Big budgets are in high demand.
About nomination
Applicants for the title of the AAA game of the year are heavyweights from the world of video games. Everything is serious, spectacular and very expensive here. In the second most important nomination after the “game of the year”, the competition is always fierce, because in the top league neither players nor critics forgive mistakes.
Third Place – Devil May Cry 5
Series
Devil may cry means for slashers about the same as
Silent hill – for horror,
Tekken – for fighting games, and
Final fantasy – for RPG. And, as any self-respecting franchise should, the DMC path has not always been straightforward. Punk
restart 2013 didn’t really take off, so in the fifth part
Capcom expectedly returned to the roots, pulling the good old Dante from an 11-year-old exile. Along with this, the developers did not hesitate to add something new to the formula – and hit the bull’s-eye.
So, now we have under control not even two, but three whole bishenes. The white-haired son of Sparda, who, in addition to the sword and pistols, has mastered a lot of exotic weapons, alternates styles with lightning speed. The bully Nero lost his demonic hand and is now forced to use high-tech combat prostheses like an electric fork for pasta. And the newcomer Vee, unlike these two bumpkins, doesn’t get into fights himself: familiars do the dirty work for him, and he only finishes off the exhausted enemies and reveres Blake in the middle of the battle.
The gameplay is still tied to the style and variety of attacks, for which additional cool points are awarded. But the camera has become more convenient, the graphics are prettier, and the automatic combination of attacks function has made the game a little closer to the mass audience. The best part of the series
Devil May Cry 5you probably won’t name it (otherwise it would have snapped the game of the year), but this is definitely the best slasher of 2019 and just a very cool thing.
Second Place – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
From the outside it may seem that
Fromsoftware year after year makes the same game, changing only the setting. In fact, everything, of course, is much more complicated. Sengoku’s Japan
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice very different from the fantasy medieval lordran
Dark souls, and from the grim Victorian Yarnam
Bloodborne, and not only visually.
Say, for the first time, we don’t need to gut the game in search of at least some plot: Sekiro willingly shares information about the world around him and independently tells a simple, but intelligible story. Although lovers of secrets will find where to rummage: it’s good to explore the beautiful and well-developed world is still interesting.
But the main course here, of course, is not ENT, but the combat system – a complex, diverse and ruthless, even by FromSoftware standards. In addition to the katana, the hero is armed with a prosthesis (yes, a prosthesis here) of his left hand, in which, as in the Swiss knife, a whole set of murder weapons is hidden: from a spear to a steel umbrella and dazzling fireworks. The main thing is to skillfully use all this. In addition, the stealth finally works as a full-fledged mechanics, allowing, if not solve all the problems, then seriously simplify them.
Following the Rodin rule, the developers took a piece of marble and cut off everything superfluous from it. Multiplayer and customization fell under the knife, but, in the end, Sekiro only benefited from this. As a result, the Japanese turned out to be a very solid and elaborate creation: without a drop of excess fat – but with long claws and a full mouth of damn sharp teeth.
Worthy of Mention
Some very entertaining games did not have quite a bit to get into the top three.
Who would have thought that
Respawn entertainmentwhich except network shooters (except for the plot
Titanfall 2) have never done anything, will they make an excellent game without shooting, and without multiplayer? Them
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order turned out to be not perfect, but a very spectacular action movie – and really the best Star Wars game in the last ten years.
The AAA project from Eastern Europe is still not a frequent occurrence. So that
Metro: Exodus – not only a worthy development of the series, but also a representative of an extremely rare breed. In addition, this is just a competent shooter: with a rich half-open world, complex gameplay and good shooting.
Days gone since the announcement was compared with
The last of us, although the similarities here are purely nominal: another variation of the zombie apocalypse, third-person action and exclusivity for
Playstation. However, it was this comparison and the associated high expectations that ruined the creation
Bend studio. If you look at Days Gone with an open mind – as a good, albeit not too original game, then you can spend a lot of pleasant hours in it.
But the main victim of this year’s high expectations is, of course,
Death stranding. Hideo Kojima turned out to be a big and cinematic, but not at all brilliant work of art (is it art?). Well, at least remember how it was waiting for the whole world, we will be for a long time.
First Place – Resident Evil 2 Remake
While developers cherish large budgets, new ideas and fresh chips for the next generation of consoles, a guest breaks ahead of the past.
Resident evil 2 remake – This is not some remaster with high-resolution textures, somehow stretched to low-poly models. This is not a restart, in which only the name and a couple of familiar names remain from the original. This is exactly what a full-fledged remake of the second part of the famous horror series developed from scratch: with a modern picture and gameplay, relevant for 2019, and not 1998.
The plot still intertwines the stories of Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, who are trying to make their feet out of Raccoon City, choked in a local zombie apocalypse. Fortunately, the city has now become truly three-dimensional, and not just a collection of flat backdrops. The camera is not static, but suspended from the hero’s shoulder. The voice acting got rid of a stupid replay, the travel time doubled, and typewriters to save the game are now needed only at the highest level of complexity.
With all the innovations in the soul, Resident Evil 2 Remake is still the same heavy, sticky and very old-fashioned nightmare that is still able to leave a player with sweaty palms and a pounding heart. For this we love her.
