I think I’m getting old, because it took me awhile to figure out what even came out this year. Still, I’ve managed to put together a list of my favorite games of the year. 2011 was a bit weird, I didn’t really feel like there were any new IPs that got me excited – instead it was a year filled with sequels. Well done sequels, but sequels nonetheless. Nevertheless, there were a lot of games worth playing, even if I didn’t get around to them all.

LA Noire
There were a lot of problems with this game, but it still deserves respect for introducing an amazing motion capture technology to the world of gaming. The storyline and characters varied from hokey to awesome, but overall I really enjoyed the game and found it well worth playing. Originally I was excited to see what the team could do in the future, but alas, Team Bondi is no more. Hopefully other developers can piggyback off of what they have done and continue to have characters who emote in such amazing ways.

To the Moon
Like I said in the review, you don’t play To the Moon for the gameplay. If the game DID have gameplay to speak of, I probably would have made it my game of the year. The story was just that compelling to me. It’s a short and sweet downloadable title for the PC that I’m sure few of you will end up checking out, to your own detriment!

FIFA 12
I don’t play a lot of sports games, but if you are looking for bang for your buck, you can sink hours and hours into FIFA 12 without even scratching the surface of all there is to offer. The new tactical defending really changes the way you defend and makes the game more true to the actual sport. The only down side of FIFA 12 is the lack of Champions League (whose rights are owned by PES), but with so much else to do, you (almost) don’t miss it.

Portal 2
The first Portal was so shocking in its ingenuity that it was going to be hard to top. Portal 2 didn’t quite manage that feat, but it came pretty close. The expansion of the Portal world along with some hilarious moments helped solidify this first person puzzler as one of the best in class. Valve really knows how to make their video games and Portal 2 is no exception.

cmfl3x’s 2011 Game of the Year – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
I really tried not to make Modern Warfare 3 the game of the year, but the simple fact of the matter is I sank almost as much time in MW3 over the past two months as I did into all my other games for the previous ten. I had actually hit a bit of a gaming lull before Modern Warfare 3 came out, but after release I was back to my gaming ways.

The single player wasn’t as strong as the previous two games, but the multiplayer just keeps me coming back for more. For some reason, the formula isn’t stale yet – in fact, I find it more addicting than before. I’m not sure if that’s a product of game design or changes in me personally, but either way, Modern Warfare 3 has been my go-to game since November, and thus it’s my game of the year for 2011.

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.

Crysis 2
While there have been several major titles released in the last several months of 2011, there were some good ones released early in the year as well. As I looked through the list of games released in 2011, the game I fondly remember most was Crysis 2. For fans of the first game, Crysis 2 may not have been what they expected, but for fans of more contemporary shooters, Crysis 2 was just what we needed. The scope of the sequel was changed from the open world “driving” around North Korea to a much tighter contemporary shooter in New York City. It’s probably one of the longest shooter campaigns I’ve played in recent memory, and it was very cool to basically feel like the Predator in NYC. Enemy AI could have been better, but all in all, it was quite an epic campaign. Multiplayer was also quite enjoyable, and I was sad that it never took off as much as I’d like. It was basically Call of Duty multiplayer with all of the interesting Predator-like features and unlocks you could get from the Crysis nanosuit, and I had a lot of fun playing the multiplayer in the early half of 2011.

Portal 2
When I beat the last level of Portal 1, I exclaimed to myself, “The game is over now? This last level where I’m actually out in the open world with my portal gun is what I want to be playing – not all of that labrat stuff!” Portal 2 definitely delivered in that aspect, allowing us to play through an entirely new campaign in an open world and all sorts of new puzzle related elements were introduced. On top of that, Portal 2 had some great voice acting and humor – it’d probably win my award for the funniest game of the year. Sadly, for some reason or another, Leaderboards and Time Trials were noticeably absent when the sequel launched, but the problem was eventually rectified with free DLC months later. Portal 2 also introduced co-op, and it was a hefty number of levels. Unfortunately, as much as cmfl3x and I played it together, I never really enjoyed it at the level of the single player campaign. I found it more frustrating than fun, and maybe it was due to the pressure of having to not only solve puzzles with another player, but also having to coordinate exactly with the other player as well. I remember being more frustrated with the co-op levels than entertained by them!

