The Ready Up Game Awards 2012

It’s the end of the year, and that can mean only one thing – that it’s time for the Ready Up Game Awards. This year I did the honours of asking the entire team for their votes, and spent lots of time collecting and collating everyone’s votes and cash bribes. I’m kidding, of course – this years bribes were all paid securely online.

So without further ado, let’s open the first virtual golden envelope.

Best Story 2012

The first of many sequels to appear in this years awards, the story that had most of Team Ready Up glued to their screens this year was the final part of an epic trilogy. Despite many people initially being displeased with the games ending, it was given a do-over, and most people seemed to end up happy. Of course, I’m talking about the one, the only, the third: Mass Effect 3. The highly personalised tale spun out over three parts was so unique to each player, that it’s no wonder that it resounded so well with fans and most of the Ready Up team.

Honourable mention(s):

Only just losing out in this category was Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, which again reinforces the popularity of stories based around choices made by the gamer.

Best Graphics 2012

An interesting category, this one, due to the different ways it was interpreted by the team. Some went for games with simple but unique graphic art styles, while others went for sheer graphical grunt. In the end though, 3D graphical grunt won it, with Halo 4 walking away with the title for representing the grey interior of spaceship corridors with more polygons than ever before. Oh, and there were a few epic vistas, too.

Honourable mention(s):

The interesting art styles of both Fez and the lovely Okami HD meant these also scored incredibly well in this year’s votes.

Best Multiplayer 2012

Bit of a surprise in this category, in that across the votes from the entire team, only one person voted for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Has COD lost its multiplayer magic? As for the winner in this category, it may no longer have its original developer, but apparently the multiplayer is in safe hands with series’ new developers 343. Yep, Halo 4 scoops its second award this year, for its ever popular grenade ‘n’ bounce multiplayer.

Honourable mention(s):

A strong PC showing here among the team, with Guild Wars 2 coming in second place.

Biggest Letdown 2012

The only category in this year’s awards that no-one wants to win, this is our award for games that promised so much, and delivered so little. Or just had such high expectations laden upon them that they could never live up the hype. This year’s unfortunate winner is the interesting sounding, but relatively dull to play, survival horror I Am Alive. Luckily for me I never played it, but Laura did, and she said this: “It is bland yet satisfying; like a bowl of plain pasta. Something you probably wouldn’t touch unless you ran out of more appealing options.”

Honourable mention(s):

After two years as Ready Up’s most anticipated game, it was no surprise that some of the team were most let down by Mass Effect 3 this year, after all that waiting. Hitman: Absolution also left a fair few of the team wanting, again probably more as a result of high expectations than because the game was especially poor.

Biggest Surprise 2012

The ying to Biggest Letdown’s yang, this one is for the game that caught most people off guard this year, and left us with an unexpectedly warm feeling in our stomachs. Coming out of the blue as it did for most of us, Binary Domain struck a real chord with many of our team this year. With its robot smashing gunplay action, surprisingly interesting story, giant bosses, team trust system and interesting characters it was our most unexpected treat of 2012. And it had a French robot. Quelle surprise!

Honourable mention(s):

Dishonored‘s tremendous gameplay and story also sucker punched many of us this year, and Far Cry 3 surprised us with its size and sheer quality.

Best Portable Game 2012

This catgeory was a nightmare to count, with the sheer variety and quality of games available across iOS, Android, DS, PSP, Vita and more making this the widest category yet. In fact, the vote was spread so thinly that only three titles scored more than one vote each, and even they all drew even! The joint winners are Pokemon: Black/White 2, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask.

Honourable mention(s):

It’s only fair to mention all of these, as every single one is a Ready Up team member’s favourite portable game: Angry Birds Star Wars, CSR, Draw Something, Final Fantasy III, Gravity Rush, Hero Academy, Kairobotica, Kid Icarus: Uprising, McPixel, Persona 4: The Golden, Punch Quest, Quarrel, Super Hexagon, The Room, Wipeout 2048, Yesterday, Ghost Trick, Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

Most Anticipated Game 2013

As mentioned before, this category has been monopolised due to delays to Mass Effect 3 for the last two years in a row. Now ME3 has actually been released, Team Ready Up can gaze into 2013 with expectant eyes. And what are we seeing in our crystal balls? Guns, drugs and hookers. Yep, our most anticipated game of 2013 is the sure to be epic Grand Theft Auto V. I personally can’t wait to get back into some crazy multiplayer action with the revival of Ready Up’s GTA Monday nights.

Honourable mention(s):

It’s not all drugs and hookers here at RU, as these titles are also well anticipated: Bioshock Infinite, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.

Best Game 2012

I’ve saved this category for last, because, well, as you can tell by the name, it’s the best category. For best game. If you were getting tired of the sheer number of mentions of Mass Effect 3 in these awards, then I have bad news for you. If, on the other hand, you are part of the large majority of the team who voted for it, you’ll be delighted to know that Mass Effect 3 has snatched the ultimate prize for Best Game 2012. It’s probably no surprise that our most anticipated title for the last two years scooped this award, but at least this shows that for most people, the game delivered as promised.

Honourable mention(s):

You can really see the spread of gaming tastes through our team in this category, with Dishonored, Max Payne 3, The Walking Dead and XCOM Enemy Unknown all having very good showings for Best Game this year.


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4 responses to “The Ready Up Game Awards 2012”

  1. John Brown avatar

    An excellent set of results all round I think! Nicely done ‘ny!

    Meant to look at Binary Domain but never got around to it. It’s back on the list..

    1. Mark Paterson avatar

      It really is quite spectacular. It might not immediately grab you, but stick with it and you’ll see why it gets the attention it does.

  2. Reggoe avatar
    Reggoe

    Mass Effect 3 wasn’t GOTY material. It was a cool game but much worse than ME1 and ME2 – and the story, still good for a video game, was the biggest difference in quality between it and its predecessors.

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