Mass Effect: NY Times’ Game of the Year
- Scribbled on December 24th, 2007 by Jonah Falcon
- Filed in Awards, Microsoft Xbox 360, RPG
BioShock has won two notable Game of the Year Awards so far (BAFTA and Spike TV Awards), while Halo 3 has won the top award from TIME Magazine. This time, Mass Effect is the big winner, getting Best Game of the Year from the New York Times. The Times’ reasoning:
Story and characters aren’t everything, but these components of narrative have always been the weakest part of video games. For decades games have made up in frenetic action what they have lacked in dramatic depth. And that is a big reason why games have traditionally appealed most strongly to the demographic group that most enjoys frenetic action: young men. In its choice of milieu — science fiction — Mass Effect is not ambitious at all. But with its focus on character development, personal growth and moral tension, all fueled by a graphics system created to evoke emotional empathy, Mass Effect points the way forward. It may be a harbinger of a time when story and character are as important to video games as explosions.
BioShock got some praise for being a new IP, while Halo 3 and Super Mario Galaxy got a slap on the wrist for being uninspired despite having major sales. It also oddly stated Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction “saved” the PlayStation 3 despite tremendously poor sales.
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