2011 in review.

[Spoon E11]

As 2011 winds down in its gaming year. What do you think of the games it has brought us.

One word to sum up my experience: Disappointment.

While 2011 has had a huge amount of AAA releases this year with some great titles like Skyrim & Archam City. It sure has had it's downsides.

Battlefield 3 disappointed me personally quite a lot this year. Coming from a Bad Company background I somewhat expected to to be more like that, on bigger maps with more vehicles. However, I think they made it a little too big maps. It doesn't have the same pace for me. Admittedly that's a personal preference but it's still game breaking for me at least.

Homefront came out earlier this year with some great premise. But instead it came out with nothing new and other FPS franchises did everything it did but better. Additionally the servers were piss poor and playing with your friends was close to impossible. One thing however that was unique and good was the kill streak mechanic. With a battle-points system that carried over from when you died, it meant that you could play the objective and die frequently while still massing good amounts of kill streaks.

Skyrim however has got a great open world with large amounts of side quests and other miscellaneous things to do. This is largely what makes this game great. The amount of detail poured into this world. This game has done Bethdesa proud and I love it.

So there are a few examples of games this year. What have you been playing from this year's releases? Have you been met with the same disappointment that I have? or have you had an entirely different experience?

 

[distortedreality]

2011 has been great, apart from the hit it has put on my wallet.

 

[MisterShine]

As 2011 winds down in its gaming year. What do you think of the games it has brought us.

One word to sum up my experience: Disappointment. AWESOME.

Fixed that for me.

Sure, plenty of letdowns this year, of various kinds (Brink, Duke Nukem, Dragon Age 2, Portal 2..)

But so many fantastic games that would've been pretty easily GOTY over the past couple years.. Plus, we got a real sequel to Deus Ex, a new Elder Scrolls that was better than Oblivion, Witcher 2, Shogun 2... Great year overall.

 

[EzraPound]

Portal 2, L.A, Noire, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Skyrim, Arkham City and Skyward Sword were all good--Portal 2 in particular--and on the indie side, Limbo and the Minecraft Alpha keep giving.

. . .So not a bad year in total, though it's no 1998.

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

Portal 2, L.A, Noire, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Skyrim, Arkham City and Skyward Sword were all good--Portal 2 in particular--and on the indie side, Limbo and the Minecraft Alpha keep giving.

. . .So not a bad year in total, though it's no 1998.

Add Dark Souls, Witcher 2, Rayman: Origins, and another excellent Forza game and you've got a great set of releases.

You know it's a good year when you have no idea what'll be nominated for GOTY because so many great games came out.

 

[Zeh Don]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Terraria, Dark Souls, etc.

This year was one of the best years for gaming in history. And then Call of Duty 8: Modern Warfare 3 had to come along and ruin it, haha. I kid, I kid.

 

[Amnestic]

The games I've bought so far this year (by release date):
January: Mass Effect 2
February: Killzone 3
March: Pokémon Black+White, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
April: Portal 2
May: Terraria
June: Operation Flashpoint: Red River, Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 (Guilty pleasure, shut up ;p)
July: -
August: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
September: -
October: -
November: Saints Row the Third
December: N/A

There were many more [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_in_video_gaming] games that came out this year which I want but haven't bought yet. Skyrim's going to wait until I get my new PC sorted for Christmas, Sonic Generations for when I finally get off my ass and buy a USB hub for a gamepad, Warhammer Space Marine when it drops in price a bit, ditto for Catherine...and more which I can't be arsed to name right now.

In short? No, I'm not disappointed by this year. That was only this year's releases too. I went back and clocked a good hundred plus hours on Fallout: New Vegas and picked up some other older titles along the way.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Well, I've only played a few new releases so I can't really judge.

Spoiler: What I can say, however, is that 2011 saw the release of the greatest line of DLC for a game ever in my opinion!

