The Game Awards 2021: Same As It Ever Was.

Another TGA comes and goes. Geoff hypes it up as the best thing since sliced bread. People complain. He does it and tricks everyone again 12 months later. Second verse, same as the first. He's a salesman and he's got an excuse for everything. 

I won't mence words here. This was a bad awards show. To even call it that is being extremely generous. This was a THREE AND A HALF HOUR slogfest. I was in a Discord call with my friends and we all checked out multiple times.

John Campea rightfully called out that there wasn't a single award given out for 27 minutes. Twenty. Seven. Minutes. What is thing called again? Almost none of the celebrity presenters, with the exception of Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey and everyone's favorite milf, Ming Na Wen, felt genuine.  The talented developers who were fortunate enough to go on stage were quickly shoved off of it. Geoff and his crew did an extremely shoddy job this year and they deserve to be called out for it. Whoever those Twitch hosts were happened to be extremely annoying. Don't bring them back.

That said, GOTY Metroid Dread won for Best Action Adventure game and it was well deserved. It Takes Two, developed by MVP Josef Fares won Game Of The Year, and I'm super happy with that. That guy is a legend. Fuck the Oscar's indeed.

Now onto the reveals, I won't go through all of them, just the ones I found to be exciting/noteworthy.

Wonder Woman:


Well, as Steve Treavor would say, that's near. I mean, Wonder Wonan is cool and I like the idea of a game starring her, but it was just an announcement that "It exists". The CG is nice, though. Its being made by Monolith, who made the excellent Shadow of Mordor, so that gives me confidence. If it plays anything like Arkham or Spidey, I'm all over it, though.

Hellblade 2:

This was a really cool trailer. If this is actual gameplay and it's actually running on Series X, then call me impressed. The amount of detail looks stunning and the shadows seemed out of this world. Never played the first one, but i might just have to now.



Star Wars Eclipse:

I will say, this was one of the coolest CG trailers I have ever laid eyes on. This looks and sounds better than any literally any of the movies of the new era. Not even close,  in my opinion. Then...you find out who is actually making it.

Quantic Dream.

Ugh.

This studio has a grand total of one good game to their name, and that's Heavy Rain. Everything else has been a total dumpster fire. It doesn't help that the founder, David Cage, is a total hack and there's been numerous reports that the place is a nightmare to work at. There's even more. The person that leaked the game's existence has claimed that the game is a whopping THREE to FOUR Years away. At that point, why even bother showing it? This is absolutely a Lucasfilm decision. They picked the studio, and wanted this announced as soon as possible. It's also taking place during "The High Republic Era". Something that's already being considered a flop. This went from an 8 to a 1 within an hour. I'll actually be doing a STAR Wars article very soon. I'll be talking about the franchise's run since 2012 and why Kathleen Kennedy has screwed the pooch more times than I care to count. Abysmal. This is the next 1313. Mark my words.


The Suicide Squad:

Here we go. We finally got gameplay of the long awaited next game from Rocksteady, and it looks great. It's going for a much different vibe than Arkham, and i like that a lot. Each character brings their own flavor to it, and I love the concept of the Justice League becoming bosses. The more I see and hear of it, the more excited I get. I'm also just happy Rocksteady is doing something different. Bring it on. Also, the voice actress for Amanda Waller is absolutely amazing and I love the energy that she brought to the stage.

Forespoken:


We once again got to see Forespoken, the new IP from Square, and I once again, am not impressed. The game, visually speaking, is very nice looking, but that's about it. It looks like boring, generic, isekai shock. And that's a huge disappointment considering Gary Whitta and Amy Henig, two of my favorite writers, are working on it. As It stands, I'll pass.


Nintendo's No Show:

To be honest, I'm not particularly upset about this, Nintendo has had me eating good all year. I didn't need an announcement at the awards from them, they've satisfied me enough this year. Besides, there will be another direct before too long. Be patient. Nintendo has a stellar 2022 in store.


Alan Wake 2:

Finally. The first Alan Wake is the perfect example of a cult classic, and we're finally getting a sequel after so long. It was one of my favorite games of that generation. The vibe of that game hooked me immediately and it's something I come back to at least once a year. That trailer was just an announcement that it exists, and that's fine by me. I'm ready.

Mental Note: I need to play Control already.

Sonic Vs. Knuckles:

What? You thought I was going to call it Sonic 2? Nope, fuck that. I'm calling it by its far, far superior Japanese name, Sonic Vs. Knuckles. That title is pure kino. Oh, and so was that trailer. I was absolutely blown away by how good it looks. Sonic 2 and 3 truly feel like they're getting mostly faithful adaptations this time. The humans have been thankfully sidelined and it's all about the four core characters, as it should be. Jim Carrey appears to be at his best, Sonic and Tails immediately appear to work well off of one another, and I'm extremely happy that Colleen is a part of the cast. She's fantastic and I'm hoping this a huge break for her career. Idris Elba clearly lied. His Knuckles voice is the definition sexy. I'm all about it. He also looks fucking great. Hesse and co. did a great job translating their designs into live action.  I'm genuinely excited and impressed by what I've seen and I cannot wait to see more. I'll be making an article about this one soon as well. It's easy to see why this was the most talked-about thing that night. It truly feels like they put their all into this one.

The Matrix Awakens:

Okay, the way Geoff ended this was just the worst thing he could have done. This was clearly something Warner Bros. paid for, and it was a shitty way to end the show.
While the demo itself looks absolutely insane, and proves what a powerhouse Unreal Engine 5 is going to be. But thats all it is, it's a demo and a thinly veiled advertisement for a movie that is most likely going to be very bad. I'm sorry, but the Wacgowskis have made a total of 1, and I mean, one good movie. Everything else ranges from mediocre to flat out unbearable.  Speed Racer is absolute trash. Yeah, I said it. Fight me.


Sonic Frontiers:

Last one. Let's be real. Sonic was probably the biggest reveal there. The leaks were real, and we have our first open world Sonic game. There's many positives and negatives here. The game looks stunning. The Hedgehog Engine 2 is capable of things the original engine couldn't even dream of, and this is proof. However, they did not stick the landing with this reveal. Why? They didn't show any gameplay, at all. What you saw was a look at the engine, that's it. Ian Flynn is writing the game's story, so I have literally no worries there. Morio Kishimoto is back as director, and his track record is nothing short of laughable. However, the game's producer, Sachiko Kawamura, is a long time Sonic veteran, and has been involved since 1996. Couple that with the watchful eye of Sonic Studio in America, as well as the guidance of Takashi Iizuka and Kuzyuki Hoshino, and we may just be okay here. Of course, like everyone wise, l'll be watching this like a hawk. I'll be making a full length article about this very soon.

So, that's my take on the Game Awards.  Will not watch this entire thing ever again.

Oh and why yes, that is a Flock of Seaguls reference.

Thanks for reading!