Here at the Freakin’ Awesome Network, we like to let our fans contribute every now and then. It is the end of the year, and that means end of the year awards for the various aspects of pop culture. This particular list of awards covers video games and the fans of FAN voted on a list of nominees that can be found here. So without further ado, here are the winners. Did your favorite games win?
Best Voice Cast
Winner: Batman: Arkham City
The FANdom decided it was Arkham City, with its list of who’s who among voice actors ranging from Batman veterans Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, and Tara Strong to Nolan North and Maurice LaMarche that was the best overall vocal cast of the year.
Best Female Voice
Winner: Ellen McLain as GLaDOS
The fans have spoken, and they have chosen Ellen McLain’s reprisal of the devious GLaDOS in Portal 2 to be the best performance by a female voice actor this year. *clap* *clap* *clap*
Best Male Voice
Winner: Mark Hamill as The Joker
It is hard to argue that Mark Hamill’s potentially last go as the Crown Prince of Crime was anything less than awe inspiring, and so it is no surprise that the fans agreed, giving Mark Hamill the award for a performance for the ages.
Best Art Direction
Winner: Batman: Arkham City
Arkham City gave many Batman characters a new set of duds, while at the same time managing to incorporate aspects from nearly every depiction of Gotham City in live action media into the cityscape.
Best Art Style
Winner: Bastion
All of the nominees for this award are prime examples of the video games are art argument, and the amazing art style presented in Bastion barely edged out Skyward Sword in the eyes of the fans.
Best Graphics
Winner: Batman: Arkham City
To have the best graphics doesn’t just mean having the highest graphical fidelity, it also means having good lighting, good physics, good textures, and good animations. Just simply taking a stroll down the street in Arkham City shows it isn’t hard to see why it was voted as the winner.
Best Original Score
Winner: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
One of the reasons the Uncharted series is praised for its film like presentation is the orchestral cinematic soundtrack each game in the series has. It is almost always top notch, and Drake’s Deception keeps up with the series standard in spades.
Best Indie Game
Winner: Minecraft
So it finally has happened, Mojang’s ambitious project, possibly the biggest indie hit not on a mobile phone, Minecraft, has finally officially launched this year. We already knew the game was top stuff before this year, so its victory in this category was just an inevitability.
Best Downloadable Game
Winner: Bastion
Bastion was one of the biggest surprises of 2011 on the gaming front. At one point the game was even being talked about as a potential contender for Game of the Year. That speaks volumes about the quality of this game, and it is justly deserved.
Best Rhythm Game
Winner: Rocksmith
Rocksmith does a twist to the usual guitar playing game, in that the controller is an actual electric guitar and that the game teaches you how to play it. In a bit of irony, though, the game was loathed by its target audience, those inexperienced in the ways of playing guitar, only to be praised by experienced guitar player.
Best Puzzle Game
Winner: Portal 2
Now FAN is thinking with portals. A good puzzle game should stump you, make you think, and Portal 2 does that in spades, making you think not only outside the box, but outside of what is realistically possible. Valve’s excellent physics based puzzler was far and away not only the best puzzle game in 2011, but one of the best games period.
Best Fighting Game
Winner: Mortal Kombat
It may not have been a flawless victory, but the ninth entry in the Mortal Kombat franchise was able to win over the fans with its solid gameplay, massive amount of content, and of course the return of the franchise’s trademark fatalities.
Best Platformer
Winner: Super Mario 3D Land
Mario finally arrived onto the 3DS, and arrived he did, bringing one of the best platformers ever crafted to give the system the shot in the arm it desperately needed.
Best Driving Game
Winner: Forza Motorsport 4
Turn 10’s fourth go at it easily lapped its competition this year with stunning visuals, top notch gameplay, and a little help from the guys at Top Gear. Gran Turismo finally has a worthy challenger.
Best Sports Game
Winner: FIFA Soccer 12
It was a close contest among the fans, but in the end the leading franchise for video games played on a football pitch was able to field a winning team.
Best Role-Playing Game
Winner: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Skyrim barely avoided falling victim to a human revolution, nevertheless, Bethesda’s latest open world RPG shows exactly why so many people respect their work.
Best Action-Adventure Game
Winner: Batman: Arkham City
With a refined combat system that looks more like a choreographed dance number than a street fight and a new, larger world to run around in, Arkham City improved on virtually every aspect of Arkham Asylum. The result of which was a game that will stand the test of time.
Best Third Person Shooter
Winner: Dead Space 2
Much like how Arkham City improved on Arkham Asylum, Dead Space 2 improved on Dead Space. Dead Space 2 is not just a really good third person shooter, it is on the short list of really good horror games. On another year it could have made a real serious run for Game of the Year.
Best First Person Shooter
Winner: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
All year long, or at least since E3, all we’ve heard about was the upcoming battle between Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3. Well, the fans have spoken, and they’ve decided to side with the latest entry in Activision’s blockbuster franchise.
Best Mobile Game
Winner: Dead Space
The Dead Space franchise actually had two major releases this year. This is the second of the two. Set a few years after Dead Space 1, this game bridges the gap between the two main games in the series. Dead Space is a phenomenal game, and is one of the few games to make a good argument for mobile gaming as a serious platform.
Best Handheld Game
Winner: Pokemon Black & White
The main games in the Pokemon series are always stellar, and the latest entry in the series is no exception. Black & White is essentially a soft reboot to the franchise, limiting you to just 156 Pokemon until you beat the Elite Four, upon which you finally can trade with previous games in the series and catch Pokemon from previous generations out in the wild. Easily the best gameplay in the series to date makes the newest installment of handheld gaming’s biggest franchise a no brainer for the title of the best handheld game of 2011.
Best PC Game
Winner: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
The Witcher 2 continues the journey of Geralt and is unapologetically brutal in its difficulty. The game is visually stunning, and the gameplay is great, albeit unforgiving. It is easily the best game to come out exclusively on PCs this year.
Best Wii Game
Winner: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
It is a shame that the best game to use the Wii’s motion controls in a “core” experience came out in the last year of the system’s actual relevance. Next year the console will be overshadowed by its successor, the Wii U. Still, the tight motion controls, coupled with a good story, breathtaking watercolor art style, and soundtrack that meets the series’ standard, makes for a game that gives the Wii a great sendoff.
Best PS3 Game
Winner: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Uncharted 3 is without a doubt the most cinematic of the Uncharted games yet. The soundtrack that just sweeps you in. The breathtaking story, level designs that don’t seem possible, and a brand new melee system makes Uncharted 3 a game you have to see to believe.
Best Xbox 360 Game
Winner: Gears of War 3
Epic Games closes out the Gears trilogy in a truly epic way. The most refined gameplay in series history coupled with great visuals, big bosses, and a good story gives the tale of Marcus Fenix the closure he’s fought years for.
Best Multiplatform Game
Winner: Batman: Arkham City
What is there left to say about this game? Arkham City is a prime example of why games being multiplatform is a good thing. A well made game like this is one that deserves to be played by everyone, Batman fans or not, no matter what their platform of preference is.
Game of the Year
Winner: Portal 2
The fans have voted the hilarious, tightly made brain workout machine that is Portal 2 Game of the Year. They may have also possibly threatened to burn my house down with lemons if I didn’t give this game the win. But seriously, Valve delivered what a lot of people were not expecting from them in Portal 2. A good chunk of people were worrying that Portal 2 would be around the same length as Portal was, but it really is a fully fledged game worthy of a full retail price, and it is deservedly being honored with the FAN 2011 Gold Joystick for Game of the Year.
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