Games played in 2011
Another list of games i'll be amending as the year goes on.
List items
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ugh...first game of the year last year was bayonetta which remained one of my favourite games throughout.
This is not bayonetta, it's not even good. it's cheap gameplay mechanics and press X to kill the dude over and over get old really soon.
Boss battles are really epic which just becomes more of a disappointment when the controls and cheap-shot enemies just dampen the whole experience.
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Forget what you heard, Dead rising 2 is AWESOME. I heard a lot of bad things following the lead up to it's release, jeff didn't care for it due to jankiness.
I guess i'm just a Dead rising apologist but damn if i don't love every aspect of this game.
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Continuing my love for Phoenix wright i cannot say enough good things about this game. The stories remain as complicated and interesting as you would want, making you think what twisted author came up with them in the first place. play not only this one, play them all, and play them in order, adds a lot to the experience.
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I really don't understand the dislike of fable 3, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this game as I did fable and fable 2. The ending was anticlimatic (continuing the trend in fable games of lacklustre endings) but other than that it's a solid package with a style that continues to haunt me in the best possible way.
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Ugh...A more monotonous, boring game you would be hard pressed to find. I feel like 4 dudes worked on this game and didn't much care to. The only good thing to take away is you can finish it in about 3 hours.
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Rocket legs, insanely fast paced third person shooting and great visuals hit you over the head when you start this game. You will burn out on it fairly fast due to the insane pace and bullet sponge enemies but it's a good weekend at it's 5 hour length. Also i feel like it wasn't localised, just fed through an automatic translator.
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Pretty damn impressive. I've heard the praise Enslaved has gotten for it's facial expressions, character development and interesting story. They are well earned. This is a game that surpasses basically every other game in some aspects but is lacking in many others. A very interesting curio if nothing else, a fantastic 8 hours or so.
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I went in expecting a sub-par experience and recieved a surprisingly awesome game. A major flaw i find is the open-world of mafia 2 which exists for no purpose as far as i can tell as this is a linear game. It won't impress mario puzo but the story is somewhat compelling. It plays something like a grand theft auto ala saint's row with less freedom. All around a good game to sink your teeth into if you have a passion for mafia-based fiction.
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Finishing off the entire series with miles edgeworth: investigations i'm saddened. I've played through all these games in the last few months and i'm very disappointed i don't have another to play right now. This one takes the gameplay in a different direction, giving you direct control over miles to investigate areas. You can then argue with witnesses, suspects and others in much the same vein as the older games (court sections). It seems slightly simpler, the item discription detail seems to give away the answer in many cases but i guess thats an evolution as the older games have often been deceptively difficult.
Play all of these!
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God damn ubisoft you've done it again. After the pull of assassin's creed 2 finally wore off and i calmed down from that fantastic ending i finally saw fit to play AC:brotherhood and went in with moderate expectations despite absolutely loving the last game. If like me you're someone put off by competitive multiplayer in games such as this do not worry, the singleplayer campaign in AC:brotherhood more than makes it worth the purchase. A fantastic game through and through that just keeps getting better.
bring on Assassin's creed 3!
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Perhaps the best need for speed game since underground. The right cars, the right terrains and the right balance of gameplay modes all combine into an excellent game. The social element is executed fantastically, with your friend's leaderboard times for every event displayed prominently before each event giving you a time to beat thats strangely compelling. I spent most of my time trying to beat people on my friend's list i can't even remember, although i'm pretty sure the guy that had 1st for everything (and no longer does, he he!) i met through street fighter 4 >_>
Great game, buy it, enjoy it, i did.
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This is a poor package. I'm the number one fan of the dreamcast so when you tell me you're putting some of the best dreamcast games on the xbox 360, i'm the first in line. God i wish i wasn't.
Problem #1: The choice of games, Sonic adventure isn't a good game, it took me 10 years to realise that, but it's not. Crazy taxi has already been ported to everything. Sega bass fishing...Wut?
The only redeemable game is space channel 5 which playing again actually convinced me that we need a new space channel 5 game that is kinect compatible.
Problem 2: nature of the ports. I own sonic adventure on xbla and in a weaker moment considered that this disc may let me double up on achievements. However! upon loading said disc i discovered to my horror that it loaded my xbla save and achievements, effectively prooving that this disc is merely loading the xbla software. Not only that, all these games are presented in no so glorious 4:3 with zero graphical touchups. They've done so little i feel that i could have released this title myself with the right software and about a weekend of tinkering.
Lazy, lazy Sega. Make the next collection powerstone 2, shenmue, virtua tennis and jet grind radio and we'll talk.
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Ugh. Skip it.
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Tron didn't grip me. Somewhere in there theres a good game with a compelling storyline but i just can't penetrate the control scheme and that nagging feeling that it's not the AAA title it wants you to think it is.
