William BagleyThe 1st Annual Gamemonger Awards - Nintendo DS
January 3rd 2008 15:31
The awards continue ... tonight, I crown them the 'Touching is goooood' trophy handing out ... thing.
The Best of Nintendo DS
The Visual Achievement Award - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Honourable Mentions - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Brothers in Arms DS
Let's face it, despite the control scheme that works wonders for the genre, first person shooters haven't really worked on the system all that well. But there's no doubting that the effort put in on CoD's progression to the handheld system is one of the better, if not the best attempts so far. Amazingly detailed and finely crafted, CoD4 takes the award for the best use of the DS' visual capabilities, nudging out Link's latest outing by the barest of margins. Ironically, the other runner-up is another FPS. Just goes to show there's power under that hood yet to be truly tapped, especially for that genre.
The Sound Achievement Award - The Simpsons Game
Honourable Mentions - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Jam Sessions
It's missed out on this award for other platforms, but for best use of sound on the DS, The Simpsons Game pulls through. Why? Okay, so they skimped on the visuals a tad, but that left room for tons of voice overs plucked straight out of the console big brother, and it certainly helps to set the mood. Overall, it's one of the better attempts at providing a handheld game based on the series, but the voice cast certainly helps set the tone. CoD again gets a mention, but Jam Sessions also deserves a nod ... although, and I hate to break it to them, playing guitar on the DS just isn't the same as Guitar Hero, but hey, it sounds good.
The Interactive Achievement Award - Drawn to Life
Honourable Mentions - Jam Sessions, More Brain Training with Dr Kawashima, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords.
I'm calling it the sleeper hit of '07, and for good reason. It's one of the more unique uses of the DS stylus scheme, and no other game gives you this much control over the world you play in, let alone draw it! Tighten up a few areas of gameplay, and I'd say a sequel would sell just as well if not more so, but in the end, it's great to see a 3rd party publisher try something new. Certainly payed off, as it did with Jam Sessions, which took guitar playing to a new level. And Brain Training rounds out the honourable mentions with another solid display on how to use both sight, sound and touch to create an entertaining and educational game. Finally, for translating a former PC title onto the handheld with professional ease, Puzzle Quest is as simple as it is elegant to play.
The DS WiFi Achievement Award - Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
Honourable Mentions - Worms Open Warfare 2, Diddy Kong Racing DS
If it wasn't for its online play, Diamond and Pearl would have been just another run of the mill Pokemon title. With it, it's the perfect design of online play for the handheld, whether it's trading critters or battling the world over. Certainly a breath of fresh air for the franchise ... now if they can only work on the visuals ... Worms and Diddy Kong both offered up solid online modes as well. In fact, I'd say both deserve more play time, if you haven't already picked them up of course.
Biggest Disappointment of 2007 - Wario: Master of Disguise
Honourable Mentions - TMNT, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe
All three titles listed had the potential, in the right hands, to be far better than what they turned out to be. But what's more surprising is how bad Wario performs, especially as a Nintendo production. Sloppy visuals, over use of the DS stylus and a lack of the charm that made the original Wario platform titles of the Game Boy era so special. I was expecting far more than this. TMNT, too, wasted a chance to create an entertaining platform game, instead becoming a barren attempt at recreating the already iffy 3D console version, and Spider-Man (again, like the console editions) was a big step backwards in quality compared to past editions.
Biggest Surprise of 2007 - Drawn to Life
Honourable Mentions - Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Worms: Open Warfare 2
If you told me a non Nintendo title would be in the All Games top 10 for more than a week during '07, I'd have (more than likely) said 'probably not, no'. So to see Drawn to Life grab so much attention this year was a big, and welcome, surprise. No doubt the kid friendly nature of the game and the, as mentioned, unique gameplay style attracted many fans. What's more surprising is the fact that the game had little advertising, if any at all, compared to other DS hits such as Zelda or Brain Training. A true testament, perhaps, to word of mouth. Worms, a sequel to a dire first up attempt to translate the original series to DS, surprised me greatly with the complete revamp. And I can't say enough about Puzzle Quest, which came out of nowhere and has become a fan favourite. Hell, you can just about buy it for every platform now, that's how successful it's become. Another great story from '07.
Overall Best Game of 2007 - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Honourable Mentions - Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, Drawn to Life
Zelda takes out the overall game of the year for DS, and rightly so. Recreating the visual masterpiece (yes, I went there) from the Gamecube's Wind Waker, adding some interesting but well orchestrated touch screen controls and providing plenty of that already addictive puzzle nature that we've come to expect from the franchise, Phantom Hourglass was always going to be a big hit. Pokemon deserves mention for continuing the handheld success of the franchise. Shame the console world hasn't followed suit, but hey, what can ya do. Puzzle Quest and Drawn to Life proved that you don't need to be a Nintendo 1st party title to succeed in this business, which is something I'm sure Nintendo themselves would love to see more of.
In the end, the DS just can't stop selling by the bucket load. It's clearly the most successful handheld of any, past or present, which is testament to Nintendo for sticking to its guns and creating something so out there, even if it uses technology that's been around for a decade. The batch of titles that came out of '07 was still dominated by Nintendo, but as the above awards show, there's plenty of 3rd party support for the handheld, far more so than in past years. With '08 on the way, and rumours of a Wii/DS download service, there's no telling how much bigger this little dual screen can become ... and let's not get started on those DS 2 rumours ...
