2011 Game of the Year

[Peanut]

I'm still pondering on this, but while I'm doing so I'd like to hear what everyone else here thinks. Top 10, Top 5, Top 1, whatever. However I would like to see some reasons as opposed to the typical list with no explanation whatsoever, as that doesn't tend to lead to much conversation.

[Filespit]

I only played/bought like four big titles in 2011, so I don't really have much to choose from. So based on my lack of contenders, my top games of the year would be;

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
2. Batman: Arkham Asylum
3. Gears of War 3
4. Assassin's Creed Revelations
5. --Insert game--

[Candy Kappa]

I haven't been an active gamer in 2011, but I think The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim would go high on a goty11 list.

Really love the story and the atmosphere the game brings, the game play is great and easy to learn. And it feels like you enter a "living" world when you interact with NPC's and monsters.

having a NPC partner to adventure with you is a lot of fun, and the variation of NPC's to choose from adds some personal touch on it, but i missed some multi-player options


But I'm a sucker for sword & sorcery and Dungeons & Dragons-like games, so I'm probably very biased

[MikeandRaph87]

1.Batman:Arkham City
2. Spider-Man:Edge of Time
3. Back To The Future:The Video Game
4. Mario and Sonic At The Olympics Games:London 2012
5. Poke'mon Black & White

[Samhain]

My top 2 personally,

Skyrim: This game has kept me busy for weeks. I haven't gotten bored yet and I'm just getting started. The graphics are amazing and I LOVE the setting.

Sonic Generations: I know some people don't enjoy it, but I love it. The colors, graphics, music and the nostalgia. Yeah, that may be it.

I haven't really played anythig else to really get my vote. While I loved Pokemon White I really haven't gotten into since I'm still heavily into my copy of SoulSilver.

[Turo602]

Well some pretty big games came out last year so It's tough. Out of all the major releases I've only played through Gears of War 3, Batman Arkham City, The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, and I'm still working on Super Mario 3D Land. Too bad Dead Space 2 and Assassin's Creed Revelations are still sitting on the shelf...

So lets start with Gears of War 3. Gears of War 3 is the perfect end to an amazing trilogy. It made me realize how much I actually cared for these characters I've been controlling for years now. The gameplay felt the smoothest of the three and the story also has to be the best of the three. It also had plenty of great extra content too.

Batman Arkham City was another great game that released last year. The gameplay felt a lot better than the first and the side missions really added to the whole detective thing. It also has a decent story with some great twist. The easter eggs were also a good treat. And I for one actually didn't mind collecting the collectibles in this game since you actually had to work for them instead of just landing on top of a random placed emblem floating around the city. Playing as Catwomen also added a different feel to the game that just felt so right. I actually felt like I was playing as Catwomen and not a Batman clone. Although it sucked that it didn't last too long. Overall it was a step up from Arkham Asylum but kinda a step back since Arkham Asylum felt like a better tribute to Batman and also since the Riddles where a hell of a lot clever. I felt like I was just scanning crap on walls 24/7 in City. Great game nonetheless.

Now we move on too Skyward Sword. I felt Skyward Sword was a very great game. It had it's flaws but it also had many strong points. The motion controls were fun but also limiting when compared to Twilight Princess. The formula used in this game was also great. I actually had to explore my way to the next location. It felt like a dungeon within a dungeon. I also really like the graphic style they went with because it really helps make SS look like a beautiful game even though it's running on weaker hardware compared to the other two systems. The colors looks nice but the game itself does look a little old. It also has one of the better stories in the series IMO. I really enjoyed the more cinematic feel to the story and how it was more personal. Skyward Sword also features some of my new favorite boss fights and moments of the series. Skyward Sword is a great game but lacks in some areas when compared to other Zelda games.

It's a tough call for me...

EDIT:

DUH! How can I forget about Saint's Row the Third? Saints Row is a very great game but not really Game of the Year worthy. It's not amazing, it's not a masterpiece and it does have it's fair share of annoying bugs(I don't know if it's just me, but it seriously likes to lag for three seconds, freeze, and disable my moves). All Saints Row the Third really is is a good time. It's both hilarious and awesome. I found the story to be amusing (although really short) and the missions have to be the best out of the three. They could of also had some more variety with the side missions though. All in all Saints Row the Third is a very fun and entertaining game, especially in co-op.

