Post by swfwebmaster on Feb 14, 2012 3:38:17 GMT 1
According to PC Gamer
Simulation of the Year:
DCS: A-10C Warthog
Meticulously crafted by Moscow-based Eagle Dynamics, this über-accurate study simulation of the USAF’s A-10C Thunderbolt II close air support fighter sets the bar for PC combat flight sims so high it may never be eclipsed. From its fully clickable and stunningly accurate 3D cockpit to its high fidelity avionics and flight modeling, DCS: A-10C Warthog delivers a master class in advanced flight simming. If you want to be a fighter jock—a real fighter jock—it doesn’t get any better than this.
Publisher The Fighter Collection
Developer Eagle Dynamics
Strategy Game of the Year:
Frozen Synapse
Forethought is the key to any great strategy game, and Frozen Synapse delivers a brilliant tool to predict (but never guarantee) what’ll happen—a preview button. It’s around this single mechanic that all the other elements come together so elegantly. Positioning, setting the timing and rules of engagement of units—it’s all intuitive battle-programming, analogous to writing down a musical score and having it played back to you by an arena of rockets, machineguns, and splattered blood.
Publisher Mode 7 Games
Developer Mode 7 Games
First-Person Shooter of the Year (Single-player):
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Most games manage to slip in a spectacular set-piece or two into the action: Modern Warfare 3 strings them together like bullets on a bandolier. Completing a mission in the middle of a sun-occluding sandstorm; floating Inception-like in the cabin of an airplane as it comes apart while trading rounds in the air; accidentally blowing up the Eiffel Tower; wrecking enemies with a remote-controlled tank. Everything’s at stake, there’s a clear enemy and a team of men who only speak in catch phrases and military shorthand determined to stop him—it’s a trope-filled template, but the spectacle of Europe and New York under attack in Modern Warfare 3’s campaign is beautifully tuned action-movie indulgence.
Publisher Activision
Developer Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games
First-Person Shooter of the Year (Multiplayer):
Red Orchestra 2 Heroes of Stalingrad
Both sides in Red Orchestra 2—Axis and Ally—have a unique sprinting animation that reflects the way they were trained to run with a rifle. That isn’t realism for realism’s sake—it’s a useful moving silhouette for distinguishing Fedor from Franz at 200m. In these kinds of details, Tripwire wraps its reverence for WWII history around thoughtful FPS design that rewards those players with the most battlefield awareness. Detailed damage modeling means enemy bodies don’t act like bags of hitpoints, but a body of simulated limbs and organs with specific vulnerabilities. Real bullet behavior is the other side of that; seeing a grey-coat run behind a brick wall, then tagging him in the heart (because you’re pretty sure he crouched behind it) honors your skill and intuition as a soldier.
Publisher Tripwire Interactive
Developer Tripwire Interactive
Simulation of the Year:
DCS: A-10C Warthog
Meticulously crafted by Moscow-based Eagle Dynamics, this über-accurate study simulation of the USAF’s A-10C Thunderbolt II close air support fighter sets the bar for PC combat flight sims so high it may never be eclipsed. From its fully clickable and stunningly accurate 3D cockpit to its high fidelity avionics and flight modeling, DCS: A-10C Warthog delivers a master class in advanced flight simming. If you want to be a fighter jock—a real fighter jock—it doesn’t get any better than this.
Publisher The Fighter Collection
Developer Eagle Dynamics
Strategy Game of the Year:
Frozen Synapse
Forethought is the key to any great strategy game, and Frozen Synapse delivers a brilliant tool to predict (but never guarantee) what’ll happen—a preview button. It’s around this single mechanic that all the other elements come together so elegantly. Positioning, setting the timing and rules of engagement of units—it’s all intuitive battle-programming, analogous to writing down a musical score and having it played back to you by an arena of rockets, machineguns, and splattered blood.
Publisher Mode 7 Games
Developer Mode 7 Games
First-Person Shooter of the Year (Single-player):
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Most games manage to slip in a spectacular set-piece or two into the action: Modern Warfare 3 strings them together like bullets on a bandolier. Completing a mission in the middle of a sun-occluding sandstorm; floating Inception-like in the cabin of an airplane as it comes apart while trading rounds in the air; accidentally blowing up the Eiffel Tower; wrecking enemies with a remote-controlled tank. Everything’s at stake, there’s a clear enemy and a team of men who only speak in catch phrases and military shorthand determined to stop him—it’s a trope-filled template, but the spectacle of Europe and New York under attack in Modern Warfare 3’s campaign is beautifully tuned action-movie indulgence.
Publisher Activision
Developer Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games
First-Person Shooter of the Year (Multiplayer):
Red Orchestra 2 Heroes of Stalingrad
Both sides in Red Orchestra 2—Axis and Ally—have a unique sprinting animation that reflects the way they were trained to run with a rifle. That isn’t realism for realism’s sake—it’s a useful moving silhouette for distinguishing Fedor from Franz at 200m. In these kinds of details, Tripwire wraps its reverence for WWII history around thoughtful FPS design that rewards those players with the most battlefield awareness. Detailed damage modeling means enemy bodies don’t act like bags of hitpoints, but a body of simulated limbs and organs with specific vulnerabilities. Real bullet behavior is the other side of that; seeing a grey-coat run behind a brick wall, then tagging him in the heart (because you’re pretty sure he crouched behind it) honors your skill and intuition as a soldier.
Publisher Tripwire Interactive
Developer Tripwire Interactive
