As we enter the final weeks of the year, it is hard to deny that 2011 will not be remembered among the upper echelon of years in the history of this relatively young medium. The year started strong with the likes of Dead Space 2, Portal 2 and L.A. Noire before developing into a summer of quality downloadable software on Xbox Live and PSN and finally maturing into a fall season the likes of which has rarely been seen, even for those of us who have been gaming since the infant years of the industry. Beginning in October, the busy gamer’s time and wallet was hit with an onslaught of triple AAA titles in rapid succession. If there is any lingering regret in our hearts as we look back upon the dwindling year, it is that some games that would have spun in our trays for months any other past year were instead removed after a matter of days to make room for the next must-play title. This was a year in which games that were merely great (Battlefield 3, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Deus Ex: Human Revelation) didn’t stand a chance to be considered when there were so many other games that were truly exceptional.
2011 was also a very good years for Games Abyss. We have continued to grow with new regular columnists, community outings to events like NYComicCon and Konami GameDay and the beginning of our successful podcast series. For the first time we feel we have enough captive audience, unwarranted self-confidence and unsolicited opinion to declare our very own Game of the Year nominees. And now, with the disappointingly hollow and predictable production of the Spike VGAs behind us, the staff of Games Abyss proudly presents, in no particular order, our nominees for the Games Abyss 2011 Game of the Year:
Prior to its release, fans of the unexpectedly charming and successful Portal, first seen in 2007’s Valve compilation entitled The Orange Box, were uncertain what to make of the imminent full release sequel. Would it be simply more of the same sterile test chambers? Could the concept of solving puzzles with the use of entry and exit portals wear thin across a full-length retail release and would this entry be more of an expansion better served as DLC? In the opening moments of the masterful sequel, however, all fears were put to rest. Portal 2 came at you with more devious puzzles, more humor, and a genuine story that had to be seen through to the end. The test chambers added new elements in the form of gels that allowed for a multitude of new escape possibilities. Incredible performances by the likes of JK Simmons and Stephen Merchant joined with the eternally passive aggressive G.L.A.D.O.S to surround your otherwise mute avatar with more personality than any one game could ever need. Capped with a unique co-op mode, despite the fact that this was the earliest game to be released among our nominees, its still fresh on our minds and in our hearts like the dearest of loyal companion cubes.
The black sheep (pun intended) of our nominees, Catherine came out of Japan fit to rock our notions of what a puzzle game could be. Simultaneously steeped in nightmarish dreamscapes and the similarly frightening terror of a 30-something year old’s commitment woes, it is safe to say there is nothing quite like it on the market. Frantic and exciting tower stages complete with Freudian boss fights are interspersed with the safety of interludes at the local watering hole drinking with friends. There, you follow your own moral compass in texting the ol’ faithful Katherine and sexting the sultry Catherine. It’s a puzzle game, its survival horror, it’s a dating sim, it’s all of these things and more than the sum of their parts. We aren’t quite sure what we enjoyed more, the diabolical traps and hurried block pushing of the puzzle stages or the brutally honest tale of a man’s struggle between his heart and his genitals. Either way, Catherine was a memorable accomplishment that could only come from Japan.
Arguably the most gamers’ game on the list, Dark Souls took the strong foundation of its predecessor and upped the difficulty, the scope and the mystique. Look no farther than our own review for the details, suffice it to say that Dark Souls deserves a special spot on this list for being pure, unadulterated, gameplay without the modern cinematic, padding frills of many of its peers. The combat is visceral, the environments beautifully oppressive and the boss battles induce panic attacks. A unique co-operative and competitive multiplayer mode augments one of the most rewarding single player experiences available this generation. Because of its sheer difficulty, its esoteric game concepts that have not yet been fully elucidated by its active community, its cycle of New Game +, and the hypnotic allure of its dark vision, Dark Souls has the potential to still be spinning in our systems even when we are debating the game of the year in 2012, 2013, and on.
