Last weekend we attended the coronation of The Last of Us Part II at the Game Awards ceremony hosted by Geoff Keighley. The title Naughty Dog was named Game of the Year 2020 and won in five other categories (including the performance of best director and best actor). It continues a long tradition that has almost never been broken: the culmination of an action software / solo adventure with a narrative tendency. When the video game makes its big screen, it definitely has every chance of winning top honors.
Debate and opinion
This article falls under the heading “Debate and Opinion” and is inherently subjective. The author’s opinion is personal and not representative of the rest of the editorial team at iGamesNews.
From adventure to adventure …
From the launch of the Spike Video Game Awards in 2003 to the widespread Game Awards in 2020, we’ve seen a scoop of single player action / adventure games making the ultimate sesame in “GOTY“, Acronym of”game of the year“,”game of the yearIn our sweet tongue. In 17 years, only 8 winning creations were not part of the action / adventure genre or were strictly narrative. That number drops to 3 if we remove action RPGs and consider Resident Evil 4 an action / adventure game. In 17 years, only one sports game (Madden NFL 2004), one FPS (Bioshock), and one competitive multiplayer game (Overwatch) have won the highest awards. In 17 years no racing, fighting, platforming or strategy game has managed to win the vote. And yet there were many contestants of different genres, including Street Fighter IV, Diablo III, Ori and the Blind Forest, Forza Horizon 3, Super Mario Odyssey, Flight Simulator or even Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Games with unmistakable critical and commercial success.
Année des Spike / Video Game Awards | Game voted “Game of the Year” (genre) |
---|---|
2003 | Madden NFL 2004 (Sports) |
2004 | GTA: San Andreas (Action Adventure) |
2005 | Resident Evil 4 (TPS / Survival Horror) |
2006 | The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Action RPG) |
2007 | BioShock (FPS) |
2008 | GTA IV (Action Aventure) |
2009 | Uncharted 2 (Action Adventure) |
2010 | Red Dead Redemption (Action Adventure) |
2011 | Skyrim (action RPG) |
2012 | The Walking Dead (Interactive Drama) |
2013 | GTA V (Action Adventure) |
2014 | Dragon Age: Inquisition (Action RPG) |
2015 | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Action RPG) |
2016 | Overwatch (FPS Multi) |
2017 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Action-Adventure) |
2018 | God of War (Action Adventure) |
2019 | Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (Action-Adventure) |
2020 | The Last of Us: Part II (Action-Adventure) |
It is a fact that sports games, first-person shooters, VR experiences, and multiplayer apps very often fail to make the distinction. “GOTY“For the benefit of a genre that is becoming widespread. While there are excuses for the lack of the service games, which generally have rather weak content prior to several updates, it is more difficult to explain this supremacy of the action / adventure game than it is. either very narrative or not. Why him rather than someone else? Would give him the feeling of immersion de facto above the fight (Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)? Would it be more accessible and understandable than any other genre (The Walking Dead, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves)? Would his performance flatter a gamer who is forever looking for the perfect mix between video game and cinema (God of War, Red Dead Redemption)? In a post published on the vanished website Overgame.com, the journalist François de la Boissière expected: “another way to make the video game“What gave him only one kind of”under cinema”. Today with the understanding of the rules of narratology of “Film artist“For professionals and the technology available to developers, productions no longer suffer from this inferiority complex. So much so that American film festivals like Tribeca are now taking an interest in video game media. In addition, some Game Awards categories highlight disciplines that are not closely related to the world of pixels, such as:best narration / best scenario
The third person in the first place
We’re making good progress: I’m not trying to reduce the excellent qualities of the titles that have been nominated and elected for more than a decade. This work is obviously extraordinary and deserves to be on the podium. But seeing almost a genre served by the ultimate reward isn’t necessarily healthy.. He shows some inability of the video game sphere to go beyond his intimate beliefs. Because that “GOTY“Of the Game Awards is a pure product of the industry. For nominations, the organizers will email the list of most of the categories to over 95 global media / influencers (of which iGamesNews is part). These media then have the difficult task of entering five games in each of the rated categories in the order of their preference. The titles cited most frequently by the organizations surveyed are among the nominees for the public to vote for. However, the final winner will be determined by an unfair mixed vote between the jury (90%) and fans (10%). It is stated that the Advisory Board
This system ultimately leaves little chance for excellent quality projects aimed at a niche of users due to their genre or the material required to make them work.. Half-life: Critically acclaimed Alyx isn’t even on the “Game of the year 2020”. However, it has the same metacritical grade as the Naughty Dog soft, which is 93/100. The fact that he has devoted himself to virtual reality and thus to a negligible percentage of the players seems to automatically dismiss him from the race for “GOTY”. Animal Crossing: New Horizons, sold and considered as such 26 million copies the constraint game, didn’t win the ultimate award either. Just being a life simulator certainly worked against him.
Action / adventure games or action / RPG apps leave little room for other genres when it comes to distinguishing between “game of the year”. Even if a fighting game was extraordinary or a flight simulator was incredible, it’s almost always the unstoppable movie where you are the hero who wins the votes. Consciously or subconsciously, professionals and gamers have a hard time choosing different styles in order to get the ultimate prize. Some, however statistics Show that the action / adventure game doesn’t work as well as the sports game or even the multiplayer titles when the action game is indeed one of the most played genres in the world. Which suggests that this popular genre is a little too prevalent among professionals and gamers compared to others.
By Carnbee, Journalist igamesnews.com
MP