The Escapist Awards Winners - Game of the Year Goes to ...

The Escapist Staff

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The Escapist Awards Winners - Game of the Year Goes to ...

Announcing the winners of The Escapist Awards 2014!

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RedDeadFred

Illusions, Michael!
May 13, 2009
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Nice to see Hannibal win best TV show. I was a tad worried when I saw the list of nominees since I really thought it might go to a super hero show since (not that they're bad, I'm loving The Flash, but they don't really compare to the quality of other stuff from this year IMO) this site does seem to adore everything super hero (not that that's necessarily a bad thing either). Still, despite all the other shows I would have nominated over some of the ones on this list, Hannibal was by far my favourite. There's just nothing else like it.

Winter Soldier winning was a little weird for me. The only thing that set it apart from your generic spy thriller for me was that it was using recognizable characters that many of us have come to enjoy. To the movie's credit, this was the first time I've actually really like the Captain's character in the MCU. I just feel like there were many more movies that came out this year which were far better and if a superhero movie was going to be picked Guardians should have been it in a heartbeat. Still, just my opinion. I know a lot of people loved the movie.

For games, I have only just started Inquisition so I can't say if it's my GOTY yet. It's quite good, but so far, I'm liking Mordor a bit more. Like I said though, I've only just started (5 hours in) so that could easily change.
 

tzimize

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RedDeadFred said:
Nice to see Hannibal win best TV show. I was a tad worried when I saw the list of nominees since I really thought it might go to a super hero show since (not that they're bad, I'm loving The Flash, but they don't really compare to the quality of other stuff from this year IMO) this site does seem to adore everything super hero (not that that's necessarily a bad thing either). Still, despite all the other shows I would have nominated over some of the ones on this list, Hannibal was by far my favourite. There's just nothing else like it.

Winter Soldier winning was a little weird for me. The only thing that set it apart from your generic spy thriller for me was that it was using recognizable characters that many of us have come to enjoy. To the movie's credit, this was the first time I've actually really like the Captain's character in the MCU. I just feel like there were many more movies that came out this year which were far better and if a superhero movie was going to be picked Guardians should have been it in a heartbeat. Still, just my opinion. I know a lot of people loved the movie.

For games, I have only just started Inquisition so I can't say if it's my GOTY yet. It's quite good, but so far, I'm liking Mordor a bit more. Like I said though, I've only just started (5 hours in) so that could easily change.
The Flash is just embarrassing. And I say that as someone who loves both superheroes and tv. Hannibal is fantastic though, and the only thing I agree with on this list.

Dragon Age: Inq...GOTY? Are you fucking kidding me? Its an MMO! Without the MMO! Fetch quests all over the place, endless loadtimes, boring characters, WAY too much gathering of materials for complete bullshit "progress", yay. A useless garden for my fort. Endless streams of crappy gear...I havent seen this much boring inventory since ME1, and in ME1 you at least could melt down stuff to use for actually useful things. Right? The only thing I can think of that is more disappointing than DA:I this year must be Watch Dogs, and the only reason I'm not more disappointed in that is that I expect everything Ubisoft delivers on the triple A scene to be utter shit.

I LOVE rpgs...and I cant even MAKE myself continue playing DA:I, its that boring.

And while Cap 2 was completely awesome, it really cant beat Guardians. It cant.

This list is completely nuts. I'd expect this stuff from IGN. Just awful.
 

Vrach

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Jun 17, 2010
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DA:I as Game of the Year really shows the site has lost any touch it ever had with gaming. It's the kind of game someone who's not a gamer would look at (and by look at the game, I actually mean look at the game box), check the hype levels and say "yeah, this has to be GOTY, right?". Hell, I figured it would take GOTY, probably deservedly so... until I played it. It's an MMO that's been stripped of any fun the MMO comes with. It has all the grind, all the pointlessness of side quests and all the shitty combat mechanics (by which I mean "barely any"), but trapped in a linear world without anyone to actually play with. The story is hard to get into, because to play the game, you spend hours upon hours of time doing meaningless fetch/kill/escort side quests.

And yes, it has BioWare dialogue, but so does Star Wars: The Old Republic and I don't see anyone singing praises of that game either. In fact, SWTOR was a better single-player game than DA:I is (just think of how sad a sentence that is). I'm not saying that out of some outrage or anything, I liked MMOs before and SWTOR was the last thing I played of them before I got burnt out - but it was still fun. The combat was better (that alone raises red flags when comparing an MMO to what's supposed to be a single-player game), there was more story and dialogue and the side quests were at least mildly amusing and, unlike DA:I, they more often made sense in scope of the game's story. You also had choices even on side quests, while DA:I actually has the most typical MMO quest system.

