It’s time for part 2 of the GeekTown Awards, and this time we’re kicking off with PC Game of the Year, as voted for by visitors to GeekTown!
- 7th – FTL : Faster Than Light
- 6th – Planetside 2
- 5th – XCOM: Enemy Unknown
- 4th – Guild Wars 2
3rd (Bronze Award) – Dishonored
http://youtu.be/zcSc4uBc3nQ
Dishonored was one of those games that comes along every few years that really seems to nail what it sets out to do. Set in the victorian steam-punk style industrial city of Dunwall, you play Corvo, bodyguard to the Empress Jessamine… Unfortunately you’re having a ‘bad CV’ day. You’re attacked, the Empress is killed and you’re framed for her murder. Locked in a prison cell, your helped to escape by loyalist, who want the draconian usurper Lord Regent removed from power so the Empress’s daughter to take her rightful place on the throne.
Much like the hallowed Deux Ex, Dishonored gives to player various ways to play the game. It’s actually possible to make stealth through the entire game without killing anyone… or you can snap the neck of every bad guy you come across. It’s really up to you. There are multiple routes through the maps so it really feels like you have the freedom to play the game how you want to. Dishonored completely deserves it’s place in the top 3.
You can get Dishonored on Steam here.
2nd (Silver Award) – Mass Effect 3
http://youtu.be/5CW-vCsfcCE
Ahh yes. The long awaited conclusion to the Mass Effect Trilogy sees Commander Shepard try to deal with the Reaper threat once and for all. The game came under quite a lot of criticism due to it’s rather ‘wishy washy’ ending, but the release of a free patch which tightened up the closing plot, making it the game it really should have been. Like Mass Effect 2, you could load up your previous save games to provide your own backstory, altering which characters showed up, and how they reacted to you. In the end, it brought this part of the Mass Effect story to a satifying conclusion.
You can download the PC version of Mass Effect 3 here.
1st (Gold Award) – The Walking Dead Game
http://youtu.be/G3DXHbNhl4c
Who’d have thought the game that would take the Gold in this day and age would, at it’s core, be a point and click adventure game! It’s a well deserved honor though, with The Walking Dead Game being one of the most engrossing, heart wrenching stories we’ve played in a long time. You are Lee Everett, a convicted murderer who’s being transferred to prison, when the cop car he’s riding in crashes off the road as the zombie apocalypse hits Georgia. Lee finds his way to a house where he meets the young girl Clementine, who’s been hiding out in her tree house, since her parents are away, and the babysitter appears to have become lunch for the undead…
It’s the father/daughter relationship between Lee and Clem which is the soul of this story, bringing a unique level of depth and emotional experience rarely seen in a video game. There are some puzzles to solve, but the hardest of choices comes when dealing with the other characters. Quite often you’ll find yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place, when backing the choices of one character leads to unthinkable consequences for another.
It would have been very easy for the license holders of Walking Dead to just let a game become some zombie ‘shoot em up’… But they didn’t. They took a much harder route, and let the developers (Telltale Games) create an experience which pulls out your guts in a very different way. Emotional depth isn’t something that video games are often known for, but The Walking Dead is a perfect example of how to do it well, and do it right. If you’re a fan of the TV show or comic books, or just a fan of superb storytelling, this game is a ‘must have’.
You can (and really should!) buy The Walking Dead Game on Steam here.
