Your Game of the Year for 2011

[HBK619]

So we're only days from ending this here 2011 season and since there's nothing left to come out (bar for maybe a downloadable title or two?) we might as well get the end of year festivities under way.

A bumper year this year so there's a lot to consider, even one's that you may have forgotten about being out this year. And while you may still have games yet to play or still getting through I think it's safe to say you should have at least some grasp on where you rate most of these games by now.

List whatever amount of titles you want, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or more, doesn't matter, just tell us what your no.1 title for this year was (if I can cbf I might tally the results up and name the overall BigFooty VG Board GOTY winner).

Will throw mine up first.

GOTY. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - It may be much of what we know from Uncharted already, but I really think this one outdid the insane effort of the 2nd game. Chapters 12 through to 16 will stick in my memory as some of, if not the best I've experienced in gaming. Then to move onto co-op and MP which while the MP is only competent, the co-op is insane amounts of fun and even has throwback levels from Uncharted 1 and 2 in there.

2. FIFA 12 - At the end of the day, the other games on the list may have given the best condensed experiences, but FIFA 12 keeps bringing me back in. The amount of content, from Ultimate Team to Career Mode to Virtual Pro to the Online Seasons is by far the most given in just about any sports game let alone a FIFA title. Then the gameplay, that has seen a greater emphasis on tighter defending also now allows for more variety in attack...moving it back closer to FIFA World Cup 2010 which I had an immense amount of fun with.

3. Dead Space 2 - One of the earliest of the big 2011 titles. Dead Space 2 is, for mine one of the best titles this year by a fair distance. Gory, fun, scary with a near unmatched atmosphere. The story was a big improvement over Dead Space, offering a deeper look into the lead Isaac Clarke. Gameplay was improved as well with a smattering of new weapons and environments changed up considerably to help with the gameplay. Also a level about 3/4's of the way through rates as one of the scariest I've played.

4. Batman: Arkham City - For mine Arkham City was an improvement over Asylum. Offering a larger scope coupled with a still fantastic and very interesting story. The game world was for the most part very fun to roam around and I enjoyed unlocking every single thing I could in the game. 400 riddler trophies may seem like a bitch...and they are, but when you grab that last one it all feels worth it. The boss battles, something that Asylum wasn't 'great' at were far and away improved in City. Some great side missions that could've done with expanding and a disappointing attempt at the Scarecrow levels were really the only down point in what was a huge and very good game.

5. Resistance 3 - This one sneaks into the top 5 thanks to it's brilliant Single Player portion. Easily one of the best FPS Story modes I've played. Very atmospheric, pretty scary at points and a very interesting story throughout the campaign that wrapped up the trilogy fairly well. An extremely smart levelling system for weapons made them always fun to use and ever wanting the next unlock to see what it could do (the 2nd unlock I think it is for the Shotty = WINNNNNNNN). The game looked very nice as well, even if it didn't necessarily have the star power in terms of graphical features the art design and lighting was top notch.

I've still got a number of games sitting, waiting to be played, Saints Row 3 and Assassin's Creed Revelations the biggest of the lot (and STILL yet to buy Portal 2). But I am not sure they'd push the titles I already have in the top 5 considering those that I left out, of which I'll chuck up as Honourable Mentions now.

Hon. Mentions: LBP2, Killzone 3, inFAMOUS 2, Minecraft (technically?).

 

[Rustin Cohle]

Skyward Sword.

 

[HurleyTheFuture]

Uncharted 3 was amazing, It's my GOTY, the fact that it was my first platinum was good as well.

 

[Glenno23]

Tough one this year.

Can't go past Portal 2 for mine. Brilliant story, amazing characters and fantastic puzzles. Just brilliant all round really. And even my wife sat down and watched me play and helped with the puzzles.

Batman comes in 2nd. As HBK said, an improvement in every way on AA. Great story and game mechanics

And rounding out my top 3 is MW3 (cue haters) Story line was a bit meh (in the fact that everything gets blown up. EVERYTHING) But Spec ops and Survival mode are fantastic packages. I am not one for co-op normally, but i love survival mode

And the MP just keeps you sucked in. I know its not for everyone, but for me its better than MW2 MP. The maps have a few crackers (and a couple of howlers) but i love the fact that i can top the leaderboards each match in Dom by just capping flags and running an even KDR (ie playing the game how it was meant to). I smash everyone out of the park for score per match if i beast up a match with a high K/D

I have to mention Driver: SF. Such a fun game. Each car handled differently which kept the variety going along with the different mission types. Had an absolute ball with the game. MP is great too.

Other notables: Fifa 12, NBA 2K12, Disneyland Kinect and Kinect Sports 2

 

[Knighta21]

My top 3:
1. Skyrim - EASILY................................
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2. Fifa 12
3. Battlefield 3

Havn't played MW3 or UC 3 yet.

