X-Play Best Of 2007

[Ramiel]

For those who have interest, here is X-Play's picks for '07. Ended up being a pretty decent show so I thought I'd post it up. I'm a tad iffy on the innovation award winner, but besides that it was pretty good.

Most Original Game: Portal (PC, X360, PS3)

Best Art Direction: Bioshock (PC, X360)

Best Strategy Game: Supreme Commander (PC)

Best Original Soundtrack: Bioshock (PC, X360)

Best Sports Game: Forza Motorsport 2 (X360)

Best Sound Design: Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC, X360, PS3)

Best Shooter: Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC, X360, PS3)

Best Gameplay Innovation: Assassins Creed (X360, PS3)-Free Running/Climbing System (I doubt many will agree with this at all)

Best Action/Adventure Game: Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

Best Role Playing Game: Mass Effect (X360)

Best Animation: Ratchet And Clank Future: Tools Of Destruction (PS3)

Best New Character: GLaDOS-Portal

Best Downloadable Content: Pac-Man Championship Edition (X360)

Best Writing/Story: Bioshock (PC, X360)

Best Multiplayer Game: Rock Band (X360, PS3)

Game Of The Year 2007: Bioshock (PC, X360)

Well, there you go, personally I thought the list was pretty good except for a few entries.

[1WEBHEAD]

For those who have interest, here is X-Play's picks for '07. Ended up being a pretty decent show so I thought I'd post it up. I'm a tad iffy on the innovation award winner, but besides that it was pretty good.

Most Original Game: Portal (PC, X360, PS3)

Best Art Direction: Bioshock (PC, X360)

Best Strategy Game: Supreme Commander (PC)

Best Original Soundtrack: Bioshock (PC, X360)

Best Sports Game: Forza Motorsport 2 (X360)

Best Sound Design: Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC, X360, PS3)

Best Shooter: Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC, X360, PS3)

Best Gameplay Innovation: Assassins Creed (X360, PS3)-Free Running/Climbing System (I doubt many will agree with this at all)

Best Action/Adventure Game: Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

Best Role Playing Game: Mass Effect (X360)

Best Animation: Ratchet And Clank Future: Tools Of Destruction (PS3)

Best New Character: GLaDOS-Portal

Best Downloadable Content: Pac-Man Championship Edition (X360)

Best Writing/Story: Bioshock (PC, X360)

Best Multiplayer Game: Rock Band (X360, PS3)

Game Of The Year 2007: Bioshock (PC, X360)

Well, there you go, personally I thought the list was pretty good except for a few entries.

Holy s***, Super Mario Galaxy didn't win?!

YES! Bioshock took GOTY! :D

No offense Mario, I have nothing against you or you fantastic game but your silly story and pretty colors are no match for the awesome might of Bioshock! :D

I'm really glad Bioshock won!

I am very satisfied with the list. :)

The only problem I have is the "Innovation" award. I feel that Mass Effect's dialog should have snagged it.

I'm also a bit surprised Halo 3 or COD4 didn't win best Multiplayer but okay. :)

Thanks Ramiel!

[Ramiel]

Even though I loved Bioshock, personally I think Mass Effect should've nagged GOTY and Best Writing/Story, but Bioshock is a good choice none the less. I'm also very glad personally Halo 3 didn't get an award, it was nominated for several categories but I felt it didn't deserve to win any of them. I doubt we'll be seeing that in more mainstream lists, though.

[1WEBHEAD]

Even though I loved Bioshock, personally I think Mass Effect should've nagged GOTY and Best Writing/Story, but Bioshock is a good choice none the less. I'm also very glad personally Halo 3 didn't get an award, it was nominated for several categories but I felt it didn't deserve to win any of them. I doubt we'll be seeing that in more mainstream lists, though.

I love Halo 3 but I absolutely have no problem with the other games snagging the awards.

Eh, Mass Effect's story is great and all but I find Bioshock's story alot more creative. :)

I mean how many times do you have to battle guys like this:

http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2007/06/big_daddy_fig_500.jpg

[jesse_custer]

While I would have given GOTY to "Galaxy," one thing's for sure: X-Play is damn wrong for not giving "Galaxy" best soundtrack. That game has the best soundtrack of the 2000s, in my opinion. Plus, many of the tracks on "Bioshock's" soundtrack, while great, are just pop songs that anyone could have placed in a game.

