" I have to say a big congratulations to the staff for all this end of year review stuff and a thumbs up for picking Uncharted 2 as their GOTY. It isn't a game that does anything too ground breaking or new in regards to gameplay mechanics etc. But it takes all of what it has and gives it such an extensive and high level of polish that the overall resulting quality of the game is just utterly mind blowing. Games don't always need to be pushing some new ground breaking technology or gameplay mechanics to advance the industry, sometimes going back over what has already been covered before and improving on it so dramatically provides an overall superior gaming experience. Uncharted 2 does that, it refines character animations, voice acting, visual quality and many other things to such an extent it feels like they've reinvented how best to handle these things. A shining example of a game which proves if enough actual effort and time is put into the design and development the resulting product can be, for lack of a better word, a masterpiece of engineering and artistic quality. Congratulations to the runners up as well. I did think Batman: Arkham Asylum might steal the GOTY award away from Uncharted 2 but I'm even more excited to see it came in as a runner up considering this is a game that was released by a little known developer with next to no experience. And they provide us with this mind blowing game that truly shows how to handle the use of a creative license when making a video game. Great job to Rock Steady! "I agree with all of this. Uncharted 2's strengths are not creativity or uniqueness. It takes common video game concepts and executes them flawlessly. It's a third person shooter, but it's practically the best third person shooter. It has 3D graphics but they're basically the best 3D graphics around. It has voice acting but it's top-of-its-class voice acting. You see where I'm going with this. Michael Jordan didn't change the rules of basketball; he did what everyone else did only many times better. In a similar fashion, this game succeeds at pushing the format forward not with new ideas (although you must credit Naughty Dog with coming up with the ideas about execution that make the game so good) but by being an example of how to make an astoundingly entertaining piece of media. There are dozens of rich, successful studios that could have produced a game just as good but for whatever reason, none of them did what Naughty Dog did in 2009.
Speaking of successful studios, Rocksteady deserves every mention they get. Batman, like Uncharted, is another game that really does nothing new. It takes common themes from its genre (collectibles, platforming, melee combat) and nails them. Uncharted 2 might be better, but it is certainly not because of Arkham Asylum's flaws. Hopefully the industry takes notice and realizes these two games are the new standard.
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