2011 Community GOTY Results!

1. Skyrim
2. Dragon Age II
3. Hegemony
4. Bastion
5. Portal 2
6. Space Pirates and Zombies
7. Tropico 3
8. Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes
9. Orcs Must Die

The voting tally is now current as of Bullion Cube.

Today's fun facts:

  • There is now a 26 point gap between first and second. Could that race be loosening up as voting goes on?
  • Meanwhile, there's just a 3 point gap between third and fourth and a 4 point gap between seventh and eighth. It could come down to the wire on those.
  • For all of that, the top ten hasn't changed since yesterday, neither have the top three classic games.
  • A total of 207 unique titles have been voted for so far. I love that every time I update the list, I have to add something new. You have some wide-ranging tastes, GWJ.
ranalin wrote:

doesnt The Walt do this poll?

Sinatar did it in years past, but he decided to stop due to lack of interest from the community. I picked it up last year and have continued it this year.

Budo wrote:

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.

Pretty pretty please with sugar and sex on top, if you edit your previously posted list, put up a new post letting me know that. This forum isn't very good about letting you know which old posts have been edited, so a new post would cut down on the amount of work I have to do.

MeatMan wrote:

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

I edited my post but only to add descriptions. No change in ranks.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

The numbers are fun, but these kinds of threads are really all about talking up what you loved most in the games you played this year.

+1

Finally got around to giving my list some justification. I hope others do the same

gregrampage wrote:

I edited my post but only to add descriptions. No change in ranks.

I haven't seen too much about Spectromancer but it sounds right up my alley. And it's great to see Clash of Heroes on someone's list, I adore that game.

mr_n00b wrote:
gregrampage wrote:

I edited my post but only to add descriptions. No change in ranks.

I haven't seen too much about Spectromancer but it sounds right up my alley. And it's great to see Clash of Heroes on someone's list, I adore that game.

Spectromancer is excellent. I've put almost 40 hours into it. I agree about Clash of Heroes as well, another gem.

Oh oh, I edited my list's games and ranks, and added blurbs yesterday (12/15) Clockwork. It's on page one.

1) Bastion: I love nearly everything that Bastion does. The story, graphics, sound effects, music, and the characters all meshed in such a wonderful way that it is hard to not have this be at the top of my list. I even bought the soundtrack, and I hardly ever buy soundtracks. This mainly gets number one for me because it was such a surprise hit for me.

2) Dark Souls: Demon's Souls is one of my all time favorite games and Dark Souls is almost better in every single way.

3) Battlefield 3: It's not perfect, but I have a blast playing with my friends and the GWJ community.

4) Uncharted 3: The Uncharted series is definitely my favorite of the current generation and Uncharted 3 is a fine addition to the series.

5) Portal 2: Wheatly is awesome.

6) Warhammer 40k: Space Marine: I just love the feel of being the overpowered Space Marine laying waste to hordes of Orks.

7) Dragon Age 2: I am happy that this game isn't about being the savior of the world. It was great to see the progression of a relatively small part of Ferelden over the course of a number of years.

8) The Witcher 2: I haven't spent much time with The Witcher 2, but what time I've spent with it puts it on my top 10 for 2011.

9) Limbo: I really liked where this game was going, but then it ended.

10) Deus Ex: HR: I haven't played the previous games, but I had a good deal of fun with this game.

I don't get a chance to play that many games, so here is my list:

1 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution
2 - Frozen Synapse
3 - Orcs must Die
4 - Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
5 - Red Dead Redemption
6 - Crysis 2

Hmm. This is harder than I thought. I tinker with a lot of games....not very good at sticking through many hours at a time on them.

1) Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Exception to the above, especially since it's new.
2) Portal 2: Played it. Loved it. Two of my kids did, also.
3) Skyrim: Really enjoying the the 30 or so hours so far.
4) Fallout 3: Yeah, the original, I'm a horrible person. New Vegas was a work in progress before I moved in November.
5) Mass Effect 2: Went back and finished the original, then went through this one. Good times.
6) Witcher: Played through past the first chapter for the first time this year. Hope to get to the sequel someday.
7) Pokemon Black: What? I have 3 children who also are also fluent in Poke-speak...
8) Plants vs. Zombies: This got discovered this past year, and everyone in the household plays it. Yikes!
9) Minecraft: For the novelty. This one is fun just to see what my 11 year old will do with it if I let her on the laptop...plus the tinkering thing.
10) Dragonquest IX (DS)

Kudos to: Egosoft for X3:TC, which periodically draws me back in for a few dozen hours. Good support from them for such a niche product.

High hopes for: Zelda-Skyward sword (kids Christmas), Battlefield 3 (if I can finally get my household goods back and get my desktop set back up in the new place), SW: TOR.

Cheers, everyone.

1.) Skyrim. Skyrim. Skyyyyyyyyriiiiiiiiiiiiim. No contest.
2.) Portal 2
3.) Batman: Arkham City
4.) Terraria. I've never played more than forty-five minutes or so of Minecraft, but this game hooked me.
5.) The Game Formerly Known As Trenched. A Double Fine game that's actually fun to play instead of hiding its fundamental gameplay flaws behind a cute aesthetic? Le gasp!
6.) Bulletstorm. A criminally overlooked little gem. Scratches the same guilty-pleasure itch as Gears, with the added bonus that I haven't played two of what is essentially the exact same game before.
7.) Gears 3.
8.) Fallout: New Vegas. This would probably rank higher, if not for the fact that I had already played a metric f*ckton of Fallout 3 (including all the DLC) before picking this up.
9.) Hoard. Picked up an OG PSP on the cheap this year, and so far it's mostly been a Hoard and Final Fantasy machine. Totally worth it.
10.) You Don't Know Jack.

Titles that are still on my pile that may (or may not) deserve a spot on the list next year: Skyward Sword, Saints Row the Shrek the Third.

Dishonorable Mentions: Dragon Age 2, L.A. Noire. Talk about a pair of games with some neat ideas absolutely killed by terrible execution. Thank God for Portal 2 and Bulletstorm, otherwise spring 2011 would have totally blown.

1. SKYRIM (PC)
Undisputedly my favorite style of RPG - one that doesn't hold your hand and lets you actually take your time and EXPLORE. I'll take that over complex main characters, meaningful NPC relationships and high drama plotlines ANY day of the week.

2. The Witcher 2 (PC)
That said, W2 is an excellent mix of both exploration and story stuff. If you can overlook the boss fights. The stuff they do with 'meaningful choices' (and their outcomes) needs to be the standard for similar RPG's going forward...anything else that tries the good/bad path just looks juvenile in comparison.

3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PC)
Didn't think they'd be able to pull it off by by heck they did. Makes me hopefull (well, less sceptical) about Thief 4...assuming that's still in the works. Just the boss fights (again) that let it down.

4. Minecraft (PC)
Don't even want to think about the number of hours I've played this (so far)

5. Dark Souls (XB360)
Haven't finished it. Probably never will, but enjoyably challenging - and I LOVE the grimdark medieval atmosphere of it.

6. Dead Island (PC)
A little too long, and it falls apart at the end but that opening beach resort area is probably one of my favorite environments to explore this year. And the zombie combat is perfect.

7. Saints Row : The Third (PC)
Completely bonkers and somehow manages to be lewd and innapropriate without being grimly offensive

8. Fallout : New Vegas (PC)
Honestly - didn't enjoy it as much as F3...not a big fan of the (very orange) setting. Much preferred the Capital Wasteland. Good story to it though and it has the absolute BEST DLC of the year with Old World Blues.

9. Portal 2 (PC)
I'm not sure I enjoyed it as much as everyone else in the world seems to have. But well worth the trip just for Stephen Merchant alone.

10. Alice : Madness Returns (PC)
Mostly for the gutsy story, but I enjoyed the platforming stuff too (could have done with a bit of a trim down though).

and it just occurs to me after the fact that there's only one game on that list I *didn't* play on PC. Go PC in 2011!

