Game of the Year Awards 2009
Check out our Editor's picks for the past year! See our Best and Worst Games of 2009!
Introduction | Gameplay Awards | Special Awards | Genre Awards | GOTY
Gameplay Awards
Best Story:
Told in a non-linear fashion, Cryostasis slowly reveals the past events on a nuclear icebreaker stranded in the North Pole. The player comes across victims of circumstance or foul play and can relive memories and visualize their demise in effort to set things right and find out what has really happened aboard the derelict ship.
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Best Graphics (Art):
Simply put, Flower is one of the most beautiful games to ever grace any platform. From the breathtaking visuals to the amazing landscapes, this game will let your imagination fly free.
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Best Graphics (Tech):
The overall presentation of DiRT 2 is hard to match, the tracks are wonderfully designed, the cars look fantastic. The smoke, dust and collision effects bring the extra level of polish with the slick 3D menus.
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Best Music:
Along with the great visuals, the atmosphere of Flower is further supplemented by the great original musical score. It is completely relaxing and very fitting to the experience, making it a great joy to listen to.
Honorable Mentions:
Best Sound:
It may simply be the crushing of skeleton bones under a summoned platform from the Mage or even the chink of an arrow on a stone wall. Without question the sound design of Trine is first rate and consistent.
Honorable Mentions:
Best Character:
Nathan Drake (Uncharted 2)
Nathan Drake is an everyday hero, one who is at home when making jokes in dangerous situations. He is a genuine character and attempts to do the right thing even if it gets him in trouble and it’s hard to not like him.
Honorable Mentions:
Joker (Batman: Arkham Asylum)
Allistair (Dragon Age: Origins)
Sean (The Saboteur)
Ezio (Assassin's Creed 2)
Best Voice Acting:
Not just Nolan North, but Claudia Black, Steven Valentine, Emily Rose and Graham McTavish produce solid performances to go along with the superb dialogue. Given a little bit of lenience during voice recording the natural flow really shines through. Unsurprisingly the runner-up, Dragon Age: Origins, features a few of these characters.
Honorable Mentions:
Best Atmosphere:
What game creates such an atmosphere where you’re so invested in the characters and world events that you forget what sunlight is? Dragon Age sets up a system where you’ll care about the opinions of your companions and even want to help them during their troubles.
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Best Multiplayer:
It has a competitive multiplayer component that flows quite well with good duels and balanced map layouts. Then you have a friendly set of co-operative modes which give you a very solid multiplayer effort.
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Best Singleplayer:
Dragon Age features dozens of hours of gameplay, numerous detailed side quests, choices that effect outcomes and relationships and a deep set of backstories for many characters. The single player component of Dragon Age engrosses you in a world.
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Most Original gameplay:
There are many titles that still attempt to use motion controls as a gimmick. Flower, on the other hand, takes full advantage of PS3's SIXAXIS motion control to bring you a unique gaming experience that works great with the motion controls.
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