Release Date: January 25, 2011.
Platform: PC/360/PS3
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Visceral Games/EA
GameRankings: 89.36%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.8/10 (Very Good)
The difference between Dead Space 2 and it's predecessor is less dramatic than something like, say, the difference between Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, but it is noticeable. Perhaps the area it is most noticeable is in the main character. Isaac Clarke was not much more than a cipher in the first game, nearly mute and not all that interesting. Aside from his obsession with finding Nicole, his erstwhile girlfriend, Isaac doesn't emit much personality. This was a measured and deliberate thing. I'm assuming the developers felt the various hallucinations and breaks in reality would seem much more frightening if the player could just as easily assume they were the ones experiencing it. This is certainly not a bad idea (the Half-Life series has nearly mastered it), but it left the main character not seeming all that important or much of a character.
Of all the improvements the second game makes (and there are many), it is this sudden burst of character from Isaac that is the most important. He's not the most interesting character, but the fact that is one at all improves the narrative of this game tenfold, specifically when Isaac makes a sacrifice near the game's conclusion (spoiler: he survives). All in all, the Dead Space series is proving to be one of the few EA-produced series worth anything at all, and I anticipate the third installment, whenever it may be.
Dragon Age II
Release Date: March 8, 2011.
Platform: 360/PS3/PC/Mac
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: BioWare/EA
GameRankings: 80.37%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.0/10 (Good)
Dragon Age II is possibly the most infamous game in BioWare's long and storied history. It is not, however, the worst. After the underground success that was Dragon Age: Origins (which, before I go any further, is a superior game, despite what my scores might say), Dragon Age II was one of the most heavily promoted and anticipated games in BioWare's history. To say it was a disappointment is an understatement. I don't believe this is because DAII is a bad game. Quite the contrary. I believe the backlash occurred because DAII was a poorly marketed game. People thought they were getting a true sequel to the original game. They were not. They were getting a loose continuation of the world in which the first game took place in. Dragon Age is as well written a game as anything on the open market, featuring interesting characters, a remarkable (if small in scope) array of areas, and a bevvy of strenuous political choices and motivations to wade through, like and good BioWare game. It might be a below standard offering by BioWare's standards, but it's still one of the better games of 2011, and worth playing. Most other companies should be so lucky to have such a good "worst" game.
Portal 2
Release Date: April 19, 2011.
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
ESRB Rating: E 10+
Developer/Publisher: Valve
GameRankings: 94.54%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.4/10 (Great)
Valve, ever the master craftsmen, took a bit of a gamble with 2007's Portal. A gamble that unequivocally paid off. What was originally included as a bit of a bonus on the Orange Box became possibly the most successful and most fully-praised bit, making a sequel a near guarantee. Before release, Valve described Portal 2 as a full-fledged game where the original had been simply an experiment. There is no better way to describe the divide between Portal 2 and it's predecessor. Portal 2 is a fully-formed, fully-developed game. A game that takes everything good about the original (which was everything) and expands to a near-caricature (without taking that last little step into ridiculousness). It is truly a masterpiece of black humor. Stephen Merchant and J.K. Simmons are stupendously good in their roles, as is the returning Ellen McClain (who was literally the only voice actor in the original game.) Almost everything that was good about Portal is better in Portal 2. It has an interactive, context sensitive soundtrack, for crying out loud. Just a magnificent game. There is one minor caveat, however. Because it's an actual game, Portal 2 lacks a bit of the surprise of the original. You really had no idea what to expect from Portal 1. Short, elegant, to the point and unbearingly endearing, Portal was the quintessential post modern video game. Portal 2 is fantastic, but perhaps not quite as seminal in thought or execution. The co-op makes up for that, however.
L.A. Noire
Release Date: May 17, 2011.
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Team Bondi/Rockstar Games
GameRankings: 87.72%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.1/10 (Great)
L.A. Noire was (and still is) one of the most interesting and unique undertakings in gaming history. So much so that, unlike ANY of the games on this list (excluding possibly the two Portal games), Noire has almost no basis in combat. More so even than a game like Mass Effect, it is based almost entirely on dialogue. Using a nigh-revolutionary motion capture facial system, Team Bondi created a conversation system that, while maybe a little static (you'll notice the same facial expressions constantly), manages to skirt the edge of the uncanny valley while still seeming realistic, something that's increasingly difficult to do. A game that is based on talking, investigating and wondering less than straightforward action is not rare to see, out of an indie or B title. Too see it from one of the biggest game companies in the world is different. Add in the excruciatingly re-created world and attention to detail, and you have a sandbox game every bit as engrossing as GTA IV or Red Dead Redemption. Maybe not a world as accessible or blindingly fun as either of those games, and certainly not as good, but perhaps a more seminal affair. In the end, Noire was an experiment, a new way of designing games set in the mold of a historical epic. I can easily see another great GTA game, and I can certainly see another game like RDR at some point in the future. I'm not sure if I ever see another game quite like L.A. Noire.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Release Date: August 23, 2011.
