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[shintoki]

This thread is not a vote thread. Rather its a discussion and a look back thread. Since many of us can't finish all we want too, miss something, or maybe one game just didn't last pass the hype for you.

The Winners
Your Voting

Unlike previous years, where I may switch around something, or appreciate something less. I'm quite happy with my choices. Deus Ex:HR, Witcher 2, Outland, Orcs Must Die, and Bulletstorm.

While the one game I would have like to add would have to be Red Orchestra 2. The game was clearly in beta when it was released. Crashes, terrible loading, horribly balanced where half the people would basically have super weapons(Repeating rifles, SMG, etc), while the other half of the team would be stuck with one shot rifles.

Game runs smoothly now, bit more balanced largely thanks to the Tactical realism servers and the reduced count of the weapons. While its their own fault for releasing the title like so, they manage to salvage it and a decent number of the community stuck around.

Even though I'm not very good at it and just started up again. It gives off a great vibe when you log into a server, and everyone is just expected to work together. So when you storm a house, you storm it with 10 others, slowly going through it, where any false move means death. Or charging the trenches and just seeing the poor sap next to you pop his head off for a second, only to lose it.

 

[Izick]

Holy fuck was 2011 amazing. I forgot how many just fantastic games came out in that year alone. I'm not sure if I'd put Portal 2 at the very top, but I mean you can't argue with that list too much. Any of those top 5 could win in my opinion. I'm actually surprised Dark Souls isn't higher, given Gaf's love of it.

Probably the best year of this generation of consoles.

 

[ghst]

This thread is not a vote thread. Rather its a discussion and a look back thread. Since many of us can't finish all we want too, miss something, or maybe one game just didn't last pass the hype for you.

The Winners
Your Voting

Unlike previous years, where I may switch around something, or appreciate something less. I'm quite happy with my choices. Deus Ex:HR, Witcher 2, Outland, Orcs Must Die, and Bulletstorm.

While the one game I would have like to add would have to be Red Orchestra 2. The game was clearly in beta when it was released. Crashes, terrible loading, horribly balanced where half the people would basically have super weapons(Repeating rifles, SMG, etc), while the other half of the team would be stuck with one shot rifles.

Game runs smoothly now, bit more balanced largely thanks to the Tactical realism servers and the reduced count of the weapons. While its their own fault for releasing the title like so, they manage to salvage it and a decent number of the community stuck around.

Even though I'm not very good at it and just started up again. It gives off a great vibe when you log into a server, and everyone is just expected to work together. So when you storm a house, you storm it with 10 others, slowly going through it, where any false move means death. Or charging the trenches and just seeing the poor sap next to you pop his head off for a second, only to lose it.

yeah. red orchestra 2 eventually became what everyone was hoping it would be, it was just too long after the fact to have the impact it should have.

 

[StuBurns]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=33559205&postcount=17

I put Saint's Row far too high, and I should have played more of Deus Ex to see it's brilliance at the time.

 

[Derrick01]

I'm satisfied with my list with the sole exception of Skyrim. I put Skyrim at #1 while I was still relatively early in the game (early for Bethesda game standards at least, like 30ish hours) and I was oblivious to most of the problems of the game.

I choose to take that completely out of my GOTY list and move everything else up by 1 slot, and I'll move Portal 2 from just missing the list to #10.

Holy fuck was 2011 amazing. Probably the best year of this generation of consoles.

Noooooo way. 2007 was the best, 2011 was the weakest year until this year happened which was basically diarrhea in video game form.

 

[Mileena]

Portal and Skyrim (especially Skyrim) over Dark Souls is a travesty.


I have the feeling if the PC version released last year it would have won. As it should have.

 

[Spieler Eins]

Too bad Xenoblades release was spread over three years across all the different regions.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Dark Souls is head and shoulders above anything released in the last 10 years in 2011.

 

[Metalmurphy]

BF3 is still the game I play the most today and still enjoy, so yeah, I stand by my choice.


Most fun I've had in ages in a MP game. Even though I haven't played as much as I did BF2 (I had over 600 hours on that one), mainly cause I don't have the free time as I used to have, I still enjoyed it alot more.

Dark Souls is head and shoulders above anything released in the last 10 years in 2011.

Meh, even Demon Souls is the better game.

 

[Instro]

Dark Souls is head and shoulders above anything released in the last 10 years in 2011.

If you ignore the last 3-4 areas of the game, sure.

 

[Haunted]

A surprisingly forgettable year in retrospect, I feel lukewarm about a majority of my list now.

