2011 Community GOTY Results!

It's hard for me to keep track of what games I played for the first time this year.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

It's hard for me to keep track of what games I played for the first time this year.

Then you can't participate.

I HAVE GONE BACK AND EDITED TO PUT IN REASONS HA HA EVERYONE GOES TO THE FIRST PAGE OF THE THREAD.

/extremelyminorevil

OK, if it's games I've played for the first time this year as opposed to release:

1. Saints Row the Third (by a freaking landslide) - This is not the best game I have ever played. I didn't have any touching emotional moments, I wasn't moved in any way, and I would never hold this up as an example of the kinds of really interesting artistic expressions that have begun to happen in gaming in recent years. Don't care, it's not the point of SR3; this is probably the singly most fun game I have ever played. It's stupid, immature, dumb, ridiculous, ludicrous, and I simply cannot say enough good things about it. I love this game, utterly and completely. You show me another game where you can call in repeated airstrikes onto the head of the armies of furries and soda mascots who are assaulting your clothing store while driving scooters, golf carts, and Smart cars, and maybe I'll like that game, too.
2. Bioshock 2 - Started slow, was bored, by the end I thought it was one of the best games I've played in years. That was before Minerva's Den, the best DLC I've ever purchased by far, which was good enough that I got a bit weepy at the end. Took everything I liked about Bioshock and made it better.
3. Dead Island - Surprise of the year. Great world, loved to see zombies in a bright tropical paradise instead of your usual cars-burning-in-the-street city. With the analog controls turned on, simply the best melee combat in a first-person game I've found yet. Got repetitive somewhat at the end, but great co-op, lots of gripping moments, really good in general.
4. Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes - You could probably crap on the ground and put the words "Might and Magic" on it and I'd probably still buy it; I've been playing M&M games pretty obsessively since the Genesis. A great twist on the match 3 gameplay. Loved it.
5. Dungeon Defenders - I don't think my kids have touched a single video game other than this for at least a month. I've had hours of fun with them, and this was my go-to game for weeks prior to SR3. Great mix of tower defense and action RPG. Loads of depth with the different characters and their abilities. Loads of fun.
6. Trenched/Iron Brigade - Another good mix of action and tower defense. Simply spectacular art style and sense of design; Double Fine, you are awesome. Looking forward to the new Mars DLC.
7. Sanctum - I did not intend to do a list of tower defense/action hybrids, it just turned out that way. Pretty simple, FPS + tower defense. No story, your character has a few lines and doesn't add anything, and there aren't many enemies, but it's just plain fun.
8. Terraria - I think Baron of Hell gifted this to me during the summer sale, and he owes me dozens of hours of my life back.
9. Recettear - This game screams I AM JAPANESE LOOK AT MY CUTE BIG-EYED CHARACTERS and I can't stand that stuff, but I adored this game. Really basic one-button-mash action stuff on occasion, but you pretty much sit in a shop and sell stuff. And it's just ridiculously awesome.
10. Portal 2 - For the story alone. I keep meaning to replay it, but just not that compelled to. Cave Johnson gave me enough moments of howling laughter that it was totally worth it, though.

As great a year as it's been for big, AAA releases, this has been the year I've really embraced smaller and/or indie games, just because of the creativity.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

It's hard for me to keep track of what games I played for the first time this year.

IMAGE(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/ziffel66/leavenote.jpg)

I was so close to including Red Dead Redemption on my list but I started playing it on Christmas so it doesn't qualify :/
That game needs some more love.

mr_n00b wrote:

I was so close to including Red Dead Redemption on my list but I started playing it on Christmas so it doesn't qualify :/
That game needs some more love.

I've never played it. I will take it for spin in January and get it on the list next year!

mr_n00b wrote:

I was so close to including Red Dead Redemption on my list but I started playing it on Christmas so it doesn't qualify :/
That game needs some more love.

Every year we do voting early in the month, so I consider titles I played the last two weeks of Dec 2010 available for discussion.

1 Bastion

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/bastion.png)

I was emotionally invested to continue the game's story. That doesn't happen very often.

2 Space Pirates and Zombies

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/SpazGame-2011-08-14-22-11-42-901-1-1.jpg)

You build ships, fly them twin-stick shooter style against hordes of pirates and zombies. This is a no-brainer.

