I'm always the worst at these end-of-the-year things. However, I really like the concept of taking stock of the past 365 days and making the time to consider the stupid shit I got up to. At least that way, if I ever wonder what in the fuck happened to 2011, I can at least say, "oh, right. Video games." and have a pretty reasonable list of which digital moloch ate how much of my time.
Currently, it's in no particular order. Eventually, I don't know. Maybe I'll sort it in terms of perceived hours spent.
Also, hopefully/probably getting a PS3 this Xmas. So expect Dark Souls and Uncharted 2/3 to be added to this list.
Die2Nite, Blight of the Immortals and Jupiter's Folly all get honourable mentions, as well. They're browser-based games, so don't appear in the Giant Bomb wiki, but they're all extremely interesting experiences that heavily rely on interaction between players. They're shining gems amidst a vast sea of offal and shovelware.
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After having my interest in Bethesda games slowly wilt thanks to Fallout 3 and New Vegas leaving me cold, I was so, SO happy to see that the Elder Scrolls series was still alive in my heart.
Short of the terribly ill-advised boss fights, this game was nearly perfect. Yeah, the conversation animations were CRAZY-lookin', but the devs clearly understood that what we most want to do in a Deus Ex game, deep down in our heart's implant, is to knock people out and drag them into air vents, then hack into their computer and read their email. I loved the cyber-renaissance aesthetic, I loved the upgrades, I loved the gritty urban environments. I just loved this fucking game.
I have been a PC nerd for my entire life. It's a topic I've rambled on about more times than I can count. It takes a specific sort of experience to get me interested in other platforms. For the DS, it was the clutch of weird-ass RPGs Atlus had been churning out. And for the PS3, if I were perfectly honest with myself, it was hearing about Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. Sure, there were other console exclusives that snagged my attention: The Uncharted Series, 2011's Mortal Kombat game, Deadly Premonition even had me briefly considering an Xbox, too. In the end, From Software's batshit action-RPG/Masochism Machine was the clear motivation for wanting a PS3. I've pumped almost as much time into Dark Souls (in a fraction of the time) as I have Skyrim on the PC. For an Elder Scrolls fanboy like myself, that's saying volumes. I love the level design, with areas that curl in on themselves like a fist. I love the aesthetics, with inscrutible bosses and NPCs, a world that is cloaked in an effluvia of despair such that everything FEELS like it's taking place in a dungeon when in fact you can look up and see sky a solid 60% of the time, and a staunch lack of communication of quest goals that rewards risky moves and caution in equal measure. Plus, the constant-save system forces me ahead - there's no moment that I'm stuck compulsively reloading boss fights. Although, there is a fair bit of re-TRYING boss fights, but the game opens up in such a way that if I find myself absolutely stumped, there's always some other path, some other area, some new and demented locale or secret to seek out that I very rarely find myself hopelessly stymied for long. Even though I only had about six days to become acquainted with Dark Souls, it still ranks head-and-shoulders above most of my other gaming experiences in 2011.
Technically Origins should be included in this, but I went on a bender to finish every bit of Dragon Age content before DAII came out. Fat lot of good that did me, as after 3 hours of DAII I felt compelled to re-start Origins. Sigh.
Hands-down, my favourite RTS release in years. I love Starcraft II, I do. I totally look forward to the Heart of the Swarm, sure. There's something gloriously balletic about the brutality exhibited in the Dawn of War series that I still can't find in SCII. Plus, they updated Last Stand with Tau. I can only pray that Necrons might find their way in there.
I picked this up on December 30 on a whim. Friends were coming over to hang out for New Year's Eve. I was in the thick of listening to the Giant Bomb GOTY debate and this was on sale for Boxing Week. I picked it up figuring I'd get around to it in the new year. Instead, this was what we DID on New Year's Eve. Most of us are pushing 30, but it felt like my 12th birthday, with everyone making the slow progression from button mashing to specializing in a few characters. I don't think the PS3 turned off for two days as we all bonded over this graphic, insane video game that so perfectly captures the madness of the first three MK games. Ed Boon & co. should be so, SO proud of themselves.
Minecraft comparisons were a dime a dozen when this dropped. The only index I have for the two was that people claimed some transcendent realization of fun had germinated uniquely within Minecraft. I, on the other hand, could not see that fun for the trees. I mean, I enjoyed myself, but I never found that urge to dig until my fingers were sore and my mouse was busted. Soon as I had a purpose, like crafting some molten armour so I could gut the Eater of Worlds with impunity, I was absolutely hooked. That they keep adding more and more crazy shit to this game makes it an absolute joy to pop back in and dig like a maniac for a weekend. In a year that was full of amazing surprises, Terraria was one of the finest.
When I first booted up Dead Island, I quickly came to the conclusion that it was the game that I wanted Dead Rising to be. After revisiting Dead Rising 2 shortly afterwards, though, I'm not convinced that's quite what I mean. Zombie games have routinely been construed as action games, enough that Left 4 Dead's formula was almost perfectly reskinned as a heist game for Payday. And as much as I've found myself with a strange affection for Dead Rising 2, those combo weapons are just for laughs and PP, since nearly everything else is mostly an instakill. The only way Dead Rising was able to ratchet up the tension was through time restrictions. Dead Island's multiplayer scaled enough that there was a very present and shambling danger in nearly every encounter. The addition of Borderlands-esque coloured loot for item crafting was the necessary carrot to keep me chasing my way through the game. Admittedly, it gets wonkier as the game goes on, which is truly a shame, but hopefully Techland takes those lessons to heart and fully deliver the experience I'm dying for with the inevitable Dead Island II.
I was actually in the beta for this game. Yeah, there were signs that the game was going to have a rather disastrous launch. I couldn't get a multiplayer game to run to save my life. This didn't stop me from sitting friends down in front of my computer in the twilight of 2010 to mash out spells and explode ourselves in spectacularly wacky ways. I'm very pleased to see that Magicka didn't suffer the same fate that Elemental did and seems to have gone on to be rather popular. With the addition of PvP over the summer, this quickly became one of my favourite experiences on the PC, especially with a server full of chuckling, yelling friends.
My first Pokeman game. I never cared about the series when I was younger and I doubly don't care about the series as a grown-ass adult. But I got a DSi XL for Xmas in 2010 and figured I needed to see what the hype was about. Sweet jesus. If I were an eleven year old, Pokemon would have ruined my life. As it was, it still swallowed me whole for a month, at least. Once I got Victini and a couple of the "musketeer" legendaries, the lustre kinda faded and the grinding got way too tiresome. Will eventually finish it, I'm sure.