AtomicGamer 2011 Game of the Year Awards
It's time to hand out some honors to our favorite games this year. We'll start out with genres, move to various performances and miscellaneous awards, and end with our pick for Game of the Year 2011. Grab a tub of popcorn and let's dive in, shall we? Dive in.. to the games, not the popcorn, I mean.
Best RPG
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Bethesda's latest fantasy masterpiece is more focused than the last Elder Scrolls title, but it's simultaneously bigger and broader. This comes by way of tying the story of the protagonist's special gift into the plot better, and the vastly huge amount of things to do can easily keep players engrossed for 100 hours or more. The action's smooth, the choices to make are interesting, and the visuals give us some of the best landscapes seen in a video game in recent years. It might not be the best game Bethesda's ever made, but we certainly find it their best in more than a decade. Just... don't expect to successfully play 100 hours into the PS3 version of the game. Trust us on this.
Runner-up: Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Eidos Montreal put together an exciting premise for this prequel, and its jaw-dropping art and design help to keep you moving forwards when the action gets a little sluggish or the RPG elements fall behind.
Best Sandbox
Saints Row: The Third - For us at AtomicGamer, a sandbox game often stands alone from standard action games, and Saints Row 3 serves as an obvious example why. The ability to just run off and have fun doing completely silly things has been nurtured and carefully cultivated in this game, and while it might be shorter or (arguably) have less "usable" content than its predecessor, we still find it one of the best games released this year when it comes to pure wide-open fun.
Runner-up: Minecraft - With the updates made to the game in 2011 and the official "release" - of a game that's been available for purchase for nearly two years - Minecraft has become a phenomenon. With no ending and no real point that the game tries to make, this is one of the most successful raw sandbox games that's ever existed. The lack of a true objective makes this game not quite suited for everyone, but for those that do enjoy it, the freedom of Minecraft puts this game above all others for true creative potential.
Best Action Game
Portal 2 - Valve's big bad sequel bravely left behind the memes generated by the first game and showed us a carefully-constructed lost world full of discovery and brimming with personality. Oh, sure, the puzzle elements and the immense fun of portals can't be denied and Valve checked those boxes just right, but what struck me was the genuine humor brought in by both returning and recurring characters - as well as the larger, sadder story of a Bring Your Daughter To Work Day gone horribly wrong.
Runner-up: Batman: Arkham City - Comic book games might be stuck in a rut that comic-based movies have dug themselves out of in recent years, but the games are still slick, fun, and impressive to see in action. What Arkham City lacks in innovation (or in its mildly disappointing narrative that non-comic fans have a tough time connecting with), it makes up for in imagination and refined combat. Bruce Wayne might still be arguably the most boring crimefighter out there from a personality standpoint, but Mark Hamill's Joker easily made up for it.
Best MMORPG
Star Wars: The Old Republic - BioWare's MMORPG attempts to bring story into the MMO world, giving each possible class a fully narrated storyline with voice acting and high-quality production values, totally redefines how MMOs should be unfolding a plot. Of course, with its December 20th release, the game comes in just under the wire for this particular award, so we haven't seen much in the way of endgame content or large PvP, but early reports show that these later-game elements are working out nicely. Of course, putting lightsabers in the hands of a ton of players is a pretty effective way to get people excited for the combat, which otherwise could use a bit of innovation considering that it's essentially the same as it's been since Everquest was released in 1999.
Runner-up: RIFT - Without much in the way of true innovation or charm, RIFT had one major draw to fall back on: carrying around multiple talent trees from a bigger pool, and putting them together as unique specializations. Sure, it doesn't sound like much, but this game's character customization offered a freedom from World of Warcraft's rather rigidly-defined ten classes without going wild with openness like other games have. I might be in the minority on this, but yes, I believe that RIFT's class system was the biggest thing going for it, and truly made it an entertaining MMORPG - while it lasted, that is.
Best Racing Game
Forza Motorsport 4 - Turn 10 Studios further refined the near-sim racing game with Forza 4, a celebration of driving that does as much for offline racing as it does for online enthusiasts. With better visuals, the same brilliant 60fps action, and many new cars, this series has become a very solid contender for the best mainstream racing franchise out there.
Runner-Up: Shift 2: Unleashed - Slightly Mad Studios struck a better balance towards simulation in Shift 2, a game so unlike its Need for Speed license this time around that EA just dropped the name in this sequel altogether. Terrifying and heart-pumping night races, better reward systems, and a few nods to some truly legit simulation-based racing offered a welcome combination of hardcore action and a genuinely fun time driving some of the world's most expensive cars. It's too bad that the overall selection of vehicles fell rather short, though.
