Some thoughts on the Game Awards for 2024 and what I voted for

By Frog

 


It is that time of year again when the year ends and people decide what things were the best things of the year that is now ending. As such it is time for the Game Awards for 2024. There are many categories and I decided I will vote in these awards. Here are my votes and a little bit of why I voted for the titles that I voted for.

Game of the Year:
I voted for Metaphor: Refantazio. There was no other game I sunk so many hours in. I enjoyed the game a lot and think it just slightly edges out Astro Bot for me as Game of the Year. I am a JRPG fan and Metaphor ticked all the right boxes for me. I also gave it the coveted 3 frogs rating in my review article recently so I'd say that speaks for itself.



Nominees were Astro Bot, Balatro, Black Myth Wukong, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Elden Ring DLC and Metaphor: Refantazio.

Some thoughts on the nominees. Balatro is an interesting contender here and a big win for indie devs for it being nominated. Elden Ring DLC seems a bit strange to be nominated if I'm being honest. Is DLC really a game of that year or is it just an extension of a previous year's game? Seems the criteria had been bent a little bit here in order to include it. As for Astro Bot, I think it was really an incredible game and deserves all of the flowers it recieves. Wukong is probably the fan favourite here to win the thing. Final Fantasy I don't think should be on the list.

What is perhaps most interesting is how much of an indictment of the Western games industry these nominees actually are. Nearly all titles are from Asian developers with the exception of Balatro. It should be a wake up call to the Western side of the industry that what they are doing isn't connecting with gamers anymore and may be time for a shift in direction.



For the other categories of the Game Awards 2024 I have abstained from voting as I think I should leave it to the experts at IGN and Polygon to decide.

I give the Game of the Year Awards 2 frogs which is an interesting grade on my scale.



Thanks for reading.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Some thoughts on 'Metaphor: Refantazio'

By Frog
Image
  Metaphor: Refantazio is the latest game from the folks who brought us Persona and the Shin Megami Tensei series. I played it on the Playstation 5 and I can say that it is a long game but I did not find myself getting bored or disengaged even after playing over 100 hours of this thing. The story is very fascinating and never dwells too long on a story arc before jumping to something different yet equally interesting. The game plays basically the same as Persona. So if you like those games, you will probably like this too. The game's story deals with some complex themes that parralels our real world in many ways. Despite this it never feels out of place or not in keeping with the fantasy world the developers have put together and instead it simply puts a mirror up to our real world without being too preachy in doing so. I liked a lot of the characters which is not something I can say with the Persona series where I find most to be annoying. Also I found several of the characters st...
Read more

Kagurabachi - Chapter 59

By Frog
Image
If you have not read this chapter yet, there is light spoilers below. Chapter 59 - Blackout: The anticipation for chapter 59 of Kagurabachi has been palpable. After the big twist of Samura turning heel on the bachibros, we had a bonus chapter side story of Sojo at the sauna which was better than it sounds. That said we now get the anticipated follow up and boy does this chapter deliver on that Samura twist. Samura has pretty much wrecked everyone and seemingly killed Uruha. Chihiro isn't too pleased with this betrayal and gets sliced and diced by Samura for his troubles, an assault which we learn 'kills' Chihiro. So I guess the protagonist is dead now. It's doubtful but I am curious how Chihiro will make it through this.  After attacking Chihiro, Shiba rocks up in the nick of time which seemingly scares Samura off who flees the scene and meets with the Hishaku. Samura basically reveals that he has decided to work with the Hishaku to kill all the sword bearers but after ...
Read more

I have been playing the Pokemon TCG Pocket mobile game too much

By Frog
Image
  A couple weeks back Nintendo released Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket on mobile devices. I was not aware of the game's impending release and was pleasantly surprised when I saw some posts on X regarding it and thought that I would give it a go as well. I am now playing it too much. Pokemon TCG Pocket is pretty much exactly what you'd think it is. It is a simulation version of the Pokemon trading card game which allows you to open booster packs and play matches of the TCG against both computer players and actual players around the world. What sets it apart is the fact that you can do pretty much all of this without having to pay a cent. There is paid currency but the game also allows you to regularly earn all these in game currency by surprise-suprise simply playing the game. Because the game doesn't put any real cash hurdles in front of playing the game, I have now been playing it too much. It has become some what of an obsession and I am becoming addicted to opening pac...
Read more