Giant Bomb's GOTY Awards: Response
By Mento 1 Comments
Those wacky Giant Bomb guys and their opinions. I already made a GOTY blog post but I think I'll make another one to respond to the super-great quadrumvirate and their podcast deliberations. Man, this got way too big. I'm not posting it on the forums, they don't deserve that. Here's to 2011 having less awards (but more games that deserve them).
Best 2009 Game in 2010: Borderlands (Noms: Forza 3, Dragon Age Origins)
(Mine: Uncharted 2) I concede their point. Borderlands was a lot of fun, even if it wore out its welcome before it ended, but they're completely correct about the DLC throughout 2010 improving the game in many aspects, making it almost a valid entry as a 2010 game. Forza 3 I didn't play, because racing games. Dragon Age Origins was my runner-up for best 2009 game I played this year, so I'd have been happy with them choosing that too.
Best New Character: Bayonetta/Mordin (Nom: Francis York Morgan)
(Mine: Mordin) Man, I love Mordin. He's a great, troubled character that perfectly represents the intellectual yet short-lived Salarian race - he cannot dwell on the past because he has so little future left: he needs to stay focused on new inventions and discoveries to get the most out of his remaining time, conveniently ignoring the mistakes when they would haunt anyone else. Bayonetta is basically Jessica Rabbit if she was a magic-using high-ranking member of COBRA. I didn't get the chance to play Deadly Premonition, and am in no hurry after the Endurance Run (if that game has anything good about it, it's the presentation of its craziness. Which I've already seen.)
Best Original Song: Pac-Man CE DX Intro Song (Noms: Betus Blues - Super Meat Boy, Life is Beautiful - Deadly Premonition)
(Mine: Potential For Anything - VVVVVV) This is always a tricky category. Video game music does one of two things when its good: It will either blend effortlessly into the background, enhancing the atmosphere without sticking out (and thus make it hard to qualify for this award), or make you nod your head and tap your feet in rhythm as you negotiate one pitfall or another for the dozenth time. Obviously, VVVVVV and Super Meat Boy do the latter spectacularly well. I'll give it to the GB crew that the Pac-Man menu song is catchy as hell though.
Best Debut: Bayonetta (Noms: Super Meat Boy, Limbo)
(Mine: Vanquish) Because they snubbed Vanquish entirely in their best debut discussions, while putting Bayonetta on top, I'll do the opposite. Vanquish was the better game, not because it played things safe and had a more "traditional" "invaders take over curiously ring-shaped world and a semi-robotic super-soldier takes them out" angle, but because it was the better game. It took the TPS cover-based template of "dat Gears" et al and threw it the ol' double deuce, demonstrating time and time again that launching yourself towards enemies with rocket boots and ripping the diodes out of them trumps taking pot shots behind some nondescript cybercrates every time. Super Meat Boy felt like a love-letter (and the zenith-reaching capstone) to a whole genre rather than its own unique thing, and Limbo was just 1998's Heart of Darkness in silhouette.
Best PC Only Game: Starcraft II (Noms: Civ V, VVVVVV)
(Mine: Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale) Normally I don't play enough (or any, really) PC games in one year to have an opinion, but these past couple of months had two of Steam's biggest sales and has given me ample ammunition for a best of category. I can't stand RTS games, so Starcraft II is out, but that's more from a personal failing than anything objective. Civ V could well be fantastic, but no Civilization game is ever going to top Master of Magic, so I'm not sure why they keep trying. VVVVVV was wonderful, but I'm going to give my recommendation to Recettear, which currently has the highest "what I paid" to "how much I've played it" ratio than any other game in recent memory. It's that kind of niche, innovative (well, outside of a single chapter of Dragon Quest IV) JRPG that suits me just fine.
Best Downloadable Add-On: Project Minerva - Bioshock 2
(Mine: N/A) I, uh, didn't download any DLC this year. For anything. So I'll go with whatever they went with. Why not.