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I love this game. It's clearly meant for everyone with a focus on the younger ones but theres something here regardless of your age group. It's charming style with a light hearted but very orwellian story create a unique environment for this unique game. As Blob you need to repaint the world which has been bleached white by the cult of blanc! Games like this don't come around often, it can be a little simple, testing your patience at times to stick with it but the pay off is ultimately worth it.
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Ho-ly shit. If this wasn't the best 102 hours I've spent on the PS2 I don't know what to think any more.
In true style Persona 3: fes is a slow build up, much like it's prequels and sequel. The character development given the technical limitations is supurb, I genuinely felt for the characters to my very core when they were in peril or in love. The voice acting is perhaps not as good as some newer productions but don't let that discourage you, it's still fantastic. I particularly enjoyed Mitsuru kirijo's lilting monotone, even when flustered her actress maintained it extremely well. The story builds and builds and builds to an inevitable JRPG style twist that isn't as cliche as you might think. The social link stories are not as compelling as Persona 4, another thing they improved upon, but theres a simple elegance to the overarching stories which really add to the game as a whole.
The gameplay can be brutal at times, a turn based JRPG is simple to learn but hard to master and the game offers no checkpointing at all (again in typical JRPG style) leading to some frustrating moments at times when a death comes out of the blue, resetting hours of play. But ultimately the payoff is rewarding enough that i won't punish P3 for this too hard.
The visual style is sublime. Baring in mind it's a PS2 game released in 07 they've Atlus have had many years to perfect their development on the console and it shows. None of that tell-tale blur from some of the early, ambitious PS2 titles although some of the aliasing on hard lines can be fairly brutal.
This game is art. The only thing i could possibly suggest to improve it would be if it was on the xbox 360 and/or PS3.
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Disappointing but a unique experience, Heavy rain is both a trudging 10 hour slurry of quick time events and a well written interactive movie. The story is most deffinately the high point of this product, even if i had everything figured out by the half way point the writing is good enough to make it worth getting to the credits. The controls lack consistancy leading to some frustration throughout. even at the end of my 10 hours I couldn't say I felt any more comfortable with the controller in heavy rain. The voice work is perhaps the biggest negative criticism i have about heavy rain, while the script is well written, a majority of the voice work is performed with a really horrible fake American accent that even I as a brit can distinguish every mispronounced sylable.
Nothing else like it exists, it's an interesting experience but I wouldn't believe the hype.
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An anticlimax with a purpose. Crysis 2 serves to show that the guys at Crytek can make a competant action shooter which the original Crysis certainly wasn't.
This doesn't make it a good game however. There are some good moments but overall the pacing is uneven, the story convoluted and confusing and the payoff not worth it. Bullet sponge enemies, a lack of weapon diversity and lack of a final boss really kills any potential for greatness.
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Believe the hype! This downloadable content pack is a little short, playing about 3 hours for the story and 7 hours for a 100% completed save but the candle that burns half as long burns twice as bright. The dialogue is genuinely great, even more so than the original game due to the further layer of parody on the atmosphere. The game provides much more action, with dozens of zombies charging you at once, something you never see in the original game. Theres also the mythical beasts to find out in the world such as the 4 horses of the apocalypse, zombie bears and even the chupacabara!
This is pure fan service but it pays off in enormous ways, i can't stress enough that this is almost like a game unto itself and certainly unique. Well worth a look.
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I went in, fully expecting to hate (or at least dislike) TDU2. I was not more than 2 hours into it when i found myself hooked for the duration. The concept of an open world constantly connected everyone else playing the game worked well and provided some very unique moments and a sense of community. I particularly enjoyed rolling down the road in my rather slow lotus Esprit when a player in a bugatti veyron decided to push me down the road with his far superior horsepower.
Theres a lot to do in the game, many collectables, race types, an enormous world (seriously, that map is ginormous)and theres always the community race center where people create their own challenges and wager in game currency against them.
The line up of cars is a good one too, lacking in certain departments but the major ones you want in the late game are certainly there, the mclaren MP4-12C, the aston martin one-77, the Ascari A10, the konigsegg CCXR and of course the bugatti veyron.
If you're looking for a slightly arcadey racer that takes a level of skill and a has a good community look no further.
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Beautifully dirty is how i'd describe bulletstorm. While the gunplay doesn't break the mould set down by call of duty what feels like decades ago now. The gameplay hooks, the environmental and creative kill system is truely a masterpiece. I did not expect much and was shocked for my lack of faith. shooting a guy in the balls then kicking him into a wall of spikes is never not compelling. I finished this game not once, but 3 times in my compulsion to get every kill the games engine would allow, a staggering 130 or so. The story is in there, a story of revenge and betrayal but honestly it doesn't matter too much. But while the plot doesn't add too much to the experience, the voice work by the 3 major protagonists is genuinely awesome. I was shocked upon finishing the game the first time to hear a line of dialogue delivered in a non-condecending or loud manner, this was shocking for 2 reasons, the first being that the voice work (along with the game) is very melodramatic and loud. The second reason was because i finally recognised Trishka's voice to be that of Commander shepard, jennifer hale.