HONORABLE MENTION : Xenoblade - It'd be on the above list if I'd played more of it (will REALLY need to make time for it over xmas I think). Best JRPG I've played in a long while (mostly because it eschews most JRPG trappings for something more along the lines of a single player MMO in terms of the way it plays).

hbi2k wrote:

Dishonorable Mentions: Dragon Age 2, L.A. Noire. Talk about a pair of games with some neat ideas absolutely killed by terrible execution.

DA2 would be HIGH on that particular list for me, too.

Thanks, everyone, for voting so far.

Just a reminder that voting closes at the end of the month, so you have some time to tinker with your lists and put some more hours into games you're not certain of.

1. Forza 4. I love racing games, and this is the best one yet. Plus Autovista is absolutely phenomenal, and Rivals challenges are a blast as well. Oh, and you can be the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.

2. Bastion. Fantastic game. I haven't finished yet, but the way it plays is a blast.

3. Star Trek Online. No, I'm not digging. I loved watching Trek when I was a kid, and this captures that feel completely and perfectly. It's not for everyone, but I think it's fantastic.

4. Neverwinter Nights 2. Oldie, yes. But I picked it up in the spring and have loved it to death ever since.

5. Portal 2. I know, people are probably going 'wait, what?'. And it's an awesome game. But it's also more of Portal, and while the single player was fantastic, I didn't spend much(any) time with Multiplayer, and as such it drops down some.

6. Gears 3. More gears, but so far it feels fantastic. Again, not enough played to really warrant moving it up, but I see potential.

7. Magicka. Mage Murder Suicide Simulator. Bloody Brilliant, but frustrating at times.

8. Game Dev Story. It wore thin pretty quick once you got the hang of things, but it was super fun while it lasted.

9. Dungeon Raid. Another fantastic little iOS game in the vein of Bejeweled.

10. Tiny Wings. I picked this one up after hearing about it here, and have no regrets. Super cute, very fun.

Top 10 is too granular. Top 3 isn't granular enough. So...

1 - Portal 2
Yup.

2 - Fallout 3
75 Hours and counting!

3 - Bastion

4 - TES IV: Oblivion
55 Hours and counting!

5 - Dead Space 2
Love me some freaky tentacled insectoid-space-zombies.

Honorable Mention:
Alpha Protocol
This was a huge surprise. Once I got into the story, I found myself torn away from all my other games, lost in nonsensical double-crossing corporate shenanigans. The time limited dialogue system was awesome. I just wish shooting dudes was more fun, since most of the game IS shooting dudes.

LIMBO

Edited my post.

Changes:
Bastion +8 points
TES IV: Oblivion -1 point
Dead Space 2 -1 point
Alpha Protocol -6 points

1. Batman: Arkham City (PS3)
2. Bastion (PC)
3. Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes (PS3)
4. Dungeon Raid (iOS)
5. You Don't Know Jack (PS3)
6. Marvel Pinball (PS3)
7. Rachet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (PS3)
8. LA Noire (PS3)
9. Binding of Isaac (PC)
10. Dungeons of Dredmor (PC)

Honorable Mention: Outland (PS3), Cladun: This is an RPG! (PSP), Din's Curse (PC)

Reviewed a release list, gave hard thought to and tweaked up my order and choices, added a blurb for each, and added notable cuts (which I think are usually more interesting than gushing over your winners)

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
This and number two are the only ones I didn't have to pore over as far as order on the list. They are the head of the class by a good margin. Skyward Sword hits all the notes a good Zelda game should, which isn't a surprise. What did surprise were the emotionally charged relationships, helping forge an interesting and appropriate origin story for the entire franchise. A lot of game critics have called for sweeping change to the Zelda format. With that in mind, I think Skyward Sword is exactly the game the series needs right now. It doesn't skew so far from the norm that it doesn't feel like Zelda, but enough of the mechanics and storytelling feel fresh enough to remember five years from now when the next one is released.

