Game of the Year 2011?

APD1026 · Post by **APD1026** » 2011-12-01 04:10am

So the end of the year is upon us, and it has been one of the best years gamers have seen in a long time. As is always the case this time of year, it's time to start arguing over which game of 2011 is THE game of 2011. What is this year's must-play-under-any-circumstances title?

A reminder of some of the best games released this year:

Portal 2
Bulletstorm
Dragon Age II
Batman: Arkham City
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Assassin's Creed Revelations
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Shadows of the Damned
LittleBigPlanet 2
Dead Space 2
L.A. Noire
Infamous 2
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Dungeon Siege III
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
Resistance 3
Gears of War 3
Dark Souls
Battlefield 3
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Rayman Origins
Saints Row: The Third
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Mortal Kombat

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I included as many titles as I could remember.

My personal choice for GOTY is currently at a 3-way tie. Portal 2, Batman: Arkham City and Skyrim are definitely the three best games released this year, but Skyward Sword sneaks in there in my mind every so often too. All four of these games had a profound impact on the way I look at gaming not only as a medium for entertainment, but as an engaging art form, Portal 2 for its amazing humor, acting, and puzzles, Arkham City for its incredible sense of living in the world of Batman, and being a superhero in general, Skyrim for its perfection of Bethesda's formula for time-leeching immersion, and Skyward Sword for once again adding new wrinkles to the classic adventure of the Zelda franchise, as well as its great visual style.

I would really like to hear what other people felt about the game's this year, and if I forgot to add your favorite game to the list I'm truly sorry.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2011-12-01 04:24am

What criteria are you using for 'must play'? Arkham City is a fine game, but if you don't like puzzles you won't like it. Portal 2 is amazingly overrated and again, has little appeal for non-puzzle players. I'm not even going to fucking talk about Skyrim beyond saying that the best game of the year probably shouldn't be so broken patches actually make it worse.

Frankly, listing 25 'best' games is fucking stupid. Plenty of those games have extremely niche appeal (like the fighting games) and others would be near-impossible to recommend (like LBP or Dead Space). Did you just ring off a list of popular games?

2011 has been an amazingly disappointing year, with a near-constant litany of hyped and exciting games turning out to be broken, boring, or just not very good. As childish as the very concept of identifying 'the' game of an entire year across all genres is, we should just say 'Skyrim' and remember where to look next time rushed, unfinished, broken, poorly-designed, or backwards games are released.

Post by **weemadando** » 2011-12-01 05:05am

That list has Dungeon Siege 3 on it.

That is all that needs to be said about this thread Stark.

Alkaloid · Post by **Alkaloid** » 2011-12-01 05:09am

I downloaded Gothic of GOG last week. It blows every other game I bought this year out of the water. Does that count?

AniThyng · Post by **AniThyng** » 2011-12-01 05:15am

Bah, bastion gets my vote

Darth Tanner · Post by **Darth Tanner** » 2011-12-01 05:16am

Orks must die? Or does the contender need to be deep and meaningful or appeal to people other than myself.

The Grim Squeaker · Post by **The Grim Squeaker** » 2011-12-01 05:24am

weemadando wrote:That list has Dungeon Siege 3/Bulletstorm on it.

That is all that needs to be said about this thread Stark.

Portal 2.
Best plot, funniest writing, excellent atmosphere, and a heck of a lot more original than any other title on this list (unless you were to include indie titles).
If I could have played only one game this year, then that would be it. (And in a year/month as full of AAA games as this, that's the best descriptor I could give of it).

Arkham city has yet to release in my time zone, and while I have no doubt whatsoever that I'll love it, it's a just platformer, albeit a superbly polished one.
Skyrim is Very fun, and has astounding production values, but has various flaws (plot, aka lack of plot/dialogue options, it's less cinematic than Dragon Age 2, etc'). It does suck up time wonderfully though

.

Call of Duty 3: Ummm, no. It's fun, but doesn't break, or even push any boundaries. It's a good FPS with some great scripted sequences, a nonsical plot (by all standards save those of a Michael Bay movie), and an old engine. [Ah, for them to have done it with something like the Crysis 2 engine

].

Witcher 2 - Fun, pretty, excellent plot branching, but lacks a certain "Fuck, wow this game is awesome!!!" factor. (That Skyrim, Portal 2 had in spades). It's a far better RPG than Skyrim though.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Best thing about it is that it got me to get around to playing Alpha Protocol.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2011-12-01 06:54am

Darth Tanner wrote:Orks must die? Or does the contender need to be deep and meaningful or appeal to people other than myself.

Isn't Orks Must Die just Dungeon Defenders only grey and not coop?

Post by **weemadando** » 2011-12-01 07:01am

Stark wrote:
Darth Tanner wrote:Orks must die? Or does the contender need to be deep and meaningful or appeal to people other than myself.
Isn't Orks Must Die just Dungeon Defenders only grey and not coop?

It's relatively colourful (not DD colourful, but certainly not Gears of Grey), but also not MP.

However, you are playing as a douchebag, fratboy, popped collar wearing apprentice.

