AppAward Winners: Gaming Perspective
by Staff Writer
July 27, 2009
Games Make the App Store
With a week gone by since the AppAwards it has given me time to reflect on the winners of all the game categories. Games truly make the App Store since they’re the most populous category, and the area we spend most of our money. Over the past year thousands of developers have flocked to the amazingly unique platform that is the iPhone. It was only obvious that a game is the App of the Year, it was just a question of which one.
Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid is the best game I’ve played on the iPhone. When voting for it, it was like voting for the Rolando series which is the golden standard in iPhone gaming. Rolando 2 is the only game to have amazing graphics and sounds, engaging gameplay, great online connectivity, and to spend a considerable amount of time. Rolando exemplifies iPhone gaming, and sets it apart from every other device on the market.
Honorable Mentions
So many games have been released in just a year, so it was very difficult to determine the final six nominees in each category. I’m happy with our final selections, but a few games fell through the cracks, and should be highlighted here. The biggest miss was not having a whole new category for best free game. Trace, TapTapRevenge 2, Jelly Car, Aurora Feint (free for a long period) , Papi games, and Cube Runner were all more than deserving.
Another game we missed was Puzzle Quest ($7.99) which somehow wasn’t even nominated for best puzzle game, even though it had a realistic chance of winning. Gaia ($2.99), a relatively unknown game, missed out as well, but is one of the best puzzle games and worth checking out. Topple 2 ($0.99) added a whole bunch of gameplay elements to the first installment, but sadly missed out on best puzzle and most innovative controls.
Oregon Trail ($4.99) definitely deserved to be nominated somewhere, it’s a great game, but it was tough to find a place to put it. More honorable mentions for two of inxile entertainment’s games Line Rider ($2.99) and Fantastic Contraption ($2.99) that faced the same fate as Oregon Trail. Two games missed out on best to play over and over: Sneezies ($0.99) and Doodle Jump ($0.99), both are a bunch of fun, and highly addictive.
Finally honorable mentions go to Blimp: The Flying Adventures ($0.99), Marple ($1.99), and Cubes ($2.99). All of which are not so well known games that are amazing, but couldn't quite crack the final six in their respective categories.
These were the Winners? Really?
Looking at all the winners it seems that the best selling games won, and maybe not the best games. It’s understandable that the best selling games would win, since people aren’t going to vote for a game they’ve never played before.
The winner I question the most is Flight Control. It is occasionally fun, and has a huge following, but the best overall game, please. Flight Control isn’t even the best strategy game, with its spinoff Harbor Master already a better game. Habor Master has five rather than three maps, all of which are more fun and challenging.
Another one I question is Peggle. I may be one of the biggest Peggle fans, but it was just a port to the iPhone lacking the awesome soundtrack. There are outstanding unique iPhone puzzlers that were worthy of winning, namely Trism or Smiles.
Frogger is another question mark that may have simply won on tradition rather than being the best arcade game. Monopoly may have been another that won on namesake alone since the iPhone port isn’t anything special. Best Action game was a real head scratcher with Zombieville USA, Zenonia, F.A.S.T., Knights Onrush, and idracula more worthy than Assassin’s Creed port to the iPhone.
Deserving Winners, and Next Year?
There may be little questions with the winners, but for the most part the nearly 60,000 votes were spot on. I have to give a special shout out to Edge the best brain teasing game that sadly has been in and out of the App Store, and currently banished.
Another absolute worthy winner is Pocket God for most creative game, and is also worth considering for best paid app. Real Racing is absolutely the best racing game. Also Fieldrunners is the game that started it all for Tower Defense on the iPhone.
Going Forward it looks like next year's AppAwards will be much more highly contested with better and better games entering the App Store everyday. It looks like there will be plenty of fun to have in year two of the App Store.
Let us know what you think of the games nominated, and the eventual winners. Do you agree with the honorable mentions? Are there other games I didn't cover that were worthy of being nominated. It's your turn, what do you think?
