19 replies to this topic

[Smacktalks]

What would you rate as your top 5 games of 2011?

#5 - WWE All Stars
Normally I wouldnt have a WWE game in my top five games of the year but I really enjoyed All Stars as it was really refreshing compared to the wrestling games that have been released in recent years.

#4 - Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 3
This is only really on the list due to single player as I havent played much of the multiplayer but I thought the single player was really good. Playing through Spec Ops with my mate has also been a good addition in place of Zombies.

#3 - WWE '12
As if one wrestling game wasnt enough WWE '12 makes my list as like All Stars it seemed really fresh this year with the new camera angles, create an arena, etc. I've probably played it more in the short time it's been out than I played any of the SVR games released on the 360 combined.

#2 - Batman: Arkham City
I dont think i've put as much time into a non-sports game as I have with AC, I enjoyed every minute of it and i'm hoping to see some new single player DLC released for it in 2011.

#1 - FIFA 12
Sure it's not the greatest game of 2011 but it's my far the game i've enjoyed most and put the most into on two consoles, especially since starting to play pro clubs with some of my old school mates. Best FIFA yet.

[CrossFan]

1. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
2. Catherine
3. Dragon Age II
4. Gears of War 3
5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
*I have not played Skyrim, Arkham City, or WWE 12 yet.

[Strum la Frantique]

5 - Batman Arkham City.
I still think they fucked it up and blew a big opportunity, but it's still a fun game and technologically excellent. Same rings true for Uncharted 3, but Batman has Batman, so it steals fifth by a cowl.

4 - Catherine
Proof that you don't need the greatest game ever to get noticed. A simple, addictive, and sometimes brutally ahrd puzzle game wrapped up in one of the strangest/greatest plots in a video game. A lesson on presentation to developers incapable of making AAA games, the middle market is still there and you can make huge cash, you just have to stand out.

3 - The Witcher 2
It was the best RPG till Skyrim hit. Infact there's a lot of parallels between the two games. Both feature inventory systems that are awful, for RPGs with so many items why was more attention not paid to the GUI? Both feature often awkward combat with sharp difficulty spikes. Both feature plots, characters and a world that makes all the problems go away. Just go along for the ride. I'm sure a lot more will when the 360 port comes out in 2012.

2 - Shadow of the Colossus HD and Oddworld Stranger's Wrath HD
They're both HD rereleases so it's a bit cheap to put them in two different spots. So good HD rereleases can have the second spot. These two games are proof that if time and care is taken, old games can seem new again. The HD remake of SotC completely changes the game from it's PS2 counterpart. Stranger Wrath HD features so many retextures and models, that while it doesn't quite bring the presentation up to modern day standards, it does make the old 2005 game very appealing on PS3 for a relatively cheap download. If only all remasters got the same attention these two games did.

1 - Skyrim
By a long mile too. Even people that don't like RPGs get into Skyrim. It can essentially be any game you want it to be, and every one of those games is fucking good.

[ALL STAR]

5 - Dark Souls
What can I say about Dark Souls it can be a game that can be ultimately frustrating and immensely satisfying all within a matter of minutes as death can hold the answer to your success. Each time you die especially in a new area you learn something new, that filling of exploration not knowing what is beyond lying in wait and one simple mistake keeps you on your toes.

4 - Deus Ex Human Revolution
The world, astmosphere and choice is what I enjoyed about this game plus you very rarely see this cyber punk style of game anymore. It felt refreshing jumping in to this richly crafted world, plus it's fun using an explosive magnum.

3 - Mortal Kombat
Simply the best fighter I've played in years, the combat system is back to the basic 2D and it just feels so good and responsive. The story mode is amazing, without a doubt the best story mode in a fighting game ever it blends cutscenes directly into the opening to each fight seamlessly.

2- Arkham City
While it lacks some of the atmosphere and tightly woven story of the first, Arkham City makes you feel like Batman. You have an open city to explore filled with a huge asortment of Batman rouge's gallery with stand out perfomances by Nolan North as the Penguin and Mr Freeze who is handled perfectly. The city is dripping with detail which is filled with secrets that fans of the comic's will appricate.

