I'm a little late to the party but I still wanted to make the list. Holiday hours and really thinking hard about my list are my excuses for a delay. Still here they are, my top 10 of 2011. Well..it would be top 10 if I had played more games, honestly I only played 10 games and Duke Nukem...well Duke Nukem doesn't belong here ha ha. So Top 9 of 2011 ha ha
So I thought long and hard about this but I ultimately came to the conclusion that Portal 2 was my GOTY. Valve really did succeed in the face of some daunting expectations to create a game that is even better than Portal 1 in my opinion. This game had it all for me in 2011, best new characters in the form of Wheatley and Cave Johnson, some slick graphics, very tight and satisfying gameplay, an amazing ending, and even the music was top notch. Very few games make me go through them immediately after finishing and I ended up doing that three times with this game. There were some pretty good games this year but this game stands on top of them all and reminds you why you eagerly await Valve games.
This almost got my GOTY and still wonder if it shouldn't be. I love Batman, I love Arkham Asylum, and Rocksteady managed to increase the love for both once again. That polish is still there and you can tell they really sat down and thought about what you would want to do as Batman. There is a reverence and respect for the legacy of dark, noir Batman and the M rating lets them explore it full force. This time around you have a huge city to glide around in, pretty much every Batman villain you ever wanted making an appearing (not just a part of the codex type thing), and one of my new favorite Batman story lines. And that ending...holy shit it was amazing. I have found all the trophies, done the best I could through the challenges, and am chomping at the bit for the DLC. Rocksteady shows us once again why Batman is the greatest superhero ever and they know how to do his games right. I cannot wait for the third Batman to finish the storyline and see how this all ends, I honestly have no idea how they are going to do it.
The first dead space was a fantastic surprise of a horror game. Scary, visceral, intense, and showing us how you can do Resident Evil WITH strafing and do it better. It pretty much was Event Horizon the game minus Sam Neill and it was glorious. Dead Space 2 cranks it up to 11 and shows us the first game wasn't a fluke. Ditching the tired trope of a silent protagonist Isaac Clarke can now has some real personality and the Unitology story revelations are really well done. Stunning graphics, some interesting new weapons, greater variety by setting it in a space station, and some truly awesome sequences with the opening 20 minutes being the best this game blows away Dead Space 1 in almost every aspect for me. The last bit gets a little tedious but I still is well worth the ride and i am excited to see where they go next with it.
I've never been a huge shooter fan, I enjoy them from time to time but only in rare cases. I really disliked the first Gears in both story and gameplay but the second game turned me around on the story front. Now enter the 3rd game and I am on the Gears of War bandwagon. With a single player campaign that is far better than it has any right to be in a shooter this game blew me away. And that horde multiplayer, man I have never had so much fun then when playing that. It practically is the reason I have a Gold account and even now I want to buy up the DLC and dive back in with some friends. Gears of War 3 is a fitting end to the franchise as a whole and one hell of a game both single and multiplayer wise.
I have loved every Uncharted game and this is no exception. Uncharted 2 was an amazing amazing game and Uncharted 3 holds to that legacy in my opinion. Yes it lacks some of the punch of the 2nd one and the story gets a bit strange, but I still had a blast and nobody does character interaction and dialogue like Naughty Dog. Amazing set pieces, breakneck pacing, succulent graphics, and tight gunplay make this the Indiana Jones of our era. Nolan North is at the top of his game here and again this is a great ending to the trilogy, so good I want to go through it again just to experience all those fantastic moments.
First off the faces..MY GOD the faces are damn good looking. That technology is so crazy that at one point everyone in the real world just looked like Hi-Res versions of L.A. Noire's graphics. The nice thing is that it has the acting, story, and gameplay elements to back up that technology. Team Bondi shows us how to make the modern adventure game and I definitely felt like I was working through the best of Noir films. The atmosphere, the structure, and excellent acting come together to create a living breathing recreation of 1940's Los Angeles tinged with the dark and gritty Noir feel. It's better than any police procedural and jam packed with characters aplenty. It's not perfect, there are parts that fall flat, but when things come together smoothly it is a sight to behold. Another game where the ending was flat out incredible and true to the Noir style.
Last year's Brotherhood was a fantastic surprise so I was willing to give AC: Revelations a chance due to Ubisoft not letting me down yet. To be honest there are some diminishing returns and the game doesn't quite stand on the same footing as Brotherhood with some of the elements introduced. That being said it is still a damn fine game and everything you loved about Brotherhood is back in Revelations. Ezio is even more badass now, the Sophia stuff is done really well, and Constantinople is so alive that it's a joy just to run around and check it out. Bombs are a welcome addition to Ezio's bag of tricks and the hook is plenty of fun to use. As far as the story goes it definitely wraps up Ezio, Altair, and pretty much all the loose ends so that we are ready for the conclusion of AC3 so it is worth your time to play in my opinion. Definitely getting to be a tired formula at this point but if you still love AC then I still recommend playing this excellent game.
I really miss old school cyber-punk in the vein of Shadowrun or Bladerunner. I think that is one of the biggest reasons I really enjoyed Deus Ex: HR. The story is actually pretty decent and the world is a lot of fun to check out. Games just aren't made like this anymore and that makes Deus Ex a breathe of fresh air. I loved figuring out how to make my play style better by tinkering around with augs, looking for those hidden pathways and then realizing the 8 other ways i could've have gone through that area, and just plain being a badass. There is a lot to like here and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Deus Ex. The only big knock i had against it was those broken boss fights but don't let that deter you from enjoying a fantastic cyberpunk world.
This one kind of came out of left field for me. I am used to the old Heroes of Might and Magic games and of course this looked nothing like it. Still if you give it a chance you will find a long, engaging, and satisfying strategy RPG. It's also gorgeous as hell while at the same time devilishly devious with some of it's gameplay. The story itself may be Fantasy 101 but it's the game itself you come for and it does not disappoint with it's addicting battle systems.
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