Best Co-Op: Halo: Reach
(Mine: Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light) Their pick doesn't surprise me. Everyone loves dat Halo. I personally thought the Lara Croft game had a completely badass co-op, though considering it's the game's main focus (rather than some hastily added "and a second guy can play too" feature) it's bound to come ahead. The puzzles just get so much more devious when you need to use both sets of talents in tandem.
Best Download-Only Game: Pac-Man CE DX
(Mine: Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale) I already had Recettear on my original GOTY list and nothing's changing my mind about that. I've finally got around to many of the downloadable-only games of the past thanks to the Steam sales and an additional Humble Bundle. It's definitely not the disposable genre I thought it was (though I still submit that the Indie market is just as imaginatively-bankrupt as retail).
Best Looking Game: Kirby's Epic Yarn
(Mine: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood) I contemplated choosing something aesthetically unique like the crew did, but decided to stick with something just conventionally breathtaking. Rome is just amazing, and climbing each viewpoint and being hit with those vistas never really got old. I could go for Vanquish too, it had some insane visuals.
Best 360-Only Game: Halo: Reach
(Mine: ...Crackdown 2) I just realized the only game that counts for this category that I've played this year is Crackdown 2. That's a little distressing, because it probably shouldn't be featured on any "best of" list. As much as I tend to consider Halo overrated and "done", it was almost certainly better than Crackdown 2's reheated leftovers.
Most Ridiculous Use of FMV: Comic Jumper
(Mine: Comic Jumper) Well, since it was a joke category for a game I never played, I'll go with the GB crew. I like how they actually had to debate it in the podcast, despite FMV being sort of ridiculous in general in this day and age.
Most Improved Franchise: Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (Noms: Red Steel, Just Cause)
(Mine: Nier)For me, Just Cause (and Mass Effect & Assassin's Creed Brotherhood for that matter) were improvements to games that were already good. Likewise, but on a smaller scale, Red Steel went from mediocre to average. I didn't play NFS (because racing games) but with that genre it never really seem like there's a lot going on between increments besides shinier cars and backgrounds. It's all the control precision and feel of the driving, I guess, which you don't get unless you play them yourself. Benefit of the doubt for the team on that one, but I'm still going to go with Nier since its incredibly loose connection to Drakengard makes it part of that franchise, sort of. I hated the latter but enjoyed the former for what it was, so to me that seems like the biggest improvement.
Most Egregious Use Of Product Placement/In-Game Advertising: Shaun White Skateboarding
(Mine: Shaun White Skateboarding) Again, this felt like a simple joke category for the rather contemptible in-game advertising that has the added audacity to masquerade as some kind of anti-establishment freedom of speech, which was so patently ridiculous it needed its own category to highlight it. Which it has. So I'm done here.
Worst Accent: Heavy Rain (Noms: COD:BLOPS, Dead Rising 2)
(Mine: ???) Man, I really don't notice accents. It's like, who cares? When it's someone like Sam Worthington, who is apparently a real actor according to Hollywood (they made a similarly confusing claim about Shia LeBeouf), it's a little more grievous, but it really doesn't matter too much. Then again, I'm dismissing all those great voice actors who make their living with these games with perfectly fine voice work, so well done to them for not being nominated.
Best Wii-Only Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Noms: Goldeneye 007, Kirby's Epic Yarn)
(Mine: Super Mario Galaxy 2) I already said as much in my original GOTY blog post. The only other Wii game I played from this year was Crystal Bearers (though I have No More Heroes 2 on the backlog), so it's no contest. I really want to play their other two noms (and DKCR) at some point too.
Character We'd Most Like to Party With: The Illusive Man - Mass Effect 2
(Mine: The Crew of the D.S.S. Souleye - VVVVVV) Those adorable bald-headed goons would be fun to hang out with, plus you'd have that onboard jukebox with all the banging tunes from the game to rock out to. Failing that, you could always put on Lionel Richie's "Dancing On The Ceiling" and have at it. Let's hope no-one accidentally spills a beer on the teleporter...
