Parent Category for All Gaming Platforms discussed on Twinstiq
Welcome, one and all to a new year and a new February. Last year, I didn't do very well at all, so this year, I'm going to try my utmost to actually vanquish four games off of my tottering pile of games that I've collected over the last forty+ years. Read more
Yes you are reading that title correctly and no this is not an awards show for the games that came out during 2016. Instead this is a look back at the year of 2011 in games. I will be awarding games as if I had never played them until this year!
(Some games like Orcs Must Die and Saints Row The Third I actually never played that year )
Why am I doing this? Well a while back I had wrote an article about how to better improve gaming awards shows, and one of my suggestions was waiting five or maybe even ten years before we give out awards. Because when you actually sit down and play games from that long ago you may be surprised by both how you yourself have changed, as well as the industry at large. One example of this from said article was the year 2003, a year when Knights of the Old Republic, Beyond Good and Evil, and Prince of Persia came out. But what did tons of publications give game of the year? Madden 2004.
This wasn’t the only year like this and so this year instead of picking my favorite games of 2016 I decided to give my delayed awards show a fair shot and see what truly stood apart in 2011. In doing so I was shocked, not just by how well some games stood the test of time, but how others did not. And how games I didn’t care much for from that year such as L.A. Noire or The Witcher 2, held up far better in many categories than games I loved five years ago like Human Revolution and Skyrim.
Speaking of categories, I have never cared for the ambiguous awards given out such as “Best Action game” and the like. Judging from my reviews, one could easily tell I really like to focus on aspects that individual departments of a development studio worked on. So it would be only natural of me to do the same for an awards show. (Hey i'm already making an award system that is purposefully five years too late, I may as well continue going out of the norm.) So without further ado here are the categories that I decided to go with for the 2016 Game Awards for the year of 2011!
Now for the list of games that will be qualifying for these awards. Please understand that I am only one person on this silly quest and I don’t have all the money or time in the world to have played every single game from five years ago. For example I don't own a single Nintendo system :( So unfortunately their games are completely absent from this list. Maybe they should actually let other platforms sell their games.... Just a thought. Regardless, here are all the games I was able to get some time with. Please be aware though not every game listed here received a nomination in the forthcoming categories.
40k Space Marine
Batman: Arkham City
Bastion
BulletStorm
Dark Souls
Dead Island
Dragon age 2
Dues Ex: Human Revelution
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Hard Reset
L.A. Noire
Mortal Kombat 9
Orcs Must Die
Portal 2
Rage
Saints Row: The Third
Uncharted 3
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
Well we know the games so let's waste no more time and start the show! Starting us off it's a category near and dear to my heart.
Let’s take a look at what the best Animations where in gaming five years back.
What can I say? I love animation. It's what I focused on the most while learning how to make games in school, and its nominees all received high praise from me for their great use of it.
The Nominees are:
And the winner by a very narrow margin is....
I'll be honest I was really leaning into this or Dark Souls. Dark Souls for its amazing work on so many different character rigs for the wacky enemies you fight in that game. But the precise and fluid motions combined with key frame poses that look like they where hand drawn first, it's hard not to give the animators over at Rocksteady the credit they deserve.
Having recently played Alien Isolation for GameClub I can attest to just how important this next category is to both atmosphere as well as player feedback.
Let's have a listen to the best sounds 2011 had on offer.
These cats do hard work that never gets appreciated and is half the feedback from any game you play. Go ahead and play the new 2016 DOOM on mute, it looses its balls. These nominees deserve a lot more than an award from an obscure gaming website five years too late.
The Nominees are:
And the winner is brutally....
Every combination of Slashing, Crunching, Screaming, Ripping, and Tearing are impeccable examples of great foley work. At times the audio can upset you at a core level, even without the visuals. I don't think I've ever played a game where I could hear the sound of meat and muscle being violently pressed against an opponents bones as accurately the audio team has managed here. These extremely well crafted sounds had some careful attention to detail. They are sounds you wouldn't tend to notice in a fighting game that make the environment feel lived in. I just can't give this award to anyone else.
Speaking of Environment. Games are rarely fun to play if the space you're in is not fun or compelling to be in. Not too be confused with a later category, Environmental Modeling takes a peculiar attention to detail and a LOT of tedious texture work.
The Nominees are:
Man I really hated trying pick a winner in this one. But i had to go with the one that did the best job at creating a world that would be extremely difficult to replicate...
Say what you will about Rockstar's games. One thing very few developers can do as well as them is environmental modeling. Yes the texture sizes aren't as large as other games due to the size of their worlds, but making textures as detailed as these in a 512x512 square is way harder. Put aside that incredible work and it would still get the win for somehow managing to perfectly replicate the city of L.A. in the 1940's. Not just replicate it's many roads and monuments that are long gone, but make it feel alive and tangible.
