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2018 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Story

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/02/2019

Posted in: 2018, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: awards, best story, game of the year, god of war, goty, marvel's, octopath traveler, red dead redemption ii, spider-man, vampyr. Leave a comment

The story is probably the second most important aspect of a game next to the gameplay. A good story can be memorable, impactful, controversial, enlightening, frightening, and any other emotion humans can feel. We didn’t have many games with memorable stories this year, but there were some out there that stood out.

God of War

There weren’t that many engaging stories this year, and there seems to be less and less every year, but God of War not only portrayed memorable characters, but the story Kratos goes through is very memorable and something you talk about long after the game is complete. Stories that stand the test of time are the ones that are remembered through history.

Runner-Ups

Red Dead Redemption II

Octopath Traveler

Vampyr

Marvel’s Spider-Man

2018 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Sound Design

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/02/2019

Posted in: 2018, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: awards, battlefield v, best sound design, game of the year, god of war, goty, marvel's, monster hunter, red dead redemption ii, spider-man, world. Leave a comment

Sound design isn’t something we normally think of every day, but without great sound design we wouldn’t be as immersed in games, it’s something that’s on the back burner and never gets enough credit.

God of War

Making realistic sound can be done any day, but making sounds that don’t actually exist is a serious challenge. Every sound, breath, whisper, grunt, and weapon slash brings you into the game and helps make you feel like you’re really there. Even the voice of the World Serpent’s rumble is eerie and actually made me a little uncomfortable.

Runner-Ups

Red Dead Redemption II

Battlefield V

Monster Hunter: World

Marvel’s Spider-Man

2018 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Indie Game

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/31/2018

Posted in: 2018, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: awards, best indie game, celeste, dead cells, deliverance, game of the year, goty, kingdom come, vampyr, wreckfest. Leave a comment

Indie games are no longer becoming cute little distractions between AAA releases, they are now becoming the AAA releases as major companies have lost their imagination and ability to create new and unique experiences. Every year this just builds up more and never falters, with many of my most memorable games being indie, you should not overlook this category.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Kingdom Come is a massive undertaking for such a small studio. With state of the art visuals and tech on top of a massive open world, great voice acting and characters, and ambitious combat, it’s not surprising it had such a rough launch, but the developers have put so much love into patching the game out, and quickly, that’s it’s almost an entirely new game now.

Runner-Ups

Celeste

Dead Cells

Vampyr

Wreckfest

2018 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Voice Acting

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/31/2018

Posted in: 2018, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: awards, become human, best voice acting, detroit, far cry 5, game of the year, god of war, goty, red dead redemption ii, vampyr. Leave a comment

The best voice acting in games aren’t just the best delivery, but how it fits into the game. Is the character tortured, insane, or psychotic? Delivering the characters the way we would see them in person is how a game delivers the best voice acting.

God of War

The voice acting of Christopher Judge is just out of this world as an older Kratos. He brings the entire character to life is really rare for a video game character and I couldn’t wait to see the next cut-scene or soak in the next piece of dialog. Judge alone gave a one-dimensional character so many layers and feelings and helped suck the player into the story like no other.

Runner-Ups

Red Dead Redemption II

Detroit: Become Human

Vampyr

Far Cry 5

2018 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Graphics, Artistic

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/30/2018

Posted in: 2018, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: artistic, awards, best graphics, game of the year, god of war, goty, monster hunter, octopath traveler, sea of thieves, unravel two, world. Leave a comment

Artistic graphics don’t necessarily mean the most impressive technically. They probably won’t push your system to its limits, but instead, provide a fantastic visual experience that you won’t forget.

God of War

God of War is not only one of the best looking games of all time, but the art direction is on another planet with a beautiful recreation of Norse mythology and an atmosphere that really brings you into the world and makes you feel like you’re really there. From every texture to leaf and creature, God of War is a piece of moving art.

Runner-Ups

Octopath Traveler

Sea of Thieves

Monster Hunter: World

Unravel Two

2018 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Most Disappointing Game

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/29/2018

Posted in: 2018, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: agony, awards, darksiders iii, fallout 76, fear effect, game of the year, goty, most disappointing game, sea of thieves, sedna. Leave a comment

This is one award you do not want. Many games can be disappointing due to development hell, or just a lack of inspiration. Many AAA titles and beloved franchises have fallen to disappointing depths for many a reason. While many people may agree there were other disappointing games this year, to me they weren’t depression worthy of how utterly horrid they were.