Alice, Witcher and Portal still hold up, Dark Souls could probably be higher (Durante Edition most assuredly will be this year). Also forced myself not to vote for Minecraft two years in a row, even it was eligible.

 

[Izick]

I'm satisfied with my list with the sole exception of Skyrim. I put Skyrim at #1 while I was still relatively early in the game (early for Bethesda game standards at least, like 30ish hours) and I was oblivious to most of the problems of the game.

I choose to take that completely out of my GOTY list and move everything else up by 1 slot, and I'll move Portal 2 from just missing the list to #10.



Noooooo way. 2007 was the best, 2011 was the weakest year until this year happened which was basically diarrhea in video game form.

Whaaa?

Portal 2, Deus Ex: HR, Skyrim, Dark Souls, Zelda: SS, Witcher 2, etc.

No way it's worst. I mean, 2007 is great though.

 

[Cyberia]

Probably the best year of this generation of consoles.

The best is yet to come.

 

[SteeloDMZ]

Easily:

 

[Izick]

The best is yet to come.

For current-gen consoles? No. For gaming in general? Yes.

 

[Mileena]

If you ignore the last 3-4 areas of the game, sure.

Izalith and Tomb are still better than Skyrim.

 

[StuBurns]

For current-gen consoles? No. For gaming in general? Yes.

I wouldn't be surprised, next year should be incredible.

 

[Spookie]

Skyrim still shouldn't be top 10. Saints Row should be top 10, Uncharted 3 shouldn't be there, not sure Batman should be there either and I wish there was enough space for Rayman and Ghost Trick.

Kinda indifferent about it all. I should really get round to buying Dark Souls though.

 

[Heart Attack]

It had way better games than 2012.

 

[EatChildren]

I was discussing this with a friend earlier. Usually I'll back peddle on lists and favourites as time passes, but I'm actually really happy with my ranking for 2011. Maybe would have swapped Serious Sam 3 and The Witcher 2 around, but otherwise it's a concrete listing of my favourite 2011 games and in order.

 

[Derrick01]

Whaaa?

Portal 2, Deus Ex: HR, Skyrim, Dark Souls, Zelda: SS, Witcher 2, etc.

All bad games or just decent games.

 

[iNvid02]

Skyrim remains top on my list. Also if i had played dark souls back then it would have made top three.

 

[mxgt]

Skyrim is still disgustingly overrated and shouldn't be near the top 5, maybe not even top 10.

Dark Souls still destroys everything else in the list.

 

[Archie]

Izalith and Tomb are still better than Skyrim.

Setting that bar high.

 

[shintoki]

I'm satisfied with my list with the sole exception of Skyrim. I put Skyrim at #1 while I was still relatively early in the game (early for Bethesda game standards at least, like 30ish hours) and I was oblivious to most of the problems of the game.

I choose to take that completely out of my GOTY list and move everything else up by 1 slot, and I'll move Portal 2 from just missing the list to #10.

I got Skyrim a few weeks back and put in some hours. Its exactly how a few described. After several hours of just using the same spell, using the same attack, using the same pattern. I got bored. So I went, modded the thing, added in dozens of new spells, and so forth. None of it really seemed to help.

And on Portal 2, I have little desire to replay 2. 1 was just a much better experience.

 

[Carbonox]

My game of the year was Deus Ex. Impulse buy and I knew absolutely zilch about the game bar some odd tidbits about the plot and gameplay. Ended up being one of the best games I've played in the entire generation.

My fail of the year was Uncharted 3. Waste of time and money. Complete shite.

 

[CassSept]

I'd still say Skyward Sword was my favorite game, but Binding of Isaac would definitely be there. I didn't play it until last Steam summer sale and holy moly, it's one of my favorite games of all time. ALL TIME!

 

[Jharp]

Considering how hyped I was for it, and hell, even how much I loved playing it, I'm surprised now how somewhat less I care for Skyrim than a gang of other games that came out in 2011. Dark Souls being my favorite by far, but that was the case even when I first playing it and Skyrim.

But man, Saint's Row 3 was so, so good.

 

[Derrick01]

I got Skyrim a few weeks back and put in some hours. Its exactly how a few described. After several hours of just using the same spell, using the same attack, using the same pattern. I got bored. So I went, modded the thing, added in dozens of new spells, and so forth. None of it really seemed to help.

And on Portal 2, I have little desire to replay 2. 1 was just a much better experience.

