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Best of 2011

2011 was projected to be one of the finest years in gaming, but I can't help but feel like we've heard that before. Once we hit the tail end of every year, our eyes start to set on the year ahead with giddy excitement. We list off all of our most anticipated games of next year and eagerly await their arrivals. In the latter stages of 2010, that pattern continued. On paper, we had what seemed to be an overload of AAA-caliber releases on deck. It was equally as daunting as it was thrilling, but every gamer in every camp knew they'd have their hands full this year. As of today, the sentiments about 2011 are vastly different from our hype-induced projections. I wouldn't say that 2011 was a bad year in gaming, but for a while there, it felt like almost every big named release lacked a certain something. Some would argue that it was the buggy, glitch-ridden kinks that plagued a large number of games this year -- no game was safe. Skyrim suffered, Zelda suffered, NBA 2k12 suffered and the list goes on. In my opinion, it turned the 'instant gratification' aspect of gaming into a tiresome, drawn out waiting game. Frankly, there were numerous occasions when we'd buy a game and wait for it to get good. In some cases, people are still waiting to this day.

As criminal as that is, the real issue this year was redundancy. There are quite a few video games this year that succumbed to the safe route, which brought down the vibe for certain fans and communities. When someone asks you about a new game and the best way you can describe it is "well, it's a lot like the last game," something is wrong. There was a time when sequels had a sense of progression, but that time has come and passed. I know what you're thinking; and yes, this isn't a new problem, but that still doesn't take the salt out of my wounds. Spending all of last year and this year being psyched about certain games that didn't pan out as promised left a sour taste in my mouth and some obvious frustration. You'll notice that a handful of the more popular Game of the Year contenders are not on this list, but a few of them made it by the skin of their teeth. Some games weren't as up my alley as they were for you. Deal.

Perhaps I'm overstating the negatives. 2011 wasn't all gloom and doom. In fact, there's a select few games I played this year that I think are among the best in the generation. 2011 did just enough to give us a few good reasons to hearken back with mostly fond memories. It was a very telling year for gaming, for consoles and developers alike. 2011 was a year that may have represented everything that's wrong with gaming, but it had just enough shades of brilliance to be worth remembering. So without further ado, here are is my list for the top ten video games of 2011.

List items

  • As someone who had the misfortune of never playing the original Deus Ex, I came into Deus Ex: Human Revolution without any preexisting standards or expectations. I was well aware of the pedigree of the series, but never had the pleasure of trying it for myself. You'll have to forgive me for not knowing any better. Deus Ex: Human Revolution was a revelation, in every sense of the word. I was treated to one of the most immersive and well thought out experiences of the year -- turning my once cautious curiosity into permanent fanfare. Deus Ex: Human Revolution featured a superb mixture of cunning tactical espionage and intelligent action, complimented with satisfyingly cool augmentation upgrades, a smart and suspenseful hacking system and expertly paced mission structure. Not only that, but Human Revolution continues the series' trend of creating an immersive universe and story that depicts mankind's future in a frighteningly plausible manner. The concept of human augmentation would no doubt be a hot button issue amidst our society, and the way that that conflict unfolds in Human Revolution feels strikingly accurate. The character-driven storyline doesn't carry the same weight as the science vs. religion conflict, but manages to keep the singular stories strong enough to see through. All of these elements come together to either justify your adoration of the Deus Ex series or to serve as the one of the greatest discoveries of your year in gaming. Hell, I’ll take it a step further -- this is the game that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots should have been. Sorry Kojima-san, but you’ve been outclassed. Consider this an augmentation proclamation; when the dust has settled on 2011, Deus Ex: Human Revolution will stand tall as being one of the most intricate and all-encompassing games of the generation. This is the best video game of 2011.