 

[Mancey]

Definitely my quietest year ever for gaming after welcoming mancey jr into the world. Haven't played all the big ones but here's a Top 5 of the games i have played

Battlefield3: Ok single player, but follows a pretty tired formula. Multiplayer is boss tho and has plenty for gamers of every skill level, even s**t players like me. You can still contribute without being a killing machine

Saints Row 3: Fun as, lol campaign missions and dialog.

Arkham City: Wasn't a massive fan of Asylum, but this one had me hooked.

Portal 2: Just a sweet game

Daytona : Memories

 

[PykeDream]

1. Uncharted 3 - Absolutely stunning. Not sure if I consider it better than UC2, but does it matter? Best single player franchise I could imagine.

2. Battlefield 3 - Lacklustre single player, from what I've experienced, mediocre co-op, thrilling multiplayer. Perhaps lacks the replay-ability of the Bad Company duo, but technically thrilling and always engaging.

3. Saints Row: The Third - Have not played the earlier two titles (though SR2 now sits in my XMB), but I still found it easy enough to transition to after playing GTA IV in the past. Granted, the mindless, ever present violence makes it a little hard to stomach at times, but I guess I'm just a bit sensitive.

To be honest these are the only three 2011 release games I played. Also had a shot at UC1, UC2, BF1943 and BC2 this years; however if I'd tried Arkham City, or was interested in the genre of Skyrim, they may have ranked 2 or 3.

BTW is Resistance 3 worth getting cheap?

 

[Conan Troutman]

BTW is Resistance 3 worth getting cheap?

It's definitely better than #2 IMO, plus proper local co-op is back (ie, co-op story mode - not multiplayer maps or whatever the hell #2 did).

I think it would be a good pick up cheap, but personally there'd be other better games I'd go for first *cough* Skyrim *cough*

 

[ep2018]

Saints Row: The Third and Dead Space 2.

 

[justlookingaround]

Sadly 2011 has been the year I've drifted away from gaming

Batman: Arkham City followed by Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception because the story was longer and more diverse, it didn't just rely on a change of scenery and giant set pieces to keep you entertained. Arkham Asylum, the predecessor did a good job setting the scene for the feel of the Batman world and making you feel like Batman, but Arkham City builds on it, showcasing the whole universe, the look and sound, and especially the city. Replayability wise; Arkham City for me too, despite Uncharted 3's multiplayer, I'm still going on all the Riddler Trophies.

After buying Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 within two weeks of each other, I'm committed to never buying another linear shooter again, they're all a total bore, multiplayer loses its satisfying touch for me after a full day of gameplay. MW3's campaign had its moments, but for the most part it was generic. It never had an actual jaw-dropping moment, it definitely had me saying "that's pretty cool" a fair few times, but it never blew me away.

Battlefield 3 was the worst of the two for me though, I don't even know why I bought it, I wasn't stoked for it or anything (though if you run on that basis, I shouldn't have bought MW3 either ) The campaign was so incredibly mediocre, it's the only time you could use "incredibly" and "mediocre" in the same sentence. Not to mention glitched like hell, I hard to restart levels on multiple occasions because the game decided it didn't want to push on, which sucked bad and would usually force me not to play the game for about a day afterwards because I could not be bothered, and did not want to have to play through the majority of the respective levels again. The multiplayer, again, was just a shooter, this time, a shooter most the players take way too seriously. Got boring pretty fast, but the touch lasted a tad longer than MW3, probably 2-3 days.

 

[chrstphrwnstn]

Portal 2.

I've never played a game before where the gameplay and storyline meshed so well together. A unique and amazing gaming experience to say the least. One of the few games where you actually felt utter satisfaction upon completion.

 

[FGMPR]

At the moment, I'm struggling to decide between Skyrim, The Witcher 2 and The Old Republic.

What can I say... I'm a total RPG whore.

 

[Ochre]

1. Uncharted 3, an incredible single player and a brilliant multiplayer which I've really under utilized

Tiny gap

2. Portal 2, great sp, coop was amazing

Small gap

3. Arkham City, loved it

Very large gap

4. MW3

Disappointment of the year

Infamous 2, not a bad game but something about it just bugged me, was an 8,5 but could and should have been 9.5

 

[BABYBOMBERS2007]

Xenoblade Chronicles - this game is just amazing. Imo the 3rd greatest game of all time behind Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64. This is truly a masterpiece game and a perfect 10/10.

I would have Portal 2 second. Such a great great game. Funny, strategic, just awesome. Dark humour is always amazing when it done well and they have truly done an awesome job.

Skyrim would be third. Over 163 hours for me to finish it.

