Game Stooge

GameStooge Awards: Genre Awards

• Scribbled on January 4th, 2009 by Jonah Falcon
• Filed in Game Genres, GameStooge Game of the Year Awards, Platforms

We’d announced the Technical Awards on January 1st, now comes the Genre Awards, in which we take a look at the best games of each genre category. GameStooge writer Jonathon Howard chimes in with some of his own picks in categories he’s familiar with.

The winners are:

BEST ACTION GAME OF 2008

Grand Theft Auto IV

(Other Nominees: Dead Space, Devil May Cry 4, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Prince of Persia)

One of the hardest categories to decide on, with five strong nominees, but in the end, it went to Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV, just from the sheer scope of the game. Liberty City never looked so good, and while some preferred Saints Row 2 for pure manic fun, GTA4 was a game many spent hours exploring, with a crackling – if harsh – story and a new star in Niko Belic. One wonders if we’ll be seeing more of him, or if the next GTA is set in the 80’s.

Jonathon Howard’s Choice: Grand Theft Auto IV The game that was thought to be the defacto game of the year, but got lost in the avalanche of good games that arrived at the end of the year. GTA4 is a beautiful game, that suffers from old and tired gameplay.

BEST SHOOTER OF 2008

Gears of War 2

(Other Nominees: Crysis Warhead, Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead, Resistance 2)

Another difficult category to judge, but in the end, only one game was truly deserving: Epic’s Gears of War 2. Despite a dodgy ending, Epic once again pushed the envelop in terms of graphics. However, it was the sheer humanity in the story that put the game over the edge – few shooters can make a gamer cry as this game did. Microsoft has its hands full, as it does not (yet) have exclusive rights to Gears of War 3.

Jonathon Howard’s Choice: Gears of War 2. I don’t know if this is the best shooter of the year. I just know it’s the only one I’ve spent anytime playing!

BEST PLATFORM GAME OF 2008

LittleBigPlanet

(Other Nominees: Braid, Mega Man 9, N+, Prince of Persia)

There was no contest in this category, however. As brilliant as the other games were, none of them were able to match the level of LittleBigPlanet, as PlayStation 3 owners created and traded maps that were only bound by the gamer’s imagination (as was as time and hard work.) LittleBigPlanet should have been a system seller; it still may.

Jonathon Howard’s Choice: Mega Man 9. Also the most surprising game of the year. Nothing that came out this year, or last year, or the year before, etc. compares to the hardcore old-school platforming of MM9. This is a game that demands you master it, but never pulls a cheap shot. Every death, every fault is the players own, creating a game that with time can be mastered perfectly!

BEST RACING GAME OF 2008

GRID

(Other Nominees: Burnout Paradise, Mario Kart Wii, Pure, WipEout HD)

DIRT’s less dirty cousin, GRID was another Codemasters racing triumph, able to walk the balanced line between arcade racer and simulation. The game felt just right, especially in the way the environment interacted with the car, but it never let the gamer feel like they had to be precise in turning or planning. Not coincidentally, it’s main competitor, Pure, did just that as well.

BEST SPORTS GAME OF 2008

NHL 09

(Other Nominees: FIFA Soccer 09, MLB 08: The Show, NBA 2K9, Out of the Park Baseball 9)

It was a horserace for these games, as all of them were pinnacles of their respective sport: FIFA Soccer 09 was the first time Electronic Arts put out a soccer game that was superior to its non-USA developed counterparts, while NBA 2K9 was the strongest in a long lineage of fantastic 2K b-ball games. Both MLB 08: The Show and Out of the Park Baseball 9 were tops as graphic and text baseball sims. However, NHL 09 married amazing graphics, accurate gameplay and great hockey style, and on top of that, put in the addicting and satisfying 5-on-5 online gameplay mode, which may start a new trend in sports titles. In short, it was one of the best sports titles ever.

BEST STRATEGY GAME OF 2008

Civilization Revolution

(Other Nominees: Civilization IV: Colonization, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, King’s Bounty: The Legend, Sins of a Solar Empire)

Sid Meier called Civilization Revolution “the game he always wanted to make”, and one can see why. Take the addictiveness of Civilization, then take out all the extraneous micromanaging. Instead of “dumbing down” Civ, however, it made it faster and more focused. The strategy shifted from tactical to strategic, forcing you to think about the big picture, and on harder levels – or against humans – the game was downright unforgiving. The extra polish didn’t help this console strategy game.

Jonathon Howard’s Choice: Sins of a Solar Empire. Stardock came out of nowhere with this game and revitalized the Strategy genre and computer gaming. Great on-line play as well rounds out this excellent space opera.