Fallout 76

There were too many disappointing games this year, but Fallout 76 made me the most upset. I’m a hardcore Fallout fan and was so stoked at the idea of a Fallout MMO as on paper it seems like the next best move. Recycle assets, use a ten-year-old game engine, and shoehorn ideas that don’t work and you get Fallout 76. A buggy, boring, and lifeless mess that probably won’t be playable even after a year of updates.

Runner-Ups

Sea of Thieves

Agony

Darksiders III

Fear Effect Sedna

2018 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Graphics, Technical

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/29/2018

Posted in: 2018, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: awards, battlefield v, best graphics, forza horizon 4, game of the year, god of war, goty, marvel's, red dead redemption ii, spider-man, technical. Leave a comment

Best technical graphics is all about games that push their system to the limits. Shaders, ambient occlusion, shadow maps, tesselation, anti-aliasing, deferred lighting, and every other piece of tech that makes games look as good as real life.

God of War

Usually, console games get beaten out by PC exclusives in the graphics department, but the last five years have really closed the gap. The benefit of console exclusives is that it allows a developer to hone their skills on one piece of hardware, get it to know it, and push it to its limits and learn all its programming tricks. God of War is probably one of the best looking games ever made, period. The amount of detail and stunning beauty of the game is out of this world, and on a PS4 Pro and a 4K TV, this is where it’s apparent. This is a serious treatment that you only get once in a console generation and this is it.

Runner-Ups

Red Dead Redemption II

Forza Horizon 4

Battlefield V

Marvel’s Spider-Man

2018 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best RPG

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/28/2018

Posted in: 2018, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: awards, best rpg, deadfire, deliverance, dragon quest xi, echoes of an elusive age, game of the year, goty, kingdom come, ni no kuni ii, octopath traveler, pillars of eternity ii, revenant kingdom. Leave a comment

This was a weird year for RPGs. We didn’t get many big names, but the ones we did were lackluster or not the game changers they normally are. However, picking apart the list, we did get some awesome RPGs that are bound to keep you busy for hours.

Octopath Traveler

Octopath Traveler really masters the JRPG formula down to every sprite and action the player can choose. The characters and story are rich, and the visuals are phenomenal with a fantastic art style. A fresh JRPG like this hasn’t been released in a really long time and it feels nice to see the genre keep up with the times

Runner-Ups

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

2018 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best Platformer

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/28/2018

Posted in: 2018, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: awards, best platformer, celeste, dead cells, game of the year, goty, guacamelee 2, oddmar, reignited trilogy, spyro. Leave a comment

We may not have gotten many puzzle games, but this was a great comeback for platformers. Usually, this is the weakest category in which I have to wring the release list dry to find just a couple of decent games. Here we saw many major AAA releases which are good news for this dying genre.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy

Spyro was a no brainer this year as it remastered and revived a PlayStation classic and one of the best platformers of all time. With all three games in one package, next-gen visuals, updated controls, and a low price what could go wrong? Even in 2018 the game feels fresh and inviting and shows how well it aged.

Runner-Ups

Celeste

Guacamelee 2

Oddmar

Dead Cells

2018 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best Mulitplayer Game

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/27/2018

Posted in: 2018, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: awards, battlefield v, best multiplayer, black ops iv, blops4, call of duty, cod, far cry 5, game of the year, goty, monster hunter, super smash bros, ultimate, world. Leave a comment

A great multiplayer game makes you want to come back and engages all players. Communication, fun factor, and great modes are what make a multiplayer game great. We didn’t get too many multiplayer exclusive games like we did last year, that really stood out, but some had great multiplayer modes.

Monster Hunter: World

You don’t always have to wipe each other out or curse profanities at someone because your quick-scope wasn’t quick enough. Sometimes playing together can be just as rewarding as fragging someone and Monster Hunter World proved that this year. There’s nothing more satisfying than wiping out a high-level monster with 3 friends and screaming and cheering on the mic…or dishing out mom jokes when they don’t listen to you. Guess you can’t win them all.