Your Games of the Year

[Rik McCloud]

Haven't spotted another topic like this anywhere so I presume it's safe to post this but if I've missed it, I apologise.

Never the less, we haven't exactly been starved of new titles to sink our teeth into this year. Dare I list a selection of them?

L.A. Noire, Portal 2, Saints Row 3, Skyrim, Zelda: Skyward Sword, Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, Forza 4, Need for Speed: The Run, Motorstorm: Apocalypse, Halo Anniversary, Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3, Resistance 2, Killzone 3, Rayman Origins, Sonic Generations, LittleBigPlanet 2, Battlefield 3 and CoD: MW3 to name a few.

But what were the games you guys would list as some of the most memorable experiences for yourselves? Here is my selection:

Solatorobo: Red the Hunter for Nintendo DS

No gimmicks here. Despite being on the DS, it never once uses the touch screen. Although if you have a DSi or 3DS, it does let you take a picture of yourself and the surrounding you play in for a clever little feature later on in the brilliant story which, whilst is slow to start with, gives you time to admire the wonderful worlds you explore and get to know the lovable characters. The soundtrack is fantastic as well. I imported a US copy just to get the CD included with the Xseed release. Was a thoroughly enjoyable 20 hours of simple yet decent game play but was mostly carried by the wonderful settings, characters and story.

Driver: San Francisco for PS3, 360 and PC

Licensed vehicles for the first time in a Driver game, a stunning recreation of San Francisco and a feel which felt familiar was also a fantastically fresh take on the series. This game makes you feel you are in a constant movie car chase and I love that. You don't hit people when you drive down the sidewalk. Instead they leap out the way and strangely, that is much more satisfying to me. A fun story that links the brilliant "Shift" mechanic in nicely that takes out the sub-par shooting and on-foot sections of the previous two Driver titles as well as an awesome multiplayer and this is one of the games of the year for me. September was completely consumed for me by this game.

Portal 2 for PS3, 360 and PC

What is there that hasn't been said about this? Funny, well thought out, incredibly good fun and a co-op mode that's potentially better than the single player. Don't need to say too much about this apart from one thing.

SSSSPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCEEEEE!

Forza Motorsport 4 for Xbox 360

For years, I've held out from getting a 360 but Forza 4 was too much of a temptation to ignore. It betters Gran Turismo 5 in many respects but I do not prefer it to GT5. In fact I am glad the two exist because it means more choice for petrolheads like me who share the same passion as the designers of these games. The Top Gear additions were a welcome touch as was the Autovista mode but it's the customisation of the vehicles as well as the choice which appeals to me. Whilst choice isn't bad in GT5, it was disheartening to hear a lot of cars were ported from GT4 and GT PSP. Whilst Turn 10 have had two games prior to this to get the models rendered with the 360 hardware, it feels more complete as a result.

DiRT 3 for PS3, 360 and PC

It's been named as racing game of the year by Gamespot which hasn't pleased fans of Forza but I completely agree with the conclusion. Forza 4 is very highly polished and is a brilliant title but it doesn't get the blood pumping like DiRT 3 does. It's Gymkhana mode is a welcome addition and the regular modes are as good to play as they've ever been, if not better. Forza feels clinical to drive whilst DiRT feels natural which seems apt, not to mention the little touch of uploading segments of replays straight to YouTube was a good decision.

[Drasiana]

wow this makes me realize how little i've spent on games this year (money and timewise) i am terrible

i say skyrim just because it made me go from "not being able to play video games" to "schedule mysteriously rearranges itself to allow me to waste 150 hours of my life on this thing"

[CrypticQuery]

Driver: San Francisco for PS3, 360 and PC

Licensed vehicles for the first time in a Driver game, a stunning recreation of San Francisco and a feel which felt familiar was also a fantastically fresh take on the series. This game makes you feel you are in a constant movie car chase and I love that. You don't hit people when you drive down the sidewalk. Instead they leap out the way and strangely, that is much more satisfying to me. A fun story that links the brilliant "Shift" mechanic in nicely that takes out the sub-par shooting and on-foot sections of the previous two Driver titles as well as an awesome multiplayer and this is one of the games of the year for me. September was completely consumed for me by this game.

-Driver: San Francisco was the most fun I've had with a driving game in quite some time; it mixed things up with the hilariously fun shift, had licensed vehicles, used smooth driving mechanics, and namely continued the Driver series. There was nothing quite like beating both Driver 1 and 2 on PSOne in preparation for San Francisco! [Though Driver 2's "Chase the Gunman" mission will forever be INCREDIBLY hard >____<]

-Uncharted 3 was very fun, but it certainly didn't live up to the legacy and fun that Uncharted 2 had. I enjoyed the second installment more, and found that the climactic final-boss fight was a great wrap up. UC3's ending disappointed me; it seemed out of place and tacked on.

-I was rather disappointed with Saints Row the Third; it lost some of the charm and wonder that Saints Row 2 had, and it seemed as if basic storytelling was swapped for flat-out crazy in the Third. Also, they removed some of my favorite side-activities, killed my favorite character (Gat) immediately, and made the story more linear.

-I have to say that while I played it, I definitely did enjoy Solatorobo: Red the Hunter. It was an interesting take on a genre that I have rarely ever delved into, and I believe it brought me closer to RPGs as a whole. [Then Skyrim hit, and I haven't quite touched Solatorobo since, ]

-LA Noire was a refreshing take on a seemingly tired game-type, Battlefield & CoD completely burned out my will to play FPS games, and Skyrim has, and will continue to occupy the majority of my attention when it comes to new games.

-My final pick goes to Skyrim. I've never been enthralled and pulled into a game's universe as I have with this game.

[Icy]

I have a post here with my thoughts, and a link to my thoughts on my GOTY:

http://www.egameaddi...10178#msg310178 (Reply #4)

Uncharted 3, hands-down. I cannot choose between TLoZ: The Wind Waker, Star Fox Adventures, and Uncharted 3 for the best game of all time. They're all three absolutely brilliant.

[Vy'drach]

Haven't really been any games this year that have "wowed" me. All the big titles generally have/had problems that keep me from really being able to think of them as "game of the year" material. Only one that really comes close is Dark Souls.

Otherwise, I'd have to say indie games come to mind for me, "The Binding of Isaac" and "Dungeons of Dredmore" especially.

[Milkyway64]

Motherfucking Terraria. Got into it with friends. Have 200 + hours in it in a single month alone.

I like this game way too much.

[Vy'drach]

Is Terraria a 2011 game? Wasn't sure. If so, also a contender.

[Milkyway64]

As far as I'm aware, prerelease was january 2011. So yep.

[Vy'drach]

Alrighty then. +1 for Terraria.

[Milkyway64]

lol. I like it so much I wrote a big guide on it. I should post that here simply because I put so much time into it.

[Xortberg]

Do eet.

[Guest Mr. N]

Mario Kart 7

I'm going to be rather honest...there are some things missing from the game that I didn't like (Not like WTF characters like Honey Queen or Metal Mario), for instance...the lack of boo and fake item boxes.

Not to mention I hate the infamous Maku Wahu glitch which by now everybody should know about.

So I don't see how this will score a award.

[Star Fox Runner]

My games of the year would have to be Portal 2 and Skyward Sword, hands down.