  • The Resistance franchise never quite took off the way that Insomniac wanted. Despite earning great reviews and a healthy fanbase over the years, Resistance games don't seem to be at the forefront of much discussion, and Resistance 3 is yet another prime example of this syndrome of sorts. With heavy hitters like Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 stealing the spotlight, it didn't take long for gamers to forget about Resistance 3's campaign and file out of its multiplayer. The sad part about that is... well, Resistance 3 is one of the best first-person shooters of the year. I had an amazing time with the campaign in this game. It bears a striking resemblance to Half-Life 2 in terms of the locations you'll encounter as well as some of the mission structures. If there was ever a game to bite off of, Half-Life would be it. It was a glorious trip that never let up -- its pacing was fine tuned to near-perfection and the gameplay glistened with ingenuity. Resistance 3 reverts back to the original Resistance in all the right ways. Rechargeable health is gone (in the campaign) which makes the fight to survive a lot more of an edge of your seat experience -- a far cry from the artificial setpieces that so many first-person shooters of today rely on for thrills. Much to the delight of Resistance fans, the weapon wheel made a comeback as well. This game has always been about the original gunplay, and I'm happy that this strength was accentuated by allowing players to keep every weapon in their inventory, instead of limiting us to two weapons a la Resistance 2. Even though Resistance 3 isn't a technological marvel, its engrossing art design and subtle visual effects make for some truly jaw-dropping moments. Best snow effects ever seen in a video game! As for narrative, Insomniac did a serviceable job of handling the plot. It won't blow your mind, but it sets the tone and gets the job done. On the multiplayer end of the spectrum, Resistance 3 went down the ill-fated contemporary route by playing up to the Call of Duty crowd. However, the online multiplayer was well designed and very clever with its incorporation of the Resistance universe. The PSN community predictably migrated to Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 anyway, but my hat goes off to Insomniac for complimenting the campaign with such a fun online counterpart. After being swept off my feet with this game, it feels more and more unfair that this game isn't getting the praise it deserves -- especially during Best of 2011 talks. Resistance 3 is a stunning video game that deserves way more relevance than it gets. There are certainly more popular first-person shooters in the market this year, but few, if any were as good as Resistance 3.

  • I'm a grown ass man. Immaturity is (mostly) a thing of the past for me, and I'd like to think that affects the kind of video games I choose to play. At first glance, it's easy to look at Saints Row: The Third and say "I'm way too old for this." But play it, and it won't be long before you're head over stilettos with the haphazard city of Steelport. Saints Row: The Third may straddle the line of gratuitousness, but at no point has it ever felt obnoxious to me. It’s a lighthearted game hell bent on being fun, so if you have it in you to match that premise with a parallel mentality, you’ll have a much better time. Wind your life-clock back to 2001 and let this be your new GTA 3. Allow Saints Row: The Third to seep into your mind and bring out your inner douche. If you can harness such a power, all of the flying motorcycles, fighter jets, S&M, autotune, anime spoofs, energy drink commercials and incomprehensible weapons will make your day. It’s quite rare, but Saints Row: The Third is one of those “wouldn’t it be awesome if…” projects that actually work. My gaudy pimp cap goes off to Volition for reawakening the rambunctious rebel in me. Those old nostalgic feelings from the PS2 Grand Theft Auto days are back, and you’d be lying to yourself if you think that you’re too old for that. From the way Grand Theft Auto V is looking, it’s clear that Rockstar Games wants to move on from the days of controversial, ball busting mayhem, but you’ve got to wonder if they just gift wrapped their successful formula of yesteryear to Volition. Volition didn’t just take the ball and run with it; they took the ball, ran it over, hocked a loogie on it and pelted it at Rockstar’s ovaries. I through caution to the wind, and I don't regret it. Saints Row: The Third is a spectacular game.

  • Assassin's Creed has become an annual Christmas gift ritual for me. Every year, my girlfriend snags the latest entry of the series and demands that I play it whenever she's home so she can watch. Not only do I have an awesome girlfriend, but I have another awesome game to gush about this year. Revelations marks the end of the road for Ezio Auditore da Firenze, the charismatic assassin from the two previous games. Despite his aching bones and grey beard, Ezio is an old dog that can still learn some new tricks. Despite Assassin's Creed's yearly releases, Ubisoft Montreal has added a few new tricks up Ezio's sleeve... almost literally. Grappling hooks, ziplines and bomb crafting, among others, join most of the additions seen in past Assassin's Creed games. Sadly, many of these returning elements feel a little old right off the bat, which exposed a few truths about the stagnancy of the series. For a game with 'Revelations' as the subtitle, the gameplay doesn't exactly feel like one. In a lot of ways, it feels as though Ubisoft Montreal knows it -- some of the longstanding features of the series are barely explained anymore, leaving players to indirectly find out that certain things are still in the game. Ubisoft also quietly dismissed a few key pieces of the series as well. Much to my dismay, the cryptic secret puzzles scattered across locales were cut, which was a monumental letdown for me and my puzzle solving partner in crime. The Desmond Miles story felt a little scaled back as well, which is really perplexing to me. After all these installments, we still haven't had a lot of face time with the present day characters and story arc. Fortunately, the rest of the story lives up to the 'Revelations' subtitle, despite leaving us with more questions than answers. Revelations is a slow burn at first, but the pace picks up and the layers of the story start to peel back quite nicely. While the plot progression doesn't feel as exciting as the last two Assassin's Creed games, Revelations left me with a lot to talk about when the credits rolled. Overall, Assassin's Creed: Revelations felt like a very complacent effort by Ubisoft, but everything still felt awesome. So long, Ezio. Grazie.

