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The 2011 Shooter Of The Year Awards

The manufactured Battlefield 3 vs. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 rivalry may have dominated headlines, but gamers had plenty of opportunities to get behind the ironsights in 2011. From the creative, under-appreciated entries like Bulletstorm and Crysis 2 to the big guns like Gears of War 3, we had no shortage of quality options for shooting virtual enemies in the head. But which games stood out the most? Read on to find out. 

Best Story Campaign: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

The Call of Duty campaigns typically have incomprehensive, continent jumping plots that prioritize jaw dropping set pieces moments over character development, and Modern Warfare 3 is no different. Though the campaign still leans heavily on the Call of Duty 4 mission template (like nearly every other modern shooter), the Russian plane crash, sandstorm mission, and Juggernaut suit powered finale were each quality water cooler moments that stood above the moment to moment action of typical shooter missions.

Best Cooperative Mode: Horde Mode – Gears of War 3

In Gears of War 3, Epic Games makes its influential Horde mode even better by taking a page out of the tower defense game playbook. With barriers, turrets, sentries, and decoys at their disposal, teams can fortify their position like never before in the quest to survive the increasingly menacing enemy waves. This is cooperative gameplay at its finest.

Best Multiplayer: Battlefield 3

How do you retake the multiplayer crown? By re-introducing 64-player battles on wide-open maps filled with jets, tanks, and squads of teammates coordinating to capture control points. The web-based interface remains a point of contention for many PC players, but you can't beat the thrill of Battlefield 3's large-scale warfare. Console players are stuck with smaller, 24-player versions of these maps, but the drastically improved progression system and team-based gameplay still offer plenty of reasons to re-enlist for one more match.

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Comments
  • And cue the anti-COD rage...
  • so mw3 gets 1 award bf3 gets 3 and mw3 wins!!!! with this logic ive won every single board game ive ever played
  • COD actually deserves the shooter of the year award for once
    edit: and dont hate because i have every game there except for rage and bulletstorm
  • This is going to get a lot of criticism, but I respect the decision.
  • Storyline of MW3 beats Gears of War 3? Bull ***.
  • what about Resistance 3 and Killzone 3? Resistance definitely had a better story than MW3
  • I still prefer Killzone over the other nominations.
  • All good and well until the last one...
  • For some reason, i can't stand caspian. I can never get mote than 6 kills in one match of conquest there. Other than that, I'm kinda glad that MW3 won. I thought this was the most solid COD entry since COD4.
  • I agree with this, Gears was pretty good, Battlefield bored me, but the moments in MW3 are just freaking amazing. Then the multiplayer is as tight as usual too.
  • Rage did it for me! Some unusual but cool weapons, given the game's dark, cataclysm setting, made it great.
  • You guys really did your research. I'm glad there was not a "voting by the way of majority" by simply giving the awards to the titles that have the most fanboys. I would have been severely disappointed if Rage didn't snag the top enemy AI spot.

  • Alright, tell us GI; Just how much has activision been paying you?
  • If based on sales, I guess cod wins. Based on quality, bf3 wins. Then again, cod has all the sheep like Apple ^^
  • This is very surprising. Most of the people that I know that own MW3, aren't overly impressed with it. It's almost like they are too scared to not give the award to a different game because they will upset all of the fans. I know everyone is always crying because their favorite game didn't win. I really don't care. I own and enjoy all of them. MW3 isn't the best, period. But, I'm sure a lot of people will be happy about this. Good call GI.
  • Totally agree with the sheep statement. COD is to gaming as APPLE is to electronics. Its a pitiful time to be a gamer when people keep buying the same gamer over and over. Madden, COD take a break.
  • Good choice i just cant play BF3 for as long as i play MW
  • I was going to be disappointed if best multiplayer didn't go to Battlefield 3. I think that was the only time that I actually executed a cooperated plan with strangers without anyone talking. It was pretty amazing. It was pretty much the exact opposite of every game of CoD I've ever played, which has been a lot.
    I also really do hate the killstreak system in CoD. Remember how terrible a game of Counter-Strike is when your team has no money and the other team does and they get all of the good weapons? Yeah, that really sucks.
  • I wish dead island would have won something, like best co-op, but oh well.
  • Portal is a half shooter, half puzzle. It should win best story. :)
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