I really don't know what to say. It's 3PS Tower Defence done well/competently. That's not really a magical, mystical formula anymore.

Skgoa · Post by **Skgoa** » 2011-12-01 08:38am

This is even harder thant the "biggest disappointment" thread. The best (new to me) games I got this year are Left 4 Dead 2 and Company of Heroes. I guess for me Portal 2 is the best game that came out this year. And that it's a silly puzzle game without deep gameplay, characters or story says a lot about 2011.

DaveJB · Post by **DaveJB** » 2011-12-01 09:28am

So far, it would be Portal 2 and Super Mario 3D Land. However, I have a feeling that answer will probably change, as a lot of the "quality" titles have been coming out near the end of this year.

I also really liked Star Fox 64 3DS, but I'm not counting it since it's really a 1997 game at heart; it just happens to be one that works surprisingly well in portable (and 3D) form.

Losonti Tokash · Post by **Losonti Tokash** » 2011-12-01 09:51am

Bulletstorm had the best story, characters, and coop mode out of the whole year, fuck the haters.

APD1026 · Post by **APD1026** » 2011-12-01 12:13pm

The Grim Squeaker wrote: Witcher 2 - Fun, pretty, excellent plot branching, but lacks a certain "Fuck, wow this game is awesome!!!" factor. (That Skyrim, Portal 2 had in spades). It's a far better RPG than Skyrim though.

I realized immediately after I posted this that I had forgotten Witcher 2. Can't wait for that game to come to 360 so I can play it for more than a couple of minutes on friends' PCs.

Losonti Tokash wrote: Bulletstorm had the best story, characters, and coop mode out of the whole year, fuck the haters.

Had a blast with this game, the graphics were pretty excellent and the writing was pretty funny. My only problem was I couldn't really get into the co-op mode, personally, so it didn't really have a lot of replay value for me. The campaign was slick though.

The Grim Squeaker wrote: Call of Duty 3: Ummm, no. It's fun, but doesn't break, or even push any boundaries. It's a good FPS with some great scripted sequences, a nonsical plot (by all standards save those of a Michael Bay movie), and an old engine. [Ah, for them to have done it with something like the Crysis 2 engine ].

I included this game because it is pretty fun, but also because it seems like one of the better titles in the franchise. Plus, there are undoubtedly some people who enjoyed it enough for it to be their personal game of the year. I pretty much just ran down a list of notable releases that also enjoyed some critical success and some commerical success as well.

Dungeon Siege III was pretty epic, by the way, all you people supporting it.

Alkaloid wrote: I downloaded Gothic of GOG last week. It blows every other game I bought this year out of the water. Does that count?

Any game released in 2011 counts.

Stark wrote: What criteria are you using for 'must play'? Arkham City is a fine game, but if you don't like puzzles you won't like it. Portal 2 is amazingly overrated and again, has little appeal for non-puzzle players. I'm not even going to fucking talk about Skyrim beyond saying that the best game of the year probably shouldn't be so broken patches actually make it worse.

Frankly, listing 25 'best' games is fucking stupid. Plenty of those games have extremely niche appeal (like the fighting games) and others would be near-impossible to recommend (like LBP or Dead Space). Did you just ring off a list of popular games?

2011 has been an amazingly disappointing year, with a near-constant litany of hyped and exciting games turning out to be broken, boring, or just not very good. As childish as the very concept of identifying 'the' game of an entire year across all genres is, we should just say 'Skyrim' and remember where to look next time rushed, unfinished, broken, poorly-designed, or backwards games are released.

Always someone trying to pick a fight where there isn't one, right? I just listed a bunch of games that were considered high-profile releases this year. Games I figured people had played through. Have I played through all the games I listed? No. I personally haven't touched a fighting game in a while, but I listed those games because I am not a closed-minded gamer who thinks people only enjoy what I enjoy as well. I know there are fans out there who would argue that Mortal Kombat was their personal game of the year. That's why I started this thread, so that people could talk about their personal favorite game of the year. I did not start it so that people come on here and bash a bunch of games that a lot of people really like.

As for Arkham City, you absolutely do not have to like puzzles to like that game. You don't really have to do any of the puzzles if you don't want to just play the story straight through. Granted, you wouldn't be seeing the entire game, but the plot of the game is excellent, as is most of the voice-acting (Mark Hamill?) and the controls are pretty tight. The world is incredibly detailed and the sheer amount of content is staggering for completionists. It also provides the best approximation of being Batman, flying through the city and taking down criminals. If you didn't like the game that's perfectly fine, but don't bash it for a reason that has no validity at all.

Portal 2 is probably a different story. Any fan of comedy would surely get the humor of the game, but yeah it is a puzzle game at heart and if you don't like puzzles than it's not the game for you. But, like I said, I was talking about my personal games of the year, and this game was one of my favorites. Over-hyped, though? That's definitely an opinion, I'm pretty sure this game met almost everyone's expectations.

