So like the title says, with the first quarter done and dusted, what's your favourite game so far, this year?

Try to make it a game which actually came out in 2011 (i.e not something from a previous year that you just now got round to playing etc).


For me, Dead Space 2 is winning by a country mile. Easily the best game I've played so far this year, and frankly, I think its going to take some beating. I really was surprised with how much I enjoyed it.

Sadly, not many games released so far have impressed me... the only two games I've purchased so far this year (Dragon Age II and Dynasty Warriors 7) haven't impressed me as much as I initially thought.

Dragon Age II, while a good game in itself, left me feeling disappointed. I've finished it once, and haven't gone back.

Dynasty Warriors 7, a huge improvement on the 6th installment, feels more like a merger of Dynasty Warriors 6 and Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce. Not bad in theory, but in practice... meh.

I'm hoping the other games I'm waiting for this year (Saints Row The Third, Mass Effect 3, Elder Scrolls V and Star Wars The Old Republic) are better than the above two.

Similar to Revan, no games released this year have impressed me.

However in the MMORPG department, there have been.

Argo Online continues to impress me as a free to play MMORPG which has all the bells and whistles of a pay to play.
Need For Speed World is great fun and I still continue to race with friends frequently.
As an old game that impressed me this year, well that would have to go to Granado Espada.

On a side note about my favourite online game of all time:
The latest League of Legends patch failed to impress me - I am saddened that they nerfed Teemo ; ;

Much like Revan, I too am definitely looking forward to Star Wars The Old Republic.

I am pleased that they changed the main pic for Sivir, she looked terrible, but know she looks awesome.

Agreed, Sivir's old skin did look awful.

Also feel free to add me to friendslist. I have two accounts: Lv30 Zarcian and Lv7 Wagrum

(I mostly play as Wagrum atm)

Pokemon Black/White. The games I'm really psyched about this year aren't out till this Summer or haven't been announced for the US yet.

Yeah, so far there haven't been many great games. Since the start of the year, I've played Bulletstorm, Dragon Age 2, Homefront, Dead Space 2 and Crysis 2. Most were alright (except for Homefront, it's shit), but nothing mindblowing. I'm just gonna wait. Although, compared to the entirety of 2010, 2011 is golden so far.

So far Dead Space 2 is the only game I purchased this year. But I have played the Mortal Kombat demo and I can't wait to rent the complete game from Gamefly.

Hard Corp: Uprising has been taking up a lot of my gaming time. Still too early to tell of course, but this game has been my personal fave thus far.

Okamiden for the Nintendo DS is the only game I've bought that came out this year. It may not be game of the year material, but they say it's a good game. I just ordered it and haven't played it yet. I'm excited and debating about playing it before Resistance.

Yakuza 4. Yes, it came out in Japan a year ago but it only got localised and came to the West a few months ago.

I agree with Smarty, in that whilst this year has hardly been 'The Greatest Ever' so far, its still shaping up to be a whole lot better than last year. I couldn't even make a Top 10 for last year, because there were so few games released that I thought were even average.

For me, Dissidia Duodecim has been by far the greatest release this year, and will probably be the best 2011 has to offer. There has probably been some hype about this game's release and I'm hoping that it has met everyone's expectations so far, as it has mine.
However, I'm hoping that FFXIII Agito will also be on shelves world wide this year. That would complete my wish list for this year nicely.

Yakuza 4. Yes, it came out in Japan a year ago but it only got localised and came to the West a few months ago.

Unrelated:

Quick Yakuza question. Will I be able to follow the story in 3 if I haven't played the previous two games. 3 and 4 are easy to find, but I haven't seen 1 or 2 in any of my local stores, so I was just wondering.

Out of a better option, Dragon Age 2 (which is a good in itself, but very disapointing for being a sequence to the first one).

Portal 2 for General Puzzler, and Ghost Trick for Handheld...yes, even better than Pokemon.

I'll stick to my guns on this one...both awesome titles.

Quick Yakuza question. Will I be able to follow the story in 3 if I haven't played the previous two games. 3 and 4 are easy to find, but I haven't seen 1 or 2 in any of my local stores, so I was just wondering.

If you live in the UK then 2 is almost impossible to find anymore. I don't know about the rest of the world.

There is a catch-up option to watch some cut scenes from the first two games in the 3rd one. Must be about an hour or more of footage. :shock: All of the games have a hell of a lot of story. Without the first two it may be hard to get an emotional connection to the characters. The player went along on an emotional roller coaster with the main guy and a little girl.

