The Games of 2011: Part 1
April Fools! Or is it?
Being an avid Virtua Fighter player and regular attendee at my local fighting game community events means that I get to spend an inordinate amount of time talking about video games with like-minded people. These discussions cover not just fighting games, but games in general and from all eras. Couple this with the fact that I’m now pushing 40 and positively ancient compared to some of the younger players, it means that we get to have some pretty cool discussions around different eras of gaming.
While many of the players at these events are too young to have been playing video games in the late 90s, many of them still get into and appreciate the games that came out before they were even old enough to pick up a controller. On the flipside, I get to hear the perspective of players whose formative years were in the 2000s rather than the 90s.
‘Antanov’ another regular player at the OzHadou YSB events approached me one day about my Games of 1998 blog, and mentioned that he thought 2011 was also a contender for the strongest year of gaming ever. ‘Surely it’s far too soon to judge 2011 in the history books, it’s so recent’, I thought, before realising that 2011 was 15 years ago at time of writing. While I suffer my existential mid-life crisis, it thought it might also be a good idea to take a look at the games of 2011 and see what all the fuss was about. As it turns out, quite a bit actually.
I thought it would be interesting (and much easier) if I didn’t go out of my way to explore the year beyond what I had already played. I also made a point to not go back and replay games from 2011 specifically for this piece, rather I wanted to try and piece together a list of favourites based on my memories alone. I’m glad I did, as the resulting list is probably quite different to what most people would have. A friendly reminder, this list is not meant to be some kind of objective ‘best’ or ‘most important’ games of 2011, but rather a purely personal list of games from this year that I have fond memories of and have struggled to order into some kind of top 15.
So without further ado; here is part one of my list of the Top 15 Games of 2011!
15) Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Release Date - November 1, 2011 (NA)
Developer - Naughty Dog
Publisher - Sony
Platform - PlayStation 3
Uncharted was one of the franchises I was most excited to try out when I finally got a PlayStation 3 in 2010. I very much enjoyed the first two games, and they had some stellar production values with great voice acting and set-pieces.
Uncharted 3 continued the tradition with the continuing adventures of Nathan Drake, an explorer in the vein of Indiana Jones. This time his mission takes him to the middle east, with scorching deserts and opulent palaces. All of the locations are used to great effect, giving you a sense of being a stranger in a strange land with some gorgeous views to take in.
The gameplay is a mix of light platforming, hand to hand combat and cover based shooting. The action is simple enough for anyone to get the hang of it pretty quick, but still compelling enough for veterans to have some fun. The real standout of this game is the great cast of characters, all expertly voiced and delivering some genuinely funny scenarios and lines among the action.
The graphics were also a showcase of the PlayStation 3’s power, as all the games had been to this point. Being a much later release, this game really does look like a million dollars on the hardware, and really gives the sense of being in a movie.
14) Thor: God of Thunder
Release Date - September 8, 2011 (AU)
Developer - WayForward Technologies
Publisher - Sega
Platform - Nintendo DS
A movie licensed game!? On a top 15!? Hell yes! Developed by WayForward, a developer with a long history of varied software, this is a game that punched well above its weight.
WayForward was already making waves in gaming for some very well received titles they developed. Shantae (2002), Contra 4 (2007), A Boy and his Blob (remake)(2009) are some examples of quality titles they’d come to be known for. Far from being a powerhouse developer of AAA games, the team had found a great niche primarily in games for handhelds, and they brought a great understand and skillset ideal to making fast paced and fun 2D action games.
Thor doesn’t break too many paradigms in the gaming world, but it’s a well executed 2D side-scrolling action game. Based on the Marvel comic book character and tie-ing in with the 2011 film, players take the role of the Norse god and fight through several levels of baddies using his super-powers.
The game uses some fantastic pixel art reminiscent of the classic 16-bit and arcade titles of the 90s. Making full use of the Nintendo DS dual-screens, the opening level takes place during a rainstorm with the rain coming down both screens and allowing you to drink in the detail of the gorgeous background art. When meeting other characters, some nice portraits are shown in the top screen to give a close up of the dialogue.
Thor can smash his way through enemies using his iconic hammer, knocking them into the air to juggle them, or even pick them up to throw into other baddies. Thunder and lightning powers are also available, but limited in usage.
The game is short, but keeps up a great pace and has some really nice set-pieces throughout the varied levels. Thor will be riding chunks of ice and rock down mountainsides, or battling acid rain from the skies (requiring you to use hapless enemies as a makeshift umbrella to duck between shelter!). Boss fights are also of course present, and provide a nice break-up to the usual action.
Overall, a great little sidescroller that’s short, sweet and looks and sounds great.
