Over the past couple of years, I've noticed a big shift in my gaming tastes. Bigger than usual, anyway. I've found myself not being able to stand games I once loved; whether it's due to thinning patience, heightened expectations, a combo of both, or some other unknown variable, I have no clue. Likewise, I've found that repeated playthroughs of certain other games have only strengthened my love for them. As such, I've decided to go back to 2011 and look at my GotY list to take a gander at how my opinions of the games I've picked then have changed, if at all. Should be fun. :D
1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword; By far my favorite game of the year and my favorite Zelda game. A beautiful art style, motion controls that show just how well-done they can be with a traditional game, the best cutscene direction in the series thus far, and just the right amount of turning series tradition on its head to keep things interesting. An amazing game from start to finish, and in my book, it'll go down as the Wii's greatest. | My feelings on Skyward Sword haven't changed a bit. It's still the best game I played in 2011, and I don't particularly see that changing any time soon.
2. Pokemon Black & White; It's freakin' Pokemon! But to be more specific, Unova's Pokemon selection is fantastic, and the decision to have those be the only Pokemon you see pre E4 keeps things fresh and interesting. Alongside that, the little tweaks to the battle system (60 FPS battles, no more weather interrupting every turn, triple/rotation battles, etc) are very, very welcome. Unova itself is also very well-designed, second only to Hoenn in area variety. Also, the soundtrack is PHENOMENAL. AND IT'S GODDAMN POKEMON. | Ditto with Pokemon Black & White.
3. Super Mario 3D Land; The perfect handheld Mario title. Bite sized levels make it the perfect pick-up-and-play game, and the fusion of 2D gameplay and the 3D plane makes it feel both brand new and familiar at the same time. That, and it has a surprisingly extensive amount of content for a Mario game, which is always a plus. The premier 3DS title and one every owner of the system should own. | Ditto + 2 with SM3DL. If anything, I've also taken notice of how gorgeous it is, despite not pushing the 3DS hardware particularly hard. Excellent texture work, a bright and varied color palette along with the relatively simple geometry makes it quite the looker, and visually sets it apart from the Galaxy games despite sharing a similar art style. And big props for having what I consider to be the best 1-1 in the series.
4. Xenoblade Chronicles; The JRPG the Wii's always wanted. An expansive world not seen even on most HD console RPGs, a fantastic soundtrack, a bunch of very welcome time-saving features (change the time of day anytime you want, save anywhere, quick-traveling, etc) that get rid of the tedium that many other RPGs suffer from, an...interesting story, a great battle system...it's just amazing all around. And no motion controls, for you motion control-haters out there. With it finally getting a U.S. release, there's no reason for any of you to miss out on it. | Oh boy, where do I begin with this one? It started out promising, breathtaking vistas, a solid story with likeable characters, tons to do, etc. After a while, however, it began to drag on and on and on. Areas became *too* big with a little too much repetitiveness throughout. If I were to argue against games needing to be longer, Xenoblade Chronicles would be my main reason why. I gained two more party members, one whom I despise, and another whose abilities are poorly explained, and the battle system grew stale (having the ability to revive party members tied to the Party Gauge was an annoying design decision, at best, and the massive framerate drops in later battles made them nearly unfollowable at times) and far too hectic for its own good. Exploring areas didn't amount to much beyond exp and items that I could've easily gotten elsewhere. After a while, it started to feel like useless padding. All in all, Xenoblade Chronicles was not worth the import or a spot on my 2011 GotY list. :/
5. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D; The perfect remake. Redone visuals making it much closer to the official art, dat credits music, Master Quest being included (and being made harder than ever by the inverted view and Link taking double damage), the best 3D on the system at that point... also a must own for any 3DS owner. | Opinion unchanged. It's still the definitive version of one of the greatest games of all time.
6. Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy; One of the very few fighters (alongside the Smash Bros. series) that I've been able to fully enjoy. Whomever made the character animations (in battles, not cutscenes) needs to be given a medal for how detailed they are. And blending RPG elements into the game is a pretty big recipe for making me addicted as all hell. Add to that tons of content and a kickass soundtrack and we have ourselves a winner.
Also, I get to beat the crap out of Sephiroth. Teehee~ :3 | I've spent +175 hours with this. How the hell did that happen?
7. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective; Initially, I was very hesitant on buying this game. Story-focused games have never been all that appealing to me, and its brevity made me very iffy on purchasing it. Eventually, however, I caved, and boy am I ever glad I did! Characters full of life (so to speak), whether it came from dialogue, or the incredibly well-animated sprites, or their backstories, etc. The story also had me sucked in from the very beginning, and the puzzles required some pretty big and inventive mental leaps at times. All in all, it's definitely my surprise pick this year. | Opinion unchanged, though I'd rank it lower solely due to the fact that it's a one-and-done game. Absolutely no incentive for me to ever play it again after I've beaten it, which is an unfortunate side effect of the genre for me. Pre-determined puzzles + no multiple endings ensures that much. My praises still stand, however.
8. Sonic Generations; Sonic the Hedgehog is back! Well designed (and gorgeous) levels from games past, the Classic and Modern stages both meld together quite well, the soundtrack (as expected from the Blue Blur) is absolutely ROCKIN'... though a subpar endgame and a rather lacking variety in the choice of levels (could've been a few less city-based levels) keep this from reaching the heights of my list, but what IS there is some of the best fun I've had on my PS3 this year. | I'd probably knock this down a spot or two. The game is still quite fun, but the endgame is a lot worse than I remember, particularly Planet Wisp and the final boss, both of which I feel are... well, crap. The game is super short, too. If ever there were a game that could've benefited from DLC, this is it. Rooftop Run is far more fun better than I remember it being, though!
9. Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded; Irrelevant story aside, Re:Coded probably has the best gameplay in the series yet. Yes, even moreso than Birth By Sleep, whose battle system it actually improves on in several aspects. Taking elements from TWEWY is probably one of the best things about it. The ability to change the difficulty and drop rates of enemies at any time means that the game is only as challenging or as easy as you want to be, and boy can it get outright ball-breaking at times. The reused worlds and music (though I still quite enjoyed them) are a mark against it, but I'll be damned if one of the most fun DS games I've played this year doesn't make it on my list. | This would be much higher on the list, perhaps 5-6. That character progression system is fucking killer, and nothing in the rest of the series has surpassed it yet. I wish all RPGs would have this kind of variety in how to build party members.
10. Kirby Mass Attack; Combining Kirby with Lemmings is a winning formula, apparently! One of the best uses of the DS' touch screen around, and the music is also fantastic. The mini-games are definitely of note here, as each one is so complete and lengthy enough that they all feel like they could be separate games themselves! The main game is definitely one of the most difficult Kirby games around, and getting every medal + gold stars on each level can become quite the ordeal. :B | Opinion unchanged. Those minigames are fucking awesome.
