Forums → Games → The ChillzMaster and 2011 in Gaming-1,000th Post
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Well that was definitely a fun time. 2011 will most certainly go down as one of the highest-quality years in Gaming History. Now that the year's said and done, Your Friendly Neighborhood Game Sage Satanist feels it necessary to address a few key moments and games that made 2011 such an awesome year for all of us.
Best Use of Multiplayer
By "Best Use of Multiplayer" I reference how the game utilizes the connection between many different players to create a unique and fun experience, quality increasing in increments proportionately to the number of participants.
IF you didn't get the hint right there, I'm giving the award to Battlefield 3's Rush Mode. Bad Company 2 wasn't lying a year ago, Battlefield was going to Define Online Warfare.
One team is charged with the duty of destroying two objectives so the map progresses and eventually ends with sweet, sweet, victory. The other is to hold their position, killing enough enemies that their tick counter runs out and are forced to retreat, earning sweet, sweet, victory. Aiding your team is a collection of vehicles. Oh, standard affair, Tanks, Helicopters, and, well... you know... JETS. With 24 or 64 player matches on beautifully-crafted-and-totally-destroyable maps living in the most powerful engine out there, Frostbite 2, Rush Mode is the standout multiplayer feature this year.
Worthy Mentions:Modern Warfare 3's Survival Mode, Dark Souls in general, the Skyrim modding community, Catherine's conversation-sparking pie-charts
Most Innovating Innovation In 2011
The Innovating Innovation Award is given to the game that does something so new that works so well it deserves recognition and demigod-esque worship.
It was a tough fight against L.A. Noire's interrogations and Frozen Synapse's entire gameplay concept, but in the end, the artsy game won the artsy gamer's heart.
Bastion's omnipresent narrator, a character who narrated various portions of the game sets a very unique tone to the very unique game. When HighFire and I traverse across these forums and state our opinions quite vocally to the masses on the Armorgames forum, we donât mean to be trolls or haters. Weâre attempting to explain that Games can have cohesive Story and Gameplay to create the better game. The example I always come back to is this game, even when games like Mass Effect exist, this premier title from Supergiant Games has proven the sheer power of the Games Industry.
This is the perfect mix of compelling Story and fun Gameplay, something the Games Industry has had a hard time founding a lot of lately. If some little studio can change the way we experience a story with its first game, then whatâs possible with giants like Gearbox, Respawn Entertainment, and Bethesda? Sure, those developers have created fantastic games, but theyâve always kept Gameplay and Story at opposite ends of the highway. Supergiant Games has truly found something special with Bastion, and Iâm all the more excited for their next title because of it.
Worthy Mentions: Frozen Synapse, L.A. Noire's interrogations/facial animations, Portal 2, Deus Ex: HR's "Dialogue Bosses"
Most Jaw-Dropping Technology
Despite Sledgehammer claiming that the CoD engine is a âPorscheâ, itâs still the same engine used since Call of Duty 2. This award goes to the game opposite that, the game that rocked the foundations of this generation and had Crysis-esque effects on our PCs and, hell, had to be toned down a bit so us console gamers could get a small glimpse of the future.
Sorry id Tech 5, sorry CryEngine 3, and sorry Unreal Engine 3, DICEâs Frostbite Engine 2.0 is the most powerful piece of technology used in a Game yet, and the utter brilliance of Battlefield 3 displays this better than any other game that could have been made with this divinely-gifted piece of technology. Not only looking good (which is a superficial argument as to why a game is of high quality, but the degree of visual quality is worth noting here) the engine also capitalizes on placing the players in a true wartime environment.
Books use words and imagery, Frostbite uses the pounding of explosions, the most fantastic prone position in Games, a slower pace than its competitor, and utterly massive amounts of players compared to said competitor to craft a massively unique tone. Say what you will of Battlefield 3's quality, but if there's one thing that was good about this game, it was the amazing engine behind it.
Worthy Mentions: id Tech 5, Unreal Engine 3 on iPad, CryEngine 2, the "Hybrid Halo" engine
Best Use of Humor
Sometimes we don't play a game for our K/D ratio. We don't play it for Epic Tier 35 Doom Gear. We don't even want to play this game because of it's story. We play this game because it can deliver a hilarious and incredibly fun experience at the same time.
"Winning" has never felt so righteous. Neither has killing Orcs (or "Orks" if you're from THAT fandom) been such a joyful experience. The day I downloaded Orcs Must Die! was one of my happier days. I was given a simple objective. There are Orcs. They must die. You playa wise-cracking War Mage Apprentice. You will laugh and kill many, many, many orcs. And you will laugh.