Skyrim has bug problems and you're surprised? Oblivion and Fallout 3 both had their own bug problems too, but they were still considered Game of the Year contenders by most people because the content is so rich and detailed. While the final product is flawed, I personally feel its still a great game and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Again, personal opinion on Game of the Year not fact.

Why don't you try, instead, telling us what games you DID enjoy this year?

SilverWingedSeraph · Post by **SilverWingedSeraph** » 2011-12-01 01:30pm

Portal 2 easily has to by my game of the year. I normally hate puzzle games, and wasn't even a big fan of the first Portal game, but Portal 2 was a lot of fun for me. I played through it three times in two days, I've played the coop with a friend, I love the puzzles, the writing, the level design and the art style. Pretty much everything. I have no hate for any part of the game. All of it was done at least "well enough", and most of it was done much better than that.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2011-12-01 01:34pm

I really want to say Gears of War 3, but it just fell short in almost every way. So I'm going to go against my better instincts and say Call of Duty MW3. Silly, over the top story? Check. Dated graphics? Check. Fun as hell to play? Check.

Anacronian · Post by **Anacronian** » 2011-12-01 08:01pm

Looking back the only two games i have really enjoyed playing this year is Dead Space 2 and Witcher 2 so they get my vote.

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2011-12-01 08:14pm

Dead Island isn't on that list, so fuck off.

Honestly, Dead Island is about the only game this year that lived up to it's own hype. It was brutally honest about what it was, (the trailer excepting, of course) and it was the only game that didn't disappoint/bore the shit out of me (I don't count Skyrim which I really like, but I fully admit should be no one's GOTY because it's broken as shit and you can get a better open world experience playing Morrowind).

I especially loved that post release, the commercials for DI proudly thumped it's chest at the glowing 8/10 reviews given by various sites. It was easily the most atmospheric game, and is the ONLY game this year that I'm genuinely sad to not be playing currently, and still get the urge to go back to. It had lots and lots of graphics (lol. No, but seriously, it was super pretty.), and the combat system (the analog system, anyway) was a nice departure from the normal bullshit push-button-to-smack mechanic we're all used to, even if it wasn't the implemented perfectly. The characters all had fun little backstories, and also the best game music of this year.

Yeah, I said it, game song of the year. If you don't think Who Do You Voodoo, Bitch is one of the greatest songs ever, well, you're stupid. (trolololol)

Seriously, it is the best song of the year, though.

So, GOTY for me? Dead Island.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2011-12-01 08:20pm

Dead Island is a game so intense, so successful at commnuicating violence, death and fear, that I know people who stopped playing because it was TOO STRESSFUL. People literally jumping out of their chairs when they discovered HOLY FUCK THEY CAN CLIMB LADDERS. Its a game that effortlessly highlights why Skyrim's combat is disgustingly primitive crap, as well, which gives it mad points.

Its just a shame that so many people didn't play it, either because it was too much like Dead Rising or because they'd rather play Dead Rising.

Dead Island is definitely up there for 'least disappointing' game.

Admiral Drason · Post by **Admiral Drason** » 2011-12-01 10:22pm

Hell yeah I'll give Dead Island a vote. I was just about to play it when I saw this thread.

Highlord Laan · Post by **Highlord Laan** » 2011-12-01 10:26pm

Whats funny is that out of all the games APD posted, only DA2 interested me, and it turned out to be a steaming pile of EA shit spewage. None of the others even got a glance from me.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2011-12-01 10:40pm

Thats funny because DA2 was a cool game and he listed most major releases this year. Your statement says more about you than anything else.

APD1026 · Post by **APD1026** » 2011-12-01 11:46pm

Chardok wrote: Dead Island isn't on that list, so fuck off.

I should fuck off, I can't believe I forgot that game too. I did make that list off the top of my head, so I'm sorry for forgetting it. Dead Island might be the best zombie game I've played ever. It definitely communicated the stress of being left alone in the zombie apocalypse better than both Dead Rising AND Left 4 Dead. Glad you pointed that out.

It also reminds me that I forgot to list Rage on my list. As far as high-profile releases go, that was definitely up there if only because it was a brand new IP from id. I haven't played much of the game myself, but any fans of it out there please talk the game up. Hell, if you didn't like it talk about it too, because your opinions are just as valid.

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2011-12-02 01:29am

You included Dragon Age II, but forgot about Witcher 2?

Highlord Laan · Post by **Highlord Laan** » 2011-12-02 01:43am

Stark wrote:Thats funny because DA2 was a cool game and he listed most major releases this year. Your statement says more about you than anything else.

And finding DA2 to be a cool game speaks a great as to just how low your standards are.

Tolya wrote:You included Dragon Age II, but forgot about Witcher 2?

Not enough A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-AWESOME with every button press.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2011-12-02 01:45am

Highlord Laan wrote:And finding DA2 to be a cool game speaks a great as to just how low your standards are.

So what's wrong with it? It wasn't boring as shit like DA1, the combat was pretty much the same, the story moved faster... the-

Highlord Laan wrote:Not enough A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-AWESOME with every button press.

Oh I see. People on the internet said so!

Are you aware that in DA1 you also pressed a button to attack?

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

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