Greatness Achieved

Top Ten Games of 2011

This list was incredibly hard to order, but here we go:

1. Zelda Skyward Sword
2. Portal 2
3. Bastion
4. Battlefield 3
5. Star Wars The Old Republic
6. Dead Space 2
7. Batman Arkham City
8. Deus Ex Human Revolution
9. Sonic Generations
10. Crysis 2

• If you haven’t played Zelda yet, find a way to do so. Completely changes the way you think about regular enemy combat, puzzles, and exploration. 
• Portal 2 made me laugh the most this year, and had a great story arc. 
• Bastion came out of nowhere and is a wonderful experience for $15 (less on sale).
• Battlefield 3 is the reason I built a computer in June and absolutely lives up the hype.
• SWTOR is part Mass Effect, part KOTOR, part WoW and somehow it all works.
• Dead Space 2 built on everything the first game did right but became less redundant and more refined somewhere along the way. Very solid series.
• Haven’t spent too much time with Deus Ex, but I already love what I see and can tell it’s right in my wheelhouse.
• Loved Arkham City, but didn’t think it was as good as Arkham Asylum. 
• Sonic Generations is the best Sonic game since SA2 or S3&K, depending on your perspective.
• Crysis 2 has a great and lengthy campaign that made me reaching for my suit powers once I had moved onto other shooters.

Biggest mistake of my life: not being in Asbury Park last night

For fuck’s sake look at this setlist. 

Great Expectations
Old White Lincoln
The Diamond Church Street Choir
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Wooderson
The ‘59 Sound
We Came to Dance
The Patient Ferris Wheel
Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?
The Spirit of Jazz
Boomboxes and Dictionaries
Angry Johnny And The Radio
Miles Davis and the Cool
Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts
Film Noir
Casanova, Baby!
State of Love and Trust
(Pearl Jam cover)
Señor and the Queen
American Slang
(with Bruce Springsteen)
The Queen of Lower Chelsea
Here’s Looking at You, Kid
The Backseat
Encore:
Our Fathers Sons
The Navesink Banks
1930
She Loves You
Baba O’Riley