The traps are incredibly sadistic and a blast to use, even if they have little-to-no efficiency, it's still fun to see how your tar pits troll those Orcs. What's even funnier is that the game encourages you to be as evil as possible to 'dem Orcs; trap multipliers bring in good amounts of points. The sheer amount of Orcs you kill also gets to be really funny when you consider the degree of Orc genocide you're causing (Chillz has yet to acquire 30,000 Orcs killed Achievement... wantwantwantwant). On top of the **** scenery humor are the two main stars of the show, the Apprentice and the Orcs. The latter will spew out pseudo-macho and sissy-boy-last-breath-crying-for-mommy lines as they fall into your strategically placed traps and the Apprentice is a friggin' Rodney Dangerfield with all the one-liners he pulls from nowhere ("Winning!".
Worthy Mentions: Portal 2, Saint's Row the Third, Bulletstorm
Best Male and Female Voice Performance
I'm not the biggest fan of the Spike Video Game awards, they seem too generalized and backwards when compared to where the industry really has to go. Regardless, I am a fan of this award. Voice acting is important in a game, it could turn a game into an uninteresting piece of slag, or into a gem of sheer storytelling gold.
Male
Mark Hamill voicing the Joker in Arkham City wasn't even supposed to happen. Luke Skywalker would've been happy sitting on the legendary performance in Arkham Asylum, ending his time voicing the Joker on a high note, but when he heard Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy was returning to Arkham City, the Force became strong once again. With Arkham City, we were treated to the final, and best, performance of one of entertainment's greatest characters by its true master. Sorry Heath, but while you maintain that 9.9, Mark Hamill's still a 10 when it comes to being the Clown Prince.
Female
Was there ever any doubt? Ellen McLain as GlaDos in Portal 2 didn't have much competition this year, save the very impressive Elizabeth performance in the Bioshock Infinite gameplay preview, but that doesn't mean GlaDos got lazy. Oh no. McLain's brilliance gave us a monotone character with more personality than most loud-mouthed shooter protagonists who are haunted by the "Follow" ghost. It was an amazing role played by an amazing woman, who brought me closer to a robot than most other biological characters in games. You know, the character's I'm supposed to connect with because I'm a, you know, carbon-based life-form too???
Best way to spend $15 or less
Ah, Indie Games. Gotta love the mixed message this sub-division of the industry sends out. It consistently pumps out new and innovating titles, albeit flawed, but still very fun. Then you realize that this is because they're forced to do this only if they want to stay noticed. It's some kind of Fridge Logic or something. Regardless, 2011 was definitely the year of the Indie Game, with a huge slew of awesome titles coming out from smaller studios (see above). However, there was only one that was worth the most from your $15.
Yep. This year's LIMBO is Bastion. Sorry Terraria and Minecraft. Besides the above stated story-gameplay mesh, the game is amazing to look at, the combat is fluid, and is simply amazing from beginning to end. I can't say much without being redundant, so I'll leave you with this. Buy. This. Game. Now.
Worthy Mentions: Toy Soldiers: Cold War, From Dust, Terraria, Minecraft, Iron Brigade/Trenched, Stacking, IloMilo
Chillz's Biggest Surprise
I went into the year knowing generally what Games were going to rock and what Games weren't, but two surprises did happen. I had no idea that these games were going to be anywhere near as awesome as they are, but this one was a definite punch in the face.
I saw the Zero Punctuation review for Demon's Souls and thought nothing of it. Difficult. Whatever. Sequel in 2011? Meh. There are better things like Mortal Kombat and the PS3 port of Mass Effect 2 to play.
Oh how little we know. You might have read in my "So I have $200..." post that I got this game on a whim. Well guess what. It was the most punch-in-the face whim ever. Hard, rewarding, and a true gem, Dark Souls is a game not to be missed. It's totally unique with no "Go There" model found in some other games similar to it, nor does this game hold your hand. You will be crushed by a giant green Demon with a large posterior in the starting zone before you even have a weapon. I am not making this up. Now that you've removed the brick from your pants, get to the nearest game retailer and buy! Now! The difficulty may be high but when one accomplishes something in this game, it's the greatest feeling of conquering a challenge this side of Video Games.
The Other Game: Toy Soldiers: Cold War
The Game You Do NOT Want To Spend Money On
2011 is probably one of the better years Gaming has known. It started with Dead Space 2, took a lunch break with Bastion, and went to bed with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. However, there were a few games you should NOT have bought if looking for innovative quality or quality in general. One stands out beyond all others, and this is the game that, no matter what, you should avoid at ALL COSTS.
