Top 10 Most Played Games of 2011

15Jan12

2012 is here and plenty of new games will come with it but, since I am a bored soul I thought I would share with you my 10 most played games of 2011 and why I played them so bloody much! Just a note: I personally kept track of all my hours on each game NOT some site of some sort (I have been asked a lot) I do this for no reason other then as a simple enjoyment/hobby. Times are accurate to the minute because that’s how I roll .

 

#10 – F1 2011 – 39h52m

Over all position in time played (all-time) – 33rd

Number of weeks played – 11

First week recorded – Oct 2nd

Record most time played in a single week – 10h45m (Oct 16th)

Most played game of the week – 3 (Oct 9th, 16th & 23rd)

Most played game of the month – 1 (October)

Most played game of the quarter – 0

 

Now I am a big racing nut and you will see this repeated throughout the top 10, but you would think that now that the Codemasters F1 series is an annual game that I may not played this game as much as the previous. While in fact I have now played this game over 45 hours to date. Even if your not an F1 fan you should give this game a whirl. It is fast paced, amazingly well designed and a whole lot of fun. With a long campaign and great online. I keep coming back for more to place this at #10.

 

#9 – Driver: San Francisco – 41h44m

Over all position in time played (all-time) – 37th

Number of weeks played – 4

First week recorded – Sep 4th

Record most time played in a single week – 20h08m (Sep 11th)

Most played game of the week – 3 (Sep 4th, 11th, 18th)

Most played game of the month – 1 (September)

Most played game of the quarter – 1 (Q3)

 

Shocking huh. The Driver series has an old and well, frankly, crappy history. Ever since Driver 1 and 2 back on the PlayStation it has been nothing but bumpy roads for this series. But that all changed with this game as now it was Ubisoft’s chance to turn this series around; and boy did they. With licensed cars and an amazing new shift mechanic that allows players to teleport to any car on the map the game was able to work with something it could call theirs. The problem is very few people saw it coming and even when the scores were good the sales were not, making this a game that was never really given a chance. Which was a pity because this game’s insane, yet enjoyable single player and addicting multiplayeris what makes this game one of a kind!

 

 

#8 – Need For Speed: The Run – 42h17m

Over all position in time played (all-time) – 34th

Number of weeks played – 7

First week recorded – Nov 20th

Record most time played in a single week – 8h46m (Nov 27th)

Most played game of the week – 1 (Dec 18th)

Most played game of the month – 0

Most played game of the quarter – 0

 

Now, this is the game I don’t think anyone would expect in my top 10 most played, including myself. Keep in mind that just because they are the most played that does not mean they are great and this game is anything but great. EA Blackbox is (lets face it) not very good at making games. The previous games they made (NFS Carbon, Prostreet and Undercover respectably) were far from great. In fact, all featured rather bland concepts and were riddled with bugs from start to finish. So why would I spend far to much time on The Run (which also was one of the worst selling NFS games in a while). The simple answer is: it was fun, well most of the time. Although the online was unplayable due to countless problems and the AI was cheap in single player the core driving was fun. It was easy to enjoy the driving even when you were constantly interrupted with problems. This is by far the most confusing game in my top ten just simply due to the mediocrity that the game is at the core, but I had fun and that is all that one ever really needs.

 

#7 – Mass Effect 2 (PS3) – 44h29m

Over all position in time played (all-time) – 36th

Number of weeks played – 12

First week recorded – Feb 13th

Record most time played in a single week – 11h50m (Apr 24th)

Most played game of the week – 2 (Apr 24th, Jun 5th)

Most played game of the month – 0

Most played game of the quarter – 0

 

No explanations are really needed here. Mass Effect 2 is one of the best games I have played in a long time. It is also the longest game I have played (single campaign) since Ratchet and Clank Going Commando back on the PS2 which took somewhere around 45 hours to complete once. You just don’t see games like this anymore. This is a LONG game with no fake padding for content. This is simply an amazing and addicting game that will keep you playing over and over and pulling yourself deeper and deeper into this real and believable universe. My only complaint is that I didn’t play it more so far! Now if you’ll excuse me… I need to go finish reading my Mass Effect novel.

 

#6 – Killzone 3 – 44h33m

Over all position in time played (all-time) – 35th

Number of weeks played – 5

First week recorded – Feb 27th

Record most time played in a single week – 14h02m (Mar 6th)

Most played game of the week – 5 (Feb 27th, Mar 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th)

Most played game of the month – 1

Most played game of the quarter – 0

 

Beating Mass Effect 2 to 6th by a mere 4 minutes this series is back for it’s 3rd run. Killzone is a great shooter and I love it. The story, however, was easily the most disappointing thing about Killzone 3 and actually manages to be worse then the already dismal story from it’s predecessor.  The online was the best due to all the tweaks that were implemented since Killzone 2. With a far deeper and more enjoyable experience it was really hard to let go of the game causing me to lose a bit of sleep as I played it nonstop for 5 weeks. The main thing that makes Killzone, well,  Killzone is it’s feel. This series does not feel like anything else and that is why I love it. Most of the time you hear a person say they can play multiple types of games simultaneously. For example I like to pride myself in being able to play many types of racing games all in the same day/week and not really lose feel on any of them despite they may all feel/handle differently. With Killzone however, I really cannot and that is just a testament to the uniqueness of the feel. It may sound like a silly thing to base all my experiences with, but that simple feel makes me want to see more!