And whatever I'm almost done with Super Mario 3D Land so I might as well talk about it. For a 3DS game it's very great. The levels are short but that's justifiable but also kinda easy. I also think that the Tanooki Suit is overused in this game. It doesn't let the other suits shine as much since you constantly have a tanooki suit or need one just to get gold on the flag pole. Other than that, the level design was great and the 3D looks nice. It was also cool to hear some Super Mario 3 tunes again.

[Spitfire]

I didn't play or buy many games this year. This year I bought and played
Saint's Row: The Third, Resident Evil 5, L.A. Noire, Fallout: New Vegas DLC, Batman: Arkham City, Duke Nukem Forever, and Dead Space 2. I know some of these are old.

Fallout: New Vegas sort of wins for me. The DLC was the most fun I had playing a game this year and I spent a good amount of time with it. I really liked Old World Blues. Haven't beat Lonely Road yet but I look forward to seeing the story get wrapped up. I appreciated they actually did DLC that wasn't random and it all actually ties into the main storyline for your character.

Batman: Arkahm City would be second I guess. I liked the game but like with it's predecessor after you beat the game all that's left to do is challenge maps and I find those to be more of a chore then anything. The combat is still fun and they added some new stuff to make it even better. They did some clever Riddler challenges but like with the first game getting to a Batman baddie is epic, defeating them isn't. I also felt for being the advertised main bad guy of the game Hugo Strange played a pretty insignificant role.

Resident Evil 5 kept me busy for awhile. I know I'm years behind on this but I ignored it on initial release because I played it at the launch party and it felt like a dumbed down version of 4. 4 didn't have co-op story or Mercs mode though and that alone made RE 5 a lot of fun. Played a crap ton of Mercs with my friends. The story wasn't too bad though once I played it and seeing the feud between Wesker and Chris finally come to an end was nice. Even if he did it with a new character instead of Jill.

Saint's Row: The Third is the most recent game I've bought. I wanted to like it, loved the 2nd one, but while they made gameplay improvements that I really like they did some other things I didn't like so much. For one they seriously dumbed down the customization which is sad because 2 had some of the best options I've ever seen. Hell even the first game has more options then 3. The voice acting isn't as strong either which pulled me out a bit. They also removed the ability to replay old missions.

I also liked how 2 had a nice slow build to everything. In 3 by the time I did the first mission after free roam was unlocked I already controlled something like 80% of the Steelport. Didn't like the story as much either but the humor was good and it did have some good missions. On a positive note the game did add lots of new ideas to the series they just don't balance out the stuff I didn't like for me. Maybe 4 will blend better. From what I hear this game had budget issues.

Also they killed off

Spoiler:

Johnny Gat, who was my favorite saint, in the first 5 minutes of the game.

L.A. Noire was an alright game. I guess when I think open world I think playground but I felt no motivation to actually explore the city in this game, or drive. The driving sucked so bad I always let my partner do it. The game did some great stuff with story telling though I found the ending to be rather disappointing. More so the fact you don't play as the main character for the entire last 25% of the game and instead play as someone who had really only been shown prior to that a handful of times. The facial recognition tech isn't quite there yet and some of the expressions don't really look right. Still a good game but more like an interactive mystery novel then a game.

Duke Nukem Forever had been a game I knew wouldn't meet its hype. I played it with that in mind and while I enjoyed my time with it I couldn't shake the feeling I was playing a 5 year old game. The graphics looked weird, it had some old mechanics and objectives, and while Duke may never have been funny his one liners don't hold up as well anymore. It was a really weird game to play. I beat it once, started a game on hard and abandoned it. Not due to challenge but more that I didn't want to play through some of the levels again. The dam at the end is especially tedious. I found the multiplayer to be rather sparse and even a week after launch barely anyone was playing it. This game will be forgotten pretty quickly. I just hope Gearbox is smart enough to make a sequel that starts completely from scratch.

