You made it to Day 3 where we crown the winners for awards including Best Remaster, Most Disappointing, Best New Game, and Best Sequel/Entry in Series.
Best Remaster/Port – Rare Replay
Michael: I don’t have much to say, except that this speaks volumes about the versatility and utility of the Xbox One’s backwards compatibility functionality. Also, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is vastly underrated and you’ve got to check it out.
Austin: Rare Replay is the best package of old games that has been released, even if all of the games included aren’t great. The in-depth interviews from the original developers offer a behind the scenes look at the game creation process, something we don’t get to see very often. Additionally this collection includes both Viva Pinata games and Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts, some of the best games to be released on 360.
Most Disappointing Game – Halo 5
Michael: Halo 5 is by no means a bad game. In fact, in most ways it is a spectacular entry into the Halo series, and specifically the online multiplayer has reached a level of competitiveness that I haven’t seen since Halo 2. And while most of the technical issues that plagued Halo: The Master Chief Collection (seriously what was that?) aren’t present, Halo 5: Guardians took a number of steps backwards. For one thing, the exclusion of split-screen multiplayer from Halo 5 is an unprecedented mistake that is the product of a new generation of gamers who will accept no less than 1080p60fps all around and publisher deadlines. Technologically it is possible to include split screen, and if frame rate is really tied to so many systems that some players running around with 30fps would destroy the game, there’s a fundamental issue with how that game is made. Aside from this money-grabbing error, Halo 5’s story was surprisingly lacking. As a halo lore fanatic (I’ve read the books, comment about it) the premiere of blue team in the series is astronomical. The return of the dual protagonist format of Halo 2, as well as the second protagonist from Halo 2, the Arbiter, was extremely promising. The content within the story; *SPOILERS* an evil cortana, a covenant civil war and some spartan on spartan action had some extreme potential too. Unfortunately any truly awesome moments were reserved to the cutscenes, any backstory was distilled into lazy one-liners and there were multiple instances of the exact same boss fight. Ultimately, the entirety of Halo 5 felt like a weak introduction to the real meat of the story, with too many failed experiments to count.
Austin: The changes 343 Industries made Halo 5’s campaign does not feel like a Bungie Halo in mechanics or art style. I understand the necessity to update mechanics, I welcomed the aim down sights mechanic and improved mobility but the forced AI companions combined with a janky “down but not out” mechanic felt shoehorned in. My biggest issue with Halo 5 has to be how 343i sacrificed a level of detail in environments to ensure the game runs at 1080p/60FPS. There is a lot of visual trickery that was required to pull this off, including enemies animating at 30fps which is uncomfortable to look at. Despite Halo 5 being the most disappointing game in the series, the competitive multiplayer is still fun.
Best New Game – Life is Strange
Will: Life is Strange is one of those games that travels word of mouth but it’s instantly adored. Having a vague memory of DONTNOD’s prior work, Life is Strange puts the French based team on the pedal for strong storytelling in the adventure game format. The twists and turns in Season One prove a successful foray in taking recycled plot tropes; time travel, supernatural/mystical elements, teenage drama and presents them in a way that feels natural and compelling in a video game setting. It certainly deserves the accolade and I look forward to a new cast and story for Sesaon 2.
Diego: When Life is Strange was announced it didn’t really register on my radar since I had already been burnt out on TellTale’s adventure games and their constantly unfulfilled promises of meaningful choices and strong narrative so you can understand why I was pleasantly surprised by how good it actually was. DONTNOD took a gimmick and crafted an interesting game around it while taking the risk to setting it in a high school experience. This game gave me choices I didn’t expect to pan out in significant ways and expertly hid them while making the major choices so hard to choose that I’d rewind time half a dozen times trying to decide. Now while the ending didn’t really leave me as satisfied as I had hoped, the overall experience was something I had never played in a game before and it’s definitely left a lasting impression.
Best Sequel/Entry in Series – The Witcher 3
Diego: The Witcher 3 is a game that has ruined future RPGs for me. This is a game that has set an already low bar for open-world RPGs incredibly high with its improvements to the genre. Seriously, why are fetch quests still a thing after Witcher 3? I now want each side-quest to have its own meaningful self contained story.