2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Skyrim really needs little introduction or justification. It's the largest collection of short stories ever collected in a fully realized, gorgeous 3D game world. It has warts but they're easy to ignore in light of the incredible scope of the project.

3. Dark Souls
Dark Souls holds a special place for me, the game that rescued me from a dark place (a WoW subscription). The combat is methodical and tactical, and lends the entire game a great sense of extremity - it can be both nerve-wracking and gratifying in the same minute-long stretch of play. The game world itself is I think the most elaborate construction of the gaming year. Each part has a specific reason for being where it is, relevant at both the gameplay and narrative levels.

4. Mortal Kombat (9)
This one I think probably slipped through the cracks around here. While Street Fighter 4 revived the genre a few years back, MK9 brought it back to the masses in my eyes. This deserves a spot if for no reason other than providing the blueprint for a single-player campaign that every consequent fighting game should follow for the next few years. Loses a few points for somewhat borked online and a muddled DLC scene post-launch. One of the best couch-MP games of the year.

5. Portal 2
I am probably one of the few that feels this game beats the sh*t out of the original in every facet, and that's a tall order. The narrative adds so much to the formula that it makes the original feel less complete. The mechanics are amazing, as expected, and expanded upon appropriately. I still have a hard time fathoming that cooperative play actually works, much less that it is so...functional.

6. Dragon Age 2
I think this game would be much more highly regarded if it was the first Dragon Age game. While it is missing some of the magic that comes from 5+ years in the cooker, I think it made some great improvements over Origins. These include the feel of combat, the graphical style, and the cohesion of the narrative. The limited world and less interesting (relatively) party members are the only drawbacks.

7. Crysis 2
Crysis 2 is another of my favorite first person shooter campaigns, either two or three with CoD4: Modern Warfare. Great shooting mechanics and feel, customization options, and a more interesting story than anticipated. It combines what I think people like about Halo (combat puzzles?) and acceptable speed of play. If only I'd gotten more into the multiplayer...

8. Singularity
Singularity is a 2010 game, which I said in its catch-all would have cracked my top-10 last year. It holds a special place for being the ONLY original property on this list. Simply put, it's my favorite single player first person shooter of the generation. It's Bioshock with a better combat feel, a more interesting setting, and combat mechanics that are as necessary as they are interesting.

9. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
I love the Modern Warfare multiplayer suite, and have for a long time now. This is the best of the series mechanically, the best balanced. The gun registers leave something to be desired and the community is as hit-and-miss as you'd expect the most popular game of the year to attract. The campaign narrative is much stronger than the previous three iterations, providing both cohesion and closure for characters that have become the face of the franchise over time.

10. L.A. Noire
I've never played anything like L.A. Noire, and that's saying something. The characters' fidelity might be revolutionary, or it might be the distinctive feature this game alone is remembered for going forward. The narrative was mature and mostly believable. Unfortunately, the open world gave little incentive for exploration and the conclusion was a bit ham-fisted.

Notable cuts (in order of preference)

Super Mario 3D Land
I really got nothin' on this one. If you like 3D mario games, this is a gem. I'm insanely thankful for this game's surprise appearance on my radar - it alone justified my day-one 3DS purchase.

Pokemon Black
This is the only cut that I really did not want to make. It's a little too iterative, though it took big steps too modernizing one of my favorite franchises, and one of the few JRPG models that still work.

Mario Kart 7
This game seems great! But I have not yet played enough to justify a higher spot. Hurray for Nintendo getting better at the onlines.

Catherine
I love the weird Japanese-ness, like the box puzzling, but dislike the small scope of the gameplay experience.

Saints Row the Third
The activities in this game so far don't raise the bar at all from the second game, and the narrative seems much less compelling. Due to co-op responsibilities I'm only about 10 hours in, but so far it feels like a lateral step from the previous game.

Gears of War 3
Gears 3 did little in my eyes to improve upon Gears 2, which is a shame. The narrative provided some good moments, but the combat did not.

