Ready Up Game Awards 2011

We really do have the best hobby, don’t we? This year the games that have graced our consoles, PC’s and phones have been an embarrassment of riches, as they were last year. The games that we have chosen to award our highest accolade, as voted for by the entire staff at Ready Up, are popular choices that few could dispute. Don’t assume, however, that the Ready Up team members throw their lot in with the majority. Far from it. We had votes for a very diverse mix of titles including Tiny Wings, Mount&Blade: With Fire & Sword, Xenoblade Chronicles, Where is my Heart, Frozen Synapse and Terraria. But the big dogs won through again and it’s hardly surprising given the quality of triple A games this year. After a quick look back, it’s time to look forward to next year and our most anticipated game of the coming year bears a striking similarity to the one we voted for at the end of 2010 so we are twice as excited now!

Best Story of 2011 – L.A. Noire

Despite not quite living up to all the hype, L.A. Noire managed to capture our imaginations more than any other title in 2011 when it came to the story and it had some stiff competition. With Portal 2, Gears of War 3, Dead Space 2 and a host of other popular franchises going strong on story with emotive and absorbing plots, L.A. Noire had its work cut out to win us over but the twist and turns of Cole Phelps career kept us on tenterhooks to the very end.

Best Character of 2011 – Wheatley (Portal 2)

Adam Jenson, Cole Phelps, Marcus Fenix, Isaac Clarke, Nathan Drake and Ezio Auditore da Firenze – our allies, our heroes, our friends. They were human. They had strengths and faults. They were filled with fear, doubts, hope and determination yet they all came second in our affections to the characters of Portal 2. GLaDOS and Cave Johnson, or the echos of their memories as powered by all 1.1 volts of a potato, proved popular choices for this award but Wheatley took it in a landslide. Voiced by Stephen Merchant, our over-familiarity with the actor, as British people, was completely wiped out by a stunning script and performance making this lovely yet monstrous sphere our favourite character of 2011.

Best Graphics of 2011: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

This is the year American McGee came back with Alice: Madness Returns. It’s the year Crysis 2 and Rage could reasonably stake a claim to having the best graphics ever seen on a home console. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception was a masterclass in cinematic gaming and L.A. Noire introduced MotionScan technology that would incorporate subtle, readable facial expressions into character animations. Yet it was a landslide vote for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and its glassy-eyed NPC’s, backwards flying dragons and jagged mountains. Why? Because whether your PC is billowing fire to give you a draw distance that makes you hold your breath or you’re stuck in some blurry rocks with your hair clipping through your browny grey armour, Skyrim is still achingly beautiful. The diversity of dungeon backdrops, the towns and cities, the people, the sky, my Gods the sky…

Best Multiplayer of 2011: Portal 2

It should have been the year of the shooter for multiplayer gaming. Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3 and Gears of War 3 were all highly anticipated and delivered great online experiences yet the multiplayer experience we enjoyed sharing the most was for a non-combat, two-player co-op mode that mostly involved standing around staring and saying “It could be… hmm, that’s not it. Maybe if we… no, that won’t work.

Biggest Letdown of 2011: L.A. Noire

Despite taking our coveted Best Story award, L.A. Noire proved a big disappointment overall to the Ready Up staff and many of our readers. It was more a case of over-hyping than the game being outright bad. While Duke Nukem Forever took the full force of criticism for letting down gamers after 14 years of build up, L.A. Noire had been expected to revolutionise the medium and failed to do so in any respect. On top of this, reports of how the development studio was run and poor treatment of staff let down the whole industry and left consumers disenchanted.

Biggest Surprise of 2011: Stacking

Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Productions is a much loved and often troubled development studio. Their originality and non-conformist ideas and art style have made sure their work is always exciting but it doesn’t always make for mainstream success. While the studio waited for a decision on Brütal Legend’s new publishing deal in 2008 company morale was kept up during “Amnesia Fortnight” with a number of wild ideas being pitched. Three downloadable titles where created from this. While Costume Quest and Iron Brigade have the Double Fine touch, Stacking manages to be everything you could want not just from a Double Fine title or even a downloadable game but from any game. It’s one of the best adventures ever made, with incredibly stylish and original graphics, gameplay and concept.

Best Game of 2011: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

There is rarely a fight for top spot for any game of year award. There always seems to be one title that stands head and shoulders above its peers and this year is no exception. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, in a year of excellent games, is an unparalleled piece of entertainment. With the largest majority of any category vote from the Ready Up team, Skyrim is our unequivocal Game of the Year.

Most Anticipated Game of 2012: Mass Effect 3

For the second year running the Ready Up team are creaming their pants for Mass Effect 3. It’s testament to how incredible the series has been so far that we haven’t wavered in our ardent excitement for the last game in the trilogy all year. Roll on March 2012!