2011: videogames

I'll do my top 10 starting with 1, because I know no-one will read to the end anyway. So I better start with the best stuff, right?

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I played this game for about 135 hours. Which is about 15 times more than an average game these days. So yeah, you could say I like it. I don't really know what to say about it, just play it and experience it for yourself. And if you're really in a hurry, just focus on the main quest, the deadric quests and the Dark Brotherhood quests. And visit all the main holds. And take a walk from Riften to Aivarstead, and from Helgen to Rorickstead. And... oh okay, I'll stop now.

2. Portal 2

I have very little to add to my review. In short: it's great. Play it if you haven't already.

3. Mortal Kombat

MORTAAAL KOMBAAAT!!! Doo-doo, doo-doo-doo... etc. I should've done a full review of this since there's plenty to talk about, but really, this is the easily the most complete fighting game ever. Even if the game just had the story mode, it would've still made my list. It's just so good. Online is quite nice as well. I even found a character I could dominate with (Sindel), I suddenly had 13 ranked wins in a row with her. Yes, I'm that awesome. Well, against beginner/intermediate players. Because of my ranking I suddenly started fighting the pros. I lost. A lot.

Anyway, if you loved Mortal Kombat 2 and 3, you really should buy this if you haven't already. I'd recommend this game even if you've never played a fighting game.

4) Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Another game I should've done a proper review of. I picked this up as a sort of in-between game (a few weeks before Skyrim came out), and I felt like playing a stealth/scifi game. I'm very glad I picked it up. It's far from a flawless experience; I had my fair share of frustration with the stealth gameplay, the boss fights are just very out of place, and it has some clumsy gameplay elements, but it's just...special, you know? I particularly loved the music and atmosphere in this game.

You can get the game pretty cheap nowadays, so I'd urge you to pick this up and experience it for yourself. It's not for everyone, but it's a damned good game.

5) Super Mario 3D Land

Together with Deus Ex, pretty much the surprise of the year. I wanted a white 3DS, so I had to pick up a bundle with this game. I disliked New Super Mario Bros, so I really had zero expectations for this one. In fact, I was even thinking of selling it unopened. But I decided to give it a try, and...wooaAAoow. It's possibly the best Mario game since...well I'm not really a fan of platformer games in general so I couldn't say. But, I'm really enjoying it. Yes, it's very easy (I entered world 8 with around 90 lives), but it's brilliant. The 3D is also great. Yes, it's still a gimmick, but it 'works' in this game.

6) Tropico 4

Okay, so it's more like Super Tropico 3 Turbo, with many re-used voice samples and graphics, but the new mini-objectives are a good addition, and why change things when they were great in the first place? There are some minor "downgrades" though: the new radio girl kind of sucks, and the humour is a bit hit-and-miss (mostly hit though).
I've only played the game for about 10 hours, and in that time I've only done 3 story missions and a (long) sandbox game. I'll definitely spend another 30 or 40 hours on this game - when I have the time...

7) Top Spin 4

A tennis game that doesn't play like a more colourful version of Pong (see: Virtua Tennis series)? GIMME. I loved Top Spin 3 but this is definitely the best tennis game of this hardware generation. Yes, it gets repetitive after a while, but so does every sports game. Or any videogame really. Plus, in career mode, Federer is pretty much always number 1 or 2, even in 2014 haha. Biased!

8) Dead Space 2

I didn't enjoy this as much than the first one, but it still has many memorable moments, and my impression is that it's also a longer game (which isn't necessary a good thing, but still). It tries to be bigger and better than the first game, but in doing that it also lost some of the charm, you know what you mean? It's like Alien vs. Aliens. Both are great, but the first one was more creepy and atmospheric, second one was more about the action and shooting and dudebro stuff. Also, as I said earlier this year, I like quiet protagonists. So again, first game > second game.

9) Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Curse Capcom for releasing an upgrade 8 months after this game. I still haven't bought Ultimate by the way. MvC3 isn't as bad as people tell you it is (I didn't have that many online problems), but Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is still my favourite vs. game. My Hulk/Wolverine/Dr. Doom team is pretty awesome. I actually have quite a few teams I'm pretty good with, but I always have Hulk in my team. HULK SMASH etc.

10) Child of Eden

I didn't enjoy it as much as Rez, and it really should've been a downloadable game rather than a retail one, but it's still pretty good. Very uplifting and colourful. I found it to be harder than Rez (I still can't combo to the beat effectively, which makes the achievements really difficult). I plan to go back in and try to master at least part of the game in the near future.

I still have a lot of 2011 games to play, so this is just a temporary list. Still need to go through Zelda: Skyward Sword (although, after 10 hours, I'm definitely not feeling the game), Bastion, From Dust, and a whole lot of pc games I bought on Steam. And then there's the games on everyone's list that I haven't played yet: Dark Souls, Batman: Arkham City, Saints Row the Third, Uncharted 3, Xenoblade... I have a lot of catching up to do. There are also some games you might expect on the list that just didn't make it. Like Gears of Wars 3: enjoyed it, but I thought it was inferior to GoW2, and ultimately not as good as the 10 games I mentioned above.

I'll try to do some more videogame reviews in 2012, but I'm not going to promise anything.