Uncharted 3
For some reason or another, even though I have to somehow force my way through the campaign of every single Uncharted game, I still like the series. I have a huge man-crush on Nathan Drake, as he’s basically a contemporary Han Solo and such a great character to follow the exploits of. While the gameplay hasn’t changed too much in this third game in the trilogy, I enjoyed the storyline most in this game of the three due to the exploration of Nathan’s and SUlly’s past. It brought great character and emotion to the epic scope of the series, and I would give Uncharted 3 my vote for the game with the best character design for 2011. Uncharted 3 also has a slew of co-op and multiplayer modes. While they are quite functional and entertaining in their own way, the Uncharted series’ primary strength has always been about its story-telling and characters, and not its gameplay. The multiplayer is a decent diversion, but with other bigger multiplayer titles around, it has a long way to go to be able to compete with them.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
The Modern Warfare series of Call of Duty is my favorite shooter series. I thought when Modern Warfare 3 came out, I would have been sick of the entire Call of Duty series by now as I quickly got bored of Black Ops. I am glad to have been completely incorrect with Modern Warfare 3. At this time, it’s probably the game that I have spent the most multiplayer time on in 2011. The tweaks made to this game from earlier titles are all made for the better – different playstyle choices, more counters to pointstreaks, more game modes, etc. With everything going for its multiplayer, Modern Warfare 3 easily wins my award for Best Multiplayer Game of 2011. Its campaign is decent and closes out the trilogy relatively well, but it doesn’t quite stack up to Modern Warfare 2′s campaign. Spec Ops missions in Modern Warfare 3 also seems a bit weaker than Modern Warfare 2′s missions, and I’m still perplexed by the addition of a Survival Mode in Modern Warfare 3 but only limiting it to 2 players max.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
I haven’t even opened the shrinkwrap on Skyrim yet, but I pretty much have an idea how good the game is. The last two games Bethesda Softworks developed, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3, both won my game of the year awards the years they were released. I can’t imagine Skyrim being worse than either of those two epic games, and as soon as I find some free time, I’m going to get myself lost in Skyrim once again. Several gaming outlets have already declated Skyrim as their game of the year for 2011, but with how similar it seems to Oblivion and the fact that I haven’t even played it yet to know for sure, I’m not quite ready to call it my game of the year. I’ll at least give it my pick for Best RPG of 2011.

My Previous Game of the Year Choices
Here are my picks for Game of the Year the last five years:

2006: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
2007: Bioshock
2008: Fallout 3
2009: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2010: Starcraft 2

My 2011 Game of the Year Choice

Gears of War 3
This may surprise some, as I never enjoyed the first two Gears of War games that much, but love Gears of War 3. The game, overall, is the total package. It is the only game on this list that provide so many different things, and does all of them well. It’s what I would consider a perfect video game and the pinnacle of the series. The campaign was lengthy, epic, emotional, and improved over the first two games. On top of that, Epic was able to finally provide 4-player support to the campaign, something that very few other shooters can accomplish these days. The Arcade mode and the addition of mutators allow for multiple playthroughs of the game, something that I have already partaken in.

Outside of the campaign, there’s also a well designed survival mode that lets up to 5 players play together through up to 50 Waves of progressively more difficult enemies. Not content to just leave it the same as Gears of War 2′s Horde Mode, Epic decided to provide players of this new Horde mode the ability to earn money and spend it on defensive structures and fortifications to aid in surviving. It easily blows away Modern Warfare 3′s paltry 2-player Survival Mode. And while I prefer Modern Warfare 3′s multiplayer over Gears of War 3′s, it’s all a matter of taste. I find Modern Warfare 3′s multiplayer to be so enjoyable due to its epic “Michael Bay” style over-the-top frenetic action (and sometimes imbalanced) gameplay.

I also appreciate Gears of War 3′s multiplayer, and will return to it once I start getting my fill of Modern Warfare 3. Gears of War 3′s multiplayer is classic FPS versus game design: start everyone off with the exact same weapons and equipment. Provide them with the ability to change their skins and weapon colors as they level up, but always keep pure gameplay equal at all times. In many ways, Gears of War 3′s multiplayer is more hardcore than Modern Warfare 3′s, but with the addition of a Team Deathmatch mode in Gears of War 3, it opens the game up a lot to newer, less experienced players like myself. It’s great.

Gears of War 3 is not only the best sequel of the year as it improves over its predecessor in every category, but it’s such a complete game that it’s hard for me not to award it my choice for Game of the Year. And with the January DLC allowing for the ability to “Prestige” in Gears of War 3, I may end up playing this game for a lot of 2012 as well!

When espion4ge and I booted up the new (free) Portal 2 DLC Peer Review, it was NOT like running into an old friend. The game seems so foreign now! It’s kind of crazy since it’s only been a few months, but it took awhile for me to get used to playing again. So how is the free DLC? The price is right, but Portal might be starting to dim for me.

My biggest impression from Peer Review is this: either Portal got harder, or I got dumber. It took espion4ge and I an hour to get through three of the nine levels. I’m not sure if we just weren’t seeing things, but it seemed really hard and we had to do a lot of experimentation. Furthermore, I’m not sure if it’s because I was feeling cantankerous, but some of the puzzles felt more cheap than they did clever.

