2011 was a pretty great year for games. We had some titles that tried to change the industry (LA Noire), some that stuck to the same formula and didn’t do so well (MW3), and a ton of titles that wowed gamers. Skyrim, Uncharted 3, Portal 2, Skyward Sword, Battlefield 3, and Gears of War 3 were just a few of the games that were Game of the Year contenders. After a lot of number crunching, Vivid Gamer has finally chosen our Game of the Year for 2011. We came to the decision using the Cy Young style of voting. Each member of the staff ranked their top 5-10 games. Each position was given a certain number of points, and the title with the most points would be our Game of the Year. But before we reveal what our GOTY title is, lets take a look at some of the contenders chosen by the Vivid Gamer Staff.

Without further ado, Vivid Gamer’s first-ever Game of the Year award goes to….

 Portal 2

With the most first-place votes and the most top-three votes, Portal 2 just barely beat out Skyrim to make it our Game of the Year for 2011. Here’s what some of our writers had to say about Portal 2 and why it deserves to be the Game of the Year:

“The return of GLaDOS and Chell marks Valve’s crown jewel, a mind-bending puzzle game that excites, scares, and intrigues for its entirety.” – Kyle

“One of the funniest games in years brings clever dialogue, impressive puzzles, and a story both engrossing and memorable.” – James

“This was a full-fledged sequel to the hit Portal. It had more levels, more comedy, and of course more GLaDOS.” – Aaron

“Portal 2 improves on the original formula with the addition of a witty new character and clever implementation of the portal gun functionality in respect to the player’s surroundings, resulting in an GOTY experience.” – Ryan

“Portal 2 far exceeded my expectations, especially with the excellent co-op experience. The puzzles might not have been as challenging, but they were still exciting to solve and it would have only been better if there was motion sensor support” – Eric

“I love that an unconventional genre like a puzzle game could be on everyone’s GOTY lists. The fact that the puzzles were challenging and the dialog hilarious make it an even more memorable experience.” – Rebecca

Disgaea 4, SMT: Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Bastion, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, LA Noire, Dead Space 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Pokemon Black/White, and Ghost Trick were all titles that were on someone’s list but failed to gather enough votes. Though not everyone can agree one particular title for GOTY, we can all agree that 2011 was an amazing year for games and we can only hope that 2012 will be just as good, if not better.