Game of the Year 2011
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In all honesty, Skyrim deserved to win just by its sheer scope and wealth of stuff to do. But I would have liked Arkham City to have gotten more than just an honourable mention. 
InFamous 2 was game of the year for me. Game had only few flaws and I have replayed it many times.
Skyrim was good, but quests were way too linear and close quarters combat was bad. Sneaking could have been done better, but it worked. World was big and that's great. I also loved the Skyrim itself, so that's good. Good game, but few flaws held it back for me. Not to mention the characters were pretty un-interesting.
Skyrim was good, but quests were way too linear and close quarters combat was bad. Sneaking could have been done better, but it worked. World was big and that's great. I also loved the Skyrim itself, so that's good. Good game, but few flaws held it back for me. Not to mention the characters were pretty un-interesting.
I'm quite happy with that list overall really. It's good to see infamous 2 get some recognition, given that it had enjoyable, rock solid mechanics, a decent story which kept me entertained. As for people complaining about their personal choice not being GOTY, and that the result was predictable, I say pffft. The whole point of the article is to recognise the best games of the year, and opinions will vary. I doubt that all the contributors agreed that skyrim was the very best, but they had to come to an agreement, and they did. Personally, having played skyrim on PS3, the slowdown issues were very annoying, but in no way were they game breaking, so all the claims of "1/3 of the product were broken" is bull. Additionally, having just played red dead redemption this year, I didn't notice any bugs that were supposedly rampant. They probably patched them, but I was pleasantly surprised not to get bits of horse stuck in walls.
Skyrim defense aside, it was not my personal goty. That award goes to the grim, gloomy, mass-murdering ball of brilliance that is dark souls. But I can realise that not everyone agrees with me, and so I'm perfectly happy to see it as just a nomination. As I am with the other games on the list that I enjoyed, namely bastion and deus ex.
In short, if a game you loved didn't make the shortlist, go ahead and lament that fact. If it did make the list, be happy with the recognition that it is receiving, and stop complaining.
Skyrim defense aside, it was not my personal goty. That award goes to the grim, gloomy, mass-murdering ball of brilliance that is dark souls. But I can realise that not everyone agrees with me, and so I'm perfectly happy to see it as just a nomination. As I am with the other games on the list that I enjoyed, namely bastion and deus ex.
In short, if a game you loved didn't make the shortlist, go ahead and lament that fact. If it did make the list, be happy with the recognition that it is receiving, and stop complaining.
Well, Bethesda did make certain strides to iron out some of the flaws that have been inherent to all of their previous games(mainly the worst character system ever created(not so much in Fallout 3) and mostly weak sauce storylines) and i enjoy Skyrim quite a bit to be honest. Playing it on PC i'm just itching to see what the modding community will come up with once the SDK has been released. Still, i must say i enjoyed Witcher 2 quite a bit more. Even considering the rushed 3rd act(and the technical issues i.e. the crappiest console-type interface known to man) the storytelling is just so superior. I guess it's just something thats in the nature these games. Elder Scrolls games are more about providing a world for the player(also via the modding community) to make up his own stories in. The Witcher(or any of the Bioware titles, sans the horrible DA2, for that matter) games are more about telling a strong story with a certain range of choices that lead to somewhat different conclusions but are very restricted in terms of level design.
But aside from all that, clearly the GOTY has to be NBA 2k12. There's just no competition. You know i'm right, dontcha? xD
But aside from all that, clearly the GOTY has to be NBA 2k12. There's just no competition. You know i'm right, dontcha? xD
Indeed, quest-critical NPC's that teleport below the world geometry forever and break the quests, 2 frames per second after 20 minutes of play, constant crashes that corrupt the game's autosaves so you can't delete them until you run HDD restore and monsters that glitch you in combat forever and require a reload, those are very minor annoyances. Game of the year material for sure.Sonic Doctor said:
Well, what a suprise. This is dissapointing. Skyrim isn't bad, it just isn't great. Skyrim represents the greatest travesty in the game industry: the singularity of genres. The Elder Scrolls franchise used to play off of some pretty specific strengths, but over the last two games, Bethesda has cheapened and watered the games down. Now the game has no strengths. Good thing the Escapists reviewers are still amused by the fact that Bethesda does open world games. It tried to be too accessible and I think it ended up alienating the fans of the series and not really doing anything new either.
But I suppose if that's really the best a person can hope for nowadays, maybe it is the game of the year. whooo.
But I suppose if that's really the best a person can hope for nowadays, maybe it is the game of the year. whooo.
Aaaand no mention of Uncharted 3? That's quite astounding. Did anybody at the escapist apart from Yahtzee play this title? Did we just forget this game exists? I don't care if it doesn't grab the GOTY award from every website (Gametrailers already did that), and Skyrim is very good, but at the very least mention it. Give the game some credit. It's not even my GOTY, Rayman Origins is, for being the least predictable and surprisingly great title to come out this year.
I have all these nominated games, and yeah, it's great Bastion keeps getting nominated as best indie game, but I would like somebody to show some love to The Binding of Isaac as a potential runner-up. I have yet to stop playing that game.