Peer Review picks up an undisclosed amount of time after the end of the first co-op campaign. It’s nice to hear GlaDOS again, although obviously all that is just a means to an end: the puzzles. So far, the puzzles have used most of the new features from Portal 2, like the hard light bridges and the excursion tunnels. All in all, playing this DLC has reminded me that I am not the biggest fan of the new stuff – I’d rather Portal just challenge me with clever puzzles that I can feel smart about when I finish. Instead, last night sometimes I just wanted to give up.

I’m still looking forward to play through the rest of the DLC, but Portal has lost some of its shine for me. I think I’d rather play as Chell, or better yet, I’d just like to see the Portal gun make an appearance in Half Life 3. The original Portal will always hold a place in my heart for blowing my mind – I look forward to Valve doing that again. I’m just not sure it’ll be with this franchise, but I’d love to be wrong.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I could not wait to put Portal 2 into my disc tray. Generally, the more excited I am about a game, the more disappointed I end up being if it doesn’t live up to expectations. That usually makes it tough for me to review a game “fairly.” So after finishing Portal 2, the question is, it is a “huge success”? I’ll say this: it’s hard to overstate my satisfaction.

New Characters, New Challenges
Portal really only featured two main characters – GlaDOS and Chell (you). In Portal 2, you awaken to meet Wheatley, a British robot eye thingie that is lacking in a lot of self confidence (voiced by Stephen Merchant). He’s hilarious. There are one or two other characters introduced, but I won’t spoil it. I really thought Wheatley was really well done, and GlaDOS is as interesting as ever. The slightly larger cast of characters allows for more interaction and opportunity for humor, and although some of the jokes in Portal 2 seem a little too direct, the game still remains wickedly funny and enjoyable.

Of course, as a sequel, Portal 2 has a lot of new gameplay elements. Almost every stage introduces a new element. Where Portal 1 was mostly about introducing the Portal 1 and the mechanics of using it, the new additions in Portal 2 are kind of like props you need to use to help solve the puzzles. This is a good thing and a bad thing. A lot of the props are really interesting and fun to play around with. At the same time, the very existence of the props slightly undermines the whole puzzle process. Since the props are there, you know you HAVE to use them somehow. This takes away from the puzzle process a little bit, although not too much.

Different Settings, Different Stories
Portal 2 does a nice job of expanding the narrative and the backstory of Aperture Science (including some references to the Half Life series and Black Mesa which is a nice tough). I really like the way they did the story, although I must point out that although the story remained interesting in the middle portion of the game, I thought the gameplay in that section was not as good. There definitely is a lack of awe that exists for the sequel, mainly because it’s a sequel and everything isn’t new and amazing anymore. Still, Valve does a nice job of making a narrative with enough twists and turns, and even some deep moments, to keep you entertained.

The game is definitely much more traditional in its narrative than the original was. In the original game you kind of don’t realize the game has a story until the end, but again, Valve has lost that element of surprise. They try to make up for it by introducing some plot twists, and although they are interesting, they are also telegraphed, so none of them have the same effect as realizing that GlaDOS is a maniacal evil robot in Portal 1. Still, there’s a lot of fun moments, and a nice payoff at the end, both gameplay and storywise.

You also spend more time outside of the traditional test chambers which is a welcome change. There are some really nice looking sections, including some glimpses of nature, so I really appreciated that. Even though it’s fun to test in a sterile environment, it was nice to get a peek at the entire Aperture Science facility. There are also some clever environmental puzzles and a lot of nice little touches. Valve has done a great job of creating a perfect ambiance for this series.

Fat Robot, Tall Robot
The single player campaign of Portal 2 is longer than the original, but it’s still not enough to justify a full retail product. To supplement things, Valve included a pretty fun cooperative campaign. Instead of playing as Chell, you and a partner play as two test robots. As usual, GlaDOS puts you through a bunch of nefarious tests, although if you die, she just reassembles you and spits you right back out into the testing chamber. As GlaDOS notes, you don’t feel pain.

There is a tiny bit of story to the cooperative campaign, and it also contributes to the overall picture. I played through the coop campaign with espion4ge and found it quite enjoyable. Two heads are better than one and four portals are better than two. There are some really interesting and creative puzzle solutions that require teamwork and all four portals at the same time, so it’s definitely worth finding a friend to go through the campaign with.

My biggest disappointment about Portal 2 is the lack of challenge chambers. One of my favorite parts of the original game was the challenge chambers – complete this test chamber with less than X portals or less than Y steps or in Z time. These challenges are conspicuously missing in Portal 2. Where is the replay value then? That is a major bummer and downgrade on the overall package for me. Valve says they are introducing challenge chambers with a free patch in June, but that’s two months after launch! I certainly feel they could have done better, and it leaves a black mark on an otherwise noteworthy game.

