The Button Presser

This year started off strong with titles like Dead Space 2, Portal 2, and L.A. Noire, contained a drought of games in the summer except for the great XBLA titles, and finished strong in the fall with Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3, Skyrim, Assassin's Creed, Saints Row: The Third, Batman Arkham City, and many, many more.

This year was all about sequels, indie hits, and a small amount of original titles, plus the Return of Rayman and a new dashboard for Xbox 360, and more details of the next consoles set to arrive in the next few years.

Call of Duty Shattered records once again, but has some good competition in the EA shooter Battlefield 3.

2011 was full of great games and many that I still want to play. In my opinion, here are the games that I saw as the best:












Taking everything they've done with the previous two games in this series, Naughty Dog has crafted an amazing game that has successfully pleased the critics and their die hard fans. A recent update to the shooting was made based solely on player's feedback, showing that Naughty Dog cares about their fans and consumers. With many epic scenes and set pieces, Uncharted 3 shows how much better sequels can get.


Sucker Punch crafted a new hero with Cole Mcgrath, and changed him a bit until many voiced their opinions about his new look. After making him more like the original Cole, Sucker Punch finished and released inFamous 2 and gave players more of the combat that made the original game so fun as well as new powers for Cole to use. Also included was a mission creator so players could make their own types of minigames to create and share.











Epic Games concluded the Gears Trilogy in a good way, one that satisfied fans and also set up a great multiplayer system to ensure players would be coming back long after the credits had rolled. With Beast, Horde, Arcade mode, and multiplayer, Gears of War 3 is the complete package and continues to entertain with it's DLC arrivals. A must have for Xbox players.


Bungie bid farewell to Halo, and Microsoft and 343 Industries are now in charge of the popular franchise. During E3 of this year, we were shown a glimpse of the future with Halo 4, but also a nice surprise with Halo Anniversary. With the ability to switch between old and new visuals, new secrets with the terminals, skulls to change Halo CE's gameplay, and maps remade in the Halo Reach engine, Anniversary has plenty of gaming to do and all for $39. As we wait for Halo 4, why not see how it all began?










"Kid's trying to think of words that truly explain how awesome Bastion is. The narration in the game really impressed him, as well as the action and rpg elements. Can't forget the visuals as well, so colorful and distinct. Kid says everyone must play Bastion, for it was the best downloadable game of 2011."

Thanks Mr. Narrator! Bastion truly was the best arcade and downloadable game I played. Supergiant games made a awesome game.


Crysis 2 was a great game, but I never got to play the original, so when it came to Games on Demand for $20, I just had to check it out. The story is pretty good, but the combat and visuals are what really stand out in this game. With a more open environment to play in like Far Cry, Crysis allows you to play in a few different ways. If you don't have a high-end PC, you can finally run Crysis with a simple download on your console.










Once you're done with the brief introduction to Skyrim, you're free to do whatever you want. You could explore the land, complete quests, or join a guild and experience a great plotline. No matter what you do, you'll have hours upon hours of fun. Skyrim has so much gameplay in it's one disc. If you want plenty of content and more for $60, Skyrim is your best bet.


For $20 you could once again play through this Capcom classic. It didn't really matter how times you've played through it, Resident Evil 4 offers a high amount of replayability and allows you to keep all your weapons and outfits into the next playthrough. RE4 HD also includes Mercenaries, Separate Ways and Assignment Ada, giving you more to do after you experience the story.











Deus Ex: Invisible war was still fun to play, but it changed much of what the original game established. Human Revolution is nowhere near the non-linearity of the first two games, but it does still offer you a chance to explore. What is does best though is get you attached to the main character Adam Jensen as he strives to protect those he cares about while understanding the changes he must face when he gets augmented. With great action, visual style and music, Human Revolution really immersed you into the game. It may have came years after the previous versions, but you can how the time was spent to improve what people loved.


Gears 3 finally added four player co-op, something players have always wanted, as well as making multiplayer a bit more approachable. While I still get killed left and right, it's nice to know that I'll still be progressing my stats for medals and experience. Gears 3 seems for like a game for hardcore and casual players so that everyone can have a good time no matter what mode they play in.











As fun as Portal is by yourself, it's even funner with a friend. With the ability to solve puzzles with two awesome characters in Atlas & P-Body, you also got to be watched and ridiculed by GLaDOS. Who wouldn't want that in a co-op game?


