Giant Bomb's 2015 Game of the Year Awards: Day Four Text Recap

We're coming down the home stretch, but before we get to the main event, we've got four more regular categories to highlight some of the best and worst aspects of 2015's video games. Did you know there's also a recap video and a deliberation podcast over on the GOTY hub that detail our selection process in way more detail? You do now!

Best Styyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyle

Galak-Z: The Dimensional

Galak-Z’s pause screen flickers, bumps, and bends with the static of an old VHS tape. Each level begins with a procedurally generated title written by a procedurally named author. Finish a season and you’re treated to an end credits and a faux-production company logo bumper pulled straight from 1980s cartoons. Even if we were judging Galak-Z on its wrapper alone, it’s hard to say that any other game this year has as much styyyyyyyyyyyyyle.

But for Galak-Z, “style” is more than just “presentation.” Style permeates the handling of the game’s ship, changing utilitarian turns into acrobatic curves. The focus on style is why, when you transform your ship into its mecha mode, you gain a whole new set of abilities instead of just a simple boost to the ones you already have. Even the weapon upgrade system is about style: Is your anime starship the sort to issue gigantic, explosive bolts of plasma or to fill the screen with glowing, ricocheting blasts of hard light.

Galak-Z is not perfect, but it is easily the most stylish game of the year.

Runners-up:Splatoon, Rebel Galaxy

PLEASE STOP

Real Money Card Packs/One-Time Use Items

We tend to be of the mind that games--well, games that are asking you to pay money for them, anyway--probably shouldn't resemble slot machines. Furthermore, games that do have a bit of the "give us some real money, we'll give you some random stuff, should probably limit said random stuff to cosmetic items. Halo 5: Guardians went and built a whole mode around card packs that spit out single-use items that you can use to spawn in with cooler weapons and vehicles in the otherwise-cool Warzone mode. To be fair, Halo 5 does let you earn these packs through playing the game, in case you're in the mood to grind out some free cards, but between this and similar systems popping up in a side mode of Rise of the Tomb Raider, we'd really appreciate it if this sort of stuff were to, you know, please stop?

Please stop putting free-to-play-style single-use blind pack systems into your full-priced products. It's kind of uncool.

Runners-up: Still Shipping Broke-Ass Games, Extremely Forced eSports

Worst Game of the Year

Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma

No one looks at the 2009 Afro Samurai game as a masterwork of game design, but it’s suddenly a technical and creative marvel when put up against this ill-conceived sequel. Originally planned to be released in several volumes, this schedule for Afro Samurai 2 was scrapped and refunds were offered once the public saw what an absolute mess Volume 1 is. In the rare occasions that it’s functioning like a finished video game, it’s an abysmal third-person action title. In most instances, it’s a genuinely unplayable mess of glitches. Your character will randomly disappear or fall to his death, enemies become invincible for no reason, the backgrounds and audio vanish and reappear at will, and a whole host of other game-breaking bugs permeate the entire experience. It’s rare that a game is so awful that it necessitates refunds, but Afro Samurai 2 is the most broken experience of 2015 by a large margin.

Runners-up:Sky Battles, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5

Best Story

SOMA

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: At some point in the future, technological development will allow for the digitalization of human consciousness and the development of hyper-advanced artificial intelligences, resulting in a blurred line between the categories of “human" and "non-human." Enter the protagonist, with a backstory that foreshadows a cheap twist. Enter various supporting characters, each of which could be (maybe?) unreliable. Enter the trolley problem (again and again). If all this sounds familiar, maybe you’ve played a video game in the last year or two, because a lot of this applies to Fallout 4, Cradle, The Fall, The Swapper, and The Talos Principle… but it also applies to SOMA, and unlike (some of) those games, SOMA dodges all of the pitfalls of this formula to provide a satisfying and challenging story.

The majority of SOMA is set in a series of underwater installations, each of which is in some state of abandonment or disrepair. And that’s to say nothing of the biomechanical force that is slowly spreading (growing?) throughout the facility. By digging through personal lockers, reading old email chains, and tinkering with strange computer systems, you’ll slowly piece together an intriguing history of survival and ambition. Character motivations are complex, which means that surprising (even shocking) actions often have relatable motivations--and it helps that their performances are all so solid.

Lots of games offer the occasional ethical dilemma, but in most cases they're little more than pablum. Either there’s a clear “good” or “bad” answer, or the right choice is determinable through some quick calculus of mechanical benefit. But strong characterization, smart world building, and careful framing make SOMA’s questions thought provoking. Every decision is hard, not because you’re not sure which decision is correct, but because you’re not sure which decision is right.

In a year where multiple games use many of the same colors from SOMA’s thematic palette, it still manages to elevate itself above the pack. SOMA never retreats to unearned twists, it spends exactly the right amount of time explaining the “rules” of its sci-fi world, and it’s bold enough to take its premises to their most challenging conclusions. Like the best speculative fiction, SOMA is a game that confronts you.

But please, Frictional, less frustrating monsters next time?

Runners-up:The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, Cibele

Poor Tony Hawk. Well deserved, but still makes me sad

Heck yes SOMA. Good choice.

completely agree with all of the choices for PLEASE STOP.

will also have to play SOMA. haven't really heard much about it before.