Final Thoughts
I really loved Portal 2. Unfortunately, it suffers from sequel-itis: there are some aspects where Valve was obviously trying to top itself, and although a lot of them come off well, some of them feel gimmicky. In particular, I feel like Valve added a bit too much. There were some new elements I really loved, but I feel like I didn’t get to use them enough because it seemed like Valve just wanted to introduce more and more new elements. It’s unfortunate, in a crazy way, I feel like the campaign could have been a little tighter and compact.

The addition of a cooperative campaign is nice, and I can’t wait for the challenge level DLC. But why wasn’t it there from the beginning? This is a full retail game! So although I loved this game and would recommend it to EVERYONE, in the end, Portal 2 ends up falling victim to its predecessor. Portal was perfect, and there’s no way the sequel could have lived up to it.

Final Score: B+

Portal 2. PORTAL 2. During my whole trip last week, I concocted a plan. I would get off the plane on Monday, grab Portal 2 from the mailbox, walk my dog, and then beat Portal 2 by Wednesday and have a review up today. A GREAT PLAN. Unfortunately, as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men all go awry. Fortunately, I did get enough time in with the game for some impressions, after the jump!

My Portal Machinations
First, a bunch of information that you may or may not care about. After I wrote about my PS3/360 dilemma, I put in an order for BOTH copies of the game in to Amazon. I was really tempted to get the PS3 version, especially so I could play co-op with friends who were going to play it on Steam. At the same time, I decided that Portal 2 might be a game I’d actually go for Achievements in, and I’d want that to reflect in my Xbox profile. I figured I’d cancel which ever copy I decided not to get. Two days before I left for my trip (about a week before release day), I knew I had to make a decision.

In the end, I decided to go with the Xbox version. Why? Well, first I decided that I would go for as many Achievements as possible. Secondly, I figured my computer sucks so much it can’t even run Steam, so what’s the point. I also felt like I didn’t want to deal with playing on a PS3 controller or figuring out how to chat with friends on Steam or whatever. Am I happy with my decision? YES. When I came home, I found out how PSN got hacked and how passwords and possibly credit card information has been compromised. Thanks for nothing, Sony. The only thing worse than finding out that my information had been compromised was finding out that PORTAL 2 WAS NOT ON MY DOORSTEP.

I went through great pains to ensure I’d be able to play the night I got home and was crestfallen when that failed. I generally use release date delivery from Amazon, but I knew I wouldn’t be home. Thus, I used regular delivery, expecting it to be delivered by USPS. BUT, since I was going to be gone for a week and had no one to check my mail, I decided to put a hold on my mail for the week, just in case Portal 2 fell out of the mailbox and was claimed by some ruffian who happened to be walking by my house.

Now I set it up so mail would start being delivered again on Monday when I returned, thus depositing Portal 2 into my mailbox mere hours before I arrived home. A foolproof plan! Except it wasn’t. When I got home, Portal 2 wasn’t there, but I had all this junk mail. THANKS US POSTAL SERVICE. They didn’t deliver the game until Tuesday, depriving me of precious gaming time. I was forced to watch America’s Next Great Restaurant instead. BOO.

Of course, I’m sure nobody cares about this. So, without further ado, my Portal 2 single player impressions.

Still Alive With Humor
One thing I worry about with Portal 2 is that they are going to try to force it with the humor. Portal was funny in a subtle way, and that was one of its charms. Having played through the first two chapters of the game, I can indeed testify that the humor is still intact, although it has changed. It’s definitely a lot more direct, but it’s still pretty funny. There is still a lot of sarcasm which I love, and Stephen Merchant, a new character voice, is pretty hilarious. Even my wife found him amusing.

The Cake is a Lie…?
What I’m digging most about Portal 2 right now is the sense of mystery being set up in the narrative right now. In the first game, you kind of didn’t know what was going on, and that was fun to explore. In the sequel, you know who GlaDOS is, you know something about Aperture Science, and you know about “testing.” Valve still manages (as always), to take what you know but still create a real sense of mystery about what’s going on. That’s exciting, and that makes me want to play through the game.

Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out
A lot of the mechanics are around from the first game, but Aperture Science has added some new tricks and twists as well, including lasers that result in death. This is just what you would expect from a sequel, some new well thought out tricks, and I think they add to the experience. It’s great that Portal 2 feels like the same experience, but fresh and different. Also, the environments have changed in many ways but are the same in a lot of others. It feels really cool.

Parting Thoughts
Anyway, I have to agree with one of our commenters: Portal 2 feels great so far. I can’t wait to play through it, and though I’ve heard it’s a little short, hopefully the co-op campaign makes up for it. Hopefully there won’t be any more screw ups and I’ll be able to review the game soon! I like to test…

So Portal 2 came out this week, but unfortunately, I’m out of town so I haven’t even gotten to open the shrink wrap. Last week, I replayed the original in anticipation. Does the game still hold up after a few years?