[Jmacq1]

Yeah, the only ones I fervently disagree with would be the soundtrack and innovation categories (I would've given both to Mass Effect, myself). But for most of the rest of the categories, while I prefer Mass Effect personally, I cannot deny that Bioshock was excellent on pretty much every level, nor can I say that Mass Effect didn't have flaws...minor ones, but noticeable flaws nonetheless. Bioshock I never really noticed any such problems with when I played through.

The Innovation award for Assassin's Creed honestly looks/feels like a "consolation prize" or a "oh crap, Assassin's Creed is a high-profile release that we haven't given an award to...better fix that!"

They can get away with snubbing Halo 3 because Microsoft doesn't really care about awards when they raked in as much moolah as they already did with the title. It's an unqualified success regardless of how the critics received it/how many awards it garners.

So basically: While Mass Effect would be my favorite game of the year, I don't think Bioshock is at all undeserving of the accolades it receives.

[jesse_custer]

Oh yeah, why is Call of Duty 4 best shooter if Bioshock is game of the year?

[Ramiel]

Yeah, the only ones I fervently disagree with would be the soundtrack and innovation categories (I would've given both to Mass Effect, myself). But for most of the rest of the categories, while I prefer Mass Effect personally, I cannot deny that Bioshock was excellent on pretty much every level, nor can I say that Mass Effect didn't have flaws...minor ones, but noticeable flaws nonetheless. Bioshock I never really noticed any such problems with when I played through.

Mass Effect's score was pretty amazing, I'm surprised it didn't get that award, but Bioshock's was pretty good on it's own.


Oh yeah, why is Call of Duty 4 best shooter if Bioshock is game of the year?

When they said shooter, they meant what is most usually deemed for a shooter, whereas Bioshock was treated more like a RPG in first person in the same way Elders Scroll probably would've been, because it had a lot of RPG like themes and had a little more depth then what most would think as just a simple 'shooter'.

[jesse_custer]

It felt like a shooter to me. I'm not saying it didn't have RPG aspects, but it's still in the shooter category.

[Agent Helix]

It's kind of a hybrid.

Call of Duty 4 is an absolutely pure shooter, and as those go, as games that are literally about shooting go, it was the best of the year. Well, in my opinion, anyway. Which is the correct one, obviously.

[jesse_custer]

I don't know, I guess if "Bioshock" weren't first-person and mainly concentrated on shooting people (despite its ingenius leanings toward puzzlers and RPGs), then I could see the reasoning here.

[Jmacq1]

Oh yeah, why is Call of Duty 4 best shooter if Bioshock is game of the year?

Probably for the same reason that the single movie that wins the most Oscars in a given year isn't necessarily the Best Picture winner. :p :) Just...in reverse.

To put a finer point on it, it may be the opinion of X-Play that while Bioshock is a superior game overall, that CoD4 not only represents a "purer" example of the genre, but that the actual "shooter" aspects of it are superior than those specific aspects of Bioshock. More specifically still: CoD 4 has a robust multiplayer component, which Bioshock lacks altogether. These days a strong multiplayer aspect is pretty much a necessity for a pure "shooter" game....most of them actually bank on it.

So while Bioshock may indeed be a better game overall...it's not necessarily the best "shooter" game of the year because it lacks certain aspects deemed nigh-critical to a shooter.

[Ramiel]

I don't know, I guess if "Bioshock" weren't first-person and mainly concentrated on shooting people (despite its ingenius leanings toward puzzlers and RPGs), then I could see the reasoning here.

You answered yourself there. Its all in personal definition, of course, but usually what's deemed a typical shooter doesn't deal with those things, outside maybe some simple puzzles here and there like go get the key while shooting everyone.

[Ramiel]

But I'm curious, did they have a "nominee list" somewhere? If Bioshock was nominated in the Shooter category, then yeah, Jesse's question becomes considerably more relevant.

EDIT: Ok, I was wrong, it was on the list. According to them it delivered the most pure 'shooter' experience of the other candidates. So, yeah, I guess that is a hole in the logic.

[jesse_custer]

Jmac, it's interesting that you mentioned Call of Duty 4's multiplayer option. Because I think the very fact that Bioshock ignores multiplayer nonsense is the main reason why it's one of the most original and engrossing shooters of all time. The developers were looking to create an artistic masterpiece, not another "fun" game for you and your friends. Metroid Prime had a similar philosophy and it was also a remarkably unique FPS experience. (And yes, I realize people call it an adventure; but the fact is that shooters have had adventure aspects for a long time. Prime just took it to another level and still felt, played, and appeared to be overwhelmingly like an FPS.)

[Hiromi]

Considering that Assassin's Creed's free running system was one part of the game that DID live up to the hype I have no problem with that award, very satisfying list.