While a lot of the shadow mapping and technical effects don’t always hold up too great over the years, good Lighting is still something that is more than worth celebrating. It is an essential part of any visual medium and one of the hardest to master. Lighting teams hardly get any credit in any visual medium. Animation and gaming both make the job at least twice as hard. This is due to the need to create digital lighting effects that trick the eye in the first place. They don't have light sources they can just place around a room. They need to finely tweak and re-value every little aspect of any light that is created for a room or scene. Seriously, these games deserve some credit.
And the four best lighting teams where those who worked on...
And the winner is..
While there may not be as many fill lights or varied shadow types like in Human Revolution, Uncharted 3's uncanny ability to capture the lighting of so many different types of locations. From the harsh light of the desert to the looming shadows and warmth of torch lights of its many caverns, no other game from 2011 was really able to light so many drastically different locations as well as Naughty Dog.
There's a reason why a voice acting strike is a huge deal to the industry. Without these talented actors and actresses all our games would sound like Two Worlds. Rather than choose individual voice performances though I wanted to celebrate the game that was able to let all their voice actors shine brightest.
The nominees are:
And the winner is...
Honestly this category was a lot closer than you would think. But yeah it's hard not to say that this game came into this category with a bit of an unfair advantage. Because while L.A. Noire had many great film and Television actors, they weren't all quite as good at voice acting as they are on screen. But between Kevin Conroy, Nolan North, Tara Strong, Troy Baker, and of course Mark Hamill, the cast here has well over 50 years of combined voice acting experience. And all of them deserve the praise they've received over the years for their performances. Every one of them has held up incredibly well.
You can have the most well modeled environments in the universe. But it won't mean jack shit if the level design falls flat. The look of a world will invite you in, but great level design will keep you there forever.
Here’s the best level design from 2011:
And the Winner is...
One hell of a showing for a three to four hour game. But honestly, this level design team deserves it. All of the games in this category deserve some serious recognition. But Portal 2 is the only game that relies solely on the strength of the play spaces for us gamers. If the single player levels don't impress you, there's a full co-op campaign that will seriously require more reciprocity than most games that offer such a mode.
This does not include soundtrack.... It always bugs me when jukebox musicals win awards over original compositions and scores. Well, Not on my watch! The music of a game undergoes two hard tasks. One is to be the perfect fit within a game’s context both for the player and the world at large. The second task is when gamers take that sound track home and listen to it without fighting dragons or solving crimes. When music from a game can truly be appreciated and loved anywhere, you know you have a gem on your hands.
Let’s listen to some of those now:
Spike in a Rail by Darren Korb
Dragonborn by Jeremy Soul
Minor 9th by Andrew and Simon Hale
Wasteland Races by Rob Abernethy
It's categories like this that make me hate I have to pick a winner, but without further ado the winner is...
Below Track is titled: J.J. Bop
Music, like all art, is highly subject. (So is this awards article you've been reading.) And to me, nothing sang quite as loud as the dulcet tones and snappy jazz that Andrew and Simon Hale put together.
No, I couldn't just have one category too encompass all modeling. It would be just as insulting as putting all the art assets under 'Best Graphics' What the hell does that even mean? Plus, characters are what stick with you long after the game is over.
Characters are the most important thing to me when it comes to a game’s narrative. It’s the characters that really stick with us over time. Both from how they are written, but also how they look. The later is what this category celebrates. Not just the great telemetry and efficiency of polygons, but creative design and flawless execution.
Here’s the best Character Modeling from 2011:
And the Winner is...
Now I'll be honest I really wanted to dock this game some serious points in this category because it really didn't have to create any original ideas for characters. And the ones they recreated in the game have had 70+ years of refinement to help cradle the modelers into a good direction. But when I played through everything else the year of 2011 had to offer, there really wasn't another game where I could distinctly remember as many characters as I do here. Mortal Kombat came damn close in this one too for that same reason. But clearly the technical edge goes to Rocksteady here. Their impeccable topology combined with some really subtle texture details puts their models miles above the rest. And while I know the history of many of the main characters certainly helped, everything seems appropriately exaggerated to push the characters just shy of being over stylized versions of themselves. This is even true for the many varied types of gang members and Batarang fodder you'll encounter in the game. You never feel you are punching the same guys over and over again because their body masses are so well modeled and stylized. This really was one of the hardest to widdle down to four choices, let alone pick one out of the mix. But for my money, Arkham City's character models are the best on offer from 2011.
Well you can't have an awards show without this one right? While all other categories have only had 4 nominees each, it was hard enough to narrow this down to 5. There are so many amazing games from this year and I can wholeheartedly recommend every game that was nominated for any category. But alas, they won’t let me call it a game awards show without the granddaddy of game awards.
So let's look at the nominees for the 2016 Game of the Year from 2011.
Well it's the beginning of the new year so as far as I’m concerned it's still fine to make lists about 2016! And as I mentioned in my best games of the year list, I didn’t get to play as many games that came out as I would have liked too. So today I’ve decided to list the Top 5 games that I wish I got to play in 2016.
