{"id":10187,"date":"2011-10-25T14:27:10","date_gmt":"2011-10-25T21:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.quartertothree.com\/fp\/?p=10187"},"modified":"2011-10-25T00:27:58","modified_gmt":"2011-10-25T07:27:58","slug":"whats-in-a-name-the-best-and-worst-titles-of-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quartertothree.com\/fp\/2011\/10\/25\/whats-in-a-name-the-best-and-worst-titles-of-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s in a name? The best and worst titles of 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Not the actual games, of course. That will have to wait. This is just the titles of the games.<\/p>\n

After the jump, the best and worst of 2011<\/strong><\/p>\n

The best of 2011<\/span>
\nSometimes it seems like all the good game names have been taken. These ten games prove otherwise.<\/p>\n

10) Orcs Must Die
\nHow strident! But I certainly agree.<\/p>\n

9) All Zombies Must Die
\nWay to one-up the thing about the orcs! But I have to ask: all<\/em> of them? Also, while I’m being literal, do zombies really die?<\/p>\n

8) Rift
\nShort, concise, and descriptive of what makes this MMO unique when all other MMOs are the same. Now if I can just get myself to stop calling it “Rifts”.<\/p>\n

7) Mindjack
\nShort, concise, descriptive, and a verb. As in, “Dude, I am totally going to mindjack you!”. Fortunately, no one remembers Freejack.<\/p>\n

6) God Eater: Burst
\nI like how it’s not clear what the relationship is between the two parts of this title. Is a guy named Burst eating gods? Or is that what happens when you eat a god? I suspect the mostly likely scenario is that none of these words has anything to do with the actual game.<\/p>\n

5) Catherine
\nI still have no idea what was going on in Catherine beyond those godawful block climbing puzzles. But I like that the game is called that. Like hurricanes, more games need to be given women’s names.<\/p>\n

4) From Dust
\nNow that’s the way to name an indie game! A little hint of Shakespeare and the Bible, but not too overt.<\/p>\n

3) Child of Eden
\nOkay, so not quite as subtle as From Dust, but still good.<\/p>\n

2) Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
\nTwisted Metal only went halfway. When something is insanely<\/em> twisted, you have to see what the deal is.<\/p>\n

1) A Valley without Wind
\nWhat the…? Okay, I’m sold. I think the concept is that some sort of apocalypse wind is blowing around the world, so you have to build up a sheltered area. I like it. And although I hated the acronym at first — AVWW just looks like a bunch of diagonal lines shoved into each other — now I love it for how it looks like a mountain range, all peaks and valleys.<\/p>\n

The worst of 2011<\/span>
\nThese games make me glad I don’t have to think up a game title. Because I’m pretty sure I would come up with something like these.<\/p>\n

13) Brink
\nWhat an edgy name. Get it? Edgy? Get it?<\/p>\n

12) Rage
\nReally? An internet meme for ineffectual anger is going to be your game’s name? Even Brink is an edgier name than this.<\/p>\n

11) Renegade Ops
\nThis team-based tactical mil-sim features nearly 60 weapons modeled after real-world firearms. Configure your loadout. Unlock perks as you play. Online support for up to 32 players.<\/p>\n

10) Crimson Alliance
\nThis team-based tactical mil-sim features nearly 60 weapons modeled after real-world firearms. Configure your loadout. Unlock perks as you play. Online support for up to 32 players.<\/p>\n

9) Bastion
\nThis team-based tactical mil-sim features nearly 60 weapons modeled after real-world firearms. Configure your loadout. Unlock perks as you play. Online support for up to 32 players.<\/p>\n

8) Dungeons
\nIs there a videogame just called Dragons? Just plain old Dragons?<\/p>\n

7) Dungeon Defender
\nDungeon Siege established that sometimes people want desperately to get into a dungeon. So it’s a given that someone will have to defend the dungeon.<\/p>\n

6) Cities in Motion
\nThis makes me think the city is actually going somewhere. Or it’s a fitness program to get the city in shape just in time for bikini season.<\/p>\n

5) 3rd Birthday
\nBy Fisher Price.<\/p>\n

4) El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
\nThis isn’t a real game title, of course. I just made it up and put it in here to keep you on your toes.<\/p>\n

3) Achron
\nIf you’re over 30, you thought it said Archon, right? If you’re under 30, you wondered why someone would make a game about a town in Ohio.<\/p>\n

2) Hard Reset
\nThe videogame title most likely to have also been a Jean Claude van Damme movie.<\/p>\n

1) Pokemon: Rumble Blast
\nBecause the gastrointestinal undertones of Pokemon: Burrito Aftermath weren’t subtle enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat's in a name? The best and worst titles of 2011 - Quarter to Three<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quartertothree.com\/fp\/2011\/10\/25\/whats-in-a-name-the-best-and-worst-titles-of-2011\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What's in a name? 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