The Mournival

2011 was great, I'm sure no one will argue, for any person who derives enjoyment from games. As my Best of 2011 will advocate despite only glimpsing the tip of yesteryear's releases. I know, not necessarily from personal experience, that 2011 was packed to the brim with other fantastic titles (people in my immediate surrounding keep going on about this "Skyrim"-game which is supposed to be alright).

I remember riding in 2011 with a cape and cowl in DC Universe Online. Not to say that the title didn't have it's strong points, but the experience was generally luke-warm. By the end of the year I find out that the game has adopted the free-to-play model. This seems to have been a trend of late. DC Universe Online was how I kicked off 2011 and I find it amusing, in the same way you find rows and columns amusing, that I am ending the year the way I began it. With an MMORPG beckoning.

As I ride in this new year on a new speeder bike while giving the finger to angsty imperial scum on Tatooine, I manage to turn my head just long enough to get excited over the the bounty 2012 has to offer. This positive outlook is made possible by a long list of announced and TBA releases. Mass Effect 3, Bioshock Infinite, Max Payne, Secret World, Bioshock Infinite, Diablo III, Kid Icarus, Bioshock Infinite etc. I could go on forever, but it is probably easier if you gleam the cube yourself.

2012 is also likely to be the year when I finally resolve my hesitance and purchase a 3DS. This so I'll be able to play games like Kid Icarus and Mario Land 3D while I continue to broodingly roost and listen out from under my bridge for news of a portable Super Smash Bros. I expect the demise of my already coughing and wheezing gaming laptop unless I am staunch enough to undertake surgery. It is also not unlikely that I will assemble at a nearby cinema with my own rag-tag band of unlikely heroes sometime during 2012.

The above nostalgic soapboxing of yesteryear and starry-eyed frothing of near-future indulgences wasn't the intent of this post. But apparently I possess administrative privilege on the blog, which has secured me unthwartable power of rambling. This clip was actually the reason for the post. Have a look, then comment with your superlative of preference:

Oh, and happy new year!

*defibrillator*

- Captain Shepard? It's no good! She's in cardiac arrest. We can't resuscitate her. What do you want us to do?

1. Mouth-to-mouth [Paragon].

2. Pretend it's raining.

3. Kick through window from 98th floor and follow up with one-liner [Renegade].

---

I never could max out either Paragon or Renegade. In the carefully orchestrated narrative that is each of my session with any Bioware game, I tend to go for character development over straightforward min-/maxing. Unless that is your director's choice, which is fine. I always find it comes back to haunt my protagonist in the end though, with limited conversation options and the likes.

Anyways, the above refers to the blog. I don't care, I need an outlet for my list-making. The Bioware-reference is not coincidental (though Mass Effect and Captain Shepard is). I'm sharing my Top 5 list of best games of 2011, which was a great year for gaming. Perhaps not as far as originality goes as it suffered from sequelitis (a derogative that seems as overused this year as the titles it intends to berate). Looking at my own list, I can scarce say that there's many original concepts on there (save perhaps, for one). That doesn't make them any less deserving.

I drone, because I've been bereft of a vestibule to shout and holler in for a while now. So without further ado:

5 - Star Wars: The Old Republic

This game could have made number 5 to 1 to be honest. Having spent less than a couple of days with the game, I can only liken the experience to roosting in the backroom of the cantina with Twi'Lek pleasure dancers and an inordinate amount of credits. Take that as you will... It makes number five for injecting such graphic enjoyment to my mind's eye. Make no mistake, the game is a pure-bred cross between Bioware's staple of story-telling RPG's and the MMO standards of World of Warcraft. In other words: it's ******* amazing.

4 - Dragon Age II

Another Bioware entry? Why Messere Hawke, if you love Bioware so much, why don't you marry them? Well, I would if I could... Dragon Age 2 slimmed down the original in almost every aspect, making it more of a controlled narrative with fewer character development options, lower difficulty and limitations of environments. On the plus side, we got an epic political fantasy drama set in the unique characteristic city of Kirkwall, fast-paced action (Dragon Age II made Rogue's viable again and FINALLY let me create my swashbuckling lady in red) and some of the most heart-rending companion moments of any Bioware tale. Dragon Age II definetely sets the stage for number 3. Can't wait.

3 - Portal 2

Because very few games make you laugh. Several try (and granted, they're getting better at it). But Portal 2 made me laugh, the whole time. And it's just difficult enough to have me believe that I are intelligent enough to solve complex multi-dimensional puzzles. Stephen Merchant appears as the new character "Wheatley" who rivals GLaDOS for best video game characer of all time (and I believe he actually won Spike TV's character of the year, though don't quote me on that). This is me speaking about the game without having even touched the acclaimed cooperative mode.

2 - Xenoblade Chronicles

First of all, yes, it's a Wii-game. Second of all, yes, it's a JRPG and those haven't been good in years. And third let's ignore Monolith's cinematically dense and gameplay-dervative Xenosaga series. All is forgiven (they made Xenogears, I could never stay mad at them). Xenoblade is everything that Xenosaga wasn't, it's all about the gameplay. It's not to say there isn't a story there, but that's not the focus. I haven't spent 100+ hours with any game, least of all a JRPG, in years and years. Xenoblade is crack cocaine for RPG'ers. Crack cocaine with strawberry flavor...

*drumroll*

Frisky's Game of the Year!

1 - Batman: Arkham City

There is not a single flaw in the design of this game. I'll beat you up if you say otherwise, I don't care how strong your dad is. Batman Arkham Asylum was the best thing that happened to me in 2009, and that includes me finally being able to grow facial hair. Arkham City expands on everything that was good about Arkham Asylum. More villains, more brilliant voice acting, more combat options, more exploration, more riddles, more Mark Hamill, more challenges. And then free-flow combos you in the face by adding Catwoman character embedded into the story, side-missions, the most detailed open world environment ever seen, custom challenges and whatever else you could want. I honestly can't think of anything else that I would want from this game. Except more, the same sensation that Arkam Asylum left me with following it's completion. It's not the game I spent the most time with, but it's by far the best and most polished experience of the year.

Now that I think about it, isn't there supposed to be new DLC out?

kthxbye!