What makes a game worthy of "Game of the Year"? Is it how much time you can sink into the game? Does the game have to make you think beyond what the game itself is? Does it need to be frustratingly difficult but seriously rewarding when you overcome it? Does it just need to be functional and something you like? Is it quirk or spectacle or pretentiousness?
There's no right or wrong answer. There's only the opinion of the one making the judgment. That judgment will not be agreed upon by everyone, but it doesn't need to be. If anything, making this list opens your eyes to realize that this was a phenomenal year to be a gamer. There were so many quality games (especially in the last half of the year) that it will be difficult for anyone to honestly make a 100% perfect list of the best games to come out this year.
As with all my yearly lists, this cannot be a comprehensive list. I don't own a PS3, so I don't have PS3 games on here. If I did, I'm sure Uncharted 2 or LittleBigPlanet2 or something else might show up. They don't. I'm sorry. These are the 25 games that I personally played this year which made me stand up and applaud.
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I cannot do it. I cannot find the words that need to fill this space in order to explain and justify to anyone why Bastion is my Game of the Year. I have typed at least twenty different paragraphs over the last few weeks trying to explain it, and every time I do, I find that there is way too much to say. While every other game I played this year that appears on this list was fun and engrossing and a prime example of what good game development should be, Bastion was the one game that actually latched into me beyond just being a fantastic and well-made game. Beneath all the cool little gimmicks of a narrator explaining every move you make like he's unfolding a story at a campfire and how the world literally forms at the base of your feet with every step, there's a great fiction and incredible levels of allegory and philosophy that kept me thinking about the game and what it is saying long after the end credits. With every arrow you fire and every swing of your hammer (if those are the weapons you choose, mind you), the narrator Rucks is laying down the tragedy of this world and its denizens. By the time you reach the choice you need to make at the end, you have been run through an emotional tour-de-force, and the decision you must make is heavy-handed either way. Yet again, here's another paragraph trying to explain my fascination with this game. I don't care if people think it's not the right choice. I don't care if they disagree. This is my list, and this is my Game of the Year.
Absolute, utter, insane ridiculousness does not necessarily guarantee that a game like Saints Row The Third will see the top ten of a "Best of 2011" list. However, the way that everything marries together and goes whole-hog while still showing the restraint necessary to keep the comedy fresh and appealing is a stroke of genius on Volition's part. It's telling that an open world in an interactive medium can still hold the proper timing and pacing that is necessary for comedy to work well. The writing, the characters, the environment, the game design - everything about this game pushes boundaries, sets new standards in its genre, and generally makes me want to play more Saints Row: The Third.
Skyrim is no pushover, not by any stretch of imagination in either you or me. This will likely be the Game of the Year choice for millions. That's great, because the game is well-deserving of it. Why didn't I put it in that slot? Despite the 50+ hours I've already put into the game, the level of depth that has been added on top of the already-familiar Elder Scrolls formula, the amazing depth of fiction... Despite all of that, Skyrim was just another open-world RPG to me. It's a fan-fucking-tastic open-world RPG, and it happens to be the only entry in the Elder Scrolls franchise that I actually like (flame-shield ON). It's a technical marvel, a stroke of genius on the part of Bethesda. However, after a couple weeks, it was just "the next Elder Scrolls" game, and there was at least one game I could think of that went above and beyond that call.
Dark Souls is inaccessible, exploitable, has frame rate issues in areas with heavy amounts of water, and promotes griefing in its online gameplay. Did you ever think you would hear those words before someone says "...and it's easily one of the best games this year because of almost all of it"? Sure, there's an incredibly deep level of character customization available to you and at least a hundred different things you won't get done in your first playthrough because you didn't know about it. However, that's kind of the brilliance of Dark Souls: it allows for players to go into a New Game Plus and still feel like it's a fresh and new game, even by the time you've gone through it four times already.
"This game came out in 2009". You're right. It did. However, Dominion DID launch in 2011, and that makes me feel justified in adding it to my list. Out of all the games I spent time with this year, League of Legends took the vast majority of it...and more money that I'd like to admit maybe. The new Dominion mode for LoL took the game from being a "DOTA clone" into the MOBA classifier that Riot helped invent, and it is fast-paced fun all-around. It's not just about pushing lanes anymore, and innovations in the genre like this are exactly why Riot is at the top of the MOBA world. Add in all the crazy and exciting champs that were released as well as the introduction of Season Two (with all its game-changing enhancements), and League of Legends continues to prove why free-to-play games are worthwhile endeavors.
I am unapologetic in my love for all things blood and gore. Dead Space 2 fulfilled that need multiple times over in just one playthrough, so it's probably telling that I did three playthroughs before I finally set it down to play other games coming out this year. The continued adventures of Isaac are an obsession of mine, and Dead Space 2 definitely ups the ante in both story and presentation. It was merely the start to a great year from EA.
Where Portal offered up a complex puzzle game rooted in physics with a minimalist story and one of the most interesting new characters in gaming in the past two decades, Portal 2 expands into an actual story with reason and purpose. It's still that physics-based puzzle game we all know and love, but there's more heart to it this time around. You don't just feel bad for Glados, the determined robot that wanted you dead in the first game. You want to see her succeed in her mission. The writing is even more biting and witty than the first, but the multitude of characters we meet make this world feel alive and meaningful rather than just "something that exists".
Ludicrous, loud, dirty, vulgar, juvenile, hilarious, disgusting, icky... This is Shadows of the Damned. Suda51 doesn't shy away from the words "over-the-top" here. The mixture of Japanese weirdness guaranteed that I'd fall in love with the game, and despite how short the story is or how wonky it feels to aim your gun at times, I still can't think of any game that presented me with more fun and laughs combined over the course of the year.
Before playing Alice: Madness Returns, I had to ask myself repeatedly "can I give this game a fair judgment?". Back when I was reviewing games, I ended up becoming something of a pen pal with American McGee about multiple topics, one of which was the hope for a sequel to his original PC-only game Alice. He talked about the changing climate of games and whether he'd be able to make the game he wanted. By the time we lost contact, he was in the middle of finding out that the movie for Alice was going to be lingering in development and his OZ project was getting the axe. Now, having played the sequel, I feel like American got to make exactly the game he wanted to without compromising very much at all. The game oozes with style and dread, but it's the way that Alice: Madness Returns really digs into the ideas of the human psyche and how far we will go to push memories out of our mind that really drives Madness Returns into my top ten list. Ya done good, American. Ya done real good.
People got upset over the controversy of Team Bondi, which may have hurt the reputation of this game in some ways. However, the game that Team Bondi developed and Rockstar published was an interesting mixture of adventure game, puzzle game, and action game that the mainstream could attach itself to. The most impressive piece of L.A. Noire, however, lies in its facial animation. The actors of the game were capable of giving what felt like REAL performances in a game, then translate those so seamlessly into an interactive experience. Unfortunately, the game pretty much only holds up for one playthrough, and the DLC was a little hit-and-miss. Still, it was an undeniable powerhouse in 2011.