Favorite Games of 2011 part 2: The Shooters

Here is the second part of my favorite titles of 2011. This time, I'm going to go with a theme for this post and list my 5 favorite FPS's of this year. I'm usually a pretty big FPS fan, but as the years have gone on and the genre has become more popular, the games have seemingly become more conforming and by the numbers. Being one that crave something new and original, these were the FPS's that wowed me in 2011. The choice might not be what you think and I'm sure most people would disagree. However, all of the choices were fun, enjoyable romps that in one way or another stood out and made themselves unique among the crowd.

So without further ado...

Killzone 3 - Killzone 3 attempted to be the opposite from its prequel Killzone 2. The overly serious story was replaced by a cheesy, gung ho action movie parody. The weight and heft of movement and weapons was replaced by a light, almost CoD like feel of movement. Despite all of the changes, I can honestly say that I really enjoyed my time with Killzone 3 and its fantastic multiplayer offering.

While I enjoyed the single player significantly less that both previous installments, it was still a fun and diverse, if short play through that did a decent job wrapping up the series (with an unexpected and grim ending). The new enemies were artistically diverse (from predator-like stealth troopers to giant mechanical tigers), the weapons were fun and felt deadly and the level designs fantastic with some equally fantastic art design.

The multiplayer was also a lot of fun to spend some time with, with easy pick and up and play mechanics and some well designed maps making nearly any type of play (run and gun, long range) possible. Killzone 3 also added a perk like system similar to the killstreak system from the Call of Duty series, only this time with mechanical drones and futuristic gun turrets. It may have cribbed from CoD, but it took the basics, applied that to the already rock solid Killzone shooting mechanics, and made it a ton of fun to play. It was a simpler, sci fi themed CoD shooter, but that was just fine with me.

Bulletstorm- While everyone was talking about that "other" Epic Game that came out this year, I got my first person jollies with the early year release of Bulletstorm. A frantic shooter that combined all the elements of old school shooters (crazy, destructive weapons, enemies who charged straight at you, massive bosses, middle school humor) and combined that with some modern gee wiz visuals (the character models and massive, colorful environments look beautiful, a far departure from the browns and grays seen in modern shooters) easy and intuitive controls and a focus on the single player campaign over some tacked on multiplayer (it has a multiplayer mode, it just wasn't very good).

In the age of linear hallways, shooting gallery enemies and a strong focus on multiplayer gameplay, Bulletstorm provided a crass, crude and sadistically satisfying way to destroy enemies and get rewarded for doing it. The many ways to kill your foes was made even cooler with the addition of some cool weapons and even cooler gadgets (freeze time, kick enemies, grapple them and send them flying)

It's potty mouth protagonists may have come off as trying too hard, but some genuinely funny dialog and some of the most draw dropping action sequences seen this generation made this a game that stayed fresh in my mind long after it came out.

All that and it had a slide button. As in you could slide around the battlefield, straight into enemies, and send them flying back. Every game that allows you to shoot and slide has been awesome so far (Vanquish, Bulletstorm, Crysis 2) There needs to be more sliding in games. Sliding is the new take cover behind a pillar.

Crysis 2 - A controversial choice since many fans felt that it felt inferior to the original. Like my experience with Dragon Age II, this was my first time playing a title in the Crysis series so my experiences and expectations were limited to this game only.

Crysis 2 was a beautiful game, despite being linear (although nowhere near as linear as the CoD series), the massive scale of a war torn New York City with the brilliant option of keeping you on ground level so the buildings towered over you, gave an incredible sense of scale isolation. No civilians, no crowded streets, just you versus some angry aliens and an elite paramilitary force. Despite being billed as a PC series, the game looked remarkable on console and still was extremely playable with no signs of tearing, lag or other issues.

The gameplay was just as spectacular with your nanosuit and its two different modes (stealth, and strength)n provided a slew of options to take on a variety of enemies and environments. The weapons customization system was also an incredible change of pace then the vanilla weapons found in most FPS's. It was a little irritating that the infamous two weapon limit was still in place here, but the sheer variety of on-the-fly customization for weapons (scopes, silencers and laser sights could be attached at anytime for any occasion) more than made up for it.

If that wasn't enough, even the multiplayer was a lot fun to play with some well designed maps and the ability to use all the abilities of your nanosuit against your other foes. Crysis 2 also was the first FPS (to my knowledge) to use the dog tags of your fallen enemies as a points reward system. This was months before Modern Warfare 3 used this idea in their own game.

Crysis 2 was a ton of fun. Like Dragon Age, I plan on playing the previous installments one day and may have a vastly different opinion of the game, but as of now, taken as it is, Crysis 2 is a fantastic FPS adventure worth playing through.

Battlefield 3 - Next to Modern Warfare 3, this was probably the biggest FPS release of the year. Despite the hype and despite some disappointment with the game (single player and co-op were the textbook definition of mediocre) the multiplayer was a ton of fun to play under certain circumstances.

Playing with friends was the most ideal way to play of course is with friends. Communication is key in this game and your enjoyment will significantly drop if you either a.) refuse to communicate or b.) play with random players. This isn't run and gun, this is an FPS requiring you to use your brain just as much as your gun. Add in some great maps for all game types, vehicles and unlockable weapons and you have a shooter that keeps you coming back for more, and with the exception of Team Fortress 2, one of the best team based FPS's on the market.

Duke Nukem Forever - The choice that will probably make most people go "huh?", DNF ended up on many different lists as one for the worst games released in 2911, if not of all time. While nothing I have to say about the game can be considered good, the fact that this game proved to be a train wreck in motion, the gaming equal of a b movie. A game that took design choices from the mid 90's and modern games, mixed them together and got something awful tasting out of it. The character himself was also and awful parody of everything crude and cheesy of the 90's. His macho bravado, general disregard towards women of all sorts (including making a rape joke during the most inappropriate time, but then again is there ever an appropriate time to make a rape joke?), and sheer focus on simply kicking ass, damn to those who get in his way.

We're not even to the graphics yet, which are average to poor at best, the clunky two weapon limit woefully out of place in a old school shooter, the propitiously long load times and laggy multiplayer.

However despite all of these flaws, a part of me still enjoyed this game in some incredibly perverse way. The sheer awfulness of it was enough to keep me playing until the end. Despite the flaws there was a lot of enjoyment I took out of the levels and environments. The levels actually were fun to navigate in and usually had some gimmick that made it stand out from most FPS levels (shrinking, vehicle levels). Everything else though, was mediocre to awful.

DNF isn't my favorite FPS of the year, it won't win any awards for quality, but it still was a game worth mentioning and deserving to be on this list. It's an example of too many hands spoiling the broth, switching between teams and staff will most likely equal something disjointed and that sometimes, you simply cannot go back to your glory days.

DNF is a giant, fiery, horrible car crash. However, just like a car crash, we find it impossible to not stare at its destructive spectacle lying in front of us. And out of morbid prevision and curiosity, we cannot look away.

That's all for now folks, the most notable shooters of 2011. Check in next time as this blog continues the remaining most notable of 2011!