Welcome
one and all to the Isometrics Awards, the sidelong sneer at the best
and worst of the literary world of computer and video games. The year
has shot by so quickly hasn't it? I remember last year when I
promised a regular schedule with lots of posts and gave my best games
of 2014, and now I aim to promise it again, with a bit of a look back
at the year as well as explaining the criteria I personally use to
judge the best and worst games of the year of our game Two Thousand
and Fifteen.
2015:
A Panoply of Light, Fantasy and Interactivity
Two
Thousand and Fifteen will probably go down as one of the best years
for gaming of all time, in pretty much every regard that matters.
From cultural shifts, to fantastic triple A titles, to complete out
of nowhere smashes and some of the most wonderful explorations of a
fantastically deep medium, it felt like the ethos of Literary Gaming
was alive and well, and everything that is valued in an art form
going through a veritable renaissance is visible here. My best of
list has changed so extremely that my prospective list basically
looks nothing like the list I will have settled on by the time the
best of list comes out.
It was
a year full of a ridiculous amount of games being made available,
with Steam in particular swelling and buckling under the weight of
releases at times. That is only a problem for a player who needs to
play every major release though, and just means you are spoiled for
choice for great games this year. It also means quite wonderfully
that nearly everyone's GOTY list will be completely and utterly
different.
The
seemed to show a medium unafraid of itself and its fractured
audience, which came to a head last year in tragic and ugly fashion.
While elements of that still existed as they unfortunately always
will, the general feeling about video games was far more focused on
the creative, the positive and when critical, things that can be done
to make games more for everyone (This is something we will definitely
do an Isometrics on). The power balance between consumer and
publisher seemed to shift in a far more positive way, albeit
reluctantly, and following some of the most anti-consumer decisions
and actions taken thus yet in the history of video games.
 |
| Pictured: Konami's Relationship with Hideo Kojima |
In
terms of major events outside of game launches, there were a few that
spring to mind. The introduction of Steam Refunds was a great olive
branch, finally holding developers to account for making PC ports
that did not do the original game justice, and I have already seen
cases of games where an appalling launch was rectified soon
afterwards (and indeed some examples of that not happening where that
is the direct reason they made my worst of list). There was the
rather embarrassing fall of Atari into somewhat poor low-budget takes
on some of their best franchises, as well as the half-hilarious,
half-harrowing fall of (Fuc)Konami as a serious developer, the
fallout of which still seems to be landing after all this time.
We also
had the true power of crowd funding being released this year, though
not always for the best. Along with the releases of some fantastic
games we saw successful pitches from top tier talent for example for
a new Banjo-Kazooie (Yooka-Laylee), a new Castlevania Symphony of the
Night (Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night), Shenmue 3, Psychonauts 2
and I'm certain many others, along with other games from slightly
smaller studios really stepping up, like the heart-stopping IndieGoGo
for Indivisible. Along with this we did get some horror stories, like
the cancelled Yogsadventures, some of the issues with the otherwise
excellent Double Fine game Broken Age and the neverending launch
window for Mighty No 9, a game that seems to go from problem to
problem.
Add to
this the huge issues some major releases had, from the onslaught of
microtransactional elements in full price releases, the trend of paid
betas that triple A games seem to be doing a lot of, and the less
said of that utterly bollocks “Augment Your Preorder” stuff for
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided that was mercifully scrapped. There did seem
to be some pushback though that actually did some good.
 |
| Kickstarter's influence led to an influx of amazing games. |
For me
personally it was a banner year, where I finally felt far more
confident about my writing and recording, was in a job I like with
the perfect blend of stability and an end date, so I had less anxiety
about the madness swirling around me, and actually had enough money
to buy major releases at or soon after launch. There's a lot of
oddities, and indeed a lot of games I still need to catch up on, but
I feel more in the loop than I ever have, and may this continue into
2016.
On the
whole 2015 was far more good than bad, which does give me a bit of
unease as how long this can roll on for. With the disparity between
big budget games and the rest getting to ludicrous heights, it paints
an uncertain future for this truly diversely brilliant time in
gaming.
2016
looks like it'll be pretty good so far though.
The
Isometrics Awards
Once
again, it is time for the Isometrics Awards, which will take the form
of The Isometrics Worst Game of 2015, and The Isometrics Game of the
Year 2015. They'll be top ten lists, with some room for a shortlist
of course, and if I have time I'll try and actually have a list of
awards to go with it.
I use
slightly odd criteria because I feel it's slightly fairer, so I'll
try and explain it a little bit more succinctly this year.
For a
game to qualify for the Isometrics Awards it must:
- Have been released to stores in (Including online retailers, Steam and Bricks and Mortar shops) in Europe between 1st December 2014 and 31st December 2015. I give the extra month because I generally finalise my list in the middle of December so games released in December often get left out, which is a shame. Note: A game can only qualify for one year, so if I mentioned it last year it can't qualify this.
- Be a completed game. Early Access, beta releases and the like do not qualify until they are done. Even if it's near complete or feature complete, it needs to “go gold” or it's out.
- Be a full game. This is a grey area, but basically it means an expansion to a game that relies on the original does not qualify. Standalone expansions do however, if they are good enough to merit it.
- Be a new game. No ports of very old games or remakes without substantial updates. Generally The Binding of Isaac Rebirth is the standard for what qualifies, so a new engine and new content. Exception: a port from a console to Steam can still qualify if it is within 12 months, just for timed exclusives or games which have a release cycle between systems.
- Generally mobile and free to play games do not qualify, although there is no specific rule against them.In terms of judging criteria, ultimately it comes down to some subjective aspects, however I will do my best explain my justification. General rules of thumb is that a game that is bad that many people played is worse than a bad game no-one played, and that an actively hostile bad game is worse than a merely incompetently made game. The reverse is also true, a game that actively demonstrates imagination, daring and a literary sensibility will win out over a game that merely demonstrates technical competence, and also a great game for most is better than a game that is as good for less people.
Hope
this all makes sense, it will in practise, and expect another update
with the Isometrics Worst Games of 2015!
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