Dead Space 2 was just boring. The last time I buy a game based off a review. A few critics I like praised it, said it was like RE 4 in space. Lack of ammo, lack of exploration, and overall lack of creativity made this game really bleak for me. Yes scary monsters jump out and go boo. It happens so often you pretty much expect it everytime you walk by a vent or see a dead body on the floor. I guess that was the intention but it didn't have the scary feel. It felt more like "Oh another thing I'll have to shoot, wish I could shoot it now before it attacks me." Demon babies aren't really scary either, I bet later in the game they get to little girls cause they're so scary too. I know the lack of ammo thing is silly to complain about in a survival horror game but the problem is they give you all these neat guns to use but never give you ammo for half of them. Even if you're carrying them they never seem to drop the ammo you need. So you're stuck using the starting pistol for most of it. Not my idea of fun. Did have some neat boss battle parts though.

So that's what I played last year and my thoughts on each game. They're in order of what I liked the most to least. This year I have no titles I'm really interested in except Mass Effect 3.

[GK Punk]

For me it was a tie between Arkham City and Skyward Sword.

Arkham City made me feel like Arkham Asylum was a beta or a prototype compared to how large AC was. Especially the amount of side quests. There was just so much to do in that game, me and my older brother got to obsess over that for a good couple of weeks before finally doing a complete 100% Run.

Skyward Sword had a lot of expectations to live up to for me. And I was surprised at how much more I actually liked it than I thought I would. I Love the story, the art style and the part that surprised me the most, the motion control. That was the only thing that worried me about the game... I never had a Wii until a week before the game came out, and I've barely ever used the system until then. I didn't know what to really expect. At first it felt cumbersome and awkward. And then once I got used to it, it felt natural and... right. I almost fear going back and playing the older games again.

[AT-Man]

Dark Souls. Didn't play Batman, Skyrim, Fallout, Zelda.... you name it, I didn't play it.

Of the re-releases I loved Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection, God of War: Origins Collection and ICO / SotC.


edit: Mortal Kombat of course was awesome, how could I forget!

[Barkworm]

I played a ton of games last year (for my modest standards) but two of them really stood out:

Rayman Origins: It was simply an incredibly fun game. It looked fantastic, it had an amazing soundtrack, it controlled smoothly and it was funny as hell. Seeing how it flopped is proof that most of mankind is retarded.

Portal 2: Both the singly player and the coop multiplayer were brilliant and had some of the most clever design I've ever experienced in a game. The writing was also top notch, exciting and hilarious at the same time.

I also enjoyed Deus Ex and Batman and played and enjoyed a bit of Gears of War 3 (which seemed underwhelming though) and Xenogears. Two other games I really loved were Red Dead Redemption and Uncharted 2 but since they weren't released this year I didn't consider them for the game of the year title.

[XERO]

The only 2011 games I played were Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Sonic Generations.

So by default, Sonic wins.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Duke Nukem Forever had been a game I knew wouldn't meet its hype. I played it with that in mind and while I enjoyed my time with it I couldn't shake the feeling I was playing a 5 year old game. The graphics looked weird, it had some old mechanics and objectives, and while Duke may never have been funny his one liners don't hold up as well anymore. It was a really weird game to play. I beat it once, started a game on hard and abandoned it. Not due to challenge but more that I didn't want to play through some of the levels again. The dam at the end is especially tedious. I found the multiplayer to be rather sparse and even a week after launch barely anyone was playing it. This game will be forgotten pretty quickly. I just hope Gearbox is smart enough to make a sequel that starts completely from scratch.

Dead Space 2 was just boring. The last time I buy a game based off a review. A few critics I like praised it, said it was like RE 4 in space. Lack of ammo, lack of exploration, and overall lack of creativity made this game really bleak for me. Yes scary monsters jump out and go boo. It happens so often you pretty much expect it everytime you walk by a vent or see a dead body on the floor. I guess that was the intention but it didn't have the scary feel. It felt more like "Oh another thing I'll have to shoot, wish I could shoot it now before it attacks me." Demon babies aren't really scary either, I bet later in the game they get to little girls cause they're so scary too. I know the lack of ammo thing is silly to complain about in a survival horror game but the problem is they give you all these neat guns to use but never give you ammo for half of them. Even if you're carrying them they never seem to drop the ammo you need. So you're stuck using the starting pistol for most of it. Not my idea of fun. Did have some neat boss battle parts though.

