My top games of 2011

1. Batman: Arkham City – Who doesn’t like Bruce Wayne. Arkham City is basically Arkham Horror but with the ability to roam the streets of Gothom and experience
the open world in your quest to find a cure and to stop The Joker and Hugo Strange. Along the way if you bought the game new or bought the DLC you’ll get to enjoy a few missions as Catwoman there fun but not necessary in order to enjoy the overall game. Rocksteady refined the fighting mechanics and brawling couldn’t be easier and more fun. The story was very well told the various sub plots always kept me wanting to play. The challenge rooms are back and been updated. How many bad guys can you kill and how well can you use stealth. The real fun happens when you start new game plus mode where you start a new game but carry over all upgrades, gadgets you earned through the first play through and face tougher enemies. Overall I had a ton of fun, didn’t experience many issue with game and enjoyed a well written extremely polished game.

2. Gears of War 3 – This was my most anticipated game of the calendar year. It’s no secret that my love for this franchise and characters is out of this world.
Considering that this was the third game in the franchise. There were a lot of questions that needed to be answered in game and Karen Travis did an
outstanding job putting the story together. We found out where Chairman Prescott went, what happened to Adam Fenix and mostly importantly in my eyes the truth
about the Locust and why the E-Day happened. There was some new weapons in this installment The One Shot and Sawed off Shotgun and the roadie run, cover mechanics
where polished. The storyline was filled with up’s and down’s and cheers of joy and tears of sorrow throughout the game. The end of Act 3 without spoiling it
was one of the sadness moment’s I’ve had in a game and generally brought a tear to my eye, well more than a tear to be honest. I felt connected and joyful that
Delta squad finished what they had set out to do 6 years ago. Horde mode was refined and had added a tower defense element to it which is an unique addition that
makes the player think about what defenses to buy and what to upgrade in order to survive against the Locust. Any Gears fan knows how bad the multiplayer
was in Gears 2. Epic couldn’t just get it right in that game. Epic set out from the beginning to ensure this didn’t happen this time and it didn’t. Gears 3 moved
from player hosted to matches to dedicated servers, no more host advantage with the shotgun!. It’s Gears competitive multiplayer without issues which really
tickles my fancy. Also a good fun edition was Beast mode which allows you to play as the Locust in Horde mode. It’s genuinely a lot of fun to tickler and run
around and cause havoc!.

3: Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception – Another 3rd game in the franchise coming out this year and having to live up to the expectation’s set up by Uncharted 2: Among
Thieves is a really tall order and Naughty Dog was up to the challenge but didn’t deliver on exceeding those expectations. I’m not saying Uncharted 3 was a bad game at all, I’m just saying it wasn’t as good as Uncharted 2. Uncharted 3 started off really slowly for me and didn’t pick up until we hit the ship yard at that point I was questioning why we were in a ship yard and the relevance of these chapters were to the story. I got really hooked into the game once we were at the airport the action picked up, I was engrossed into the story. One of my biggest complaints about this game was the shooting mechanics they were horrid!. There was a patch to address these concerns but I was already 2/3rd’s through the game and I wasn’t completely convinced the patch had made a difference. I really enjoyed how Uncharted 3 ended which was for once wasn’t a boss battle. When Alana and Drake left together holding hands in Uncharted 3 I felt satisfied. I haven’t gotten
much time to sink into Uncharted 3 multiplayer but I have dug in and finished all the co-op missions with my dysfunctional guest writer DartAlbertIII (Scott). I
hope Naughty Dog continues and supports this mode and also looks at ways to incorporate more puzzles into the mix and stay true to the Uncharted franchise.

There were many other great games in 2011 and some titles worth mentioning are Resistance 3, Forza Motorsport 4, Killzone 3, Assassins Creed: Revelations, Alice: Madness Returns, F1 2011, Saints Row 3,Kinect Sports Season 2 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

It’s that time of year, time to discuss my favourite game of the year along with honourable mentions and biggest disappointment. But before I get into that, I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about how I came to decision and what criteria I used.

So to me game of the year represents the overall best complete package that a game has to offer. This includes everything from the menus, the graphics, the sound, the story, the multiplayer, the connection I have to the characters within the game, and I guess the best way to say it is how engrossed I am into the game. I must eat, breathe and think about the game and lastly what replay value does it offer. Things that shouldn’t be considered when tabulating your game of the year is number of copies sold, marketing budget and whether it is a console exclusive title. It shouldn’t matter that the game is on 1 platform or several. It’s all about the best game of 2009.