There's just nothing good about that game. Unless your thought process is "jeez, I'd sure like to play an MMO, if only I didn't have to play it with other people" (well, granted, Yahtzee might entertain such a thought process...), there is no reason you should play this game over any respectable MMO on the market.
 

Xan Krieger

Completely insane
Feb 11, 2009
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So Far Cry 4 was the game of the year? Yeah that sounds right. Having played it it's Far Cry 3 with more varied environments so it improved on something that was already amazing.

Captcha: u jelly?
Sounds like captcha is talking to the runners up.
 

Xman490

Doctorate in Danger
May 29, 2010
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Destiny gets a spot here, but not Titanfall? Even though both of them are always-online? Sure, Destiny has a campaign, but Titanfall can be far more fun.
 

The Goat Tsar

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Mar 17, 2010
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Awww...Wolfenstein didn't win best shooter? Geez it seems like I'm the only one who played that game. Well, one other guy here has as well. He'll show up.
 

VladG

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Aug 24, 2010
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Wow... Dragon Age: Inquisition best RPG over the likes of Wasteland 2 and Divinity: Original Sin.

Also, why the hell is Destiny even on the FPS list? By all accounts it's a grindy, samey, half-broken mess. Sure, it was a relatively slow year for FPS, but surely, Destiny doesn't belong here. What abount Shadow Warrior? Titanfall?


One of the best years for gaming in recent history with shining examples of games across most genres, like Divinity Original Sin, an RPG that lets you actually freaking roleplay by giving you insane freedom mixed with a very interesting combat system (again, defined by great freedom of choice and diversity), some interesting characters and scenarios (sure, not as good as BioWare stuff) and one of the more interesting non-linear experiences since Planescape:Torment.

Divinity Original Sin was a game I spent the first 3-4 hours running around a shitty little fishing village solving a murder mystery. And I loved every second of it. By comparison, I got bored after the first 2 hours of running around the Hinterlands in DA:I. Boring and limited combat system, barely any tactical depth and the grindy, mmo-ish open world just kills what otherwise seems like one of the more interesting DA titles in terms of characters and story. BioWare RPGs have always been carried by their story and characters, with gameplay barely good enough to not get in the way (too much). Inquisition is the first I just can't be bothered to play any more. I had more fun playing Castle Doombad this year. Hell, I had more fun playing Dragon Age 2, which I finished.

As for Wasteland 2... I can't remember the last time I spent 2 days doing literally nothing but eating, sleeping and playing the same game. I would give this game RPG of the decade, not year. If you like RPGs and the original Fallout games in particular (1&2) you owe it to yourself to play Wasteland 2.

I understand that any such list will come with a heavy personal bias and what is fun for one person isn't necessarily fun for another.. but as discerning consumers of our medium, I just can't see why those games would win.

And if this is the pinnacle of AAA gaming... thank fucking god for indies and Kickstarter...
 

Jandau

Smug Platypus
Dec 19, 2008
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Glad to see DA:I win this one, it's an amazing game. Not a perfect one, but the characters, the storytelling and the epic scope make up for the slight annoyances. Sure, it's a bit grindy at times, but it's not too terrible and most of the grinding is optional. You don't HAVE to do any of that, it's just there for people who do like it. Only thing I'd really change is making the combat more like Origins, but at least it's better than DA2...

Also, I don't really understand why people are so stoked about Divinity. I got 4 hours into that game before being bored out of my skull with the utter lack of ANYTHING even remotely interesting. For god's sake, the only thing that caught my interest was a talking clam! Maybe it gets better further in, but if I'm several hours in and you've shown me hardly anything remotely intriguing, I'm out. And Wasteland 2 is just too broken and poorly designed mechanically to be enjoyable for me. Also, ugly as sin. And by that I don't mean the graphical fidelity, it's visual design is just crap.

But then again, maybe I just have weird tastes...
 

DarkhoIlow

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Dec 31, 2009
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The feeling when actual RPG's don't even make it on the list. *smh*

Seeing Wasteland 2 and Divinity Original Sin snubbed makes me lose faith in humanity even more than I already have.
 

josemlopes

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Jun 9, 2008
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The Goat Tsar said:
Awww...Wolfenstein didn't win best shooter? Geez it seems like I'm the only one who played that game. Well, one other guy here has as well. He'll show up.
I doubt you are talking about me but yeah, Wolfenstein not getting even best shooter is just terrible.