An open world game with Zombies, 4 players co-op, the ability to give items was something that players couldn't pass up. Dead Island is better with friends, and it proved to be a great game. It didn't recreate the tone of the trailer, but it did prove that a new zombie co-op game could compete with the big dogs like Resident Evil 5 and Left 4 Dead.


A game about self-respect and infidelity that had interesting gameplay, Catherine was one that didn't sell too well, but those that played it were happy that they did.


Demos that I have really enjoyed usually do a few things: Get me more interested in the game, provide a chance to see how it plays, and makes me want to play the full version.

Rayman Origins demo successfully did all these things.

It not only provides fun gameplay for a younger audience, it also give older and core gamers a challenging new platformer. Rayman has always been popular, and I hope for people will check out this new game. The demo really made me more interested, so try it out and maybe the full version will become apart of your collection.


Dark Souls doesn't surprise you with it's difficulty. From the beginning, you know you're in for a hard time, but this is part of the game's charm. If you've played Demon Souls, you'll be better prepared, but this game is far from a walk in the park. Those who complain about newer games being too easy should definitely try out Dark Souls.



An achievement so hard, I'm pretty sure no one has even done it yet. Not only do you have to get to level 100, you also have to gain Onyx medals for pretty much everything there is to do in gears. Seriously 3.0 isn't about kills anymore, it's about being the best and testing your skills as a COG.




I'll try not to spoil this, but the ending part of Portal 2 is one of the coolest gaming moments ever. This was my reaction:

"What the? Can I do that? Really? Whoa!! Wow! How is that...Man Valve is awesome!!"











This was an extremely tough choice for me. 2011 had so many high quality games, but Bethesda's latest game is incredibly good. With so much to do and see, and the ability to level up skills by simply performing them, you're given freedom like no other game can offer. Skyrim proves singleplayer games are not dead and will never be.


Arkham Asylum was a previous game of the year, and Arkham City is a top quality game as well. It tweaked the great combat, added more characters from the Batman lore, and introduced a bigger environment to play in. Playing as Catwoman was fun, but being Batman is was makes this game so good. You truly become batman for about 10+ hours and Rocksteady has officially broken the sucky batman game curse.





Once again these are the awards and games I have chosen. Many games of 2011 deserve a look and although I didn't put them all on here, there are plenty out there other than the ones I included. 2011 was a huge year for games and 2012 should be awesome as well. Congrats to the Developers and Publishers for having their games released, Happy Holidays, and Here's to a great year of gaming in 2012!!!

Behind the amazing visuals of Heavy Rain is a story that puts you in control of the action of protagonists with something to lose and gain as their paths cross throughout the title. Not a typical game to say the least, but Heavy Rain was an experience that made you the key of a movie-quality adventure. It was also recently updated to support the PlayStation Move, so you can feel like you're part of the story even further as you attempt to catch the Origami Killer.


God of War games have never been a let down, and its PS3 debut was backed with some amazing visuals to accompany the always fluid combat in the game. Kratos was back and angrier than ever.














Alan Wake puts you in the middle of a nightmare created by the title character. Mr. Wake has a bad case of writer’s block, and his wife decides to take him on a vacation to Bright Falls to help him get writing again. Built like an episodic television series, each part of the game left you wanting more, as you delved deeper into the game's mysteries.


Bungie’s final Halo game was a triumph in both sales and quality, and a great way for them to end a 10 year saga of Halo content. Showing the beginnings of humanity’s struggle against the covenant and featuring an all Spartan squad was really neat, as well as the tweaks to the ever popular multiplayer component of Halo. from the early beta provided a experience that will be played for years.

















Limbo gives you a simple look and simple task, but simple is the last thing I would use to describe how the game made me fell in the end. Its dark and twisted world featured engaging puzzles and platforming action, and any failures to complete them would result in the gruesome death of small boy just looking for his sister. From the ambient sounds to the minimal amount of music, Limbo will provide an experience that will stick with you for quite some time.


Serving as a way to introduce players to Chuck Greene and provide some backstory for Dead Rising 2, Case Zero asks for $5 and gives a few hours of gameplay in exchange, making it a cool way to learn the mechanics of DR2. Better than a demo could, Case Zero got me more excited for Dead Rising 2 than I already was, and was a great way to help ease the wait for the main sequel.












With Mass Effect 2 launched and in the hands of gamers, Bioware still found time to support their Fantasy-RPG title released last year with a slew of DLC that added hours to the already plentiful game.


With modes to play like Campaign, Firefight, Forge and Multiplayer, Halo Reach has it all to keep you entertained. Tired of the same maps over and over? Hop onto forge world with friends and create your own using a nice collection of items. With one map pack already available and more to come, you’ll have plenty of reasons to go back to Reach.














