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swimm

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GOTY 2011

I knew 2011 was a great year for games, but it became most obvious when ordering the top half of this list became a difficult task. There's quite a few great-sounding games I haven't gotten to yet and couldn't include on the list, such as Batman: Arkham City and Zelda: Skyward Sword. I probably wrote too much for this silly thing, but it was fun to reflect on the year.

Honorable Mentions: 2010 Games I Should Have Played Sooner

Game of the Year 2011

List items

  • Portal 2 is a near-perfect example of how to make a sequel. Valve retained the core gameplay and tone that made the original a beloved game while refining or replacing anything they felt could be done better. The story is a wonderful follow-up to the original and features some of the best voice acting of any game around. On top of that add in some new puzzle mechanics, a fleshed-out co-op mode, and a ton of polish. While not without its problems (a handful of puzzles are little more than pixel-hunts for portal-adhesive surfaces), this game's almost flawless execution is what makes it my top game of 2011.

  • Past entries in the Elder Scrolls series have never offered an enjoyable experience for me, but Skyrim presents a world so engaging and gorgeous that it's hard not to be drawn in. Where most other games would focus on either quality or quantity, Skyrim offers dungeons and quests that excel in both capacities. The weakest points of Bethesda's past games are still weak here – combat can be repetitive and uninteresting, for instance. Even so, few other games – even ones with technically superior engines – have made me stop to appreciate the world they've crafted, and it's moments like fighting a dragon on a snowy mountain, with the massive world below and the nighttime aurora above, that make the flaws retreat into the back of my mind.

  • L.A. Noire does an incredible job translating the film noir style to the video game medium. The detailed re-creation of 1947 Los Angeles makes for a fantastic setting, and the game's facial motion capture is an amazing achievement without which the game's central interrogation mechanic simply wouldn't work. The branching story paths caused by success or failure in interrogations leads to interesting consequences, even though failure is handled jarringly in a few spots due to a late change in the system's wording. L.A. Noire is a great change of pace from Rockstar's usual offerings, and it's the one game this year I most hope to see more of in the future.

  • By making the series jump from strange Grand Theft Auto clone to uniquely-insane open world, Saints Row: The Third became my most unexpected enjoyment of the year. The subtle brilliance permeating the writing and game design makes it a genuinely funny experience that the surface-level vulgarity doesn't convey on its own. The quest for realism and artistic merit in gaming is great, but Saints Row: The Third is a welcome reminder that it's okay for games to be crazy too.

  • Bastion is a fantastic bit of storytelling. The dynamic narration is unmatched, and when it's combined with the game's beautiful visuals and rich soundtrack, Bastion weaves a narrative in a way that raises the bar for indie games, if not gaming in general. Oh, and the gameplay is pretty enjoyable too.

  • Battlefield 3 is the culmination of everything DICE has learned since Battlefield 2. Combine BF2's scale with 2142's classes, Bad Company's infantry combat, and an impressive new engine and the result is a great multiplayer that stands out among the onslaught of modern military shooters. It remains true that Battlefield games should not be bought for the singleplayer, but the multiplayer will probably be my standby game for quite a while.

  • Gears of War is another series I haven't cared much for in the past, but the third entry's Horde mode is the most enjoyable co-op mode I've played this year. That would be enough on its own, but the game's campaign mode surprised me by offering a well-paced, satisfying conclusion to the trilogy's story. The competitive modes still do nothing for me, but I hope to enjoy more rounds of Horde mode in the future.

  • You Don't Know Jack is a trivia game that's both mentally intensive and hysterically funny, and these two qualities make it a great multiplayer game, especially when played locally.

  • Like Portal 2, Dead Space 2's story follows up on the original's in a great, substantial way, but it doesn't make many changes to the series' formula. However, it does recognize the horror genre rule that monsters become less scary as they are seen more, and thus it rightly focuses more on great action setpieces than attempted terror moments. (That's not to say this game doesn't have its share of disturbing scenes – it does, and they're well executed.)

  • While not the step up in quality that the previous two games were over their respective predecessors, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is still a solid entry in the excellent series. A handful of small enhancements to Brotherhood's systems, such as assassin leveling, are welcome, but many of the new systems, such as the den tower defense game, don't work well (thankfully, these poor additions can be avoided through some smart gameplay). Still, in an atmosphere where most games with yearly installments do incredibly little to change things up, the effort is appreciated. Hopefully with the Assassin's Creed II trilogy neatly wrapped up, Ubisoft will take the time to make more substantial changes for the next entry in the series.
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