Downloadable Games

Trenched
I wish this had been fleshed out into a full retail game. The mechanics were sound enough that I could have gone for way more content. The co-op is too much fun. Looking forward to playing the new stuff with some of you guys.

Outland
I usually don't jump at the "platformer with an artstyle" bait, but this game hits all the right notes. Intense combat and bosses, satisfying exploration, mechanical complexity - this is the best in the genre since Shadow Complex.

Edited my post again. Sorry Clockwork! I removed DA2 accidentally on the first edit, somehow.

Running Man wrote:

8: Darksiders

Hey, uh, so I was wondering...

Blind_Evil wrote:
Running Man wrote:

8: Darksiders

Hey, uh, so I was wondering...

Really? He put it in his top 10 for crying out loud.

Pacman wrote:

6. Marvel Pinball (PS3)

Pacman, is Marvel Pinball the Marvel tables for Pinball FX2, or is it a different game?

Blind_Evil wrote:
Running Man wrote:

8: Darksiders

Hey, uh, so I was wondering...

Please don't do that in this thread. Pretty please?

That was my first ever Darksiders trolling, give me a break! Except when I honestly spoke in the game's favor before it was even a meme.

Jeff-66 wrote:
Pacman wrote:

6. Marvel Pinball (PS3)

Pacman, is Marvel Pinball the Marvel tables for Pinball FX2, or is it a different game?

Yeah, it is the Marvel tables (Spiderman, Blade, Wolverine, Ironman with Captain America and Fantastic Four availaible as DLC). I believe most of the other FX2 tables are in Zen Pinball on PS3 (I know there is some overlap at least), but for whatever reason they set up the Marvel ones as their own thing, rather than integrating them in like on the 360.

1: Crysis 2
2: Portal 2
3: Bastion
4: Dead Space 2
5: Gemini Rue
6: L.A. Noire
7: Bulletstorm
8: Radiant Historia
9: Terraria
10: Dragon Age 2

0. Civilizatoin V (I can't vote for Civ V anymore, but it still needs to be on top of my list)

1. Dragon Age: Origins
2. Portal 2
3. To The Moon (average gamewise, sublime writing and presentation)
4. LA Noire
5. Outland

I played some Deus Ex and Witcher 2, but got distracted too early to rate them.

No Skyrim as open-world RPG's are not my genre. Hopefully I get Rayman: Origins for Christmas, I won't start playing until 2012 so it can make my list next year!

For Bastion, I'm waiting for a sale on Arcade.

dejanzie wrote:

0. Civilizatoin V (I can't vote for Civ V anymore, but it still needs to be on top of my list)

1. Dragon Age: Origins
2. Portal 2
3. To The Moon (average gamewise, sublime writing and presentation)
4. LA Noire
5. Outland

I played some Deus Ex and Witcher 2, but got distracted too early to rate them.

No Skyrim as open-world RPG's are not my genre. Hopefully I get Rayman: Origins for Christmas, I won't start playing until 2012 so it can make my list next year!

For Bastion, I'm waiting for a sale on Arcade.

Huzzah! Someone else who played Dragon Age: Origins for the first time this year. It was top of my list also.

Pacman wrote:
Jeff-66 wrote:
Pacman wrote:

6. Marvel Pinball (PS3)

Pacman, is Marvel Pinball the Marvel tables for Pinball FX2, or is it a different game?

Yeah, it is the Marvel tables (Spiderman, Blade, Wolverine, Ironman with Captain America and Fantastic Four availaible as DLC). I believe most of the other FX2 tables are in Zen Pinball on PS3 (I know there is some overlap at least), but for whatever reason they set up the Marvel ones as their own thing, rather than integrating them in like on the 360.

Thanks for the clarification.

kaptainbarbosa wrote:

1: Crysis 2
2: Portal 2
3: Bastion

Good to see someone appreciated Crysis 2 as much as I did. I didn't have it #1, but I think it's definitely a top 5 game. I think I had it 3rd.