Learning from 2011 - What not to do.

2011 brought us many great games, but it also brought us a few flops. I won’t focus on the minor games that rated poorly, but instead, two games that I had high expectations for that could have been so much better. I was a huge fan of both, and somewhere along the developing stages the ball was dropped or thrown into a whole different court.

Dragonage 2:


I can’t describe how much I enjoyed the original Dragonage. It had a solid story, great character development, and game play that forced you to think before you acted. It had a close relation to Baldur’s Gate’s style of play with its pausing and micro managing. The game was, or could be, very difficult. For those who wanted to get as close to a Dungeon and Dragons rulebook as possible, an increased difficulty setting was available. I may raise some brows in saying this, but Dragonage seemed to be crafted for the more skilled PC players over hack and slash console players. The entire Dragonage journey was one of the best experiences I had in quite a while upon its release. Then in March of 2011, Dragonage II came out.


Upon DAII’s release, I was incredibly pumped. I wanted to continue my story, and from the previews, the game seemed to be set at a faster pace than the original. I’m all for changes, but after the eye candy wore off, I couldn’t help but feel as if I were playing God of War or some other button mashing hack and slash. The game definitely moved a lot faster, but that wasn’t what I wanted to get into. I enjoyed taking my time in my tactics, and that seemed to be stripped from me in order to cater to console players. Most of my time spent playing was me mashing my hotkeys to perform the overly gory fatalities.


The game is far from a total failure. It looks absolutely amazing when set to high detail. The new abilities, while overly used, look fantastic as well. A lot of detail went into special attacks and character detail. The low points, however, seem to outweigh the good. The beginning of the game stretches out for so long that you’ll wonder if you’ll ever see the lady you’ve been searching for. After a period of time, I just couldn’t find the patience to continue onward. I completed too many “Slay the Bandit” quests and had too many mishaps where my companions couldn’t manage to do what I told them. Dragon Age II is now on the back burner while I play more enjoyable games. I do foresee myself finishing this game off, but it will have to wait until I have some spare time to kill. That spare time will probably open up after I play through Dragonage for the third time.


Duke Nukem Forever:


Twelve years... twelve very long years. When you have a fan base that is willing to follow you around for twelve years, you know you’ve got something special on your hands. Your goal is to avoid majorly screwing it up. That is exactly what happens to Duke Nukem, a star in his own dirty way, but he has fallen. Duke Nukem Forever is a prime example of what happens when you release a game just to release it. It was almost as if no thought went into the creation of this game. Instead, random obscenities and stale game play are what we got. If I had to guess, Duke Nukem Forever was aiming at staying in its own badass world, but it seemed as if 3D Realms and Gearbox forgot what Duke was all about.

Right off the bat, I felt as if I were in a F.E.A.R made world, just with the lights on. The F.E.A.R world did look pretty awesome back in 2005, but I was hoping for more in 2011. The play style was mediocre at best and at times monsters felt very Serious Sam-like. I felt tricked out of $50. I bought something listed as new but really ended up with mix between 2003 and 2005. Did the developers not feel the same way?


Shooting things within DNF is fun to a certain point. In an attempt to spice things up, the game features several mini games. The games come off more like an updated Space Invaders, Star Raider, or Mario Kart. I was surprised there wasn’t a level that forced Duke to jump over barrels and defeat a giant monkey alien at the end. Like many other people, I wanted this game to be great. Woe is me.


Much like Dragonage 2, I stopped half way into this game. There just wasn’t enough to hold my attention. At times, the game did shine through. I really enjoyed how most of Duke’s enemies stayed the same. The ability to only carry two weapons was interesting enough. It felt somewhat forced, though, but it allowed players to get a feel for each weapon. Duke’s attitude is pretty much the same, and his interactions can be quite comical at times. At some points, though, those dirty remarks seem forced as well.


Some time ago, I skimmed over an article of Duke’s failure. He ended up in the bargain bin for around $5. The developers chimed in and said that they would be releasing yet another Duke Nukem game. There was promise of a much more polished game without all of the faults they ended up giving us in Duke Nukem Forever. My only hope is that certain bosses turn out to be the developers of Duke Nukem Forever. I wouldn’t mind giving them a swift kick in the ass with Duke’s combat boot.

So for all the developers that are preparing to release their product in 2012, think before you act. Is that product 100% complete or did you skim over some content and drop the ball in certain areas? If that game you have is a sequel, it sure as hell better match up with the original. Please don't give us some half ass game just to rake in a few bucks.