Once again the Spike Video Game Awards are upon us. It’s that magical time of year where Spike remembers that males age 15-30 like video games and G4 wonders why they aren’t hosting these awards and renews its effort to become more like Spike. Being a highly paid and respected game commentator, I feel it is my obligation to give my thoughts on the batch of nominees, or at least those nominees on which I have thoughts.
STUDIO OF THE YEAR
Bethesda Game Studios
Naughty Dog
Rocksteady Studios
Valve
Firstly, why is this a catagory? It feels like a backhanded Game Of The Year award. I’m giving this to Bethesda since it’s the only company that has put out multiple titles of some quality over the last year, plus I think Skyrim will be on everyone’s mind.
BEST XBOX 360 GAME
Batman: Arkham City
Forza Motorsport 4
Gears of War 3
Portal 2
Console specific categories tend to go toward exclusives except for Xbox for some reason. Nevertheless, GoW3 will take this simply because it won’t be skunked but the competition in its other categories (Best Shooter and Best Multiplayer) is much stronger.
BEST PS3 GAME
inFAMOUS 2
Killzone 3
LittleBigPlanet 2
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Uncharted was the highest rated game of this grouping (actually tied with LBP2, but that came out in January so no one remembers it) and Uncharted 2 won Best PS3 game in 2009.
BEST Wii GAME
Disney’s Epic Mickey
Kirby’s Return to Dream Land
Lost in Shadow
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Zelda has gaming journalists (you know, the guys that make up the Advisory Counsel) by the short and curlies, arguably rightly so. In a just world, Kirby’s Dream Land would be a dark horse, but Skyward Sword is the highest reviewed Zelda game in a long time.
BEST PC GAME
Battlefield 3
Minecraft
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
Portal 2
Criminally, Witcher 2 is only up for Best PC Game (whar Best RPG, whar?) and is only one of 2 primarily PC games in the category. If Portal doesn’t win GOTY, its a lock for this category though.
BEST HANDHELD/MOBILE GAME
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Infinity Blade
Super Mario 3D Land
Jetpack Joyride
Probably the hardest to gauge, since every entry is very strong. It would be great that Jetpack Joyride would win since its the only indie mobile game. I think journalists Nintendo love will push Super Mario 3D Land to a win.
BEST SHOOTER
Battlefield 3
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Gears of War 3
Rage
To paraphrase Vinnie Jones, COD is the juggernaut, bitch!
BEST ACTION ADVENTURE GAME
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
Batman: Arkham City
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Batman is one of the most-nominated games this year, but frankly doesn’t stand well against its competitors in the major categories. There is almost never an overlap in winning in the major sections, so Zelda and Uncharted are out, and AC:Rev simply isn’t reviewing well enough to succeed.
BEST RPG
Dark Souls
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Dragon Age II
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Dark Souls could throw a wobbly here, but I think the fact that DX:HR didn’t completely trash the Deus Ex franchise and reviewed well makes for good odds.
BEST MULTI-PLAYER
Battlefield 3
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Gears of War 3
Portal 2
It all depends on how much Battlefield and COD are punished for early technical issues with the multiplayer. Looking at the on-paper capabilities, COD does the most for competitive gaming, while Portal did some great things for co-op play. And Gears has a good chance to squeak by amongst the Battlefield/COD partisans.
BEST MOTION GAME
Child of Eden
Dance Central 2
The Gunstringer
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Gunstringer and Child Of Eden are too indie, while Zelda doesn’t seem to be doing anything that new with motion. Plus Best Motion takes the place of Best Music Game, and there isn’t any other party games amongst the nominations.
BEST INDEPENDENT GAME
Bastion
Minecraft
Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP
The Binding of Isaac
I really think this is going to be Bastion’s year. Or it should be. Again, Minecraft could steal this, and I wouldn’t be horribly upset if Binding Of Isaac picked this up, but Bastion came out of almost nowhere to almost universal praise.
