Yesterday (Apr 22) one of the game award shows for best video game of 2020 took place. The D.I.C.E. Awards, or "Don't Include Correct Entertainment" the award show. Just yet another award show that parades the AAA studios for their insanely budgeted games without trying to promote originality or innovation. I know there's a few exceptions on there (full list of games below), but the fact that a game that has barely a pulse of a reason to be even mentioned in these awards, and coming out near the top is laughable. The Last of Us Part II that's you.
Nearly every award show, not just this one, always has the most ridiculous assortment of games to be cherished. It's quite honestly like a CEO overheard about the best games in a year and created an award show to glorify rumors. As a side note, Hades and Ghost of Tsushima deserve all the praise absolutely, but there's quite a bit of games on these lists that don't belong. How is it that TLOU2 won anything? Best story? Did I wake up and find out the Earth is indeed flat? If this was the first TLOU I would whole heartily agree with that sentiment. The second game is not The Empire Strikes Back to the original in any way shape or form. It is a standard game soaked in misery. Not once did they improve upon what the first game built. If anything they made it worse and forgettable. Let the light shine for games that actually deserve the spotlight. The indies that go unseen. AAA studios that do at least get most things right.
Next someone will tell me it was a down year. What a joke. People say this every single year. Then someone shows them a list of games and they go, "oh, guess it was better than I remember." That's because the memory span of any person tends to omit things outside of a month or two prior, minus bigger events. Tell me what you did 258 days ago? What did you eat that day. Yeah f***ing right you remember. That's why these awards tend to be a joke.
TLOU2 has two mentions in Outstanding Achievement in Character. Seriously. You're telling me that those two are better than any of the thousands of games released in 2020? Credibility out the window. At least bunch them together if they are tied in quality and in the same game. This isn't meant to put TLOU2 down into a pit of misery (it put itself there), but it's garnered way more hype and praise than any mediocre game should. To put a small sample of games that came out last year that did it better just for this category (excluding other games already mentioned):
• Cyberpunk 2077 (Panam, Johnny Silverhand) - You are blinded by hate of the bugginess and didn't/couldn't play it. The PC version doesn't feel your pain.
• Resident Evil 3 - Jill - Literally a 3 hour experience had better character development, ouch.
• Sakura Wars - Sakura
• Spiritfarer - Pick any character
* (Mentioned already were FF7re, Hades, Miles Morales Spider-man, Valhalla, etc.)
These were just a few that came to mind.
Let us know what you thought of the D.I.C.E Awards for 2020. In fairness they've done better in years' past. Full list of winners below.
Game of the Year
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Ghost of Tsushima
Hades
The Last of Us Part II
Action Game of the Year
Doom Eternal
Hades
Half-Life: Alyx
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Nioh 2
Adventure Game of the Year
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Ghost of Tsushima
Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition
The Last of Us Part II
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Family Game of the Year
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Astro's Playroom
Dreams
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Fighting Game of the Year
EA Sports UFC 4
Granblue Fantasy Versus
Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate
Them's Fightin' Herds
Racing Game of the Year
Dirt 5
F1 2020
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
Role-Playing Game of the Year
Cyberpunk 2077
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Persona 5 Royal
Wasteland 3
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Sports Game of the Year
EA Sports FIFA 21
MLB The Show 20
NBA 2K21
PGA Tour 2K21
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
Crusader Kings III
Desperados III
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Monster Train
Per Aspera
Immersive Reality Game of the Year
Down the Rabbit Hole
Half-Life: Alyx
Paper Beast
The Room VR: Dark Matter
The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners
Mobile Game of the Year
HoloVista
Legends of Runeterra
Little Orpheus
Song of Bloom
South of the Circle
Online Game of the Year
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
Ghost of Tsushima
Tetris Effect: Connected
Outstanding Achievement in Animation
Final Fantasy VII Remake
The Last of Us Part II
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Spiritfarer
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
Ghost of Tsushima
Hades
The Last of Us Part II
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Outstanding Achievement in Character
Eivor, Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Zagreus, Hades
Abby, The Last of Us Part II
Ellie, The Last of Us Part II
Miles, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
Carrion
Ghost of Tsushima
Little Orpheus
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
The Pathless
Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design
Dreams
Ghost of Tsushima
The Last of Us Part II
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Outstanding Achievement in Story
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
Ghost of Tsushima
Hades
Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition
The Last of Us Part II
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction
Ghost of Tsushima
Hades
Half-Life: Alyx
Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition
The Last of Us Part II
Outstanding Achievement in Game Design
Ghost of Tsushima
Hades
Half-Life: Alyx
The Last of Us Part II
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Outstanding Technical Achievement
Dreams
Ghost of Tsushima
The Last of Us Part II
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Immersive Reality Technical Achievement
Half-Life: Alyx
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
Museum of Other Realities
Paper Beast
Tempest
Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game
Coffee Talk
Hades
If Found…
Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition
Noita
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