Thoughts from the Younger Generation…
“While I don’t think Thor is top 15, you are a ball knower. That game has no right being as cool as it is.” - Antanov
13) Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Release Date - August 23, 2011
Developer - Eidos Montreal
Publisher - Square Enix Europe
Platform - PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
The original Deus Ex (2000) is a masterpiece of video game design. Considered widely to be one of the best games ever made, it did see a sequel in 2003 with Deus Ex: The Invisible War. It failed to live up to the hype, but would Human Revolution be the game to match, or even surpass the original Deus Ex? In short; no.
Now that sounds damning, but it really says more about the quality of the original than the quality of Human Revolution, which is also a very good game.
Taking place before the events of Deus Ex, players will assume the role of Adam Jensen. Jensen has been augmented with several cybernetic implants to make him in essence a super-human. While in the original Deus Ex, the protagonist, JC Denton, was given implants that utilised nano-technology, this is a much more primitive form of human augmentation, with very visually obvious, mechanical appendages and attachments to the human body.
It’s part of the overall theme of the game’s story, exploring the dawn of the age of human augmentation. Where does humanity end and machine begin?
In terms of gameplay, it results in some creative and fun abilities that will change depending on play-style and augmentations chosen for Jensen. Beyond some boiler-plate abilities like running faster or being stronger with melee attacks thanks to metal arms and legs, you get some cool abilities like jets in your legs softening a fall from a great height, or letting you see through walls.
It does lend itself to multiple playthroughs, or fun comparisons with other players as to how a particular problem was handled. Did you shoot your way through the level? Or did you sneak? Did you use your hacking abilities to turn the sentry guns on your enemies?
Much has been said about the ‘piss filter’ that Human Revolution seemed to become infamous for, but it’s hard to say it didn’t give it an iconic and memorable look. The yellow/gold aesthetic is very consistent and contrasts with the very bleak and dreary world and story of the game. It’s a compelling story and Adam is a more relatable and interesting character than Invisible War’s Alex Denton in my opinion.
An incredible hard act to follow, but Human Revolution managed to forge it’s own path with a game that’s unique from the prior games in the series, and found itself a niche as probably the second best game in the franchise. Second best? “I never asked for this…” but a damn fine showing.
Thoughts from the Younger Generation…
“I think DEHR is where it should be. Great game but it has lots of narrative issues. It's vibe is fucking unmatched though.I do think HR leans on its aesthetic too much when it's narrative doesn't have real teeth when it comes to it's in world issues it wants to commentate on.It's writing on how people who go cyborg get persecuted is very layer 1 and the game seems more interested in using it to seem bleaker and more important than it is.” - Antanov
12) Gears of War 3
Release Date - September 20, 2011
Developer - Epic Games
Publisher - Microsoft Studios
Platform - Xbox 360
Ah yes, if you could somehow make a game out of pure dudebro, it would be Gears of War. Thankfully, the games never turned and winked at the camera too hard, and despite the outrageous design and style (chainsaw bayonets, anyone?) the games took themselves seriously and played it straight, and is all the better for it.
I’m going to be honest, I don’t remember much of Gears of War 3. I watched some footage on YouTube to see if I have, in fact, played the game at all, and I saw enough that I remembered to come to the conclusion that I have. I think it’s just blurred itself with Gears of War 1 and 2. They all look and play very similar, but that’s not really a bad thing when they play so well.
This was the iconic cover shooter of the Xbox 360/PS3 era, and it nailed the formula well. Big, chunky weapons and hit effects, interesting arenas, variety of baddies, lots of set-pieces and brilliant co-op modes in the age when online gaming was really coming into vogue for console players.
The ‘active reload’ system is a thing of genius, hit the reload button and you can let the full animation play out for a safe but slow reload, or, you can try to time it by hitting the reload button again at a specific timing to slam in the magazine. This inexplicably gives your reload bullets more power. Miss the timing, and you’ll jam your gun, leaving you vulnerable for a while. It’s nonsensical, but a great risk-reward system to pair with the cover mechanics and gunplay.
Multiplayer modes were also strong with the aforementioned co-op, as well as deathmatches and the return of Horde mode. Horde mode is probably my favourite memory of these games, distilling the game to it’s most key elements; taking down waves of enemies with a group of friends. Fighting for survival, helping each other out, working out strategies on the go and rescuing friends is what Gears is all about.
Thoughts from the Younger Generation…
“I think GOW3 is a little low (on your list).I really rate that game.I think people underate how smart those games are, they do a lot of subtle things that combine to make GOW completely timeless and 3 is by far the best one.” - Antanov
11) Virtua Tennis 4
Release Date - April 29, 2011
Developer - Sega
Publisher - Sega
Platform - Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Tennis and video games have a long history. Tennis for Two may be the first video game ever made, way back in 1958 (look it up). Pong is essentially an abstract tennis sim from 1972. One of my favourite franchises of tennis games has to be Sega’s own Virtua Tennis. Having played the original on Dreamcast and immediately falling in love with it, it was great to see the series continue in 2011 with Virtua Tennis 4.
