With 3 character cIasses and over 30 hours of gameplay there is tons to do as well.

Best Character in 2011
This award goes to my personal favorite hero/heroine or main character(s) from any game I played in the year of 2011.

Now the Nominees
The Kid (Bastion, 2011)
The Kid has no speaking part but plays a huge role in an interesting story and besides he swings a hammer as big as he is and takes no prisoners.

Wheatley (Portal 2, 2011)
To talk too much about Wheatley's roll in Portal 2 would be spoiling a lot, but this quirky personality sphere is completely made by his voice actor: Stephen Merchant.

Sam Gideon (Vanquish, 2010)
Sam is a bad-ass. Enough Said.

Best Surprise in 2011
This award is given to a game purchased in 2011 (any year published) that surprised me that it was so good or turned out that was even better than I thought it was going to be.

Now the Nominees
Half-Life 2 (X360, 2007)
Half-Life 2 was a surprise because I didn't really like the game at first and it then proceeded to blow me away enough to say: "I wished I had played this sooner."

Two Worlds II (X360, 2010)
Two Worlds II surprised me not because it was mind-blowingly excellent but because it wasn't nearly as awful as everyone else seems to think.

Enslaved: Journey to the West (X360, 2010)
In third different kind of surprise Enslaved took my initial first impression of an escort mission and surprised me with fun combat, cool puzzles and an interesting story and characters.

Best Game Mechanic
Awarded to those game design ideas that REALLY worked out. These ideas worked to perfection and added just that much more to their respective games. This category is open to ONLY 2011 releases.

Now the Nominees:
Batman Arkham City - Grapple Boost Gliding
The coolest way to travel if you are Batman. Just latch on to nearby grapple point with your hook and double tap to get a speed boost and release. You'll be gliding around all of Arkham City without ever having to land.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragon Language Shouts
FUS-RO-DAH! Actually my favorite is IIZ-SLEN-NUS which turns your enemies into living pop-cicles. These shouts provide a nice middle ground between straight up magic and simple techniques, giving your warrior or thief a little trick up their sleeve.

Portal 2 - Gels
All three of the gels work to make for some really cool puzzles as you not only have to utilize the gels to get to the exits but you have to figure out how to use the portals to also get the gels on the surfaces you need them on in the first place.

Best 2010 Game Played In 2011
You can only play one game at a time and often you fall behind the release curve. This Award goes to the best 2010 game that I played during the calendar year of 2011.

Now the Nominees:
Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii, 2010)
Donkey Kong Country Returns is enjoyable for its ****c gameplay which both challenges and frustrates at the same time.

Enslaved: Journey to the West (X360, 2010)
I enjoyed Enslaved more for its story than its gameplay, but fun puzzle maps mixed with some fun platforming section made for a cool amount variety.

Vanquish (X360, 2010)
I enjoyed the fun and fast paced action that Vanquish provides and the fact it manages to do it with some rediculous ****and bad-assery.

Best Nintendo Wii Game Played in 2011
The poor old Nintendo Wii is showing its age and with lack of releases this is the award that goes to the best Wii game that I played in 2011.

Now the Nominees:
Donkey Kong Country Retruns (Wii, 2010)
A fun game that pulls of the DKC gameplay off pretty well and challenges your modern gaming skills with old school difficulty.

Super Paper Mario (Wii, 2007)
A fun departure from the RPG based Paper Mario games with fun platforming and a neat 2-D to 3-D flipping mechanic which allows for some fun puzzles.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (WII, 2011)
This game has quite a few troubles especially with the sluggish and tiring Wii remote swinging but does deliver the familiar Zelda formula well enough to get by.

Best Xbox 360
This is the award that goes to the best 2011 published Xbox 360 game.

Now the Nominees:
Portal 2
Portal 2 is a great sequel, take what was great about the first game, which was witty humor and mind-bending puzzles and up the ante with trickier puzzles, a co-op mode and even more hilarious humor.

Batman Arkham City
Batman: Arkham City keeps the smooth fighting engine, tons of cool Batman gadgets and adds in a bigger playable area, more villains and really cool story.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Who can argue with 100s of hours of gameplay in a beautiful world that is begging to be explored? No one really and if you add in Dragon battles and a really cool shout system you get even more out of it.

Favorite Now Loading In-Depth Game of 2011
This game is my personal favorite NLID game that I COMPLETED in 2011.

Now the Nominees:
Vanquish (X360, 2011) (NLID #36 - #37)
It's not very often the game lives up to the hype. I heard lots of good things about Vanquish and every one of them was completely true.

Half-Life 2 (X360, 2007) (NLID #16 - #18)
When I first started playing Half-Life 2 I wondered what was so great about this game. Then its stellar pacing, cool story and fun action made me wonder why I hadn't just played this sooner.

Resident Evil 4 (GCN, 2005) (NLID #40 - #42)
This is just flat out a great game and I loved every moment of only my second playthrough since I completed the game the first time way back in 2005.

Game of the Year 2010
This is the big one, the Game of the Year. Of course it goes to my PERSONAL FAVORITE game that I played that was published in the calendar year of 2011, not necessarily the best overall.

Now the Nominees:
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (X360)
100's of hours of gameplay without doing more than 3 quests into the main quest line, 100's of locations to explore and beautiful graphics to absorb you in to the world so you never want to leave.

Batman Arkham City (X360)
Batman: Arkham City could probably hold its own if all it was just a thug beating up simulator thanks to the amazingly smooth combat engine. But if you add in a great cast of villains and a cool open area to use your gadgets in you have a being Batman simulator.

Portal 2 (X360)
Portal 2 is a beautifully structured game with incredible design and planning. Breaking you into each puzzle so you don get stuck and rounding that out a fun 2 player co-op mode and some of the best humor in videogames is a winning formula.

Those are the nominees for my 2011 Best + Worst Awards and on January 14th, 2012 I will reveal the winners. Some of the categories may seem pretty obvious, but I think you may be surprised at a few of the winners once they are revealed to you. The 2011Wrap Ups feature concludes January 14th with the Winners of my 2011 Best + Worst Awards! Loading Complete!

