
It goes without saying that there aren’t enough hours in the day, days in the week, or weeks in the year to fit in all the gaming we’d like (or need, for that matter) to do. Between other forms of entertainment jockeying for your time (to say nothing of the demands of friends, family, work and/or school) it’s just not possible to enjoy every game you want to play in a given year.
So what is a gamer to do? Simple! Roll those unplayed games over onto 2011′s pile and convince yourself into thinking that you can “catch up” because there won’t be as many games worth playing in the coming year.
Yeah, we know. Self-delusion is kind of a pain like that. Still, here’s what the staff of Crush! Frag! Destroy! will finally be getting around to playing next year, long after the rest of you guys have already stopped talking about them.
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Sage:
- Split Second - Because Blur ate my appetite for arcade racers this year.
- Final Fantasy XIII - I feel totally obligated to play this, even though I have no desire to see anything resembling a JRPG on my TV.
- Alpha Protocol - Rob T.’s review (and a Steam sale) convinced me to give this one a go. Let’s face it, I’ll take anything that resembles Mass Effect 2‘s formula in any way.
- Civilization V - Two reasons I held off on this: 1)No money, 2) I’d be a dead person if I played this game during the school year. January can’t come soon enough.
- Rock Band 3 - Since I don’t live in the same town as my bandmates in “Juice 4 Chewbacca,” I haven’t gotten a chance to play RB3 yet. Can’t wait to shred, though!
Dustin:
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 - I’ve dipped my toes into this game, and was blown away by its innovation, but now I’m ready to give my first love another bonus night. After 25 years, Mario still rocks the house.
- Enslaved: Odyssey To The West - This game unfortunately hit while I was at the height of my Reach obsession, but I’m still totally interested in checking it out.
- World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - I’ll take another trip to Azeroth… once I clear my plate of other games I’ve been neglecting.
Nate:
- Bayonetta – I should really just buy it right now, and save myself the embarrassment of including it on my unplayed list.
- Final Fantasy XIII – Also a likely candidate for the 2012 list…
- Metro 2033 – Half-Life meets S.T.A.L.K.E.R.? Sign me up (again).
- Alan Wake – Even with all the exposure I’ve had to it already, something about Mr. Wake’s dark, twisty world still intrigues me.
- Rock Band 3 – In all honesty, I’m pretty freakin’ good at Rock Band. I may wind up breaking my “no more buying rhythm games” rule (or at least bending it).
Rob R.:
- Alan Wake - I wanted to get this game day one, but due to a lack of funds I had to wait. Since then, other games have come into the picture and now it’s more a matter of not having the time. Dear lord do I still want to play it, though.
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta - I loved Chains of Olympus. Loved it. That little PSP game is actually my favorite in the entire God of War series, believe it or not. So it should be pretty obvious that I have high hopes for this one, too. It just came out at a bad time for me, and other games had to come first.
- Metro 2033 - This was another game I wanted to get my hands on the moment it hit store shelves. The idea of having your ammo and currency being the same thing is more than enough to hold my interest. Unfortunately it’s in the same situation as Mr. Wake.
- Valkyria Chronicles II - I wanted it, I still want it and Nate managed to snag our review copy. Which means it’ll have to wait. Chances are by the time I get around to playing it, the third game will have already come out.
- Fallout: New Vegas - I really enjoyed Fallout 3, and once I realized New Vegas wasn’t just a glorified expansion pack I was more than willing to jump on it. Then it came out and was apparently more broken than Peter Molyneux’s promises. I hear it’s been patched a lot since then, which is great, but now it’ll have to wait until after the holidays are over.
Rob T.:
- Final Fantasy XIII - Despite all the crap it got, I’m still keen to check this one out. Thank goodness I can go in already armed with the knowledge that it doesn’t get “better” until around hour 30 or so.
- God of War III - I was underwhelmed by God of War II, but as I watched the credits roll, I was already anticipating what was going to come in the final chapter of the trilogy. And then… I promptly never got around to picking it up when it released. Also, part of the problem is my desire to go back and play through the first two again in HD, but I still don’t have the God of War Collection. Meh.
- 3D Dot Game Heroes - I still want to play this. Like, badly. To paraphrase self-proclaimed ghetto gamer Ballsrog, I wanna fight that dragon and bring my childhood to life.
- StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - I loved the original, which pretty much served as both my entry to serious PC gaming as well as a gateway drug to RTSes in general. I was really excited for this to be finally coming… but never picked it up. Having it be $60 wasn’t a great motivator either.
- Fallout: New Vegas - I sunk a LOT of hours into Fallout 3 and that was without having played any of the DLC. I was disappointed about the apparent bug-riddled nature of New Vegas, but I’m holding out hope my experience won’t be too disappointing.
John:
- Dragon Age: Origins - I loves me some Mass Effect, but I never gave Dragon Age a chance. With the sequel mere weeks away, now seems like a fine time to see what I’ve been missing.
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 - 80% of my experience with the original Galaxy was watching my friend beat it. Maybe this time around I’ll redeem myself. Or maybe I’ll just watch him beat this one, too.
Beki:
- World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - I played all of WotLK, but decided not to buy Cata until January, mainly because I didn’t want it to consume my life while I had so much to do. I played beta though, and I’m desperate to play a top-hatted Worgen.
- Enslaved: Odyssey To The West - I played the demo on XBL. I totally love the art style, and the mythology it’s based on. This’ll be one of the first I play in 2011.
- Darksiders - My friends say it’s rubbish, but I’m far too tempted by the idea of the Four Horsemen, and I’m all for some good action/adventure with some puzzles thrown in. Didn’t buy it at the time because it was this, or Bayonetta — and Bayonetta is sexier.
- Heavy Rain - Don’t ask me why I haven’t played this, I’m not sure. I saw it at Eurogamer last year, and have wanted it since then, but for some reason it passed under my radar. The technology is breathtaking enough, but crime/mystery/film noir are my guilty pleasures.
Hayley:
- Epic Mickey - The one game from 2010 I want to play that I’ll end up missing. Aside from an N64 era camera (that means awkward) everything I hear about it is positive. I’ve been playing Warren Spector’s games since he worked on the Ultima series, so I’m not about to stop now!
- Bayonetta - With the exception of Devil May Cry, I don’t really play games like this. I am curious about it though, so I’ll be giving this a shot eventually. Plus, it looks completely bonkers, which is always something good.
- God of War III - Sometime in 2011 I’ll finish God of War II — then I can get to the third one. But I have to face it, I really didn’t like the first game, which is how my progress stalled. I hear 2 and 3 are much better than the first one, so I plan to continue… then I’ll know if I agree with the love these games get.
Scott:
- Red Dead Redemption - I just picked this up with some Christmas gift cards, and I can’t wait to really sink my teeth in. While the GTA games have never really appealed to me, all I hear are positive remarks for Red Dead, even from those who share my feelings about GTA. Plus, the Western theme is just so enticing, it would be a crime for me NOT to play this game.
- Limbo - Unfortunately, Limbo was released during the brief period where I was between an apartment and my house, which left me in my mom’s basement with very limited internet access. So I watched from the cold, damp basement as friends and colleagues boasted how great Limbo was. Why I haven’t downloaded it yet is beyond me, but it is one of the first games I really plan on tackling this year.
- Dance Central - I can’t dance. Not one bit. I have no interest in dancing in public places. Yet, something about Dance Central calls to me. It could be that I haven’t tried Kinect yet, even though the technology is fascinating to me, and Dance Central seems to be the game to play to really enjoy it and see what it can do. Either way, I hope to check this out the minute I can find/afford Kinect.
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And now that we’ve bared our shame to all of you, we ask that you do the same in turn. What games did you miss this year that you’re going to dig into in 2011? Hit the comments and share your own lists with us. And try not to procrastinate next year, okay? You can only roll these things over so many times, people!




I’m with quite a few of you on the FFXIII train. My expectations are so low for it by now that I’ll probably end up loving it! xD
Rob T – 3D Dot Game Heroes is also in my pile for 2011. I played through the first dungeon and loved it, but then for no reason I can think of, I jumped to something else. Anywho, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, eh!
3D Dot Game Heroes is a great game. Maybe even GREAT. For some reason (ok, I join a huge pile of gamers here) I stalled during the fire dungeon. Not sure what it is about that place that weeds us out =P
My issue with 3D Dot Game Heroes was that the dungeons all seemed incredibly bland. And they all looked exactly the same aside from some environmental hazards.
I suppose I’m just bitter that the subterranean environments didn’t have the same whimsical, colorful vibrance as the surface world. :/