In an age of sports sims that play it very straight, Virtua Tennis wasn’t afraid to mix things up a bit with some silly arcade style action, fitting of Sega’s history.
The core gameplay is very well designed, with simple to learn, hard to master skills. Positioning on the court is extremely important, as hitting the button to return the ball will cause your player ot plant their feet and build up power the longer you hold the button. It makes the game simple to control, but requires forethought for timing and positioning to win.
The game has a full career mode where you can level up and take your player across the world playing in tournaments, as well as train in a series of creative and silly mini-games. You’ll be smashing plates across the court, have chicks follow you around the court as you lead them to their hen (and away from snakes), and play poker by selecting cards by hitting the ball into them. It sounds silly but these games are both fun and help build core skills. Hitting the plates and cards require careful aim and timing. Having the chicks avoid the snake requires good footwork and control of your character. To this day, Virtua Tennis’s use of mini-games to make varied experiences without changing the core controls and understanding of the game is one of my favourite examples of genius game design.
Thoughts from the Younger Generation…
“VT4 is great shout… No one talks about VT anymore but yeah it's OD” - Antanov
10) Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds / Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
Release Date - February 15, 2011/November 15, 2011 (NA)
Developer - Capcom
Publisher - Capcom
Platform - Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
I get to cover Marvel vs Capcom all over again, having talked about the original game in my 1998 article. Now we get the third entry in the franchise, Fate of Two Worlds. I’ve also lumped in the followup iteration Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 as they released in the same year and are basically inseparable in my eyes.
Carrying on the formula of larger than life action, capturing the best of the Marvel Universe and Capcom’s own franchises, the game has a wonderful roster of weird and wonderful characters. Both the expected mainline participants from Street Fighter, Spider-Man, Resident Evil, Iron Man franchises, as well as some more obscure or creative characters like Taskmaster and Firebrand.
Gameplay is similar to the earlier titles with 3 on 3 action being the order of the day, with team composition being a huge part of the appeal and challenge when playing this game competitively. Character strengths will cover other team-mates weaknesses and combo attacks will depend heavily on which characters are on your team.
The single-player component isn’t very strong, but that’s not really the point of a game like this. The variety and challenge offered in playing another human is where this game shines, and is why it still has a cult following 15 years later.
Thoughts from the Younger Generation…
“I actually wouldn't include MVC3, personally. Obvs it's one of the most iconic fighters of all time, but as a complete package it's super lacking content. UMVC3 is by far the better game (over vanilla) not just for the roster but mechanically it made a ton of good changes. Vanilla 3 has more issues by comparision.” - Antanov
9) Rayman Origins
Release Date - November 15, 2011
Developer - Ubisoft
Publisher - Ubisoft
Platform - Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii
The first Rayman game since 2003, and what a return for the de-limbed mascot!
Rayman Origins might be faithful to the older games, but I can’t tell you because I haven’t played them. To this date, Rayman Origins remains the only Rayman game I’ve played. It’s not that I’m not interested in the others, but you know how it is with backlogs. Either way, I have very fond memories of this game, with some gorgeous 2D visuals and a really great and unique soundtrack. Indeed the music seems to be a big part of this game, with so many little sound effects seemingly blending into the background music.
The game is broken into bite-sized levels across various themed worlds. The goal is to collect ‘Lums’ and navigate the dynamic levels while fighting the baddies with jumps and attacks. The levels are short but very creative utilising a mix of gimmicks and traditional platforming before ending with a good old boss fight at the end of each level.
Addictive, and occasionally quite challenging, this is just a fun platformer with some ace graphics and music.
8) Dead Rising 2: Off The Record
Release Date - October 11, 2011
Developer - Capcom Vancouver
Publisher - Capcom
Platform - Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
This is a very curious game. It’s not Dead Rising 2, and it’s not an expansion pack for Dead Rising 2. Frank West, protagonist of the original Dead Rising was not in the sequel. Instead the main character was an entirely new protagonist Chuck Greene. Off the Record is actually a total re-imagining of the game, a ‘What if’ of sorts. ‘What if Frank West was in Fortune City for the second outbreak instead of Chuck?’.
It’s a premise that you very rarely see in video games, but wow it worked well here. While the locations are mostly identical, a new area was added to the game to explore as well. The photography mechanics from the original game now return (seeing as Frank is a photo-journalist, it makes sense from a story perspective) and adds a new dimension of gameplay while retaining the sequels other features like the workbench, allowing the player to craft unique weapons by (literally in some cases) scotch-taping stuff together.