Welcome to Now Loading: The Blog in 2011 Retrospective, where I will recap all the posts of the entire year. 2011 was a renaissance of sorts for Now Loading as I changed the format of how I deliver content with Now Loading In-Depth. This article ran for 45 editions in 2011 surpassing all of 2010 with just that series. There where a few slow spots but I managed to put up 95 posts in 2011. It probably could have been even more but because of my team's NHL Playoff run and then getting sick for about 3 weeks in late October causing posting to slow to a crawl, if it wasn't for those things I could have easily passed the 700 post mark in 2011. That's why 2012 is going to be so exciting with NLID coming back full swing next week. With all that said it's time to look back at the great year of 2011.

JANUARY 2011 - 12 posts
January started off the same way it has for the last 6 years with the winners of my Best + Worst Awards. Metroid Other M was Most Disappointing of 2010 and Mass Effect 2 won Game of the Year honors. It was followed by another yearly staple The Last Remnants of 2010 post where I cover everything that was interrupted by the 2010 Wrap Ups special including introducing you to Now Loading Retro In-Depth. Next up was a finished article for Bothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, a fun, but slow paced shooter. After a bit of a delay because I was fiddling with the Archive Website I caught up by posting a bunch of impressions of games in a Now Loading Update. The next day I posted an ANGER filled finished article covering Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii. Soon after I posted a finished article for Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit which is just a Burnout game in Need For Speed clothing which is why it is so good; this post also had a small update where I apologized a bit for the harshness of that DKC Returns article. Next in a serious string of finished articles I covered Bayonetta a game was apparently so AWESOME that it broke my brain... actually I just didn't feel I could give it due justice because while I enjoyed it greatly I mostly just button mashed my way through. After playing through a game with a detailed fighting system that I couldn't grasp along came the next finished article covering Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands with a battle system where you press down on the D-Pad to kill rooms of enemies in a split second. It finally happened again, a game so frustrating, so anger inducing, so intelligence insulting that I brought back the GAMER'S RANT! In Gamer's Rant #13 I listed the top 5 stupidest design problems of Metroid Other M. After two really slow years (2009, 2010) I finally hit the 600 post mark! To celebrate that I decided to take a look back at all of the Gamer's Rants and write retrospective comments about their topics. After all that complaining I wrote the finished Article on Metroid Other M an okay game with a few too many experimental gameplay mechanics. I haven't ever posted links to Month-In-Reviews in this article over the years, but I will because Month-In-Review January 2011 was the first in 2 years.

FEBRUARY 2011 - 10 Posts
February was about to start off a brand new series that would change the blog for the good, but first I had to share my new thoughts after finally taking the time to finish The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for only second time in 4 years. It was finally time! Now Loading Retro In-Depth #1 hit the Blog covering Black and it's various nagging issues. The next day in NLRID #2 I had finally completed Black and came away with the same feelings a decent game with too many small issues to be great. I continued on with NLRID #3 which covered my history and first feelings on black-sheep Zelda title Majora's Mask. I continued a few days later with NLRID #4: Majora's Mask #2 where I talked about saving the game and my initial feelings on the time traveling aspects. NLRID #5: Majora's Mask #3 is where the three day time limit gimmick really started to get to me and made me not want to play. NLRID #6: Majora's Mask #4 didn't even contain a proper update on my progress through the game just a comparison to what the time limit would be like in other games of its type. I complete Majora's Mask in NLRID #7: Majora's Mask Final + Next Game, it's a good Zelda game ruined by the frustrating 3 day time limit; the next game was Banjo-Tooie. I gave my introduction to the Banjo-Kazooie series and gave my first thoughts on playing Banjo-Tooie again in NLRID #8: Banjo-Tooie #1.

MARCH 2011 - 10 Posts
NLRID continued to dominate the blog with NLRID #9: Banjo-Tooie #2 where I list a walkthrough for just ONE SINGLE jiggy in Tooie. Too complex for the type of game it is. In NLRID #10: Banjo-Tooie #3 I have to give up on Tooie as it is just too boring to enjoy; I announce the next game as Neotopia 2 on TG16. In a slight break from all the NLRID action I pause for a moment to give my Impressions on Torchlight (XBLA), a great version of the game which at the time of that writing had bad frame-rate problems. In-Depth returned with NLRID #11: Neotopia II #1 where I introduce you to my history with the two games in the series. A few days later I was ready to update you again with NLRID #12: Neotopia II #2 covering some of the small issues caused by old-school game design such as bombing every wall of dungeon. The next day, Neotopia II was completed in NLRID #13: Neotopia II Final + Next Game in which I talked about the ending of the game hinting at Neotopia III which never came out; the next NLRID game was Skies of Arcadia: Legends. Which I begin discussion on in NLRID #14: Skies of Arcadia Legends #1. In NLRID #15: Skies of Arcadia Legends #2 I give more of my history with the game explain the ship battles element of the game. In a quick Now Loading Update I give super quick impressions of Okamiden and Shift 2 Unleashed.

APRIL 2011 - 5 Posts
April saw a huge drop off of posts because of the NHL Playoffs and with your team playing a game every other day its hard to focus on update the blog. Right off the bat to start the month I posted a special feature covering my anticipated games of 2011. 20 days later, 29 days later for an actual NLRID update I finally update with Now Loading In-Depth #16: Half-Life 2. Yup, I dropped the Retro aspect of the series to allow for more game variety and choice. I also gave luke-warm impressions of Half-Life 2. Next up was the first Finished Article in a while covering the highly enjoyable and brain teasing Portal 2. Lastly I dropped one more NLID update before April was out with NLID #17: Half-Life 2 #2 in which I find the game growing on me, a lot.

