December 30, 2011

Here’s The Other Half of That Top Ten Games of the Year List.

Okay, let’s see… five more to go! Tomorrow I will address Honorable Mentions as well as Glaring Omissions of what I think could have had a shot at this list, but I never got to play. But that’s tomorrow. LIST GO.

5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Why didn’t anyone tell me being a total dick in video games was fun? Deus Ex lets you play in whatever manner you’d like, pretty well, so I just kind of did the sort of things I like to do in video games. It quickly became obvious to me that I was playing a total sociopath, manipulating people’s emotions and murdering anyone even vaguely in my way without a second thought. Once I had that into my head, and could wrap it into the fairly decent story of the game, my enjoyment level shot through the roof. The combat has some weird control issues sometimes, but is solid and fun, and the “Social Battles” are fantastic. Really, the only thing that doesn’t quite click in this game is the “Rejects from Metal Gear Solid” boss battles, but they don’t hinder the game in any way. This really is a game you must play, especially if you like a good western RPG.

4. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
New game from the Phoenix Wright guy? You know I was going to be there. However, Ghost Trick is just so, so much better than Phoenix Wright. I will always love Phoenix Wright’s cast of characters, and will keep playing games in the series, but let’s face it: the gameplay is kind of shit sometimes. Ghost Trick’s gameplay, on the other hand, is a joy. It’s clever, different, and fairly easy to understand. At the same time, there’s a whole new cast of characters with just as much lovable charm as Phoenix and his friends, and frankly jaw-dropping rotoscoped visuals and animations that give the game an impressive look. Hopefully they will port this to the iPad in America, where it would also be awesome, but it is totally worth the cost of a DS game. It’s great.

3. You Don’t Know Jack
Do you have friends? Then you should own You Don’t Know Jack. I have thanked my lucky stars that Jellyvision finally made another one of these things every day since it came out. It is fun for everyone, even those who actually don’t know a lot of trivia like my parents, and it is just flat-out hilarious. You don’t get better comedy writing than this in a video game. There is no better time with friends sitting on a couch, for serious. I could gush on and on about this game, and how stuff like the Wrong Answer of the Game is brilliant, or how thankful I am they included Big Button Controller support, but seriously, just fucking buy it. It’s dirt cheap, and worth every penny.

2. Saints Row: The Third
No one game should have all that power.
Seriously, this game is just near-perfect. The shooting is fun, the upgrades are insane and completely satisfying, the customization is above and beyond the call of duty, and the story! Fuck. All of the characters are shockingly real people in a world of utter ridiculousness, completing missions that never really fail to keep topping themselves time and again. The game is crude, but funny as fuck with it, and entertaining for every damn moment of it. I didn’t give a shit about the previous games in the series, but now I am going to buy the fourth game day one. It was incredibly, incredibly hard for me not to give this game the #1 slot. I was grinning the entire time I played the damn thing. So strap it on. You should really play Saints Row.

1. Portal 2
If you’re wondering why I went with Portal over Saints Row, it’s for the writing. Saints Row has some fantastic writing, don’t get me wrong, but Portal 2 tells a story, a good story, and has characters that grow over time while still being completely hilarious and entertaining the whole way. Seriously, it is impossible not to love Wheatley and Cave Johnson for being so funny, but they also have very strong character arcs, which is just impressive. The presentation is top notch. The gameplay is honed so much you can forget it is an engineered video game level, even when it is. You never get stuck, and you always seem to solve the puzzle at just the right time, and feel like a badass for doing it. On top of that, the co-op, which I still fucking need to finish sometime, is in some ways even better than the main storyline! It shows that Valve can really fucking make a single player video game. Make some more, Valve!

Tomorrow I’m going to go over a few Honorable Mentions that were considered, but didn’t make the cut. I’ll also address a few of the obvious missing pieces on this list. So, you know, see you then?

I take back what I said yesterday. Portal 2, SR3, DXR.. All amazing games I played all the way through and loved. VIDEO GAMES!!!

Comment by Belabor — December 30, 2011 @ 12:51 am

I agree with this assessment.

Comment by Kale — December 30, 2011 @ 11:51 pm

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