Leveling Down

Another year is almost over. Time sure flies these days! Over the course of this past year, I feel like I’ve leveled down the most since the blog started in 2008. By the end of 2011, my gaming library has dwindled down to only a fraction of the games I owned at the beginning of the year (I only own 2 PS3 games now!), I’ve actually skipped the purchase of several notable titles I would have usually bought (Dead Island, Catherine, Dark Souls, etc.), and generally feel like I may not even be buying more than a handful of games going forward (perhaps only Diablo III and Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm next year).

For our last entries of 2011, cmfl3x and I decided on providing our thoughts on our game of the year for 2011 as well as any other reflections on the year. As you can see from above, my thinking is that I’ve leveled down a lot over this past year. But, I did enjoy some games this past year as well! Hit the jump for my favorite games of 2011.

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Brothers (and sisters!) to the end

espion4ge and I don’t usually write about the same games, but since Gears of War 3 is the end of a pretty important trilogy, I figured I’d make the exception. It’s funny – I always anticipate the threequels more, but it seems like espion4ge always ends up enjoying them more than I do (see: Halo Reach). I don’t disagree with his review, Gears of War 3 is a fine game, but I felt the campaign lacking in points. Yes, it is probably the best Gears of War campaign to date, but I feel like overall the Gears of War series’ campaigns are weak in general. I know you don’t play Gears for plot, but I still found myself wanting more after I finished the campaign the other day.

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With so much going for it, Gears of War 3 is a must-own title for all gamers

As a gamer who preferred the 360 over the PS3, it’s always been kind of odd that I could never get into the 360′s most important IPs: Halo & Gears of War. With Halo, I warmed up to the series some after spending time with Halo: Reach, but I eventually sold that game because it still wasn’t enjoyable enough to me. Gears of War 3 finally succeeded in not only getting me to really enjoy it, but it has drastically changed the way I thought I would play the game. Hit the jump to see why I love this game so much.

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In my limited time so far, Gears of War 3 is outclassing its predecessors in every possible way

After finally making replaying through the campaigns of Gears of War 1 and 2, I am now able to start Gears of War 3. Talk about some waiting time eh? I might have to think twice about replaying Modern Warfare 1 and 2 before jumping into Modern Warfare 3. Regardless, now that I’ve got a chance to put some hours into the Gears 3 campaign & multiplayer, I do have some thoughts to share on it.

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Fall 2011 – is this the best you have to offer?

I’ve been super busy with work and life recently. I don’t think I’ve played a video game for five days straight or something! In the interim, I’ve been thinking about what games I’m anticipating for the fall season. Shockingly, I’m coming up zeroes! For every game I think of, I think of a bunch of reasons why I’m not excited. What’s wrong with me!?

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After 3 days of voting, the first round of Leveling Down’s Video Game March Madness 2010 is over! There were some close matchups, some blowouts, and of course, some surprises. As a reminder for those of you who may feel that some of these games were unfairly seeded, we seeded all the games based on Metacritic scores. It’s all their fault!

Anyway, thanks to everyone for voting! The first 32 have now been cut down to the Sweet 16. After the jump, check out who I voted for, my thoughts on the results, and a preliminary look at the Sweet 16 matchups.

Tiebreaker note: I decided that casting a tiebreaking vote was too arbitrary and I felt uncomfortable with the power! So for tie polls, I tallied up the registered commenters who voted as the tiebreaker. It seemed like the fairest thing to do, so make sure you’re logged in to make your vote count the most!

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Leveling Down’s 2010 Videogame Tourney Has Officially Started! The rounds will take place over the next couple of weeks, and will be heavily decided by you, our Leveling Down readers.

Voting for Round 1, which consists of all 32 games in the tourney, will close on Wednesday March 24, 2010 at 6PM EST. On Thursday, cmfl3x will announce the 16 games that will move onto Round 2 and we will open Round 2 voting Friday morning and end it Monday at 6PM EST.  Hit the jump to read more about our first tourney and to cast your votes!

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For the next few weeks, my Xbox is going to take a backseat to my favorite sporting event of the year: March Madness. What little time I have left for video games will probably be spent playing Dragon Age: Origins, and since we’ve covered that on the site, I figured I’d try something new: a video game bracket!

