Press Pass: The First Annual "Crystal Ball" Awards
As we prepare to look at our most anticipated games of 2009, we take a look back at the games the press was looking forward to for 2008.
2/2/2009 7:41 PM | 3 Comments | Page 1 of 3
Kyle Orland
Status: "You can't get quality video game editorial from a value menu!" "No, really, you can't."
Ah, the first-quarter doldrums... It's time of year when the good games spigot stops flowing so torrentially and we can catch up on that backlog of holiday hits. It's also the time of year when we game journalists put together the obligatory "Most Anticipated Games of the Year" lists. These lists are a lot of fun and a good way to guide coverage and reader interest for the coming year. But what do these lists look like with the benefit of hindsight? Did the games on these lists deserve our anticipation, or were we distracted by the shiny, shiny hype train? In short, how well did our collective expectations conform with our final evaluations?
I decided to find out by looking at a bunch of "most anticipated" game lists from 2008, and seeing how they stand up to the test of time. The result is the below list of "Crystal Ball" awards for interesting, confusing or otherwise noteworthy picks made roughly 12 months ago. Enjoy the list, and keep it in mind when you're reading all those "Most Anticipated Games of 2009" lists.
"No Duh" Award: Grand Theft Auto IV
Look, you can steal cars and run from cops! Just like those other games! This is gonna be GREAT!
Was there ever an easier choice for a year-starting list? After
Grand Theft Auto IV was pushed back from a late-2007 release,
GamePro,
IGN,
MSNBC,
GameDaily,
1UP,
GameTrailers,
CheatCC and
TeamXbox all publicly declared their anticipation for the game months before its April release. In fact, I couldn't find a single major list from 2008 that didn't include this game.
And why not? The PlayStation 2 Grand Theft Auto games sold roughly a bajillion copies, and changed the way a generation of gamers looked at games. That everyone would look forward to the continuation of the series seems like a no-brainer. Still, I can't help but think much, if not most, of the anticipation for
GTA IV was based primarily on the series' pedigree rather than on an evaluation of the new game. As IGN's Chris Roper succinctly put it: "It's
Grand Theft Auto IV. On the PlayStation 3. Does anything else really need to be said?"
Does picking sequels based on their series' history do any service to gamers? Did this wave of history-based anticipation for
GTA IV have a hand in the chorus of perfect review scores the game eventually got (review scores that
some editors said they later regretted)? Hmm...
Misplaced Enthusiasm Award (Individual): IGN's Nate Ahearn
Only in America... could someone be excited for this game.
In January, Ahearn was
definitely excited about
Don King Presents: Prizefighter and its promise to let players "overcome adverse situations, avoid temptation ... and be mindful of the balance between training, promotion and advancing through the rankings." By the time
Prizefighter came out in June, though,
Ahearn's 5/10 review acknowledged the final game's "poorly constructed gameplay" and "just plain ugly" presentation. Don't feel bad, guy ... we all buy into the hype sometimes, and like you say in the review, the game "had serious potential." Too bad that potential has to be expressed in the past tense, though, eh?
