The Game Awards 2018

Mr E

The nominees for this years Games Awards were just announced.

I'm more interested in the announcements, but it's great to see Celeste up for game of the year (and some other categories!)

https://thegameawards.com/

GAME OF THE YEAR
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Celeste
God of War
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Monster Hunter: World
Red Dead Redemption 2

BEST ACTION GAME
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Dead Cells
Destiny 2: Forsaken
Far Cry 5
Mega Man 11

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
God of War
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Red Dead Redemption 2
Shadow of the Tomb Raider

BEST ROLE PLAYING GAME
Dragon Quest XI
Monster Hunter: World
Ni no Kuni II
Octopath Traveler
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

BEST ONGOING GAME
Destiny 2: Forsaken
Fortnite
No Man’s Sky
Overwatch
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

BEST GAME DIRECTION
A Way Out
Detroit: Become Human
God of War
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Red Dead Redemption 2

BEST NARRATIVE
Detroit: Become Human
God of War
Life is Strange 2: Episode 1
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Red Dead Redemption 2

BEST ART DIRECTION
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
God of War
Octopath Traveler
Red Dead Redemption 2
Return of the Obra Dinn

BEST SCORE/MUSIC
Celeste
God of War
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
Octopath Traveler
Red Dead Redemption 2

BEST AUDIO DESIGN
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Forza Horizon 4
God of War
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Red Dead Redemption 2

BEST PERFORMANCE
Bryan Dechart as Connor, Detroit: Become Human
Christopher Judge as Kratos, God of War
Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption II
Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker, Marvel’s Spider-Man

GAMES FOR IMPACT
11-11 Memories Retold
Celeste
Florence
Life is Strange 2
The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME
Celeste
Dead Cells
Intro the Breach
Return of the Obra Dinn
The Messenger

BEST MOBILE GAME
Donut County
Florence
Fortnite
PUBG MOBILE
Reigns: Game of Thrones

BEST VR/AR GAME
ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission
Beat Saber
Firewall Zero Hour
Moss
Tetris Effect

BEST FIGHTING GAME
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Soul Calibur VI
Street Fighter V Arcade Edition

BEST FAMILY GAME
Mario Tennis Aces
Nintendo Labo
Overcooked 2
Starlink: Battle for Atlas
Super Mario Party

BEST ESPORTS PLAYER
SonicFox
Tokido
Uzi
s1mple
JjoNak

Retr0gamer

It's a pity indie is its own little category. God of War is probably the most Impressive big studio game I played this year but other years it wouldn't get a look in. I feel independent games have far outstripped the big games this year.

Still nice to see Celeste slip out of that niche and compete. For all the rest I can name indie games far better. The messenger is a better action game than anything in that category other than Megaman 11 which is a fantastic game. I'd stick bloodstained curse of the moon in there as well.

Detroit should not be getting any awards let alone nominations.

The RPG category is very strong but take No No Kuni 2 out which is a dud and stick Valkyria Chronicles 4 in. If there's any justice DQ 11 should walk away with it.

Penn

Yeah God Of War is definitely my GOTY. Thought RDR2 might take it, but for me it just had too many small issues that just knock it down a bit. But even then, it could take a lot of other awards there, like Narrative and performance for Roger Clark. The story and his performance were exceptional throughout.

Gunmonkey

Can probably see RDR2 winning a lot of these. One game I would love to see is OctoPath getting Best Score/Music, it has a fantastic soundtrack.

But...yeah, everyone is looking forward to the reveals, they've said they have 40 games lined up to show off. Possibly Sony has something big as they won't be having the PSExperience this year where new games could have been announced.

J. Marston

I think we'll get a Death Stranding release date.

Potential-Monke

Like Penn, God of War has this years GOTY. While RDR2 is amazing, I think the focus of GoW will beat it for GOTY. It was a better made game, and didn't give you a chance to think about what may be wrong. Spiderman is only in there because it was a big release imo and doesn't deserve to be there. Odyssey, I didn't play enough of it, but it was stunning for what I played but I think it will lose for the same reason as RDR2, so big you can find the faults. Haven't played Celeste or MH:W so I can't comment if they were better.

