And the Winner is...

Another year gone and another year to look forward to in the world of gaming, however, let’s take a few moments to look back on 2010's best games and also which games won the privilege of walking away with the all-important Bafta award.

I will be covering some of the more ‘mainstream’ awards but you can access the full list of nominees at the end of my post.

ACTION

WINNER: Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
Gaëlec Simard
Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal

There is no denying that Assassin’s Creed has a huge following and I am sure that the panel of judges are more competent than I, but the last time I played Assassin’s Creed, there was action…but nothing along the lines of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 or Call of Duty etc… So for this to win in a category that includes those two said titles, baffles me…however, kudos to Ubisoft.

BEST GAME

WINNER: Mass Effect 2
Development Team
Electronic Arts/BioWare

There is absolutely no denying that EA deserved to win Best Game for Mass Effect 2, the action is slick and well-engineered, the story is compelling and actually makes this game what it is – FANTASTIC.

GAMEPLAY

WINNER: Super Mario Galaxy 2
Koichi Hayashida, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Takashi Tezuka
Nintendo/Nintendo

Common, who hasn’t enjoyed controlling Mario, and his Brother Luigi around the colour world that they live in. Whether it be the 80’s, 90’s or 00’s – Mario has been in the lives of every true gamer for the past 26years and not only does the game look better and play better BUT the fun is still very much there whether you are 5 or 55 – Super Mario brings a smile to every ones faces. Well done Nintendo, well done.

HANDHELD

WINNER: Cut the Rope
Efim Voinov, Semyon Voinov
Chillingo/Zeptolab

To be honest, with the main character in the game being called Om Nom, how could this not win ‘Handheld’ game of the year – considering this game is ‘outside’ the bracket of the PSP, DS etc…and is more aimed at smartphone users, I am surprised Angry Birds didn’t win. However, considering this game was up against ‘hand held consoles’ they did well.

MULTIPLAYER

WINNER: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
Development Team
Electronic Arts/Criterion Games

I am so happy this game won, not only is it a VERY fun game to play, whether you are playing for fun or competitively, but it actually beat Call of Duty: Black Op’s to the top spot for multiplayer – proves that even with the following of the COD series, you need to switch up your Multiplayer action. Hot Pursuit was released in November and ever since, has raced itself to the top with brilliant single player and multiplayer action, excellent soundtrack that gets the blood pumping as you drift a corner on the Californian ocean highway and tops it off with superb high definition graphics. Well Done EA and let us all hope Shift 2 can keep up with its fuel injected Cousin.

SOCIAL NETWORK GAME

WINNER: My Empire
Development Team
Playfish/Playfish

Social networking has definitely come a long way, no longer is it seen by society as greasy fat men in their bedrooms chatting to women out of their league, no, it now embraced by men, women, children all over the globe and with the dominant network site FACEBOOK leading the way, no wonder BAFTA have included a category for ‘Best Social Network’ game and surprise, surprise, it’s a Facebook game – My Empire. Move over Farmville, there’s a new kid on the block and this kid is POPULAR. You cannot help but compare this game to Sid Meier’s Civilisation because, well, it’s pretty much that – Sid Meire’s for the socialite’s. This area of gaming I believe is one to very much keep the electronic eye on as with social networking growing by the day, the games will evolve to a whole other level – watch this space. 

STORY

WINNER: Heavy Rain
David Cage, Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Scott Johnson
Sony Computer Entertainment/Quantic Dream & XDev Studio Europe

Heavy Rain was fresh, exciting and compelling. The graphics were superb, the flow of the game kept the audience interested and the storyline was that worth of an Oscar, or in this case, a BAFTA. My girlfriend played this game from start to finish and she is normally a PC Sims player (sigh) and she could not put this down, literally. This game was created by Sony and surprisingly was an exclusive title for Playstation 3. It was one of a kind – it was more like a movie than a game, jumping from character to character and each playing their part in telling the story. There was little to no action, but the game was not about that, it was making the audience think like a detective, question people, find clues in their answers or surroundings. This whole heartedly deserved to win best Story and well done Sony for doing so. Let’s just hope that Rockstars version L.A Noire can match up.

GAME Award of 2010

(The only award to be voted for by the public)

WINNER:Call of Duty: Black Ops
Activision Blizzard UK Ltd/Treyarch

We all knew without even waiting to read the list of winners that Call of Duty: Black Op’s was going to win. The only way this game could not have won ‘GAME Award of 2010’ was if the next game in the COD series was released. You cannot take away that the Single player, story, gameplay is brilliant, however, it is very much the same thing different setting every time. The Multiplayer is even worse, with amount of abuse players get from people on Live or PSN is unbelievable. Call of Duty has a big enough following to win this year in year out, however, hardened gamers will start to walk away unless Activision / Treyarch mix things up. Especially with Battlefield 3 on its way.

So that is it folks, 2010's winners and the games that put their respective companies into BAFTA history. Lets hope 2011 brings the same golden smile to those games that are worthy.

You can access the list of winners (and losers) by clicking here.