I think it was obvious that most people knew it was bad. There were a few people, mostly the higher ups, who thought it was much better then it really was.

I have a question. Did anyone working on Blackwater actually think that they were working on a good game? Or was everyone fully aware that it was bad? I mean, there isn't really much you can do with a game about Blackwater.

Hunted: The Demon's Forge, anyone? Though I liked it more than Enslaved, which I didn't finish.

haha, maybe I should edit my original post. :) I've got a few blog posts you can see in my profile talking about my game development career, including Blackwater

Huh, I quite enjoyed Fallout: New Vegas and Black Ops. Also, what's this about you helping create Blackwater?

Yeah, I saw the bad reviews and avoided that one.

@mtmckinley said:

I've not played all that many true bad games this last year

I guess you missed Homefront, then?

As with my previous list of my Best games of 2011, these were games I played in 2011, not necessarily games that came out in 2011.

So you played three great games from 2010, one disappointing game from 2011, and one horrible game from 2011. Great list.

Limbo.

@mtmckinley said:

@HaltIamReptar said:

Tell me more.

Check out some of my earlier blog entries for more details. I was an artist on the team that made Blackwater, making guns and vehicles and stuff.

Will do!

I actually preferred New Vegas to Fallout 3 and even Skyrim.  
 
Obsidian deserve all the shit they get for the glitches. The game is broken and frustrating to play, but the freedom they give you in that game is something special. 

@HaltIamReptar said:

Tell me more.

Check out some of my earlier blog entries for more details. I was an artist on the team that made Blackwater, making guns and vehicles and stuff.

At Klei: I wasn't saying it's your fault. I may not have described my situation fully, but I didn't buy black ops (or any other CoD/MW game) because I didn't like the controls. I got it purely due to my family playing it. So when they stopped, it just turned into "that game I don't like the controls on".

@mtmckinley said:

Blackwater

Just because I helped make it doesn't mean I can't hate it!

Tell me more.

Can you do a write-up on working on Blackwater? I want to hear what it was like in that dev house...

Black Ops was good for its zombies mode and its campaign, not its traditional multiplayer. It's unfortunate that you missed the boat on the multiplayer if that's what you bought it for, though. Other than that (and Blackwater, which I haven't played) I've only played a few hours of each of the games on your list. Each seemed perfectly competent, but didn't really grab me.

EDIT: Dragon Age II didn't just not grab me, it actively pushed me away. I didn't care for Origins, but after playing both Mass Effect games I became hopeful they could succeed outside of Mass Effect. Sadly, Dragon Age II is the most vanilla BioWare title since Knights of the Old Republic, and its combat and settings are supremely disappointing as well. Did not care for that game AT ALL.

I'd say Motorstorm Apocalypse was the worst game I played last year. It's a huge step back from previous motorstorm games.

I guess my using the word "worst" was a bit extreme. Truth be told, I've not played all that many true bad games this last year (aside from Blackwater, but I couldn't prevent that). When it came to all of the good games I played, these were the ones I liked the least... actually, I forgot one, I'll add it on now.

I really didn't think Splinter Cell Conviction was that bad but to each his own.

New Vegas actualy had better dialogue and branching off arcs. It was better than Bethesda's usual lack of writing. Fallout 3 wasn't that great to begin with. It was the usual Bethesda game. You start out as a prisoner or inprisioned some how (which doesn't even have anything to do with the plot, and it never opens up dialogue or do anything for the story but be there). They throw you into a world, filled with incompotent NPCS who have the same voice overs. Fetch quest that differ little from each other. They call the world vast. I call it an illusion. Making this huge world so you can spam identical content throughout. Bethesda has zero creativity. Unfortunately Fallout 3 released first, so everyone will obviously hop on it.

My worst game so far would have to be Skyrim. It is Oblivion with Dragons. Only the Dragons are arguably the most underwhelming part about the game. Thats assuming you even get a chance to fight them since they often glitch up and never land. When you do get to fight them they get pwned by weaker NPC's and all followers solo. Even the last boss, sooooo underwhelming. Was as easy as fighting a common NPC. I was ultimately disapointed. The Dwemer/Nordic ruins despite the claim of being hand crafted are all the same or similiar. Only two cities are distinct looking. All the Jarls look alike. Even the main NPC's share voice work with common NPCs. The AI is incompotent. When they don't get stuck in random places on quest. They're saying things that don't make sense. Like my housecarl saying "What are you doing here", "You're not supposed to be here" WHEN ITS MY HOUSE. Yeah i can't get immersed in a game when everything is mediocre. Shouts were nice, but ultimately the combat is the same as Oblivion. You are still a proffessional club/bat swinging maniac, Swish, Swish, Clonk = Enemies dead, lol. Shouts actualy made the game even more easier on hardest difficulty. Dragons suck at melee combat. You can basicaly heal through all their ground attacks (I actualy made a video doing just this, while Marcurio killed the dragon solo). Giving you "Dragonrend" makes fighting Dragons even more underwhelming. Dark Souls should have got FAAAAAAAAAAR more attention. It so far has to be one of the best RPG's atleast for consoles. My only gripe about Dark Souls would be the fact that Namco published it. Namco are responsible for its crap online. Witcher 2 also has a place as one of the best.

