2011 Game Purchases
Just thought I'd keep a list of whatever I purchase this year and possibly update the list as I complete said games with some brief thoughts. It also includes some games I've pre-ordered in the order of their impending release.
List items
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Goddamn Steam sales! $5 for both this and Pripyat? Worth a gamble.
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Goddamn Steam Sales!
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I've played a few hours worth, it's really quite good, albeit not good enough to divert my attention from other games.
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Okay for a few rounds.
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Goddamn Steam Sales! Thought this looked like fun.
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Steam sales again, part of the Indie 2D pack, bought mostly for VVVVVV
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Indie 2D Pack
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Played about an hour so far and I've saved two Vs, presently stuck in the tower. I don't feel like I get better at this game, I just feel like I'm stumbling through it until I get it right. At this point it's purely the tremendous soundtrack that keeps me playing. That and the Metroid-style exploration.
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Indie 2D Pack
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Indie 2D Pack
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Purchased with a gift voucher from Christmas. I feel super guilty for only picking it up just now since I love Ratchet & Clank. I suppose I'll have to wear the platinum packaging as a mark of shame.
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A fantastic sequel. The sense of variety and creativity in the main story mode is outstanding, and it looks like there'll be some awesome community created stuff.
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I think I preferred the original, but it's still a great game.
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I think I might like this more than SSFIV, if only it had the equivalent online features.
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One of the most refreshing shooters I've played in years, this could be in my top ten come the end of the year.
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BG&E HD, that is. I already own the game on the PS2, but I've bought this if only to put my support behind a potential sequel. I think the game still holds up pretty well today, and I'm pretty happy with the visual upgrade over the PS2 version.
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Fantastic. The combat was some of the most enjoyable I've ever experienced in an RPG and I thoroughly enjoyed the story over that of its predecessor. Label me whatever you want for saying it, but outside of some blatant shortcuts taken in the development this is yet another brilliant game from Bioware. Playing through the Legacy DLC hammered home to me the fact that I legitimately love this game, all of the issues so many other people have with it just never bothered me. I also found myself really pleased with the Mark of the Assassin DLC and can't wait for more.
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Colour me super impressed! One of the best FPS campaigns of the last year or so along with Bioshock 2 and Bulletstorm.
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Went with the Black version because some of the environments looked a little more fresh for the franchise than those in White.
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Really pleased with the 3DS to be honest, moreso than I expected to be.
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3DS version. Pretty lame, glad it was a freebie with the 3DS itself.
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Super Street Fighter IV made my top ten list last year and I'm really pleased with this handheld port. Capcom did an outstanding job bringing SSFIV to the 3DS.
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It's Ridge Racer, which I inexplicably still find fun. I guess it's just part of that launch ritual?
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Picked up super cheap from Zavvi. Makes for a great multiplayer game that anyone can pick up, play and have fun with.
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It's like Puzzle Quest if the puzzle part of puzzle quest wasn't a middling Bejeweled clone! Pretty great.
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Easily the Game of the Year thus far and could go down as one of my all-time favourites.
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I've never been one for the MK series, I don't have any real attachment to it like I had Street Fighter and every MK release this past decade has left me completely uninterested. This latest entry, though, is excellent. I'm excited for the future of the franchise.
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I just haven't found myself interested in playing this after the first hour.
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Couldn't pass it up for $6~ on Steam, one of those purchases where you think 'Well, it should probably be in my collection...'
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This game basically fixes all of the things I didn't like about what I played of Persona 3 FES, I'm willing to trade in some animu cutscenes (that I can watch on youtube) and presentation for a more enjoyable gameplay experience. Super glad I picked this up, it's crazy addictive.
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The game isn't without its issues, but overall I really enjoyed the experience.
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I've enjoyed what I've played of it for the most part, but I've found I haven't cared enough to return to it for a while now, hopefully the July/August lull will bring it back into the fold.
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I really enjoyed the game, little annoyances aside. I quite enjoyed the story and just about everything about the game is quite an improvement over its predecessor. One thing that particularly impressed me was how well New Marais was designed for traversal, Flood Town is a great example of this.
