2011's Best... Games With the likes of Bulletstorm, Gears of War 3 and Frozen Synapse narrowly missing out on my annual list of top ten games, it would seem 2011 has been a pretty decent year for videogames. The vulture-eyed Reg reader will, however, notice the list is dominated by sequels and franchises – for which I make no apologies. It's …
It's such a leap ahead of what other games are doing.
I am still on the single player gameplay and have been at it more than 8 hours (and on chapter 12), and I havn't found any issues with the aiming or cover systems. I think the review was overly harsh in that respect.
But then Uncharted 2 set the bar VERY high indeed.
I'm in two minds about this, and please bear in mind that I used to *work* at Naughty Dog, so any bias should be positive :)
The game is beautiful, and a joy to behold. But how much actual *gameplay* does it contain? Apart from the sporadic gunfights, and a bit of climbing, the puzzles are pretty much "find the right place to stand so the X icon appears, or failing that the help icon", and huge swathes of the game have no interaction at all other than the odd button press to keep things moving. Almost nowhere do you have the experience of failing to complete a mission first time (on "normal" difficulty) except later in the game the last few gunfights seem to suddenly get much harder.
Naughty Dog really have done a great job of merging a film and a video game - the characterization is better than many recent AAA movies, and the set pieces are incredible - but I do wish they'd add more gameplay back in to the whole thing.
Uncharted 2 seemed to be the pinnacle of this series, like you say - I don't remember feeling so much like I was watching a movie rather than playing a game. With UC3 it's like they focus-tested the challenge out.
Now, I'm very excited about Last of Us - an adult-oriented Naughty Dog game should be amazing - but I'm worried that it may contain too little real gameplay. I do hope they figure something out.
Actually for the first section of UC3 I was a bit underwhelmed. But when it got to the ships graveyard the whole game became great.
Definately better on another play through.
But UC2 was better paced all the way through.
The start UC2 is best ever.
Set pieces UC3 wins.
Shambala vs City of Brass - both are good, COB just edges due to that annoying boss fight with Lazaravich.
UC3 has no unexplained play stoppers such at the generator room where you need to run through the door (infinitly spawning descendants), the boxes at end with Navarro, the Draza hat, the edge hanging Lazaravich. You can use different techniques and not forced to do one non obvious one.
My favourite on the list may have the best console graphics ever, but it also has a fantastic script, great acting, and some spectacular set pieces.
Fist fight on the loading ramp of a plane, in mid air.
Big shoot ups on a pirate stolen cruise liner.
Multiple fire fights on a ships graveyard, with climbing, swimming, RPGs, Sniper rifles and hand guns, and the boats and water are moving.
Battlefield 3 is a joke. Laggy, no support for team play and the graphics were just 'meh'. Even from your own description MW3 should have rated higher.
Deus Ex was the most repetive and tedious game I've ever played. The cities (levels) are more like hamlets. The usual faux-RPG element - where you gain skills by levelling - runs on railroad tracks. Unless you want to skip half the content you have to pick certain skills.
TW: Shogun 2 is a big step back from Empire TW. Small map. A very limited variety of troops and a cynical nickle and diming for content (additional clans) that should have been part of the base game. The AI is zero improvement on the previous games and the AI blatantly cheats and obviously plays to different rules ( low or non-existent maintenance costs for it's huge armies and enormous bonuses to teade income). Probably the worst TW game ever (taking nto account the state of art at the time the game was released).
The ony one you got right was Skyrim: and even there you managed to mess up. Seventh? What are you smoking? Skyrim, even with it's flaws, is easily GOTY 2011.
you playing on console
on PC on Ultra it does look great and i have zero lag.
yes, teamwork is dumbed down for the morons but i hope that gets sorted at some point. i still think BF2142 was more fun and some of the BF3 maps (the night one for example) are a bit shit.
rockets, snipers, health regen etc all kill the fun a fair bit but when you get a good server with people that have some concept of teamwork its a lot of fun.
as people said, maybe if you spent less time gaming and more time with basic reading comprehension you might get that its alphabetical list....
i would also drake's fortune is a superb game. not enough puzzles for me and i think we have almost completed it but it was fun. as the reviewer says the cover system is a little awkward sometimes but its still like playing a movie.
The sentence "The Joker's relegation to cameo appearance deprived the narrative of its most memorable antagonist" forces me to ask did you actually play the game? A cameo is a brief appearance. The Joker was one of the main antagonists of the game (arguably the main if you count time spent interacting with him).
I'm looking forward to joining the gaggle. I love BF, I usually manage to stay alive 10, sometimes 15 seconds, wooopie!
I wish I could afford a new gaming PC for some proper action...., unfortunately will have to be on ye olde Xbox this time round though.
Still, goona be fun!
actually the min specs are very low (i.e. 5 year old gaming PC). and will get you console gfx+ and 64 players. maybe worth a try? not sure if there is a demo to give it a blast on?
if you die too quick be a medic and unlock the med kits. that helps a bunch.
im not that in favour of the mechanism where the more you play the better the guns and attachments. it means the sad bastards with no lives are all more powerful than you. but after you unlock say the M416 and scopes and foregrip you will be kicking arse like the best of them!
That is because there hasn't been a fresh idea in the FPS market since Halo came out. They try to add RPG and microtransations to the FPS market to milk and bleed the customers.
And being a medic wouldn't help at all. I had Battlefield 2 for PC. Spawn in the middle of a field by some buildings, take two steps, die. Spawn in exact same spot, take one step, die. #lolsnipers
The best FPS single player campaign this year I have played is Resistance 3.
Health pack, lots of weapons, interesting characters.
Looks like they played Half Life 2 prior to designing the game, but it does make its own story.
If you had to say no multiplayer Resistance 3 is great.
BTW my favourite multiplayer this year is Killzone 3
Actually a LOT older - probably older than you, but the clips I have seen do make it look like a kids game.
Do not get insultive - look yourself.
The play may be good, but I have never been a Nintendo fan as such.
Only recent mute characters I like are Chell & Gordon Freeman, but both are being talked to.
Started with Pong, Space Invaders, stuff from Commodore, then played with PCs, Megadrive. more PCs, Dreamcast, PS2, PCs, PS3, PCs.
The best game of the year has to be Dungeon Defenders, £9.99 on Steam, 4 player tower defence. Already clocked up 70hrs + on the game, with 3 friends, slowly unlocking more to complete the game. Orcs Must Die also sould be mentioned for a good single player experience let down by the lack of multiplayer.
It's a shame that smaller games don't get a review or a look in.
I have achieved absolutely nothing of any note since 11.11.11!
I cannot stop playing Skyrim, I thought I was addicted to Fallout 3, Skyrim is way more everything. When you find yourself simply staring at the Salmon jumping up the waterfalls in the background scenery or the gentle breeze ushering the butterflies along, just before you start charging at a ne'er do well with your double-headed ( careful now!) steel battle axe, you know you're playing something special!
Once you have the Ice Form shout, nothing beats the kick of breathing a chicken into a solid block of ice and then having to do a runner as an angry mob chases you out of town for killing a chicken!
Lots of FPS games, no surprise.
Deus Ex: HR - I like it a lot, though not as much as first two in the franchise. The constant nagging from the boss and his minions is irritating. But I haven't actually finished the game, perhaps the nagging boss STF's?
Also, whither Civ 5? Or is that 2010?
I couldn't possibly comment on whether this Top 10 meets my approval or not given that the latest game that I own is Fallout 3 (and my Pc will not POST at the moment *mutter*), but ...
"Delivering more bang for your buck than a two-week holiday in Patpong" had me trying to suppress my laughter en route to my commute to Heathrow!
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