 

[Igloo]

1. Skyrim
2. Uncharted 3
3. Everything else mixed together, with Portal 2 probably the best of the rest,

 

[pantskyle]

No doubt that it is Skyrim - 100hrs into it already what value.
Fifa 12 - Always gets a massive work over from me and my brothers
Battlefield 3 - Same as above but online

I have Batman and SR3 ready to play as Xmas gifts.

Worse game of the year for me that I actually played was Brink utter crap.

Rage was fun to start with but got boring very quickly. Looked good though.

Will buy ACRevelations an and Uncharted 3 soon. Also need to pick up GoW3.
Portal 2 is fun but have only done the co-op. Must get into it.

 

[Little Jerry]

1. Uncharted 3
2. Skyrim
3. Portal 2
4. Minecraft
5. Batman: Arkam City

 

[sacka]

1. Uncharted 3 for me, the middle of the game had some epic moments, even though the mp is just a pass in my book the co-op is one tyou can come back to over and over again.

in no particular order it would be
Batman A.C
Resistance 3 - Great sp, mp meh, i really missed the story driven co-op.
Infamous 2 - Just lacked something the first one had, but still really enjoyed it.
MW3 - u think im crazy but how many of you are still playing it every night?
BF3 - Sp was just a pass but mp really shines.

Hounerable mentions - KZ3, La Noire(even though it was best in small doses i did enjoy it) DC Universe online, Portal 2.

Havn't played Revelations (still to finish BH) Skyrim(dont play rpg's) Saints Row 3.

Disapointments would go to
Socom 4
Homefront - MP had so much potential and if they can sort out the 50 little things that make it bad and unplayable for anyone that isn't a yank, i would definately buy the second lol, there were some good ideas in there that made it a little different from your everyday fps.
Brink.

 

[ManWithNoName]

 

[Mancey]

MW3 - u think im crazy but how many of you are still playing it every night?
.

Haven't even bought it so not me

 

[Valentino Dmitri]

Dark Souls is my favorite game of this year, and possibly any other year. Ormstein and Smough can go **** themselves though, took me like 50 cracks to beat them, harder than hbk reading a naughty dog press release

Honorable mentions

Dragon Age 2. Inconsistent, a few baffling design choices etc etc. a great bunch of characters save it to a certain extent; quite good but nowhere near as good as I was expecting. Favorite shitty dialogue line

Flemeth:*"There is always a catch. Life is a catch. I suggest you catch it, while you can"

Not quite as awesome as when morrigan went "I am the loop in your hole" in the first game but still great

Catherine.

Marvel vs Capcom.

Uncharted 3. That bit where the back end of the plane falls out like a fistcore pr0n star's prolapsed anus was mental, took me a few seconds to realise that it wasn't a cut scene. Fun story somewhat let down (but not really) by how the things that happen in cutscenes are divorced from what you actually do during play ie: kill countless people. Must be hard to be a lovable rogue when youve been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, especially when you sometimes drag your hot girlfriend along to join in the fun, lol.

Batman. I think the main purpose of this game was for rocksteady to establish that catwoman is a bitch and Harley likes to have sex. Favorite bit was how catwoman had nothing to do for like 75 percent of the game so they just had ivy tie her up for like 10 ingame hours. Wtf were they talking about for all that time? What If she needed to snap one off? Would love to see a dlc sidequel released that documents what happened.

Saints row 3. Also hates women but not quite to the extent that batman does

 

[Toshowyouwhy]

Uncharted 3 by miles. Probably the only game not to disappoint me in some way. Biggest disappointments have been FIFA12 and LA Noire.

 

[Barnzy]

1. BF3 on PC

2. FIFA 12

3. Batman AC

4. Portal 2

Havent played Skyrim (don't want to get hooked on another game. Especially an addictive RPG) or Uncharted 3.

 

[Prudster]

1. Skyrim - Absolutely amazing. Hundreds of hours of game play, and plenty to do after you've completed the main quest line. I can't wait to play it again in a year and explore everything again.

2. Portal 2 - How many sequels live up to the hype that Portal 2 did. Fantastic game which kept the great things about the original, while adding enough new bits to make it feel like a new game.

3. BF3 (PC) - Graphics just amazing. Out of this world. Deserves to be the COD killer, just unfortunate that COD still sold more copies. Consoles probably had a fair bit to do with that.

4. Minecraft - Although it technically went on sale last year, it was a beta. Basically let's your imagination run wild, and provides plenty of fun. Easy to get lost in your own world building or exploring caves.

COD gets negative points for releasing the same game but with new graphics. Why people still buy it, i will never know.

 

[HurleyTheFuture]

COD gets negative points for releasing the same game but with new graphics. Why people still buy it, i will never know.

Not even that, the CoD graphics used the same engine as the previous title. In saying that though I loved Mw2