The gaming industry has been so diverse in 2017. From the needed changes in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard in January to the latest and recently released JRPG, Xenoblade Chronicles 2. No one can deny that this year’s lineup isn’t one of the better ones and with a few hiccups nonetheless. This year saw a lot of ups and downs with the birth of a new IP in the awesome looking Horizon: Zero Dawn to the highly controversial Star Wars: Battlefront 2; the continuous decline of some genres (*cough* MMORPGs) to the rise of the “Battle Royale” format.
Judged by our lead gaming analysts in the team: BossMac, Johnny and AG, we screened 2017’s releases and narrowed it down to what we feel deserve the highlight of being 2017’s BEST!
We here at Back2Gaming believe that with all the wonderful (and horrible) games that came out this year, have decided to give recognition to some of the titles that made our gaming year memorable by doing the first ever “Back2Gaming Game Awards“.
So without further ado we give you our picks for our game awards for 2017!
Best Mobile Game
Because playing on-the-go has now been part of the norm in our lives, we tried as many games as we could and Arena of Valor wins it despite having stiff competition. Just an old-school-quick-game MOBA for those commutes.
Best Overall Design
We decided to combine the visual, audio and performance recognition this year to keep it as simple and minimal and to only recognize the best direction done in this year’s games. This year, we are giving the award to Persona 5 for the PS4.
Best Narrative
Not all games rely on frame-rates and graphics, some games transcend normal specifications in order for us to look past these things and immerse us with only the story-telling, lore and pacing that they offer, this year has given us many stories to share and topics to tackle but none of them hit it better for us other than Persona 5 for the PS4.
Best Role-Playing Game
Games focused around with gearing, character customization and even massively-multiplayer designs are welcome in this category and no other game made us enjoy these (except the latter) other than Persona 5.
Best Action/Adventure Game
A genre for those willing to tackle on the combination of combat, puzzles and exploration, we got so many nominations for this year and we are going to give it to Guerilla Games’ Horizon: Zero Dawn, the appeal of playing a human in a technology infested world is just too good to pass on.
Best Multiplayer Game
We include all types of multiplayer content in games no matter how shallow it is and while we all value each component differently, Destiny 2 walks away with this one especially since it already came out on the PC giving more people a chance to be a Guardian.
Best FPS
Shooters are still possibly one of the most abused genres in 2017 and despite the annual releases and expansions of its competition, Destiny 2 reigned supreme with its superb gun-play mechanics.
Best Fighting Game
This category is for games that are designed for players to fight head-to-head, whether online or locally and Tekken 7 wins this one with its new and refined mechanics as well as the awesome post-release content released.
Best Sports Game
For this category we include both traditional and non-traditional sports and racing games. Games that get your adrenaline pumping or makes you rage at your defeat, we give this award to WWE 2K18 for its great gameplay and new features, not to mention the character and community creations that let us insert ourselves in the WWE Universe, despite the Nintendo Switch version currently running horribly.
Protagonist of the Year
The world could always use more heroes and this year, Aloy from Horizon: Zero Dawn took the stage with her awesome story and characteristic that make her truly like-able despite being the typical underdog story.
Antagonist of the Year
Some people just want to watch the world burn and cause chaos to the streets. Persona 5’s Yaldabaoth scored this as not only did it manage to imprison of the franchise’s longest ongoing character, it also personifies one of the main topics in the game itself, “freedom”.
Most Anticipated Game
We got hyped and we hope to stay hyped, with so many games being rumored to release next year, we just can’t simply pick one out of all the nominees and therefore as a result of a three-way tie, this year’s winners are Kingdom Hearts 3, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Monster Hunter: World, we all just hope that these games do live up to the hype.
Worst Game of the Year
It isn’t always good in the land of gaming and not everything works out the way they should. While “Loot-boxes” in general are generally bad news for games, it sadly has become the norm in but while some games responsibly implements it only for cosmetics, its another story when it affects your over-all experience. With locking heroes and pushing “Star-Cards” rather than actual skill on top of a $60 box price for the standard edition, therefore this dishonorable accomplishment goes to Star Wars Battlefront 2.
Game of the Year
The best of the best, no platform is safe, doesn’t matter if its exclusive or multi-platform as long as it maximizes the potential of the game itself and no game did that better other than The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for the Nintendo Switch and the Wii U, implementing a true open-world design, clever puzzles, a story that keeps you questioning what happened before the game and a mechanics that either punishes you for not thinking and gives you that great sense of fulfillment once you figure everything out.
And with that, the first ever winners are revealed and a congratulations for all the games that won and nominated and no doubt, the gaming industry has a lot to do in 2018 if it wants to compete with 2017’s incredible scene. We hope the new year brings more cheers than jeers in the gaming industry!
3 Comments
Areej Angelica Callejo Sanchez horizon dawn maganda tlga sya
Awesome:D
Greatpost love