The game of the year (GOTY) is a big title to withhold, with a lot of great games coming out every year from different genres and millions of people with different opinions on what game should be the game of the year, it’s really a hard decision. Some people just choose a title because it’s exclusive to their console or because it got the best metacritic score out of all of them. There’ll always be people with opinions, who choose a title based on certain things, even if that’s not really that great or GOTY deserving.
With the Video Game Awards (VGAs) coming on December 12th, the five finalists for GOTY have been chosen, but do all of them truly even deserve to be nominees for GOTY? Who’s really to say that Batman: Arkham Asylum, Left 4 Dead 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2 or Uncharted 2: Among Thieves deserve GOTY? Why not games like Killzone 2, Infamous, Super Street Fighter 4, Resident Evil 5, Demon’s Souls, Borderlands, Ratchet and Clank Future: A crack In Time and Dragon Age: Origins? They may not all have scores in the 90s, but does that stop them from being amazing games? Hell no.
Batman: Arkham Asylum may be the best batman game ever, hell even the best comic to video game ever, but does it really even deserve GOTY? While it was fun to play, it just didn’t have that WOW factor that a GOTY game should have. Not only that, it used the most over used and out-dated engine out there, The Unreal Engine.
Left 4 Dead 2 has zombies, and lots of them, but does playing four player co-op, killing mindless zombies deserve GOTY? I was over at my friends yesterday playing L4D2 and found it just valveless as the first one. It just doesn’t fit into Valves amazing games they’ve made before, like Counter Strike and the Half-Life series. I mean seriously, where’s the third episode of Half-Life 2, instead of this? While it’s a big improvement from the first one, giving it a chance at GOTY just isn’t right. Borderlands deserves a way better chance than L4D2 and it even has zombies now too.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 may be the best selling game this generation so far, but beyond its multiplayer, whats it got? A campaign with BS written all over it and a co-op mode that seems thrown in at last minute? The multiplayer in the call of duty series is awesome (I should know, I put 22 plus days into the first modern warfare), but as a complete package, it’s not so great, just a pile of over-hyped poop, with bits of candy pieces in it to sweeten the deal.
Assassin’s Creed 2 is a vast improvement on the first game, with tons of new weapons and types of quests you must complete on the way. It’s what you expect from a sequel and much more. It’s even gone up at least 10 points on the metacritic from the first game, which just shows you how much they improved on. Even with AC2 just being a single player game, out of all of the ones mentioned so far, it probably deserves the GOTY title more.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, what can I say? It’s defiantly my GOTY. Why? It has everything, from an awesome cinematic story with believable characters you connect with, funny moments, awesome third person game play and one hell of a fun multiplayer. It’s just a blast to play over and over again. It’s also the second highest rated exclusives this generation (damn you Super Mario Galaxy), gaining 8 points from the first uncharted.
While those are my opinions stated above (which I’m sure some people will take the wrong way and call me a fanboy, just because I picked a PS3 game), the fact of the matter is, is that people should be given more options to vote on for GOTY, not just five games Spike TV decides are their best. People’s opinions should count and be reflected on, not everyone loves just one of those five games, there have been a lot of great games this year and they also deserve a chance at GOTY.
Reader Questions: What’s your best game of the year? What’s your worst game of the year? Are you going to be watching the VGAs for the actual rewards or for the new game announcements?
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"Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition is a remarkable launch-day port for Nintendo's new console. Its deep, diverse, and tangible world is fully realised with impressive performance for such a low-powered device. If you've not taken your first steps into Night City already, or you're a long-time player with a portable-play itch that needs scratching, you're in for a serious treat, choom." - Alex Olney | NintendoLife
I'm glad I hadn't played it yet. Glad to hear Switch 2 is getting some decent ports. As a handheld game, this sounds amazing. Now, I'm not sure if I'm going to wait for the first sale, or go ahead and dive in. My Switch 2 just arrived an hour ago and I'm going through the System transfer ATM.
Fans have discovered that Nintendo Switch 2 owners can use their phone as a camera with a couple of cheap cables.
this year was a good gaming year. Lets just leave it at that.
i simply can't choose a favorite because they were all good!
but i would have to pick uncharted 2. Its a beautifully crafted game and it just feels good to play.
Uncharted 2 and Assassins Creed 2 are my favorite games this year, also I loved MW2. MW2 is favorite multiplayer game this generation actually.
Killzone 2 is The Dark Night for video games. It was nominated for everything else, other than the actual award that it shouldve been nominated for, and that is the goty award.
Uncharted 2 EASY. Honestly it leaves all other games it the dust.
Second to me would be Killzone 2.
I was disappointed with MW2 and L4d2.