3 Ups and 3 Downs of twenty-eleven

There are many reasons to think the year 2011 Common Era just in term of video games. It is, in all fairness, one of those pretty good years for the media form. My full of piss and vinegar twenty-one years old self almost got a job in this industry that year. Looking back, there is certainly a sense of being glad that I did not with my own wellness to pay for video game news coverage low in the past several years.

Only 3 months into 2025 yet I managed to play and review 4 games technically released in 2011. I typed “technically” since I was playing ports and remasters released in much later times. To the 3 of which I would recommend with just 1 terrible enough for me to bring back not so pleasant memories I had for the year. Oh, well, good news first.

The 3 Ups: Mascot platformers did not die, they just stop selling systems.

With Astro Bot getting so many (The newly re-established Gameinformer included. Guess it can die twice…) to kiss Sony’s ring, one might have the illusion that “mascot platformer is back, baby.” Oh well, the bloody genre did not go anywhere, you all. Not now, and certainly not in 2011 when genre adjacent products mingled with actual mascot platformers.

I would not say that this media form outgrew “having mascot”, otherwise Microsoft would not have built up Master Chief. The very concept of “mascot” just swift from plushie blueprint to something with harder edges. And in the days when those were soft and fluffy, it was almost like the corporations were selling their weakness.

Take the very first Sonic game for example. Developers over at SEGA clearly knew that their momentum driven movement would not be received as well as Nintendo games’ more responsive control. So, what to do but adding more character animation for expression’s sake alone, something Nintendo would not do until the days of polygons. Nowadays, indie titles such as Freedom Planet marry such vivid animation and nice control together nicely, why choose one platform and be stock with its shortcomings?

Anyway, in the order of playing, here are 3 games from 2011 I highly recommend.

Up 1 of 3 Portal 2

Though it’s not accurate, Portal 2 does have the reputation of “the last game made by Value”. Oh well, for people who does not play multiplayer and have VR set-up, it might as well be.

The 2011 game sure has “mascot platformer” written all over it. The 2 robots with round and non-threating edges that only playable in the co-op are on the cover of this game after all. The whole game can be classified as “puzzle platformer” with the objective always being getting to this point on the map with the portal gun and other contraptions.

I played this one back at its launch in 2011 and 14 years in between certainly do not demise my enjoyment of it one bit.

Up 2 of 3 Bastion

Bastion is famously isometric game. It features a perspective that does not glue with the platforming and the game knows it. Towards its endgame, Bastion does have a dodge turned into jump moment, which is blessingly brief. It’s almost as if this is not enough, Transistor’s similar hopping around segment went for the point-to-point approach.

The other aspect of Bastion being closer to mascot platformer would be its character art. Out of all Supergiant joints, only this one can be described as Super Deformed with characters being bit too big. The developers were worried about people seeing this one as for kid and they were right to. Yours truly did not play this one in 2011, and it was after Transistor’s announcement that I played Bastion.

Up 3 of 3 Sonic Generations

Guess I am a Sonic fan after all, just bit lapsed and merry-weather. As Paramount’s tentpole film franchise going strong and offering something bit more fun than Disney’s patted out soft-ass shit on the “kid film” front, this roaring twenties had certainly be kind to SEGA’s blue rodent so far.

Though playing Sonic X Shadow Generations after watching Sonic the Hedgehog 3 qualifies as one of those “You got me, you fuckers” moment, the game is blessingly brief. Neither Sonic’s nor Shadow’s nostalgia trip take up hour count in the 2 digits. Since I never played much of those levels before, my experience was closer to “Oh, so those are what developers consider the best, huh? Cool, very cool” than the endless loop of “I remember this!” Regardless, all are just theme park rides that I can still enjoy.

The 3 Downs: EA’s no-good “Half-life 2 wannabe” trilogy

2011 is a year worth pulling out Empire March “by John Williams” for with miHoYo established in Shanghai that year. As far as not paying their English cast whalers go, the focused on mobile developer is actually among the nicer ones since they use “zero initial buy in fee” as bait. Electric Arts, on the other hand, would still nickel and dime the consumers of their products after the price of game software in “Yankee” nation raised above 3 digits.

EA sure got its “master of a platform” ambition up in 2011 with the mess known as Origins starting its life cycle back then. Steam at its 8th year in 2011 was already the place for PC gamers and EA wanted its piece of the pie. Too bad EA was fighting a two-front war (Something fucked over Germany not once but twice in the 20th century.), since it’s wrestling with Call of Duty franchise on the console while establishing Origins on computers.