It's the story that kept me coming back more than the gameplay.

You meet a lot of people in 3 and 4 that you first met in 1 and 2 so you will be without the "Oh, yeah... that was the guy that ..."

If 3 is cheap to buy then you could try it but I would recommend definitely watching the catch-up, even if it is pretty lengthy.

They aren't for everyone. They've been compared to Shenmue (with more violence) if that sounds appealing?

Also, there is lots of offensive language, if you live with parents you may want to make sure your Mom isn't in the room to read the subs. :-P

Alright, I'll be on the lookout for the first two games and if I can't find them I'll just start with 3.

Oh, and Portal 2 is amazing. Best game of the year so far.

It's gotta be Dead Space 2, MK9 or Portal 2.
As soon as OoT 3D comes out, that, too.

Portal 2 seems to have scored well with the critics, but the public’s reaction seems far less complimentary. It seems to be primarily about the game’s cost, considering its an extremely short game.

The critics get their review copies free, so it obviously isn’t much of a concern to them. But just 5 or so hours for that much money, does seem to be taking the mick a bit, I must say. The Portal series doesn’t have a lot of replayablity either.

Radiant Historia for the DS.

Portal 2 seems to have scored well with the critics, but the public’s reaction seems far less complimentary. It seems to be primarily about the game’s cost, considering its an extremely short game.

The critics get their review copies free, so it obviously isn’t much of a concern to them. But just 5 or so hours for that much money, does seem to be taking the mick a bit, I must say. The Portal series doesn’t have a lot of replayablity either.

The public reaction isn't really mixed. Most people loved it. Some people bombed the game on Metacritic because it had day 1 DLC. Which isn't even all bad considering it's just a skin for the co-op. Simply cosmetic.

As for price, well yeah I would agree, the game is 6 hours long, but it also has co-op which should take that much longer. Plus, this isn't even some phoned in sequel. Real work was put into it and it shows. It's funny, it's clever, it's polished and it's immensely entertaining. And Valve said they'll be releasing modding tools shortly after release, to allow players to make their own levels. Believe me, there are way worse things in the world you can spend your money on.

You could pick it up for $45 on Steam with a preorder or for $50 now. You could buy it on Amazon for $35 and at Best Buy for $30. Really though, I don't think it's so bad for $60. I've played through the campaign twice now. One normal run through and then another one for the developer commentary and to find all the easter eggs. I've played through the co-op campaign as well, which was a little shorter and easier than the single player campaign but still pretty good. They'll also most likely be adding in more stuff later (hopefully some challenge maps will be added in).

I'll just wait until someone I know buys it, then lend it when they're done (which shouldn't be too long given its length!)

But it'll be a cold day in hell, when I pay that much money for a 6 hour game.

Mortal Kombat. I've not really bought many games this year, but this is loads of fun and the best fighting game I've played foir years

Dissidia Duodecim and Mortal Kombat 9 are my fave games so far.

I also liked Marvel Vs Capcom 3 but I was disappointed with it somewhat due to the lack of game modes.

This year the only new games I've played is Portal 2 and MotorStorm Apocalypse and I can already tell you Uncharted 3 is my game of the year.

Okay, Guild Wars 2 is looking very awesome indeed. I may need to upgrade my PC.

GOTY will definitely NOT be Dragon Age 2. That was was not very good. I would go for Arkham City or Skyrim.

At the moment it's L.A. Noire, but that will change probably when Batman: Arkham City gets released.

Portal 2 without question

I personally think Skyrim will be a big contender not just for the main game put also for the huge modding community for most Elder Scrolls games.

Well, for me its still Dead Space 2.

There have been a few games that I thought were okay, like Portal 2 (hey, its just not my kind of game, and though I like GLADOS, I have essentially zero love for the Half Life universe).

And LA Noire was kind of alright, but I found Cole a very frustrating character. They don't really develop his character at all in the first 2 thirds of the game, then do it all at once, at the precise time that the game takes you furthest away from him. The Homicide desk section was also way, way too long, considering it has no relevance to the main plot, and the major characters go completely AWOL during that section.

It also completely defeats the point of a game about crime investigation, if it becomes apparent that for the story arcs in at least 2 of the game's 5 chapters to work, you know that you are always going to arrest the wrong man!

So yeah, still Dead Space 2 right now.