For those who haven’t played Portal yet, I’m not sure what to say. It is a three hour masterpiece that you can probably get in the bargain bin via the Orange Box these days. It’s even cheaper on Steam if you’d like it. It’s tough to talk about the premise without spoiling major plot points, but you play as Chell, a product tester of sorts for Aperture Science (a competitor of Black Mesa!).

You are testing a portal gun, which works very simply. You place an orange portal with the left trigger and place a blue portal with the right trigger. The portals are connected, so you walk through one and out the other. Momentum is conserved as well, or in layman’s terms “speed thing goes in, speedy thing comes out.” At its core, Portal is a puzzle game, one that you play in the first person perspective.

So how does the game play? It’s still great! The narrative is well done and hilarious, in typical Valve form there are no cut scenes but you pick up the story through the ancillary dialogue and environmental clues. The puzzles are a lot of fun to solve as well, the game features clever uses of the portal gun. You can also find shortcuts if you are creative, which is a lot of fun too (and part of the challenges you can do for achievements).

Some things are a bit dated though. It’s frustrating to get a loading bar in this day and age, so I really hope that’s something Valve gets rid of for the sequel. It also feels like some of the deaths are contrived just to make the game more difficult, although I don’t have as much of a problem with that. It also would have been cool if some of the levels had secret paths or even collectibles that you can only get with clever portal placement (although I generally don’t like collectibles).

This leaves me wondering, what will Valve have for us in Portal 2? I’m excited about the idea of coop, but will it be pulled off successfully? Is there going to be enough content to warrant a full retail game? I’m not sure, but I can’t wait to find out. If you haven’t played the original Portal, do yourself a favor and find out what I always keep talking about. What can I say, I’m obsessed!

I started writing up a review for the most recent game I completed, Fable 3, but am finding myself struggling to write reviews in general these days so I decided to just write about something more exciting. Today is the release of Portal 2 and the new Mortal Kombat game. It’s Portal Kombat day!

Forget this Launch…
With my ever-growing backlog, I had made a conscious decision to only pick up games once I could get them for $20 or less unless they really warranted a launch day purchase. Since the beginning of this year, the only game so far that I picked up at launch was Marvel vs. Capcom 3 – a game that I definitely wanted to play on day 1. Outside of that, I’ve skipped out on the release date launches of several major titles this year that I am interested in playing, including: Dead Space 2, Dragon Age 2, BulletStorm, Killzone 3, LittleBigPlanet 2, Yakuza 4, and Crysis 2. I would have continued the trend of skipping out on the release days of Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat as well, based on my initial takes on both games.

Is Portal 2 really a major deal? To me it’s nothing more major than something like Dead Space 2 or Dragon Age 2, but yet because it’s Valve, I think people are going crazy over it. The cheapest I can get the game is about $35, which is nearly double the price of what I want to pay for games these days. Is Portal 2′s 6-hour solo campaign and 6-hour co-op campaign worth it? This remains to be seen, as I’ve been trying to read up on the game from a writer that isn’t in love with Valve. It’s basically impossible.

Then there’s Mortal Kombat, the Western developed game that could never touch the gameplay design of Japanese fighting games, yet due to its over-the-top gore, is loved by American gamers. I’ve never been a real fan of the Mortal Kombat series’ gameplay, feeling that people love playing it more just to see the Fatalities and the like. Is this the type of game that I even want to buy day 1?

Get Swept by the Hype!
Until very recently, I never planned on picking up either game at launch. For my reasons above, I am entirely content working on hits from my enormous backlog and saving money while I am at it. Yet several factors at once just have to create a perfect storm to now get me to go pick up both games as soon as I get home from work.

1. My brother will be visiting me again in early to mid May, and he always looks to me for what’s going on in the gaming industry. Plus, he has a love for fighting games. Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat seem like a couple of major hits that he will probably find interesting enough to try out. And if those don’t work out I can always have him try out Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

2. Hearing about both games on various boards and watching footage of Mortal Kombat makes it very difficult to not get excited if you’re a gamer. To read about how excited these fans are for their respective games makes it so tough to discount that these games will be good and are worth buying. The thing about Mortal Kombat is that while I’m not a huge fan of its gameplay design, I enjoy two major aspects of the game. First off is its character design – seriously, how can you not be a fan of characters like Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Johnny Cage, etc.? They have a special place in my gaming memories, even if I felt that the latter Mortal Kombat games have gotten worse and worse. The second thing I have to hand to the team behind Mortal Kombat is the sheer amount of secrets each game contains. As primarily someone who actually prefers the single player to versus mode of fighting games, most fighting games don’t have much to offer outside of a quest mode. But Mortal Kombat has its Crypt, which I can spend many hours playing solo to unlock all sorts of crazy fanservice stuff!