Yeah I wasn't very high on Portal 2 either. I only had it at just missing/now #10 because I literally could not think of anything else that I could qualify as passable, let alone goty list quality. It was a very weak year and I had some trouble coming up with a top 10 though not as much trouble as this year.

 

[Izick]

I wouldn't be surprised, next year should be incredible.

Is there like a good list of what's coming out next year? All I can remember is GTA V and Bioshock Infinite.

Spoiler

I don't count the Wii U as a current-gen console

All bad games or just decent games.

But...but....

 

[Durante]

If I had played Dark Souls I'd have had it very high on my list, dislodging Skyrim, but I'll make up for that this year.

 

[Gregorn]

Just look at all of those games, I'm happy with pretty much all of them being there.

I can't wait to see this years blank white box.

 

[Stumpokapow]

My ballot in 2011 was:

1. Hamilton's Great Adventure
2. Adventures of Shuggy
3. Bastion
4. You Don't Know Jack
5. Tiny Tower
6. Stacking
7. Bulletstorm
8. Portal 2
9. ilomilo
10. Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer

Link to full reviews

I don't disagree with any of my votes last year, although I think in retrospect none of the games would be likely to make a game of the generation top 10 for me; many of them are great executions of modest ideas. Bulletstorm has faded pretty significantly for me, and I don't expect to return to it.

Since casting my ballot I've played a few 2011 games; Uncharted 3, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Crimson Alliance, Kirby's Return to Dreamland, Fusion: Genesis, Swarm, The Gunstringer, Deus Ex HR. I did like all of these games at least a little bit, but I'm not sure I'd include many of them on my top 10.

I think Deus Ex HR would have narrowly made it. Minor unmarked spoilers continue from here. Definitely not in the top half of the list, but the bottom half, sure. I think mechanically it was a fairly strong sequel to Deus Ex, and a significantly better game than Invisible War. I think the first half or so of the game (up to around the beginning of Hengsha) also has very strong setting, story, and characters.

But problems add up from there. The level designs begin getting repetitive, particularly on the return to Detroit and Hengsha when you're literally doubling back over previous levels, unchanged. There's only so many office hallfways, vents, and sewers that can be done. I think there was a paucity of content, in that respect.

The resolution to the story is not terrible, but it's not great either--I felt like the forces at play in the world were developed much more strongly in Deus Ex, and even in IW. Partly because the Illuminati essentially remain in the shadows, Deus Ex HR suffers from a scope issue. Hugh Darrow is interesting, and I like that the game came to Panacea, but ultimately both his motivations and the design of his plan was really quite thin. The TV->Singapore reveal was great, but ends up being very poorly developed. Perhaps all of the garbage trans-media bullshit Square Enix tried to push provides better development to Megan's character, but fuck that trash.

I'm not going to beef about the endings, because I think like with DE and DE:IW, the game needs to leave your allegiance question until the very end, and so it was pretty much always going to come down to "press a button, pick who wins".

I know this sounds like an awfully critical take on a game I'm saying was excellent and would make a top 10 list, but I guess what I'm trying to convey is that the game really is a great triumph in many respects and deserves a lot of kudos, but also misses being an enduring classic narrowly due to some of the decisions.

The Gunstringer might have made my top 10, on its own terms. It's hard to convey what works so well about the game, you almost need to play it. It combines several interesting (although individually shallow) gameplay types and control schemes in a way that each of them works, it has a brisk pace so that your mind never attunes to what you're doing being repetitive, great humour and story, a pretty meaty amount of content and extra modes. Just a really great package.

I do not expect to be submitting a top 10 ballot this year. I will probably still post in the thread with some of the games I've enjoyed, but many of them have been pre-2012 and I don't feel comfortable trying to pad out a 2012 release just to submit a vote.

 

[Mileena]

Setting that bar high.

 

[davidsaurus]

Never realized how much Skyrim hate GAF has. Definitely deserving of it's spot on that list imo.

 

[Deleted member 81567]

Portal 2 remains as my #1 that year.

 

[Radec]

Tons of good games last year but Portal 2 is just magnificent. Cant wait for 2014 for Portal 3.

Dark Souls is head and shoulders above anything released in the last 10 years in 2011.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

I hadn't played Rayman Origins at the point when I made my list back in January. That would definitely make my list right now. Aside from that, I'm still happy with the list I did make as representative of my favorite games of 2011.

 

[Izick]

Is the Skyrim hate bitterness because of how Bethesda didn't care about the PS3 version, or what? I just don't get it. It was a fantastic game. I mean I don't think I'd put it as number one, but I still think it definitely deserves its spot.