Dave's Eastern Bloc Game of the Year: STALKER: Call of Pripyat
(Mine: N/A) Well, it's got his name on it. I'll go with whatever the Snider thinks. Plus I don't think I played an Eastern Bloc game this year (does Singularity count?).
Worst Trend: Retailer-Specific Pre-Order Bonuses
(Mine: DCSNCUTS"BGSABWGIS"MoC) Ehhh, I see their point about the pre-order bonuses ruining things for people who want everything the game has to offer to be available to them, but if you're buying every piece of DLC (that doesn't add major content) you've got problems. It feels like a necessary evil that isn't such a big deal, like in-game advertising. I'd say Multiplayer-only achievements, but that wasn't new in 2010. I'll go with "Digital Content Stores Not Catching Up To Steam's 'Basically Giving Shit Away Because We Got Infinite Stock' Model of Commerce". Catchy.
Best Story: Red Dead Redemption
(Mine: Mass Effect 2) Granted, Red Dead has a kickass western narrative in the "tired ol' gunslinger" Unforgiven/True Grit mold. However, it feels more like a three part trilogy, like the Dollars/Man With No Name series, except the middle part just happens to suck. Langston Rickets aside, the whole "comedy douchebag revolutionary" Mexican sojourn was as painful as the game's constant cougar encounters. Mass Effect 2 was episodic too, but the deep characterization from some of those loyalty quests made me want to seek every single one out and learn more about my ragtag crew. ME2, for better or worse, kind of streamlined everything that didn't involve the storyline or the characters, so it deserves this award more than any other.
Best DS-Only Game: Picross 3D
(Mine: Picross 3D) Conveniently, the only DS game I played from this year (besides Ace Attorney Investigations, which WOULD NOT END) happened to be the best one according to the GB crew. I wish I had played more of my little dualscreen, but current touchscreen issues have sidelined it for the time being. I'm thinking that'll change in 2011 with the 3DS and its amazing speculative library, though.
Best Performance By Nolan North: Mafia II
(Mine: Mafia II) Nothing tops Nolan North talking to Nolan North in the spirit of a "does Nolan North get too much exposure?" category.
Best Competitive Multiplayer: Starcraft II
(Mine: Starcraft II) I hate competitive multiplayer. At least the online kind, and there doesn't seem to be much left of the offline kind. Goldeneye 007 perhaps but I didn't play that. I think I'll go with Brad, Giant Bomb and the nation of South Korea in lieu of anything I could put forward.
Best Ending: Red Dead Redemption (Noms: Bayonetta, Starcraft II)
(Mine: Nier) Ughhhh. Red Dead had the absolute worst ending. The only good part (Marston's "Bolivian Army" last stand) was sandwiched between a completely inexcusable series of boring homestead missions and the least charismatic cowboy Jack on his fifteen-stop tour of revenge (oh, he's over here? oh, he's over here?). Then title card, which was cool, but then it keeps going. You know, if you want to finish off a few side-missions with knock-off Marston. Deplorable. Bayonetta's ending is completely badass, when you're fighting down the side of that giant statue in space, but the game's plot is like that all the time. If it was just the story, it'd be a great game (well, movie), but everything else kind of ruins it. Plus "Fly Me To The Moon" has earwormed its way onto the iPod Shuffle I'll be assigned with in Hell. Starcraft II's ending, from what I can tell, is very important to Starcraft, which makes it very unimportant to me.
Good endings? Well, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood had an interesting one, but I don't think any cliffhangers should make this list because the story has yet to conclude. Which also disqualifies Darksiders, Mass Effect 2 and Vanquish. Fallout New Vegas would be a good choice, with those four great faction endings and how they effect all the little character/town epilogues that go with them, but it almost feels like cheating since that's always been a Fallout staple. Might as well give them "best Ron Perlman narration". I'm going to go with Nier, making the point once again that it wasn't a fantastic game, but that final ending (which I won't spoil) is pretty much the anti-cliffhanger. There is NO coming back from that ending. Plus the meta-game element to it raises the bar, making it the most striking ending of any game this year by a wide margin.
