BEST RACING GAME
This year has had a number of decent racing games, some of which are our nominees:
-Forza Motorsport 4
-Driver: San Francisco
-Mario Kart 7
-Motorstorm: Apocalypse
-Need for Speed: The Run
And my pick for best racing game of 2011 is:
Driver San Francisco may not have been the best looking graphics, or the most refined gameplay, but it did have one thing done quite well compared to the rest of the competition; Driver SF had a deeply entertaining story that not only kept the players interest, but also tied in with the title's new gameplay mechanic, shifting (which would have been cause enough for me to give the game a hearty recommendation). Driver: San Francisco breathes new life into a genre that generally relies solely on a highly repetitive formula.
BEST PUZZLE (ADVENTURE) GAME
This year was filled with quite a few puzzle and adventure games, but not enough for their own categories, so we've made one for both. Here are the nominees:
-L.A. Noire
-Portal 2
- Catherine
And the winner is:
L.A. Noire was one of the few new intellectual properties of last year, developed by a little known studio in Sydney, and backed by the video game giants at Rockstar, the buzz generated before its release guaranteed L.A. Noire's success. It's just too bad that the developer faced so much controversy after its release, surrounding their working conditions. But, back to the game: L.A. Noire mixes old with new, fusing the gunplay and vehicular chases reminiscent of GTA4, with the story heavy, thinking mans gameplay most common in the point and click adventure games of old. What we got was a tale of corruption and mystery in the underbelly of 40's Hollywood.
BEST ACTION ADVENTURE GAME
Not to be confused with Adventure games, Action adventure titles put players in the shoes of characters in amazing situations, often facing adrenaline pumping action (thus the title of the genre). These are the nominees for 2011:
-Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
-Assassin's Creed: Revelations
-Batman: Arkham City
-InFamous 2
-Saints Row: The Third
-Zelda: Skyward Sword
And the winner is:
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is a game of high pedigree. Naughty Dog is one of the most well known developers of this, and the last two, generations, and after releasing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves in 2009, no one could have seen them releasing anything else quite as high quality. But they proved the naysayers wrong, and here sits Drake's Deception. Few games could have possibly matched the pulse pounding action scenes of Uncharted 2, but when the action flows from a burning chateau, to a sinking ship, to a crashing cargo plane (with only a few narrative hickups along the way) you start to get that Uncharted 3 is indeed a worthy successor to an amazing game.
BEST RPG
This year saw the release of some huge titles in the RPG genre. From Cyberpunk conspiracies, to Elder Scroll prohecies, to zombie infested tropical paradises, this year's RPG stable took us to a wide variety of locations and times, which were amazing. Here are the nominees:
-The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
-Dark Souls
-Deus Ex: Human Revolution
-Dead Island
-Dragon Age II
And the winner is:
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the follow up to the beloved RPG series, The Elder Scrolls. Skyrim follows the tale of the Dragonborn, a being with dragon's blood flowing through their veins, as they try to stop the end of the worlds of the living and the dead by defeating Alduin, the world eater. That said, however, Skyrim is one of the only games that allow enough freedom for players to ignore the story and truly roleplay as the character they want to be. Add to that an interesting and logical level up system, and you have not only the best RPG of the year, but one of the best games of 2011.
BEST PLATFORMER
This year saw the yet another return of everyones favourite plumber, as well as his blue, spiky rival and the little burlap boy that everyone loves. Also, some madness returned, I'm quite sure. Here are the nominees for best Platformer:
-LittleBigPlanet 2
-Sonic Generations
-Super Mario 3D Land
-Alice: Madness Returns
And the winner is:
Sonic Generations is a sonic fanboy's wet dream. The game merges the old styled gameplay from Sonics 1 through 3 with a highly improved version of the 3D gameplay from recent Sonic games, to provide us with a time twisting story of two Sonics, and their race to save their friends and come back from a bad run of games. Sonic Generations has tight gameplay and smooth visuals, and brings back the chubby classic Sonic we all kn ow and love, while dialling back the annoyingness of modern, thin Sonic.
BEST SHOOTERS
This year, we were saturated with Shooters, from Sci-Fi shooters to Warfare of the modern variety, both first and third person; 2011 was not short of shooting games.
Here are the nominees:
-Killzone 3
-Gears of War 3
-Modern Warfare 3
-Resistance 3
-Battlefield 3
-RAGE
-F.3.A.R.
And the winner is:
Gears of War 3 has nicely tied up the Gears of War trilogy, with tight gameplay and striking visuals that accompany a surprisingly well written story with plenty of plot twists to keep players interested.
The already amazing franchise already has story expanding DLC on the way, so fans can continue to explore the universe, while this trilogy is one of the first to be well and truly tied up.
Special mentions go to Resistance 3 for trilogy resolution and fire breathing shotguns.
TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR THE BEST OF 2011 PART 2
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