“Read it boy,” Christopher Judge said at last year’s Game Awards to child actor Sunny Suljic, who plays his character Kratos’ son Atreus in God of War. It was a line that captivated the audience as Suljic read the winner for Content Creator of the Year. There were many great highlights last year that excited the audience, which seldom happened this year.
From the moment the Game Award nominees were announced weeks ago, some of the nominated games have been riddled with controversy. “This year, with Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding nominated for a number of awards including Game of the Year, viewers are openly wondering whether or not that’s related to The Game Awards producer Geoff Keighley’s very public relationship with Kojima,” according to an article on Kotaku by Heather Alexandra. These early claims set the tone of this year’s Game Awards to be controversial at best.
There weren’t many mind-blowing announcements this year. Except for Microsoft’s unveiling of their next generation console titled Xbox Series X, there were no announcements of well-known games that gamers didn’t already know about.
The exception to that would be Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, which will be a launch title with Xbox Series X. Previously code-named “Xbox Scarlett”, the new Xbox looks like a blocky computer and has an awkward title for a new Game Console. Imagine going to GameStop and asking to preorder the “Xbox Series X”. It will feel like a mouthful.
There were some moments that had me laughing, however. For one, I thought I was hallucinating hearing Titanic theme in the new Apex Legends holiday-themed trailer, but I was surprised to see a recreation of the famous “I’m flying” scene of James Cameron’s classic during the trailer. It was so random and cartoonish that I chuckled a bit.
Another awkwardly hilarious part of the awards last night was seeing the Muppets on stage with a Muppet version of the goose from Untitled Goose Game. It was so silly that it worked.
Other notable moments were seeing well-known actors like Lindsay Wagner, who has a major part in Death Stranding, present at the awards. The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus, who’s plays character Sam Porter Bridges in Death Stranding, presented an award. Another surprise presenter was Reggie Fils-Aime, former CEO of Nintendo.
However, the feel-good moments during this year’s Game Awards were few and far between. I was disappointed to see that many of the awards were rushed and didn’t allow the winner to physically appear on stage. The most notable award to become victim to this rush was the Best Performance. Last year, Roger Clark won this award for Red Dead Redemption 2 and was able to come on stage and give a speech.
The winner of the award this year was Mads Mikkelsen, who had a part in Death Stranding. They rushed through this win, not allowing Mikkelsen to come up on stage and collect his award. Ultimately, the Game of the Year went to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a game deemed difficult by many but extremely loved by the fans that played it.
It should be noted that the competition wasn’t as tough as last year’s, which could’ve been responsible for this year’s overall bland feeling. Hopefully that’s a sign that next year’s awards will be amazing, as the competition in 2020 will be fierce.
