2011 Platinum Chalice Game of the Year nominees: Batman: Arkham City

The Dark Knight Detective's impact on games in 2011 can't be understated

Words: Charlie Barratt on December 15, 2011

GamesRadar’s sixth annual Platinum Chalice awards are only a day away. Tomorrow afternoon, we celebrate the best of what the industry’s given us in 2011, including our official choice for Game of the Year. What’s up for contention? We’ve revealed three nominees so far this week: Portal 2, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.

Today, we highlight a game that was practically nominated as soon as it was announced: Batman: Arkham City. We loved the original so much that we awarded it Game of the Year in 2009 (over Uncharted 2, no less!) and the sequel is bigger, bolder, better and Batman-ier in every way. The greatest superhero game of all time? This is the new champion, by a mile.

Is Batman: Arkham City your favorite of 2011? Whether you agree or disagree, let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to return on Friday for our full Platinum Chalice Awards, where the Game of the Year winner will finally be revealed!

Platforms:

Xbox 360, PC, PS3

Topics:

2011 Best Games of the Year, Batman: Arkham City, goty, Platinum Chalices 2011

28 comments

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Xerxes667 - December 16, 2011 9:44 a.m.

you guys are nuts Arkham City was a much better game than Asylum, true Asylum was a more focused story, but that was all down to the location, it was narrow and confining and enveloped the player in a wonderfully gloomy atmosphere. Arkham city is a much more spiraling locale, therefore the story doesn't need to be as immediately focused, it allows you to explore the wonderfully detailed world at your leisure and the sheer size of the map and variety of gameplay puts Asylum to shame... but as for GOTY material, before i played Skyrim i was 100% sure this was it, now its a wash and and its almost impossible for me to choose which is better...
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Xerxes667 - December 16, 2011 9:46 a.m.

Sprawling... not Spiraling... although i guess that kinda works too RE:Captcha Ewoks successful! star wars captchas FTW
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CitizenWolfie - December 16, 2011 5:39 a.m.

I agree with a few others in that I preferred Arkham Asylum for being more focussed and story driven and the Asylum itself was very "Metroidvania" to explore whereas I felt you only really needed all the gadgets to get the Riddler trophies in AC. My biggest problem with AC was getting my head around all the characters as I only really know the main villains and side characters. And the disappointing final boss again. But it's still an awesome game. Definitely one of the best this year and it deserves this nomination. Personally I'd choose LA Noire but I know it wont get a look-in because of Skyrim, Portal, AC and Zelda.
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KidKatana - December 16, 2011 1:18 a.m.

Hmmm. I did enjoy this game, but did anyone else find it a bit...I dunno, lacking somehow? I suppose I went into this with sky-high expectations after Arkham Asylum (which I loved) and it somehow didn't quite match up. Playing Skyward Sword now which has none of Batman's problems. GOTY for me.
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Yeager1122 - December 15, 2011 5:26 p.m.

Loved this game but still not sure what my GOTY is so many good games to pick from going to be really tough for you guys.
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mykelfredricks - December 15, 2011 1:52 p.m.

THERE IS ONLY DOVAHKIIN! ONLY SKYRIM
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codystovall - December 15, 2011 3:51 p.m.

shut up or better yet Take an arrow in the knee....I mean face.
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Doorstop - December 15, 2011 12:55 p.m.

Batman would be my game of the year if Portal 2 wasn't so wide-ranging. I would recommend Portal 2 to anyone, but Batman of course is more of a perfect 'gamer's game'. It takes everything "gamey" and runs it into perfection.
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babyhenchy1 - December 15, 2011 12:21 p.m.

Best game of the year no doubt. Almost everything about it was purely amazing. I said it in my review and I'll say it again: One of the finest action/adventure games ever made.
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shawksta - December 15, 2011 12:13 p.m.

Arkham city? LOVED IT, It was the nerely perfect sequel to one of the Best Super hero games of all time. The joker? Best performance by a male of 2011 PERIOD. He was a VERY Smarr asshole, and I wouldnt want it any other way. The sidequests were awesome aswell what with special references(OH GOD CALENDER MAN) and each having some sort of Story. My complaints? There was some elements from Arkham asylum thay I didnt feel got better, and some charactera(Specifically Two face) left me wanting more(Catwomen barely gave him more). Honestly, the only character that lasted long enough besides Strange and Joker was Penguin. Besides that This game is definitly one of the best games of 2011, and I cant WAIT to replay this game on the Wii U, whose unique potential will give the game unique propertise.
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Dadyo238 - December 15, 2011 12:09 p.m.

I haven't played it... But before you give me crap for not playing it, all I have is a 3DS, PS2, a shitty PC, and a (shudder) Wii.
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SunniDee - December 15, 2011 12:03 p.m.

we are looking at the goty or at least runner-up with portal 2/skyward winning. Skyrim does not deserve to be here with a flawless game like this with skyrim's game crashing bugs.
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wedgie - December 15, 2011 11:26 a.m.

always a good choice. However, EVERYTIME you guys bring up Arkham Asylum, you always mention how it beat out Uncharted 2. ALWAYS. I think we get it by now. Personally, AC was a fantastic game and worthy game of the year, but I think I actually liked Arkham Asylum better. Don't know why, I guess it just felt tighter and more focused or something. And *SPOILER* never liked the Lazarus Pits, and so that was a bit of a turn off for myself. But still a great game.
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codystovall - December 15, 2011 11:23 a.m.

Just know if your game of the year is Skyrim, I may never come back to your site. If you thought Skyrim was "grand" and "epic" or even anything new you need to bent over and kicked in the balls by Batman: Arkham City.
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marioman50 - December 15, 2011 10:47 a.m.

But does it have a battle with jellyfish?
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GamesRadarCharlieBarratt - December 15, 2011 11:49 a.m.

Ha.
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timeaisis - December 15, 2011 10:37 a.m.

Arkham City is GOTY in my opinion. Everything about it was excellent. The controls were perfect, combat was fun, intuitive, but challenging, the campaign was well paced and exciting, and the open world was just plain fun. There is nothing about that game I would've changed except some story nitpicking. The gameplay itself was close to perfection. Oh, and you know what would be really funny tomorrow? If GR didn't pick U3 or Skyrim and instead went with Super Mario 3D Land for GOTY. LOL. Calling it now.
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NotBraze - December 15, 2011 10:34 a.m.

This is my game of the year. Skyrim and Portal 2 are incredible, but in terms of doing what should have been absolutely impossible, Arkham City takes the cake.
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Lionzest7 - December 15, 2011 10:32 a.m.

out of all the games I played this year this has to be the most memorable and best game I've played. The campaign was actually quite lengthy, only short if you decide none of the other side quests are worth it (except they all have some storyline basis). I think this game improved upon so much from AA and the ending was excellent to end an era. The haters need to suck it.Its too bad this game will suffer from titles like MW3 which get 100X more exposure and noteriety.
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xarab4lyfex - December 15, 2011 11:10 a.m.

They're called Side Quests for a reason, no excuse for the real story to be shorter than a typical handheld game
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