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Home News Game of the Year 2011

GAMING NEWS

Game of the Year 2011

Posted on Friday, December 23 @ 09:36:47 Eastern by


The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim


Platform(s): Xbox 360, PC, PS3

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Except for overgrown Fus Ro Dah and arrow to the knee memes, which make the entire gaming community sound like winded old men, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim righteously deserves all of our praise. The vast scale of its Nordic open world is at once breathtaking and invigorating, and yet almost every facet of the game is elegant, an adjective not normally associated with video games. No enemy is too powerful to overcome, no skill is too simple to develop, and no goal is too far beyond your reach. Skyrim rekindles that ancient spirit of adventure buried within us, to a time and place we wish we could remember at a moment's call.

It's easy, perhaps too easy, to wag a finger at the game's innumerous glitches, if not just the repetitive NPC dialogue, the lack of companion control, and the exceedingly high population of bandits and draugr. But gratuitous ruthlessness only shows how extreme we must become to pierce its armor. Perhaps if we were gods, or Daedric Princes, we could discard Skyrim into the muck of imperfections. But we are only Dragonborn, at worst a foolish legend and at best a loud-mouthed demi-god. (At least until those goddamn arrows...)

Runners Up:
  • Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
  • Portal 2
  • Batman: Arkham City
  • Dark Souls
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Related Games:   The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Tags:   Best of GR, Skyrim


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Comments
  • hovdog
    hovdog
    Joined: May 2011
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2011 at 10:08 am
    w00t
    0 0
  • Bras
    Bras
    Joined: Jul 2008
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2011 at 10:12 am
    So, if none of the staff members picked Skyrim, and it (unfairly I must admit) didn't reach the finals in the Community poll, then where did this come from? Don't even think of yelling "Tamriel!"
    0 1
  • Anthony_Severino
    Anthony_Severino
    Joined: Oct 2010
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2011 at 10:35 am
    It took a Master Alchemist, Smithy and Arcane Enchanter to forge such an award.

    Translation: Nick, Daniel and I unanimously decided in Skyrim's favor.

    I hope you've all enjoyed our award show, the biggest in GR's history.
    0 0
  • drathbone
    drathbone
    Joined: May 2011
    Posted: Dec 24th, 2011 at 11:26 am
    So did this include fudging the community choice polls?
    2 0
  • Longo_2_guns
    Longo_2_guns
    Joined: Jun 2003
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2011 at 12:21 pm
    I guess it is really easy to overlook Skyrim's faults, because you did. WHOOPS DID I JUST SAY THAT OUTLOUD?
    Yes, yes I did.
    0 1
  • warmaster670
    warmaster670
    Joined: Jun 2007
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2011 at 12:41 pm
    Its always easy to overlooka great games faults, if you cant, well sucks to be you, theres a reason theres alot of great older games, its because people can look through its faults.
    0 0
  • spartan317
    spartan317
    Joined: Dec 2005
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2011 at 1:17 pm
    And the truth shall set you free!

    There were less glitchy games. There were more immersive stories. There were innovations galore!

    There is however a world that needs exploring in Skyrim... With more to come... If you don't like what Skyrim did then I challenge you to make one better.
    0 0
  • Imnickson
    Imnickson
    Joined: Jul 2006
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2011 at 1:54 pm
    I really enjoy Skyrim, but GOTY it is not. Good thing I can formulate my own opinions and don't require the entirety of the internets to validate them.
    0 3
  • Longo_2_guns
    Longo_2_guns
    Joined: Jun 2003
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2011 at 2:09 pm
    I disagree. I think we should all be loud. Because someday, somewhere, someone's going to think about it and go "You know, you were right." And in that brief moment, a moment that seems to pass like it was nothing, you absorb a small fraction of their soul and add it to your own.

    I live for that moment.
    0 3
  • Imnickson
    Imnickson
    Joined: Jul 2006
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2011 at 3:45 pm
    So you must have chose Dark Souls as your GOTY...since you soul farm the internet.
    0 1
  • UghRochester
    UghRochester
    Joined: Jun 2006
    Posted: Dec 24th, 2011 at 7:07 am
    Longo_2_guns: Living for the moment, dying for disapproval.
    0 0
  • LawnGnome
    LawnGnome
    Joined: Apr 2007
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2011 at 1:58 pm
    It seems like, for whatever reason, it was decided that they would give as many different games as possible awards this year. Is that why there’s not a game repeated in any category? There were a lot of awards that read like “You would think we would give it to that other game, but instead we re-interpreted the award category so that we could give it to this game instead”. Is this why Skyrim was cheated out of being in the Community Choice Award finals?
    0 0
  • warmaster670
    warmaster670
    Joined: Jun 2007
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2011 at 9:46 pm
    Or, you know, they simply established that they didn't want to give 1 game multiple awards.
    0 0
  • Beta_GR
    Beta_GR
    Joined: Jun 2006
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2011 at 2:48 pm
    Did SWTOR come out too late? If so, will it be eligible for next year's awards?
    0 0
  • Chunibrow
    Chunibrow
    Joined: Mar 2010
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2011 at 10:32 pm
    Skyrim = greatest western rpg
    0 0
  • Sensei_Rebel
    Sensei_Rebel
    Joined: Mar 2008
    Posted: Dec 24th, 2011 at 12:40 am
    Violence and darkness on top as usual with no original IP in sight. Gaming industry will take forever to grow up.
    3 1
  • Longo_2_guns
    Longo_2_guns
    Joined: Jun 2003
    Posted: Dec 24th, 2011 at 2:53 am
    It did grow up. And then it grew down.
    0 0
  • Daddio
    Daddio
    Joined: Nov 2008
    Posted: Dec 24th, 2011 at 6:54 am
    The game had a lot of great features, and it also had a lot of bad faults. I for one have run into 2 major bugs, 2 bugs in 90 hours of gameplay is pretty win for me!
    0 0

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