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2011 was one of the busiest years in terms of news, we had a royal wedding, riots up and down the country and the shocking deaths of both heroes and villains of the modern age. In the world of gaming Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 smashed every record in the book, Wii U was unveiled, PSN got hacked, 3DS launched and got a massive price cut a couple of months later and iOS became the biggest gaming platform on the planet (according to Apple).
2011 was also a massive year gaming in terms of sales and the amount of the games that were actually released. It seemed at one point that we were getting A-list titles on a weekley basis. Some were good, some bad and some were just bloody awful.
So here at Modern Tat we've picked our top 10 favourites of the year;
10. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS)
Playing Mw3 is a underwhelming experience to say the least. It looks the same as the last one, it plays the same as the last one and the story is forgettable but a game that sells 6.5 Million copies in 24 hours and grosses $400 Million has to have something going for it right? Well Mw3 has, it has great multiplayer (when it works), the campaign's fun, there's tons of content and the overall sound, polish and gameplay exceed that of the previous installments. Overall this year's Call of Duty is a fun but slighty frustrating gaming experience.
9. Shadows of the Damned (PS3, Xbox 360)
Not many of you will have played or even have heard of Shadows of the Damned, which is a shame because it's an extremely fun and satisfying third person shooter that has more sexual innuendo's than an episode of Are You Being Served? It star's a demon hunter named Garcia who goes home to find his girlfriend Paula has been abducted by the lord of the demons Fleming. So he and his demon sidekick Johnson must travel to the underworld to find and save Paula. Simple Right? Whilst in the underworld there is an array of unforgettable and colourful characters and enemies. Despite getting mainly postive reviews, Shadows of the Damned only sold around 24,000 copies in it's first month. Despite the poor sales Shadows of the Damned is an enjoyable experience that we at Modern tat would recommend to anyone.
8. Rage (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
id Software took many by suprise with Rage, when it blended a first person shooter with a semi open world and extremely enjoyable races in a post-apocalyptic world set in the year 2029. Starting with an incredible opening sequence Rage was the suprise hit of the year. Combat is satisfying to say the least, visuals are stunning, the AI is advanced and smart and it also has a highly addicitve multiplayer. Rage also has numerous side missions which are well worth your time playing including Mutant Bash TV which see's the player just earning money by creatively killing and making your way through various stages off mutants. Despite the lacklustre end boss fight and the poor ending, Rage is an experience that everyone should have a go at.
7. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PC, Ps3, Xbox 360, Mac)
Deus Ex recieved crictal acclaim when it was released back in August and rightly so. It stars Adam Jensen who is out for revenge after he is attcked and injured. After the attck he undergoes extensive augmentation which allows the player to add numerous upgrades later on in the game. This first person shooter also showed off something it's developers call 'The pillars of gameplay', these are Combat, Stealth, Hacking and Social. These dictate the way the player takes on each situation they are involved in but never punish the player if they choose a different way. The story in Deus ex is what makes the game. Its main quests and side quests have multiple different layers to explore and several possible outcomes all of which are interesting and smart. The only thing that lets Deus Ex down is the boss fights which all feel out of place with extremely over powered enemies and boring bland set-pieces.
6. Gears of War 3 (Xbox 360)
We all know the Gears of War franchise by now right? Massive men with chainsaw's on there guns do battle with the locust? Well this installment doesn't change that opinion really but to be honest it shouldn't. Gears of war 3 is easily the best shooter of the year because it's so similar to the others. The horde and beast modes are brilliant and extremely fun, the multiplayer is highly addictive and the story is cinematic and quite emotional at some points and really puts an end to the story of Marcus, Dom and the rest of the gang.
5. L.A. Noire (Ps3, Xbox 360, PC)
So did we enjoy playing as a 1940s detective? Hell yes! Although LA Noire didn't reach the emotional heights of Heavy Rain and wasn't as fun as Grand Theft Auto 4 or Red Dead Redemption it didn't mean LA Noire wasn't great. It has an immersive single player starring Aaron Staton (Mad Men) as Cole Phelps a detective in the LAPD. In LA Noire the player must go round solving crimes in Homicide, Arson, Vice and Buglary. There's also a running themes of a serial killer thoughout and also Phelp's miltary history which adds a lot to the overall story. The motionscan used on the actors to capture facial expressions accounted for the best looking faces in a game we've ever seen, although we could never tell if someone was lying or not.
4 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS3)
Nathan Drake and his sidekick Victor Sullivan came back in easily the best game of the Uncharted series and the best console exclusive game of the year. This time around around its all about Sir Francis Drake's ring so Drake, Sully and Elena jump, climb and shoot there way through some spectacular set-pieces including the desert (which was amazing), we saw a 14-year old Drake which was cool. Our highlight of the game is the Indiana Jones esque chase through the mountains. Superb.
3. Batman: Arkham City (PS3, PC, Xbox 360)
Batman: Arkham City (the Sequel to 2009's Arkham Ayslum) was highly anticipated this year and righty so, it delievered on every front. Exploring Arkham City was amazing, the side missions were awesome, the new gadgets were great and the new enemies were as cool as the last ones. We also got to play as Catwomen which was nice but also a bit underwhelming as she's no way near as powerful as Batman. The story, the voice acting, the set pieces, everything was great in Arkham City. Holy great game Batman! (Sorry).
2. Portal 2 (PC, Mac, PS3, Xbox 360)
Despite inital concern about the difficulty of turning Portal into a full sequel Valve proved everyone wrong and delivered the fantastic Portal 2. The game's writing, pacing and black humor are outstanding, all of which are helped by fantastic voice acting from Ellen McCain (GLaDOS), Steven Merchant (Wheatley) and J.K. Simmons (Cave Johnson). Yet again the campaign see's the player try to escape from Aperture Science but only walks into room after room of puzzles. Personal highlights in the campaign include the GLaDOS potato and dropping Wheatley but the where the real fun in Portal 2 lies in the coop. Starring two robots P-Body and Atlas the players can not only solve puzzles together the can also have there robots hug, high five and even play rock, paper, scissors. Genius
1. Elder Scrolls V Skyrim (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Of course Skyrim's No.1 it had to be didn't it? Bethesda's follow up to 2006's Oblivion is awesome quite frankly (Despite the lag issues on PS3 and the texture scale down on the Xbox when its run from hard drive). It see's us take on Dragons, Trolls, Giants, Mammoths.. the list goes on. The main quest missions are immersive, the side quests are entertaining and the misc objectives are also really fun. When I finished the main quest my play time was 80 hours and that's all down the size and scale of this wonderful title. I personally cannot wait for dlc!
That's it then that was 2011. We cannot wait for 2012 and the games it brings but for now thanks for reading and have a happy new year.
Peace
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