MAY 2011 - 9 Posts
May started Now Loading back on the right track with 9 posts starting with NLID #18: Half-Life 2 Final + Next Game in which I praise HL2 and get ready to move on to its episodes as the next game. A couple of days later I had finished both Half-Life 2 Episodes and shared my praise filled thoughts on them in NLID #19: Half-Life 2 Episode 1 and 2 Final + Next Game which also announce the next game as Paper Mario (N64). In NLID #20: Paper Mario #1 I discussed how playing a previous game in the series after playing the better Thousand-Year Door was going to tough as not to compare them. In NLID #21: Paper Mario #2 I discussed the bane of the Paper Mario series BACKTRACKING. NLID #22: Paper Mario #3 was just a short one covering the chapter structure of the game and my "fear" that final boss would be unbalanced like in TTYD. Oh boy, the start of the L.A. Noire saga of posts. I gave my Impressions of the game which didn't bode well for the future with repetitive cases and stupid multiple choice quiz like interrogations. Something made me snap and I rattled off 2 back to back Gamer's Rants, in #14 I continued to complain about the game's crappy mechanics and in #15 I complain about all the people who like LA Noire and deal with its problems because of the good story.

JUNE 2011 - 4 Posts
This month was really messed up by the NHL Playoffs as my team made the finals for the first time in 17 years so most of my focus was on that. I started the month of with NLID #23: Paper Mario Final + Next Game where I gave my final thoughts on a fun game and announced I would be trying a Dreamcast game next. The following Now Loading Update started off serious because I needed to defend the real Canucks fans and Vancouverites from unwarranted blame for a bunch of dumb drunks and anarchists trashing the city after the Canucks lost in the Final. I then talked about a play through of Mass Effect 2 that I finished with all the DLC missions. NLID #24: BioShock #1 was delayed because, first that Dreamcast game didn't work out and second the game that I had picked as a back-up turned out to be total garbage. So I picked a game that was less than total garbage BioShock.

JULY 2011 - 7 Posts
July was an average month for Now Loading and it started off with NLID #25: BioShock #2 where I talked more about XBL Indie game Total Miner than I did about poopy BioShock. I think this one line sums up NLID #26: BioShock Final + Next Game: God *bleepin'* damn! BioShock is ****ing terrible. The next game was turned out to also be a terrible choice: Secret of Mana (SNES). But first I had to give you an impressions article on Two Worlds II a decent open world ****RPG. I then posted a Now Loading Update about how I was inspired to write a 7th anniversary special after thinking back about the fact I had completed Final Fantasy X (and X-2) going on 6 years ago. Right after I began what would become a month long rough ride of regret with NLID #27: Secret of Mana #1 a game that has people blinded with nostalgia goggles. NLID #28: Secret of Mana #2 soon followed and it is where I finally got a taste of how clunky and busted Secret of Mana, the so called "cl.assic" is.

AUGUST 2011 - 6 Posts
August was taken over by me working endlessly on the 7th Anniversary Special an almost 9 page essay on the history of the blog. A Now Loading Update covering the recent announcement of Borderlands 2 which had me excited . Another Now Loading Update followed simply telling you about my progress with the epic 7th Anniversary article. Followed by yet another Now Loading Update which was also the 650th post this little update was still all about the 7th Anniversary Article which was now going to a be a three parter. Finally a break from the 7th Anniversary article and NLID #29: Secret of Mana #3 hits the blog and again SoM has me wondering: "why the hell do people like this game?". The month ended off with another Now Loading Update as I failed in completing Secret of Mana before my deadline to get Month-In-Review in.

SEPTEMBER 2011 - 17 Posts
September was the pinnacle of my blogging this year with 17 posts alone and it also featured the LONGEST post I have ever written in the 7th Anniversary Article. But first I had to get something off my chest and off my plate NLID #30: Secret of Mana Final + Next Game, I had finally done it after hours of clunky boring gameplay and a lame story I had finally finished Secret of Mana... it sucks; the next game would be Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. After all that hard work in August to get this epic article completed it was finally time for me to share it with you guys, Part 1 covering 2004-2005 hit on the anniversary date of September 3rd and Part 2 (2006-2007) and Part 3 (2008 - Current) on back to back days. I still can't believe it has been over 7 years that I have been doing this... amazing! NLID #31: Paper Mario: TTYD #1 was late because of the anniversary so I had already gotten pretty far into the game in just one update, but I did get to talk about BACKTRACKING. In NLID #32: TTYD Final + Next Game I had already finished my 30 hours with TTYD thanks to the anniversary break; the next game was Super Paper Mario. The next day I was ready to post my first thoughts of the different Paper Mario game in NLID #33: Super Paper Mario #1. I talk about SPM's over use of strange sequences and codes in NLID #34: Super Paper Mario #2. In NLID #35: Super Paper Mario Final + Next Game I had finished SPM, a fun little tangent in the Paper Mario games; the next game was a secret, but it was one of the best games I would play on NLID. That game would be revealed as Vanquish in NLID #36: Vanquish #1 which had me blown away after simply playing through the first act of the game. in between all the Vanquishing I took the time to quickly update you on my first impressions of Dead Island, a game I really wanted to love but couldn't because of too many issues, especially weapon breaking + repairing. The next day I had completed the amazing Vanquish and discussed the very few issues I did have with it in NLID #37: Vanquish Final + Next Game; the next game was Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Continuing the busy month was NLID #38: Enslaved #1 in which I explain Enslaved's interesting strategy elements and its interesting combat hampered by a cruddy camera. The next day I had finished Enslaved and discussed how I really enjoyed the gameplay and the story + characters in NLID #39: Enslaved Final + Next Game; the next game was Resident Evil 4. I started Resident Evil 4 HD and tried explain some of the benefits that I discovered about in NLID #40: Resident Evil 4. After coming off a little "pro-HD" in the previous edition of NLID I had to start NLID #41: Resident Evil #2 with an explanation, but followed that with some actual info about RE4.