3 Serious Sam Double D

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/Serious-Sam-Double-D-600x3001-1.jpg?t=1323988607)

A totally insane ride and totally Serious Sam.

4 Dead Island

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/1920x1080_games_8_280911-1.jpg?t=1323988804)

All this game needed was more emphasis on survival - food gathering, resource collection, etc. As it stands this ambitious effort nearly captures everything I need.

5 Borderlands GOTY

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/borderlands-wp1-ws-1.jpg?t=1323989081)

Diablo with guns.

6 Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-4567-2560x1600-1.jpg?t=1323989191)

Fast and frenetic, liquid and kinetic. Instant death has never been so satisfying.

7 Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/108-1.jpg)

It's got my beloved Orcs in it. Now if they only included a Space Marine team as DLC.

8 Desktop Dungeons

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/gaming-work-1-you-got-dugeons-in-my-desktop-header-1.jpg?t=1323989420)

Desktop Dungeons is more addicting than Dungeons of Dredmor. And look at that goat. What an a$$hole.

9 Creeper World

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/60622_ss1-1.jpg?t=1323989710)

The only victory is survival. The goal is to travel from world to world picking up survivors and flee the galaxy from an unstoppable enemy. At least until the second game, Creeper World 2: Redemption. I love that apocalyptic mood.

10 Nitronic Rush

IMAGE(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/Strangeblades/image2.jpg?t=1323989921)

Nitronic Rush was created by Digipen students and it's a TRON love fest mixed with a crazy racer. The car can flip, fly off the track, return to it and then use positioning thrusters to take impossible-corners. And it's free.

trueheart78 wrote:
mr_n00b wrote:

I was so close to including Red Dead Redemption on my list but I started playing it on Christmas so it doesn't qualify :/
That game needs some more love.

Every year we do voting early in the month, so I consider titles I played the last two weeks of Dec 2010 available for discussion.

That's a good point, and I think that's fair. Otherwise some games get caught in the gap between being legal (by voting rules), and being too late in the year to be played in time. For example, SWTOR will be started on Dec 20 by most, but yet wouldn't qualify for next year's vote.

mr_n00b wrote:

I was so close to including Red Dead Redemption on my list but I started playing it on Christmas so it doesn't qualify :/
That game needs some more love.

IIRC, it got plenty of love during last year's GOTY thread. It was my #1 game for 2010.

1) Skyrim - I suffer greatly from alt-itis in most RPG-style games that I play, because I want to experience as much of the world as I can, and get as many different quests as possible. I love the fact that Skyrim doesn't shoehorn me into any one style of play unless I so choose. I also love how immersive it can be (although it has its moments where immersion gets borked, but those are minor). Plus, dragons. FUS RO DAH!

2) Bastion - The narrator makes this game, but I also love that it's got its own unique charm in presentation and the world you find yourself in. You also learn to care about all of these side characters who basically never speak. Got to love a game that can do that.

3) Portal 2 - *bounce slide portal TA DAH!* game play is so much fun for me.

4) Sequence (I know it doesn't stand a chance, but I love me some DDRPG)

5) 100 Rogues (I also know this doesn't stand a chance, but it's damn fun)

6) Fallout New Vegas - Not new, I know, but I finally got to playing it this year, and it's actually quite fun. However, there are others that are more immersive to me (not to mention that I started playing it after some marathon Fallout 3 playing, so I was a little burned out)

1. Dawn of War 2 (and Chaos Rising)
2. The Witcher: Special Edition
3. Space Marine
4. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
5. Batman: AA
6. Braid
7. Borderlands (and all that DLC)
8. World of Goo
9. Split/Second
10. Homefront

Skimming this thread I've noticed that not many people have put Minecraft anywhere on their list, I guess people mostly played it last year?

I've also noticed a lot of love for To The Moon, I'll have to give that game another look.

doesnt The Walt do this poll?

Latrine wrote:

I've also noticed a lot of love for To The Moon, I'll have to give that game another look.

