I was asked what my gripes were with Skyim a while ago. Here's what I said,

Well, for one, the fact that they decided to exclude roads from the maps on Skyrim is very annoying, and forces me to miss out on half the game. Most caves, houses, and other locations are built along the roads in Skyrim, but I never use them because there's no way of telling where the roads go, besides the signs which are placed so intermittently, they're almost unusable. The fact that they had roads on the map in Oblivion, but not in Skyrim, makes me curious as to why the excluded it.

Also, in general, the game is very gray and physically painful to look at. There have been many times where my eyes sort of glaze over as I play the game, and I suddenly realize that I've been staring at a grey mass for the past minute or two. Bethesda seems to have a history of this (as that's how Fallout 3 and New Vegas seem to look), but, again, this issue pains me more because Oblivion had a much larger color pallet, and Skyrim, for some reason, does not. I've been told that this makes the game seem more serious, and although that may be true, I think that could have easily been done without making the game just so... dark.

While most will disagree with me on this one, I kind of miss having to repair my items. I do think the way it worked in Oblivion was stupid, but, without it, I feel no connection to my weapons, otherwise. Improving weapons seems to have been implemented to replace this, but because you can only improve weapons depending on your skill level, it really only happens once or twice, and requires a very small amount of resources to do so. In my opinion, I would have liked to see it work more like in Fallout, where you can repair certain weapons by having other weapons of its type. This is also skill-based, but you can still repair weapons when they become close to breaking, no matter how low your skill is.

Additionally, the textures (originally) were pretty low quality, in my taste. The kind where, up close, they're terribly pixilated (although the HD texture pack they released seems to have fixed that, now), but, far away, they look fine. Also, the game uses up a lot of RAM sometimes (normally when in large environments). Because Skyrim is a 32-bit program, it's limited to only using 4 GBs (I have 8 GBs), meaning, after it reaches that limit, the game starts to slow up. Hopefully this is just a minor bug that will be fixed soon.

Again, these are pretty minor gripes, but, still, add them all up, and it makes the game a pain to play, sometimes. Like I said however, I really do like the game and suggest it to anyone who's considering it, because it's very well put together. I'm just annoyed that many people seem to overlook the many flaws it has for reasons I've previously stated.

Game of the Year 2011

I've been going on and on about this just about every day, so, I figured I'd just toss out my thoughts here, and not bug everyone about it like I have been. (Sorry, Josh.) So, I'm going to list all of the games that either I or others would consider Game of the Year, and talk about each of them. So, here goes. (Oh, and, obvious spoiler alert.)

Portal 2
I loved Portal. It was the first real PC game I ever played, and probably a good one to start on. It was just so... different, and I'm a big fan of black comedy. So, when Portal 2 came out, I was very excited. I was one of the people that did both ARGs, and, thanks to my help, I helped Portal 2 launch two hours early. The night that I played it for the first time (of course, as soon as it had released), I was very, very excited. The opening scene made it that much more awesome. So, needless to say, I might be a bit biased when it comes to Portal 2.

The plot was really good, especially the underground '50s-esque puzzles. I loved the dynamic music, which I've seen much more games start using recently. The characters and overall writing in general was fantastic as always, so, that's a huge plus. I could go on and on about what I loved about it, but, essentially, when it comes down to it, single player was almost perfect. The only things I didn't like was the absence of the Borealis (or any Half-Life tie-ins), and the ending. Having recently beat Episode 2 before Portal 2 came out, I was really expecting at least some sort of hint at the game's relationship, but, instead, all I got was really just an easter egg that was like, "This ship exists!". Not really all that interesting.

The finale was very energizing, and I loved how you ended up going to the moon (it just fit the game really well), but I didn't really like how you ended up being released. I feel like, now, any sequel to Portal will be more of a spin-off, unless they have Chell run around outside of the lab (although, that would change the game dramatically). Also, the end song wasn't as good as Still Alive, but, honestly, how can you live up to that kind of expectation?

Those minor things pale in comparison to co-op's flaws, however. Ultimately, co-op was fun, but just very stale. After you complete the campaign, there's really no reason to play anymore, and the campaign only lasts a couple hours. Plus, the "story" was pretty dull. Also, P-Body.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution
I had never heard of Deus Ex, or its sequels, until I saw there was a TF2 promotion for the game (classy, right?). But, when I saw the trailer, I knew the game would be fun, right off the bat. Unfortunately, that's not how I felt when I actually bought it.

Deus Ex's biggest feature is the plot. It's very original, and opens itself up to tons of gameplay options. The leveling up in the game just makes sense, which is neat, because, otherwise, that kind of thing is hard to justify plot-wise. The gameplay itself is also fun. I love sneaky kinds of games, and Deus Ex is able to pull it off very well.

