My Top 5 Games of 2011

Another year of gaming has come and gone, and as usual, I'm looking back on what I enjoyed and what I didn't. Comparatively speaking, I didn't play much this year, and only some of it was new. It was a difficult year that left little room for either buying or playing much. While that means I generally enjoyed what I did play, it also means I completed very few games (many of which I'll be discussing here). So here they are, my Biggest Disappointment and Top 5 Video Games of 2011.

Biggest Disappointment: InFamous 2

Originally I was going to go with Uncharted 2, but I think I've already said all I can about that in my review over at Bitmob.com. Plus, I wasn't expecting that much to begin with. But the game I was looking forward to the most this year that fell short for me was InFamous 2.

Now, I actually loved InFamous. It was a classic superhero origin-story, in which the choices the hero makes ultimately make him. But superheroes, like any fictional characters, are only interesting so long as they continue to evolve and grow. In comics this is often counter to medium (check out Umberto Eco's "The Myth of Superman"--required reading for the comics course I teach--to have you mind blown), but I see no reason why it has to carry over to superhero video games. Cole doesn't evolve in InFamous 2. He just gets some new powers and has to stop a new supervillain; it's more of the same. That was a big part of the disappointment for me, but the story also left something to be desired.

It's Mardi Gras Cole!

When it was first announced that InFamous 2 would take place in the fictional New Marais, it was obvious the designers were trying to play off post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. That didn't sit right with me from the beginning, but it wasn't until a took a creative non-fiction course and read the memoir pieces of a New Orleans native that I realized how much this setting choice was in poor taste. The game glorifies the destruction of a real place by tantalizing the player with a chance to parkour his or her way around it. Not cool.

5) Dead Space: Extraction:

Several articles and blogs I read about Dead Space 2 this year made statements to the effect of it being to the original Dead Space what Aliens is to the original Alien. But I never quite felt that way. To me, Dead Space was just Aliens and Dead Space 2 was More Aliens. Dead Space: Extraction, however, was another story. I had really wanted to play this when it first came out on Wii, but simply never got the chance. Then, EA promised a free download of the PS3 port for preorder, and I jumped right on that. And it was excellent. I've written on Bitmob how the weakest link in this series is Isaac Clarke, and I hope future games in the franchise do away with him in favor of storytelling and characters like those found in Extraction, even if they have to change genres to do it.

4) Odin Sphere:

I love Muramasa: The Demon Blade. In fact, it was number 2 on my Top 5 of 2009. So when it's predecessor finally came out on PSN a couple of months ago, I downloaded it without delay. I still haven't beaten it, but I love what I've played. The art style that George Kamitani perfected in Muramasa still holds up beautifully here, and while it's easy to see where the sequel streamlined elements of the basic game design, it doesn't get in the way of enjoying this game. Additionally, one of the aspects I really enjoyed in Muramasa was the storytelling through stage-like dialogues, and while Odin Sphere uses a few cinematic-type set-pieces to progress the plot, the theatre element is still here.

These are my friends. I can't say "Good-Bye."

3) Chrono Trigger:

So many outlets have been discussing this game this year that it feels like a new release. And as one of the many who never got to play it when it first came out, I was glad to finally see it on the Virtual Console. I instantly fell in love with it. Perhaps it's the quirky characters, the bizarre story, or just that it reminds me of Final Fantasy VII (my first, true JRPG). I haven't yet beaten it, and part of me doesn't want to--like when you've read half-way through a great book, and though you enjoy it, you don't want it to end.

2) Pokemon Black:

I got back into Pokemon last year during a particularly stressful semester. Something about the pick-up-and-play design coupled with the number-crunching has a very meditation-like effect on me when I start to feel overwhelmed. Finding it odd that I had suddenly taken up a game series I'd essentially ignored for a decade (when my brother and I decided we'd grown out of it) my wife took a sudden interest. What were these Pokemon? What was the object of the game? Could we play together? That settled it; we decided we'd get each other Black and White as anniversary gifts. And while my wife is a much more casual Pokemon trainer, it was nice to once again have someone to play the series with. Combine that with it simply being the best Pokemon game since maybe the originals, and placing this in my number 2 spot was a no brainer.

Exactly how I feel after playing for a couple of hours.

1) Dark Souls:

This one shouldn't strike anyone as a surprise. My love for Demon's Souls is so great that the reason I didn't write a Top 5 Games of 2010 was because it would have taken the number 1 spot two years in a row. I even lectured on the game at an academic conference this past spring. So I was counting the days for Dark Souls, and so far, it hasn't disappointed. It has an epic story that's subtly told, an excellent combat system, a multiplayer component unlike any other save its predecessor, brilliant level design, and challenging gameplay--so challenging that I still haven't beaten it, though I'm pretty sure I'm close. And while, no, it's not exactly a game I can play when I want to sit down and relax after a hard day, I love that about it too. Like meals, some games need to be savoured, and Dark Souls is one I plan to continue sampling well into 2012. And really, a great game shouldn't only be enjoyed the year it releases. A great game can be enjoyed for years to come. And I think my Top 5 this year shows that.

Questions? Quibbles? Controversies?