Galak-Z huh.

I mean that pause screen is pretty amazing but I just felt like they missed the old anime mark they were goin' for so badly with the art.

Huh, wasn't expecting SOMA for best stories, but what people keep saying about it, it's hard to argue with. I'd have thought Witcher 3 was an obvious choice, but I guess a lot of those guys didn't end up finishing the game.

Cibele shout out. \o/

It's unfortunate so few of the GB crew stuck through the Witcher. It has a much, much, MUCH better total story package than SOMA, and has more of it, for a much longer period of time. The cohesiveness CDPR kept in the Witcher 3 story, despite it's incredible length, should have netted them the award by itself.

Ultimately really disappointed in the story category, and I feel like the GB crew's inability to play a long game all the way through handed SOMA the award, given that it's a much shorter game to digest. I think you'll find very few people who agree that as a total package SOMA was a better story telling experience than Witcher 3.

Extremely forced eSports is going to clinch Please Stop next year. That trend is going to continue.

I really like the requisition packs in Halo 5 tbh.

I didn't expect Galak-Z to win.

lol same here. i kind of dig random card packs in games.

they gave best story to Soma.....

SOMA is a well deserved choice. Easily the the best thought-provoking adventure in a long time.

The Witcher 3 has a strong opening and handful of hours but I quickly ran out of reasons to care about anything happening in the world. It has great moments for sure but it does the Kingdoms of Amalur thing where it's a lot of hours and a lot of story, but ultimately doesn't justify its runtime.

Meanwhile, SOMA is a tightly packed, brilliant yarn that unwinds itself bit by bit. It lasts for as long as it needs to, and it excels on a moment-to-moment basis few games ever manage. I've already forgotten a large swath of what I've done in The Witcher 3 but the time I've spent with SOMA will be seared into my brain for a long, long time.

Well I guess I'll pick up SOMA now.

Will probably wait until a complete edition for Witcher, although I may jump sooner as it's been getting plenty of good mentions and wins across the awards.

They didn't even finish The Witcher 3 but gave it runner up for best story. Huh...

@brainling:

I've beaten Witcher 3 and I still think Soma's a better story

OK, time to start Soma I guess

this kills geralt

I don't think I've ever disagreed with a winner as much as I do Galak-Z for best style. Yeah, cool pause screen, but the in-game art was hot garbage and in general they were way off the mark of evoking the art style and period they were going for.

Wow, no Raven's Cry for worst game?!?!?!

Which way do you think finishing it would've swayed them?

I don't need to finish a book, a steak, or a game to know its calibre. And a good ending doesn't redeem any of those things for a bad journey.

And if you really know these guys, you should remember that they feel reviewing a game without completing it is a valid principle, so long as it's disclosed.

oh man that sky battles game, i had completely forgot about that, if you had asked me when that was I would have said like 2 years ago.

I too feel like the art in Galak-Z's cinematics is questionably bad. Still, I think the game wins the "style" category with the flow and pace of the combat alone. I've had some moment-to-moment encounters where I felt like Neo seeing the Matrix. Entire screens of enemies dispatched through sick-ass combinations of missiles, sword swipes and grapples. Then I'm left floating in the middle of burning halves of foes and treasure. That's fuckin' style.

Well of course they'll give best story to the one that held their interest over the videogame equivalent of an 800-page doorstopper fantasy novel they quit a couple hundred pages in. When it comes to storytelling length isn't an inherently good thing. Maybe more people would've finished The Witcher 3 if it was leaner and more effective in its storytelling. There are large sections of that game that are just a drag.

And ultimately The Witcher 3 is another in a long line of well-written RPGs with a story told through a dialogue system and cutscenes. It was good, but not all that remarkable when we get at least one of those every year. Pillars of Eternity was another great one, and in my opinion dealt with more interesting subject matter than The Witcher 3. But I never felt immersed in or affected by either of those like I did SOMA. Every time I think back on that experience it seems more powerful.

Naw, next year will be all about the MOBAtization of every game.

Hmm. I didn't like Galak-Z as a game, but I'm ok with it getting best style.

The only thing that really lets down Galak-Z's style is the vector drawn (i.e. "Flash style") character art. For as little as the characters animate, I'd think they could have paid someone to do traditional animation and employed it as animated textures in game. It would have looked far more true to the source material it was paying homage too.

However, stuff like the mission intros and outros, and the general presentation layer is all commendable.

However, personally I would have given the award to Grow Home. I know untextured, flat shaded polygons isn't entirely original, but they just look so damn good in the game. I haven't listened to the podcast yet, but if that wasn't even in the running I'll be disappointed.

Oh they would have given it best story, GOTY too.

I think it would have convinced them that it was the best story of the year, if not the latest lots of years (excuse the technical terms). God knows the current winner of the category isn't complete without the way it ties everything together either. But you know what? SOMA is a hell of a game, and I don't mind it taking this spot in the least. We Witcher fans have had our moment(s) of distress with this site already, and we don't need to rehash it every day.

