[Question] The Gamingforce Game of the Year 2011: Time to Vote

The Gamingforce Game of the Year, back by (some) demand, is here once again. 2012 has arrived but for us here at GFF the first thing to do before we start on new games is cast an eye back at those that came and went in 2011; as ever the real question is what does Gamingforce consider the best of 2011?

As with the previous years' voting here's how this is going to work: each person has 100 points to vote for games released in 2011 (doesn't matter where, but games have to have been commercially released in 2011) and you can allocate them to as many games as you like as long as it totals 100 in the end. The only rule is that you can't award any single game more than 40 points. So you could vote two 40s and a 20, or a 40 and six 10s, or any other combination of points as long as it adds up to 100.

To vote all you have to do is post a reply with your top games of 2011, how many points you're giving each, and a brief explanation of why you feel the game deserves your points.

Example:

GAME A - 40 points
Man I loved game A because...

GAME B - 20 points
I ended up playing so much of game B that...

GAME C - 15 points
Game C gets some points because...

GAME D - 15 points
I couldn't decide between this and C, so gave both points, but D rocks because...

GAME E - 5 points
Good, but not necessarily great, but I figure E deserves some points because...

GAME F - 5 points
Like E, F gets a few points because...

REFERRED BY: ... Wait what is this?

As with last year: to try and encourage a little spreading of the love this year there will be a referral system in place. If you convince someone else to vote and they put your name in their post (of the style "REFERRED BY: x") then you gain an additional 5 points to make use of. The same maximum of 40 points exists so you can't use these additional points to exceed it, but you can boost the points of any game not yet at the 40 limit, or you can use the extra points to vote for another game. There's a maximum of 20 points that can be gained from referrals to be distributing within the rules however you please.

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Voting will close on Saturday 14th January at 18:00 GMT (that's Englandland time), at which point I'll add all the points together and work out GFF's top 20 games of 2011, posting the results in a new thread for discussion/people to bitch about.

Get voting.

Oh, and get other people to come vote too. This year it earns you some extra voting power.

Disclaimer/Rules:
1. If you allocate any game more than 40 points your vote won't be counted.
2. If your points allocation totals more than 100 points [2a] your vote won't be counted (totals less than 100 are fine).
2a. Referrals allow an additional 5 points each to be used in voting, up to a maximum of 20 additional points.
3. Votes for games not released in 2011 will be ignored.
4. Only official commercial releases in 2011 count.
5. No negative points. I'll point and laugh and then ignore your vote.
6. Whole integers only. Fractions and decimal places will also lead me to ignore your vote.
7. Any other such idiocy will also probably lead your vote not being counted.

And as ever, I take no responsibility for Skills fucking with stuff, which if you ignore these points he almost certainly will do somehow.

How ya doing, buddy?

Despite the fact that I haven’t played all that many games this year (relatively speaking) trying to name games for my Game of the Year votes has been a remarkably hard call as there were some really good titles to pick from. It’s been so hard that I got thoroughly stuck whilst trying to whittle down my shortlist and have ended up at a point where I don’t think I can cut the list down any further. I hate to spread my points out somewhat thinly but each of these games, and a few more perhaps, are very much deserving of some love.

Bastion – 25 points
This game just appealed right out of the gate when the first bits of news about it started popping up so a purchase was a no-brainer. But despite high hopes I got something even more awesome than I was expecting and this is just an absolutely solid experience boosted by the narrator (a trick I thought was going to be annoying, but never was) and perhaps my favourite soundtrack of the year. If you didn’t play this and have access to an Xbox or a PC you really owe yourself to check it out.

Xenoblade Chronicles – 25 points
And here’s the other game in contention for my favourite soundtrack of the year. But beyond amazing music (and it really does have a lot of excellent music in this game) this is an absolutely fantastic JRPG that defies conventions and is just a blast to play. It has a crazy but fun storyline, characters I cared about, really fun and involving battle mechanics, a huge wonderfully realized world to explore and tons more beside. There is a lot to this game, but almost none of it feels like filler or a waste of time, I was constantly engaged and happy to be distracted by the various side-quests and NPCs. I know this has yet to arrive officially in the US making it a hard sell for top of 2011, but this was a truly wonderful game. It’s rare that any single player experience gets its hooks into me for 100 hours, but Xenoblade managed it.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective – 20 points
Oh god this art and animation in this game is so good, so wonderfully, wonderfully good that pictures alone can not do it justice. For just the animation it deserves a nod I’d argue, but thankfully the game is also full of wonderful interaction, delightful characters, great puzzles and just a crap ton of fun. This is an excellent game and if you own something capable of playing DS games and haven’t picked it up yet, get off your arse right now and correct that situation. Right now!

Deus Ex: Human Revolution – 10 points
This is a statement that wins me no friends and on these boards probably gets me branded a heathen, but I never played the original Deus Ex. As such I don’t have the long-standing love for the franchise, though the setting and mechanics always looked interesting. Human Revolution therefore also looked interesting and I’m very glad I took a chance on it as this is a fantastic game and was an experience that stuck firmly in my mind making this and easy choice for my game of the year list. From what I’ve been told this does not let fans of the series down either, which is quite an achievement given how much love there is for it. Definitely a game worth playing.

Batman: Arkham City – 10 points
I absolutely loved the crap out of Batman: Arkham Asylum. I don’t know why but that game just looked like it’d be good and I had plonked a pre-order down before any real reviews came out, for some reason I had faith; and that faith was richly rewarded. The same held true for Arkham City, whilst some of the changes to make it more of a sandbox game and the large number of villains making an appearance worried some I had faith in Rocksteady to deliver, and deliver they did. This is another fantastic game that just makes you feel like an absolute badass, but not a vulnerable one. You have to be Bats and engage people on your terms, but when you do you can take people down with brutal efficiency. My only complaint would be I wish there had been more of it.

Battlefield 3 – 10 points
Let’s get something out of the way: both the single player and co-op are pretty fucking terrible in this game and if you pick it up for those then this would be a massive let down and a complete waste of money. But let’s be honest, no one should be buying this for anything other than the multiplayer and in that respect this game is fantastic. Like any multiplayer shooter sure there are issues here and there (mostly with people trying to abuse the system), those little frustrations, but the thrill of proper teamwork, those Battlefield moments, when it all comes together nothing is quite like it. It says something when this game has single-handedly stopped me playing a number of other games because it’s so damn addictive and a joy to play. So far I’ve sunk 150 hours into the multiplayer and I won’t be surprised if this is a game that I keep revisiting here and there well into 2012. Best multiplayer of the year without a doubt.

Honourable Mentions:
- Portal 2
- Super Mario 3D Land
- Continuity 2: The Continuation
- Child of Eden
- Gears of War 3

Most amazing jew boots

Barring a very last minute entry or two I'll be totting up the results tonight and will probably get the results post up tomorrow.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.