Best Games of 2011

Being employed for all of 2011 might not have been great for my free time, but it did allow me the freedom to try out pretty much any new game I was interested in, which worked out pretty well. I don't think I've ever managed to play this much new stuff around when it came out before. I haven't finished playing a couple of these games yet, which would normally mean they wouldn't make the list, but I feel I've played both of them enough to say about where they stand compared to the other stuff.

Best of 2011

10. L.A. Noire (Multi)


I don't look back on this as fondly as other games on the list, but a lot of that is probably reaction to all the horrible stuff we heard about the game's development and a bit of revisionist history. At its core, Noire is a very fun game that managed to mix adventure game-style mysteries with open world action effectively. The post-war Los Angeles setting was realized beautifully, the facial animation is pretty staggering, and the tale it weaves has all the elements of classic film noir. There are plenty of small issues, but the experience matches the ambition well.

9. Battlefield 3 (PC)


It's really too bad that beyond the graphics, sound design, and a few standout moments, the campaign of Battlefield 3 is otherwise so bland and fails to take advantage of what makes the franchise unique, because they could have helped make the game one of the best shooters in a long time. Instead, it's merely memorable as something that failed in its ambition to beat Call of Duty at its own game. The multiplayer saves it, though, combining all the best elements that they've found over the years into something addictive, rewarding, and very fun to play, whether you can maintain a decent kill ratio or not. And man, it really does look and sound fantastic.

8. Batman: Arkham City (Multi)


For an open-world game, Arkham City isn't that big, with a map that only takes a few minutes to get across even if you have to glide all the way around its weird shape, and not much to do beyond the main story besides collecting a whole ton of Riddler trophies. But the core gameplay they brought back from the last game is still so good, that actually playing it beats most open-world games on the market. The combat and stealth get a better chance to shine when there's more groups of goons to stumble across, and the more focused stuff once you get indoors is still a lot of fun. It would be hard to capture the thrill of being a super hero better than this.

7. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (PC)


The first game in the series had a lot of cool ideas, but it was ultimately a bit hamstrung by its nature as a sort of strange European RPG by a first-time developer. They used that experience very well though in crafting the sequel, a much better game that smooths over some of the rough edges well enough to let the good stuff underneath really shine. The game looks fantastic, with graphics that compliment the visual design and impress without being flashy, and the gameplay is a solid mix of discovering and learning about the game's world with a combat system that is tough but fun and rewarding. A really nice success story.

6. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PC)


Another surprisingly good sequel, Human Revolution learns from the mistakes of the last game that tried to follow up on the original classic and stays true to what was actually interesting about it while updating things that needed updating for the modern day. The game is not without significant flaws, notably in the design of the boss fights, but the core experience is so solid that it's hard not to get sucked into it. The game is really meaty, with plenty of interesting content and very little in the way of filler, giving you twenty solid hours of science fiction roleplaying and action and allowing for a variety of approaches to almost every situation. It's hard to really connect with the story, but the act of playing it is always compelling.

5. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)


I feel like the Zelda series has gotten a raw deal from many gamers in the last few years, perhaps starting with some backlash there was towards Twilight Princess when it came out earlier in the Wii's existence. Some complaints about the way they've decreased freedom and increased the tedium are valid, but I think sometimes these people are looking for something that they're just not going to get from the series anymore, which has always been meant to be friendly to kids. Taking into account changing standards and some of those now-systemic flaws though, I think Skyward Sword is perhaps the best game in the series since Majora's Mask. After a slow opening, the game opens up, and there's a lot of fun to be found in its world. Trying to tell an origin story again makes for a pretty interesting narrative, the use of motion controls is better justified, and the dungeons are as fun as ever. It's not the game-changing Zelda people probably wanted, but what it is is a very fun and comfortable adventure.

4. Bastion (PC)


A lot of times I get really into smaller games like this despite the gameplay, because their stories and presentations are unique and enchanting. That's true here, but the actual game part is really good as well. Bastion is a short but satisfying action RPG that hooks you both with its myriad of fun weapons and powers and all the ways it has to enhance the whole experience, from the unique setting and art style to the wonderful soundtrack and the unforgettable narration. And it might just have the most affecting story of any game on this list.

3. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS3)


I find it odd that Uncharted seems to be held to a totally different narrative standard than other action games. Most of the time it's fine for a shooter or platformer to jump all over the world for very little reason, but since the characterization and voice acting in Uncharted is so good, people expect consistency in the plot too, and complain if a part of the game is only there because it's cool and certain threads get lost in the shuffle by the end. I understand hoping for a little more, it just seems unfair to me. Anyway, Uncharted 3 isn't the revelation that Uncharted 2 was because of course it isn't, but it still manages a fun mix of shooting, jumping, and puzzle solving, it's still funny and exciting, and its big moments are still staggering in their technical complexity and ability to impress. If it's Naughty Dog's last Uncharted game, it's a great note to go out on.

2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC)


I played Oblivion for well over one hundred hours and called it my favorite game of 2006, so you know when I say that Skyrim is better in almost every way, I must really think something of it. It again captures the joy of exploring and getting to know an immensely large world, but improves on pretty much everything about that experience. Skyrim is a land with an intriguing history and sense of culture, and it's absolutely filled to the brim with cool stuff to do. There are six major questlines all with their own little twists and wrinkles, and their stories are generally much more interesting than what you'd find in the earlier games. There's more side stuff to do, and the basic experience of finding a dungeon and then raiding it for all of its treasures is more fun and less repetitive. If there's one thing the game doesn't do as well, it's come up with individual quests that feel as special at certain memorable moments. But the overall feeling of playing the game for many, many hours is undeniably superior.

1. Portal 2 (Multi)


I said Portal 2 was my favorite game of this generation of hardware, and I stand by it. It's just the right length, with its story mode being a significant chunk of content lasting just the right length, and the co-op being a meaningful addition. The puzzles are just as mind-bending as before, relying less on reflexes and more on your ability to think through a problem, and having plenty of new tricks and elements to keep things fresh the whole time. The story is funny and intelligent, expertly told in ways both direct and indirect, with well-written dialogue being superbly delivered by the small voice cast and the environment being carefully crafted to tell you everything about Aperture you'd ever want to know without saying a word. It's just the best example of both good game design and good execution of that design on this list, and it's my favorite game of the year.

Battlefield 3

Since Battlefield 2 was released in 2005, the series has seen plenty of games get released, but it is only now that we're getting a new numbered one. Battlefield 3 seems to be both a return to the series' roots, and also a culmination of the changes it's gone through since 2 came out. It combines a lot of the strengths of the original games with some of the improvements by offshoots like Battlefield: Bad Comapny, resulting in a product that seems like the end result of years of tweaking and experimenting, and is being positioned and marketed to take on big bad Call of Duty for leadership in the modern military shooter market. I don't think 3 will do better than its competition, but at least it's a pretty fun game.

Originally, Battlefield was all about online multiplayer, allowing up to 64 players to split up into teams and take each other on in huge maps filled with a variety of outdoor locations, peppered with various structures for hiding in and vehicles to drive. The first game took place during World War II, but the second main release brought things to the modern day and added in squads, which allowed for closer teamwork and a more direct sense of having a goal in these gigantic marathon battles. The online in 3 is pretty much like this, though they've taken a number of additions from the Bad Company games like more frequent and incremental unlocks rather than getting a new weapon every once in a while, and the Rush mode which can be a nice breather from Conquest. The game feels more up-to-date than Battlefield 2, with some streamlining in effect like the removal of a commander for each army and the paring down of the number of available classes, and a more rewarding progress system without any of the annoyances of other popular contemporary features like kill streaks that unfairly reward players that are already better. Yes, players who have played for a long time are going to have better guns, but it doesn't seem significant enough to really impact gameplay.

I haven't sunk more than a few hours into the multiplayer, but it definitely seems to live up to the legacy its predecessors cemented in my mind of being one of the most fun online shooters on the market. Some technical issues still need to be worked out, but the Battlelog web browser is a quick way to look up stats and other players, customize your options, and find matches, and the actual in-game stuff runs pretty well. If there's one thing that might impede the gameplay slightly, it's actually the quality of the graphics. On one hand they're very impressive, but on the other I'm wondering if the fidelity of the animations and lighting actually prevents me from spotting and taking on opponents in a timely manner. It's possible I just continue to suck at games, but more than once I felt that I would have been better served if the environment around the enemy wasn't so nice looking. There's also a co-op mode, which I haven't tried yet. It seems to remix encounters from the single player campaign, but I don't know how interested I am in that when the regular online is so consistently engaging.

