In just a few days the next generation consoles
will roll off the assembly line, get wrapped up in boxes, delivered to a store,
and will sit until a lucky gamer can come by and claim their machine. But before we set sail to the high definition
isle, there's one thing that still needs to be defined for this generation:
Game of the year. So gather round my
cheese ball munching, joystick fondling, introverted friends. It's the time when people pull opinions out
of thin air and vote for the game most likely to succeed. P&P is proud to present the two GOTY
finalists.
In the red corner: Rockstar's GTA 5, whose
expertise in jumping from air crafts and killing innocent bystanders is second
to none. And in the blue corner: Naughty
Dog's The Last of Us. The game that emphasized, not only can zombies be a
problem during an apocalypse, but people in general can be dicks too.
GAMEPLAY:
The two competitors couldn't be more
different. GTA 5 harnesses humor and
satire, along with violence and bat-crap crazy characters, while TLoU uses
storytelling, world building, and narrative to pull you in. Both games contain moments where a character
might not react exactly like you wanted, but even with these minor hiccups, the
titles still delivered excellent controls and combat, lively NPCs, gorgeous
vistas, top-shelf animation, and addictive pixelated fun to keep gamers on both
sides of the fence happy.
CATEGORY WINNER: Tie
PRESENTATION & GRAPHICS:
GTA 5 is a monumental feat in what's possible on the current generation consoles.
Most animations are smooth and there's no need for the game to load
certain areas as you progress from one side of the map to the other. Being able to drive the entire locale,
watching the scenery drastically change and environments fill with NPC's—without
drops in frame rate—is astounding.
Cutscenes are also produced with cutting-edge motion capture and world-class voice actors. And over-the-top dialogue is delivered with
charm and style.
TLoU is the only game you'll remember where you
never glimpsed a saving or loading screen throughout the entire single player. If you had the time, you could play the game
straight through and not once be pulled from the experience. Granted, the world isn't as big as GTA 5, but
the amount of work and detail put into each area is unbelievable. Not only is your avatar and their motions
highly detailed, but the cutscenes are seamless, keeping you immersed
throughout the entire story. The game
also contained the same attention to detail with top-of-the-line motion capture as GTA. And the voice actors delivered touching
dialogue and extensive emotional range.
CATEGORY WINNER: Tie
THE WORLD:
GTA 5 has a map so huge, if you hopped inside
your stolen pixelated car and decided to drive around the whole thing, it'll
take you quite a while. The diverse
landscapes of mountainous, desert, beach, city, and forest, can be considered
expert world building. Being able to
construct a map with seamless transitions and amazing vistas is beyond
comprehension. The world of GTA 5 is a
monumental piece of art and gaming history.
If other developers want to even consider a sandbox experience, they have
some pretty big shoes to fill. This is
where Rockstar shines the most.
Not to be out done, TLoU also has epic
environments, but in a completely different sort of way. Naughty Dog littered environments with backstories
and pieces of a world long forgotten.
Sure, you could have run through the entire game and not stopped once to
read notes left by loved ones, or journals kept by survivors, but that would
mean you missed the bigger picture being painted. TLoU created a story within a story, using
the world environments as its palette.
Naughty Dog's exception to detail is note-worthy, but it's not quite
enough to overcome GTA.
CATEGORY WINNER: GTA 5
ONLINE:
GTA 5 fans will stand behind their game no
matter what. Even if it came out of the
Internet gate like it had been shot in the foot—though that may be putting it
gently. If lag was the only problem, not
too many people would have been whining.
No, instead characters disappeared, saved games became unsaved, people
were tossed from servers, and if you were really lucky, you didn't get to play
at all. "Yeah, well, see…it's a really big game and stuff has to be worked out—okay?" Not okay.
Not when you're judging a product by its release on day one. Oh, that's right...GTA's online section
didn't happen until weeks later and they still couldn't get it right. In fact, all the magic promised from the
beginning has yet to be included in the online version. Now, this doesn't mean it’s not fun once you
do get online and run around, but Rockstar still has plenty of bugs to work out
and areas to add, before you can say GTA 5 has a full online facet to the game.
That brings us to TLoU. Not only did the campaign hit the sweet spot
among gamers, but the online aspect was a perfect complement to the single
player. You couldn't go around killing
other gamers and stealing their money, but you could build bombs, create
makeshift weapons, and support your buddies while taking on the enemy. Teamwork is rewarded and you always get a
sense of worth when the game ends. It
may not be as big as GTA, but TLoU online is a wonderful addition to a great
game.
CATEGORY WINNER: TLoU
REPLAY VALUE:
TLoU's story held such great emotional moments
and dialogue that it's hard to want to go back and ruin the experience by
repeating everything. We're not saying
that you won't, we're just stating that the story is impeccable, and only
experiencing it once is absolutely acceptable.
Naughty Dog also did away with multiple endings. One story.
