The 2015 BAFTA Game Awards: Winners and Commentary

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Story

The Last of Us: Left Behind

If one thing is clear, is that Naughty Dog’s grand zombie adventure The Last of Us was one of the best games of 2013. The game took place in a post-apocalyptic world, had brilliant story-telling and plenty of great moments. And Left Behind is certainly one of the best pieces of video game DLC released to date. It featured content that was up to the same high-standards as the original game, and a great narrative that adds to the main story in The Last of Us. It was definitely a must-play for those who enjoyed the original game, and wholly deserved the BAFTA award.

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