1 - Skyrim
It is hard to discribe just why Skyrim is so great without actually playing it, from the start you are placed in a world rich with lore and detail that just encourages you to explore. The main story quest is good but what makes the game really stand out to me is all the side stuff is good if not better than the main plot, nothing feels half assed. Skyrim is like your favourite meal you can just dig in and enjoy it.


Some notable mentions

Sonic Generations
Bulletstorm
Resistance 3

Games I still have to play/ finish
Portal 2
Uncharted 3
Space Marine
Rage

Edited by ALL STAR, 30 December 2011 - 01:54 PM.

[salizzle]

Fuck knows, most of the games I've played this year have been pretty shit.

Gears of War 3 is by far the worst, for being such a big game. Awful, awful, awful. I don't understand the praise it's getting.
Assassin's Creed: Revelations is boring, 3 games in 3 years is not what this franchise needs. Brotherhood was great, but this is tedious.
Batman: Arkham City is a decent game, but it's really not suited for the open world genre. At some points the game really doesn't like to let you know what you're meant to do, so I'm at a loss, running around a for a while, as I get annoyed.. Fun when you get it going though.

The only 2 games I'm sad I missed are Portal 2 and Dead Space 2. Both look to be great, and surpass their predecessors.

Battlefield 3 looks fantastic, I love the BF games but I don't have people to play with at the moment so I've basically given it a miss for now. I haven't started Skyrim yet as I want to finish of AC, Batman, MW3 and some others first. Uncharted 3 looks great, but I don't know if I actually want to play it yet... I went back and played the second not that long ago and I wasn't all that impressed coming back to it, so it kind of deflated my hype for the third.

FIFA 12 is awesome.
MW3 is pretty good, but why is it so fucking easy? I've been playing it now for 90min, I'm already 5 or so missions in and I've died about 10 times. It's not even challenging...

Yeah, what a pretty lackluster year for games.

[ALL STAR]

I thought Gears 3 was good but the single player drags way too much with the last half of the game being a chore, the multiplayer is great though a huge improvement over Gears 2.

MW3 is ok, there really isn't anything wrong with it but I just found it to be boring both the single player and the multiplayer, I haven't played the game since it came out the single player is decent but it pales in comparion to Black Ops and the multiplayer would be better if not for the shit maps and terrible spawn system.

[Aero]

Smacktalks, on 29 December 2011 - 11:04 PM, said:

#1 - FIFA 11
Sure it's not the greatest game of 2011 but it's my far the game i've enjoyed most and put the most into on two consoles, especially since starting to play pro clubs with some of my old school mates. Best FIFA yet.

fifa 11 was a 2010 game tho...

[Smacktalks]

FIFA 12*

[Chillalex]

1. Uncharted3
1+1 - Dead Space 2
2. Killzone3
3. Portal 2
4. Bulletstorm

Anything after uncharted 3 is in no particular order. I didn't really rate alot this year, but these are the ones that I can remember still. Killzone 3 was a great surprise, I didn't like 2 so much (cool controls.) but 3 felt like it addressed everything in that, and I had a good time with it. Very polished. Bulletstorm also, wasn't expecting much but it was actually quite nice to have something that had a bit of humour and didn't take itself so seriously.

But overall, Uncharted 3 was brilliant, I instantly started playing it through again once I'd finished. The scope of the stuff they are doing in that is unmatched. Admittedly its probably more the lure of the spectacle I appreciated more than the gameplay (which got a little repetitive at times)
Dead Space 2 I can't remember much about but I remember it was brilliant, and still had a great atmosphere. Good length too (although the end chapter(s) started to feel a bit arduous, and I hate when something unkillable is chasing you )

I know uncharted 3 probably gets a bit of flack and I can see why, but to me it was definitely better than 2, and managed to be more of the same. which is great.

[Aero]

im having bother enjoying uncharted 3, playing through it at the minute... i loved the first 2...

[ALL STAR]

Just been playing NBA Jam: On fire edition which is awesome, it would make my top 5 downloadable games of 2011.

