On December 10, The Games Awards2021 came to an end, as an annual event in the game industry, although TGA is called the "Pheasant Award" by netizens every year, but the award is still expected by the majority of players. It's just that the players' attention seems to have already extended from the awards themselves.
——Awards were presented at the press conference
As a year-end summary award in the game industry, TGA seems to be increasingly detached from the meaning of the award itself. Compared with which game the award is awarded, the attention of players and the time of the award ceremony seem to be more given to the broadcast and equipment advertising videos of various manufacturers.
Organizers have already made massive publicity on Twitter during the warm-up period before the start of this year's TGA, but the most high-profile publicity seems to have nothing to do with the award itself, but more around "this year's TGA will have such and such new news", the founder of the award, Geoff M. Keighley also tweeted frequently about guests and game promotions. This also makes the TGA, in addition to the award itself, more like a belated "game launch".
In fact, the feeling when seeing the TGA awards ceremony is the same, compared to the award speech that does not even have a few comments, people spend more time on the new broadcasts brought by various manufacturers, "Babylon Falls", "Fading Light 2", "Eldon's Law Ring"... The variety of trailers will keep players hooked, as if they're really watching a press conference, and the awards are just the interlude.
The video of "Original God" in TGA2021 ends with the Peking Opera-style character Yunyan as the end
——The second appearance of "Original God"
At TGA2021, perhaps the most discussed of any other award is probably "Original God", which finally won the "Best Mobile Game" award and was nominated for the "Best Continuous Operation" award. The game was already nominated for the relevant awards in 2020, but lost to other games.
One of the most difficult for players to understand is that the "best mobile game" was sent to "Among Us" ported to mobile phones - although "Original God" has been accompanied by a lot of controversy and criticism since birth, its game quality as a mobile open world game is still unquestionable. However, TGA chose to award the award to a small game ported to a mobile phone that year, which also made some players call "TGA fell to the altar". Because the TGA awards awards will not describe the reasons for the award in too much detail, its internal reasons are also diverse, some people speculate that "Among Us" has become a way for many people to pass the time during the epidemic, and some people think that it may be the exclusion of Chinese games by the "European and American game circles". But in any case, the award circled around and eventually returned to "Original God".
Along with it, back to "Original God", there is also its enduring topical heat. It seems that whether the award is awarded to Protoss or not, there will always be some players who are indignant. Some people wonder why "Original God" has been nominated for two consecutive years without major changes in the game itself, and some people think that "Original God" can win the award simply because the quality of other games competing for the award is too poor. But for a game event like TGA, perhaps as long as there is enough topicality, the choices they make have been successful.
TGA 2021 Best Game "Two-Player Trip"
- The triumph of "Two People In a Row"
Winning this year's "Game of the Year" award was the two-person action-adventure game "Two-Player Trip" produced by Hazelight and published by EA. The game also won two awards for Best Family Game and Best Multiplayer. Although it is not as imposing as last year's "Last of Us 2" winning 7 crowns in one fell swoop, this is also the first time in TGA's history that a game can win both "Best Family Game" and "Game of the Year" awards.
The last time it was made with both family fun elements and the best game level was 2017's Super Mario: Odyssey, but "Odyssey" happened to meet its own god-level work "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" in the "Best of the Year" competition and lost in the battle, only to win the "consolation award" of "Best Family Game".
For many players, it still seems difficult for them to understand that a cute, story-simple game can win the "Game of the Year" award. But perhaps in the troubled 2020-2021, more people need a little warmth close to life. And "Two People In Trip" can fill such an emotional gap. Although he only tells a simple story of "using magic to repair the relationship between husband and wife", many details in the game - the discarded old vacuum cleaner between the tools, the toy carefully cared for by the little daughter, or the warm memories between the protagonists, can make the player unconsciously connect with their own lives during the game. Perhaps after playing, it will also make people full of new imaginations about the seemingly boring details of boring life.
At the same time, the game itself for the use of the scene of the whimsy and follow the scene into the diverse gameplay also makes players who are not interested in the plot can also get a lot of fun, the game in the horizontal board jumping, shooting, puzzle types repeatedly jump, and even occasionally add some sports games and fighting game elements, dazzling. Moreover, because it is a two-player cooperative game, there are also some "emotionally promoting" battle mini-games everywhere on the inevitable path of the plot level. This kind of "throwing away when you run out" in the gameplay not only maintains the freshness of the game, but also makes people can't help but sigh "really generous". Based on the excellent level design, there is a rich imagination and a warm game theme, which may also be a new direction that TGA is trying to point out for future gamers.
Mitterrod: Survival Fear, winner of "Best Action-Adventure Game"
- "Lost" Nintendo player
Although after more than a decade, the new Work of the Mitterod series developed by Nintendo, "Mitterrod: Fear of Survival", received quite good reviews after its release this year, and also won the TGA2021 "Best Action Adventure Game" award, it is clear that Nintendo fans still seem to be unsatisfied. In this grand game launch called the awards ceremony, du du lacked the voice of the Ren family game. Neither the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wilderness nor Sprat 3 has any new news, leaving the majority of ren players frustrated.
In fact, this year's game industry is not as frequent as last year's masterpieces. It seems that the game industry can also see some shadows that still have not been dissipated in real life. But because of this, people need to be happy through games. In the midst of such expectations, the absence of Nintendo, which always brings fun to players in various ingenious ways, seems to have indeed become an irreparable regret. But I believe that there are two masterpieces at present, and Nintendo in 2022 will not live up to our expectations.
——What kind of "award" is more in line with expectations
Just as Mitterrod won the award to any player, it seems that other awards are difficult to excite except for the topic work and the best of the year. The thin awards process makes it difficult to have a real feeling of "the favorite game has won", and even if the award process provokes a little discussion, this little ripple is quickly washed away by the news of the new work, like all "past games" lose the value of discussion. The fast-paced life makes people always chase the "next game" they expect, which makes the process of playing the game itself seem to be driven, and after ending a game, before it is too late to reminisce, it is necessary to run non-stop to the next game set and start a new journey.
TGA's award timing was chosen at the end of the year, perhaps initially hoping to do some review and summary of the major events in the game industry over the past year. But as time went on, the "awards" became lighter and lighter in the eyes of both the organizers and the audience, and those "Games of the Year" who were only mentioned in between many trailers and whose reasons for selection were not even known seemed to have become a worthless past. But in addition to players who have paid attention to the release of new works, there are always some people who hope to look back on the year through this award, or gain some new perspectives through the awards of some unexpected works.
Inviting more heavy guests and introducing a large number of manufacturers to preview new works can certainly bring more attention to the ceremony itself, but as an annual event in the game industry, it is undoubtedly a pity that players cannot stop and re-taste the emotions and thoughts brought by the game in the past year.