The Game Awards is quite controversial, since there can never be consensus on what's a "fantastic" game and what's "trash"; this is inherently subjective. Still, I want to provide my thoughts on several contenders for the 2020 Game Awards.
For overall GOTY, there's six contenders: DOOM Eternal, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and The Last of Us 2.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is just so mediocre and repetitive, and they even removed Resetti's hilarious rants from the game, along with the whole "one island per console" limitation (when previous games had it per game card or account) and how only the first player can really control the development of the island; this just shouldn't be here.
As for TLoU2, that's a very controversial choice, due to just how poorly-written the story and characters were, and how (as I understand it) the gameplay's very similar to the first game. If this game were to win GOTY 2020, a lot of people would be up in arms. Why include this?
The other four games...eh. DOOM Eternal's decent (though I personally don't like the forced Bethesda.net login, or the lacklustre multiplayer, or how skins are only temporarily obtainable with no other way to get them); Final Fantasy VII Remake really should have been a proper remake - more faithful to the acclaimed-though-aged original; Ghost of Tsushima is something I will buy when it's on sale; and I've never heard of Hades.
Following GOTY is "Best Game Direction", which has Final Fantasy VII Remake, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades, Half-Life Alyx, and Last of Us 2.
Already talked about four of these - why is LoU2 even here, that shit's garbage - but Half-Life Alyx? The VR game, last I heard? Ugh. Only one here deserves to win - Ghost of Tsushima.
"Best Narrative" is next, with Ghost of Tsushima, Last of Us 2 (screw off; that's just so wrong, this being in this particular category), Hades, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and the new one being 13 Sentinel: Aegis Rim. Whatever that is. As I understand it, FFVIIR is a cut-down version of the original game, with only the starting place available; that's just lame. Again, the only real choice is Ghost of Tsushima.
"Best Art Direction" - Ghost of Tsushima, FFVIIR, LoU2 (NO), Hades, and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It's a mix-up between Tsushima and Ori, here, for sure. Shame they didn't include Persona 5 Royal for any of these categories...brilliant game, that, so much better than most of these unworthy contenders.
"Best Score and Music" - DOOM Eternal's back, as is LoU2 (fuck off), Hades, FFVIIR, and Ori. I've only experienced one of these, but it could still go to either DOOM Eternal or Ori.
"Best Audio Design" - DOOM Eternal, Half-Life Alyx, Ghost of Tsushima, Resident Evil 3, and...LoU2 (
). Either DOOM Eternal, or Ghost of Tsushima, in my opinion.
"Best Performance", in terms of voice acting. This is a woefully under-represented field, by which I mean not enough people actually think about it - and this includes companies (Peter D's VA for Destiny's ghost thing was awful, for example; Activision Bungie only got him in because he was famous). Anyway, the choices here are Ashley Johnson as Ellie (nope), Laura Bailey as Abbey (wrong), Daisuke Tsuji as Jin Sakai (yes), Logan Cunningham as Hades (alright), or Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales (sure). The Game Awards seriously has a fetish for that very controversial game, don't they...? Robbie Daymond as Goro Akechi should've been here; his work was outstanding.
"Games For Impact", where I don't know any of the five games here - If Found..., Spiritfarer, Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition, Tell Me Why, Through the Darkest of Times. Never heard of any of these; no opinions.
"Best Ongoing", where three of the five are personal hatreds of me - Fortnite, Destiny 2, Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, and No Man's Sky. The best one here's bloody No Man's Sky, since that has singleplayer content and DOESN'T (last I checked) have goddamn ridiculous monetisation. Fuck Fortnite in particular, and screw Epic.
"Best Indie" - Hades, Carrion, Spiritfarer, Spelunky 2, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. Haven't played any of these; no opinion.
"Best Mobile Game" - which is a goddamn bloody oxymoron, since 99% of the so-called "games" are ludicrously avaricious and gameplay-limited, but whatever, it's here. Among Us, Call of Duty Mobile, Genshin Impact, Pokémon Cafe Mix, and Legends of Runeterra.
Genshin shouldn't be a contender; it's got bullshit gacha odds, and a bullshit "resin" stamina gauge, along with being built around Breath of the Wild's stupidly-obtuse world. This so-called "game" can die; I just hope its unwarranted monetary success doesn't poison PC gaming in the future. As for the others, Pokémon stopped being fun in 2018, and Among Us is probably the best contender in this category.