For me it is Shadows of the Damned.

It just tries too hard...

Even though I've had minor problems with every game on this thread....

Surprised nobody mentioned the broken abomination that is dark souls. Bad animation supposed to make it feel real? Its not the difficulty like most people hate, its the fact that its an unfinished game. Running up steps, and fall through the world. TERRIBLE graphics and especially the framerate. I found some enjoyment in duke nukem forever....I couldn't see anything about dark souls that was enjoyable. Easily the most overrated game of all time.

I loved 75% of the games on your list, but I guess opinions continue to be opinions....

You should play more games. There are a LOT of games out there that are worse than those you listed (excluding Blackwater maybe)

Anyway, my two cents on the New Vegas thing: Call me crazy, but I enjoyed New Vegas a lot more than Fallout 3. Maybe I didn´t run into any game breaking bugs.. maybe I just liked the refinements they made a whole lot.. but that game has a special place in my heart.

I really didn't have a 'worse game'. I burned out on Fallout NV for much the reason above..just plain burnout. I'm going to go back and finish the game I think. The samness, constant brown and the drabness of the desert description got to me. Not that brown bothers me like it does(did) other ppl.

Fallout: New Vegas

I'm a huge Bethesda fan, a huge Fallout fan, and I appreciate what Obsidian does. And at first, I was gung-ho about New Vegas. But as it continued on and on, it just wasn't grabbing me in any remarkable way. It's not a bad game, it was just a "blah" game. Maybe I'll go looking for all the crazy mods and see if that helps any.

Wait, you thought the controls for a Call of Duty game was bad? I think that's the first time I've heard that argument made, to me, one of the main reasons why the series is so popular on consoles, is because the controls are tight and responsive, which has something to do with the frame rate, but still.

Black Ops seems like a fine enough game, I just couldn't get past my control issues with it. I have the same problems with Modern Warfare and don't bother playing these games typically.

Yeah, Cloudenvy, I missed that one due to the anti-hype I heard. :)

Shadows of the Damned and Hydrophobia: Prophecy

If those are the worst games you've played in 2011, you're the luckiest gamer.

Some of us were unlucky enough to experience the trainwreck that was Homefront.

Alice: Madness Returns.

Wait, Black Ops is a bad game? I've played the first few levels and a bit of the multiplayer, and I thought it was OK.

This list will be a short one, mostly due to my not usually bothering to play games that I'm not too interested in for one reason or another due to my minimal time and money. But these are the games I didn't care for for one reason or another in 2011.

Splinter Cell: Conviction

While not a huge fan of the Splinter Cell games, I do find them enjoyable. I like stealth gameplay (can't wait for Thief 4!) and was really looking forward to this one. After playing it for a couple hours, though, I just couldn't get that into it. The controls just didn't grab me and the prerequisite of having to do some sort of close-quarters-combat take down in order to be able to do a mark-and-execute action didn't sit well with me. It's been sitting unplayed for a while with the intention of getting back to it, but I've just got so much good stuff to play that I haven't bothered.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Ok, I got peer-pressured into this one. I've never been a fan of the console Call of Duty/Modern Warfare games due to the controls. May dad and both of my brothers had this game so I felt it'd be fun to play with my family. Only problem i, they were all prestiged and level 800 or something so, by the time I was around level 20, they were done with this game and moving on. I played the single player campaign briefly and haven't played it at all since. I just can't get into the controls... Yes, controls are very important to me and my experience of enjoyment. And I also realize I'm a minority on that point. :)

Fallout: New Vegas

I'm a huge Bethesda fan, a huge Fallout fan, and I appreciate what Obsidian does. And at first, I was gung-ho about New Vegas. But as it continued on and on, it just wasn't grabbing me in any remarkable way. It's not a bad game, it was just a "blah" game. Maybe I'll go looking for all the crazy mods and see if that helps any.

Dragon Age II

I LOVED Dragon Age. I bought that game twice, once on the PS3 and then again on the PC with the Ultimate Edition with all of the DLC. I bought Dragon Age II on day one and had huge expectations. And again, the game itself isn't bad, persay... but compared to the first Dragon Age, it's utter crap. If it had been called "Adventures of Kirkwall" or whatever, it would have gotten a pass. Is that fair? I dunno.

Blackwater

Just because I helped make it doesn't mean I can't hate it!

EDIT: People were wondering about this, so feel free to check out my other blog posts. Many go into my game development career, and Blackwater is mentioned in a few of the later ones!

So, there you go, short list, like I said. And I don't think these all actually came out in 2011 at all, but oh well. I still have a bunch of games I've not played through yet, but maybe they'll end up on my best or worst list of next year.