Yesterday we took a look at Minecraft, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Capcom, Dark Souls and Portal 2. Today, we have a whole second set of awards to be given out for the best (and worst) of 2011.

Game That Shouldn’t Have Taken Nearly As Long to Come Out: Duke Nukem Forever

What happened in the time span since Duke Nukem Forever began development?

The entire Presidential run of George W. Bush.

This writer’s entire high school and college career.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and The Clone Wars were all released in theaters.

The XBox was released and ended its lifecycle.

Activision released 7 proper Call of Duty titles.

Lost.

A child born when development started would have grown to be a teenager.

The list goes on and on…

And the worst part is, after all that wait… Duke Nukem Forever wasn’t very good when it did finally come out. What was considered controversial when the game began production is pretty tame by comparison to what people are enjoying in gaming now and the humor comes off as sophomoric instead of clever.

While we can understand the desire to release a passion project to finally let it see the light of day, sometimes it is better to let it enjoy a quiet death with some dignity instead of coming out guns blazing as a failure.

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Holy $#!^. It really is a challenge to clean up your mouth after playing Saints Row: The Third. It’s not because you are going to say the game is $#!^ or a waste of your &@*%ing time, but because there are so many moments where you burst out with, “Did that $#!^ really jut happen?” that the game’s foul mouth and your own just get blended together.

Saints Row: The Third is the end of a trilogy of progressively more extreme satires of the original Grand Theft Auto experience. The first Saints Row was somewhat grounded in reality while the second added a more fantastic storyline and more head scratching plot twists and more “Can they really get away with that?” moments.

Saints Row: The Third is like the Spinal Tap of the series. Take everything they have built… and turn it up to 11.

Gameplay:

Saints Row: The Third controls much like a standard third person open world action game on the surface. Players punch, shoot and carjack their way through various missions or just reign chaos upon the poorly defended denizens of Steelport. What Saints Row: The Third has done to change things up is a constant stream of mix and match gameplay mechanics to keep the player constantly feeling like they are doing something new.

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When was the last time you were excited about a move-game tie in? Was it Days of Thunder 2011? Tron? It was Tron…wasn’t it?

Games based on movies are notorious for their lack of ingenuity, polish, and often times, any respect for the source material whatsoever. This, of course, means that any tie-in games that do show potential can never see the light of day, as it would upset the balance universal karma… or something.

THQ studios in Brisbane were working on a promising Avengers game to release alongside the 2012 summer blockbuster movie. Keyword being “were”. Due to a “strategic realignment” of its development studios, THQ elected to close the studio down, halting production of any current projects. Normally, I’d say bully for THQ – with their recent releases falling into the “decently subpar” category ( Homefront and 40K: Space Marine among them) I would be alright with them taking a step back from their full-speed-ahead mentality.

But not this time. The Avengers was going to be a first person shooter / beat ‘ em up combo focusing on four-player co-op. Showcased in the pre-alpha footage below are Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, and Thor – all as playable characters. While some aspects (such as Cap throwing his shield) didn’t look brilliant, it still looked like a lot of fun; especially for any True Believers out there.

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Darksiders was a game that many people expected to fall by the wayside between lack of promotion and an interesting choice in release dates, January 1st 2010. But as was seen in our review of the game, giving it an 8 out of 10, Darksiders proved it had the potential to be something special and for the most part lived up to it.

Not entirely what gamers were expecting, Darksiders ended up playing out much like a dark, demon filled version of Ocarina of Time where players were challenged to solve puzzles along with a constantly improving repertoire of weapons, skills and magic at their disposal under the guise of the horseman of the apocalypse War.

Now, Darksiders II brings a new horseman to the player’s control, probably the most infamous of them all. Death. And with Death comes a whole new list of possibilities. War’s power were all about destruction. It would only make sense that Death’s powers were all about… well, death. Instead of just ripping enemies apart, Death can bring about the primordial forces to end the lives of any who oppose him, be they angel or demon. At least, that’s what we are hoping to see happen.

Darksiders II is coming in 2012 to XBox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Make sure to take a peek at the trailer below to see Death in action. Stick to the Flickcast for more information on Darksiders II as it becomes available.