There truly was only one logical choice for Tehflakes.ca game of the year that is Uncharted 2:  Among Thieves. You can check out my review here.  Nathan Drake is the new James Bond and Laura Croft of the video game space. The plot twists alone will have you on the edge of your seat. Uncharted 2 doesn’t do a lot new but it does what it does better than anything out there right now. You can beat it on normal in about 10 hours and don’t worry you can replay the game and be sure to go and hunt for all the treasures. Had enough of the single player? Why not check out the co-operative levels or the new multiplayer. I know what you’re thinking great a new multiplayer but the team at Naughty Dog did a fantastic job with it. In the span of 2 days I played this game for almost 15 hours and if I didn’t have to work I would have probably played more. I still continue to hop on to get some multiplayer action when I can

Well it’s time for some honourable mentions that were under consideration for Game of the Year:

-          Batman Arkham Asylum

-          Assassins Creed 2

-          New Super Mario Brothers

Well I am certainly going to get some heat for this but Forza Motorsport 3 was probably my biggest let down of the year.  Don’t get me wrong it was a good game but the difference between Forza and Forza 2 was huge, that made think we would see Forza 3 turn out to be an epic game but it wasn’t. It felt more like Forza 2.5 with a good physics system. The track selection was boring, the menu system was awful, and just in general I found it boring. I really had a hard time staying focused and wanting to play it, it was a very different feeling compared to Forza 2.

Art done by Todd Lawson -Visit Todd’s site at www.toddlawson.com

Flakes and I looked back on all the games we’d played this year to see if we could pick a favourite.  Last fall we saw one of the busiest release seasons ever.  With so many great games it was hard to pick one winner.  Flakes and I ultimately couldn’t come to a unanimous verdict. 

Here then are our Top 2 Games of the Year.  We’ve put up a poll so that you can weigh in and cast your vote.  Who got it right: Flakes or Darth

Tehflakes’ GOTY:

Metal Gear Solid 4 – Playstation 3

Released earlier this year, it may not be the “savior” Sony Executives were hoping it would be, but it did help sell some PS3 consoles and did rank well in the sales charts. MGS4 was by far the best game both in the franchise and for the PS3 this year. The controls were “westernized” which added to the overall experience. The game play was very intense and challenging as Snake showed signs of old age. There was a lot of talk regarding the cut scenes, both good and bad. Overall, there were a lot of cut scenes that told the story and wrapped up the story brilliantly. Metal Gear Solid 4 can be summed up by saying you were treated to great game play and a fantastic cinematic experience.

DarthAlbert III’s GOTY:

Fallout 3 – PS3

With its expansive terrain, detailed stats building, in depth leveling system, and unique characters, Fallout 3 plays more like an excellent D&D quest than anything else.  You can go (almost) anywhere and do (almost) anything.  Want to kill the Sheriff of Megaton?  Do it!  Want to help survivors?  Go for it.  Want to extort them and kill them anyway?  Up to you.  But Fallout 3 is more than making decisions; it’s an epic moral battleground. 

I’ve played morality based RPGs before (Knights of the Old Republic is one of my favourite games) but Fallout 3 is the first game that has forced me to question my own morals and stray from the light.  In games like KotOR, there are clear distinctions between black and white, good and evil.  Also, there’s the knowledge that no matter what path you choose, you’ll still have plenty of money and allies to buy and fight your way out of trouble.  Not so in Fallout.  When wandering a post apocalyptic world can one afford to lose the credits he or she is offered for performing good deeds?  I walk the path of ultimate good (despite my name) in all morality based games.  At least, I did before Fallout.  Now, stealing a clip of ammo or hacking into a restricted computer could be the difference between life and death for my character.  Morals be damned, I’m surviving over here.

Yes, Fallout has great graphics and sound.  Yes, Fallout has engrossing environments and unique item systems.  Yes, Fallout has an amazingly laid out story with strong characters.  Fallout has all these things, but so do other games.  Fallout wins for me because it does what every videogame strives to do.  It firmly places the player in the shoes of the main character and creates an immersive, unbelievably realistic world where anything can, and will, happen.  I just can’t get enough.