Susan's Five Favorites of 2011

Susan Arendt

Nerd Queen
Jan 9, 2007
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Susan's Five Favorites of 2011

The five games Susan loved the most this year.

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unacomn

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Mar 3, 2008
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I enjoyed Skyrim at first, but then took an arrow in the knee. Joking aside, the first few hours were enjoyable. Gone were the days where I had to quaff down health potions just to kill a single rat, I was being chased by the mother of all dragons and surrounded by a lush, detailed and beautiful world where I could kill things with both spell and sword in hand and not be forced to choose between them.
But as the hours rolled on, I hit a wall. Or rather, I scratched the surface and there wasn't anything underneath. The complexity, the depth, that Morrowind and even Random(Dagger)Fall had were gone.

It was all flash and spectacle and beautiful, but there was no pleasure to it from a certain point. I had become a werewolf in record time, and found no use for my new form. I even got rid of it in record time. There was no challenge to it, no tangible reward either. It was just there, as something the game expected me pass trough in a flash and never remember again. I had been appointed as headmaster of a school of magic, yet I could barely cast a spell over apprentice level. I didn't even have to fight the former master for the title.

I tried to stop the civil war by beating Ulfric to death with his own leg, but I couldn't, because he was immortal, just like every other character I tried to murder in their sleep. I get if they were related to the main plot, but none of them were, not in the least.

Skyrim was still enjoyable, being able to hold of of the damned scrolls in my hand and blinding myself every hour reading it was fun, but I felt it lacked the charm it once had. It felt too much like I was meant to breeze through all it's content with no effort. And while I did appreciate that, since I had to review it on a strict deadline, in the end, it just made everything look like filler. Also, the removal of spell making and the new enchantment system stink.

My Top 5 of the year would probably include:
-Deus Ex Human Revolution, while a flawed game in may aspects, it got a lot right a lot of the things that made Deus Ex tick. I'd also mention The Witcher 2, it was so close to being what I had hoped.
-Bastion, as you've said, was absolutely great. The atmosphere was superb, the sound, the visuals, even the story, by far the best downloadable game I've seen in recent years.
-Gemini Rue, just a superb adventure game. Also, props to The Blackwell Deception, another great indie adventure game.
-Men of War Assault Squad made RTT games fun again for me.
-And then came Portal 2, a game that got everything right. It was a fun, witty, challenging adventure that seemed to be built with the sole purpose of making me happy.

On a side note, when did one of my badges turn into Action Hank punching a pony in the gut? And can I keep it like that forever?
 

Metalrocks

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Jan 15, 2009
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well, my favorite 5 games (pc only):

5. shadow harvest- even when it has some flaws and performance problems, it was still an enjoyable game.

4. deus ex human revolution- was really good, but the ending by pressing buttons was not so well thought out, and i wanted to walk around on the upper city of china.

3. assassins creed revelation and brotherhood (well, broterhood came out in february for the pc)- i am a AC fan. revelations had some bugs and glitches but still a very good game. brotherhood had some improvements from part 2.

2. portal 2- its a great puzzle game with great humor. but once you know the puzzles, not really challenging anymore.

1. serious sam 3- should i say more??? well, i do miss the humor we had plenty of in part 2, but still a great shooter with some funny moments in it.
 

Imp_Emissary

Mages Rule, and Dragons Fly!
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May 2, 2011
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:) You're our Martha Stewart Susan!
I'm not entirely sure what that may mean, but hopefully you don't get sent to jail too. That would suck.
Also, you shouldn't be so shocked that bears are jerks. Colbert has been say that they are evil for years.

Happy new year, and many more after!
 

Bonecrusher

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Nov 20, 2009
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Skyrim is buggy but the problem of the game is not its bugs. There are some more important criticisms for that game.

I am a Morrowind fan (and before that Daggerfall), Skyrim is a mixture between the console rpg Oblivion and the explorer's adventure Morrowind. Therefore I kinda like it, especially the scene views. However when everyone babbling around as "taking arrow to the knee, taking arrow to the knee, taking arrow knee", that is beyond irritating.

Because of that, it is really good to see games like Bastion in these "top 5/10 games of 2011" lists.
While people overhype some games like Skyrim, they skip over some gems like Bastion.
 

MonkeyPunch

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Feb 20, 2008
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Kudos for mentioning Ghost Trick. A fairly underrated and unknown game.
Also one of my favourites this year :)
 

Proverbial Jon

Not evil, just mildly malevolent
Nov 10, 2009
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I'd agree with most of these choices, except for Child of Eden as it is the only one I have not played. Oh and not Dead Island either, just couldn't immerse myself in that one.

Ghost Trick is a real treat though. I'm only just getting into DS gaming and that was a real great place to start. Wonderfully eccentric characters, a brilliantly twisting plot and some amazing visuals make this one of my favourite experiences this year for sure.

I think my top 5 for this year will have to be:

5: L.A. Noire (PS3)
4: Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (DS)
3: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS3)
2: Portal 2 (PS3)
1: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Xbox 360)

Honourable mentions also go to Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary, Star Fox 64 3D and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, for being really good remakes but not original games.
 

SanguineScale

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Jun 8, 2011
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Nice to see Ghost Trick and Bastion on here. Have to yet to finish the first one, but Bastion's soundtrack is an incredibly addicting record :)
 

GeorgW

ALL GLORY TO ME!
Aug 27, 2010
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Great list!
I'm curious about phantom detective, I've heard a lot of good things but looking at it it doesn't seem like a very engaging game.
 

LittleMountain

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Oct 10, 2011
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Congratulations, Ms. Arendt, you've once again used your siren-like song to make me shell out money for a game I was not really that interested in buying (Bastion)

I can only take solace in the fact that I'm certainly not the only one to fall for the Nerd Queen's mental manipulation powers. I hope.
 

BehattedWanderer

Fell off the Alligator.
Jun 24, 2009
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The bears are just jerks.
I laughed, because of how true it was. I'd killed five dragons. I had fought demons, skeletons, and what seem to be liches. I'd learned shouts from some old men on a mountain (as you do), had fashioned my own armor, and had a mace that many would fear. But man did I ever run like a little girl from a bear chasing me. How close I came to dying, having eaten all of my week's worth of food for a small village, run dry on magical potions that sewed my wounds shut, and woefully short on bear-calming shouts. My first bear scared me more than my first blood dragon, my first giant. Mean ole bear. What did I ever do to you?