 

[Brandon F]

Finally having played Skyward Sword, I would not even place it in my top 10. Really disappointed by that game.

Portal 2 is way too high as well, though I did enjoy it.

Still playing Witcher 2 and adore the characters, world, and narrative, but dislike damn near everything about the "game" design.

Skyrim, Dark Souls, Deus Ex all still vie for my top three.

 

[Dion Blaster]

I did not vote. My top 5 today would be:

1. Super Mario 3D Land
2. Portal 2
3. Bastion
4. Skyward Sword
5. FIFA 12

Lol at Skyrim. The hype for that was so ridiculous, people were crowning it GOTY months before release. It was the default choice for people unless they were blown away by something else.

 

[Tizoc]

Ghost Trick was 2011? Wow
Well GT and Rayman Origins are still my GotY 2011.

 

[Izick]

I did not vote. My top 5 today would be:

1. Super Mario 3D Land
2. Portal 2
3. Bastion
4. Skyward Sword
5. Rayman Origins

SM3DL is so much damn fun. I've been playing through it for the first time, recently, and I have to say beside it being a bit too easy (which I hear changes later on) it's pretty fantastic. The level design is great, the controls are fantastic, it looks amazing, and it's just damn, pure fun.

 

[Atomski]

Yeah I wasn't very high on Portal 2 either. I only had it at just missing/now #10 because I literally could not think of anything else that I could qualify as passable, let alone goty list quality. It was a very weak year and I had some trouble coming up with a top 10 though not as much trouble as this year.

Do you even like videogames?

 

[Gregorn]

Is the Skyrim hate bitterness because of how Bethesda didn't care about the PS3 version, or what? I just don't get it. It was a fantastic game. I mean I don't think I'd put it as number one, but I still think it definitely deserves its spot.

It gets worse the more you play it. So because we're all the mega nerds of the internet, we all played it the most, resulting in us all hating it the most.

 

[Jb]

I did not vote. My top 5 today would be:

1. Super Mario 3D Land
2. Portal 2
3. Bastion
4. Skyward Sword
5. Rayman Origins

Lol at Skyrim. The hype for that was so ridiculous, people were crowning it GOTY months before release. It was the default choice for people unless they were blown away by something else.

It blows my mind how highly some people think of SM 3D Land. I 100% it and it was pretty boring, not much better than the NSMB games.

 

[Incendiary]

I'm pretty happy with my personal list. I haven't played anything from 2011 since then that really wowed me. I would change the order around a lot, though. I'd definitely put Dark Souls at #1 now that I've had a lot of time to ingest and enjoy it. I had hit a frustration point towards the end of the year last year and that's why it slid down in the rankings for me.

I'd also put Binding of Isaac higher and Uncharted 3 lower. And now that I think about it, I'd probably even swap out Skyrim for You Don't Know Jack, that game has been a blast to play multiplayer with friends and in the single-player rush at the end of the year last year, I completely forgot about it.

 

[mxgt]

Is the Skyrim hate bitterness because of how Bethesda didn't care about the PS3 version, or what? I just don't get it. It was a fantastic game. I mean I don't think I'd put it as number one, but I still think it definitely deserves its spot.

When I started it I thought it was pretty good.

Then it just turned into another boring RPG where it's far too long for its own good and the interesting quests are few and far between

 

[Derrick01]

Do you even like videogames?

I used to. Back in the day when people tried to make good games and not games for the masses.

Yeah I sound like a huge hipster but you can't deny that it at least has some truth to it.

 

[StuBurns]

Is there like a good list of what's coming out next year? All I can remember is GTA V and Bioshock Infinite.

Spoiler

I don't count the Wii U as a current-gen console

I don't know about a complete list, but there are tons I'm excited about, more than any other year. Ni no Kuni, Sly Cooper 4, Metal Gear Rising, God of War:A, Aliens:CM, Crysis 3, Metro: Last Light, Miegakure, SimCity, StarCraft 2-2, Stanley Parable HD, The Witness, Tomb Raider, Beyond, MGS:GZ (possibly), Puppeteer, Rain, Tales of Xillia, The Last of Us. The new Gears I don't care about, but I'm sure many will love, we might get Project Zwei too.

Unfortunately, I don't think it can top 2007 for me, maybe if The Last Guardian ships, but I could believe people thinking the highest of next year. Also, with more recent marketing trends, games are announced later, for all we know, Half-Life 3 is next year.