Best of 2011

It's time again for another (pointless?) game of the year list, even though this year Giant Bomb doesn't officially keep track of what the users voted for. A shame, as it was a fun feature in 2010, and I hope it'll return in 2012.

2011 was overall a great year for gaming. It was a year filled with sequels to great franchises, but was unfortunately a bit lacking in the new IP department. And I'll just throw it out right now; there were several big games I didn't have time or money to play this year, such as Portal 2, Saints Row: The Third, Batman: Arkham City, Dead Space 2, and so on. I'm also playing mostly on my Xbox 360 since my PC is slowly dying and I can't afford to buy a new one, and I don't own a PS3. Anyway, here we go!

List items

• 

  1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

  After playing the first few hours I already knew this would be my game of the year. I've been a huge fan of the Elder Scrolls since Morrowind, and boy did Skyrim not let me down. It's just a magnificent RPG in every way, and it combines open world wackyness with awesome dungeon crawling and a new leveling system that pretty much improved the formula in every way. My only complaint, if you can call it that, is that I lost somewhat interest of it after getting all the achievements after 90~ hours of gameplay. I'm looking forward the DLC with huge anticipation.

• 

  2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

  Deus Ex: HR had a lot of hype to live up to, and I must say the developers did a fantastic job. A long and interesting story combined with fantastic gameplay and graphics, I had a hard time putting this game down until I got every achievement for it. Strange when I think about it how little the DLC interested me, as I still haven't bought it. Guess I'll save that for a dry period.

• 

  3. Dead Island

  Yes I know, Dead Island was a buggy mess that spawned huge amount of whining and complaining on the Internet (then again, what doesn't?). Fact remain that I had a blast playing through this game, especially with a co-op partner. I'm a sucker for zombie games, and Dead Island combined that interest with a fantastic and fun open world and RPG mechanics. I really hope we'll see more of this franchise, and hopefully a smoother release that time.

• 

  4. Dark Souls

  Fun fact: I ragequit on the last boss and still haven't gone back to finish the game. Dark Souls made me fucking furious but mostly in a good way. It gave me a feeling of "no game, I won't let you fucking win" that I haven't felt since I played Mega Man on my NES 20 years ago. Sadly, Dark Souls won in the end. One day I'll finish the job.

• 

  5. Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes

  Really an amazing downloadable title that I probably would've missed if Vinny hadn't talked about it on the Bombcast. Fun strategy battles with light RPG mechanics had me playing this game until I had done everything there was in it. Couldn't be asking more for a downloadable and cheap title.

• 

  6. L.A. Noire

  I believe it was the huge amount of hype that in the end imploded on L.A. Noire. Amazing face-capturing-technique and atmosphere couldn't hold up this game alone, and while it was a great game it just wasn't very *fun* to play. The story lost me somewhere halfway through, and the combat felt almost glued on. Still, you can't look past the great production values, and I for one am very excited to see how Max Payne 3 and GTA V will end up.

• 

  7. Renegade Ops

  The only title on my list I feel a bit biased to have here, and believe me when I say that I fucking hate people that use the word "bias". I'm a *huge* fan of Just Cause, and the developers are even from the same country as me! This title somewhat calmed me down while waiting for that Just Cause 3 announcement, even if it's a completely different genre. Avalanche Studios; I promise Just Cause 3 will win my game of the year list whenever you release it. Just don't take too long.

• 

  8. Bastion

  Too short, too repetitive, and a bit too pretentious. There, I said the bad words first. Beyond those I have to say Bastion was truly a great downloadable title and worthy of every buck I payed for it. I think we all are anxious to see what the developers will bring out as their next project, hopefully they'll have a tad more funding next time for a slightly bigger project.

• 

  9. Burnout CRASH!

  The best part of the older Burnout games! Sadly they twisted the formula a bit, making it a top-down arcade-ish title with little to none in the strategy department. Oh, and I muted that fucking announcer after five minutes of playing. Still, I had a blast playing through this, and I'm one of the few who managed to get all the stars!

• 

  10. Rage

  Another case of "when hype killed a game". Boy were people disappointed, and I can see where a lot of complainers are coming from. The open world felt really tacked on, and it just felt like playing Fallout 3 Lite. Still, you can't ignore the amazing core gameplay and graphics, and I for one am not ashamed of putting this on my game of the year list. Even if it got last place. Still, that's better than not at all, right John Carmack?