Zero-Cool

Feck that, roll on Boards Game of the Year awards!

I'm glad to see life is strange 2 got in the mix but those lists could definitely do with Yakuza 6, Vampyr and Guacamelee 2 imo.

As for GOTY, mine is Red Dead 2. I'm in awe anytime I play it and the hours just fly by, sometimes doing sweet FA and in my limited gaming time, that kind of thing is very rare. I usually rush the story to get through but I haven't minded taking my time with this one bit.

J. Marston

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It's a pity indie is its own little category. God of War is probably the most Impressive big studio game I played this year but other years it wouldn't get a look in. I feel independent games have far outstripped the big games this year.

Still nice to see Celeste slip out of that niche and compete. For all the rest I can name indie games far better. The messenger is a better action game than anything in that category other than Megaman 11 which is a fantastic game. I'd stick bloodstained curse of the moon in there as well.

Detroit should not be getting any awards let alone nominations.

The RPG category is very strong but take No No Kuni 2 out which is a dud and stick Valkyria Chronicles 4 in. If there's any justice DQ 11 should walk away with it.

I thought Bryan Dechart was great in the game and is well worth his nomination.

johnny_ultimate

TBH, I’d just change the ‘indie’ category to the GOTY category (and throw a few others like Tetris Effect into the mix) and I’d be reasonably well covered. Absolutely serious with that suggestion - I’ve played a good few of the major AAA titles this year, and none of them came anywhere close to Obra Dinn, Celeste, Tetris Effect or Into the Breach.

Retr0gamer

J. Marston wrote: »

I thought Bryan Dechart was great in the game and is well worth his nomination.

OK I'll give you that. Managed to do a lot with a god awful Script as well which is tough to do.

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

TBH, I’d just change the ‘indie’ category to the GOTY category (and throw a few others like Tetris Effect into the mix) and I’d be reasonably well covered. Absolutely serious with that suggestion - I’ve played a good few of the major AAA titles this year, and none of them came anywhere close to Obra Dinn, Celeste, Tetris Effect or Into the Breach.

I'm the same. Triple A has been week this year. But it's been a stellar year for indie. And August being metroidvania month made me very happy

CastorTroy

I tend to avoid paying attention or voting for any of these awards (boards included) since I only play maybe 1 or 2 nominees in the year. Or in this year's case, none.

Will be checking the announcements

Retr0gamer

Going to miss the totalbiscuit awards. It was always great for discovering new game soundtracks.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Whats so special about black ops 4's audio design? If anything I find it very hard to soundwhore in this as the directionality (if thats even a word) seems off in comparison to something like pubg.

Kirby

Agreed. If you are inside a house, it's next to impossible to tell if somebody is outside and below you, level with you or above you.

They beat PUBG in a host of other areas but the sound of footsteps/bullets isn't one of them.

nix

Ummm, PUBG has possibly the worst audio design i have ever experienced in any shooter probably ever. Black ops may take some getting used to and does need some improving, but its far better than PUBG.

Retr0gamer

PUBG has excellent positional sound in stereo. Very easy to pinpoint where a sound comes from with good stereo headphones.

nix

Retr0gamer wrote: »

PUBG has excellent positional sound in stereo. Very easy to pinpoint where a sound comes from with good stereo headphones.

For telling you where a gun shot is from far away maybe, tracking enemy movement in a building, is terrible. They said they fixed it months ago but its still terrible.

Plus it can only play like 4 sounds at a time, so if you're in a squad game and everybodies shooting and running around, its not going to play all the sounds. So its very easy for someone to sneak up on you when its not playing their foot steps for example

Probably doesnt happen much you're thinking, it does when you're in the final circles, if the circles falls on a place with a load of buildings, good luck! :pac:

I'm shocked that live directional sound isn't a solved problem at this stage.