OCTOBER 2011 - 9 Posts
October was an okay month, I don't think I accomplished all that much, I started lots of things but just didn't really get anything done. Though, oddly, it started off with me putting the finishing touches on Resident Evil 4 in NLID #42: Resident Evil 4 Final + Next Game; the next game was a stupid call that I probably should have waited on. While I was trying to decided what the next game was going to be I picked up Dark Souls and wrote a tiny Now Loading Update on it. I finally had decided to make the call and called upon Final Fantasy XIII in NLID #43: FF13 #1 which allowed NLID to surpass all of 2010 in posts and I told my previous thoughts on FF13. I actually put in some playtime with FF13 in NLID #44: FF13 #2 where I mostly talk about the waste of disc space that FF13; I really think that it's over 17GB size could have been avoided. I then got in a pretty pointless Now Loading Update where I mentioned Dark Souls for a second and that was basically it. In NLID #45: FF13 #3, the last NLID for 2011 I talked about FF13's battle system as if I was some kind of expert even though I only had 8 hours of experience with it. This where things started to go a bit down hill for me... I posted my impressions of Batman: Arkham City and then proceeded to get sick for about 3 weeks. In a Now Loading Update I talked about being sick and what I was going to do with NLID which was in jeopardy of being put on hiatus until 2012.

November 2011 - 3 Posts
The illness that I got wrecked me for the first two weeks of November and then I had to move to a new house so all that caused me to not be able post until 17 days in to November. The first post, a Now Loading Update, covered all about being sick and quick impressions of MW3, Skyrim and Saints Row 3. In the second post, another Now Loading Update, I talked about how Saints Row 3 was disappointing me on many levels.

DECEMBER 2011 - 3 Posts
December was set to be a big month as usual with the end of year stuff but for various reasons I decided to push those back into January so I really only updated twice. December started with a Finished Article on Saints Row: The Third where I explained why I both liked Saints Row 3 and found it very disappointing. In the last Now Loading Update of 2011 I explained in full my reasons for delaying the 2011 Wrap Ups special. Lastly I posted the schedule of event for the 2011 Wrap Ups to end December.

I was so happy to get a nice new fresh start with blogging this year, I really enjoy the Now Loading In-Depth method of updating it keeps me with things to write about and it keeps me playing games all year. As you may have read in the NLID Season 2 preview I taking NLID full force! My goals for 2012 will be to reach Post 700 (probably by the end of January) and Post 800 and surpass the record of 150 posts in one year which was set back in 2006. That was my 2011 in blogging, join me on January 11th for the Nominees for my 2011 Best + Worst Awards. Loading Complete!

Welcome to the first ever Now Loading In-Depth Season preview! Now Loading In-Depth was a huge success in 2011 that when it returns here in 2012 starting January 16th I have some really cool stuff planned for it. We're talking more fresh unplayed games, more backlog titles, more full-on retro games, more personal favorites, new challenge games and even events dedicated to entire game series or themed groups of games. In this preview we will look at some of the games that will be featured in these categories so you can look forward to the upcoming "season 2" of NLID!

Unplayed Games
These are games that I pick up from years past (2011 or back) that I have yet to start. My impressions will be fresh and will change as I advance through each game. Titles in the category include: Darksiders, Alpha Protocol, Alone In The Dark and whatever I may pick up during the year.

Backlog Titles
These are games that I started playing and then lost interest, didn't end up liking or even just got ignored for newer games, these include: Dead Space, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, Fallout: New Vegas, Dragon Age Origins and more.

Retro
These are games that fit the retro criteria, I'd say probably PS1 / N64 / Dreamcast era and back and I will also include remakes of retro games in here as well such as the DS remakes of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games. These games include: Final Fantasy IV (DS), The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Phantasy Star IV, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil 2 (PS1) and more.

Personal Favorites
These games include... my personal favorites; games that I may have even covered previously on the blog but want to go through them again. The coverage for these will be retrospective in nature as I share my thoughts on why I love these games so much. These games include: The Legend of Dragoon, Final Fantasy VIII, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Okami, Donkey Kong Country, Super Metroid and more.

Challenge Games
These are for when I really want to test my mettle, not only with challenging gameplay but also my ability to focus mind and body to take on some of my toughest nemesis games which have gone un-finished in years. This category also will contain games previously set on hiatus during previous NLID attempts. These games include: Final Fantasy XIII (read final paragraph), The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Sonic The Hedgehog 2006, Skies of Arcadia Legends, Monster Hunter 3 Tri, FarCry 2, Lost Odyssey and more!

Series / Theme Events
These are for long running series or a theme of games that I want to focus all my energy on. Giving the NLID treatment to every game in the series or in a theme (i.e. Retro RPG Month). These include: The Legend of Zelda on Gameboy, The Namco Tales Series Event, Metroid Prime Series Event, Resident Evil Series Event, Retro RPG Month and more!

So there you have it! I have tons of stuff planned for Now Loading In-Depth this year and I can't to play games, games and more games and then sharing my thoughts with you as I go along. If you are wondering about the current NLID game Final Fantasy XIII that I was forced to put on hiatus during the busy game release season that will be returning after I get one game under my belt. So on January 16th, I will be starting a new game and once I get it finished I will be ready to go back to FF13. Check back to Now Loading on January 9th for the Blog Year in Review Retrospective. See you then. Loading Complete!

Welcome to the second annual Finished Article Revisit where I take a look back at last year's winner of my Game of the Year Award and its Downloadable Content (DLC) add-ons. Last year's winner was Mass Effect 2 and it had 2 character DLCs and 5 mission DLCs. It's best to start at the beginning with Vanilla Mass Effect 2.

Vanilla Mass Effect 2
Vanilla Mass Effect 2 is the version of Mass Effect 2 without any add-ons. I really enjoyed Mass Effect 2 over the first game as I didn't really think the over abundance of skill trees and crap affecting my aiming made the main gameplay aspect, shooting dudes, all that great. Mass Effect 2 changes that to make the game play more like the third person shooter that it resembles... I mean I am COMMANDER Shepard you'd think I'd be able to shoot straight by default, right? Also among the streamlining was removing the planet exploring aspect of the first game instead in Mass Effect 2 you just head down to new shooting levels. Seeing some of your choices from the first game play out in Mass Effect 2 was also a very cool experience. While I will say that I enjoyed the streamlining in spots, they went too far in some cases, instead of ditching the vehicle based planet exploring they could have tried to improve it and they also removed all the cool gun mods and other loot to take out inventory management. The other negatives include the boring as all hell planet scanning and probing mini-game and the fact the story starts with the LAME resurrection of Shepard and then moves way too fast without any time to get to know your shipmates and/or other characters. Mass Effect 2 will last you about 30 - 60 hours depending how many side missions you take on. Overall another fun adventure with Shepard and crew.