Speaking of the single player, those graphics might be their greatest asset. Whatever flaws the story mode might have, at least it looks really nice while you're experiencing it. I can't really recall an experience that convinced me better that I was actually in a war zone, and it would have been better if I wasn't constantly staring at the back of someone else's head with the word "follow" written over it. From what I can tell, I might be one of the only people who really enjoyed the campaign at all. Its one cardinal sin in my mind is that it almost entire fails to take advantage of the fact that it's the campaign for a Battlefield game. For all their faults, the Bad Company campaigns felt like they belonged in the world of Battlefield. Encounters took place in relatively open areas, and could play out in a number of ways. You frequently had full control of vehicles and a couple decisions to make about how approach a situation. Battlefield 3's campaign plays like a Call of Duty campaign almost exactly. There are no sections with respawning enemies, but you're generally led from set piece to set piece, watching some cool things happen, taking part in relatively static battles, and once in a while getting to use a vehicle to experience something slightly different, but only in one mission do you really feel like you have much control. It's not that any of the missions were spectacularly bad, I just don't see how they benefited from taking this course of action. There were even specific dramatic story moments that felt extremely similar to moments from past Call of Duty games. I generally had fun playing the campaign, but there was something ultimately disappointing about it. And if DICE doesn't actually make a sequel to Mirror's Edge with this engine like they were clearly teasing at a certain point, I'll be kind of upset.

How you feel about Battlefield 3 sort of depends on what you want out of it. The campaign seemed to lack a certain something for most people, and if you were hoping for it to be something special you might be let down. But Battlefield has always been a series with a focus on multiplayer, and I know plenty of people will dive into that without even taking a single look at the single player. And I think from my experience with the online, it's certainly a worthy follow-up to Battlefield 2, maybe not overhauling the experience but refining it and making sure not to ruin it. As someone who enjoys a solid six hours of action and thinks the series does online firefights as well as any, Battlefield 3 isn't exactly a revelatory experience, but it's definitely one that I think was worth the investment. Even if having to download Origin to do so was kind of annoying.

Battlefield: Bad Company

This game is a few years old at this point, but I enjoyed the campaign of the sequel enough that I decided I would eventually check it out, which is what I ended up doing. Obviously the series is still best known for its multiplayer, and it seems kind of silly to check out an old game best known for its online with a sequel and probably not many people left playing it, But I'm kind of a silly guy and the game was pretty cheap. The campaign features seven fairly lengthy missions, and places you again (or for the first time) in the role of Preston Marlow, new recruit of Bad Company. It's the same core cast and voice actors and the sequel, and they're a fun group of guys to shoot at evil Russians with, fun enough that I could overlook some of the game's weird quirks.

Bad Company 2 did a fair number of things to set itself a bit apart from the standard Call of Duty formula for games about shooting guys, allowing for a variety of approaches to certain situations and heavily featuring the series' trademark of lots of vehicles and special equipment you can actually use yourself. It was still a heavily guided and checkpoint driven shooter though, and had instances of the game forcing you onto rails and frequently pulled you out of gameplay to advance the story. Bad Company on the other hand is almost a complete oddity as far as single player campaigns work, feeling very rooted in the series' origins as a multiplayer only experience. There are cut scenes at the beginning and end of missions and moments where the game glues you to one spot for some exposition, though until near the end the plot never goes beyond feeling like a less random version of playing an online match, as the person in charge tells your squad to go here and do this and then go there and blow up that. Some standards of the genre just aren't there like they are in the sequel - instead of automatically regenerating you have a health bar, although it's functionally pretty similar since you always have a recharging needle you can inject yourself with to heal up. Instead of the standard two guns and a few grenades, weapons work more like the class kits from the online - you can have one with a time, and they all come with either an explosive attachment, a few grenades, or a side arm.

The way death is handled is especially odd - if you fail a specific objective you might be reset to a checkpoint, but otherwise getting killed just causes you to respawn nearby, with all of the things you've done in the mean time still accomplished. Bioshock had a similar system, although that game explained the concept in the story, while in Bad Company it just feels like another way that a multiplayer team was still figuring out how to do a campaign mode. If one enemy sees you then all of the ones in the area seem to know where you are automatically, and you just march from location to location on a constantly expanding map, killing dudes who get in your way, driving tanks or jeeps you find, and blowing up things that need to be blown up. The game's big addition to the franchise is the ability to destroy the walls of buildings you come across, which is effective at exposing stubborn enemies who just hang out behind them and also adds to the tension of trying to escape from an enemy tank. It's kind of disappointing though how you can never truly destroy a structure like in Red Faction: Guerrilla - the walls can be blown away, but those support beams are completely rigid. It adds a little fun to the game's sandbox, although it's sort of a fleeting thrill.