  • The inFAMOUS series capitalized on the highly controversial PlayStation Network outage by making the first inFAMOUS one of the few free video games that Sony offered up as an apology to all PSN users. That deed provided the inFAMOUS franchise with some much needed exposure, and that added momentum turned inFAMOUS 2 into a much bigger release than even Sucker Punch expected. Thankfully, inFAMOUS 2 was a lightning blast of goodness that surpassed all expectations and morphed this series into one of Sony's biggest heavy hitters. I loved the gameplay so much that it nullified some of the glaring flubs and stereotypical fooleries of the game's open world design. The novelty of soaring or zipping through New Marais never wore off, and it made all of the "gamey" fetch quests and hidden items surprisingly tolerable. Combat underwent an upgrade with inFAMOUS 2 as well -- melee combat was much improved and the repertoire of badass superpowers increased tenfold. Although the narrative and plot did see some improvements (making Zeke tolerable is quite a feat), inFAMOUS 2 confined itself to a overly simplistic comic book style of storytelling that failed to leave a lasting impression; just the same as the first game. Where the story of inFAMOUS 2 lacks in memorability, it makes up for with its shockingly fun gameplay. For that, inFAMOUS 2 is one of the standout games of the year that I can't wait to play again.

  • It's been a grueling time to be a basketball fan this year. A five month lockout, Chris Paul's "you got traded... sike! Okay, you got traded for real" drama and Dwight Howard's Brooklyn dreams came together to form a very dramatic off season. With no major competition from EA Sports or even the NBA itself, NBA 2k12 tiptoed onto the scene with the weight of the sport on its shoulders, and thankfully, NBA 2k12 delivered on the promise of topping the phenomenal NBA 2k11... but only by a slim margin. NBA 2k12 is the greatest, most authentic basketball video game of all-time. On top of building upon the foundation set by the stellar NBA 2k11, 2k Sports did a bang-up job of improving on a few of the weaker areas of the series this year. Player models underwent a major improvement, ball handling and player movement is far more responsive and the gameplay was injected with a few extra layers of polish. The issue with NBA 2k12 was that several key issues that plagued this series for many years were back -- a miserable online component and dreadful bugs that affected nearly every mode surrounding the core game. Through post-release title updates, NBA 2k12 eventually smoothed out most of those rough edges, but the terrible online functionality is still hurting the community as we speak. Losing the My Crew mode didn't help the cause either. At the end of the day, there's only so many free passes we can give out. EA Sports will be back with a vengeance next year, and one must assume that the next NBA Elite will be out for 2k Sports' blood. The jury's out on who will win that soon-to-be rekindled rivalry; but for now, NBA 2k12 is the finest sports game of the year that no basketball fan should miss.

  • I'll make no bones about it -- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is my favorite online multiplayer shooter of all time. In the weeks and months leading up to Battlefield 3, I gorged on Bad Company 2 for as long as my thumbs would allow; knowing that pretty soon, everyone would migrate over to BF3... the next best thing. Eventually, Battlefield 3 was in my possession, and with it came a lot of mixed emotions. Battlefield 3 is an excellent game, but only in the ways that we expected it to be. Multiplayer is once again the star of the show. DICE is clearly on the right track with the refinements and improvements made to the notable Battlefield formula. Each element of BF3's multiplayer component is done exceptionally well; but in my often disagreeable opinion, Bad Company 2 remains the better overall experience. Still, the maps are fun, the weapons are gratifying and the ebb and flow of the online wars retain that trademark style. Where Battlefield 3 fell short was well... everything else. DICE checked creativity at the door for BF3's campaign and co-op modes. An annoying and forgettable plot bogged down the campaign, as did the derivative setpiece-heavy moments. Other issues contributed to the shame by adding weird fail-states and squad mates running through walls and warping through floors so the game could catch up for the initiation of the next setpiece. It was confusing to hear the controversial "Above and Beyond the Call" jab, only to see Battlefield 3 looking like a confused copycat of Call of Duty. Like many of the other contemporary military shooters out there, Battlefield 3 left us with a short-winded, throwaway campaign... all because of the multiplayer being the top priority. Not so "above and beyond," are you? Because of that, Battlefield 3 is a spectacular experience, but the pieces of the whole left much to be desired.

