Welcome to the final day of the Achievement Unlocked game awards and this is the big one. This is the time where I hand out my awards for the best games of the year. The only things up for grabs today are the best games of the year, not just overall, but for each of the current consoles. The 360, the PS3, the Wii, the DS, the PSP and the PC. Then once that I will be handing out my personal Game Of The Year award. So, I hope you enjoy this.
- The Xbox 360 shortlist:
Bayonetta – Platinum Games
Mass Effect 2 – BioWare
Bioshock 2 – 2K Games
Splinter Cell: Conviction – Ubisoft Montreal
Alan Wake – Remedy Entertainment
Crackdown 2 – Ruffian Games
Halo Reach – Bungie
Fable III – Lionhead Studios
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood – Ubisoft Montreal
And the winner is…
Mass Effect 2.
Now, I didn’t give this game best story two days ago, but I thought that compared to the previous one it wasn’t better than the original in that aspect. But instead of just keeping the game the same, they tweaked the aspects that were wrong with it. They added good bits and took out the bits that didn’t work. They took out the awful inventory system and then added a superior combat system. They also added some fish, which did something but I can’t remember what. And for once, the choice system worked so well I played through the game about two or three times in order to see different endings. So, for the improvements made to the game and the fact it made me play through it a couple of times, Mass Effect 2 gets my 360 Game Of The Year award.
- The PlayStation 3 Shortlist:
Massive Action Game – Zipper Interactive
Heavy Rain – Quantatic Dream
Just Cause 2 – Avalanche Studios/Eidos Interactive
Dead To Rights: Retribution – Volatile Games
Lost Planet 2 – Capcom
Read Dead Redemption – Rockstar San Diego/Rockstar North
Alpha Protocol – Obsidian Entertainment
Blur – Bizarre Creations
Dead Rising 2 – Capcom/Blue Castle
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 – Lucas Arts
James Bond 007: Blood Stone – Bizarre Creations
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit – Criterion Games
Fallout: New Vegas – Obsidian Entertainment
And the winner is…
Heavy Rain.
This was the hardest one to decide*, but we decided that because of it’s sheer innovation in the field of video gaming, that Heavy Rain would get the award for PS3 Game Of The Year. It wasn’t just the use of the controller that got Heavy Rain the award. It was fun to play, it has been played so many times in our PS3, that the disc began to warp from the heat it was being put under, and then we bought a new one to play some more. Well done Quantatic Dream, for creating this sheer gem of interactive gameplay.
- The Wii Shortlist Contains:
Goldeneye 007 – Eurocom
Metroid: Other M – Project M
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle – Grasshopper Manufacture
Red Steel 2 – Ubisoft Paris
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories – Climax Studios
Super Mario Galaxy 2 – Nintendo EAD Tokyo
Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll – Sega
And the winner is…
Metroid: Other M
Okay, it might have only been a minor victory over Super Mario Galaxy 2. But the re-imagining of the Metroid franchise, and many people didn’t like it. But I did quite like the use of the two different view points. Okay, I might not have a lot to say about it. But as one of the judges said, “The game of the year on the Wii, this year, is the game that sucked the least.”
- The DS Shortlist:
Fire Emblem – Intelligent Systems
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn – Camelot Software
Pokemon Heart Gold – Game Freak
The winner…
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
One of the best RPG’s that I played this year, and easily the winner. If you want my opinion, go read my review.https://thegamefanatics.com/golden-sun-dark-dawn/
- The PSP Shortlist:
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep – Square Enix PDD 5
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker – Kojima Productions
God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta – Ready At Dawn Studios/SCE Santa Monica Studio
Winner equals…
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Following on from the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Peace Walker follows the story of Big Boss and his setting up of Outer Heaven. It’s one of the best Metal Gear games I have played. The use of the face buttons to control the camera can be confusing, but you get used to them and they work well. All in all, a good Metal Gear game.
- The PC shortlist consists of…
Civilization V – Firaxis Games
Napoleon: Total War – The Creative Assembly
Tron: Evolution – GameStar/Propaganda Games
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War II Chaos Rising – Relic Entertainment
Football Manager 2011 – Sports Interactive
Starcraft 2 – Blizzard Entertainment
The winner is…
Football Manager 2011
Yes, it might not be as bigger scope as Starcraft or Civilization. But it was one of the best games of the year this year. It have played something like 200+ hours on it since I bought it, and I still think it is amazing. This game is a prime example of what a good game is.
The shortlist for the Achievement Unlocked Game Of The Year 2010 is…
Mass Effect 2 – BioWare
Heavy Rain – Quantatic Dream
Metroid: Other M – Project M
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn – Camelot Software
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker – Kojima Productions
Football Manager 2011 – Sports Interactive
The Achievement Unlocked Game Of The Year for 2010, is………
None of the above nominations. The award goes to the smash hit of the year. The game that could. The game that every single member of the panel has been playing. The game I am talking about is, of course, MineCraft. If you don’t know what it is, you must have been under a rock with no internet connection with your head in a bucket of concrete. Basically, it seems very rudimentary, but it’s deeper than most games, because it IS open ended. You can do whatever you want with it. You can play survival mode and defend yourself from the nocturnal attackers, or you can just build a scale model of the U.S.S. Enterprise. If only I personally owned this game, and didn’t have to play on my friends computer. But it is simply, THE best game of the year. Well done Notch.
*These awards were judged by me and five other people who made up the judging panel. We spent about twenty minutes coming up with the shortlist and then another thirty deciding the winner. However, when it came to deciding the overall winner, it was completely unanimous in favor of Minecraft.
If you want to ask me about why we decided on these games, or to tell me our opinions are wrong. E-mail me at george@thegamefanatics.com
