Best of 2011
This list is obviously in progress, but it will contain my favorite games of 2011.
List items
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Harder, better, bigger (ew) and more satisfying than Demon's Souls, Dark Souls had me in its grip for many, many hours. The most satisfying weapon-based melee combat I've experienced in a game. It's dark, dreary and bastard hard and I love all of it, even the parts I (love to) hate. A game that generated an entire zeitgeist all of its own.
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One of the most immersive games ever. Truly lets you play it just about any way you want to. It creates a strikingly beautiful and cohesive world that's a joy to explore. A mammoth of a game with many working parts, it's no surprise there's the odd bug, but neither on 360 or PC were they ever enough to make me not want to play more of it. A stunning achievement.
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A worthy successor to one of my favorite games of all time. Has the freedom you want and actually satisfying stealth gameplay. Great atmosphere, which really makes this game, and fantastic world design.
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Another case of 'bigger and better', Arkham City gives Batman a great playground to explore and makes doing so fun. Truly a delight for fans of the character and the comics. Pretty much the ultimate wish fulfilment videogame for Batman fans.
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The morally ambiguous world of The Witcher continues to be really interesting and fantastically well-realized. The combat system is mostly great, though the difficulty in the early parts is straight-up jacked. Basically contains 2 campaigns in one.
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Really neat game, cool, original narration and world design. Great combat. Does interesting narrative stuff games really haven't toyed with much before.
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I thought I was done with Star Wars. Lucas has done his best to make me hate everything associated with it, even the original trilogy, thanks to his constant revisionism. Bioware showed me that there is life yet left in a far-off galaxy a long, long time ago. Has the balls to be an MMO that encourages and requires socializing regularly, yet also be a completely enjoyable single-player story. The two aspects feed off and enhance eachother. Like a symbiot. It's pretty good!
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First JRPG I've really liked since FFXII. Amazing world that instills a sense of wonder and discovery. The combat system is pretty great too, and the English dub/script is genuinely pretty good.
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I hated everything about this game before it came out. The marketing campaign was incredibly awful. That said, I was very surprised to enjoy the game immensely. It's gleefully fun and revels in its absurdity. Pretty funny too. Criminally underrated.
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This game wasn't on my interest radar at all until I watched the Quick Look, which immediately sold me. The weapon modification system and its RPG-underpinnings, mostly manifesting in the loot drops and skill trees, make it very moreish. Some of the most satisfying first-person melee combat ever, and a really pretty world to explore.
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Probably the most fun I've had in an MMO outside of WoW, until ToR came along. The world events create a great sense of scale and community. There's always something to do that's actually fun and rewarding.
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Not quite as memorable as the original, but it retains the creepy atmosphere and satisfying, weighty combat.
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Not as good on consoles as it is on PC. The 360 version is basically a worse version of Bad Company 2, which is a real shame. Got the PC version but haven't had much time to actually play it yet. Not the dramatic step forward it was touted to be though, if you played BC2.
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Not nearly as good or influential as its predecessor, but there's still a lot of fun to be had with its free-form combat.
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