Galak-Z has some of the worst fake anine character designs I've ever seen. Like I've seen better stuff come from DeviantArt. Cool pause screen, but that's honestly about it. I have not been agreeing with almost any of these awards and that's a real bummer, but whatever that's how it goes I guess.

@brackynews: If they all would have finished it they would give it best story and best moment, and it would probably break the top 3 for GOTY instead of likely not even placing tomorrow or maybe getting #10.

The DLC is also even better than the Baron quest line and has one of the most terrifying villains of the last few years in games. Makes Eredin look like a goon by comparison.

The please stop award should have gone to the voice Dan Rykert does when making fun of Patrick Klepek.

Whether everyone finished or not Witcher was never going to be GOTY. Jeff wouldn't let anyone leave alive who tried to put it over Mario Maker.

Fixed.

@sinjunb: Eredin is a goon even without the DLC. He's a bad villain

STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND GO PLAY SOMA. right now.

Man....Again, I think if they played all of Tales From the Borderlands would have had at least a small conversation about all the title sequences. I thought they all had the best STYYYYYLE.

Do you remember Auto Modellista? Viewtiful Joe? This seems like that to me. I also have an odd belief that it is genetically impossible for western artists to draw anime exactly like Japanese artists.

I have seen two things this year tribute 1980s VHS perfectly, both of them are short videos. Which games are you thinking of?

Huh... SOMA?

Man, this Witcher 3 shit continues to entertain. I feel like we're in the midst of the backlash to the backlash now, as this comment section referred to its story as a "fantasy doorstop". The hyperbole can only get better from here!

All things being said, W3 is my favorite story of the year, but SOMA is currently downloading so...yeah.

Also, edit, going to agree with @monkeyman04...Tales from the Borderlands was fucking DOPE. Great story, and maybe the funniest game I've played in a long time.

Read Only Memories not getting Best Styyyyyyle is a fucking sham!

Also- you've linked to the wrong SOMA guys!

Soma:

One of the nations damaged in the Great Shinra War. Three years after the war's end, they discover the secret behind Shinra's power and attempt to themselves acquire military dominance.

What?

Those games use cel shaded 3D models, which is similar in principle to vector art, but not quite the same thing as vector art, which is 2D. Vector art is basically saved as math - a series of points and geometric shapes instead of as an actual image (pixels) and then on the viewer's end, the image gets rebuilt in realtime by software that reconstructs it from the mathematical data. I.e. not that dissimilar from how a 3D model is saved as bunch of vertexes and rebuilt during game rendering.

The benefit of vector it can be rescaled without loosing detail, unlike an image saved as pixels (see Wikipedia if you don't get what I mean). Vector art can also be animated quickly and easily by manipulating the geometry of the image as opposed to traditional animation where you're drawing individual frames, i.e. a completely new image that's slightly different than the last one. This is why vector art it what's traditionally used for Flash games/animation. When people something looks like "Flash", they really mean it's vector art.

It was probably a time/cost/technical consideration for the Galak-Z devs to go with vector art - but maybe that was at a point where they thought the game would have more animation. Given how little character animation actually ended up in there, I'd think it would be within reason to pay for traditional animation, but I don't really know how much it costs to hire an animator, so perhaps that's not reasonable for me to think.

I think you guys didn't play much Halo. I never spent a dime on cards, and in my six hours of multiplayer time I have gotten every single weapon card once, and multiples of dozens of cards. I'm at the point where I sell any card that I have more than 10 of. You get packs of them for leveling up, getting wins, etc.

I think this is the second worst Halo MP behind 4, and even with that, the cards are not at all the problem.

I think the crew is off-base about Rainbow Six Siege. It's gathering a pretty decent following on PC and all of Jeff's complaints that it looks and feels like a F2P game are wrong IMO, I think it's definitely content starved though and feels like a strong $30-$40 game same as Battlefront in that regard. But the graphics and especially audio are phenomenal, and the tactical gameplay is basically second to none in shooters right now. The way every step and movement can be heard from whichever direction it's coming from, crunching on glass, etc. And I've never seen destructibility as well implemented in an online shooter - you can blow open tiny holes in walls and shoot people through them, or just blow open every single part of a room and rush from every side while popping off flash bangs to totally disorient the enemy.

Tormentum might have been derivative, but so was Bloodborne. Bloodborne was the better game, but Tormentum was creepier. Also Dropsy was robbed. Such a weird and interesting world, somewhere between old school adventure game and something newer.

Fantasy Doorstop just means its like a 1000 page fantasy novel ala Game of Thrones or whatever. It doesn't mean the story is bad, just that it's super duper long and dense, which it is. I don't think that's hyperbole at all. I love the GRRM books but frequently refer to them as doorstops or shelfbreakers.

Edit: That said, I think Soma deserves it just as much, for a while there it looked like they were going to leave W3 off entirely which would have been unfair imo.

SOMA is my personal game of year. I was worried it wouldn't even get consideration let alone win a category in these podcasts due to not much talk about it during the year. It was a game that surprised me and left me contemplating a lot of concepts I thought were already well worn. If you haven't played it give it a chance. That's all I ask.