Game of the Year: Skyrim
Didn't see that one coming. Steam tells me I've played 66 hours of Skyrim so far, which is probably an over-estimate considering the time in menus/ leaving it on pause etc, but that's still a hell of a lot of time only a month or so after release (plus I haven't played it in about a week). It remained thoroughly enjoyable throughout the time, and I will definitely be going back to it at some point. I played stealth/ magic by the way.
Of the other nominees, I've only played Batman: Arkham City and Portal 2. I don't own a Wii for Zelda (nor do I particularly want to) and I haven't got round to Uncharted 3 yet. The two games I have played had the unfortunate trait that they were sequels to two phenomenal games. The thing is they were both also amazing games that I spent a huge amount of time with as well...but they just didn't have...it... Batman just didn't change enough from the original formula, sure you could fly (glide) around the city, but the actual 'game' part of the game took place inside, where it was just Arkham Asylum again. Portal 2 improved the gameplay and added quite a few new and interesting mechanics to the game, but it didn't have the same 'magic' as the first one. I'm also reliably informed that Uncharted 3 falls into the same problem of being hampered by the success of the previous game...shame really.
I'll skip a few categories here (ones I don't particularly care about) and go onto the console specific (kind of...you'll see what I mean) categories.
Best Xbox 360 Game: Batman: Arkham City
Hey guess what, my Xbox is broken. I played the game on PS3 though and really enjoyed it, in fact I was going to continue playing it and keep collecting all the Riddler stuff, but then Skyrim came out, sorry Bats.
So here's my beef with these console awards... Batman was out on all of them, so was Portal 2 (which makes an appearance in the PC category). But the PS3 nominees were all actual console exclusives. It's not like these exclusives were any better than the winners of the other console awards... for example Killzone 3 was nominated. Now I played that game, it was fine...I guess, but why did it make the list above, say, Batman?
Anyway:
Best PS3 Game: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Ain't played it yet, seems like a worthy winner given the other nominees though.
Best PC Game: Portal 2
Again...why was Battlefield nominated here and nowhere else? Portal's good though, you should play it. Also, play the co-op with someone, it's just as good as the single player, and nearly as long now with the recent (free) expansion. The Witcher 2 was also a delight to play, wouldn't have even thought to pick it up if it weren't for the glowing reviews, and then was pleasantly surprised.
Best Shooter: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
I haven't bought a CoD game since Modern Warfare 2, I played A LOT of it...which is surprising because I didn't particularly enjoy it that much (hence not buying any more of them). The main reason for playing so much is the fact that you can do anything with friends and it will be enjoyable...maybe not anything, but you know...anything...what? My point being, who knows how worthy it is of winning. I bought Battlefield though this year (for the first time since 2142) and it was pretty cool...AND the campaign wasn't as bad as you've probably heard, its just that it's a modern FPS campaign, that's what they're like nowadays (apart from the quick time event to kill the rat...what?)
Best Action Adventure Game: Batman
The bat comes up again. Uncharted was a nominee for this...is it really an action adventure game rather than a shooter? I guess... Anyway, I played through the new Assassin's creed (another nominee) and it just didn't click with me. Brotherhood was really surprisingly good given the short turnaround time, and for this year's game they've just made the same game, set it in a new place and given you a new blade and bombs to worry about. I breezed through it in 9 hours, ignoring the side stuff which I had no interest in after doing it all in Brotherhood. The multiplayer is still really cool though, I'd probably spend more time with it if I had a few friends playing.
Best RPG: Skyrim
Well if it wins GotY it has to win its own category right? Dragon Age 2 is on the nominees list, another game which doesn't live up to the first one...the gameplay is better this time around but the story is definitely lacking. I'm not sure Deus Ex can be classified as an RPG..you're levelling up and putting points in stuff and all, but it's a 3rd person stealth/ shooter at the end of the day. Dark Souls seems cool, I don't think I have the patience to play it having heard stories about it though.
Best Multiplayer: Portal 2
Yeah, it's really good, but out of the nominees Battlefield 3 pips it for me.
Best Team Sports Game: NBA 2K12
That's a basketball game for the 2011/2012 season if you're wondering what all those letters and numbers mean. It's funny because the game was released at a time when it was thought there wasn't even going to be a professional basketball season this year (you can find out about that from someone who knows more about it than me). I'd quite like to play this one actually, I'm not big into basketball, but it does seem very well put together. I've played a lot of Madden 12 and Fifa 12, so one of those would be my winner, but if professional reviewers are to be believed, NBA is a worthy winner.
Best Driving Game: Forza 4
This didn't seem that compelling to me, didn't play it. I did play a lot of DiRt 3 though, and that was super fun...although a lot of time was spent playing this game type online with a friend where the players are split up into teams. Each team has one player driving a slow mini, and the rest driving fairly fast cars, and the objective is for the team to get their mini to the end of the track first. This nearly always results in hilarious carnage, you'd probably have to experience it to appreciate it. Need for Speed is on the list...really? I played the demo and was like...this is bad, and after so much promise too. And then lo and behold, the game got slated.
Best Motion Game: Zelda: Skyward Sword
Come on, this is a category? Motion games. Seriously.
Best Independent Game: Minecraft
I dunno man, a hell of a lot of people play minecraft (myself included occasionally, haven't checked out version 1 yet though) but I bet a lot of those people haven't played Bastion. Please go and play Bastion. Like, seriously. I was about to spew a bunch of hyperbole about it but what use is that? It's really, really good. That'll do.
Best Song in a Game: Setting Sail, Coming Home (End Theme) by Darren Korb, Bastion
Haunting, captivating and beautiful. The entire soundtrack for Basion is unbelievable. I'm a bit of a fan of music, I'm sure you'll find this out eventually.
Best Original Score: Bastion
Yep, sounds good to me. (geddit?)
Best Graphics: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
I'm assuming this category was for console games, because I'm sure there are PC games which look better, I mean Uncharted does look pretty though. And did you SEE the facial animation in L.A. Noire?
Most Anticipated Game: Mass Effect 3
It's Bioshock Infinite for me, but I'm really looking forward to all the nominations (Diablo 3, Halo 4, The Last Guardian). Well, not Halo actually. Halo: CE was an amazing, genre-defining (for console shooters) piece of work...but lately, it's just been plain old Halo, man...we know exactly what to expect. I tired of it after the end of the third one, you know, when it was supposed to end?
Alright that'll do then, well done for making it to the end.
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