Zaeed and Kasumi Character Add-Ons
I am stacking these two together because they are very similar in execution. You get a message to meet these characters at a certain location and they join you immediately. You then go on a mission with them and they are loyal to your cause. Both missions are fairly short but each have a cool new weapon to scan and add to your arsenal. Zaeed's mission is pretty much action as he is out for revenge and Kasumi's mission has more dialog as you try to talk your way in to a sealed vault. The only problem with these characters is you cannot pursue relationships with them and they don't have too much to say outside of missions... though they are fully integrated into all the main story and side missions. Zaeed you get for free when you download your online pass and Kasumi is a $7 paid add-on... both are worth getting as they are good characters in battle.

Normandy Crash-Site DLC
This is small free add-on where you take Shepard solo down to the crash-site of the Normandy. You place a hero's statue, find a few data-pads, collect dog-tags of the dead and collect a few resources from the site and then it is over. It's a pretty atmospheric little add-on that I think is worth playing for that alone.

Firewalker DLC
This is one of the lamer DLC add-ons for Mass Effect 2 even though it is free. You take this vehicle the Hammerhead and fly it around a few levels scanning for stuff. It's not really that interesting, but for free I guess it'd be worth it for the achievements.

Overlord Mission DLC
Overlord is a pretty cool little story worth checking out for the shock value alone as you uncover the secret of this rogue AI. This one will set you back about $7, but as I said it's worth it.

Lair of the Shadow Broker Mission DLC
This is a great set of missions with a great storyline as you get to fight along side Liara T'Soni again as she tries to uncover the secret of the Shadow Broker. It's almost worth the $7 bucks just to hear Shepard's quip about Omni-Gel. If you are going to get one, get this one.

Arrival Mission DLC
This is the mission that ties Mass Effect 2 to the beginning of Mass Effect 3 where Shepard is on trial for the thing he does in this DLC. This another solo Shepard mission and really isn't worth the $7 except for the completionist who wants to play all the missions.

Overall Mass Effect 2's DLC did much better than Mass Effect 1's two mediocre add-ons. Apparently some of these missions will carry over to Mass Effect 3 if you have completed them so if you want to control all the choices yourself you might want to check these out. It'll be interesting to see how all of the choices finally play out in Mass Effect 3 in a couple of months. I think that covers everything I want to say about Mass Effect 2 so come back on January 7th to get a preview of what Now Loading In-Depth Season 2 has in store. Later. Loading Complete!

2011 was a decent year for new pick ups as I managed a total of 39 in 2011. In the second post of the 2011 Wrap-Ups special, I will tell you about the remaining 24 games that I bought this year, so enjoy.

JULY 2011
Game 16: Bastion (XBLA, 2011)
Purchased: July 20, 2011
I forgot to add this one in the previous July Entry before part 1 got posted. I didn't like Bastion at first and for two reasons. First I thought it was going to be more Action RPG than it really is, leveling is a really minor thing and two I got stuck on the stupid OPTIONAL challenges. Once I ignored those two things I really had a lot of fun and enjoyed the game play and story for what they were worth. I even took the time to play through New Game + to see the other ending.

August 2011
NO GAMES IN AUGUST

September 2011
Game 17: Super Paper Mario (WII, 2007)
Purchased: September 5, 2011
I had been waiting to play this game for a long time, back before it was even a Wii game. I finally picked it up when Nintendo finally lowered the price to $20 as part of its Selects line. As for the game: it's an enjoyable diversion from the more RPG based games in the series, while keeping the neat art, great writing and sense of humor from those games.

Game 18: Dead Island (X360, 2011)
Purchased: September 6, 2011
I really want to love Dead Island, it's a cool concept, a zombie role playing game with color coded loot drops and everything! Problem is that it is a game designed around co-op and a single player will be overwhelmed by the amount of enemies. It also has weapon degradation to the EXTREME as most weapons break after 20 plus swings forcing you to carry a billion weapons so you don't have to pay a work-bench as much to fix your weapons. Seriously, who am I paying? There is no repairman standing at the bench... so I assume you pay the actual bench dollars to repair and upgrade your weapons. A prime example of "Videogame logic".

Game 19: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (X360, 2010)
Purchased: September 6, 2011
I was a little concerned about Enslaved as it looked to be one long escort mission, but each area is more like a puzzle to be solved than an action segment. The battles are troubled by a wonky camera that loves to spaz out, but overall a surprisingly enjoyable game.

Game 20: Vanquish (X360, 2010)
Purchased: September 6, 2011
I had heard good things about this game and it delivered on all counts. Stylish gun play, high action, cool sc-fi setting and fast controls that respond perfectly to the action. Only a few cheap insta-kills here and there were annoying; everything else is amazing and must play!

Game 21: NHL 12 (X360, 2011)
Purchased: September 13, 2011
I am just about sick of EA and their "representation" of hockey. The AI is so stupid, the game plays the same as it did in NHL 09, it's boring now. Without 2K Sports to even annoy them as competition, the NHL series is turning in to Madden. Unless EA improves NHL 13 tremendously, there is no way I am going to buy NHL 09 ver 3.0, sorry EA... you are again reminding me why I started playing NHL 2K in the first place.

Game 22: Resident Evil 4 (Now in HD) (X360, 2011)
Purchased: September 20, 2011
This is a version of Resident Evil 4 that plays in HD on the 360... that's all... don't expect anything more and you'll be fine. As for the game itself, I really don't need to say anything about this great game. Challenging gameplay and intense action redefined the Resident Evil series. PLAY A VERSION OF RE4 NOW!