Sheer f*cking lunacy.

[Candy Kappa]

Post Apocalyptic Mayhem deserves a honorary mention, it would probably not get to any official top 5 list, but. I had a lot of fun with it, and I rarely do with car games.

Probably helped that it was basically Mario Kart in a post apocalyptic setting, with highly entertaining vehicles. Sadly the variations if stages was limited

[AquaParade]

Interesting year for me...

I was incredibly hyped for various games, played em, enjoyed them, but still, nothing screams "game of the year" to me.

Dark Souls takes the cake. I have put the most time into it out of all games released this year, and still love visiting it. The combat is enjoyable and feels very fine-tuned, the atmosphere is rich, which makes leveling up and obtaining the ability to explore it's creative world a joy, and the online co-op makes the game super fun.

Skyrim, I enjoyed for about a week, but the Elder Scroll's games can just never hold my attention for some reason. I do appreciate all the work that is put into them, however. Lovely music and atmosphere, plenty of depth, etc.


I know I sound critical, but there were plenty of games I enjoyed this year.

Portal 2 - Great story-telling and unique gameplay
Dead Space 2 - Beautiful atmosphere combined with dismemberment combat - totally fun
Crysis 2 - combat was a blast, music was awesome, graphics were pretty.
Batman Arkham City - Wasn't what I dreamed it would be, but still a great Batman game.

All games I plan on owning for a while.

Edit: Year of the direct-sequel, huh? Nearly every game I listed was more or less the second game in a series. Such is the way of the industry, although I'm not complaining.

BTW, would anyone here nominate Battlefield 3? I'm considering buying it.

[Wingnut]

King of Fighters XIII

An excellent 2D fighter...in 2011. Hell yes. Admittedly I am a lifelong member of the SNK cult but after the huge let down of XII I was expecting another pretty game completely lacking strategic gameplay. XIII was a more than pleasant a surprise for me. With Capcom apparently leaving 2D behind, SNK keeps chugging along and squeezes just a little more life out of a bygone era.

King of Fighters XIII is my game of 2011 because now I don't have to take my AES copy of Garou : Mark of the Wolves out of my gun safe to enjoy SNK's latest and greatest fighter.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by Wingnut

With Capcom apparently leaving 2D behind, SNK keeps chugging along and squeezes just a little more life out of a bygone era.

Every fighter Capcom makes is a 2D fighter, or do you just mean art style? In which case...does that really make a difference?

[Wingnut]

Originally Posted by Peanut

Every fighter Capcom makes is a 2D fighter, or do you just mean art style? In which case...does that really make a difference?

For me, yes, the art style makes a difference. I just like the personality and atmosphere of a true 2D fighter. The little details and such. I respect the effort and creative process of it all just a tiny bit more. On the flip side, SNK-P could've only increased the roster size slightly and put the teams back, thus putting glitter on the sh*t gameplay that plagued KoF XII...but they actually overhauled it. I was pretty excited they still cared about the opinions of people who actually played their games.

[Peanut]

I was just curious as to your stance and to be honest it's one I agree with. I think there's something absolutely fantastic about a smoothly animated 2D style fighter. I'm super excited for the Persona 4 fighting game, although that has less to do with the style and format as it does the fact that it exists.

Although I do have to say that MK definitely benefits from being a 3D game. As much as I love the sh*tty sprite work from the old games, I still prefer the look of the new game, which I never thought I would.

Also, more on topic - Mortal Kombat is totally one of my favourite games from 2011. Way better than I expected it to be.

[AquaParade]

Mortal Kombat is another good one. I should have touched on that in my post.

Definitely my favorite fighting game this year, and I was a big fan of Marvel vs Capcom 2. I got a little burned out after a few weeks of continuous play though. I grew tired of playing as Smoke, and although I liked playing as Katana, I have a weird thing about playing as girls in video-games. I'm not sexist by any means, I just can't get immersed!

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Barkworm

Rayman Origins: It was simply an incredibly fun game. It looked fantastic, it had an amazing soundtrack, it controlled smoothly and it was funny as

I'm glad to see somebody gave Rayman some love. It is a great single and multi-player game. I hadn't heard it didn't sell well. That's a shame.