Please do. It was the biggest surprise of the year for me (and of course my number one game of the year). You can always play for an hour for free (freebirdgames.com).

jdzappa wrote:

3. Shogun 2

Nice! Shogun 2 ended up at number 4 for me, but if you judged by sheer number of hours played it was my number 1. I've put in 122 hours so far.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
Latrine wrote:

I've also noticed a lot of love for To The Moon, I'll have to give that game another look.

Please do. It was the biggest surprise of the year for me (and of course my number one game of the year). You can always play for an hour for free (freebirdgames.com).

jdzappa wrote:

3. Shogun 2

Nice! Shogun 2 ended up at number 4 for me, but if you judged by sheer number of hours played it was my number 1. I've put in 122 hours so far.

Mine says 150 but I know I left it running at times while I was AFK. So I'm probably at 120 too.

jdzappa wrote:

Mine says 150 but I know I left it running at times while I was AFK. So I'm probably at 120 too.

I actually played a ton of offline mode on the bus, so I am probably closer to 150.

Latrine wrote:

Skimming this thread I've noticed that not many people have put Minecraft anywhere on their list, I guess people mostly played it last year?

I would say so, I certainly did, and it would rank in my top 10 easily if I didn't start it last year. I suspect it'd be the same for many, many people.

By the way Clocky, your avatar freaks me out, what's it from?

Redwing wrote:

By the way Clocky, your avatar freaks me out, what's it from?

It's the HBO version of Game of Thrones. That's all I'll say. I don't want to spoil anything.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
Redwing wrote:

By the way Clocky, your avatar freaks me out, what's it from?

It's the HBO version of Game of Thrones. That's all I'll say. I don't want to spoil anything. ;)

Ahh right on, that's in my pile. Might get to it one of these days!

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
Redwing wrote:

By the way Clocky, your avatar freaks me out, what's it from?

It's the HBO version of Game of Thrones. That's all I'll say. I don't want to spoil anything. ;)

Nonsense. It's Clocky (in drag) feasting on the heart of a person who enjoyed fun.

1. Darksouls -- Immersive. Challenging. One of the best games of the new millennium.
2. Skyrim -- Beautiful. Open. Combat better than it's ever been in an ES game.
3. Diablo 2-- Yes, it's old. But this was the first time I ever delved into it. Spreadsheets. Builds. Loot lists. Loved it all.
4. Bayonetta-- I have never liked this sort of game. Well, until now. Perfect controls. Fun combos. I didn't care a whit about the story, but it was great over-the-top fun.
5. Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. My first big foray into the wonderful world of arcane Roguelikes. More options than you can stand. Emergent gameplay. Real challenge.
6. Valkyria Chronicles. Tactical gameplay. Attractive hand-drawn-looking graphics. So-so story, but good enough to carry me through.
7. Witcher 2. If I hadn't stalled on the story, this would probably be higher on the list. The first act was truly one of my best game experiences of the year.
8. Ascension. I have spent an unbelievable amount of time with this on my Ipad.
9. Bastion. I didn't love this as much as most folks, but it was serviceable, well-made and fun.
10. Borderlands. Ran through the vanilla campaign co-op with a friend. It might not have been genius but the loot lover/build maker in me was drawn in.

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
2. Batman: Arkham City
3. The Witcher2: Assassins of Kings.
4. Dead Island
5. Portal 2
6. Minecraft
7. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
8. Bastion
9. Dragon Age II
10. Driver: San Francisco

Honorable mentions:
A.C. Brotherhood (not counting it as a 2011 release)
Battlefield 3 (I *think* I'd like it, but haven't taken the plunge)
Dark Souls (I think this is on its way, but I have no idea if I'll like it)
Bulletstorm, Crysis 2 (I'm burned out on shooters, so they didn't make my list)

All played on PC except for Rock Band 3, which was on Xbox 360
01 Batman: Arkham Asylum
02 The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
03 STALKER: Clear Sky
04 Rock Band 3
05 Mass Effect 2
06 Dragon Age: Origins
07 Divinity II - Dragon Knight Saga
08 Magicka
09 Dungeons of Dredmor
10 Risen

Honorable Mentions: Nitronic Rush, Plants Vs Zombies, Hinterland, Avencast
Would have ranked if it wasn't so buggy: Precursors

It is going to be very interesting to see how much The Old Republic is added to new lists and ends up re-editiing already-posted lists in this thread. I just started TOR and I have to say it is definitely going to be placed quite high.