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As someone who loves platforming, zelda-targeting and the sort of style peddled by folks like American McGee I got a real kick out of Alice: Madness Returns.
The game is quite flawed, but I feel like there was a lot more there to enjoy than a lot of reviews would have you believe. If you're reading this and you're on the fence about Alice, and enjoy the act of platforming even at its simplest I highly recommend giving this game a whirl.
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Balking at the $50 asking price for this game? Then consider that I paid 78 AUDs for this game. And you know what? I'm perfectly happy with that purchase. Part of it is for same sort of reason Jeff put forth in the 21/6 Bombcast, but also because I've found the game to be an absolutely amazing experience and one I expect I will return to again and again...and hopefully manage to get better at.
Value for money is often quite subjective, and I agree that Child of Eden would be more suited to downloadable services, but I don't think this game's asking price is such a big deal. I've always been one to value the quality of an experience over its running time, though and that damn spacewhale gets me every damn time.
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I've yet to play much of the game so far, but immediately it has struck me with just how damn enjoyable the game is to play. I was expecting this game to be mostly carried by that Double Fine quirk that makes the studio so loved, so I'm real surprised by just how fun the game is at its core - particularly when it's a blend of genres I've never particularly cared for.
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A great game and it's a damned shame it didn't sell, because honestly, I don't know that this game is as niche as it may seem. I really enjoyed the core gameplay and was surprised at how well the light/dark mechanics worked. I think Grasshopper did an excellent job consistently providing a new twist on its formula, bossfight or weapon/upgrade just around the corner. While its jokes don't always hit, everything contributes to a real sense of silliness that is very charming. The game also looks a lot nicer than it comes across in video footage; it's really quite striking and could prove to be one of my favourite looking UE3 games to date.
I'm not an old Silent Hill fan, so I don't have much connection to his previous work, but Akira Yamaoka's soundtrack also really impressed me.
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Picked it up on PS3 for $18, I had played a bit of a friend's copy on release last year and had always intended to purchase it, but it got lost amidst the typically large holiday release line-up.
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Oh, Steam sales. I really didn't like the trial of the original XBLA release, but never checked in on the supposedly improved version. Surely this game can't be so bad that I'll regret spending $3 on it...right?
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I found the games a bit tedious after the first episode (which was brilliant), but overall I really enjoyed the season.
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I've played about 10 hours. Hardcore mode has meant I've spent a lot more time drinking out of toilets. Enjoying the wasteland hobo experience.
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I just find myself digging around aimlessly, I'm not sure this game is for me.
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Really enjoyed the first game and I'm finding that this game is better, not much more to it than that.
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Bastion really surprised me. I was expecting the game to be fun. I was expecting it to be pretty. I never expected the game to be as downright fantastic as it grew to be over the course of its running time. Tremendous story, and it's astounding how much I connected with the characters considering the story was told almost entirely through narration. Bastion is kind of incredible.
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I finished Catherine after about 14 hours on easy, and I really enjoyed it. The story could prove frustrating at times, but it also had some laugh-out-loud moments (I actually found the ridiculousness of the last part really fun). I got the most enjoyment out of the game from the block-puzzles themselves, though, and so far have been really enjoying playing through again on Normal. I also really like Babel as an opportunity to play Catherine as a more traditional survival-style puzzler.
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I love how the game looks visually and there's something really cool to the way you interact with the environment as you suck up different elements and dump them where you want. However, I kind of lost interest once the water and fire trees showed up.
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Really enjoyed it, it's not an instant classic like some previous Summer of Arcade releases, but I'm definitely willing to say it's one of the better games available on Xbox Live arcade.
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Picked up when it went cheap on Steam. Found it extremely easy to get into and hugely addictive. Awesome game.
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Craving some more Atlus action after playing Catherine and a significant amount of P3P (I'm still playing bits of it here and there) I decided to order Digital Devil Saga 1&2 for $16 each. I gave DDS1 a try earlier in the year via emulation and was rather impressed and had been planning to purchase the games ever since.