Steam’s entrenchment could not be done without 2004’s Half-Life 2, one of those “greatest video games ever made”. Too bad all EA saw was first-person shooters sell along with COD franchise being bestseller in North America. Thus, they commissioned the following first-person shooters that were nowhere near as good as Half-life 2 nor sold as many copies as any COD fish.

Down 1 of 3 Bulletstorm

Back in April, 2010, Bulletstorm’s announcement marked it as a breath of fresh air especially compared to the announcements of Gears of War 3 and Crysis 2 earlier. The 2 other shooters had done the trope of setting the trailer to some sad, slow and haunting song while Bulletstorm shouted “I am just having fun” very loud.

10 months and we all found out that it’s fun but not that much fun. Granted, the wacky arsenal of Bulletstorm is more thoughtful than COD’s assault rifles and the lash showed some creativity. Player can even pull ammo in with the lash while Undertow in Bioshock Infinite can only pull enemies, the spirit of HL2’s Gravity Gun lives in Bulletstorm.

However, the game’s sadist simulator principal does not offer the high efficiency high body count carnage yours truly look for in shooters. Seeing enemies falling almost gracefully into the abyss rather than being the quick out-of-sight-out-of-mind thing is deflating, Also, why the hell do you judge me so harshly for doing reasonable things like shooting enemy combatants in their torsos, game?

Bulletstorm almost feels like one company with master of platform ambition hijacking another’s similar ambition. Epic Games had been a lap dog of Microsoft between 2006’s Gears of War and 2009’s Shadow Complex. The decade before they went for Steam’s hegemony in 2018 needed to pave that way. Hence a game released for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in Bulletstorm was merely the first stone put into the dirt. Too bad both EA and Polish developer People Can Fly got, and I am putting it as lightly as possible, butt-fucked in the process.

Down 2 of 3 Crysis 2

Crysis 2 seemed ill considered starting with its announcement trailer. While both it and Gears of War 3 put out trailers set to slow, sad and haunting songs, the process behind was very different. Gears 3 just licensed a song with lyric oddly fitting with the trailer’s city ruin imagery while Crysis 2 commissioned a whole new cover of New York, New York with full orchestral and all that jazz. Marketing budget well-spent!

Gordon Freeman’s HEV suit sharing one power source among oxygen for swimming, power for flashlight and limited sprint is something developers regrated in Half-Life 2 according to one those comment nodes added last year. The feature was kept for A it was too late to change and B it did not bother people much during testing. Still, the flashlight eventually got its own power source in Episode Two. One got imagine those German devs over at Crytek saw Half-Life 2 and thought it’s just a good to manage resource. Thus, the super soldiers in Crysis games had to mange one power source for additional armor, invisible cloak and maybe double-jump. Haven’t played this one since its launch.

Crysis 2’s New York city streets certainly feel like glorified corridors when it was compared to the 2007 original’s island. And I think it does affect the gameplay, since the sequel offers all fights but no flights when the 2007 game is certainly more flight or fight. Not that the fight is monotone, yours truly certainly got through the game on the highest difficulty with cloak and dagger.

Speak from my personal experience, consoles after their fifth years all feel long in the teeth. Bayonetta 3 (October, 2022) on Nintendo Switch (March, 2017) is merely one more recent example. Crysis 2 (March, 2011) on Xbox 360 (November, 2005) certainly made me start to think that way. What was EA thinking when they decided to go up against COD games’ buttery smooth 60 frames per second with things barely playable on consoles?

Down 3 of 3 Battlefield 3

Ah, yes, the messy way to “Origins launch title” eventually led to Battlefield 3. Well, not a launch title per se, just the first one not on Steam. Battlefield 3 is undoubtedly best on a powerful enough PC rig. So, get on Origins, losers. Didn’t you all get on Steam for Half-Life 2 back in 2004?

Well, not so fast, for your shit is a very different animal. In short, Half-Life 2 is still rightfully one of the greatest video games ever made, while Battlefield 3 is nowhere near that discussion. Then there is the difference between Steam and Origin. The former had established a reputation of cheaper way for smaller games up to 2011, while the “shovel-ware fest” thing is bite its ass now, it certainly seemed nicer than your new bully in the block, EA?

I do not oppose modern military shooters on ideology (Hard not to tell this concept to go and fuck itself living in miHoYo’s country of origin.) front. I just got unlucky with those. 2009’s Call of Duty Modern Warfare Two raised the price of its map packs in early 2010, so I turned to Bad Company 2. Having fund memory of a house collapse on me in that game. Then the next year, Xbox 360 I had started to feel long in the teeth and Battlefield 3 was clearly made for PC first, so better stick with Microsoft’s last glory days of first party.