[Smacktalks]

I didnt really get many Arcade games last year but of the ones I did get, Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light was my favourite. I think I picked it up in the deal of the week sale for around 400 MS Points. It mightnt be too great for single player but the puzzles were quite good when I playing Co-op online.

[ALL STAR]

I finally finished Uncharted 3 and honestly I wasn't that impressed by it. Mainly by the fault of the combat, the mechanics work but in some of the scenarios it feels like you are in a pit with enemies pouring in and there is just way to much shit going on and when you add in snipers and rocket launchers.

The ending was lackluster they found the city shit went down and then they escape, roll credits it just felt weak in comparison to the rest of the game. Still it's a good but Uncharted 2 is far better in almost every way. Quite glad Naughty Dog are working on something new now , it means they can return to this series later with fresh ideas.

[Chillalex]

Chillalex, on 06 January 2012 - 12:46 PM, said:

1. Uncharted3
1+1 - Dead Space 2
2. Killzone3
3. Portal 2
4. Bulletstorm

and lastly but not least, my number 5 would have to be crysis 2. Initially i thought it was disappointing - i could swear it was marketed as an open world NY - but once I'd played it properly, I thought it was great. Another from the uncharted school of thought with big set pieces and spectacles. Played through it many times now.

[Professor of Wrestling]

This one's hard for me, since I didn't get to play some key titles like Gears 3, WWE 12 or Deus Ex. But my top 5 would be:

1. Skyrim
2. Modern Warfare 3 (hate on it all you want, but of BF3 and MW3, MW3 is the only one still standing)
3. Assassin's Creed Revelations
4. Duke Nukem Forever (it's been a slow year for me lol)
5. Portal 2

It doesn't matter to me that I haven't played many games on 2012, Skyrim made up my lack of quality games

[Strum la Frantique]

Quote

2. Modern Warfare 3 (hate on it all you want, but of BF3 and MW3, MW3 is the only one still standing)

No. I can't let this just slip by me. There are plenty of people play BF3, and on all consoles. I don't, I hate the multiplayer FPS genre, I don't play MW3 either. I have one story though, I was at a friend's house who does play both, he's a PS3 owner so there would be less players on that than 360. He knows I don't care about either game and would rather play Donkey Kong than run around shooting literally the worst people on the fucking planet.

He was already playing MW3 when I arrived and that game is still, no matter what game type, just people circling a map shooting people that aren't looking at them. The only skill involved is being able to walk and look quickly so that no one takes you by surprise, but there is no firefights, no battle strategy, circle a map and pick off the people that are looking at you team mates circling the map. He put BF3 on, much to my dismay as I just wanted to go to the pub, I do not care the least. It was prime time Australia time, so America time it was early morning. There were plenty of players and plenty of games going on, shit loads.

What surprised me most was the actual strategy being used. People were organising flanking and holding positions in just a public, random people game. Circling the map was instant death, defense was bunkered. You had to make fronts, and push up the map. They had to talk to each other constructively, not just telling people to "shut da fuck faggot" (actual MW3 quote) because they wanted to game in peace and quiet.

BF3 is the better game, and plenty of people are playing it. Maybe you should give it a chance and stop circling fucking maps shooting people that aren't looking in your direction.

[salizzle]

I will jump in to say that the campaign in the Call of Duty games are always fun. MW3 might be the weakest yet, and there's a lot of times where shit happens but you don't have control, but hey, so does uncharted. Really fun campaign, battlefield 3? Heard it ain't that great.

Anyway, online is another ball game. I will never understand how people think spawning, running then either dying or killing is better than Battlefield. That game is the epitome of FPS multiplayer.

[Smacktalks]

I only bought MW3 for the story and the odd game online with mates, I cant stand the spawn/die multiplayer of public games.

BF3 seems better online pubicly, as from the games I played it seemed to be older gamers, so they didnt resort to just running about firing. If your playing in private games tho I think it's hard to pick a winner, both are very similar and play well when the maps arent full of people running all over the place.

[salizzle]

By private, you mean like a few friends then BF3 is not for you. I can't really comprehend how that would even work...

[Smacktalks]

With BF3 even tho it's a private game there's still around 15 of us playing. Obviously it doesnt work if there's only a few playing, whereas you can get away with that in MW3.