Best Shooter Nominees - Golden Joystick Awards 2011 – Vanquish, Singularity - Part 7
We are now down to the final two nominees in the Best Shooter category of the 2011 edition of the Golden Joystick Awards. What these nominees represent is a breath of fresh air to the genre, which is dominated by Modern Warfare settings and tends to lack
imagination on more than a few occasions.
Vanquish
Bringing the arcade style shooter back to life but with a few twists and tweaks is SEGA’s high octane, no holds barred, smooth and fluid third person shooter, Vanquish.
From the menu, to the art style and from the character models to the in-game cut scenes, Vanquish would be right at home in an arcade booth anywhere in the world, but with one exception: the game was designed specifically for console gaming.
The graphics are gorgeous when the action is faced paced and intense, which is about ninety-nine percent of the time, but on the rare close up one can find jaded and rough around the edges character models.
The enemy AI is relentless and challenging, though on occasion, friendly AI seems to enjoy running around in circles. The game itself is also not that long, with skilled players able to complete it less than six hours, and with no multiplayer campaign, which
is quite short.
Yet the frenetic action, trigger happy gameplay, wide array of destruction savvy weapons and the ability to slide the battlefield while shooting in slow motion more than makes up for the minor flaws of the game.
In short, Vanquish was the surprise of the year, turning heads with its eye widening-ly engaging gameplay and one of the best end of game credits in video game history.
Our verdict: the Vanquish experience was sweet but short and as good as it was, it will not earn the same level of votes as some of the other titles in the category.
Singularity
This game was Activision showing the world that they are more than just a Call of Duty company. Although many compared this game as being very similar to BioShock, the comparison is a bit harsh.
Yes, the visual style was kind of similar and the plot did look BioShock inspired, but the game had a charm of its own, courtesy of the time-manipulation abilities the player was endowed with.
Using time as a weapon, players were given the freedom to take down enemies as they saw fit. The storyline was engaging and lead to quite a satisfying, if not slightly confusing, conclusion.
Yet, what Singularity will be remembered for is being a breath of fresh air when it came to killing members of the former communist Soviet Union.
Our verdict: A good game, but not good enough to finish in the top half when voting concludes.
It seems only fitting that before we wrap up the category we take one last look at all the nominees:
Call of Duty: Black Ops – Activision
Brink – Bethesda Softworks
Bulletstorm – EA
Crysis 2 – EA
Dead Space 2 – EA
FEAR 3 – Warner Brothers
GoldenEye 007 – Activision
Halo: Reach – Bungie
Homefront – THQ
Killzone 3 – Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Medal of Honor – EA
Red Faction: Armageddon – THQ
Singularity – Activision
Vanquish - Sega
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the editorial policy of Bettor.com
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