Story
The Last of Us: Left Behind
Nominees:
80 Days
Broken Age
Far Cry 4
The Last of Us: Left Behind
Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)
The Wolf Among Us
Multiplayer
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Hearthstone was one of last year’s surprise hits, an incredibly addicting collectible card game set in Blizzard’s Warcraft universe. The game has been criticized due to the fact that beating another player was often a matter of luck, rather than having a better set of cards. But still, the game’s imagination and character, as well as the range of strategic options made it a worthy winner. And the fact that it managed to beat the latest iteration of Call of Duty, which has great multiplayer modes, is remarkable.
Also given that Destiny won the Best Game award, it seems weird to say the least that it did not bag the Multiplayer award as well, given how Multiplayer-focused Bungie’s game is.
Nominees:
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Destiny
Mario Kart 8
Minecraft: Console Editions
Titanfall
Game Innovation
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
In this age of big-budget AAA games, it is hard to find truly innovative games, as the major franchises like Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed and FIFA stick to their tried and tested formulas (and with millions of copies sold each year, who can blame them). But every now and then, a truly innovative AAA game comes around, such as nominee Shadow of Mordor with its innovative Nemesis system, or Alien: Isolation which used clever AI to make Ripley’s cat and mouse game with the alien truly terrifying.
But where you find true innovation is in the Indie scene. And the Game Innovation award went to The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, which was an adventure like no other, with supernatural elements and an atmosphere you could cut with a knife.
Nominees:
80 Days
Alien: Isolation
Lumino City
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Titanfall
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Mobile & Handheld
Monument Valley
With more people playing on mobile and handheld devices these days, it is not surprising that this market is becoming increasingly important for video game developers. And big name video games that were hits on non-mobile devices such as Hitman, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and The Walking Dead: Season 2 saw mobile releases last year, and were nominated in this category. But Monument Valley, which also won the British Game category, was certainly a worthy winner, with industry legend Tim Schafer saying that Monument Valley “is the most elegant game I have ever played”.
Nominees:
80 Days
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Hitman Go
Monument Valley
Threes
The Walking Dead: Season 2
Regarding other categories, it was curious to see video games by small developers come out as winners. For instance, the likes of Lumino City beat the big budget and overhyped Assassin’s Creed Unity in the Artistic Achievement category. And the likes of FIFA and Madden lost in the sports category to OlliOlli. Both these games were made by small developers with restricted budgets, which proves that creative ideas and great gameplay matter the most in the end.
The winners and nominees for the remaining BAFTA categories were the following:
Artistic Achievement
Lumino City
Nominees: Assassin’s Creed Unity, Far Cry 4, Hohokum, Lumino City, Monument Valley, Valiant Hearts
Audio Achievement
Alien: Isolation
Nominees: Alien: Isolation, The Banner Saga, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved, Mario Kart 8, The Sailor’s Dream
British Game
Monument Valley
Nominees: 80 Days, Alien: Isolation, Forza Horizon 2, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions, Lumino City, Monument Valley
Debut Game
Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)
Nominees: The Banner Saga, Counterspy, Hitman Go, Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna), Shovel Knight, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Family
Minecraft: Console Editions
Nominees: The LEGO Movie Videogame, LittleBigPlanet 3, Minecraft: Console Editions, Mario Kart 8, Skylanders Trap Team, Twelve a Dozen
Original Property
Valiant Hearts
Nominees: Kalimba, Monument Valley, Sunset Overdrive, Titanfall, Valiant Hearts, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Persistent Game
League of Legends
Nominees: Destiny, EVE Online – Phoebe, League of Legends, Runescape, World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, World of Tanks
Sport
OlliOlli
Nominees: FIFA 15, Football Manager 2015, Forza Horizon 2, OlliOlli, Madden NFL 2015, Trials Fusion