Geek Life Awards 2011: Video Game of the Year
Had this been a ballot campaign, and had there been any other game with such a landslide number of votes to its name this year, then there would have been allegations of stuffing ballot-boxes and the long since deceased casting their votes from beyond the grave. Not to mention the fanboy public outcrying, fist-to-desktop demands for recounts, and an independent ombudsman being carted in.
But no. At the risk of sounding like an M&S food advert, this is not just any game that has won – this is Skyrim. The mere uttering of its hallowed name is more than enough to quell any disbelief in its win by even the most casual of gamers – hell, I know even non-gamers who would give a silent, steady nod of approval.
So, join me if you will in a round of applause as we crown The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Geek Life’s Video Game of the Year 2011.
Despite its many, many faults and flaws – some excruciatingly evil akin to going cold turkey until bugs rendering the game unplayable were fixed; some hilarious like Lydia taking planking to a whole new level – Bethesda’s fantasy epic has just got that all encompassing golden, almost intangible it. To name but a few in its winning formula arsenal, the sandbox gameplay made famous by the predecessors in the Elder Scrolls series has been elevated to beyond compare. The engrossing and ever evolving story of the Dragonborn – the character that you play, born a man (or woman, or lizard, or cat-thing) with the soul of a dragon – that changes depending on your actions across the land, and that’s before all the other stories from the numerous factions you can join and champion. Factor in the addictive gameplay just on its own, and you’ve got a virtual crack of unparalleled cracktisity.
The world of Skyrim feels truly alive and vibrant and full to the brim with content that has been coded to last just shy of forever. A good rule to go by is footing it or riding to your destinations as opposed to fast traveling, even with the ever looming fear of being swooped upon by dragons, to drink up the atmosphere. In doing so you’ll encounter all manner of randomly generated events from caravans and people going about their business to assassins and thugs hunting you down. Talking of the main stars – the dragons – their menacing presence and apt spawning just when you want to shove more bloody dragon scales back into your infinite-storage-chest at the College, is always a looming threat even as you level up. Why? Because the world evolves with you and only grants you somewhat God-ish powers, but serves to remind you that you are, blood and soul aside, a man. Or woman. Or liz… wait, we’ve done this before.
Gushing aside, and to touch back on the above flaws, the broken nature of some aspects of the game out of the box is somewhat grating and debilitating for those without Xbox Live, PSN or Steam – and there are plenty of people who don’t have access to their respective online services. That said, and not necessarily an excuse, with the scope and grandeur of the game, bug testing every facet would have pushed the release back to probably Spring 2012. Still, the release-first-patch-later mentality is less a sole problem of Bethesda than it is as the industry as a whole. Why am I saying this in their winning post? Because it needed to be said, and from their responses and fixes, it’s safe to say that they’ve learnt not only from their enormous successes, but from their mistakes. I mean, when they’ve delivered us the caliber of game that they have, it’s sort of easy to forgive them – says the guy with 111 hours clocked up.
And so congratulations are in order, and not just for Skyrim being the clear front runner from the off and scooping up our graphical non-prize-prize. Perhaps the biggest congratulations must surely go to those amongst you who managed to sheath your sword and lay down your hands swirling with pretty spells; to pry yourselves away from the pad or keyboard and vote. To be honest, we wouldn’t have blamed you if you hadn’t because, quite frankly, it’s a miracle that I managed to write this over shouting people off a mountain.
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