[Black Atom]

Yeah, I totally hate fun games. It's on my list of pet peeves, right below delicious food.

[jesse_custer]

Didn't say I hated "fun" games. (Hell, I can play Guitar Hero II for hours despite the fact that it's a retarded game and an unoriginal pile of crap.) Just saying that something like "Bioshock" is more likely to be recognized as an original and "different" game because it's actually artistic and not solely based on how much ass you can kick.

[Jmacq1]

And it did. It just didn't get voted the best shooter, for precisely the same reasons.

[Astonishing X-Fan]

The only problem I have is the "Innovation" award. I feel that Mass Effect's dialog should have snagged it.


What's so innovative about it? It's bascially the same exact thing as other Bioware games, except you can choose a little earlier to make the dialog flow better.

I don't see how it's even close to the free-running when it comes to innovation.

[Astonishing X-Fan]

Didn't say I hated "fun" games. (Hell, I can play Guitar Hero II for hours despite the fact that it's a retarded game and an unoriginal pile of crap.) Just saying that something like "Bioshock" is more likely to be recognized as an original and "different" game because it's actually artistic and not solely based on how much ass you can kick.

I fail to see how GHII is "retarded" and "a pile of crap".

Considering that it's a damn good game.

[BYC]

Bioshock winning Game of the Year still surprises me. I think SpikeTV had their awards this week. Gotta check that out. I still think Mario should and will win most of the Game of the Year awards.

[Ramiel]

Yeah, Spike had thiers, as well not too long ago, Bioshock also won the GOTY there.

[1WEBHEAD]

What's so innovative about it? It's bascially the same exact thing as other Bioware games, except you can choose a little earlier to make the dialog flow better.

I don't see how it's even close to the free-running when it comes to innovation.

I just like how cinematic the graphics are, the reactions, the different responses and choices you make that effect the enitire game. I like the "flow" of it. It's probably just me but I really was fond of it. :)


Yeah, Spike had thiers, as well not too long ago, Bioshock also won the GOTY there.

Oh snap son!

DOUBLE TIMES!:D

[jesse_custer]

Mass Effect's dialogue and "choices" system isn't that original. Play Fallout, Baldur's Gate, and Planescape: Torment to see my point.

[Alex]

Even though I loved Bioshock, personally I think Mass Effect should've nagged GOTY and Best Writing/Story, but Bioshock is a good choice none the less. I'm also very glad personally Halo 3 didn't get an award, it was nominated for several categories but I felt it didn't deserve to win any of them. I doubt we'll be seeing that in more mainstream lists, though.

I gotta say, the dialogue in Bioshock was about a million times better than mass effect.

[Ramiel]

I gotta say, the dialogue in Bioshock was about a million times better than mass effect.

I gotta say, I highly disagree;)

[BYC]

Loved Mass Effect. Dialogue was nothing special.

[Ramiel]

Loved Mass Effect. Dialogue was nothing special.

I thought it was personally, it wasn't like it blow Bioshock out of the water or anything, but I enjoyed Mass Effects Writing/Dialogue immensely personally. Maybe I'm in the minority, but that's cool with me.;)

[Agent Helix]

The dialog in Mass Effect has been pretty well done so far, in my opinion. I'm only about a third in, maybe.

As for Bioshock, I do think it has better realized dialog, which is sort of bound to happen since they've got about three dictionaries' worth less of it. I still think the plot takes a sharp left turn into utterly spurious nonsense right after Hephaestus, but that's me.

[Alex]

I thought it was personally, it wasn't like it blow Bioshock out of the water or anything, but I enjoyed Mass Effects Writing/Dialogue immensely personally. Maybe I'm in the minority, but that's cool with me.;)

I did like the game a great deal, but i laughed at how cheesy some of the things shepard said was.
And how robotic the alien girl was....my guy was talking to her about their "relationship", which, btw, is fairly sudden and doesn't develop organicly in the game, and she sounded like she was reading off a script, and the script wasn't great.
In fairness, bioshock only had 4 characters who talked a lot.
And it still had the best twist i've seen in a game since metroid saves Samus.

[Ramiel]

Well, some of Shepards stuff did have some cheese but I still thought most of them were pretty good. You talking about the blue chick? Well, she did say she had mostly became engulfed in her work and had very little contact with people, especially humans, plus she did have an interest romancely with your character, so it made sense to me for her to be stiff and watch herself too closely and come off kind of trying to be 'by the book' kind of thing. T

That's just my personal outlook on it, though