Duke Nukem Forever at least had nostalgic value. Modern Warfare 3 at least had Survival Mode. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron was at least colorful enough you could pretend you were high when you played it. This game... GRAH! To make a long story short, it's a generic CoD clone of the finest description. The characters are bland and just don't work with the plot nor make sense. The game tries to funnel you down a series of pre-set moments and tries to make you play the way it wants you to play. Advertising is thrown in your face. It tries to act on ones Pathos and Ethos to such an absurd degree that a child's parents being killed in front of him becomes a laughable ordeal; THE GAME TRIES SO HARD TO BE SERIOUS THAT IT FALLS ON ITS FACE! It takes so many gameplay elements from CoD I halfway thought it was Black Ops 1.5. That wasn't a short story I know, but there's just SO MUCH WRONG WITH THIS GAME. For more details, please direct yourself to this video (courtesy of HighFire).
Oh yea not to mention THIS GAME CAUSED A STANDSTILL IN THE SHOOTER GENRE. It almost proved that Games existed for one purpose-MONEY. It proved that Games could be copy-pasted and the Gamers of the world would become Sheep and just buy a McVideo Game. It almost worked. Almost. And then Crysis 2 happened. Its innovative shooter style, great story, stunning visuals, and drive to be different reinvigorated the genre, and saved the world from stagnation. Kaos Studios was righteously disbanded by THQ and was never heard from again.
There is something here though. Guess what got a confirmed sequel? Homefront. Now, before you start rioting in panic, take a guess who the new developer is now that Kaos is null and void? It'll blow your mind.
Crytek, the developers of Crysis 2. The thing about Homefront was that its story concept was halfway decent, Kaos just handled it in the wrong way. Again, 2011 proves to be a great year, even its worst games have happy endings. Gearbox is the sole developer of the next Duke Nukem, good-half-Infinity Ward is making something new and innovative, and CryEngine 3 is being used to make Homefront 2.
Game of The Year
Hm. This was very hard. Really hard. Again, this was an excellent year for games, but I was able to narrow it down to six choices, Portal 2, Bastion, Uncharted 3, Arkham City, Skyrim, and Skyward Sword. From there, I considered long, hard, and really philosophized about the games. I finally came up with the solution to my growing problem.
Let's just put it this way...
...I couldn't choose.
These are truly amazing games; each has their own quirks and mechanics that turn them into the best games this year. They're equal in quality, and were able to beat out everything else that interrupted their march, except each other. My pick for Game of the Year is a tie between The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
SKYRIM. I waiting in the sodding RAIN for this one. I was taken away to a land of wonder and mystery. It's no Mass Effect character development, but the growth I felt alongside my Nord Battle-Mage was heart-pounding. There's so much to do in Skyrim, one never gets bored. Other reviewers have criticized the combat, but I find it quite enjoyable. More than once I've engaged in a form of a boxing match against a frost troll. Slash once, jump back, shield bash, do two hits, dodge a hit, fire some fire, block, it comes naturally and feels fantastic. Leveling was made much more meaningful, allowing a much more fluid playstyle mechanic.
The game sounds amazing, looks amazing, feels amazing, and was well-worth the hype. It's the epitome of everything that's right with the 360, PS3, and PC, and a fantastic co-title to commence the waning period of this console generation.
SKYWARD SWORD. My God. The Wii's almost gone guys. We'll be having the Wii U sometime next year, and Skyward Sword is truly going to be the last Great Wii Game. Mario Party 9 will inspire much-a-trollin', but nothing for the Wii that comes after this game will ever amount to the "Legendary" quality of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The motion controls are perfect, they're what I wanted back in 2006 with the Wii and while its taken 5 years to get here, I'm quite happy with the end results. The dungeons are awesome and fun, each enemy is fun to take down with the new precision-based combat, and while the game isn't in HD like its counterpart, it still looks great thanks to a cool watercolor aesthetic. The game's characters are all fun and it's sometimes just fun to fly around the Sky World to find someone new to talk to. Nintendo put a lot of love into the game that marked a quarter of a century of Zelda, and it shows. I mean, it held its own against sodding Skyrim!
This console generation dawned with two truly amazing games, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Now, its sun commences its descent with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The influence these games hold is monumental at least, and belong together in the halls of past Games of the Years, right next to their previous iterations back in 2006. Right now, these two games aren't just the best games this year, but the best games this generation. Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted 2, Super Mario Galaxy, Starcraft II, nothing compares to these two.
This has been Your Friendly Neighborhood Satanist's 1,000th post, and he wouldn't have had it been anything else than a testament to the Best Games of 2011.
-Chillz
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