November 2011: Best Release

As you might have guessed from my glowing review, I've no qualms about giving The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim the award for last month's best entertainment release. Yes, Assassin's Creed: Revelations was a great send-off for Ezio Auditore, but it was too afraid to step out of the series' past shadow, while Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary still held some of the more notable flaws the 2001 original did, and Merlin and Life's Too Short were mixed bags throughout the month. So it could only be Skyrim, the package so filled with content and replay value that it can probably keep gamers playing until the games swap starts again in February, so packed with innovation that it puts the majority of its competitors to shame in its opening hour, and so intricately detailed that it rivals the best game worlds of recent times, Arkham City, Rapture and Liberty City included. Bethesda have truly outdone themselves here, righting pretty much all of the wrongs of Oblivion with such vigour it's almost overwhelming. If you want to put a video game on your Christmas list that isn't Portal or Batman (asking for all three may be a little ambitious), then you know straight where to head...
JANUARY 2011: THE KING'S SPEECH
FEBRUARY 2011: MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3
MARCH 2011: ALEX RIDER SCORPIA RISING
APRIL 2011: PORTAL 2/DOCTOR WHO: DAY OF THE MOON
MAY 2011: LA NOIRE
JUNE 2011: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
JULY 2011: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2
AUGUST 2011: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
SEPTEMBER 2011: TORCHWOOD: THE BLOOD LINE
OCTOBER 2011: BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY