Game of the Year 2011: Best DLC/Add-On
Kicking off day two of the GodisaGeek Game of the Year Awards 2011, it is the turn of DLC to shine. Just what is the best add-on released this year?
Just about every major game nowadays has its life extended by the medium of downloadable content, whether it’s Call of Duty map packs, or skins for fighters, but what is the best that 2011 had to offer?
As we run down each position, our writers will have their say on each title, telling you exactly why they think their chosed add-on is so good.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and picks for this category too, so please leave comments at the end of the article. In reverse order then, let’s get it on!
3: Batman: Arkham City – Catwoman (Rocksteady)
Colm Ahern: Could you play Arkham City through without Catwoman? Probably. Selina Kyle’s input into the game isn’t massive with her playable section, but it is relatively fun all the same. Those quick time climbing bits got on my wick though.
Jason Hendricks: Released with the game, the DLC adds about 4 more levels of game play to the main story. The story fills in some of the gaps left on Batman’s end and she even has her own secrets and Riddler trophies to collect. She plays different enough from batman to offer a different experience in Arkham City.
2: Mass Effect 2 – Arrival (BioWare)
Tony Windebank: As a massive Mass Effect Fan, this DLC was an absolute pleasure to play and gave you an insight into what may happen in the hotly anticipated Mass Effect 3. It had a great story line and full of mind blowing action, it may not have been as good as the Shadow Broker DLC but it was a worthy addition.
Colm Ahern: With no ME3 this year, we had to make do with DLC. But it bridged the gap between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 nicely as we got to play as Shepard one more time.
1: Deus Ex: Human Revolution – The Missing Link (Square-Enix)
Calvin Robinson: Deus Ex – The Missing Link DLC was a very welcome addition to what was already a fantastic title. The Missing Link, true to its name, filled in some gaps from the Deus Ex campaign. Arguably the most controversial aspect of this DLC was the fact that players find themselves starting from scratch with no abilities or augmentations. This worked in the favour of the DLC, allowing new players and players who had yet to finish the main campaign, to get involved.
The Missing Link was pretty much a mini Deus Ex game all by itself and added hours of enjoyment to an amazing franchise reboot.
Mary Goodden: If I had to describe The Missing Link in five words, I would plumb the depths of my thesaurus.com-honed vocabulary, spend a sleepless night rearranging nouns, verbs and adjectives (maybe even an adverb), before emerging, bleary-eyed and triumphant into the thin morning light and proclaim, triumphantly, “More Deus Ex: Human Revolution”.
That’s it really. The Missing Link might be a well-constructed swiftly-moving tale of sinister experiments and lines man was not meant to cross, conveyed through brilliantly-executed gameplay and set in beautifully-designed environments, but so was Human Revolution. This would be a bad thing, or course, if Human Revolution wasn’t one of the best games of the year, but it was, and so The Missing Link’s dark jaunt through a mercenary base in the middle of the ocean is a worthy way to spend an afternoon.
Plus, you get to see Adam Jensen with his shirt off.
Adam Cook: Sometimes DLC feels like it was already in existence, just waiting for Joe Public to want more. The Missing Link fixed the issues that many found with the bosses in the main game, all whilst patching up a large part of the narrative that was missing. Being a decent length and telling a story in an already story heavy game means that The Missing Link is an essential purchase for anyone who likes Deus Ex: Human Revolution and as such, is the best DLC released this year.
Keep coming back throughout the day and the week for more Game of the Year 2011 content.