Platform: 360/PS3/PC
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Eidos Montreal/Square Enix
GameRankings: 89.41%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.4/10 (Great)
Every year, there's one game I never see coming. A game that I play on a whim that ends up utterly and completely captivating me. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is not only one of those games, it may be the ultimate version of one. I never played either of the original Deus Ex games. For someone who presents himself as something of a gaming connoisseur, not playing one of the most influential and proverbially game-changing works int he history of the medium is a bit of a shame, to be sure. Perhaps I was too young. Perhaps I wasn't privy to a computer capable of running it. Whatever the reason, the Deus Ex games were something of an unknown to me. That changed when I bought Human Revolution. Equal parts Blade Runner, Mass Effect, and Ghost in the Shell, Human Rev is one of the most visually arresting games I can remember playing, and an eternal testament to of one my favorite sayings in gaming: graphics aren't as important as art design.
Speaking of design, DX:HR is as wonderfully sounding a game as I can remember. The voice acting isn't flawless, but when it has to be good, it's wonderful. The sound design is as convincing as it is ethereal. The music is...my God, the music. Forceful, haunting and every bit perfect for the world it inhabits, the music is possibly this game's biggest strength.
All this effusive praise of the game's design might sound like I'm dodging what is arguably the most important aspect of any game: how it plays. Have no fear; Human Revolution plays marvelously. A hybrid shooter/rpg/stealth/puzzle game set in an imaginative and eerily prescient 2027. It plays extremely well. It's hard for me to recommend a game more than I can Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It lives up to a legacy I was never even sure existed, and does so by being it's own game. Not a perfect game, but as ambitious and engrossing a game as I can remember, full of ideas and wonder. Play it.
Gears of War 3
Release Date: September 20, 2011.
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Epic Games/Microsoft Studios
GameRankings: 91.59%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.7/10 (Very Good)
Gears of War 3 is all the platitudes you would want from the back end of a major trilogy. It wraps up the storyline started with 2006's Gears of War. It's bigger, badder and more entertaining. It's everything about the series distilled into it's purest, most effective form. And it picked a horrible year to release. 2011 is one of the strongest gaming years of this or any generation. For instance: I chose not to write about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for this year's edition, not because it wasn't good enough (it was fantastic), but because there were just too many other games, and I didn't feel like I played enough of SS to justify writing about it.
Gears of War 3 was very good, but I'm having trouble remembering it when so many other great games came out in close proximity. Gears 3 should have come out in 2010.
Batman: Arkham City
Release Date: October 18, 2011.
Platform: PS3/360/PC (Eventually Wii U)
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Rocksteady Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
GameRankings: 94.13%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.3/10 (Great)
Batman: Arkham Asylum was one of those games I mentioned earlier: a total surprise that ended up being one of the best games of it's year. Batman: Arkham City, the sequel, had no such luxury. What very easily could have fallen victim to a bevy of unrealistic expectations (most of which from yours truly), Arkham City ended up surpassing expectations to usurp the title of "best superhero game ever" from its predecessor. This is due, mainly, to one thing and one thing only: the city. While not as big an open world as something like Fallout or Grand Theft Auto, Arkham City brought a BioShock-like level of detail and a bevy of Batman's best villains, along with a huge amount of lesser-known cameos (Kevin Conroy as Hush in particular). From a gameplay perspective, it's bigger, more complex and more satisfying than it's predecessor, while featuring a more taught story (although I'm starting to doubt the possibility of this game occurring during only one night).
Atmospheric, visceral and thoroughly exciting, this is one of the four best games of its year, which is saying something in a year like 2011.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Release Date: November 11, 2011.
Platform: Xbox 360/PlayStation 3
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Bethesda
GameRankings: 95%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.5/10 (Legendary)
Here it is. Skyrim. Another installment in Bethesda's life-destroying Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim is, on the surface, one of the most ambitious looking and feeling games ever to exist. Digging a little deeper? It's still an amazingly, mindblowingly big, detailed and enjoyable game. But it's not perfect. Like all Bethesda games, there's too much size, too many variables, that can throw a proverbial wrench in the system. Glitches are as common as ever, and in a game this atmospheric, they can be near deal-breakers at times.
Moving past that (admittedly big) hiccup, Skyrim also benefits from the tightest and most engrossing main plotline of any of the Elder Scrolls games. And those dragons. Only after severe amounts of playtime and leveling do they cease to be among the most adrenaline-pumping boss fights in all of gaming. The soundtrack is ethereal yet substantially beautiful. Like all Bethesda open-world games, an inordinate amount of enjoyment can be had by just picking a direction and walking towards the horizon. The world of Skyrim, the nothern-most province of Tamriel, is a cold and unforgiving place, where the winds whip at you almost as hard as the predators do. Aside from the cities (some of the most intriguing in all of the series), every settlement feels vulnerable and wild. And yet, there is a strange warmth to this game. A feeling of belonging. One of the single most wondrous maps in all of gaming, Blackreach (if you haven't checked it out, do so immediately). Untold wonders await you in Skyrim. Here be dragons.
This concludes (for now), my 16-part 15 Years of Gaming segment. By no means are these all of the games I have liked in my lifetime. These are just the ones I felt I had something to say about. If this is your first time or you've read them all, thank you, immensely, for reading. This has been maybe the first large-scale personal project I can remember completing, and easily the most fun. I'll probably be doing a 2012 round-up sometime in December or January, but this is the end of my scheduled reviews/recaps.