Sandbox is a good word to use when talking about this game, which often feels like the developers just decided to give you a bunch of tools to play with and loosely tied them together with simple mission objectives and brain dead computer opponents. It's not really open world, because most of the map is locked off at the beginning of a level, and the levels aren't connected, but I think sandbox is evocative. Most of the areas look really similar - peaceful European forests and meadows, overrun with roads connecting cookie cutter bases made of small buildings surrounded by dozens of easily destroyed barrels filled with explosive material. It's not exactly creative, but it works, and it's fun to tool around with your buddies, listening to them butt heads and crack jokes while you call in air strikes and launch rockets. The biggest mistake the campaign probably makes is having you go it alone for most of a mission near the end. It's kind of a quirky game with not a lot of attention paid to certain aspects of it, but I ended up enjoying it about as much as the sequel in some ways. There's enough weapon variety to make finding a new one an exciting moment, and it does a good job of training you for the multiplayer, which I didn't bother trying because I'm sure there are no PS3 players at this point, but I'm sure is as fun as the series always is. I was sort of dismayed recently by a producer on the upcoming Battlefield 3 speaking out against that kind of sandbox design. I'm all for seeing what DICE can do with a COD-style tightly focused experience, but I think there's definitely merit to giving the player more freedom, and there's definitely plenty of people who will tell you the series' current brand of online, with dozens of players doing whatever they want in an attempt to win a battle, is a total blast. I guess we'll see what direction they end up taking it.

Best Games of 2010

2010 was almost a lost year when it comes to these lists, because for about two thirds of it I didn't have much spending money to actually check out new stuff. I ended up with some lists I'm happy with though, even if I would have liked to have some more candidates available to get on. This list of games is pretty heavy on the first part of the year when I was actually getting paid, but it was a strong enough period that I'm comfortable saying these are all definitely worth playing.

Best of 2010

8. Shantae: Risky's Revenge (DSi)


The download-only sequel to the Game Boy Color cult hit seemed to get into a lot more hands, if only because it was on a system people were actually still using. The game's not perfect - I wish it had been just a tad meatier in terms of truly compelling stuff to do, but the dungeons that are there are fun, the platforming is solid, and the art and dialogue are completely charming. A fun, quick adventure.

7. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Multi)


I don't know if Call of Duty purists will ever allow Treyarch to think they made a game better than what Infinity Ward could do, but they managed their strongest effort to date with Black Ops. The campaign managed to avoid most of the series' traditional pitfalls and had an enjoyable if completely over the top story leading you from gun fight to gun fight. And judging by the fact that my brother is still playing the online almost nightly, I'd say they did a good job with that part as well.

6. Costume Quest (Multi)


Much like Shantae, Costume Quest is a game that could have probably used more content but was still pretty delightful while it lasted. The combat was simple but rewarding, and the adventure elements were clever without being obtuse. Add Double Fine's continuing excellence in the field of funny dialogue that actually amuses, and it's certainly worth a download.

5. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Multi)


If this year was any indication, DICE is going to have a hard time ever making a game that really surpasses Call of Duty's stranglehold on the hardcore modern shooter market. But those who played it liked it a lot, both for the multiplayer which nicely translates the grand experience from the PC to a slightly smaller scale, and the campaign, which while a bit sloppy, is also in some ways a lot more interesting than the chain of scripted events that has come to define the genre.

4. Heavy Rain (PS3)


Heavy Rain is a very polarizing game, and for good reasons. If you don't like quick time events you'll never get into it, and the plot really goes off the rails by the end. But it's also amazingly well presented, the kind of thing that designers with respect for actual story structure could do a lot with. Heavy Rain provided some of the most tense and thrilling sequences I played through all year, and I didn't have to kill hundreds of people to do it. If nothing else, it's a very interesting game.

3. Darksiders (Multi)


Darksiders is a game I wish we saw more of, something that came out of a true place of creative inspiration (even if it was a silly one) rather than a board room meeting trying to figure out what the kids are into these days, while still having the look and polish of a large budget title. The combat was imperfect but enjoyable, and the puzzle-filled dungeons were some of my favorites in a game in years. There, you see? You can write about Darksiders without mentioning Zelda.

2. God of War III (PS3)


I was surprised to see a number of people recently express disappointment at how this game turned out. God of War has always been about pairing bloody, over-the-top hack and slash action with light puzzle solving and platforming in a pretty game engine, and this game's PS3-backed visuals and new twists on the old ideas meant that it did them better than ever before. What were they expecting? God of War III is awesome.