"Best Community Support" - Apex Legends, Destiny 2 (
), Fall Guys, Fortnite (screw off), No Man's Sky, and Valorant (does this still require root bloody access?). NMS is my personal choice here.
"Best VR/AR" - don't care, personally, but the contenders are Dreams, Half-Life Alyx, Iron Man VR, Star Wars Squadrons, and The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners.
"Innovation in Accessibility" - Assassin's Creed Valhalla, LoU2 (why did you return?), Grounded, Hyperdot, and Watch_Dogs Legion. Never heard of Grounded or Hyperdot, and Valhalla's a mediocre and boring game from what I hear; Legion's the best choice.
"Best Action" - DOOM Eternal, Hades, Half-Life Alyx, Nioh 2, Streets of Rage 4. DOOM's probably the best one built, but far from the easiest or most approachable, so if it wins I won't be upset; if it loses to Nioh 2 or Streets of Rage, though, I would also understand.
"Best Action/Adventure" - Assassin's Creed Valhalla (), Miles Morales, Ghost of Tsushima, LoU2 (FUCK OFF), Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and Star Wars: Fallen Order.
It could go to any of the three: Miles Morales, Tsushima, or Fallen Order. I have played Fallen Order, and it's a decent enough game, whilst I have played the original PS4 Spider-Man (so Miles Morales should also be a fine game). Ori's a fourth, and last, option.
"Best Role Playing" - Persona 5 Royal is finally a contender, and it's a bloody great one. There's also FFVIIR, Genshin (HELL NO), Wasteland 3, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon. I've tried to play Yakuza, as a series, before, but the Japanese VA really sucks me out of any immersion due to it being basically gibberish to me; how am I supposed to connect with a world I can't audibly understand? I don't care if it's "more fitting" for a game taking place in Japan to have Japanese VA; Persona's fantastic because I can bloody comprehend what everyone's saying (among other reasons)!
"Best Fighting" - Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate (the one that censored female fighters' outfits; ugh), GranBlue Fantasy Versus, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows, and Under Night In-Birth EXE: Late(CL-R). What kinda name is that? Anyway, no opinions, except for MK11, since censoring outfits and stuff's stupid.
For overall GOTY, there's six contenders: DOOM Eternal, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and The Last of Us 2.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is just so mediocre and repetitive, and they even removed Resetti's hilarious rants from the game, along with the whole "one island per console" limitation (when previous games had it per game card or account) and how only the first player can really control the development of the island; this just shouldn't be here.
As for TLoU2, that's a very controversial choice, due to just how poorly-written the story and characters were, and how (as I understand it) the gameplay's very similar to the first game. If this game were to win GOTY 2020, a lot of people would be up in arms. Why include this?
The other four games...eh. DOOM Eternal's decent (though I personally don't like the forced Bethesda.net login, or the lacklustre multiplayer, or how skins are only temporarily obtainable with no other way to get them); Final Fantasy VII Remake really should have been a proper remake - more faithful to the acclaimed-though-aged original; Ghost of Tsushima is something I will buy when it's on sale; and I've never heard of Hades.
Following GOTY is "Best Game Direction", which has Final Fantasy VII Remake, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades, Half-Life Alyx, and Last of Us 2.
Already talked about four of these - why is LoU2 even here, that shit's garbage - but Half-Life Alyx? The VR game, last I heard? Ugh. Only one here deserves to win - Ghost of Tsushima.
"Best Narrative" is next, with Ghost of Tsushima, Last of Us 2 (screw off; that's just so wrong, this being in this particular category), Hades, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and the new one being 13 Sentinel: Aegis Rim. Whatever that is. As I understand it, FFVIIR is a cut-down version of the original game, with only the starting place available; that's just lame. Again, the only real choice is Ghost of Tsushima.
"Best Art Direction" - Ghost of Tsushima, FFVIIR, LoU2 (NO), Hades, and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It's a mix-up between Tsushima and Ori, here, for sure. Shame they didn't include Persona 5 Royal for any of these categories...brilliant game, that, so much better than most of these unworthy contenders.
"Best Score and Music" - DOOM Eternal's back, as is LoU2 (fuck off), Hades, FFVIIR, and Ori. I've only experienced one of these, but it could still go to either DOOM Eternal or Ori.