I bet Far Cry 4 is fun and all, I did like 3 after all but even I thought 3 was already too samey, didnt managed to finish the 2 island. 4 just seems more of the same.

Wolfenstein though is just on a whole different level, it mixed the old-school with the modern so well, it had some of the best characters this year (there isnt a single bad character in that game) and had great production values.

Far Cry 4 just feels like the safe game in my opinion.
 

Parshooter

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Sep 13, 2009
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Hearthstone didn't win game of the year! I guess I have to say "Thank You Jon Bolding!" for his promise to try and stop it from happening but not really since I figured DA:I was the obvious choice.
 

Coreless

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Aug 19, 2011
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Nice choices for GOTY, DA was definitely my favorite and I would have also been ok with Isolation or Mordor as well, solid games all around.

Jandau said:
Also, I don't really understand why people are so stoked about Divinity. I got 4 hours into that game before being bored out of my skull with the utter lack of ANYTHING even remotely interesting. For god's sake, the only thing that caught my interest was a talking clam! Maybe it gets better further in, but if I'm several hours in and you've shown me hardly anything remotely intriguing, I'm out.
I felt the same way, I made it to the first town, explored around and did some quests and I just felt no connection at all to the world or the characters, the dialogue was just... lol I don't know how people can take it seriously. I will eventually go back and finish the game because I hate leaving games unfinished, but it definitely wasn't doing much for me at the time.
 

Rad Party God

Party like it's 2010!
Feb 23, 2010
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Dragon Age Inquisition GOTY... yup, "shit storm abrewin'", yadda yadda.
This year wasn't really that good honestly, but at least we got Dark Souls 2 (all things said and done, my GOTY), Alien Isolation, wich was definitely pretty awesome and Shadow of Mordor, wich isn't my cup of tea, but at least it spawned some great stories and blogs. Happy 2015! :D

The Goat Tsar said:
Awww...Wolfenstein didn't win best shooter? Geez it seems like I'm the only one who played that game. Well, one other guy here has as well. He'll show up.
Hi! :)
I guess that people are more interested on the open world FPS design more than the retro balls-to-the-wall action that TNO delivered.
 

StriderShinryu

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Dec 8, 2009
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Nice to see the site being called out for picking DA:I as it's game of the year, especially considering DA:I just won the reader's choice tournament too. Not only have all the staff been bought out but the readers have too? *gasps* I really wonder when EA is going to send me my cheque...
 

irishda

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Dec 16, 2010
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I would've given movie of the year to Interstellar. The Winter Soldier was fine, but I didn't see anything particularly excellent about it. Interstellar, while tripping up occasionally, reached farther and succeeded in more ways than just being a decent comic book movie. Even within the realm of Marvel movies, Guardians of the Galaxy is the clear winner between the two. Captain America remains THE most boring character they've put on screen, so I spend about two-thirds of the movie wishing the fish-out-of-water would just get the fuck out of the way so we can have a Black Widow/Nick Fury movie that would kick so much more ass.
 

ToastiestZombie

Don't worry. Be happy!
Mar 21, 2011
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Bayonetta 2 not even being nominated for Best Action Game is a sin of the highest caliber. What kind of gaming publication sees Watch Dogs as a better action game than Bayonetta 2?
 

WouldYouKindly

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Apr 17, 2011
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Calling Hearthstone a strategy game is stretching it somewhat. What happened to Beyond Earth? If Hearthstone belongs in the genre you'd be hard pressed to say that Civ doesn't.
 

babinro

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Sep 24, 2010
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Dragon Age Inquisition? bah. Such a disappointment. I guess I'm glad to hear the franchise has a strong future though. I absolute LOVE the first 2 games and so I should be happy even though I feel like my money was wasted.

Winter Soldier...really?
I had the good fortune of watching this movie at a friends house in the last month. It's officially the one and only 2014 movie I've seen. It was good. A solid popcorn flick. That's it. I have a hard time believing that the movie industry has sunk so low to say that this was it's shining moment for an entire year. It's not even the fact that it's a blockbuster either...I'm not a movie snob. Heck, action flicks like Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park would make for worthy titles. They 'felt' special at their prime and left a lasting impression on their viewers even early on. Winter Soldier feels like I'm watching a fun enjoyable movie. I've already forgotten 80% of what happened in it and I actually like Marvel flicks.
Sad year for movies.

I will say that seeing Hearthstone win was actually unexpected. This game is truly deserving of praise and feels like it's opened up a genre to people who have previously never really experienced it. I could see Hearthstone being a gateway to other CCG's just like how Rock Band introduced plenty of people to real instruments. Good call. Probably not the most popular choice given the competition but I agree.