  • Catherine is one of those video games that are extremely easy to confuse as being another quirky, tongue-and-cheek Japanese game. It’s okay... I made the same mistake too. What I didn't know was that Catherine would become one of the best adult-themed games I've ever played. I don't mean "adult" as in cleavage, penis jokes or sexual innuendos -- well... Catherine does contain a little of each. What made Catherine into a grown man's game was how well it told an all too familiar story of love, relationships and settling down with someone. We might have been playing a game through the eyes of Vincent Brooks, age 32; however, navigating Vincent through his romantic hardships and indecisions hit home in an impactful and thought provoking way that I never could have anticipated out of any video game, ever. While Vincent's story is filled with its fair share of weird over-the-top happenings that remind you it is, in fact, a game, it handles the in's and out's of life in a tasteful and eerily relatable manner. It put gamers in the hot seat (quite literally) and asked us hard hitting questions about who we are, what we want and what we would do in certain situations; and for the first time ever, I learned a lot about myself through playing a video game. Maybe that is the reason why I spent more time talking about the lasting impact of Catherine's story instead of the frantic puzzle gameplay and "sheepish" wackiness of the nightmare portions of the game. For me, it was a lot less about the logistics and aesthetics of Catherine, and a lot more about the emotional pull and the "been in your shoes" feeling that the game provided me. Catherine may not have been the top game of 2011, but in my case, it was the most important game I've played in a long time.

  • I can honestly say that I've never been a fan of The Elder Scrolls, but don't assume that means that I don't like the series. In actuality, I haven't had a lot of face time with the series. I fiddled with the Morrowind when it was ported to the original Xbox, and played partway through Oblivion out of excitement for it being the first real test for this generation's capabilities. What you have here is intrigue crossed with alterior motives, but no real fanship behind it. I was hoping that would change with Skyrim. For the most part, it did. I couldn't help but get drawn in to the lush world of Tam'riel... performance issues and all. I was constantly in awe of the scenery and thoroughly impressed with the more organic style of Skyrim's gameplay and leveling. One of the things that dragged Skyrim down to the 8th spot was the lackluster storyline. With all of the exploration and endless adventures you experience in Skyrim, the story lacks the glue that ought to hold the game together. It can be a bit mundane and sometimes flat out boring. Of course, the unbelievable performance issues hurt Skyrim as well. I was one of the sad saps that purchased the PS3 version. Some people got it worse than others, but backwards flying dragons, slideshow framerates, installation issues and various other bugs, quirks and crashes compromised my lasting impression. Eventually, Skyrim became unplayable for me, and I'm pissed. I think it's ridiculous that some people are trying to make the PS3 version and 360/PC version look like separate entities, just so they can justify giving Skyrim the top spot. Bethesda clearly phoned in the PS3 version, and I don't see how that could be dismissed when we're talking about the best of the best. No one deserves to get shafted, and this is the real reason why Skyrim is ranked 8th. I don't see how anyone could give this game top honors with good conscience. If what Bethesda did to PS3 users doesn't matter to you, whether you bought that version or not, you're screwed up.

  • Portal 2 also takes home the "Great game that I'll never play again" award. Not for lack of quality or substance, but for lack of replay value. The entire time I worked my way through Portal 2, I had a dreadful feeling that I should enjoy this game while I still can. The drawback of designing a linear puzzle game is that with every passing room you clear, you lose the capability of appreciating the experience all over again. I'll remember how to solve Portal 2's mind-bending puzzles, all of the nutty dialogue and it won't have the same effect on me as it did the first time. Portal 2 is like listening to one of your favorite albums for the first time -- you'll never be able to rekindle the feelings you had when you first listened to it. You'll eventually learn the lyrics, know when the chorus starts and when your favorite part of the song kicks in. It'll always be one of your favorites, but no matter how long you shelve the album or listen to other music, you'll never be able to bring back those emotions that you felt during the first listen. This is the case with Portal 2, and it's okay. I love Aperture Science with all my cake lovin’, potato eatin’ heart. Space!

  • [HONORABLE MENTION] Crysis 2 ushered in a great deal of attention upon its release earlier this year; albeit for superficial reasons -- graphics. Besides the obvious fact that it looked and ran great on the PC, it was equally as impressive for console gamers. But as we all know, eye candy isn't everything. Thankfully, stunning visuals wasn't the only thing that Crysis 2 had going for it. Despite being a bit scaled back compared to the original Crysis, Crysis 2 offered a deep, lenthy pseudo-tactical experience for both fans and first timers. It lacked a significant storyline or narrative, but cool things were always happening... just don't ask me what. Crysis 2 featured a multiplayer mode that was surprisingly engaging (pun slightly intended) as well, but Crytek's best efforts paled in comparison to the multiplayer shooters that came before and after Crysis 2. In my opinion, Crysis 2's multiplayer was a victim of its own premise. Cloaking and armor boosting felt great while going up against the smart, yet inferior AI enemies in the campaign. But when you plug those suit 'perks' into an online multiplayer experience, everyone became either invisible or a walking tank. It's nice that everyone got their cake and ate it too, but I'm not big on invisible wars -- it took away the skill and technique that's supposed to go hand-in-hand with online multiplayer. In turn, I was never satisfied with a kill, and never content with being killed. In spite of that, Crysis 2 was a surprisingly great experience that reminded gamers that FPS games aren't always cut from the same cloth; and for that, it was one of the stark highlights of 2011.

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