 

#5 – DiRT 3 – 60h48m

Over all position in time played (all-time) – 26th

Number of weeks played – 16

First week recorded – Jun 5th

Record most time played in a single week – 13h19m (Aug 7th)

Most played game of the week – 2 (Aug 7th, 28th)

Most played game of the month – 1

Most played game of the quarter – 0

 

I love motorsports and not only in game form. I follow F1 and the WRC (World Rally Championship) which are 2 huge racing championships. You have seen my love of F1, now you see my love of rally. True that DiRT is not as much of a rally game as it was back in the day when it still held the Colin Mcrae name, but that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t hold some of his ideas. Simply put: this is a great game for anyone who wants to get their tires a little dirty. Needless to say this game is all about the dirt, but if this is what a dirty game is like I would love to see a filthy game as everything about this game is beautiful. Although it is nearly identical to the previous game it is still amazing. It took me a while to get into 3 due to the similar nature from the previous game (hence the 16 weeks that passed by before I finished it).

 

#4 – Starcraft II – 68h32m (102h13m all-time)

Over all position in time played (all-time) – 14th

Number of weeks played – 24

First week recorded – Jul 25th 2010

Record most time played in a single week – 13h23m (Jul 25th 2010)

Most played game of the week – 5 (1 this year – Feb 13th)

Most played game of the month – 0

Most played game of the quarter – 0

 

As the only non-PS3 game on my list of most played it shouldn’t be surprising that this game was played a lot. With it’s deep online, great story and addicting nature and action this game is easily an instant classic and despite the first played sessions were well into 2010 this game still managed to be played enough to place in 4th the very next year. A testament to the longevity of the game. I am sure I will still play it loads more to come as the online community develops more and interesting ways to do battle.

 

#3 – Motorstorm: Apocalypse – 112h53m

Over all position in time played (all-time) – 10th

Number of weeks played – 18

First week recorded – May 1st

Record most time played in a single week – 11h41m (May 15th)

Most played game of the week – 10 (May 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, Jun 12th, 19th, Jul 10th, 17th, Aug 21st)

Most played game of the month – 3 (May, June, July)

Most played game of the quarter – 1 (Q2)

 

Motorstorm is my game and it has been since the first game came out. I love the series manly because it hits certain key elements square on the head. The style for one is second to none. Every time you enter one of these games it doesn’t take long for you to get fully immersed into it. Apocalypse didn’t sound good on paper. Motorstorm? Enter the city? I have to say even I had my doubts, but they were all put to rest as I sunk my teeth into it. I would even argue this is the best Motorstorm ever. The online as well is deep and everything just works. True there were some complications, but then again what game doesn’t? Simply put: this is one of the best games of the year and the time I spent playing it really gives the game justice. I suggest all racing fans go get it now…. MOVE!

 

#2 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – 142h28 (155h19m overall)

Over all position in time played (all-time) – 7th

Number of weeks played – 9

First week recorded – Nov 6th

Record most time played in a single week – 36h33m (Nov 6th) (Note: That is one week… 7 days)

Most played game of the week – 7 (Nov 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th, Dec 4th, 11th, 25th)

Most played game of the month – 2 (November, December)

Most played game of the quarter – 1 (Q4)

 

With Call of Duty being arguably the biggest name in gaming is it any wonder I put a lot of time into this game? What you do need to keep in mind however is this game only came out in November. Meaning this game placed 2nd in the whole year with only 2 months time. If it wasn’t for Gran Turismo 5’s massively time consuming endurance races I am pretty sure this game would have been on top. I have always like the Modern Warfare games far more then any of the Treyarch games. Not sure why, but I just feel their style in games is just not as amazing as it could be and with me playing Modern Warfare 2 out the year before no other COD game makes the list.

 

#1 – Gran Turismo 5 – 335h25m (370h49m overall)

Over all position in time played (all-time) – 2nd

Number of weeks played – 16

First week recorded – Dec 26th 2010

Record most time played in a single week – 65h15m (Feb 30th)

Most played game of the week – 9 (8 this year – Jan 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th, Feb 6th, Jul 24th, 30th)

Most played game of the month – 3 (2 this year – January, February)

Most played game of the quarter – 1 (Q1)

 

I guess it is a given. With me being a racing nut it was rather inevitable that I would play the crap out of GT5. Just how much was rather hard to know, but GT5 is a great game regardless on how little it has improved of the the last decade. Although many parts of the game could have been far better (not to mention more competitive) when compared to Forza which at this stage has better online, damage modeling and community the game none the less is more then a worthy game to sink countless hours into and I did just that. GT5 is a great game and all these games are worthy to play, because I sure did.

 

Cheers, Brrnout

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