While not the leap in quality taken by Uncharted 2 to surpass its predecessor, that fact may be only because there is nowhere else to go when your starting point is already so high. Uncharted 3 is so full of moments that will have you shaking your head and saying “I can’t believe they just did that in a videogame” that you will likely be dizzy by game’s end. While Naughty Dog again delivers the same knuckle-bruising, trigger-finger itching, globe trotting antics we have come to expect with Nathan Drake, Sully and company at the helm, this time arguably their biggest accomplishment is in how much the characters grow throughout your time with them. A surprisingly introspective and even regretful Nathan Drake emerges in the brief quiet moments interspersed with bombastic set pieces that James Cameron and Steven Spielberg couldn’t come up with together. An improved multiplayer suite is simply the gravy on the deal, Uncharted 3, like so many other games on this list, reinvents what we believe is possible in a videogame.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Nostalgia is a tricky thing. When it is working for you, it provides a warm fuzzy glow that you can wrap about yourself like a blanket to augment your enjoyment of something that is genuinely pleasing. At it’s worst, it prevents you from realizing that that warm fuzzy blanket you are contentedly surrounded in is actually a pile of shit. Several of the past games in the Legend of Zelda series may or may not have belonged to that latter category (discuss!) but one thing is for certain: Skyward Sword, the first and only Legend of Zelda game made from the ground up for the Wii, is the genuine article. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is the ultimate realization of that system’s promises wrapped in a nostalgic blend of fan service and a story and presentation that is a step forward for the series. When each enemy is a puzzle in to themselves, each sword stroke the precise direction your movement dictates, and each shield block preceded by a similar thrust with your own left hand, you find yourself immersed in a sprawling adventure that we could never have dreamed would be possible back in 1986 when we first donned the green tunic and set out in search of a blonde haired princess.
What would happen if a developer literally scoured the message boards of a highly successful game based (shockingly) on a universally loved superhero and identified every single criticism of said game, noted every single request for what fans would like to see in a sequel, and then gathered up a poll of every last possible element of fan service that could be provided to that community: AND THEN IMPLEMENTED ALL OF THE ABOVE IN THE SEQUEL? Oh, and made it open world. And gave Catwoman a killer body. Well, in that case, you would be playing Batman: Arkham City. And you should be, because its arguably the best game of the year.
If the nominees for the GOTY were together at a cocktail party, this would be the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Or perhaps an 800 pound dragon. Whatever you want to call its, its an absolute beast. Skyrim takes what other games claim to be an “open world”, calls it a “cave” and then places an inconsequential sidequest in it. Skryim has a plot and a primary quest tree, only noone really cares about it because it’s too distracting from actually playing Skryim the way it was meant to be played: simply living it. Whether hunting dragons and devouring their souls, joining a guild of companions with a hairy secret, sweating as you pound ingots into armor at a blacksmith’s forge by moonlight, or simply wandering without direction into snow drifts under the Northern Lights, Skyrim’s scope is unprecendtend. It provides you with a freedom to play however you want and rewards you for doing so with a unique skill-based leveling system. The attention to detail in every single locale, denizen, and torch-lit, moss-covered catacomb is nothing short of staggering. Some considerable technical issues are hard to ignore in considering its potential as a Game of the Year, but in its purest form, this may be the single most epic videogame ever crafted.
Well, there you have it, the 2011 Games Abyss nominees for Game of the Year. Stay tuned for our Game of the Year Podcast where we will discuss each nominee in detail, hug each other in discussing the industry’s triumphs in 2011, and seethe with violent hatred at one another at the slightest suggestion of a differing opinion. The final winner of the 2011 Game of the Year will be declared later this month. In the meantime, feel free to leave your votes, outrages, and to nominate all the cute little indy titles that we missed and can’t appreciate because we are a corporate sell-out. Happy Holidays everyone!
Post contributed by Justin Belin. Questions for the author? Send an email to Justbelin@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @BitsofBelin.