GameSpy's Game of the Year Awards Conclude
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- BioShock: Xbox 360 Game of the Year (#2), Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Story
Mass Effect: Xbox 360 Game of the Year (#5), Best Soundtrack, Best Voice Acting
The Witcher: PC RPG of the Year, Surprise of the Year
Here's why The Witcher took them by surprise:
Often delayed and built off of an old BioWare game engine, we had thought that The Witcher was a game that had missed its opportunity. When it finally appeared on store shelves late in the year, we weren't expecting much.
We were wrong.
Turns out that The Witcher is among the best single-player RPG experiences available in 2007. The world is gritty and stark, the characters are gloomy and real, and the gameplay is spot-on. As a supernatural badass you can ingest potions to amp up your abilities, but they're basically poisons -- you're killing yourself with every sip. The tension this creates plays out spectacularly, as does the terrific combat.
The Witcher's white-haired protagonist Geralt may come across as a pale-faced goth kid's fantasy if you're judging by box art alone. But we were surprised to discover he's one of the coolest characters around. Yes, he's a master of multiple cinematic fighting styles, a dab hand at magic, and can work wonders around the campfire with his alchemy. But more importantly he's always up for a game of dice, will never turn down a drinking contest, knocks people around in underground "Fight Clubs," and isn't too proud to say anything it takes to have his way with each and every able-bodied woman he meets (especially when stumbling drunk). This guy even collects risque sex cards, artistically cataloguing his romantic conquests. It's like the medieval equivalent of snapping dirty pictures with your camera phone.
It's always great to see a game come out of nowhere and really knock your socks off. Despite suffering from a couple technical issues, especially the lengthy load times, The Witcher is one of the best PC games of the year. We'll drink to that!
There are also a handful of awards for Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, some Gamers' Choice awards, and a slap in the face for the poor use of the Shadowrun license, so some additional reading might be worth your while.