1. Red Dead Redemption (Multi)


Grand Theft Auto IV was acclaimed upon its release but then seemed to leave a lot of bad will behind afterward, which is why it was impressive seeing how many people said that Red Dead made up for it. It has the best shooting in a Rockstar game to date, and the setting is one of their best realized as well. Add a truly likable protagonist at the center of maybe their best story, and Redemption has a real case as the company's best game ever. Add the best ending all year, and it's a heck of a product.

Notable Exception

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Multi)

I started playing this last week, and while it sort of feels like just more of the second game, that game was also sort of awesome, so I'm having a pretty good time. I haven't played nearly enough of it to put it on the list, but the campaign's potential along with how interesting the multiplayer looks makes me pretty sure it would have made it if I had. I just hope they don't keep pumping these out and make it tiring.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

I've been a fan of the Battlefield series, but as an online shooter and not a single player experience. I skipped the first Bad Company, so I came into the second game's campaign knowing very little about the story and cast other than a few fairly funny videos about the main squad. That core team of four guys make up the single player's strongest element, as they make their way through a mission that has its moments, but ultimately comes off a bit clunky compared to its direct competition by choice, the Modern Warfare games. It's clear from cracks they take at Activision's series both in the game and in the promotional material that beating them is what they're going for, so I think it's fair to compare them directly. Having spent some time with the online, I think Battlefield still has the edge with multiplayer, though they haven't toppled Infinity Ward in single player design or execution just yet.

In some ways, I do prefer the slightly different pace and feel of Bad Company's combat. Instead of distinctly splitting you between forced quiet missions and all out battles with crap constantly exploding around you, it feels more organic, as you move from place to place, coming across enemies here and there, sometimes with the opportunity to pick them off quickly before it becomes an all out firefight. The shooting seems more dynamic, you aren't constantly being fired on so there's opportunities to try to take an objective from a different angle and experiment with weapons. And there's quite a few set piece moments, often involving vehicles that you're either allowed to drive yourself or being controlled for you as you have to fend off some enemy. They're clearly trying to top Modern Warfare in some places, doing things like making fun of snowmobiles during a race on quad bikes and giving you more control over the same equipment used during one of the other series' more talked about moments. Even the final moment seems to be saying "take that!", making something more climactic by having you do it while falling from an airplane.

The sad thing is it's not generally problems with the design that make it inferior to Modern Warfare, it's little issues with execution. The checkpoints aren't very good, as the most difficult sections will often take place several minutes after the last one occurred, forcing you to see the same stuff too much if you screw up once during a difficult encounter. There's also something weird about how the game handles reloading after you die, as it often seems like several seconds of action have taken place since the place where the checkpoint actually happened. Certain scripted events are forced on you and easy to bug out, like you'll go somewhere you weren't supposed to, see a soldier that you physically can't kill, and then realize he was placed there for a squad mate to take care of while you watch once you get close enough. Your team members will often just stand around instead of sticking with you, and then they'll teleport in front of you when you get to the next area. And there a few gimmicks through the campaign that only show up once, and they tend to feel sort of half baked without adding a ton to the normal shooting, which is fun enough on its own.

The story is standard fake military stuff with a bit of a sci fi twinge, as the driving force of the plot is a special weapon developed in World War II that sounds like something out of War of the Worlds and could bring untold destruction to the world in the wrong hands. It's enjoyable because of the chemistry of the game's unique main characters. The player character is sort of vanilla, but the supporting cast is quite strong and often hilarious, including random conversations that can pop up in the game when you're not fighting someone, and they're just talking about whatever comes to mind. As expected from the Battlefield franchise, the sound is possibly its strongest element, from the voice acting to the great sound effects on the weaponry to the music. Guns sound different depending on what environment you're firing them in, and the ominous tones of the super weapon in the distance when you're near it are pretty effective in placing you there. The graphics aren't as good but they're competent, although I would have liked some more visual flair to go with the destructible environments. As it is, when you blow up a part of a building it often seems like it's just falling apart. I haven't talked much about the multiplayer, though the fact that I've played it more than once should tell you something. I don't like some things such as having to unlock basic equipment for the various dumbed down classes, but the core design is still the strong, entertaining structure I remember from Battlefield 2 that rewards teamwork and playing smart. I wouldn't quite call Bad Company 2 great, but it's sure a lot of fun.