1. Portal 2 ; It's an awful way to open your post by saying 'I can't really think of anything else to add,' but, well, I can't really think of anything else to add. It's a longer and stronger sequel without an ounce of fat on it. Nearly every element of P2 could be selected as a highlight. The multiplayer especially surprised though. So many cooperative games feel like side-by-side single player, but this involved genuine teamwork, and solving those puzzles as Orange and Blue with a friend felt so damn rewarding. As did dropping a friend in goop, of course.
2. Serious Sam 3: BFE ; At the end of the ninth stage, while battling eighty trillion dudes and a fuggin' alien spaceship, Sam says something along the lines of, "It's time to quit with the foreplay and get ...
serious." How self-referential! But he wasn't talking about himself, he was talking about his game. SS3 gets off to a 'what the hell is this?' start for the first two levels, then wipes the table clean for the third stage and gets down to business, where you fight a giant rocket-pumping mechanical alien around a small Egyptian building with wide doors on each side for it to blast you through. Every time you pick up a new weapon (like the crunchy double-barreled shotgun or whurrrRRRRRRRRR-ing minigun) or meet a new enemy, the game cleans the table again, setting up something even crazier. SS3 just elevates and elevates and elevates until BLAOW, it finally ascends into god-tier eff pee essin'. All over your face. Then it elevates some more, because it can. SS3 is basically Psyduck.gif: The Video Game, glorious insanity. It also gets pegged as being 'mindless' or a shooter that 'harkens back to the good ol' days of Doom,' which annoys me on a level you can't even begin to understand. The reality is Doom was never, ever, ever this batshit insane and I'm
always thinking while mowing down hundreds of aliens. I have to. I'm rationing out ammo here, dammit, and there are dozens of skeletons charging, a bunch of one-eyed gorilla things trying to pummel me, some bulls behind them, I'm getting random rockets from who knows where an- AHHhHHHhhHHHhhHHHh. 2011 had a ton of hyped-up shooters, but Sam felt way more progressive than any of that same ol' same ol' nonsense. Too bad none of you played it!
3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution ; There's an admittedly decent number of things I could ding this game for, thinking back. I just wasn't bothered all that much though. When I arrived at Shanghai I spent a good hour just running around, soaking up the atmosphere and looking through this beautiful Chinese city. I didn't turn in or pick up a single quest. What for? I got such a kick out of exploring the hubs and dungeons, I
had to see everything. I was also quite pleased with how the story unfolded, how it concluded (even if the endings felt largely similar). I liked Jensen quite a bit. I also really liked stabbing people with those metal arms.
4. Alice: Madness Returns ; I've known a few pretty but
royally fucked up flawed Alices. A:MR is no different, but this one's heart really
is in the right place. The platforming and combat felt great, even if the pacing nagged more often than it should have. The art design was absolutely peerless last year, even if the odd low-res texture would emerge to say hi. When it all synced up though? When it all synced up I was thrown up into the clouds, leaping across bridges and castles made of cards to
this haunting little melody. It took my breath away, and was my favorite gaming moment of last year, actually. Alice earns her top five spot for that alone, but there were plenty of other moments to cherish, thankfully.
5. Rage ; I judge all proper manshoots by their shotguns, and Rage had some meaty, filthy-ass shotguns, let me tell you. It also had the best gunplay since the first F.E.A.R. and some wonderful hit detection along with slippery enemy movement. The shooting was
so damn good I almost forgot about the complete lack of challenge. Almost! Could've been id software's best game if not for that, but still, what a thrill this game provides when you bust out a shotty or a pistol loaded with fat momma bullets and get your dudebeast on. id's games are still must-plays for me.
6. Gemini Rue ; I took a big interest in adventure games last year, playing through '90s PC classics and Japanese DS gems, loving all of it. GR though, this was something special. Even with its technical shortcomings, the atmosphere and artwork were so rich, I honestly thought it was one of the more visually pleasing games of 2011. The cover-based shooting mechanics were smart and worked quite well, the puzzles were fun, the story had me hooked - GR had it all. A highlight of the genre now.
7. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings ; I didn't finish my Iorveth playthrough in time for this, so oh well. I also much preferred the final act and how the choice / consequence stuff worked from the first game. Still, I very much enjoyed TW2. Some hysterical moments, some eye-popping scenery, some great fights and, of course, Roche beating up
errybody.
8. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective ; Ghost Trick had the best name of any game last year, real talk. It also had some clever puzzles and relentlessly charming characters. The story, twist after surprise after WTF reveal, veered off into crazy anime plot territory and I gave zero fucks. Actually, I
liked that. Everything was so wild. The silky smooth animation gave this already-lovable cast even more personality, too. I don't know, I feel like I should sum this up some other way, say something wittier at least, although maybe I needn't have to: playing Ghost Trick just made me feel extremely happy. I had a smile on my face the entire time and I love it for that. Absolutely adorable game.
9. Radiant Historia ; I didn't think the world of 2011's games overall, but I have to say, it most certainly wasn't because there was a lack of quality RPGs. RH made me feel a little cross-eyed at times with all its timeline hopping and I realllllyyyyy would have loved a proper in-game map of some sort, but it can still hang with the best of 2011, easily. The grid-based, turn-based combat system was all sorts of damn good, and the surprising turns the plot took were always exciting, but I think it was ultimately the cast I enjoyed the most. Extremely fond of this bunch~
10. Batman: Arkham City ; Kind of had a rough start with this, also still not as crazy about the slick-but-too-simple combat as seemingly everyone else is. I was eventually won over. It is very much a 'turn everything up to 11' sequel that worked its ass off to impress. The stealth sections were my favorite gameplay bits here, dismantling juggabros one by one was extremely satisfying. Then there was flying over the city, boss fights that were actually fun this time around (whoa!), everything about the Joker and - oh yeah - hello, kitty.
x. 2010. Fallout New Vegas ; Primm Slim, yo.
I kind of regret not playing more last year as I was largely disappointed outside of my top ten. I can't see how Yakuza 4 wouldn't have landed somewhere on my list at least, and I know a number of reliable people who swear by Rayman. I don't think I bought more than one PSN / XBLA game either - Deathsmiles IIX, which I needed to put more time into - and speaking of that, I wish I had shelled out the money for some Cave imports. My list would probably have looked different if I decided to play more new stuff overall. Oh well, I guess.
(Hopefully I didn't make any mistakes with the way I listed things, but feel free to call me out if so.)