When i don't recognise one of my favourite voice actresses, you know something is very right.
A compelling product that won't win any nobel peace prizes but would kick you into a cactus.
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I finished the storymode some time ago so my memories are faded but other than the endless frustration from some of the more challenging fights i thoroughly enjoyed it. I've never been a huge fan of mortal kombat, favoring street fighter as my fighting franchise of choice. A good game, but not for me.
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Alice has some great things going for it but unfortunately not enough of them. The style is exactly what you'd expect, a dark almost tim-burton alice world. Full of genocide, violence, psychological torture and manipulation in the darkest days of victorian london and industrial wonderland. The game suffers in the back half from a lack of it's superb visual style and excellent writing where it feels like the developers needed to stretch out the game a few hours, throwing a lot of platforming and combat at you.
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I don't have the words for half minute hero. Simply believe the hype, it's a fantastic game unlike any other RPG. Consisting of entire RPGs in 30 seconds. It is as insane as it sounds and incredibly fun.
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Ugh. Duke you make me want to burn all my videogames.
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YES! What Duke should have been. Shadows of the damned is a treat in the same way that guzzling cream from a can is. It's immature and stupid but it's a hell of a lot of fun. Superb writing and solid gameplay in this third person shooter cement it as a good game in it's own right. But where shadows of the damned really shines is it's demenor. Dick jokes and awkward puns aplenty combined with frequent 4th wall breaking moments and it's total self-awareness means it's dumb fun you can feel good about. Or at least not hate yourself for like Duke.
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If I had the the capacity to critique Bastion well I would be reviewing games for a living. Having played this work of art to completion I can only tell you that i could not find a single thing to spoil my enjoyment. Every moment was special, every second was enjoyed. The music, the visual style, the solid gameplay, the story, did I mention the music? Everything is just PERFECT.
Bastion is absolutely my most favourite game for game of the year thus far.
If you don't own it, you must rectify that immediately.
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Child of eden is Rez: "2011 edition". Does it still work? Yes. IS it worth the price of admission? In my opinion, no. Child of Eden should of been 1200 points worth of downloadable arcade game. Beyond the pricing, the game is somewhat simple, but beautiful in it's own way. It features an inspired use of FMV, (surprising how FMV is making a come back lately isn't it?) and that familiar rez style of visuals. The entire game is possible to complete in about an hour which certainly factors into the already touchy pricing. Worth seeing but not vital, more of a niche piece than for everyone.
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This is a bad, bad game. Everything about it is just terrible. From basic movement, gunplay, voice acting to visuals, story and even the conceptual ideas of the developers to integrate single and multiplayer. It's clunky, awkward and frustrating with absolutely zero payoff. Don't bother.
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Yeah, i didn't learn my lesson and whats more, i'm happy i didn't! Harry potter games have been flat out awful since day one but with the very final game (i hope) they actually redeemed themselves.
This is Gears of Harry. It's a third person cover based shooter that is actually fun to play. It's visually interesting which is about as good as you could hope really and even though enemies are rather bulletspongey it's really quite satisfying to magic a dude in the face.
This is the only harry potter game i would reccomend you to look at if you are so inclined.
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It's a competant kart racer with some interesting mechanics. Thats all i can think of. It's not bad. Weapons are boring.
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It's that time again! Tiger woods is the only annual franchise i'll support and if Tiger 12 is anything to go by, i won't be for too much longer.
The gameplay is excellent, it's never been more approachable to play with so many options to customise your difficulty and play style for what you want out of it.
Everything that makes a golf game great is right here.
The problem comes in with EA's DLC plans for this game. It shipped originally missing a dozen golf courses available for purchase. DLC is nothing new of course, the problem is that when you play the career those missing courses are still in the playlist so it convieniently reminds you very often that there are courses for SALE!
It's a horrible technique, i don't like it at all. An unfortunate setback for an awesome game.
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This game barely scrapes the edge of competancy. None of this do you actually want to play. This boring 6 hour trudge through the same environments and enemies with the same guns is as interesting as a blank sheet of paper.
Technology in this game is it's only real point of mention here. Geomod 2.0 did some very interesting things with destructable and recontructing environments. Perhaps if they spent less on their tech budget and more on making a game they would have something worth playing.
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My time with Dirt 3 was extremely enjoyable. I don't have the time to commit to it to truely get everything out of it but the driving mechanics are absolutely top notch. They spent a lot of time making the game look really good from it's UI down to the mud you splash through at 80mph.
IF you're into racing and don't own this game, you're missing out. Just be prepared for a steep rise in difficulty once you get bored of smoking cars on default.
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