2008: Game of the Year Showdown

2008: Game of the Year Showdown
Inserito originariamente da Abriael

After the release of Grand Theft Auto IV it's clear to pretty much everyone and his mother that it's probably the number one contender to become the Game of the Year. Despite a few bugs (including a pretty serious freeze issue on xbox 360 and 60 gb PS3), the open ended gameplay and the incredible level of detail in which Liberty City is built on our TVs, alongside the hype that accompained the game up to it's release and beyond, Grand Theft Auto IV scored big time, and conquered a rock solid place in the history of videogaming.

This said, who can threaten GTA4's victory? Unfortunately for Nintendo, I really doubt any of their games for this year (even while selling in abundant six digit figures) has really the juices to be up to par. Both Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros: Brawl, despite appealing to the raging mass of casuals and Nintendo-fanservice-thirsty fanboys, definately won't cut it, and in my not-so-humble opinion, are already out of the competition.
The only real contender is Metal Gear Solid 4, that after three full years of development, a budget that probably goes even beyond the one used to produce GTA4, and an extremely positive early reception by the press that already managed to play it, will probably rock our socks just as much as GTA4 is doing. Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2 might also show up as "outsiders", but as much as they'll probably be great games, I doubt it's possible for them to win again the two giants.

Many factors will probably play a role in the choice. While Grand Theft Auto 4 sports an extremely open ended gameplay based on total freedom, it's a bit weak in it's story, and extremely weak as of characters. As i wrote in a previous post, Niko Bellic (but he's not the only one), despite his troubled past (that once more shows Rockstar's politically uncorrectness, it takes guts to make a serbian soldier from the Balcan wars into the main character of one's game), is absolutely dumb and dull, with utter climaxes of patological stupidity. He really fails to impress under any circumstances, and as such it weakens a bit the appeal of the game to some.
On the other side of the trench, while Metal Gear Solid 4 will offer less freedom (even if I always appreciate the almost-infinite ways you can use to sneak past enemies in the series, a freedom that will be amplified in MGS4), but a probably much more solid plot, and characters whose superiority in charisma as compared to the GTA4 ones, is basically absolute.

What can't be predicted, mostly, is if the fact that GTA4 is multiplatform (and as such, appealing to a wider audience) will bring more votes to it's camp. Also we don't know if the pretty shameful, but commonplace, "racism" that as of late brings the western press to openly favor western-made games at the disadvantage of Japanese-made ones, will also play a role.

While I'm not sure MGS4 will beat GTA4 in the race for Game of the Year, I'm absolutely sure that Old Snake beats dumb Niko Bellic to a pulp in terms of appeal to the player. This tilts the scales, at least for me, and, as long as I love Grand Theft Auto IV, makes me root for Kojima's upcoming masterpiece. In the end we can only wait and see what happens.

What I'm sure about is that Rockstar's title will give me tons of fun, but won't make me shed tears out of emotional involvement. Konami's one will probably do both.