October 2011
Game 23: Dark Souls (X360, 2011)
Purchased: October 4, 2011
Dark Souls is an awesome game... it's just not for me. I don't like really difficult games, not because I don't have the skills, but because I get frustrated easily. I got about 15-20 hours in and then got owned by the first "big" boss that I encountered and after having to slog through the fodder enemies over and over just for another try I got tired of it. I will have to get back to it one day... sorry Dark Souls.

Game 24: Batman: Arkham City (X360, 2011)
Purchased: October 18, 2011
I AM BATMAN! Seriously... ahem, at least that is how this game made me feel. It's not quite as well structured as Arkham Asylum, but it still delivers over 10 hours of fun thug beating gameplay and cool Batman gadgets.

November 2011
Game 25: Sonic Generations (X360, 2011)
Purchased: November 1, 2011
The best Sonic game in years... sure that statement doesn't pull that much weight these days, but Sonic Generations is a really good game that has a nice mix of c.lassic Sonic side scrolling and 3D Sonic's high speed roller-coasters. It still has a few issues left over from the older 3D games but they are not as frequent.

Game 26: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (X360, 2011)
Purchased: November 8, 2011
Another Call of Duty game... do I need to say more... I will say this though: starting to get old.

Game 27: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (X360, 2011)
Purchased: November 11, 2011
Skyrim. I have spent over 100 hours on my character as of this writing and I am still not sure that I actually like the game or not. Sure that's over 100 hours doing the bare minimum of the main quest, but the quests don't feel very special you just follow a quest marker from place to place... Though those places are spectacular to look at.

Game 28: Saints Row: The Third (X360, 2011)
Purchased: November 15, 2011
I have a question: How do you take an extra year to make the third sequel in a series and actually reduce it to an over simplified mess that lacks many of the features of the previous games? Answer: Saints Row 3. On its own: a funny and enjoyable game that takes the phrase "doesn't take itself too seriously" to a whole new level. As the third game in a really fun series: a piece of crap the disappoints on too many levels... and killed off Johnny Gat, which is inexcusable!!!!!!!!!!

December 2011
Game 29: Bejeweled 3 (XBLA, 2011)
Purchased: December 10, 2011
I like Bejeweled... but I don't. It's the most fun, addicting and at the same time most boring game that I have ever played. I enjoyed many of the new modes they added to this 3rd game, but because of the random element of the game they tend to get rendered frustrating and require more luck than skill to actually do well in.

Game 30: Alone in the Dark (X360, 2008)
Purchased: December 18, 2011
As of this writing I have not yet played this game but I grabbed it for cheap and we will see how it will go probably when NLID returns.

Game 31: Need for Speed: Undercover (X360, 2008)
Purchased: December 18, 2011
I grabbed this out of the bargain bin with Alone in the Dark in a buy one get one half off thing. This game sucks... crappy graphics, crappy story and crappy gameplay with ****ing annoying rubber-banded AIs. Also I have never see and open world city this pointless... its just roads to drive on... there are no collectables, no shops... nothing. Everything needs to selected from a menu.

Game 32: Alpha Protocol (X360, 2010)
Gift: December 25, 2011
I have yet to play this game, but look for it to appear on Now Loading In-Depth in the near future.

Game 33: Darksiders (X360, 2010)
Gift: December 25, 2011
I have yet to play this game, but look for it to appear on Now Loading In-Depth in the near future.

Game 34: Dead to Rights: Retribution (X360, 2010)
Gift: December 25, 2011
I have yet to play this game, but look for it to appear on Now Loading In-Depth in the near future.

Game 35: The Saboteur (X360, 2009)
Gift: December 25, 2011
I have yet to play this game, but look for it to appear on Now Loading In-Depth in the near future.

Game 36: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii, 2011)
Gift: December 25, 2011
I have completed the first dungeon and while I want to like this, I cannot stand by the sluggish and tiring motion controls for swinging the sword. You can't play a long game like Zelda while swinging that remote around... Disappointing.

Game 37: Alan Wake (X360, 2010)
Purchased: December 27, 2011
I have yet to play this game, but look for it to appear on Now Loading In-Depth in the near future.

Game 38: Back to the Future: The Game (Wii, 2011)
Purchased: December 27, 2011
An on disc version of all 5 episodes of Back to the Future: The Game. First off, I didn't know it existed until I saw it in a bargain bin. Second, this is the only way to play it on the Wii. Lastly, while it's full of BTTF fan service, I really don't think an adventure game such as Telltale makes really suffices for telling the story. I'll probably have finished article after the wrap ups to talk more about it.

Game 39: Deus Ex: Human Revolution (X360, 2011)
Purchased: December 31, 2011
I grabbed this as my traditional New Year's Eve game, something I have been doing since 2001, which means I haven't had much time to play it. I finished the first real mission of the game and will try to complete it by next week to see if it is in the running for any 2011 awards.

That's it, that covers all the games that I got in 2011. Come back on January 5th for the Finished Article Revisit for Mass Effect 2. Loading Complete!

2011 was a decent year for new pick ups as I managed a total of 38 in 2011. In the first post of the 2011 Wrap-Ups special, I will tell you about the first 15 games that I bought this year enjoy.

January 2011
Game 01: Civilization Revolution (DS, 2008)
Purchased: January 2, 2011
After enjoying the Xbox 360 version of this game, I decided to pick up the portable version. It feels enough the same that strategies would carry across games when you wanted to play on the road.

Game 02: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (DS, 2007)
Purchased: January 2, 2011
I did really get to far in to this game. It seems like it could be really neat, but it would take a lot of effort to see it all.

Game 03: Bangai-O Spirits (DS, 2008)
Purchased: January 5, 2011
Bangai-O Spirits in 5 seconds... start level, missiles everywhere, dead... a better tutorial would have greatly helped new players understand the concepts of this game.

Game 04: Donkey Kong Country Returns (WII, 2010)
Purchased: January 11, 2011
I was pretty harsh on this game, but only because the original DKC is one of my favorites. Fun levels are tarnished a bit by the game trying too hard, too be difficult. Also Super Guide can suck it.