I'm into ARPG's. From the isometrics like Diablo of the 90's, to the much more modern Path of Exile and the third person Darksiders from the 2000's, they've all entertained me and kept me in the hunt for newer and better gear just as they're designed to do. Grim Dawn is one such ARPG and I'm going to go into some manner of detail and hopefully give those of you who don't know about this title a reason to check it out. Read more
Sometimes, a game comes along that does something extra-ordinary.
Before you play it, you can't help but wonder if you're going to like it - exactly because of it's differences - but once you have played it, you see the world just a little bit differently. The game opens new possibilities, new vistas.
Loom's story isn't wholly original, but given it's run time and the themes it's trying to convey to the player, that's just fine. What is masterful is the way it presents this story. Read more
Hello, Internet and welcome to our next round of Game Club. I’m TruLegendKiller, and for this round of Game Club we will be playing through Alien: Isolation. I was hoping this would have fallen into October but it is what it is. Released in October of 2014 to, largely, high reviews. Classified as an action-adventure game, make no mistake, this is a survival horror. And one at its finest. Developed by Creative Assembly (the minds behind the Total War series and the upcoming Halo Wars 2) the game is based on the Alien science fiction horror film from Ridley Scott. By based, I mean a direct sequel to the first film. This is no James Cameron science fiction action film. The game takes it back to the series roots of horror. In other words, it is you, and a monster, and you are struggling to survive. And because of this reason, this is why we are playing this game.
I have been an Alien fan for many years. Equally, I have been a horror fan as well. Most horror games have little to no effect on me. Games like Five Nights At Freddy’s or Outlast hold little interest to me. Those games throw jump scares and think it makes it amazing horror. In my opinion they do not. What makes good horror is when it is natural. When no matter what you do, be it have weapons or reach a save point, you can still lose. That is what makes this game so amazing. The Xenomorph’s AI is smart, it learns, it predicts, it adapts. In games like Outlast you can hide in a locker and the AI will almost never find you. Here… Well, never think you are safe. Oh, you found a check point? The Xenomorph will kill you as you are trying to save.
Set in the year 1237, 15 years after the events of the first film. You play as Amanda Ripley, daughter to the missing Ellen Ripley. Approached by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation with the promise of maybe finding her mother. After the flight recorder of the Nostromo was located, she is tasked with recovering it from a space station. This is where the nightmare begins. This is where your nightmare begins.
This is a long game and will, likely, take several episodes of Game Club to get through. There are 19 main story missions. As such, try to play up to mission 7 (Seegson Synthetics). Good luck, have fun, and get good.
Until next time.
Stay Geeky Faithful Readers.
Hey. You guys ever play the Lost Planet games? I never played the first one but I did play the second. Heads up, it's aged like Melanie Griffith. But the third installment wasn't half bad. Stick around and I'll tell you why it could be worth going back to now. Read more
So, it’s that time again when there’s a GOG sale. These typically run the gamut from frantic to quite relaxed. This particular sale will [probably] be with us for seven days. So, what can you expect?
Hit the read more link to find out. Read more
Hey everyone, Scrooloose here again with another great pick for the Twinstiq Game Club. This week it's going to be The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
This is a mystery narrative title with some kind of noir elements and plenty of puzzle solving that was released in 2014. That was a mouth full I know. Ethan Carter was originally rendered in Unreal Engine 3 and is still one of most highly detailed and aesthetically beautiful games out there to date. In 2015 there was a free redux version released that used the more powerful Unreal Engine 4 and the difference is noticeable not only visibly, but also in terms of performance and various forms of refinement. Nowadays there's even a VR version of the game released as DLC. Ethan Carter is available for PC through Steam and GoG as well as for PS4 so you'll have a couple of options for playing. Sadly there is no Mac port.
As said above this is a narrative title set in the first person where the player takes the role of Paul Prospero, a detective tasked to find out what happened in the game's setting, Red Creek Valley. Pretty simple in its execution The Vanishing of Ethan Carter says from the beginning that it will not hold your hand. That means a few things: Firstly, there's no real tutorial, suck it up and figure it out. Secondly, there are no forced story elements so you as the player are allowed to go as deep or as shallow in the game play as you like. Thirdly, there are no real hints aside from the clues that Paul will find via exploration.
I personally really love this game and it's worth the full price of admission. Beautiful environments, minimal loading screens, lots of exploration and puzzle solving and a pretty well told story make this one my pick for this Game Club round. It's also a relatively short game, I spent about five hours on my first play through. We at the Game Club hope you'll join us on our journey to solve The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
MINIMUM:
Welcome, everyone to another edition of game club. Game club is not at all like Fight Club. We absolutely encourage you to talk about it.
As ever, we go in rounds and for this particular round, I’ve picked the stellar adventure game Beneath A Steel Sky.
Read on past the break to find out how this is going to work and what you need to do to get the game. Read more
