2009 Video Game Awards

It's time to announce the winners in several categories.  I may think of more categories later, but this is what I have come up with for now.  Again, it's very important that you read my disclaimer that I posted in my Game Of The Year nomination thread.  I'll repeat it here so there is no confusion:

1. I have not played (and will not be playing) some of the biggest releases of the year such as Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Forza Motorsport 3. As such, these games are not eligible for GOTY or any of the other awards I am giving out.. I know this makes these awards meaningless for some people but COD:MW2 and L4D2 are mainly multiplayer games and I am not much of a multiplayer gamer, so there is no sense in me spending money on these games. If you can handle these games being ineligible, then you may find these awards worth browsing
2. These awards are for Xbox 360 and PS3 games only. I am not into the Wii, DS, PSP or PC gaming.

 Game Of The Year will be announced at a later date.  With that out of the way, let's get on to some awards!


Best Graphics: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. This was a closer call that you might think. While there is no doubting the beauty and artistry of Uncharted 2's graphics, there were also several other games that truly stood out as well. Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder and I had to make a decision, so I went with Uncharted 2. It's absolutely a gorgeous game and worthy of all the accolades it has received.

Runners Up: Assassin's Creed II, Borderlands. ACII rivals Uncharted 2 in every meaningful way. It's a real stunner. And Borderlands uses cell shading to create unique look all it's own. I was initially very skeptical of this when the decision to go with the cell shaded graphics was announced, but I fell in love with the look immediately once I started playing the game. It is absolutely perfect for the game and it's environment.

Honorable Mention: Batman: Arkham Asylum, The Beatles: Rock Band. Batman is a beautiful game in every way; it's just a hair below the others mentioned above. And the care and affection given to make the Fab Four come alive in TB:RB deserves special mention. It really adds a lot to the game itself.

Best Storyline: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Not even a contest here. Uncharted 2's story line rivals that of Hollywood's big-budget adventure movies with characters that you care for and plot twists that leave you stunned. This is A+ level stuff here, among the best the gaming world has every seen.

Runner Up: Assassin's Creed II
Honorable Mention: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Best Voice Acting: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Truly stellar work here, picking up where the original Uncharted left off. The main character of Nathan Drake (once again voiced by Nolan North) is terrific: charming, affable and at all times believable. The supporting characters, including Elena (Emily Fisher) and Sully (Richard McGonagle) from the original Uncharted, are every bit as good as is new femme fatale Chloe, voiced by Claudia Black. Again, the acting here rivals anything Hollywood puts together.

Runner Up: Batman: Arkham Asylum. In any other year, this game would have won the award. The work here is first rate all the way. Mark Hamill does his usual stellar work as The Joker, Kevin Conroy does the same with Batman (both of those gentlemen do the voices for a lot of animated Batman works) and Arleen Sorkin makes a delectable Harley Quinn.

Honorable Mention: Assassin's Creed II. Great work here, too. The voices for Ezio, Desmond Miles (Nolan North again) and Leonardo da Vinci are all wonderful but in truth the entire (huge) cast is first-rate.

Most Addictive Game Of The Year: Borderlands. There were a lot of games that drew me in this year and sucked away time like a starving vampire at a blood bank. But none of them could measure up to the crack-like qualities of Borderlands. The game played beautifully, controlling as well as any first-person shooter I have ever played on a console. But what made it so addictive was the RPG elements that were included. Your character leveled up after gaining a set number of experience points (gained by completing tasks and killing enemies). After each level gained, you could assign yourself new abilities or improve ones you already have.  And the looting.  My God, the looting!  The sheer number of different weapons available meant that stumbling upon a weapons cache was a hold-your-breath moment each and every time.

Runner Up:  Sacred 2: Fallen Angel.  Sacred 2 is an action RPG, sort of like Borderlands but without the first-person perspective. Like Borderlands, the addictiveness came out of the looting and leveling up.  Finding new and better armor, weapons, etc. and adding new skills was as good as it got until Borderlands showed up.