"Take A Break" Award: Final Fantasy (Noms: Guitar Hero, WWE Smackdown)
(Mine: Prince of Persia)In the podcast, the crew make a lot of good points about other series needing to take a hiatus (especially Fable), so there's plenty (unfortunately) to choose from. I haven't played Final Fantasy XIII yet (it's on the backlog for 2011), but even if this one blows, the last one was so different from the one before, and similarly each game kind of responds to the fan reaction from the last. No-one wants yet another MMO, as XIV seems to be, but XV might go in a whole different direction once again because the series is so important to Squeenix to get right. Similarly, Guitar Hero has such a basic model that it can keep on going forever until all every guitar-featured track in the world has been covered. WWE Smackdown can always bounce back, because again wrestling is something that rarely changes. Unless every wrestling fan suddenly went off their pseudo-sport, WWE Smackdown can find its feet again. I should vote for a franchise I actually played this year, so my vote is for Prince of Persia. It's a fantastic series and Forgotten Sands wasn't a bad game by any stretch, but they're not doing anything new with them any more, and too many games have borrowed that time-manipulation stuff that there's nothing left in the venerable Arabian franchise. With Uncharted 3 taking up sand-in-the-vagina duties for 2011, I'd be content to bury the Prince of Persia franchise in the litterbox for a while.
Best PS3-Only Game: God of War III
(Mine: ModNation Racers)This year was very much the year of the PS3 for me. Most of the games I played in 2010 were PS3 versions of 2010 multi-platform titles alongside many fine exclusives of yesteryear, such as Uncharted 2 and inFamous. However, I only played two new exclusives for the system this year: UFG's ModNation Racers and Level-5's White Knight Chronicles. Neither of those deserve to win anything, but if I had to pick one it'd be ModNation Racers, because at least I managed to get an interesting anagram out of it. Yeah, I almost certainly would've picked God of War III or 3D Dot Game Heroes if I had remembered to play them. Dammit.
Best Game Room Release: Food Fight (Arcade)
(Mine: Asteroids)Since I'm not going to go through the whole Game Room palaver, I'll just check the list on Wikipedia and go for whichever one I liked playing the most back in the day. *Checks list*. Aw, jeez. Asteroids? I remember Asteroids. Go with Asteroids.
Best Motion-Controlled Game: Dance Central (Kinect - XB360)
(Mine: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers)Uh, Super Mario Galaxy 2? You point at the screen for those star things... yeah, maybe not. Fine, I'll give it to Final Fantasy Crystal blah blah blah because it at least had plenty of variety and neat things you could do throwing shit around and manipulating things with the Wiimote. Still a boring mess, though.
Worst Game of the Year: PowerGig: Rise of the Six String
Most Disappointing Game: Fable III
(Mine: White Knight Chronicles)Well, the benefit of the "Most Disappointing Game" for me is that I don't play stuff that's obviously detritus, but I would play a game that looked good or was from a franchise I enjoyed in the past, which is where "Most Disappointing Game" comes in. So this is basically the same category, only the former's for people who have to review games for a living (like the GB guys) and were exposed to plenty of crappy games they would never touch with a ten foot pole normally. From my original list, White Knight Chronicles. It's a lazy Monster Hunter MMO knock-off, far removed from Level-5's usual enthusiasm for pushing the envelope, and I hope they don't dwell in the dark murky realm of MMOs like Final Fantasy instead of continuing to innovate the JRPG genre like they were doing with Dark Chronicle and Rogue Galaxy. But we all know White Knight Chronicles 2 is already on its way so who even cares any more. Mucho disappoint.
Best Multiplatform Game of the Year (& Best Game of the Year): Mass Effect 2
(Mine: Mass Effect 2) No arguments here.