THE ALTERNATIVE EDGE AWARDS
MOST AWKWARD SENSATION TETRIS EFFECT
Developer Monstars, Resonair Publisher Enhance Games Format PS4, PSVR Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s musical puzzler excels at evoking odd feelings in the player. A stressful game should not be so chilled out, surely, while something so mundane as Tetris should not leave you feeling better about the world outside. Yet things take a turn when you realise that spare controllers can be used as rumble peripherals and placed anywhere on your body. Is it just us, or did it get hot in here all of a sudden?
LEAST WELCOME REMASTER MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN
Developer Insomniac Games Publisher SIE Format PS4 Insomniac’s effort to represent all sides of Peter Parker’s personality was a noble one. He’s not just a web-slinging superhero, after all: he’s a hormonal kid, a doting nephew and a budding scientist. Yet there must surely have been a better way to express the latter in a videogame than by forcing the player through dozens of Pipe-Mania puzzles. Some games are history for a reason.
FONDEST FAREWELL RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2
Developer/publisher Rockstar Games Format PS4, Xbox One If you’ve yet to see Arthur Morgan’s adventure to its conclusion, look away now. If you have, you’ll know all about the fatal fall in the final mission, where Morgan stops running from the law for long enough to thank his steed for its service. Replay the mission through the menus and it won’t be repeated, since you’re using a different, nameless horse. We still miss you, Mr Snaffles.
BEARD OF THE YEAR RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2
Developer/publisher Rockstar Games Format PS4, Xbox One Rockstar showed that growing facial hair is not just about forgetting to shave for a bit then waking up one day to find you’re in ZZ Top. A beard must be maintained, tended, even coaxed into growing beyond a certain point. Just like the real thing, but with none of the itchiness, people thinking you’re homeless, or loved ones complaining about the trimmed hairs left in the sink.
CLUMSIEST WOKENESS DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN
Developer Quantic Dream Publisher SIE Format PS4 Marks for effort, we suppose, but David Cage’s attempts to tether his sci-fi drama to America’s civil rights movement led to scenes that, had we not been holding a controller, we’d have been watching through our fingers. With robots in segregated compartments at the back of buses, and “We have a dream” graffiti tags, it’s a reminder that ‘subtlety’ is not a word in Quantic Dream’s vocabulary.
MOST HONEST TITLE STATE OF DECAY 2
Developer Undead Labs Publisher Microsoft Studios Format PC, Xbox One With sudden freezes, teleporting NPCs and cadavers dropping out of the sky, here was a game that seemed to be steadily decomposing even as we were playing it. It says much for the troubles Microsoft has had that Undead Labs’ slipshod sequel was somehow in contention for our Xbox top three. Hopefully now it’s bought the studio it can invest in more stringent QA.