2006 Game Developers Choice Awards

Here is a quick article talking about the results, which features a very surprising sweep by my favorite game lately, Shadow of the Colossus.  This is not a shock to me, as Colossus has managed to be one of the most impressive games I’ve ever played.  It features very innovative and fun gameplay, as you journey from boss fight to boss fight without so much as a kobold to hinder your path.  It was created with beautiful artistry and graphics, combining a strong sense of realism with aztec like detailing and texturing.  All of which adds up to a very tight package that only seems to have issues with camera angles, much like many other third person platformers.  With games following in the footsteps of Devil May Cry, adapting the Resident Evil concept to various different genres, it seemed that God of War was set to win with its progressive additions to the status quo.  By this, I mean, you could climb all over huge enemies, wade through smaller enemies, and generally create a bloody swathe wherever you dare venture.

Colossus seems to have come from a year in the future, when looking at the progression of games, the direction that God of War began to steer gameplay and character design is very much where Shadow of the Colossus has gone.  Typically this is a much slower process, taking many years, as one or two landmark games are created and blow everyone away, only to be followed by a slew of imitators and rip-offs attempting to leech some of the marketability.  Eventually, there comes an innovator, which takes the precedents already set and adds something new, or changes a key mechanic which makes it seem like an all new game. 

Over the next year, I would not be surprised if a plethora of “Giant-slaying” games come onto the market, but I also would not be surprised if none ever come into existence.  While the company’s previous game, Ico, was equally fantastic and revolutionary, it was publically overlooked and quickly found a haven in game store’s bargain bins.  It seems to be such an artful game that other companies, seeking to make a profit with very little intellectual effort, may overlook it as well.  By this I mean that the companies which produce these immitator games often seem to look for the mainstream highlight games, and until winning many of the GDC Awards, Colossus was quickly becoming as overlooked as Ico in favor of games like God of War.  None of this is to say that God of War or any other games are not artistic or original, just that they are more mainstream and have less artistic purity.