After Infinity Ward wowed players with Modern Warfare, Treyarch decided to visit the WWII era once again with World at War. It played fine and multiplayer was fun, but it just didn't have the same magic that COD4 did. Fast forward to now, Black Ops went forward with the timeline and delivered a great experience that millions have been enjoying since it launched last month. Once again, Kudos to Treyarch.


The original Dead Rising is a great game, but only those who could get around the crazy elements like a strict time-frame and less than helpful A.I survivors. Escorting civilians was also a nightmare, and missing a scoop because you were trying to keep people alive was not very fun. It was almost an acquired taste, but with Dead Rising 2 anyone could have fun and enjoy a game with better A.I and more unique ways to take out the undead. Throwing in co-op helped as well, and made Dead Rising 2 even more fun than it already was when playing solo.














Killing hordes of Zombies by yourself if fun. Killing hordes of Zombies with a friend is even better, and that’s what Dead Rising 2 offered up. With drop in co-op, you could be transported into a friend’s game and help them discover the truth in a fairly quick process.


You can now control your own camera and bring your own hero and dog into a friend’s world. Fable III finally got co-op right. Lionhead improved on what was just a neat little addition in Fable II, and fleshed out co-op even more in the third game. I don’t think we've seen the end of Fable games, so let’s hope the next one will improve upon co-op even more.









Man this game.

It’s pretty out there, but I really enjoyed playing it. It was $20, contained 20+ hours of content, and had a surprisingly great story to boot. The gameplay was a bad Resident Evil/ Silent Hill/ GTA type, but you got through that just to watch Francis ‘Call Me York’ Morgan interact with a town experiencing some brutal murders. Put this one on your Christmas list and you’ll see what the fuss is about with York and the many interesting characters of Greenvale.





When Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow was released, I wondered how in the heck Ubisoft would create a multiplayer mode for a stealth game, and they answered by delivering one of the best online experiences on consoles that helped put Xbox Live on the map. Prior to AC: Brotherhood's release, I wondered the same thing, but Ubisoft once again created a experience that embodies the gameplay from campaign, while creating something new and fresh for players to experience online.

It's so cool to have a target you're supposed to take out while avoiding someone on trail and thanks to the crowd composed of multiplayer models, meaning anyone out there could be coming for you. It requires patience and stealth, and is a ton of fun to play.





The short, yet sweet demo for Enslaved was enough to get my attention for the full release. From the small taste of the combat to the simple platforming, the Enslaved demo was a great way to get people excited for the game which went on to become a sleeper hit.




It may look fun and cute, but don't let its looks fool you: Super Meat Boy is freakin' hard! The levels can be completed in a few minutes and require precise timing to get through, meaning you'll most likely be completing them over and over again. Or maybe that's just me! There are no checkpoints and if you mess up, it's back to the start of a level. Super Meat Boy is fun and infuriating!






This achievement required you to complete Prison Break without ever being seen during the stealth sections. Not too bad, but this game was about 80% stealth, so it was a major deal when you got caught. The rest of the achievements on this game were pretty easy to obtain, but I didn’t want to go back through and try for this one since the game isn’t that great to begin with.







Your crew was ready. Your ship was upgraded (Hopefully!). What was said by many to be impossible, Shephard and his crew made it look easy. This epic sequence showed that Bioware is one of the best in gaming to deliver experiences that feel like great action movies, but still having you in control is why they succeed so well.

















Red Dead Redemption has plenty of content to keep you busy for weeks, and Rockstar once again proved that they are the best at delivering Open-World games. Multiplayer in Red Dead was another strong point that gave you and friends the chance to explore the west as you took out gangs, unlocked new weapons, and fought against each other in the competitive modes. Rockstar may only release a few games each year, but they always deliver and keep millions of players occupied.


Mass Effect 2 proves that in the gaming world sequels can be better than the original installment of a franchise. I personally believe the ME2 was a much better game than Mass Effect, as it provided a great storyline that could be enhanced with your save data, as well as tight controls and gameplay that rival even the best of shooters out there. With a steady stream of DLC available, you could play this game for months and not lose interest. Well done Bioware!





Once again these are the awards and games I have chosen. Many games of 2010 deserve a look and although I didn't put them all, there are plenty out there other than the ones I included. Congrats to the Developers and Publishers for a great year in Gaming, and a Congrats to all the awesome gamers like you. Happy Holidays and Here's to a great year of gaming in 2011!!!