BEST ROLEPLAYING GAME OF 2008

Fallout 3

(Other Nominees: Fable II, Persona 4, The World Ends With You, Valkyria Chronicles)

Fallout 3 is not a roleplaying game – it’s an experience. It begins with your birth, your childhood, and your young adulthood as you become a force to be reckoned with in post-apocalyptic Washington DC, making friends and enemies along the way. The game is far more than The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion with a new skin. The writing, the bloodiness, the Karma system – all conspire to make you feel like you’re really there, trying to survive in a cold, desperate world and having to make hard choices that affect not only you, but who you are and how people treat you. One of the best roleplaying games ever made, making Oblivion look obsolete.

Jonathon Howard’s Choice: Fallout 3. I spent more time with Fallout 3 than I did with any other game this year. It wasn’t even a contest. This game lived up to my expectations and I thoroughly enjoyed it, over and over!

BEST MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ROLEPLAYING GAME OF 2008

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

This year, there was only one MMORPG good enough to warrant a nomination, so it wins Best Massively Multiplayer game by default – but even with competition, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning would probably win anyway. Warhammer Online took all the good from World of Warcraft, dumped the boring stuff, and added new features future MMORPGs will probably be emulating – such as Public Quests, which are fun beyond belief. It remains to be seen if the game will have a high enough population to maintain itself with Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online in the same field; chances are, it will.

BEST ADVENTURE GAME OF 2008

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

(Other Nominees: Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode Two, Sam & Max Season 2, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People Season 1)

The adventure game is back – with a vengeance. All five nominees are well-made games in their own right, and while Telltales’ Sam & Max and Strong Bad episodic titles brought the laughs, as did Penny Arcade’s Episode Two, Professor Layton and the Curious Village brought the charm. One of the best handheld adventure games ever made, Professor Layton was the perfect game for a DS owner with its pick-up-and-play, with puzzles that were just difficult enough to provide a challenge – with a nice hint system for younger kids or adults who got stuck. The fact that the game looked like a regular console title, and not a portable, with its FMV and graphics, didn’t hurt either. The best news? There’s more Professor Layton games on the way.

Jonathon Howard’s Choice: Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode Two. This was a hard choice, as all the games this year are good. Adventure games seem to be making a revival thanks to the industrious people at TellTale games and Penny Arcade. Penny Arcade wins for the great gameplay, humorous characters and story that PA’s been delivering to us for years in comic strip form.

BEST PUZZLE GAME OF 2008

Braid

(Other Nominees: Bejeweled Twist, echochrome, Poker Smash, World of Goo)

Braid Like last year’s smash hit Portal, it’s a short puzzle game – and the way the puzzles are presented are challenging and brain-stretching with its unique time mechanic that changes with each level, basing it on emotion rather than an arbitrary whim. To create levels based on some of the devious time mechanics must have taken many hours of hard planning and thought -and solving a puzzle without help feels extra nice in Braid, for some reason. There’s more to say about the game, but since it has also won the next category, the discussion will continue there.

Jonathon Howard’s Choice: Braid. I still haven’t beaten this game, but the visuals and the time puzzles are so unique and so compelling that I can’t help but put this in as the winner.

BEST DIGITAL GAME (ORIGINAL) OF 2008

Braid

(Other Nominees: AudioSurf, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Mega Man 9, World of Goo)

What more is there to say about Braid? It’s also lyrical, beautiful, challenging, and charming, with an ending that is simultaneously breathtaking and satisfying. While the game is rife with teen-aged angst, the way Jonathon Blow’s story is presented is subtle enough to make the viewer feel as if there’s more going on than is being said. The music, the look, the story – it’s probably the first deconstructive story of the video game age, as it uses Nintendo platformers of the past to tell a story without it seeming overly chintzy.

Jonathon Howard’s Choice: AudioSurf. This game came out at the beginning of the year and I’m still playing it! Matching music up with racing and puzzle dynamics is fantastic idea that never stops delivering, and the game is as varied as your own music collection.

BEST DIGITAL GAME (ADAPTATION) OF 2008

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

(Other Nominees: Ikaruga, N+, Portal: Still Alive, Rez HD)

A difficult category – one of many, this year. However, the award goes to Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Why? Well, for one, it’s the most balanced of any versions of Street Fighter II, which many say is the best fighting game ever. The fact all of the models have been redone for HD viewing doesn’t hurt either. But what puts this one over the top is that it has online tournament play, and it is smooth as silk, unlike the Xbox 360’s Hyper Fighting from a year or so ago. The best reason? Hey, it’s Street Fighter II. Step up and get a beating, chump.

Jonathon Howard’s Choice: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. It’s Street Fighter II! Except, it looks amazing and you can play it over XBLA, this would be perfect if the 360’s controller wasn’t so terrible for fighting games!

GameStooge Awards: Technical Awards, Part I
GameStooge Awards: Technical Awards, Part II
GameStooge Awards: Platform Awards (Including Game of the Year)