3. Amazon was running a pretty good deal with Portal 2, netting it out to $35 for the pre-order of the game. I originally did pre-order it, but changed my mind because K-Mart just had to go and advertise a crazier deal. For those of you with K-Marts nearby that actually stock their games on release dates, K-Mart is offering a $15 gaming coupon with the purchase of either Portal 2 or Mortal Kombat. Buy both games and spend 2 more cents (for a total of $120 in gaming purchases), and get a $45 gaming coupon on top of the $15. This essentially means, purchase Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat and something else small to get $60 off your next gaming purchase at K-Mart. What can you buy for 2 cents? K-Mart has already come up with something: they are taking $10 off the $20 price for 1600 Microsoft Points card or the $20 PSN card if you purchase it alongside Portal 2 or Mortal Kombat. If you purchase both games, you can pick up two of the $20 point cards for $10 each. Buying one or two of these point cards for half the price will easily put you over the $120 mark, netting you the full $60 gaming coupon. So to reiterate, K-Mart tomorrow will sell you Portal 2, Mortal Kombat, $40 worth of Microsoft Points or PSN points and $60 in gaming coupons off your next purchase for a total of $140 (+ tax). Net the $60 off the $140 and you’re at $80 (+tax) for Portal 2, Mortal Kombat, and $40 of point cards. Net the $40 of point cards off the remaining $80 and now you’re at $40 (+tax) for Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat. Hrm, so I guess based on this math, maybe I am still picking up Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat for about $20 each. Deal!

The only unfortunate thing about the $60 coupons is that they expire May 24, 2011. This pretty much means, I have to buy L.A. Noire, Brink, or any of the other major titles I already missed this year. Hopefully they are on sale when the time comes…

Oh and if you don’t have a K-Mart nearby and yet are still interested in picking up both games, consider Toys R Us today only. Their deal is simply: Buy Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat and get a $50 gift card. Certainly not a bad deal either!

As I’ve documented on this blog, I’m a huge fan of the original Portal. As a bite sized 4-5 hour game, I thought it was near perfect. Amazon matched Walmart’s $20 GC for preorders this week, which gave me a good reason to jump in. But as I was placing my order, I ran into a new dilemma that I’m unfamiliar with: Should I buy it for Xbox 360 or PS3? I actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about this…

The Original Plan
When Portal 2 was first announced, it was a simple decision for me. I only owned a Xbox 360, and since most of my friends are on 360 I figured I would be playing co-op on 360. Then there’s the fact that the Xbox Live experience is worlds better than PSN. At the time, I was still into Achievements (I probably will go for them in Portal 2 anyway), and there’s no real point in me building trophies on PS3 since most of my games are on 360. I also prefer the 360 controller, for some reason the PS3 controller makes me feel like I’m getting tendinitis in my thumb. I’m pretty sure Valve was staying away from PS3 at the time as well. Then, everything changed.

Valve Becomes PS3 Friendly
In case you may have forgotten, Valve didn’t even release Left 4 Dead or Left 4 Dead 2 on PS3. They said something to the effect of enjoying developing on Microsoft or something, I don’t totally remember. However, last summer Valve dropped a bomb on the gaming community. Not only would Portal 2 come out on PS3, it would release with Steamworks support. This was huge.

For those who don’t know, Steamworks is basically the platform Valve uses to release updates. It really streamlines updates, the certification process, and all the stuff that generally makes it take two months for a simple patch to hit a console game. In contrast to that, Microsoft supposedly has one of the most stringent and annoying patch certification processes out there. Steamworks supposedly allows developers to “distribute (their) game on (their) own terms”.

To further sweeten the Portal 2 PS3 pot, Valve is throwing in a free Steam copy of Portal 2 for people who purchase the PS3 version. This means that if you buy the game for PS3, ostensibly you will be buying the game for both PS3 and PC! Even though Valve ended up offering the original Portal for free on Steam, you still wouldn’t have to wait for a price drop to get it on PC. Suddenly, the PS3 version is very tempting to me…

Some Questions…
I put my preorder in for Xbox, but I’m seriously considering changing it. There are some questions I’d like answered before I change my mind though. For starters, will I have anyone to play co-op with on PS3? Will the co-op even be worth it, including the price of a headset?

Secondly, my computer can barely run Portal right now, so I don’t even know if the PC version is useful to me (I don’t think I’m going to get a new computer anytime soon). I also suck at playing first person games with mouse and keyboard (I know, pathetic).

The third and most important question, though, is this: Will Steamworks mean that the PS3 version will get free content updates like on Steam? It’s well documented that some of the Left 4 Dead DLC was free on Steam but cost money for Xbox because of Microsoft’s stringent policies. Will it be different for PS3? If buying the PS3 version means free content, that will be an even bigger deal to me than the PC version.

So, I ask you all: Which version of Portal 2 will you be purchasing? Does anyone know the answers to any of these questions? Will there be cake!?!??!

Help!

