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2005 Game Developers Choice Awards - Assistance Requested
by Elonka at 5:28 pm EST, Feb 14, 2005

Yes, it's that time again . . .

Nominations are up, and I'm one of the selected voters again this year. Of course, most of the nominated games, I've never played.

So I'd appreciate if anyone reading this could take a look at the nominees, and let me know your opinions?

Oh, and my usual caveat: I'm not interested in comments such as "This game was really cool," or "Everyone I know plays this game." I'm more interested in things such as production values, best original game character, excellence in audio, level design, and so forth.

If you'd like to throw in your $0.02, please have comments to me, either by posting a reply here or sending an Email to elonka@aol.com, by February 21st, 2005.

Thanks much,

Elonka :)

-----

Best Game

Burnout 3: Takedown (Criterion Games / Electronic Arts)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
Katamari Damacy (Namco)
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)

New Studio

Cryptic Studios (City of Heroes)
Crytek (Far Cry)
inXile entertainment (The Bard's Tale)
Obsidian Entertainment (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords)
the Behemoth (Alien Hominid)

Audio

Call of Duty: Finest Hour (Spark Unlimited / Activision)
Doom 3 (id Software / Activision)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
Halo 2 (Bungie Software / Microsoft Game Studios)
Katamari Damacy (Namco)

Character Design

Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
Katamari Damacy (Namco)
Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
Sly 2: Band Of Thieves (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony)
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)

Game Design

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
Katamari Damacy (Namco)
Pikmin 2 (Nintendo)
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)

Technology

Burnout 3: Takedown (Criterion Games / Electronic Arts)
Doom 3 (id Software / Activision)
EyeToy: AntiGrav (Harmonix Music Systems / Sony)
Far Cry (Crytek / Ubisoft)
Half-Life 2 (Valve / Vivendi)

Visual Arts

Doom 3 (id Software / Activision)
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Entertainment)
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)

Writing

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (High Voltage Software / Vivendi)
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (Obsidian /
LucasArts)

RE: 2005 Game Developers Choice Awards - Assistance Requested
by k at 4:21 pm EST, Feb 15, 2005

Elonka wrote:

[ I can't speak to most of these, but I will say something about a couple... Katamari Damacy to start.

Personally, I consider it probably the best video game value of the year... it was released for only 20 bucks, but provides a ton of entertainment. The concept is simple -- just roll a ball around the world picking up the stuff you roll over and adding it to your ball -- but in practice it's extremely fun, and challenging enough to be worth playing, while not being so difficult that it gets tedious or frustrating. They paid attention to details too, making the people run from you screaming, and adding spoilers like gun wielding police officers and so on, that you have to avoid until you're big enough to just roll them up. There's not much of a useful story, to speak of, but the gameplay itself is so simple and addictive that it doesn't matter.

If in no other category, i give this one a big nod in terms of Game Design. Truly, very fun.

I can also talk about GTA: San Andreas. My take on this one is that it's a lot like GTA III and Vice City, only with some of the more irritating parts removed. Like, you can swim now, instead of dying the instant you hit the water, as in previous games... this is such a huge improvement that it completely changes the character of the game. The addition of skills and abilities also added a much needed level of intricacy, without which it would've been truly little more than a scene change from Miami Vice to Compton. The skills are transparent enough to not get in the way, but they're still very present as another part of the game play experience. Other than that, not a great deal has changed... you kill people, and run drugs, and steal, but the story isn't bad, and the missions are as challenging as ever. As with previous games, the biggest challenge is to not just cheat or devolve into pure, mindless rampaging. Sometimes when the missions get frustrating, it's really just not that compelling to put the game in, but maybe I'm just lazy.

My $0.02

-k]

RE: 2005 Game Developers Choice Awards - Assistance Requested
by Elonka at 12:27 am EST, Feb 16, 2005

k wrote:
] My $0.02

Good feedback, thanks! :)