There’s a definite tone-shift too, with Frank being a much more irreverent character than Chuck who’s story is quite somber by comparison. The ‘what if’ scenario is played to the fullest, with some silly moments, Frank making one-liners and outrageous scenarios. To be honest, I think this is the best way to portray a game like Dead Rising which is all about dispatching absurd amounts of zombies in the most creative ways possible.
This is a game that was just pure fun, and felt like something that was probably a lot of fun to make too. Released as a budget title, and obviously re-using a lot of assets, it was such a brilliant way to breathe new life into a game as a standalone spin-off. More of this kind of thing, please!
7) Ms Splosion Man
Release Date - July 13, 2011
Developer - Twisted Pixel Games
Publisher - Microsoft Studios
Platform - Xbox 360
The original Splosion Man (2009) was a very important Xbox Live Arcade game for me. It came at a time I was mostly playing a lot of ‘AAA’ big budget story titles for a while, and going back to a game that had a very minimalist approach to design was a breath of fresh air that reminded me what I loved about classic video games. Ms Splosion Man is the followup to Twisted Pixel’s hit, and it delivers with more of what made me love the original.
A brilliantly simple control scheme (every button causes you to explode) defies some very clever and well thought out levels. Exploding acts as a jump, double jump, wall jump and attack, and you’ll need to utilise all those moves and some logical thinking to get through the numerous levels. All of it is wrapped up in the silly world of Splosion Man’s 60s parody setting, with the hyperactive Ms Splosion Man constantly yelling out ridiculously girly lines (think Spice Girls lyrics, chick-flick quotes and the like and you’ll be most of the way there).
Much like Rayman Origins this is a game that made me fall in love with platformers all over again, a genre I’d neglected for some time by 2011.
6) Shadows of the Damned
Release Date - June 21, 2011 (NA)
Developer - Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher - Electronic Arts
Platform - Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Shinji Mikami (director of Resident Evil), Akira Yamaoka (composer for Silent Hill) and Suda51 (director of Killer 7) all working together on a ‘punk rock’ psychological horror game.
That sentence alone should be enough to convince most people to at least give this game a shot, it’s certainly all it took for me. All three are legendary figures in the gaming industry and they delivered a unique and extremely memorable action horror title with Shadows of the Damned.
Taking the gameplay formula of Resident Evil 4 with a third person shooter bend, the game follows Garcia Hotspur; Demon Hunter. When his girlfriend is kidnapped by the Lord of Demons (AKA ‘Fleming’), Garcia follows Fleming into hell to retrieve her. He takes along his friend ‘Johnson’, a transforming demon that is an advisor, your motorcycle and your guns (all of them). Yes, this game has some delightfully bizarre sensibilities. The aesthetics of the game are equally strange with some great hellish landscapes to explore, freaky demons to fight and that unerring punk rock look that makes it quite unlike any other horror game I’ve played.
With Akira Yamaoka at the helm, the soundtrack is equally stylistic and up there with his best work on Silent Hill in my opinion. Of particular note is the vocal tracks where Yamaoka teams up with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, her haunting vocals and Yamaoka’s dreamy music make for some incredibly immersive tracks.
The gameplay may not be as polished as Resident Evil 4 but makes up for it with the slick style and fun weaponry. Johnson is all of your guns, and improving your arsenal means transforming him into new guns, all variations of skulls. The basic handgun (or ‘Boner’, yes that’s another dick-joke) is the starting weapon, but you’ll soon unlock machine-gun style variations, shotguns and even bazookas. You’ll find that you’ll need different ones for different tasks, whether it’s taking down mobs of enemies or carefully aiming for weak spots on some troublesome tough enemies.
This is a game that I was genuinely worried would be forever lost in rights-hell (as fitting as being in a form of hell would be for this game). Thankfully, the game has since been re-released on PC and modern platforms as the Hella Remastered edition. A game that was unfortunately overlooked on release, I urge you to check out this awesome horror title.
Thoughts from the Younger Generation…
“Shadows of the Damned in 6th is a fucking crazy take, Ngl. Low key game suuucks, I wouldn't put it there for sure” - Antanov
To Be Continued…
What, you thought I wouldn’t stretch this out? It has been a lot of fun going back to check out this era of games, and try and rank them based purely on memories. While some are much more clear in my mind than others, 2011 definitely had some cracking titles to play.
Watch this space for the Top 5, hopefully there will be some surprises in there for you. Maybe there’s already been a game or two from this list you haven’t tried yet that you might go out of your way to give a shot now. Hopefully! And hopefully I’ll get around to a few titles I missed out on too.