 

[Zhukov]

It's been alright. Some nice games, but nothing I'd consider truly great or mind blowing. Certainly not a bad year though.

Ah well, they can't all be winners. Roll on 2012 I guess.

 

[Ectoplasmicz]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Terraria, Dark Souls, etc.

This year was one of the best years for gaming in history. And then Call of Duty 8: Modern Warfare 3 had to come along and ruin it, haha. I kid, I kid.

I was waiting for somebody to mention terraria! I was hooked on that game, ate many hours of my life.

OT: I wouldnt say this year has been dissapointing, just look at all the games mentioned previously, and you can see it has been a very good year in gaming on most fronts.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Well, the only games I own from this year are Catherine and Gears of War 3, both of which are pretty good, so... It was a good year, I guess? I don't really play/purchase many brand new games.

 

[Aiedail256]

I can't agree. Here's some of what came out just this freaking month:
Sonic Generations
Uncharted 3
Modern Warfare 3
Skyrim
Super Mario 3D Land
Minecraft (full)
Assassin's Creed Revelations
Halo Anniversary
Ultimate MVC3
Rayman Origins
Saints Row the Third
Shinobi 3DS
Skyward Sword

I actually haven't played any of these games yet (shut up, I'll catch up after the new year T_T), but I've heard enough about them to know that they're pretty much all awesome.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Homefront had a great premise? If you say so...

Um...latest rehash of Avernum came out (at least for Macs)...have to see if I can get the older version to work, but Exile3 was still the best.

 

[Amnestic]

Homefront had a great premise? If you say so...

It could've been a memorable game, touching on many issues facing society, the sorts of lines that people are willing to cross to retake their country, and whether they'd indeed be justified in doing so if the alternative is actually better for "The People".

You know, if they hadn't treated the invading force like caricatures and if the game didn't have all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face.

 

[agentorange98]

This was a far superior year to prior ones, we saw Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Alice the Maddness Returns, LA Noir, Saints Row the Third, Skyrim, Skyward Sword, Batman Arkham City all sorts of great and innovative titles, I mean yeah we had Duke Nukem Forever, Homefront, and least we forget Mindjack and there was Shooter season which was more predictable then anything else (Multiplayer oriented repeat franchises with no innovation at all) or uninspired (Rage and Bulletstorm) but overall taking sweet and sour together I'd say this was a damn good year for games.

 

[Badong]

2011 has been kind to me: I got my first honors award, my first airsoft gun, multiple awesome games, and a beast of a laptop. I've also put on quite a bit of muscle on me.

The only downside is my fractured sanity, and the fact that I have to keep on lying about a heart problem to hide the fact that I almost killed myself using cyanide.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Homefront had a great premise? If you say so...

It could've been a memorable game, touching on many issues facing society, the sorts of lines that people are willing to cross to retake their country, and whether they'd indeed be justified in doing so if the alternative is actually better for "The People".

You know, if they hadn't treated the invading force like caricatures and if the game didn't have all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face.

That's true...but they also said that it was North Korea conquering the US, and that it was super realistic, really. Got some supposed expert to say that the US is at threat of EMP weapons as well.

 

[AyreonMaiden]

I was sorely disappointed in LA Noire. It was the opposite of what I wanted, but then I realized that I'm more into neo-noir than I am true film noir. A purely personal problem.

Also disappointed in Skyrim...I played it for 17 hours, halted for Skyward Sword (which I beat and am so in love with) and...I still have no desire to return to it. I remember thinking to myself back when I first played a Nord in Morrowind "It'd be SICK to have a game in Skyrim." and it turns out that...Skyrim's really insipid. Maybe I just need more time with it. Maybe I need to separate the hype from my experience? I dunno, but either way, no desire to play Skyrim in the least.

Besides that, a phenomenal year for games. Skyward Sword, Catherine and Deus Ex: Human Revolution are having a battle royale for my Game of the Year, but I'm inclined to just say those three games are my GoTYs and not just give it to one.