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Most Ridiculous Use of FMV
Comic Jumper
After spending some time fooling you into thinking that it's a fairly standard side-scrolling shooter, Comic Jumper goes off the rails completely with a hilarious video intro that sets the stage for what's to come. The human side of the game is revisited a few times throughout, going so far as to actually put members of the game's development team in as characters in the game. But it's the super attack, a strong pummeling from a collection of human arms, legs, and even heads, that sends it over the moon. Those Twisted Pixel guys are out of their minds in the most glorious way possible, and Comic Jumper's dedication to making the most out of every single megabyte of video is actually the best part of the entire production.
Most Improved Franchise
Need for Speed
But Criterion destroyed any and all doubts with Hot Pursuit, a razor-sharp racer featuring gorgeous visuals, a solid sense of speed, and a smart progression system that encouraged you to play the game however you liked, whether that meant focusing on playing as the pursuing cops or the evasive racers, playing online or off, or any combination thereof. The Autolog feature was specifically a revelation, dynamically generating attainable challenges based on how good your friends actually are at Hot Pursuit. The Need for Speed name is stronger than it has been for a good decade now, thanks entirely to Hot Pursuit, which is why we choose it for Most Improved Franchise of 2010.
Most Egregious Use Of Product Placement/In-Game Advertising
Shaun White Skateboarding
To take matters one step further, the game even has a branded achievement/trophy that unlocks when you complete this grim task. It's too bad, too, because there are certainly some interesting ideas in Shaun White Skateboarding. But this aspect is so incredibly misguided that I don't think any of us will ever find out how it all turns out in the end.
Worst Accent
Heavy Rain
Now, we're not trying to claim anyone speaks unintelligibly in Heavy Rain or anything. The acting itself is generally quite serviceable. It's just that, for a story that's so clearly set and grounded in a specific area of the northeastern United States, it's pointedly obvious every so often that many of the principal voice actors in the game aren't native speakers of American English. The largely European cast gets it right 99 percent of the time--but that makes the contrast all the more glaring when they subtly slip up. It's that stray inflection here or oddly enunciated syllable there that takes you out of the story and makes you think "Oh yeah, right, this game was made in a place other than where it's set." For such a narrative-driven game, every aspect of the production should enhance, and not distract from, the storytelling.
Best Wii-Only Game
Super Mario Galaxy 2
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