I had trouble not filling this entire list with sequels so I had to stretch for one of them. In general, I think I’m a bit more into the “blockbusters” than espion4ge, I get really amped up for them and they are always what I anticipate the most. Thus, unique titles like The Last Guardian don’t garner anticipation from me (though I am curious to check it out), while titles like Gears of War 3, even though they feel derivative sometimes, get me kind of excited. What’s on my list for this year? A lot of sequels. Here they are, in order of anticipated release date.

Portal 2
I’m pretty excited about Valve’s Portal 2, although I’m a little worried that they might not be able to pull it off. The original Portal was a perfect experience – it was short, had an amazing narrative, and was funny to boot. Portal 2 is going to be released as a full $60 game, as opposed to being part of a larger compilation. Can it still stand up? I’m sure the gameplay will be fine, but will GlaDOS still be funny? Will the game still be able to balance fear for your life with subtle humor? Portal 2 also is introducing cooperative play that has a chance to be a real winner. I’m not sure it’s going to be worth $60, but if anyone can make it so, it would be Valve.

Star Wars: The Old Republic
This is my reach pick, for a couple of reasons. First of all, I’m not even sure I’ll be even able to purchase this game. I’ve avoided MMOs all my life because, frankly, I’m afraid that they are a black hole I will never return from. Secondly, I’m not even sure I have a computer that is going to be handle The Old Republic. What I AM sure of is that after my PS3 purchase I won’t be getting a new computer anytime soon. Regardless, I am excited to see what Bioware might be able to pull off in a MMO. They already did a great job building the Star Wars universe in KOTOR (and Mass Effect, for all intents and purposes). What I’m most excited about is seeing how they use choices people make in the gameplay. How are they going to handle their choice system in a MMO? It’ll be interesting if they pull it off, and if they do, it might bring about some innovation to the genre. Nothing is going to kill WoW, but it’d be nice to see another game at least be successful at doing some things differently.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
The Uncharted series is amazing and one of the few PS3 exclusives worth getting. Uncharted 2 was first on my list of PS3 games after my recent purchase. The story telling and cinematic feel of the previous two games have been great, and I think Uncharted 3 will be no exception. It’s a typical AAA blockbuster – lots of flash, lots of gunplay, and Nolan North (look him up – he’s voiced every male video game character you know). It should be a lot of fun and I can’t wait until November!

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
I’m a long time Zelda fan who has been tiring of the series as of late. Dungeon crawling has started to feel a bit old, and thus I haven’t been able to finish a Zelda game since Twilight Princess. Nintendo is promising some innovation for Skyward Sword – Motion Plus support, less dungeon crawling, and other new ideas. Nintendo’s first party games are always excellent – but I still haven’t managed to use my Wii more than a handful of times over the past year. I’m hoping Skyward Sword can change that, I got completely lost in Twilight Princess and would love to have that feeling again.

Mass Effect 3
My history with the Mass Effect series: Bought the original when I first purchased my Xbox. At the time, I had my Xbox vertical, it fell over, I tried to pick it up with the disc spinning, and catastrophe ensued. I bought another copy of Mass Effect and finished the game, twice. As espion4ge can attest, that game was kind of broken. I bought Mass Effect 2 at launch – beat it, beat it again on Insane, and then sold it back to Amazon. Then I cried because I missed the game so much, and a kind friend sent me a new copy. I am now seriously considering buying the PS3 version that comes out in 2 weeks. Needless to say, I am obsessed.

Mass Effect 3 is at the very top of my anticipated games list. Will Shepard defeat the Reapers? How will the choices in the first two games (they are supposedly taking into account 1000+ variables) affect the finale? Who is going to be in my party? Can the game possibly live up to the hype? Come this holiday, I’m itching to find out.

In the last couple of weeks, I have spent my little available gaming time making my way through Darksiders, one of the big new games of 2010. The initial impressions I heard about the game was that it borrows heavily from other big games such as God of War and The Legend of Zelda. Those are some good games to borrow from, but does it take what those franchises offer and turn up something awesome on its own? Hit the jump to see how it fares!

With a sword like that, how can War not go all Kratos on his enemies?

Add One Part God of War…
Darksiders is a new Western IP developed by Vigil Games, a development studio formed by the popular comic book artist Joe Madureira. I’ve always been a fan of Madureira, as his artistic style has always conveyed Japanese manga touches. He served as the creative director for Darksiders, and it’s pretty neat to see his artistry applied to a 3D-based game.

A lot of reasons why people tend to mention Darksiders feeling a bit like God of War is due to two major factors. The first is that you play the role of War, one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The world is war-torn between the forces of Heaven and Hell, and it is up to The Four Horsemen, guided by The Charred Council, to maintain the balance. Unfortunately in War’s case, he is the only Horseman that shows up in this game, and in a way, is an angry god-like character not quite different from Kratos in God of War. So while the mythologies of the two franchises are different, they share some similarity.