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“It’s a bloodfest.” “Unleash visible violent death.” These are the worlds of the developers, not PR, as they describe their own game with Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. This E3, THQ gave us more details and a new trailer to Space Marine. In addition to what we saw last year at the game’s reveal, Space Marine is further delved into this year with these three new videos.

Most notable is the addition of the Chaos and the Imperial Guard to Space Marine. Originally thought to be only Ultramarines vs. Orcs, these new trailers give glimpses of Chaos Space Marines , Chaos daemons and some of the Imperial Guard marines as well.

The trailers also take a closer look at the actual combat of the game. Instead of just being a third person cover based shooter like Gears of War where players will plant themselves in a location and hunker down and systematically pick off enemies, Space Marine encourages players to run headfirst into combat and actually rewards them more for doing so. The developers say that the quickest way to regenerate health is by staying in the thick of battle.

Make sure to check out all three videos after the jump. Warhamer 40,000: Space Marines hits stores in August 2011 for XBox 360 and PlayStation 3.

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One of the most interesting aspects of THQ’s WWE game’s is their presentation and their storylines. Some have ultimate wrestling nerd nostalgia like when Edge and Christian reunited in SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 before they did on real WWE programming.

Others are completely out of the realm of reality (We all remember the video of Kurt Angle being magically transformed into a woman by Candice Michelle from a few years ago). With the completely over the top style of WWE All Stars, there is certainly some intrigue in to the presentation of its story modes.

Each of the three modes will consist of a 10 match tournament for the player, much in the style of fighting games like Mortal Kombat or Marvel vs. Capcom 3 where players will eventually reach their championship match against either the Undertaker (Legends path), Randy Orton (WWE Superstars path) or D-Generation X (Tag Team path). Here is what we know so far about these three different paths in WWE All Stars:

Path of Champions, WWE Legends – Undertaker

The World Heavyweight Championship is on the line at SummerSlam. Can you defeat 10 of WWE’s battle-hardened WWE Legends and defeat Undertaker? Paul Bearer welcomes you to his funeral parlor, as Undertaker emerges from a standing casket. He has a message for the player – “Rest in Peace!” There are plenty of surprises and more cutscenes along the way as you move your way up to face “The Phenom!”

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In just over a week, THQ releases its newest WWE game, WWE All Stars. Departing from the realistic, television style of the SmackDown vs. Raw series, WWE All Stars chooses a more over the top style in both its animations and graphics. The beefed up Superstars and Legends more closely resemble Zangief from Street Fighter IV than their real life counterparts. But that certainly isn’t a bad thing.

WWE All Stars gives a good change of pace to the WWE video game brand without getting in the way of their top selling annualized franchise. Included in WWE All Stars will be a host of WWE Legends and current Superstars including friends of the Flickcast Kane and John Morrison.

Two somewhat surprising additions to the roster are Hulk Hogan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Hogan, despite being known as a WWE icon is currently on the payroll of TNA wrestling, WWE’s closest competition. Randy Savage only recently just came back in to the WWE fold after a long absence where not even his name was mentioned on WWE programming for years since his departure from the company in the 1990s.

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We are fans of the UFC and the console releases of UFC Undisputed as well (with UFC Undisputed 2010 for XBox 360 receiving an 8.0 score). So, when we heard the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch would be getting its own UFC Undisputed 2010 we couldn’t wait to get our hands on it.

Gameplay:

This mobile game obviously has to play much simpler than the console version both in terms of power and control scheme. Without formal buttons, players must navigate their fighter throughout the octogon on a 2D plane reminiscient of Street Fighter 4 more than other UFC titles. Fighting consists of various finger swipes over a punch, kick or synch icon.

Different presses or swipes result in different moves and as far as we could tell with our hands on the game, every competitor on UFC 2010′s roster players and moves in the ring exactly like each other, with the only exception being how wrestlers perform takedowns differently with body slams.

The melee combat is fairly basic but does not encourage button mashing. Players who do so will quickly find their stamina drained and on the receiving end of hammer punches to their faces.

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WWE’s SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 helped the franchise reach the momentous 50 million unit mark with sales. With SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, THQ and Yuke’s hoped to continue the sucessful tradition of the annual franchise by taking the franchise’s stalwart features like the godlike level of character customization and great in ring action and adding some new ones, most notably WWE Universe Mode, an expanded backstage arena during the Road to WrestleMania mode and the upgraded physics system.

