“Storyteller” Award: Batman: Arkham City
Mreow! Catwoman. Yes. Ma'm. Please. <3
Few plots in a video game have ever tugged me along quite like Batman: Arkham City. Even with so many sidequests to do, I couldn’t actually find the strength to abandon the main plot long enough to do any of them. Arkham City’s story is a huge leap forward from its predecessor, and considering the narrative in Arkham Asylum was so good, that truly is an accomplishment. How Rocksteady tied in various villians, but still kept Joker as the main point of interest is simply perfect. Oh, and that epic ending? A milestone “end game” in gaming history.
Best Technical Graphics: Battlefield 3
Look at those trees! :O
There was a lot of competition in this field, from what I had played. Quite a few games had the graphical sparkle to stand out. But the graphics in Battlefield were just top notch. I believe I said this last year, and the year before, and probably ever year before that but it’s just hard to believe graphics can keep getting better. A big selling point is the destruction in Battlefield 3. While I don’t think it’s as prominent as in Bad Company 2, it certainly looks a lot better. And while it’s sometimes an annoyance, there’s also a great sun-glare effect.
Best Family Game: Eyepet & Friends
Rated "E" for Everyone. Hence the male reaction...
Again, I had a hard time choosing this one. But when it boiled down to it, both my wife and son had more fun overall with Sony’s newest Eyepet game, Eyepet & Friends. It wasn’t just that it was fun to play. Or that it was fun to create things. The big kicker is that even people in the room who weren’t playing the game were having fun watching it. Myself included.
Best Music (original): Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Quite possibly scarier than a dragon.. the mammoths.
Between the Pagan-like chanting and the scary drums, it was easy to pick this as my favorite musical score this year. Ace Combat: Assault Horizon had a fantastic soundtrack and as did Battlefield 3, but the score to Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim puts them both to shame. I’ve written many articles at Vagary post Skyrim’s release while listening to its music, and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. Something about it just settles inside and has an unusually-calming effect (on me at least). I love all three soundtracks I mentioned, but Skyrim’s OST takes the cake.
Most Immersive Atmosphere: RAGE
Zoom-zoom! Pre-Mazda, of course.
RAGE is a funny case to me. Level design and structure-wise, it’s ancient in compared to modern FPS’. It plays like DOOM (that’s not a bad thing). But luckily id Software took the environments and shaped a game that I couldn’t sprint through like a Call of Duty campaign. Enemies come at you from unusual places, the wasteland has some interesting corridors to traverse, and the graphics just make everything meld together like a peanut butter fudge brownie sundae. It makes playing the game worth it, despite its lack of a strong story.
Most Surprisingly Good Game: Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
This game was awesome. That is all.
This game flew in under my radar (heh). I wanted to review it because I was raised playing two genres of computer games; flight games and strategy games. Yes, I played Mario and such, but those were the two big genres I enjoyed growing up. I had played a few flying games on the Playstation 2 and I didn’t like them. I expected to not like this, but ended up loving it. It has a very cinematic feeling to it, which made it stand out above the other flying games I played this year. The air combat is top notch, and the game having a strong online multiplayer is just more icing on the cake.
Most Disappointing Game(s): Homefront / SOCOM 4
Maybe the State Police should have confiscated this before it released.
I’ve made a lot of hard decisions in life, and usually picking a game for an award is not much of a chore. This year, I couldn’t honestly pick between two games for most disappointing game. Homefront was disappointing from a narrative perspective.
What I expected: An epic fight against North Korea on our home turf.
What I got: One twisted opening followed by a bunch of crap.
I honestly can’t tell you what happened in the story, nor how it ended, but I completed it and felt it was a miserable experience. I had so much hope going into this, too. I thought Homefront was going to be a narrative experience for FPS’. I was very, very wrong.
I should have Oscar-Miked it right on past SOCOM 4.
SOCOM 4 is a different tale. I loved SOCOM: Confrontation. I didn’t play it at launch, but came into it a year into patching, and it was truly THE tactical experience of this generation. Developer Zipper started the series, but has since taken their game-making talents in a different direction than what made the series grand. With SOCOM 4, they essentially created a third-person MAG. It has a sloppy user-interface, maps cluttered with unnecessary crap, and some of the worst hit detection I have seen (since MAG). Zipper truly dropped the ball on what I expected. Luckily, Battlefield 3 came out to give me my fresh multiplayer fix. Oh, and don’t even get me started on the campaign..
Worst Game of the Year: X-Men: Destiny
Why couldn't I play as Gambit. 
Let’s be fair; do we really expect a Hulk Hogan Kinect game or DS shovelware titles to be great? I never played Too Human, developed by Silicon Knights, the guys responsible for X-Men: Destiny, but heard mixed reviews about it. It seemed like a quality title, and I’m sure it’s better than their latest effort. I’ve heard some people say it wasn’t that bad, but it was THE worst game I played in 2011. The narrative was below most comic book-games, which are bad enough to begin with. The combat was uninspired. Using “X-genes” to “customize” your super powers was a complete joke. I could keep going, but I’d rather not even think of this game again.
Overall Game of the Year: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Why is this picture used a lot? It looks amazing, that is why.
Few games suck the life out of me. I play some great titles every year, don’t get me wrong. But besides the very minor flaws (I have put 50+ hours into Skyrim as of this writing, and I’ve only had 4 system freezes and no other major glitches happen that broke the game), this game is easily the best piece of software Bethesda has released. Fallout 3 has held that title up until now, and it was in far worse shape when it came to glitches, bugs and system freezes.
Skyrim is built for a large variety of players, which makes it so cool. Fans of game lore have many places to learn from. They can read books, talk to NPCs or partake in any number of side quests. That takes care of a large portion of RPG gamers. People like me, dungeon crawlers, also have lots of choices to explore. I have spent the majority of my time roaming temples, caves, mines, and crypts. I can’t stop. I know I have to go find some book for the Mages, but that cave! It just looks so.. shiny.. irresistible even!
The latest Elder Scrolls is, without a doubt, the greatest game I played in 2011. For the reasons mentioned and more.
Now that you know what my game awards were, feel free to share your own in the comments below!
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