2011 in Review: Games
Continuing with my 2011 in Review posts, this time with my favorite games of 2011. I’ve been quite bad this year as I really didn’t pick up many of the games you will see on others lists including Skyrim and Modern Warfare 3, and I have a nice stack of games waiting to be played including RAGE, Resistance 3, Batman: Arkham City, and some others. Out of the games I did play this year, here are the ones that made lasting impressions.
The king is back and DICE and EA have returned with an amazing return to Battlefield with Battlefield 3. Packed with a strong single player and amazing multiple experience, it just brings back great memories of Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2.
Orcs Must Die is the perfect game for me these days. Quick and addictive fun. Robot Entertainment have perfectly combined a tower defense game with a great feel of an action game. For those that like to plan and place traps you have that, and for those that just want to kill Orcs, you have that. The comical nature of trap development just makes you want to be more creative. Well done Robot!
I’m getting older, but blowing up stuff never gets old. The good people at Avalanche Studios have created just the game for that with Renegade Ops. This game combines two of my childhood favorites in Jackal and the Strike Series. Take your vehicle and blow shit up, that simple. Big huge explosions! Great looking graphics, and just fun to play.
What can I say about Uncharted 3 that hasn’t already been said. Go play it. It is great. Well done Naughty Dog, can’t wait to play The Last of Us.
Dead Space 2 was great. Perhaps a little more action heavy over suspense, but beggars can’t be choosers. Everything about it is polished and well designed. I’m looking forward to what they do with Dead Space 3.
It is very rare that I finish a game in just a couple days, but Portal 2 had me hooked. Smart, creative, funny, and just darn right great from start to finish. The only thing that could have made Portal 2 better is Valve to finally upgrade their streaming technology. LOADING…
I remember seeing Deus Ex: Human Revolution years ago at GDC and was blown away by the art direction that they were going after. I followed the game and it didn’t disappoint. Amazing in every regard, thrilled to see what Eidos Montreal does with Thief 4.