"Best Audio Design" - DOOM Eternal, Half-Life Alyx, Ghost of Tsushima, Resident Evil 3, and...LoU2 (
). Either DOOM Eternal, or Ghost of Tsushima, in my opinion."Best Performance", in terms of voice acting. This is a woefully under-represented field, by which I mean not enough people actually think about it - and this includes companies (Peter D's VA for Destiny's ghost thing was awful, for example; Activision Bungie only got him in because he was famous). Anyway, the choices here are Ashley Johnson as Ellie (nope), Laura Bailey as Abbey (wrong), Daisuke Tsuji as Jin Sakai (yes), Logan Cunningham as Hades (alright), or Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales (sure). The Game Awards seriously has a fetish for that very controversial game, don't they...? Robbie Daymond as Goro Akechi should've been here; his work was outstanding.
"Games For Impact", where I don't know any of the five games here - If Found..., Spiritfarer, Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition, Tell Me Why, Through the Darkest of Times. Never heard of any of these; no opinions.
"Best Ongoing", where three of the five are personal hatreds of me - Fortnite, Destiny 2, Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, and No Man's Sky. The best one here's bloody No Man's Sky, since that has singleplayer content and DOESN'T (last I checked) have goddamn ridiculous monetisation. Fuck Fortnite in particular, and screw Epic.
"Best Indie" - Hades, Carrion, Spiritfarer, Spelunky 2, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. Haven't played any of these; no opinion.
"Best Mobile Game" - which is a goddamn bloody oxymoron, since 99% of the so-called "games" are ludicrously avaricious and gameplay-limited, but whatever, it's here. Among Us, Call of Duty Mobile, Genshin Impact, Pokémon Cafe Mix, and Legends of Runeterra.
Genshin shouldn't be a contender; it's got bullshit gacha odds, and a bullshit "resin" stamina gauge, along with being built around Breath of the Wild's stupidly-obtuse world. This so-called "game" can die; I just hope its unwarranted monetary success doesn't poison PC gaming in the future. As for the others, Pokémon stopped being fun in 2018, and Among Us is probably the best contender in this category.
"Best Community Support" - Apex Legends, Destiny 2 (
), Fall Guys, Fortnite (screw off), No Man's Sky, and Valorant (does this still require root bloody access?). NMS is my personal choice here."Best VR/AR" - don't care, personally, but the contenders are Dreams, Half-Life Alyx, Iron Man VR, Star Wars Squadrons, and The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners.
"Innovation in Accessibility" - Assassin's Creed Valhalla, LoU2 (why did you return?), Grounded, Hyperdot, and Watch_Dogs Legion. Never heard of Grounded or Hyperdot, and Valhalla's a mediocre and boring game from what I hear; Legion's the best choice.
"Best Action" - DOOM Eternal, Hades, Half-Life Alyx, Nioh 2, Streets of Rage 4. DOOM's probably the best one built, but far from the easiest or most approachable, so if it wins I won't be upset; if it loses to Nioh 2 or Streets of Rage, though, I would also understand.
"Best Action/Adventure" - Assassin's Creed Valhalla (
), Miles Morales, Ghost of Tsushima, LoU2 (FUCK OFF), Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and Star Wars: Fallen Order.It could go to any of the three: Miles Morales, Tsushima, or Fallen Order. I have played Fallen Order, and it's a decent enough game, whilst I have played the original PS4 Spider-Man (so Miles Morales should also be a fine game). Ori's a fourth, and last, option.
"Best Role Playing" - Persona 5 Royal is finally a contender, and it's a bloody great one. There's also FFVIIR, Genshin (HELL NO), Wasteland 3, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon. I've tried to play Yakuza, as a series, before, but the Japanese VA really sucks me out of any immersion due to it being basically gibberish to me; how am I supposed to connect with a world I can't audibly understand? I don't care if it's "more fitting" for a game taking place in Japan to have Japanese VA; Persona's fantastic because I can bloody comprehend what everyone's saying (among other reasons)!
"Best Fighting" - Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate (the one that censored female fighters' outfits; ugh), GranBlue Fantasy Versus, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows, and Under Night In-Birth EXE: Late(CL-R). What kinda name is that? Anyway, no opinions, except for MK11, since censoring outfits and stuff's stupid.