Best Fighting Game
Mortal Kombat - What this ninth full game in the long-running fighting series may lack in support from the very high-level fighting community - despite being run at some of the serious tournaments in 2011 - it makes up for in accessibility for the everyday, casual fighting fan. NetherRealm studios put together a fun story, even if it's kind of goofy, and integrated the whole thing into a campaign that seamlessly transitioned from cutscenes to fight scenes. While the balance issues and disappointing 30fps action hold back Mortal Kombat from being a mainstay in the streaming and pro tournament scene, we do think Japanese developers should take note at how a fighting game developer can more effectively entertain the majority of its customers.
Runner-Up: Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 - Our review of this ridiculously entertaining Capcom redux may not have been kind, but that was in relation to what extra was given to buyers of the original game; there's no denying that on its own, Ultimate, with its $40 price tag, better balance, and bigger roster of characters more closely encompasses the spirit of the instant-classic Marvel vs. Capcom 2 than the base sequel did. Of course, for many players, the way to get the most out of this game is to not play it all and just watch pro players pull off amazing combos and massive victories on Wednesday Night Fights and similar streams, but this is still the best pro-oriented retail fighting game released in 2011.
Best Multiplayer
Battlefield 3 - We generally dislike EA's Origin download service and it's hard to find a reason for Battlelog not to run inside Battlefield 3 itself, but it's also difficult to deny the charms of a game that puts you in 64-player charlie foxtrots of jets, jeeps, helicopters, destruction, and a huge range of small arms weapons. Developer DICE certainly had ambition in spades when making Battlefield 3, and now it's up to them in the coming months to keep balancing and tweaking the netcode, interface, and gunplay to perfect this brilliant (but otherwise rather flawed) game. The console ports weren't quite as ambitious as the PC version due to hardware constraints, but they still wound up offering us the biggest and baddest online play you could get on a gamepad.
Runner-up: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - What Infinity Ward and Raven failed to deliver in innovation with MW3's multiplayer, they mostly made up for with the most stable, solid online play seen since, well, Call of Duty: Black Ops last year. The inclusion of Elite on the console versions helps to extend out the game's life and bring Call of Duty players together in new ways, and while none of us at AG are terribly interested in the idea of belonging to yet another social network, we do know that it'll be used and enjoyed by millions.
Best Soundtrack
Jeremy Soule for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Soule perfected the epic RPG soundtrack for this game; its smaller, lighter-hearted moments stand in start contrast to the bass-driven ambience of the music that plays when you're a mile under the surface of Skyrim. You often get orchestral brilliance when staring at the game's awe-inspiring sky, and foreboding, deep drums when combat begins. With just enough cues taken from previous Elder Scrolls music and a brilliant sense of wonder that is the hallmark of a Jeremy Soule RPG soundtrack, this four-disc set is just as big and amazing as the game it scores.
Runner-up: Michael McCann for Deus Ex: Human Revolution - With such an amazing original soundtrack in the first game to play off of, it'd seem like making a score for this prequel would be an easy slam dunk. All you'd have to do is reproduce the most popular tunes from the first game, add some digital orchestra to widen the spectrum and call it a day! But McCann decided to forge out on his own, and the result is a deep and insightful score, helping Human Revolution stand apart from (and survive out from under the shadow of) what many consider the best game ever made.
Best DLC
Fallout: New Vegas - Old World Blues - Obsidian released four DLC packs for New Vegas in 2011, but the one that takes our prize (and beats out the efforts of all others) is the third one, Old World Blues. It was a little slice of everything that's right about Fallout, with the strange characters, awkward situations, dark humor, and non-linear exploration that make this franchise what it is. Sure, combat is years behind, but Obsidian had no control over that when they were handed the GameBryo engine and told to build a game with it. Despite that, OWB triumphs over all with its top-notch writing, memorable characters, and exceedingly high value for your ten bucks. Old World Blues is so good, we couldn't in good conscience even think of one DLC pack that deserved runner-up status.
Best Voice Performance
Ellen McLain as GlaDOS in Portal 2 - It's not just the writing that rocketed GlaDOS to the top of our list, it's the performance by Ellen McLain that did it, too. Our robotic overlord is forced into a state of vulnerability that's often understated and nuanced one moment, and powerful and megalomaniacal the next. McLain's work as the voices of the singing turrets - as well as her efforts on the wonderfully-delivered ending song - seal the deal.
Runner-up: Stephen Merchant as Wheatley in Portal 2 - Some will argue and say that Merchant's Wheatley, having more lines in the game, was the bigger star of Portal 2 and therefore deserves the grand prize, and admittedly it's close. Wheatley's turn away from silly helper to bumbling evil mastermind was set up in such a smart and entertaining way by Valve's writing team, but it was Stephen Merchant - who already had a decade's worth of comedy and acting experience - that set this role apart from so many others in the rest of the gaming world this year.
