2011 was a pretty strange year for me in terms of gaming. I feel like I’d played much less games than previous years despite the large number of releases and most of the titles I was playing were the games I had missed in 2010/2009. Ahh… the never-ending pile of shame!
Choosing just 5 games was actually a lot harder than I expected. Child of Eden, Outland and Lego: Pirates of the Caribbean are a couple of the games I really enjoyed but they didn’t quite make the cut. But without further ado, here is my favourite games of 2011:
#5 Batman: Arkham City
Nananananan BATMAN! I was a big fan of Arkham Asylum and eagerly awaited this release. Arkham Asylum is one of the best Xbox 360 titles I have ever played so Arkham City had a lot to live up to. That didn’t stop it being one of my top 5 games of the year though. Far from it! Any game that lets you punch a shark in the face is good in my books.
It’s a really well made, theatrical and fun game. One of my favourite aspects was that The Batman universe was as rich as it’s predecessor and featured many more characters from the comic book series including Hugo Strange and the Penguin. I just wished they’d added a way to skip the boring Cat Woman sections and halved the number of Riddler trophies.
#4 From Dust
This was a game I worked on so maybe I could be a tad bias, but I still think it’s awesome! From Dust is the latest creation from Other World creator Eric Chahi. It’s a god game on the Xbox Live Arcade in which you control the land to help a tribe people set up villages on each set of islands. It can be incredibly difficult and frustrating at times, but the sense of achievement you feel upon completing a level is worth it – especially once you reach some of the later levels. The story itself isn’t very long, but the difficulty curve will make you take your time. Also, there is a collection short challenges to complete once you have beaten the story, which although each is small, can really kick your ass.
Also the tribes people look a bit like they have Doritos for faces.
#3 Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
This was a surprise entry for me. I’ll be honest and say that handheld gaming didn’t really appeal to me much last year. Yes, even with the launch of the 3DS. Handhelds were always my way to deal wiht public transport, and lately, I’ve not been using it. It’s sadly simple, but it’s true. Commuting was my handheld gaming time, but I digress…
I was very interested in Ghost Trick after seeing the trailers and previews/reviews earlier in 2011, (and my colleague, @MrMonkeyHat, highly recommending it) but didn’t pick this one up until the week after Christmas. It was one of those titles that started off a bit strange then left you utterly hooked. I finished it within just a few days, even though a few of the puzzles were particularly difficult. it’s a wonderfully quirky little game and something that deserved much more attention than it was given last year. I don’t want to give too much away about this one, so if you want to know more, I’d suggest picking up a copy!
#2 Portal 2
The story contained as much black humour as the first game and even though I’m definitely not a fan of Stephen “plays the same character in everything” Merchant, the addition of Wheatly didn’t make me want to frisby the game disk out the window. The addition of the gels really added another level to the puzzles and were great fun – go on, I know you spent at least 10 minutes covering that room in white goo. (Oooh matron!)
I was dubious of the co-op element of Portal 2. The story I knew would be excellent if the story-telling in the first game was anything to go by, but the co-op seemed unnecessary. Well, that was how I felt until I actually played it! As always, my co-op partner and fellow mischief-maker @fantaman joined me, as we went about testing GLaDOS’ warez and generally griefing each other. I don’t think I was prepared for how fun the co-op game play was in Portal 2, now it is by far one of my favourite multiplayer games.
#1 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
As a huge fan of the Fallout series and someone who really could not get on with the past Elder Scrolls games, I was wary of Skyrim at first. Everything I saw of the game before launch made me salivate, but was I ready for another Elder Scrolls disappointment? Evidently I wasn’t as it’s my favourite game of 2011! Perhaps it’s not the prettiest, most intelligent or unique game that released last year, but it is definitely something special. It tickled that Fallout fangirl inside me, dressed her up in cardboard armour and gave her a wooden sword, and told her to go play Dungeons and Dragons. OK, I’m not sure where I was going with that, but I adore Skyrim. It took me in and ruined my life for a few months and is the gift that keeps giving. No seriously, why wont it stop giving me missions!? I’m on a break from it at the moment as I really should get on top of my Pile of Shame before Mass Effect 3 comes out.
So there you have it, my top 5 games from last year. What’s your top 5 games? Post them in the comments below.