1. Dark Souls
2. Battlefield 3
3. Skyrim
4. Portal 2
5. LA Noire
6. IloMilo
7. Uncharted 3
8. LittleBigPlanet2
9. GT5
10. Bulletstorm

And thus I have updated my original post, almost completely re-writing it.

Such is the price you pay, Clocky, when you ask me to explain my rationale.

ccesarano wrote:

And thus I have updated my original post, almost completely re-writing it.

FYI, your #8 game is listed as Arkham Asylum, but the game you describe in the write-up is Arkham City.

Holy crap, according to my pile list I've only beaten about 21 games this year. I've played more, but most of those games are unfinished.

Augh.

Well, to the best of my abilities, here's my top ten. Now modified with more reasonings!

1. inFamous 1 & 2

In the event that they cannot be counted together, give the 10 points to inFamous 2. I played both this year, and together they are just so good. However, as the two are very similar in terms of gameplay, I'd have to give the nod to inFamous 2 anyway, as it actually had a narrative I could care about. The first game's narrated still-images felt like they were summarizing the unimportant bits, and made it more difficult to get emotionally involved. inFamous 2 overcame this flaw in spades, with great writing, voice acting and some really interesting choices. Not to mention incredible set-pieces. I've fought giant monsters in games before, but this one was just incredible.

The game as a whole gets my nod, though. I loved navigating the city, I loved the variety of the main and side quests, and most importantly, I felt like I got something done each night. I was playing both games while a working stiff, and being able to have finished two side quests, a story quest and upgraded to a new ability in one to two hours of play actually meant something. I felt like I was really getting somewhere. So no, it isn't as expansive as Skyrim, but it was a lot less buggy and I got to feel like I was accomplishing something within the game.

2. Heavy Rain

I didn't want to include this so high on the list because it's not from 2011, but honestly, thinking back to my first play-through of this game... I can't help it. It had some issues that knocked it below inFamous 2, and I wish Quantic Dream had the opportunity to do as much as they had wanted (you can tell the original plan was for the Origami Killer to be different based on your choices). The game managed to be hectic using an atypical control scheme, there are so many options available within the story in how to change it, and it genuinely got my heart pumping while getting me emotionally involved in the characters. It was different, it was fun, and it tickled my happiness. I can easily see myself playing this again in 2012.

3. Resistance 3

I know I shouldn't rank this so high, but Resistance 3 was the first shooter to appeal to all the same sensory organs as the original Halo had. The story didn't really pick up for me until parts of the end, and the actual ending was complete and utter sh*t, but the atmosphere, tone and gameplay were the exact sort of thing I love to have in a shooter. I played a lot of games this year, but Resistance 3 is one of the only ones that I can think back on and so clearly recall every level of the game, all because it conjured so many emotions out of me.

4. Catherine

This should be at the top of the list simply because of how out there it seems to be for the games industry. Sure, it could have handled things like relationships better (a choice between a pushy control-freak or a barbie doll? Really? And THESE are the best questions they could come up with?), but it at least tried to examine relationships, dating and middle-age in a manner that's about more than just "You had sex! Achievement unlocked!" Playing on Easy, I found the puzzles just challenging enough, tickling a very different sort of nerve than Portal had managed. I liked the relentless pace, forcing me to think on my feet instead of taking my time. It was like the insane First Person Shooter of puzzle games.

5. Nier

At first I was expecting this game to feel incredibly lame, low-budget and that I'd quit in about thirty minutes. But the opening of the game just hooked me right in, and even though the gameplay isn't AAA top-notch like some of the bigger blockbusters, it is so varied throughout the game, especially the dungeons, that it never gets tiresome or old. It's polished just enough while maintaining a wide variety of experiences. Add to that a mildly compelling story that takes on a whole new level of melancholy and emotion once you play the New Game +, and you get one of my favorite games of the year.

6. Portal 2

Yes, the writing has already been discussed and all that other stuff. Not much for me to say, only that it comes as low as it does because I was hoping the entire game would play like, well, the beginning. I didn't want to go back to test chamber after test chamber. I wanted to actually explore the facility like it was an actual facility. Even so, fantastic game for all the reasons everyone else has gone over.