Honorable mentions:  Assassin's Creed II, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, NHL 10.  The sheer number of things to do in ACII and the ease (and fun) of getting around the map gave it that special "just one more thing and then I'll quit" vibe that you keep repeating to yourself as the hour gets later and later. Uncharted 2 was addictive not only because the gameplay was fun but because you simply had to see where the story was going next.  It was that compelling.  And NHL 10 gets the nod because both Be A Pro mode and the GM mode make you want to keep going to try to improve upon your last performance.  Stunk it up last game?  Can't end on a note like that, let's play one more game.  Had a great game last time out?  Well, let's see if I can top that performance!

Best Soundtrack:  The Beatles: Rock Band.  Next topic please.

Wait, I meant Best Original Score For A Game: Oh, okay.  Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.  Again, like a Hollywood blockbuster, and I mean that in a good way.  Perfectly sets the mood for the story.

Runner Up:  Dragon Age: Origins.  Extremely well done and gives the story that epic feel.

Honorable Mention:  Assassin's Creed II.  Very compelling and also non-intrusive.

Best Sports Game: NHL 10.  The complete package as a sports game, with tons of teams, leagues and a wonderful Be A Pro mode.  Addictive and just plain fun to play.  EA improved on what was already a terrific series. 

Runners up:  MLB '09: The Show, Madden NFL 10.  Great years for both of these franchises.  But in the end, neither had the fun factor of NHL 10.

Honorable Mention:  FIFA 10.  If only EA would do something about your teammates' AI, especially on defense, this game would be the sports game to beat.  Alas, they seem to have no intention of addressing this issue.

It Came From Nowhere (Best Surprise Game Of The Year):  IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey.  There was very little talk about this game until a couple of months before it's release and even then, most people were dismissing it because flight games on consoles tend to be very average.  But this WWII era flight game was top notch all around.  It featured a great number of authentic planes that handled like the real thing, a good variety of missions and nice graphics and sound.  As a WWI/WWII aviation buff, this game was a very pleasant surprise for me.

Runner Up:  Sacred 2: Fallen Angel.  This game apparently did not sell a whole lot of copies which is a shame.  First, because a lot of gamers missed out on a great, addictive game and second, because the publisher decided not to support it with DLC the way they supported the PC version.

Honorable Mention:  Demon's Souls.  Another game that I never heard of until it's release was imminent, this Japanese action RPG is sparsely beautiful, brilliantly assembled and brutally difficult. If you can handle the frustration of a lot of deaths and playing the same parts over and over, this game is truly something to behold for hardcore games.

Best Game I Wish I Didn't Totally Suck At:  Street Fighter 4.   Everything about the game screams greatness.  But I just can't pull off the moves needed to be good at this game.  I am talking about the mid-level moves, let alone the difficult ones.  I tried, I really did; I bought the gamepad for the game and even the strategy guide.  My thumbs just couldn't execute the moves.  Bummer.

Best Gaming Moment 2009:  For me nothing beat playing the guitar and singing "I've Got A Feeling" In The Beatles: Rock Band.  It was just perfect.  I have always wanted to be Paul McCartney and for that 4 minutes in my own little world, I was.  Gaming nirvana.

Runner Up:  Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.  (Spoiler warning!!!)  When you realize that Elena has survived and she and Nate are going to end up together.  I am a sap, I know, but I loved both characters so much from the original Uncharted.  When Chloe came into the picture (great character, but all wrong for Nate), I was upset that Elena was being phased out.  But no; the girl next door turns out to be the right girl for Nate and she lives to see that, thanks to some unexpected help from Chloe.

Honorable Mention:  Hitting my first home run with my created player in MLB '09: The Show.  For some reason the created players in this years version of The Show all had to start out with anemic hitting ratings.  This meant that for literally the first half of my first season I hit nothing but singles.  After slowly building up experience points and building up a little power, I finally hit my first HR of the year, a 3 run shot in the top of the 9th to supply the winning runs for that game.


I'll be back with the Game Of The Year decision before the end of the year.  Be careful not to read too much into what these awards may mean for GOTY.  I honestly have yet to make a final decision.

If any other awards that seem worth mentioning come to mind, I'll add those too.