BEST SONG IN A GAME
“Build that Wall (Zia’s Theme)” by Darren Korb – Bastion
“Exile Vilify” by The National – Portal 2
“I’m Not Calling You a Liar” by Florence + the Machine – Dragon Age II
“Setting Sail, Coming Home (End Theme)” by Darren Korb – Bastion
“Want You Gone” by Jonathan Coulton – Portal 2
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Bastion
Batman: Arkham City
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Portal 2
More Bastion. It’s really a tossup which Bastion song will win Best Song. I don’t remember either The National song or the DA2 one, and Want You Gone was fine, but no Stil Alive. As for score, this could also be a pity one for DX:HR or maybe Batman. But Bastion rules, so there.
BEST GRAPHICS
Batman: Arkham City
LA Noire
Rage
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Another toss up, this one between Rage and LA Noire, but advantage to Rage not only because Rage looked very pretty and LA Noire was very meh outside the facial animation. Plus I’m sure Team Bondi’s controversial end won’t help it.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN MALE
J.K. Simmons as Cave Johnson – Portal 2
Mark Hamill as The Joker – Batman: Arkham City
Nolan North as Nathan Drake – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Stephen Merchant as Wheatley – Portal 2
This is a tough one. Mark Hamill is well loved for his Joker and Arkham City is apparently his final performance. And he was robbed last year by Jack Black of all people for Best Voice. So dispite what I said on the show this week, I’m going to give this to Mark over Stephen Merchant, even if I think Stephen gave one of the best performances in any game ever. But hopefully there will be more work for Stephen and more chances to pick up the Moonman or whatever the hell the VGA statue is.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN FEMALE
Claudia Black as Chloe Frazer – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Ellen McLain as GLaDOS – Portal 2
Emily Rose as Elena Fisher – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Tara Strong as Harley Quinn – Batman: Arkham City
GLaDOS has been neglected by the awards (see the Jack Black debacle above) and since none of these performances are bringing much new to those characters (even though this is Tara Strong’s first crack at Harley), it’s GLaDOS’s time.
BEST DOWNLOADABLE GAME
Bastion
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
Stacking
Trenched
If by some crazy chance Bastion doesn’t win Best Independant Game, it’s a lock for this. If I ran the zoo, Bastion would take Best Indie which allows Trenched to win this, since it’s a great game by a good studio.
BEST DLC
Fallout: New Vegas – Old World Blues
Mass Effect 2: Arrival
Mortal Kombat: Freddy Krueger
Portal 2 Peer Review
It says a lot that these are the best choices for DLC this year. A downloadable character, a level pack, and a throwaway epilogue. Old World Blues at least added a sizable chunk of irradiated real estate to the Nevada wasteland, so there you go.
MOST ANTICIPATED GAME
BioShock: Infinite
Diablo III
Halo 4
Mass Effect 3
The Last Guardian
As much as I would chuckle if Bioshock: Infinite won this two years in a row, I’m thinking the pent up lust for Diablo may bomb the web vote. The Last Guardian has an outside shot as well, depending on how much Icophiles feel like going to Spike for validation.
GAME OF THE YEAR
Batman: Arkham City
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Portal 2
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Given the 50+ perfect scores, and that most of the rest will likely win in other categories, I think it’s a pretty safe bet to give Skyrim top honors. Personally I think the crown should go to Portal 2, which to me is a much more cohesive and polished game that is if nothing else a definitive statement of what a game can be. As amazing as Skyrim is, it’s still plagued by meandering plot, dodgy AI, and some spiky bugs (although not nearly the technical mess of Bethesda’s other franchise). It wouldn’t be a great injustice when Skyrim wins, but I can still say that Portal 2 deserved it more.
So there you have it. Feel free to argue with me in the comments below. The VGA Awards will be held on December 10th, so we’ll see exactly how Nostradamian I actually am. My guess is very. Very Nostradamian.
