eGamer Awards 2011: Best Story

This year we were treated to some fantastic stories and introduced to bold new worlds. Many of the experiences have stuck with us through the entire year, and as we reach the end it’s time to look back and decide which was the most captivating, and inevitably the best, story of 2011.

The Rundown

This is always an interesting award to hand out. Many people believe that best story is all about the story itself, in terms of how good, interesting or deep it is. However, there is a lot more to it than that. Stories need to be paced well, they need to have solid settings and accuracy, they need characters and events that drive the plot forward and they need to be told well so that you can become engrossed in them and understand and relate to them. One of the largest factors that make up a good story, which is incidentally also the most challenging, is the ability to keep people hooked until the end. Not many games, books or even movies manage to successfully pull this off all the time, and the mark of a great story is ultimately its ability to capture an audience and keep them compelled until the very end.

The Nominees

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Deus Ex: Human Revolution was one of the most captivating tales of this entire year. Its unique setting and fully realised world may have had a premise we’re familiar with, but from the word go you were made to see how deeply interesting and compelling the world and story of Human Revolution really was. The game expertly captured you with its narrative and dialogue, and it was paced and presented well enough so that it kept you in the loop without any hassle, and it told players a gripping story while at the same time allowed them to somewhat influence it through choice and action. Many games have great stories, but the mark of any good one is in the storytelling, pacing and presentation, and Human Revolution quickly proved to be on top of the charts in all of these areas. It was hard to leave your seat once you became immersed into the game’s world, and some of the later main story interactions presented some of the most intense experiences we’ve had this year. Perhaps the only disappointing thing about the story was that it didn’t really build up enough to its spectacular conclusion, at least not in a way that made everything feel connected, and the aftermath wasn’t really as conclusive as we’d have liked, but the story was overall incredible and kept us deeply invested until the end.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Batman: Arkham City

With Batman: Arkham City, Rocksteady once again proved that they know exactly what they’re doing. From beginning to shocking end, Arkham City was an engrossing thrill-ride that stayed constantly at a high. It did, however, have a few stumbles along the way, and towards the end, and occasionally throughout, some aspects of the story get dealt with too quickly, but that didn’t take anything away from what Rocksteady had achieved. It was just brilliant how well the studio drew from the source material in their game, in their own way too, in order to deliver a dark, compelling tale that could have actually been part of the DC universe. The game made astounding use of its concepts and villains, and brought the Dark Knight, his world and its classic comic book characters to life in a way you could never have believed possible for a video game. It was honestly the stuff comic fanatics’ dreams are made of. All in all, it’s fully deserving of its nomination for being one of the most engrossing tales of the year.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

The Witcher 2

The Witcher 2 was simply masterful in its story-telling and its creation of a convincing, atmospheric fantasy world. The game expertly immersed you into its world and its story, and it really featured an excellent narrative that moved forward from the original game and presented itself more boldly. It was more risky, gritty and extreme, and it was a definite step up from its predecessor. It was a story-driven game that focused on choice and consequences, but it was awesome in the way it handled this element, because it there weren’t robotic moments of choice like standard one-or-the-other scenarios, but rather it felt more organic and natural, and was full of surprises. It was hard not to be deeply intrigued by the twists and turns of the story, the motivations of the characters and the unraveling of various plot-lines, whether minor or grand. It just all created a world that begged to be explored and a story that you couldn’t help but feel completely invested in, and it was in this that the game shined. Overall it was one of the most compelling and amazing stories we’ve experienced in recent history.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception took on a more personal tone with its story, and the characters were as likable and entertaining as ever. Their brilliant chemistry is part of what makes this series special. Sure enough Uncharted 3 followed the series’ formulaic premise, but for the most part the game’s strength was in its unpredictability. There was telling where the game would take you next, and in what situation it would put you in, and this played a large role in making the plot very interesting. Even more so was that the series opened up bold new story elements with various character revelations, and quite honestly some of its ideas were absolutely brilliant, especially those that relate to Nathan Drake himself. However, what was disappointing about the story was that it didn’t greatly elaborate, especially on some of the highly mysterious and intriguing concepts it put forward. Sadly it was hard to tell whether the game purposefully left things ambiguous and up to the players’ interpretation or whether it genuinely stumbled. Still, the story was one of the driving factors that kept us rooted to our seats, and the game wonderfully captures its audience with its characters. In fact the story and characters play such an important role that without them, Uncharted 3 would be significantly less of an experience.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the most immersive gaming experiences we’ve ever had. It featured a massive world that was fully open for the player to explore and take action in. The premise of the game was fantastic as a means of both empowering the player and creating deep interest in the world and story of the game. And when you put aside the main story of the game, you had an enormous number of other plot-lines and mini quests that all contained their own back stories and scripts. It was a game that captured players and kept them engrossed even when sub plots weren’t highly intriguing. However, one thing we felt the game could have used more of in its plot was a greater sense of drama for some of the more intense missions. The game handled many quests exceptionally well, and we don’t even need to tell you how absolutely exhilarating encounters with dragons were, because of the way the world reacted to their arrival, an epic score erupted and everything suddenly felt more dramatic. Sadly, other parts of the game don’t quite carry the same dramatic effect despite the concepts reaching epic proportions, and we felt this hampered the story. In the end though, Skyrim did well to create an incredibly interesting world full of discovery and mystery, and it was amazing.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

And the winner is…

The winner wasn’t Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, because even though we loved the story, we were disappointed that it didn’t elaborate on some of the brilliant ideas that it had. It really could have gone deeper, and the result could have been something to truly marvel at.

Sadly, it wasn’t Batman: Arkham City that took the prize either. It was definitely phenomenal and made truly excellent use of its source material, but it did have a few stumbles along the way in that some important aspects of the plot often got dealt with too quickly. This wasn’t the sole reason of course, as this year consistently seems to give us a dilemma with the competition simply being extremely strong.

Which is exactly the reason why Deus Ex: Human Revolution didn’t claim the prize, although it came pretty darn close. The disappointing element we mentioned did hamper the story a little bit, but ultimately our reason can only come down to our winner being the better choice.

Lastly, it wasn’t The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that took this award. We felt it could have done better with some of its more intense missions, particularly with the element of drama that it captures so exceptionally whenever dragons were involved. It was definitely tough competition for this award, as the games nominated are all deserving of high praise. Unfortunately, there can only be one winner.

The WINNER of eGamer’s Best Story Award of 2011 is…

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

The Witcher 2!

The Witcher 2 truly is one of the most memorable and best-written fantasy games you can play. It was just masterful in its presentation of its narrative, and as we’ve already said the game was outstanding with its story-telling and its creation of a convincing, atmospheric fantasy world. The beauty of the narrative was that, aside from the game’s variety of different endings, the story felt personal, and you could talk to many different players and easily be surprised by what you discovered regarding the differences in your experiences. It didn’t rely on conventional means to drive its plot forward, and overall it was just a deeply immersive and incredible experience – a narrative triumph. And after all is said and done, we feel that it is fully deserving of the Best Story award for 2011.