Game 05: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (X360, 2010)
Purchased: January 15, 2011
Another fun platforming experience from the Ubisoft Price of Persia games... another terrible combat system from the Ubisoft Prince of Persia games... press down on D-Pad = WIN!.

Game 06: Splinter Cell: Conviction (X360, 2010)
Purchased: January 15, 2011
Here's a disappointing one. It looked like Splinter Cell might finally be letting go of its trial and error stealth for more action. While there is less stealth, run and gun really isn't an option even on Easy.

February 2011
Game 07: Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation (DS, 2011)
Purchased: February 15, 2011
This is the first time a version of this game has ever been released in North America... unfortunately I only got 10 hours in before it got too hardcore for me to deal with on a portable.

March 2011
Game 08: Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (XBLA, 2011)
Purchased: March 1, 2011
This is the best version of Pac-Man ever made. I don't give a crap if that is sacrilegious or not... it's really fun and fast paced.

Game 09: Torchlight (XBLA, 2011)
Purchased: March 9, 2011
A fun and simple dungeon loot fest from some of the original Diablo team. The original XBLA release had horrible frame-rate problems, but since where patched.

Game 10: Okamiden (DS, 2011)
Purchased: March 16, 2011
I don't know what to think about Okamiden. Part of me wants to love it because Chibi-Amaterasu is so cute, the other part wants to kill Capcom for screwing with me. You just can't play this game with a control pad and has a lot of gimmicky boss fights... oh and one of my gaming pet peeves AI controlled partners.

Game 11: (Need for Speed) Shift 2: Unleashed (X360, 2011)
Purchased: March 28, 2011
Shift 2 is in the running for most disappointing game released in 2011... I really wanted a "SIM" racing game to pass the time until Forza 4, but this game has sketchy and touchy steering controls where keeping your car on the track even on a straight section is difficult. You just can't ever get a feel for your car when it reacts differently on every single lap, hell, every single corner.

April 2011
Game 12: Portal 2 (X360, 2011)
Purchased: April 19, 2011
Not quite as surprising as the first game, but still full of wonderful humor, great characters and mind-bending puzzles. The new co-op puzzles are a great new addition.

MAY 2011
Game 13: L.A. Noire (X360, 2011)
Purchased: May 17, 2011
Another one on the short list for most disappointing of the year. This is a game where you play a troubled detective who picks up every piece of trash until he gets "intuition" read: the game TELLS you its a real clue, then you the player has to play a multiple choice quiz, umm, I mean interrogation, at the end of every lame clue hunt to make sure you where paying attention, which you weren't because you where bored out of your mind picking up cigarette butts. Add in lame easy gun fights, constant car and on foot chases and a game that gives you a choice to give up the only semblance of gameplay if you screw up an action scene more than 3 times. Oh, and its the first game to get back-to-back Gamer's Rants.

Game 14: Crackdown 2 (X360, 2010)
Purchased: May 18, 2011
The first Crackdown was a pretty fun game that had its spotlight stolen by being a conduit to the Halo 3 Beta. Crackdown 2 is the exact same game, same weapons, characters, same lack of story, same orb collecting, same city map, but with zombies... I mean infected... I mean Freaks, yeah, Freaks... They're ZOMBIES.

JUNE
NO GAMES IN JUNE

JULY 2011
Game 15: Two Worlds II (X360, 2011)
Purchased: July 15, 2011
After playing the heck out of all my other large open world RPGS such as Oblivion and Fallout 3 I wanted a game in the same vein. Two Worlds II is a pretty good game that suffers from low production values and repetitive quests.

That's it for this part of the list, on January 3rd you will get to read my thoughts on the remaining 23 games that I picked up in 2011. Stay logged to Now Loading for more 2011 Wrap Ups! Loading Complete!

It's back, the annual feature on Now Loading! The 2011 Wrap Ups feature, will take place over the next 14 days with 7 posts and will feature all kinds of articles that will help close out 2011 and begin 2012 in Now Loading style. This year will feature many of the same articles as last year, but with newly produced 2011 content, so check out the schedule and the line up for the 2011 Wrap Ups feature.

January 1st, 2012 - My Games of 2011 (Part 1)
Part 1 will be coverage of games 1 through 15 of the 37 games that I bought in 2011. Featuring little thoughts about each game; join me as I reminisce about My Games of 2011.

January 3rd, 2012 - My Games of 2011 (Part 2)
Part 2 will be coverage of games 16 through 37 of the 37 games that I bought in 2011. Featuring little thoughts about each game; join me as I reminisce about My Games of 2011.

January 5th, 2012 - Finished Article Revisit: Mass Effect 2
After giving Mass Effect 2 my Game of the Year 2010 I take a long look back at the original game and all the DLC.

January 7th, 2012 - Now Loading In-Depth Season 2 Preview
I give you a sneak peek at what to expect from the return of Now Loading In-Depth (NLID) in 2012. It's going to be huge!

January 9th, 2012 - Now Loading: The Blog in 2011 Retrospective
I will take you month by month, post by post through Now Loading's 2011. This year with more of a real retrospective look back at Now Loading's amazing comeback in 2011.

January 11th, 2012 - Best and Worst 2011 Award Nominees
I will be presenting my Nominees for 16 categories in Now Loading's Game of the Year Awards 2011. To find out who won you will have to come back on January 14th, 2011!

January 14, 2012 - Game of the Year 2011 Award Winners
You will be able to see who won all the awards in my 2011 Game of the Year Awards. A graphical presentation of the winners will be featured on this day.

Now Loading's biggest feature is going to keep you glued to Now Loading for most of January. Check out the blog starting day 1 of 2012 for My Games of 2011 Part 1; enjoy the 2011 Wrap Ups Feature! Loading Complete!

Welcome to another Now Loading Update. I have some pretty interesting and important news to share today and not that much else. First off, I know I said this would be the day I announced my schedule for the 2011 Wrap Ups Super Special, but actually the 17th is when I usually do that... but here is the big news.