7. Super Mario 3D Land

Holy crap this game is so much fun. The first half was easy, sure, but I still couldn't put it down. Then came the second half, and while I've been putting it down, it is mostly so I can play Mario Kart 7. I will be coming back to this game, oh yes. I only wish the over-world more resembled Super Mario World, truth told. But I doubt Nintendo will ever do that again.

8. Batman: Arkham City

I couldn't bring myself to put it higher on the list. It was a great experience while playing, but the "more is more" philosophy just doesn't quite work in practice. I loved playing it, I loved navigating the levels, but I do prefer the Metroid/Resident Evil 1 style of world versus the open AssCreed/inFamous style. Plus, while the game included a lot of new abilities, I still feel that I couldn't quite play the Predator that I wanted to be and was forced too often into fist-fights.

Otherwise, fantastic game with a lot of side quests, some really good interpretations of characters like The Mad Hatter, stunning voice performances, and The Mr. Freeze fight. Yeah, this was a good game.

9. L.A. Noire

Would have been so much better without The Black Dahlia segment. I really enjoyed the game's story, but it felt like The Black Dahlia was shoe-horned in just for the sake of having a well known real murderer in the mix. Every other segment was fantastic, though. Following the growth of Cole Phelps, what happened to his unit after the war, and his sins from the past were a fantastic journey, and I had a tendency to really enjoy the game. Except, again, because of the Black Dahlia, it felt a bit long in the tooth after a while. I'm just glad the last chapter wasn't as long as I had anticipated.

Also: I can't stand driving around in Rockstar games. But hey, at least I finally found a Rockstar game I like! And relatively polished in comparison with their other efforts!

10. Dead Space 2

I actually thought about my placement of this game for a while. I know I wanted it to be on the top 10 list, but I didn't know where it really belonged. In the end, I couldn't put it higher than 10. I loved the game, I dug the story, and the team did a fantastic job finding ways to disorient Isaac and force him to shoot stuff while all discombobulated. Plus, zero gravity!

Unfortunately, I felt like the team lost a lot of what made the first game "frightening" (though I'd more say suspenseful, as I don't get frightened by games often). It felt much more like an action game, and a lot of the new enemies lacked the smart design of the enemies from the first. The original designers took advantage of the idea of "don't aim for the head", and even added additional hazards (such as trying to aim for the constantly swinging arms of the fatties). The crawling babies weren't much different than the already-explosive enemies, only slower and smaller targets, the raptors were easy after the first encounter (find a corner, plant some mines and pull out your line gun), and the little kids were just annoying.

It was a great game, but the only enemies I really liked fighting that much were the original ones (okay, I liked the Raptors, too, even if they were formulaic...but only after that first encounter. That first fight SUCKED)

Honorable Mention: I never owned an N64 until around 2000, when I got one for cheap from my GameStop job, so Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS was a new experience from the water temple on. I almost beat it, too, but should probably start over. Skyward Sword is fun so far, but I currently can not play it much. I only beat the first temple and just found my way to the second. Star Fox 64 3DS was also a lot of fun, though I wish I could ask for a specific difficulty and the game would steer me on a certain path. Mario Kart 7 is a lot of fun so far, but it still hasn't beaten out Double Dash!! for me. Pokemon White was the first game in the series to be as fun since Red and Blue, and I didn't mind the new 150 at all. While I will always hold special nostalgia for Red/Blue, White was the best since.

I need to get back to playing Lost Odyssey. I was really enjoying it, feeling more like the sort of JRPG I've wanted to play since the original Playstation. I really dig the story so far, even though I'm not far in it. I may have to start over, though, since I haven't played since before the summer. Radiant Historia on the DS also gets a special nod, though sadly I just can't get sucked into the game. It's clever and a Hell of a lot of fun, but for some reason I just can't get pulled in. Demon's and Dark Souls are a lot of fun as well. If they weren't so friggin' hard, they'd actually be my ideal RPG (I know, the punishment is supposed to be the catch, but God dammit I just want to be able to play through WITHOUT dying!).

Fixed. Thank you.