Unfortunately, that's where the pros stop. The game forces you to choose whether or not you'll play as one who just rushes in and kills everyone, or one who sneaks around. However, if you sneak around, and you get caught, you're basically screwed, which really sucks when you get into the longer missions and you have to start over from the beginning. Also, while the color scheme of the game looks really cool, the textures (for the PC, at least) are terrible. And, this is coming from someone who can run it on highest settings. People just look so plasticy, and looking out into the horizon, you can easily see that... there is no horizon. It's just a wall that's painted to look like a city. I feel like I'm play Truman Show: The Game.

Eventually, I just quit playing, because I could stand constantly being beat up after sneaking around for an hour. The game's really good, but it's that one major flaw that makes it almost unplayable.

L.A. Noire
When I first saw L.A. Noire, I said to myself, "I want this game." But, then I saw it was console only, so I became sad. Then they made a PC port. I was happy. Then it was on sale for $11 during Christmas. I was elated. Overall, L.A. Noire is a very, very underrated game, that deserves much more praise than it got.

L. A. Noire differs from most mystery games in that it's actually good. From the mystery games I've played, most of them have about four cases, they're all stupid, and they all hold your hand the whole time. Team Bondi is able to essentially recreate all of Los Angeles, and toss cases all throughout the city, all of which are different (yes, they are), and yet fulfilling at the same time. To keep things from being monotonous, they have you move up (from playing in Traffic, to Homicide, to Vice, etc.), and also have little mini-missions (like random shoot-outs and hostage situations), which really help make the game something you won't mind coming back to.

Overall, the game is just really huge, and really well put together, except for the fact that the PC port is just awful. Well, not awful, but, very flawed. There's plenty of texture and model popping, and the menus and everything could use a little more tweaking to work well on PC. Plus, the car AI sucks. They all just try to migrate to the right lane, and people just jump right in front of your car, instead of getting out of your way. It's annoying. But, other than that, L.A. Noire is awesome.

Minecraft
I love Minecraft. It's one of the few games I've played more than a couple months. Multiplayer just works so well, and gives it so much longevity. It's very unique, and also full of features. It's also one of the first really successful indie games, and I hope that there's more to come after it. Minecraft is so simple, but, as you get into it, it's really in depth... I dunno, I can't explain the game very well. Just go buy it.

Terraria
Meh.

Batman: Arkham City
I got this game for free with my video card. I had heard that Arkham Asylum was a good game, but didn't ever really consider buy it or Arkham City. This was a mistake. Arkham City, along with L.A. Noire, is very overlooked. I'm not sure what else was carried over from Arkham Asylum, but, it's a very good game, nonetheless. The controls are very fluid; They just work, and that's a very nice aspect of the game. It's difficult, but easy, at the same time. There's plenty to do, and the plot seems relativity long. The biggest flaw of the game is that the plot is pretty stupid. (Who thought it would be a good idea to round up all the criminals in the city and just toss them altogether, just to see what happens? Am I missing something?) Also, the color theme is too... grey. I haven't played the game enough to say much else, but I still highly suggest it to anyone who's considering it.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Oh, Skyrim. I originally saw the game and said, "Okay." I had bought Oblivion months before, played it for a bit, then said, "Eww, fantasy", and quit. I hate fantasy. But, with games like The Elder Scrolls, I decided to push past it, because the games are pretty good. When Skyrim came out, I started playing Oblivion more, because I was like, "Maybe I should see what this is all about." Needless to say, I loved Oblivion, and I could see why people liked Skyrim. So, I bought it when it was on sale on Steam. I liked it, too.

Unfortunately, for me, Skyrim did not live up to the potential I thought it would. Skyrim is huge. Skyrim is fun. Skyrim is awesome. Don't get me wrong; I love this game. But, Skyrim also has a lot of issues that people tend to overlook. The plot(s) suck(s), game is grey, THERE ARE NO ROADS ON THE MAP, and I personally kinda miss repairing weapons. I don't really want to rant on about Skyrim (unless asked), but, ultimately, I feel like Oblivion is a better game.

But, Skyrim also has tons of fun parts too. I can't really name them all, because the game is so big, but, there's plenty to do, and a lot more to offer. It's certainly not a terrible game. It's a very great game. But, it gets more praise than it deserves.

So, Mark, what's your GAME OF THE YEAR!?
I dunno. I'm not one to pick favorites. I can say that Terraria and Deus Ex: HR certainly don't meet my GotY expectations, and I haven't played Arkham City enough to say it's that good either. Overall, I guess I would say it's probably Portal 2, but that's only because I've played Minecraft so much, it doesn't seem new to me. I dunno. All of these games are really good, so you should go buy them and see for yourself whether you like them or not. Let me know if you've got any comments on what I have to say; I'd be happy to discuss any of my opinions with you.