I’ve chosen 28 of my favorite games across 4 different categories (“regions”), and as the NCAA tournament plays itself out, so too will you get to watch this video game bracket play itself out. Why am I doing this? Well, I love brackets, first of all. Secondly, it’s a chance for me to take a trip down memory lane and narrow down some of my favorite games of all time. I recognize that a lot of times comparing games is like comparing apples to oranges, which is why I separated the games by genres (loosely).

Anyway, I’ve left the 8 seed open in all four regions, so I need YOU, the Leveling Down reader, to suggest games to finish out the bracket. Hit the jump to see the selection committee’s (aka, cmfl3x’s) criteria and some other notes about this totally awesome tournament.

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Ever sit down and think what your ideal engagement range for first person/third person shooter games is? I was musing over this thought myself recently after playing several of these games with some friends and thinking about why I’m excited for Modern Warfare 2 tomorrow. I noticed that most of my friends play differently, and for a shooter, there seems to be an ideal range that people prefer to engage enemies at. This “epiphany” may actually lead me to understand the primary reason why I am not a huge fan of hugely popular online shooters like Halo and Gears of War – my ideal range doesn’t seem to be handled the way I like.

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I had to laugh at espion4ge’s post last week detailing Halo 3: ODST’s kung-fu grip on his friends list. Last week’s release, combined with the out of this world reviews for the upcoming Uncharted 2 on PS3 got me thinking about what games are system sellers on the big gaming systems (especially because I’ve felt tempted to buy a PS3 lately, though I have resisted that urge for fear of death). Some of these games justify the very purchase of the system itself, which are “must have” games for their respective systems. Anyway, I only own a 360, Wii, and DS, but I did my best to compile these system sellers anyway.

Xbox 360

System Seller: Halo Series
Halo is basically the reason why Microsoft is still in the games’ market today. Halo and Halo 2 singlehandedly saved the original Xbox from turning into the next Jaguar or 3DO, and ODST just showed once again that Halo is as popular as ever. Love it or hate it, Halo sells boxes.

Must Have Exclusives: Gears of War Series, Fable Series
A lot of people who don’t like Halo love Gears of War, the original cover based 3rd person shooter. It’s bloody and full of machismo which makes it pretty popular. Fable 2 (and the recently announced Fable 3) are also incredibly popular for the wide range of choices they give the player: the quintessential western RPG.

Upcoming: Mass Effect 2, Halo: Reach, Fable 3

Playstation 3

System Seller: God of War III
People probably will disagree, and it’s bit a ridiculous since this game isn’t even OUT yet, but I think God of War III is PS3′s system seller. None of PS3′s exclusives can really compete with Halo’s grip on the gaming community, but God of War comes close. I know people who bought a PS3 just in anticipation of this game, and they’ve been waiting ever since. The time is near…

Must Haves: Uncharted Series, Little Big Planet, Metal Gear Solid 4, Killzone Series
PS3 makes up for its lack of a killer app with a bevy of very strong exclusives. Resistance, MLB: The Show, and Gran Turismo could all be added to this list. The Uncharted series is incredibly well reviewed and hailed as the next Tomb Raider, but for some reason, it doesn’t seem as popular (to me at least) as it deserves. And I still don’t get why Little Big Planet didn’t hit it big, but Sony’s trying to remedy that with the sequel.

Upcoming: Heavy Rain, Little Big Planet 2, God of War III, Final Fantasy Versus XIII
Note: I am more interested in Heavy Rain than any other game on the horizon, including Modern Warfare 2. Hopefully that game turns out better than the last game I was intrigued by did. I’m looking at you, Scribblenauts.

Anyway, it’s weird to start with 2nd and 3rd place, but 360 and PS3 are the “hardcore” systems. I’m sure I may have missed some exclusives. If I’m being honest, I actually think PS3 has more to offer in terms of exclusives. But Halo still trumps them all for me, plus I find Xbox Live so superior that I have no problem paying for it. I’m always checking out what my friends are playing, and it does a great job of building more of a gaming “community.” But to each his own…

Next week: Wii, DS, and PSP. Until then, what’d I miss? And please, if you own a PS3…tell me what’s awesome. I’ve only played MGS4.