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Decided to further the Atlus craziness.
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3rd Strike Online seems pretty damn good, played a bunch of versus rounds with a friend upon purchasing it and had a lot of fun. The cast of characters is really bizarre, though.
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Picked this up with some leftover points after purchasing 3rd Strike on a friend's recommendation. Butt is the man!
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Super surprised by how well this game turned out. It's not without its flaws, but I really enjoyed it.
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Awesome, awesome game. I hope Nintendo of America actually release it for you folks in the USA, it's absolutely disgusting that they haven't bothered so far. The game has an absolute wealth of content, cutscenes that don't overstay their welcome, massive environments and an immense sense of scope and scale. It's almost ridiculous that there hasn't been a game from the genre quite like this on more powerful systems. Xenoblade Chronicles is essentially the antithesis to Final Fantasy XIII, and the game that Square's follow-up to Final Fantasy XII should have been.
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I probably didn't enjoy Gears of War 3 as much as Gears 2, but it was still a damn fine game. I particularly enjoyed the last act. Multiplayer is fun, although I've found I haven't spent as much time with it as I thought I might.
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Picked up the HD re-release on Xbox Live. While it looks like it'll be my favourite version to play (over the Wii and Gamecube versions) thanks to the fact that the simple jump to HD is nice and I'm able to play on a 360 pad with a more TPS-like control scheme, it's not much of a port. Even just a little bit of extra anti-aliasing would have gone a long way.
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I haven't gotten around to playing a whole lot of this yet, but the trial convinced me to make a purchase.
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Another great entry into the series, I love the way the shot stick has been expanded upon and other little bits of depth added to the controls. Most of my time with the game has been spent in local multiplayer, but I'll definitely get around to fooling around with the Association mode (which I've always found to be a fun timesink) and unlocking the great line-up of retro teams.
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Figured it would be enjoyable enough for $12.50 from Steam.
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Gran Turismo 4 was the last racing/driving sim I picked up and when Forza 4 hit I decided it was about time I picked up a new one. Autovista mode is really impressive and so far I really like the game, though I don't quite like the way you can't select AI difficulty in the career mode. I'm really rusty at this sort of game and don't really feel like I'm getting better with the way the AI seems to scale and lower its bar to my poor play.
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Basically everything I could have hoped for out of a sequel to Arkham Asylum. Gliding around Arkham City was a joy and I really enjoyed what Rocksteady did with the Riddler Trophies this time around. A pretty outstanding game.
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I played through the entire campaign on the day I got my hands on the game and it was a real blast, though I did have some issues with the game. I found that sometimes Drake's new animation system would cause his movement to feel a bit squirrely, this coupled with the sub-par aiming means the game isn't quite as great an experience as it could have been. That said, I found most of the firefights really fun and Naughty Dog absolutely delivered on the action setpieces. Amy Henig also provided another great story, I really enjoyed the larger focus on Drake and Sully's relationship.
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Absolutely blown away by how excellent Skyrim is. I enjoyed Fallout 3, but never particularly liked Oblivion and my experience with the Xbox version of Morrowind was less than positive to say the least. Easily my game of the year (usurping Portal 2), Skyward Sword would have to be absolutely incredible to topple this as my favourite release of 2011.
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The opening of the game didn't do a whole lot for me, and I'm not really finding Constantinople as interesting as Renaissance Italy, however the Assassin's Creed fundamentals are still enjoyable. I haven't played many of the story missions, so hopefully it picks up. I actually quite like the change they've made to Eagle vision and the Templar "dens", hunting down a captain is much more engaging than it was in Brotherhood.
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One of my favourites for the year. I really enjoyed the motion controls and appreciated the way they completely changed the way combat works in a Zelda game for the better. It took a few dungeons before I properly came to grips with them, but once I did I really loved them. I also really enjoyed the story and its characters and found it to be a very satisfying experience overall.
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