Gameplay:

As we talked about in our review of last year’s SmackDown vs. Raw 2010,  the biggest strength of SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 is how fun it makes the matches available to players. The control scheme proves itself to be easy to learn but a challenge to master allowing players of all levels of skill to enjoy bouts against the computer. This quickly changes however in player versus player combat where a novice has next to no hope against an opponent with more experience with the franchise.

New to this year’s in ring gameplay comes an improved physics engine. The physics in WWE games has varied over the years to the Gamecube days where contact with a ladder could take out a ring full to competitors to even last year’s SmackDown vs. Raw where instead of colliding with a ladder on a big fall, superstars would hit the ground and have the ladder gingerly slide over. Now, items like tables, ladders and chairs are interactive set pieces. Instead of moving aside when a competitor is aimed at it, tables shatter on contact and pieces will remain in the ring as the action goes on around it.

Wrestlers now react to being tossed on top of chairs and a kick to a ladder can send both it and the superstar climbing it to the floor. This feels like a step towards more added realism for the game’s in ring product. (And yes, we understand the irony of talking about realism in reference to professional wrestling… er, sports

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With its release date under a week away, THQ has revealed a new trailer for SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 featuring all of the biggest moves in the WWE, the finishers. Much like the real WWE, in SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 a match can be ended in an instant if a player is able to hit their big finish out of nowhere.

In the trailer below, you will see just how good SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 looks in action and how much effort was put into making the finishers look as realistic as possible.

Some of the highlights below include classic’s like the Undertaker’s Tombstone, Shawn Michael’s Sweet Chin Music, Bret Hart’s Sharpshooter and Jake “The Snake” Robert’s DDT. In addition, SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 is doing a great job of highlighting some of WWE’s newer and younger talent with the likes of Santino Marella’s Cobra, Zack Ryder’s Zack Attack and Kofi Kingston’s Trouble In Paradise.

Make sure to take a peek below and stick to The Flickcast for more on WWE’s SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 including a review once the game is released.

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Back in November, we gave you our review of WWE’s latest Smackdown vs. Raw 2010. Now, SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 is on the horizon and WWE has just announced the superstars for the game’s cover as well as some of its key features.

In the US, John Cena, the Big Show and the Miz, the latest addition to the Money in the Bank club, will be gracing SmackDown vs. Raw’s cover art (seen above). If you scan down to the gallery below, you will also see the European cover art featuring the Undertaker, Randy Orton and Sheamus.

“WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 is on track to deliver the most incredible WWE simulation experience to date in our storied franchise,” said Danny Bilson, Executive Vice President, Core Games, THQ. “This year’s game will offer players a variety of intuitive new gameplay features, impactful upgrades, industry-leading creation and customization tools, as well as unparalleled freedom to experience their own virtual WWE moments in line with those seen weekly in WWE.”

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At Comic Con, we had the opportunity to speak with Associate Producer Dan Sutton from volition inc, the developers behind Red Faction: Armageddon and get footage of a developer walk through of one of the levels. Dan told us that what they enjoyed working on with Red Faction: Armageddon was that they were able to take the base premise of destroying everything that was established by Red Faction: Guerilla and improving upon it.

While Red Faction: Guerilla was fairly open world, Red Faction: Armageddon will be a more linear experience with much more focus on story. This time with a longer development cycle to play with the engine they built for the previous game, volition was able to design a world completely around this wholly destructible premise.

As you will see below, there has been a focus on not just having destruction but taking that destruction and using it to encourage creative gameplay. One such example of this is the new magnet gun. A simple premise, point and shoot at two objects and they will go cascading into each other. This can be done with enemies, buildings, objects or any combination of them.

They have also taken the idea of destruction and turned it on its head with the Reconstructor, part of the nanoboard that the main character Darius wears on his arm. Any object you destroy can be re-targeted and pieced back together. A great example of this comes from blowing a hole in the side of a building while being chased and sealing that hole behind you to provide a much more secure escape route.

Some weapons they discussed with us that we haven’t seen include a black hole gun. This is what it sounds like where a miniature black hole is shot into an area and it begins to suck up everything around it and spit it back out at a player. Because the story of Red Faction: Armageddon takes place fifty years after the events of Red Faction: Guerilla, the team was able to take some of people’s favorite weapons from Guerilla and enhance them.

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