Another similar aspect of the game that Darksiders shares with God of War is the combat system. In Darksiders, you come across a few different weapons, and can buy new moves as you level the weapons up. You can combo and launch enemies into the air as you fight, so there is more of an action/adventure beat-em-up feel to the combat system that does seem like God of War. It works quite well, and therefore the game has quite an emphasis on combat.

The item screen in Darksiders isn’t too different from something out of Zelda.

…Three Parts Zelda…
If Darksiders could only be likened to one game most, it would be The Legend of Zelda (or more appropriately, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time due to that one being in 3D). Darksiders shamelessly borrows many gameplay elements from traditional Zelda games. In Darksiders, you have life bars just like Zelda’s heart containers that you are looking to expand, a horse you can ride, and a world you can explore. There are also dungeons that you go through to find a primary treasure (which end up being the boomerang, the hookshot, and a couple other familiar tools) to aid you in getting through the dungeon and taking down the boss.

It’s safe to say that if you loved the Zelda games on the Nintendo systems and want to play it on anything HD today, Darksiders is easy to recommend. However, the biggest drawback to Darksiders, besides its lack of real originality, is that it is a Zelda game but much shorter. I remember in the original Zelda games on the NES and Super NES, there were tons of dungeons. I still can’t get over how awesome the first Zelda game was: something like 8 dungeons, and when you beat the game, you could play through it again on the Master Quest or whatever it was that changed up the world, the locations of everything, etc. Darksiders consists of a handful of dungeons, and then it’s over. If you can remember how in Zelda games you can acquire two rows of lifebar hearts (mostly from defeating each dungeon), Darksiders has just one row. However, the bosses that you encounter in each dungeon are pretty impressive and quite enjoyable to fight.

It took me about 18 hours to beat the game. Compared to other single player games this generation, this is a pretty impressive length. But compared to the Zelda games, which is what I would say is the major influence on this game, it’s far too short. Probably about a quarter of thoe 18 hours I spent on the game were spent backtracking to open chests that I could not open before due to the lack of an item. Cut all of that out and you’re down to under 15 hours. So is it long? Perhaps just long enough by today’s standards, but certainly not long enough compared to the major franchise it is borrowing from.

War can create portals over certain surface areas in later parts of the game.

…And One Part Portal
The one thing that Darksiders has that Zelda was too old to conceive of is the Portal gun. In Darksiders, one of the last items you find in the game is an equipment item that functions just like the gun from Valve’s Portal game: you shoot it on an applicable area and shoot it again on another applicable area, and anything traveling through one of the portals comes out the other side. Darksiders heavily makes use of this in its final dungeon, forcing you to navigate beams reflecting off mirrors through portals to hit switches for you to get doors open. I would say that the final dungeon in the game can be quite frustrating due to the puzzle solving elements of the Portal gun providing for a much higher degree of difficulty than the rest of the game (sort of like Ocarina of Time’s notorious Water Temple), but it can be beaten with help from strategy guides and the like if needed.

Fortunately, while in the game Portal, you can shoot portals pretty much on any flat surface, Darksiders constrains it a little bit by only allowing you to shoot portals onto surfaced that are in orange (basically meaning they are “portal friendly”). Some people may love the inherent challenge that the final dungeon provides. I’ve never been a big fan of having to solve puzzles in my action games, especially if I have to sit in a room for several minutes trying out various avenues until something finally works.

Darksiders’ massive, yet intuitive boss encounters are definitely one of the major highlights.

Final Thoughts
All in all, Darksiders is definitely a good game. It isn’t innovative at all since it borrows from so many other games, but its execution is strong enough that the game is enjoyable. The combat system is fun, the storyline is enjoyable for an action/adventure game, and the Zelda-like gameplay is a nice homage. But the lack of any real innovation makes this game definitely feel like something you’ve played before, and Darksiders fails to really bring something new to the table. Its main strength is in combining the combat and feel of God of War with the puzzles and world of Zelda. I just wish that it had more interesting gameplay elements to make it stand out on its own rather than sitting in the shadows of the more popular aforementioned franchises.

would have liked to see the game be a lot longer and epic in scope than its 15 hours or so of gameplay – and would have definitely felt disappointed if I had to pay $60 for this game at launch. But with its new retail price of $19.99, it’s an easy recommendation if you’re even slightly interested. For those that have long since graduated past owning a Nintendo console by moving to HD, Darksiders is the closest you can get to playing a Zelda-like game and it scratches the itch just enough. The combat system works quite well, and the world that this first game created is interesting enough that I do want to play the next one. Hopefully the announced 2013 sequel will be a full-blown 10+ dungeon 40-hour massive affair with more innovative equipment and gameplay. My advice to Vigil Games: don’t just try to copy Zelda – make a game better than Zelda!

Final Grade: B+