Best Downloadable Game
Bastion - Newcomer Supergiant Games came out swinging with this interesting and unique isometric action game that combined a colorful, cartoony art style with a gruff voice narrating the player's every action. It was equal parts Diablo (for the action), Trine (for the visuals), and film noir. While the voice became a bit grating for some, those who stuck with it were also rewarded with extended gameplay modes that made this game a great value, too.
Runner-up: Stacking - Over the last two years, developer Double Fine has proved that a studio could successfully transition from making AAA titles over to smaller, independent games. We don't know for a fact whether it's been terribly profitable or if it was only just enough to keep them in business, but games like Stacking, their puzzle-adventure game starring Russian stacking dolls as characters, proved to be an interesting and unique experiment. Not only did they create a unique look and atmosphere for a game that was just as "original" in its creation of new IP as it was in its art and gameplay design, but they showed the game development world that high-level designers like Tim Schafer still had a way to deliver fresh ideas in games without dealing with risk-averse publishers unsure of spending tens of millions on new concepts.
Best New IP
Bastion - While 2011 offered plenty of new gameplay ideas and innovation all over the place, very few publishers were willing to spend the resources necessary to invest in making whole new franchises. Nearly all of the new intellectual properties in 2011 came in the form of downloadable games, and for reasons already mentioned in the Best Downloadable Game category, Bastion takes it.
Runner-up: Dead Island - Ok, yes - one of the better new IPs was actually a major retail game. Deep Silver's Dead Island may have been flawed, but its combination of an open world with RPG progression and Left 4 Dead-style zombie combat kept players coming back, making this a huge success for relatively small publisher Deep Silver. We already know that some kind of sequel is on the way.
Best PC Exclusive
Minecraft - PC games got few exclusives this year, but this one, which admittedly also runs on Macs and on the Linux operating system, has had by far the biggest community following of them all. It's also a shining example of how a well-made independent game can make tens of millions of dollars without a single dime spent on advertising. All you have to do is be open and honest with your players, treat them like people instead of pirates (or walking wallets), and, OK - it does help to have a brilliantly-made game that can be developed on a small budget, one that sparks the creativity of your players like no game that's come before it. We understand that that last one is a bit tough to reproduce, but we wish the greatest of luck to the rest of the independent developer community.
The Witcher 2 - Somewhere between the brutal, unflinching difficulty of Dark Souls' combat and the ease and accessibility of Skyrim's fights lies The Witcher 2, an uncompromisingly European action-RPG with just the right amount of difficulty in its battles. You start out feeling overwhelmed - not that you're an inexperienced peasant with low stats, but like you're a damn tough dude that's being unfairly mobbed by enemies - and eventually become so incredibly powerful, just at the right time, that you can really start to focus on its unique story and character design. Often, too much difficulty can turn off players that just want to have fun, but if you stick with The Witcher 2, it makes you really feel like you're controlling a medieval fantasy badass.
Best Console Exclusive
Gears of War 3 - After the second game, we were admittedly a bit skeptical of Epic's completion of the trilogy. But they did it just right, bringing back the focus on gunplay and story that kept people so interested in the first game. With hefty sequences focusing on Dom, Cole, and Marcus, we see three vastly different ways that these people deal with having been at war for so long, and while it's easy to scrap all of those thoughts and just focus on the shooting, what should stick with you after the game's over is what happens to the characters. Epic did a wonderful job of balancing those two sides, and that's a hallmark of a great modern-day action game.
Runner-up: Uncharted 3- Aiming issues aside, I do wonder if those people who complain about Uncharted 3 "playing itself" happened to play the previous two games. The story of Nathan Drake is so tightly woven and expertly polished that it may lack freedom - in all three installments, that is - but you can't deny that the end effect is absolutely amazing to at least see how it plays out. Despite a few extended gunfight scenes that spoil the overall effect, the sense of adventure and of desperate excitement in Uncharted channels everything great about Indiana Jones - and the developers have achieved that better in this third installment than any game or movie that has come since Spielberg's original film trilogy.
Game of the Year
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Todd Howard's team at Bethesda Game Studios delivered their best game yet in this Viking-themed epic RPG sequel, and that's saying a lot considering their stellar line up of games over the past decade-plus. With some solid writing, interesting action, and truly inspired world design, Skyrim raises the bar for open-world RPGs. We're happy to bestow Bethesda's latest with our Game of the Year badge.
Runner-up: Portal 2 - This game beats most of the rest released in 2011 on charm alone, but that doesn't even begin to get into the slick eye candy, satisfying puzzles, and subtle, but impactful story. Valve Software has been hitting nearly non-stop home runs since the company released its first game, Half-Life, back in 1998, and there's no sign of them breaking their streak anytime soon.