I have all these nominated games, and yeah, it's great Bastion keeps getting nominated as best indie game, but I would like somebody to show some love to The Binding of Isaac as a potential runner-up. I have yet to stop playing that game.
It's good to see Minecraft and Bastion on the list. I would have liked to have seen Trine 2, Dungeons of Dredmor, and Orcs Must Die! shoring up the indie offering.
Would LIMBO and Cave Story+ count? I know the former is a 2010 game but was only ported in 2011, and the latter is just a graphical update of a 6-year-old game (the best game ever).
I think soon the videogaming world will be split between AAA titles and low-budget indie-developed ones. Middle-ranged games seem to be doing less well as the market develops... Or is that just a warped perception of mine?
Would LIMBO and Cave Story+ count? I know the former is a 2010 game but was only ported in 2011, and the latter is just a graphical update of a 6-year-old game (the best game ever).
I think soon the videogaming world will be split between AAA titles and low-budget indie-developed ones. Middle-ranged games seem to be doing less well as the market develops... Or is that just a warped perception of mine?
Greg said:
Dragon Age 2 was fucking terrible, I have no idea what game you were playing but it wasnt Dragon Age 2. Dragon Age 2 was squeezed out in a year with horrible characters and a story that didnt go anywhere untill the end of the game. I only remember the characters from Dragon Age 2 thanks to the amusing stereotypes they fill like the Slutty Pirate Woman, The GiggleSquee Elf Girl or the Gay Wizard that makes it a challenge not to sleep with him.
"excellent story-telling"
Pretty agreeable list, wouldn't be my own, but it's great to see Dark Souls getting a mention. I would have liked to see Dead Space 2 get a nod but, it's still a good list, it was after all a rather good year.
No honorable mention for L.A. Noire? Now, I'm not even 100% sure it's my personal GOTY, so I'm not advocating it should be the Escapist's or even among its nominees... but surely, for pushing the envelope in terms of emotive characters and marrying gameplay with narrative, an honorable mention should be a perfect fit?
Was a bit surprised to find Shogun II among the nominees. While it is great, it's very iterative and not really groundbreaking in any way. I sorta get the feel it was just included to have a strategy title on there, amidst all the third-person action/adventures.
Was a bit surprised to find Shogun II among the nominees. While it is great, it's very iterative and not really groundbreaking in any way. I sorta get the feel it was just included to have a strategy title on there, amidst all the third-person action/adventures.
Lets not forget, people, that this list was compiled by 5 different people. There's no point in arguing/whining about it. For one: there's no actual award presented to the winning game. But also it's the simple fact that this story essentially equates to a forum thread in which someone says "I really liked this game and here is why." Which in turn immediately baits people into doing what any normal person on a video-game based forum does: "THAT GAME SUCKS AND HERE'S WHY! THIS OTHER GAME WAS WAY BETTER AND HERE'S WHY!" Which prompts bickering and arguments. In the end, everyone's points are just as valid as everyone elses...why? Because it's all based on personal opinion.
I would just like to remind everyone that arguing over the internet is like competing in the special olympics: even if you win, you're still retarded.
P.S. Skyrim should win if for no other reason than the mods that people have made for it...in what other game can you get attacked by a flying, mutated, fire-breathing Randy Savage?
I would just like to remind everyone that arguing over the internet is like competing in the special olympics: even if you win, you're still retarded.
P.S. Skyrim should win if for no other reason than the mods that people have made for it...in what other game can you get attacked by a flying, mutated, fire-breathing Randy Savage?
Well the year was certanly better than the last. +1
GOTY awards are still shit. -1
Overall the industry is still a bloated, unoriginal bile.
GOTY awards are still shit. -1
Overall the industry is still a bloated, unoriginal bile.
Here's where you're wrong. If this website was like you said then they would dismiss games like Mass effect and Skyrim, the RPG equivalents of Call of duty.CapitalistPig said:
As a member of both of these fan bases, I agree. Both FFXIII and DA2 were good, enjoyable games.Calibretto said:
WWF No Mercy, and MUGEN?RJ 17 said:P.S. Skyrim should win if for no other reason than the mods that people have made for it...in what other game can you get attacked by a flying, mutated, fire-breathing Randy Savage?
Because compared to Saints Row 2 the game got rid of a lot of what made SR2 fun, such as:Reaper69lol said:
Having less customization with clothing stores.
Less character customization (seriously, the gender slider was too good to get rid of)
They killed Johnny Gat in the first mission. Pretty stupid as his death was rushed and wasn't implemented well with the story.
The City of Steelport is boring. No underground mines, malls, universities, etc.
They got rid of half the side missions like Celeb Security, The Arena, and others.
The story felt so rushed, the villains sucked (seriously, a random Belgian who gets killed in the first 40 mins of gameplay, a teenage tech savant, and a Mexican wrestler?).
You got way too many powerful weapons within the first 1/4 of the game(got trouble? Call Oleg...)
The whole Dex story from the first too game got shoved away randomly.
The overall feel of the game just felt like Volition was trying too hard to go for 'over the top'. In SR1 and SR2 there was some semblance of seriousness with the story at times, and it worked. In SR3 that was gone.
It's still probably the most fun game to play of 2011, but clearly was not one of the best taking into account how much was taken away from SR3.