I have decided to postpone my 2011 Super Special. Since 2005 I have been posting the Wrap Ups from December 19th to January 1st with 7 - 14 pieces of content during that time. There are three major issues that have always been present but never dealt with because it became traditional or routine. 1. I always get new games for Christmas and at least one on New Year's Eve and I begin the Special with "My Games of XXXX" article meaning those games never get covered. 2. I can't expect people to read the articles during the holidays, especially the ones posted on Christmas Eve or on Boxing Day. 3. Game of the Year Awards. I am usually never fully caught up before I have to finalize my categories and nominees for my awards especially ones that are given out to the current year's releases. Last year (2010) was a disaster because of this.

Those are the main reasons that I will be postponing the event. It will now take place from January 1st, 2012 to January 14th, 2012. I am not quite ready to announce the schedule but expect that around December 30th. I hope that this change will help me make the 2011 Wrap Ups the best one ever. I also have some big changes to my 2011 Game of the Year Awards which I will talk about next week probably.

I will try to write an update at least once a week so that you guys know what I have been up to. I will talk to you then, later. Loading Complete!

PROS:
- Great sense of humor, doesn't take itself seriously.
- A couple of extraordinary missions.
- Interesting mission ending choice system.
- Weapon Upgrade System.
- Bo-Duke-En car-jacking.
- Even better GPS System.
- More stability / better production values
- Keeps Saints Row gameplay and feel.

CONS:
- Steelport is a lame and bland city.
- Johnny Gat killed off within first 10 minutes.
- Some lame filler missions
- Upgrades system makes game a cakewalk.
- Soundtrack not as good as SR2.
- Activities have no rewards.
- Less of clothes customization.
- Annoying ADD Help Messages.
- Mediocre as a sequel to SR2.

I really enjoy the Saints Row series, it has a great sense of humor and never takes itself too seriously and it does everything that i wanted the GTA series to do like full free third person aiming. Saints Row: The Third (SR3) continues that trend and is a highly enjoyable game, but as a sequel to Saints Row 2 pales in comparison. With almost 3 years to complete SR3 Volition had time to finally polish this game so that it could be the most stable, best looking and least glitchy of all the series. It also gave them extra time to let their strange imaginations go wild and create a couple genius missions (deckers.die and Murderbrawl XXXI) that you will see nowhere else. They also added a simple mission choice system which asks you to pick from two options either one that will get you more fame (reputation) or one that will get you more money. This isn't a moral choice system or anything but it is something unique to open-world games and something that Volition might be able to expand on in future games.

Other positive changes to the game include the weapon upgrade system which adds enough to each weapon that they are all fun to use. The new Bo-Duke-En car-jacking where you hold the sprint button and press the take car button, which makes your character jump into the car quickly is very useful when you need to get out of there. If you can believe this, they even improved their industry standard GPS system with large green arrows pointing you in the right direction like in the older Burnout or NFS games. After 2 games they also added hit direction indicators, a great improvement considering how hard it was to know you where even getting hit at times in the first two games. Lastly it is worth mentioning that the game still has the same feel and pacing as the first two Saints Row games so series vets will feel right at home.

While the Saints Row fan in me likes all those things above the Saints Row fan in me also has to dislike a bunch of stuff which follows. Right off the bat, Steelport just doesn't seem as interesting as SR2's version of Stillwater, it almost feels like a step back to the original small city from game #1. I won't lie, I am a big fan of Johnny Gat. So when the game goes about killing him off unceremoniously in the first 10 minutes of the game and off screen too boot, I get a bit annoyed. Other than the player character he was the other character that the game focused on. Without him we are left with Pierce and a strange psycho version of Shaundi who return from SR2.

The Game starts off with a ton of filler missions that are previews of activities that you can do at your leisure later. There is no reason to have these as missions the old games never did this and it screams lazy. While you are doing these activities for money and respect you unlock upgrades in the new upgrade system. Every time you reach a new level of reputation (basically XP) you are allowed to use your money to buy character upgrades. Here's the strange thing: these upgrades used to be challenging to get as you had to complete the hardest levels of each activity to earn them. In SR3 you can just buy your "take less damage from bullets" upgrade. In fact when you reach level 50, given you have enough money, you are basically INVINCIBLE. Bullets, explosions, high falls, getting hit by cars, nothing hurts you except melee attacks and if a blown up car husk hits you. You also have infinite ammo in all your weapons... it makes a fairly easy game a joke. Lastly, the game will not stop putting up these giant flashing ADD help messages about the game's features even if you have completed them all or even when you are 30+ hours into the game. There is also no way to turn them off.

This last paragraph has to do with SR 3 as a sequel. It's not really fair, Saints Row 2 is one of the ultimate sequels... take everything from the first game, enhance the good, fix the bad and add tons and tons of new content, features and gameplay modes. It's would have really been hard for SR3 to continue that path, but the thing is it doesn't even match up. It feels like a step back in a lot of cases and the improvements to the gameplay over SR2 could be counted on one hand. Even something as small as clothes customization is a step back, you can't change your characters socks and the options to button, unbutton, half-button shirts and jackets is gone and you can't pick belts or choose to wear your pants normal or low. The soundtrack is disappointing too, SR2 had a great 80's station and there were quite a few recognizable songs in the other playlists as well. Other than a couple of 80's and 90's songs on the mix station, I never found anything I really liked listening to. Honestly, you are better off getting the cheaper SR2 than this half-assed excuse for sequel.

Saints Row: The Third disappointed me too much. It has some hilarious moments and the over-the-top humor is so far over-the-top that it is in outer space, but the game doesn't do many things better than the previous game and even lacks some of the previous features. If you don't have Saints Row 2 already just go pick that game up for cheap, it's not quite as funny or as crazy but there are well over 60 hours of content in that game; SR3 is running low on content just over 30 hours in. If you have SR2, I will still recommend SR3 to you as you will probably have tons of fun. I had a lot of fun too, but I have to be objective here, Saints Row: The Third doesn't do enough as a THIRD game in an established series.

Well, that's that. On the 14th of December I will be announcing the schedule for my end of year special the 2011 Wrap Ups Super Special which will start on December 17th as usual. I will talk to you then. RIP Johnny Gat, 2006 - 2011. Loading Complete!