One outcome. Besides online play
and missed trophies, there might not be a reason to go back and replay the
title.
GTA 5 on the other hand has thousands of
reasons to go back and play the game. If you talk to anyone who has played a GTA game, the hardest thing to do is follow your
tracker to the next mission. Why? Because there are numerous things that will
distract your attention along the way.
Anyone with ADHD will have a hell of time trying to complete the main
story arc. Forget online, just roaming
around the single player map gives you hours, upon hours of extra stuff to
do. Want to try to jump out of a plane
and land atop another plane. Have at
it. What about hitting multiple people
with your car, waiting for the ambulance to show, and then stealing it? Or pouring a line of gasoline that ends at a
multiple car explosion? Your imagination
is the only thing holding you back in a GTA game and if yours is lacking, then
pop onto YouTube to see what whacky crap other gamers are thinking up. The truth is GTA 5 has the most replay value
out of any game this year.
CATEGORY WINNER: GTA 5
CHARACTERS:
GTA 5 came equipped with the perfect solution
for having three main characters.
Implement an in-game scheme that allows you to switch between any of
three characters on the fly.
Genius. But do all three
characters have great enough story-arcs to be included as an integral part of
the game? Michael had the pain-in-the-ass family that whined and
left him, but we all knew they'd be getting back to together. And Franklin's gang-banger title left his
story fenced in without an ability to grow.
Leaving everyone's favorite nut-job to pick up the game’s slack: Trevor. Being so unpredictable made his missions
enjoyable. But he also turned out to be
the most complicated of the three. Yes,
he might be crazy, but deep down inside hid a man who just wanted to be loved. And let's not forget his unwavering respect
for friends and their family. Trevor was
and will always be the most interesting character of GTA 5, leaving the other
two as mere filler. But the true
question still remains: Did you relate or care for these characters or were
they just fun to embody and wreak havoc?
How do you make a gamer worry for your
character's child? Easy. By starting the game as that child. You're then
able to feel their uneasiness and fear.
With those emotions established, Naughty Dog then changed perspective to
Joel, forcing the player to protect this helpless child. These little experiences in the narrative
brought The Last of Us out of the gaming realm and up to new heights. Not only was Joel's daughter complicated in
the brief time you knew her, but every character you meet along the way had
depth. Including the bad guys, who never
saw themselves as bad guys. And if you
know anything about character building, having a protagonist believe they're
doing good is the best way to create a complex individual. TLoU went above and beyond writing their
characters, backstories, and dialogue.
CATEGORY WINNER: TLoU
STORY/EXPERIENCE:
These two categories go hand and hand because
the experience creates the story and vice a versa. Even though GTA 5 granted permission to switch
between characters, not having all three fully developed, hurt the
narrative. And having three, made it
hard to relate to any. Most experiences
had you switching from one character to another, neglecting any time to really relate
to Michael, Trevor, or Franklin. Would
GTA 5's story been better off with just one character? Not for us to say, but its GOTY rival seemed
better for it.
Having TLoU tell the story of Joel's
heartbreak, lost hope, and then reawakening is absolutely masterful. The switch in the narrative to Ellie, mid-story,
lent even more to their relationship throughout their plight. Typically, most games are structured around
having multiple endings, but Naughty Dog took a chance for better or for worse,
and gave the world what they thought was the story that needed to be told. And it paid off. Even though the experience is somewhat
linear, it never took away from the heart of TLoU—the narrative. The story came first with Naughty Dog and
being able to deliver perfect gameplay around it, created a title that elevated
to a flawless experience.
CATEGORY WINNER: TLoU
a liar and the other a homie from 'Da Hood.'"
THE FUTURE OF GAMES:
This is really what it all comes down to when
picking the game of the year. Forget which game had the craziest car crashes,
the loudest explosions, the best twists, or the most hookers. It's really all about which game you would
like to see become the model for every game thereafter. Which game created such an impact that all other
games should try to fill just a smidgen of those shoes to be worthy of gamer
cash.
When all said and done, GTA 5 was an astounding
achievement in the GTA series (and it sure did bring in a ton of pesos), but
it's still just another GTA game. Would
we want other games to mimic parts of it?
"Well, Jim, the graphics look
phenomenal and the world is huge, but there doesn't seem to be enough
hookers. We need more hookers, Jim, if
we're going to compete with this GTA thing."
Then you have The Last of Us, which may not
have brought in as much bacon as GTA 5, but the characters, dialogue, story,
world, presentation, weapons, voice acting…hell even the zombies were
interesting. If there's one game P&P
would like developers to try to emulate, it would be The Last of Us. So 2013’s GOTY title goes to—cue the euphoric
trumpets—Naughty Dog for The Last of Us.
Just thinking what that studio will be able to accomplish with the next
generation box gets our nether regions flaming.
2013 Game of the Year:
The Last of Us
Keep on developing Naughty Dog and we'll keep
on playing.
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