Retr0gamer

Stetson Easy Headboard wrote: »

I'm shocked that live directional sound isn't a solved problem at this stage.

True live directional sound will probably need something like ray tracing.

I remember Thief had it with EAX which worked extremely well but EAX died with Creative when they went bust.

Temptamperu

The fact Kingdom Come deliverance isnt nominated for RPG is criminal.

gimli2112

I think GoW is a better game but for me RDR2 is a better experience but that's largely a personal preference for the world it's set in. Going straight into GoW from a 6 week Bloodborne binge didn't help me settle in.

Notorious

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

TBH, I’d just change the ‘indie’ category to the GOTY category (and throw a few others like Tetris Effect into the mix) ... I’ve played a good few of the major AAA titles this year, and none of them came anywhere close to Obra Dinn, Celeste, Tetris Effect or Into the Breach.

I think the exact opposite. I think with RDR2, AC: Odyssey (I usually steer clear of the AC games), Spider-man, and GOW the Triple A category has been strong. Battlefield V is still due to come too. While I enjoyed them, I think Into the Breach and Celeste are miles off GOTY.

kevin55

According to me

GAME OF THE YEAR

RD Redemption 2

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

BEST NARRATIVE
Detroit: Become Human

BEST ROLE PLAYING GAME
Dragon Quest XI

BEST GAME DIRECTION

Detroit: Become Human

Who else Agree?

Kirby

David Cage stuff is very martmitey. A lot of people can't stand it. I'm a fan but whatever your take........Detroit was way too short.

I'm usually a person who is of the opinion that game length shouldn't be used as a metric of quality. A short 4 hour experience that is tight and polished can be much more satisfying than a 30 hour shallow grind fest.

I'll argue that fact about most games but I was shocked at how quickly I got through Detroit. You can complete it in a single sitting. I understand that with branching games you have to create scenarios that the player may never see and that takes time......but I still think it felt half-baked. It needed another year in the over in my opinion.

Potential-Monke

Having played more of RDR2, and specifically a money collection mission, Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan is a shoe-in for Best Performance. I could listen to him read the bible in Arthurs voice and would not get bored. Amazing performance. As much as I loved Christopher Judge as Kratos, Roger beats him this time around.

Zero-Cool

Agreed, Roger Clarke should be a shoe in for VO/performance award.

https://twitter.com/Sheehy_83/status/1061068478520659968?s=19

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Agreed, Roger Clarke should be a shoe in for VO/performance award.

https://twitter.com/Sheehy_83/status/1061068478520659968?s=19

Graphics aren't as good as I expected for a new game.

Maybe its the ****ty twitter video player though.

Zero-Cool

Stetson Easy Headboard wrote: »

Graphics aren't as good as I expected for a new game.

Maybe its the ****ty twitter video player though.

Don't mind that video quality, graphics are amazing.

Potential-Monke

Lenghty video, but the part i'm on about is 20 seconds in. Don't know why this specific mission made me realise how good his voice acting is, but I was blown away by it when I played it. Short but brilliant.

'If I'm skinning anything, I'm skinning you boiah'

nix

So which is the most credible or best game awards? The "golden joystick awards" were today and gave fortnite best game, which is just dumb. Thats been out since last summer Surely dumb kids voting cant dictate what is actually the best game

Also, as much as i like multipleayer games, i think ones without a proper story lined campaign, should not be included in any "Game of the year"

So what would be the one all game developers hope to win? Their world cup per se... The one in the OP's post or?

Mr Crispy

Any interest in this year's Game Awards (on next Thursday, December 6th)? I don't care about the awards themselves personally, but the show also covers upcoming/unannounced games.

Supposedly we're getting at least ten new titles revealed on the night, including the next attempt at an Alien game (Alien: Blackout, and not Alien Isolation 2, alas). Koei Tecmo will be revealing something, and Obsidian will reveal their next RPG.

Rocksteady won't be showing anything despite rumours to the contrary. Kojima is pally with the show's producer/host, Jeff Keighley, so I suppose there's an outside chance of some Death Stranding coverage.