GOTY 2011
My game of the year list for 2011. There's not a lot of competition for spots since I don't play that many games, but I'll thinking very hard about the order.
List items
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With Portal 2, Valve set out to create a full-release game that could keep pace with the short and sweet original. Such a challenge brings to mind a test chamber with no exit. Yet, viral geek in-jokes and folk songs be damned - Portal 2 is incredible and an example of Valve's finest. Its environs are teeming with story, a narrative that is as suspenseful as it is absurd.
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The narratives told in Japanese games are like lost spirits, inhabiting whatever game mechanic is most convenient in order to make themselves known to the world. Ghost Trick is not all that different, but each challenge is unique and it is tailored to the story being told. Strip away the events taking place within each scenario, and you’re left with something akin to Pipe Mania. However, this observation is of no real value, since with its fluid animation and slowly developing web of intrigue, I couldn't put Ghost Trick down until I closed the book on it.
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My first journey into the Elder Scrolls world, it got its hooks in my quickly. Its the type of game that crashes and you jump right back in without flinching. Bethesda has been doggedly pursuing the same dream for 17 years, and they've never been closer to realizing that dream before. Writing as of 70 hours and counting.
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Come for the narrator hook and beautiful art style, stay for the rewarding combat and story.
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LittleBigPlanet 2 is remarkable because the improvements to the game, which are numerous, were all inspired by the contraptions made by the community in the first game. The logic boards are nothing short of brilliant, and they are a clear response to the makeshift logic players created in the first game. The only downside to LBP2 is too many people have already decided how they feel about LBP, and they're missing out.
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The most naturally directed story in the industry is back in a third endeavor. All your favorite hallmarks of the series are there, from dynamic vistas to fluid action. It wasn't able to top Uncharted 2, but its no slouch.
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Repeat from last year, since the Giant Bomb editors apparently didn't count it last year. Ingenious puzzle game with a very charming aesthetic, as well as a intriguing and mysterious hidden over-plot found only in the collectibles.
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A great story implemented with cutting-edge face-mapping technology floating in a sea of boilerplate action cut with a superfluous investigation mechanic. I would not recommend the DLC cases, as they are undercooked and do a lot to bitter the overall experience.
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Very clever magic combination system and a campy referential narrative marred by overly difficult encounters and major network issues. Specially the inability to "drop-in" while frequently being forced to "drop-out" was more ruinous than any spell combination in the game proper.
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