The Best of Nintendo DS
The Visual Achievement Award - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Honourable Mentions - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Brothers in Arms DS
Let's face it, despite the control scheme that works wonders for the genre, first person shooters haven't really worked on the system all that well. But there's no doubting that the effort put in on CoD's progression to the handheld system is one of the better, if not the best attempts so far. Amazingly detailed and finely crafted, CoD4 takes the award for the best use of the DS' visual capabilities, nudging out Link's latest outing by the barest of margins. Ironically, the other runner-up is another FPS. Just goes to show there's power under that hood yet to be truly tapped, especially for that genre.
The Sound Achievement Award - The Simpsons Game
Honourable Mentions - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Jam Sessions
It's missed out on this award for other platforms, but for best use of sound on the DS, The Simpsons Game pulls through. Why? Okay, so they skimped on the visuals a tad, but that left room for tons of voice overs plucked straight out of the console big brother, and it certainly helps to set the mood. Overall, it's one of the better attempts at providing a handheld game based on the series, but the voice cast certainly helps set the tone. CoD again gets a mention, but Jam Sessions also deserves a nod ... although, and I hate to break it to them, playing guitar on the DS just isn't the same as Guitar Hero, but hey, it sounds good.
The Interactive Achievement Award - Drawn to Life
I'm calling it the sleeper hit of '07, and for good reason. It's one of the more unique uses of the DS stylus scheme, and no other game gives you this much control over the world you play in, let alone draw it! Tighten up a few areas of gameplay, and I'd say a sequel would sell just as well if not more so, but in the end, it's great to see a 3rd party publisher try something new. Certainly payed off, as it did with Jam Sessions, which took guitar playing to a new level. And Brain Training rounds out the honourable mentions with another solid display on how to use both sight, sound and touch to create an entertaining and educational game. Finally, for translating a former PC title onto the handheld with professional ease, Puzzle Quest is as simple as it is elegant to play.
The DS WiFi Achievement Award - Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
Honourable Mentions - Worms Open Warfare 2, Diddy Kong Racing DS
If it wasn't for its online play, Diamond and Pearl would have been just another run of the mill Pokemon title. With it, it's the perfect design of online play for the handheld, whether it's trading critters or battling the world over. Certainly a breath of fresh air for the franchise ... now if they can only work on the visuals ... Worms and Diddy Kong both offered up solid online modes as well. In fact, I'd say both deserve more play time, if you haven't already picked them up of course.
Biggest Disappointment of 2007 - Wario: Master of Disguise
Honourable Mentions - TMNT, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe
All three titles listed had the potential, in the right hands, to be far better than what they turned out to be. But what's more surprising is how bad Wario performs, especially as a Nintendo production. Sloppy visuals, over use of the DS stylus and a lack of the charm that made the original Wario platform titles of the Game Boy era so special. I was expecting far more than this. TMNT, too, wasted a chance to create an entertaining platform game, instead becoming a barren attempt at recreating the already iffy 3D console version, and Spider-Man (again, like the console editions) was a big step backwards in quality compared to past editions.
Biggest Surprise of 2007 - Drawn to Life
Honourable Mentions - Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Worms: Open Warfare 2
If you told me a non Nintendo title would be in the All Games top 10 for more than a week during '07, I'd have (more than likely) said 'probably not, no'. So to see Drawn to Life grab so much attention this year was a big, and welcome, surprise. No doubt the kid friendly nature of the game and the, as mentioned, unique gameplay style attracted many fans. What's more surprising is the fact that the game had little advertising, if any at all, compared to other DS hits such as Zelda or Brain Training. A true testament, perhaps, to word of mouth. Worms, a sequel to a dire first up attempt to translate the original series to DS, surprised me greatly with the complete revamp. And I can't say enough about Puzzle Quest, which came out of nowhere and has become a fan favourite. Hell, you can just about buy it for every platform now, that's how successful it's become. Another great story from '07.
Overall Best Game of 2007 - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Honourable Mentions - Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, Drawn to Life
Zelda takes out the overall game of the year for DS, and rightly so. Recreating the visual masterpiece (yes, I went there) from the Gamecube's Wind Waker, adding some interesting but well orchestrated touch screen controls and providing plenty of that already addictive puzzle nature that we've come to expect from the franchise, Phantom Hourglass was always going to be a big hit. Pokemon deserves mention for continuing the handheld success of the franchise. Shame the console world hasn't followed suit, but hey, what can ya do. Puzzle Quest and Drawn to Life proved that you don't need to be a Nintendo 1st party title to succeed in this business, which is something I'm sure Nintendo themselves would love to see more of.
In the end, the DS just can't stop selling by the bucket load. It's clearly the most successful handheld of any, past or present, which is testament to Nintendo for sticking to its guns and creating something so out there, even if it uses technology that's been around for a decade. The batch of titles that came out of '07 was still dominated by Nintendo, but as the above awards show, there's plenty of 3rd party support for the handheld, far more so than in past years. With '08 on the way, and rumours of a Wii/DS download service, there's no telling how much bigger this little dual screen can become ... and let's not get started on those DS 2 rumours ...
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