Vooks Awards 2016 – Highlights, Lowlights and Surprises

There was a lot of great games that came to the Wii U and 3DS this year, but there were also a lot of ‘things’ that happened to Nintendo overall.

These awards honour the biggest and best parts of the year for Nintendo, as well as the worst.

The Vooks Awards were voted by the entire Vooks team and a team of some of the biggest Nintendo reporters and webmasters on the internet including Serebii’s Joe Merrick, Nintendaan and many more.

The Nintendo Switch

There were big stories for Nintendo in 2016 but the biggest was the Nintendo Switch – how could it be anything else? Pokemon Go? That’s huge. The NES Mini (and then the shortages?) Also huge. The Switch, though – that’s the biggest because it finally let us see what Nintendo is going to be like in the future.

The Switch isn’t just a home console or just a portable console – it’s both! The Switch is the future of Nintendo as we know it. Yes, the Nintendo 3DS remains, Nintendo will make mobile games and Pokémon Go continues to plug on but Nintendo, the essence of it remains in the Switch.

The Nintendo Switch captured the gaming world with its 3 minute trailer. Nintendo managed to finally convey and talk about one of its products without any ambiguity or confusion. We know watch the Switch is, what it does and how it works. We don’t know the specs or how long the battery will last but the idea – the concept – is solid.

It would be remiss of me to talk about the Switch without also talking about the NX. Before we knew it as the Switch, the NX captured the imagination and the hype of every Nintendo fan. Its legacy of rumours, leaks and hints will go down in history.

Bring on January 14th and bring on March.

Runner Up

• NES Mini Shortages and the NES Mini itself

Pokémon Go

Twenty years ago Pokemon captured the imagination of a generation. That might sound like a movie trailer but that’s exactly what it did.

This year it managed to do it again. Pokemon Go had its problems at launch and still has some problems now but there’s no doubting it was a social phenomenon and remains one of the most played games in the world on a daily basis.

Pokemon Go allowed everyone to go out and explore, see the world and catch Pokemon while doing it. It’s the closest we’ll ever get to actually collecting Pokemon and having the experience of finding a Pidgey, Spearow, Ratatta, Pikachu in the wild.

Pokemon Go might not be developed by Nintendo (even if it did impact its stock) but it’s something Satoru Iwata would have loved to have seen. It’s a perfect Nintendo game – it allows everyone to play it and it puts a smile on everyone’s face.

Runner up

• NES Mini

Death of the Wii U and Disney Infinity

In April we wrote an article about the Wii U’s death on the back of the Nintendo Switch (then NX) getting a release date of March. At the same time Breath of the Wild got delayed.

A lot of people weren’t happy with that article. Many replied, saying the Wii U isn’t dead as it still has this game or that game and that Nintendo said they would keep producing the console well into 2018.

We hate it when we’re right.

The death of the Wii U has been horrible, not only for us a Nintendo fans and Wii U owners but for Nintendo themselves. They let the system die in the most horrible way, but there wasn’t any alternative – the Switch, mobile games and what’s left of the 3DS’ life span is the future. The Wii U went beyond saving around the time of E3 last year.

The Wii U will be Nintendo’s worst selling console, except for the Virtual Boy. But that’s not something really to be proud of either. The only saving grace to come out of the failure of the Wii U is Nintendo’s apparently new found vigor and energy with the Switch. They messed up, they know it and we hope they can make it right.

Disney Infinity, however, that’s dead. Stores are clearing stock, Play Sets in development have been canned and it’s all winding down.

Doom

DOOM is a surprise hit for me this year. Sure, Doom is usually good, but it always has an expectation hanging over it that it just won’t be as good as your classic, ‘shoot some demons in the face’ 1990s action.

This year’s entry into the franchise is like coming home. It’s a nice warm hug… Well, warm like a pool of blood anyway, gathering up from the carcass of a recently exploded Cyberdemon. For me it’s an important game, not only because it harkens back to my childhood but because it’s the first Doom game I’ve never felt the need to use cheats on. Okay, no cheats on “I’m too young to die” difficulty, anyway.

The action and gameplay is fast-paced, the enemies are familiar and the game world is as gritty as ever. Plus, who doesn’t love a trip to the underworld. Even though the story is pretty much only there to give you a reason to go from point A to point B, in my opinion it doesn’t even need to exist.
Although the game is multiplatform, i found that I only really enjoyed it on PC. It could just be because I upgraded this year and I now get to play with all the settings maxed out, in 4K and 60 frames per second, but on consoles the action just doesn’t seem as fast paced and naturally it doesn’t look as pretty. But, if you don’t have the option, it’s still worth playing on PS4 or XBOX One. – Wayne 

Runners up

Overwatch – Chris

There really isn’t much that can be said about Overwatch that hasn’t already been stated by games journalists and the wider gaming community. Its accessibility, diversity in characters, and pure unadulterated fun has endeared itself to millions of players worldwide, including those who normally steer clear of multiplayer shooters (i.e. me).

Very few games before it have struck the delicate balance between characters’ abilities and roles in the way Overwatch has. Each character is the equivalent of a class possessing a wealth of depth rarely seen in shooters. In my hours with the game, there are a decent amount of heroes I have barely used, such is the game’s staying power. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the game handles in such a tight and precise manner, which makes every character a joy to control.

Overwatch’s sound design is the current gold standard in gaming due to its importance in gameplay – the dread of hearing Roadhogg’s hook from a distance will be well-known to many players – and world building. The latter is impressive considering Overwatch does not feature a story mode or campaign like many other games in the genre. On that note, do check out the Overwatch short films on YouTube – a feature-length film of the same calibre would print money at the box office.

Uncharted 4  – Chris

Nathan Drake’s increasingly life-threatening hijinks came to the perfect conclusion in the form of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. The Uncharted series has long been known for bringing the cinematic thrills of the latest blockbuster action films to video games, and the crescendo to Naughty Dog’s series pushed the absolute limits for what the medium of gaming can achieve artistically and narratively. A Thief’s End carved such intricate detail into every character and location, rewarding players for taking the time to explore beyond point A and B.

The obvious spectacular action aside, the writing of the dialogue between characters was wonderfully nuanced; no line uttered or sly remark made felt like unnecessary exposition, as everything added layer upon layer to the complex characters we have come to know over the years. This was particularly evident in how deeply personal and believable Nathan’s conflict was portrayed. Quite often the tension between Nathan and his brother, Sam, and Nathan’s wife, Elena, was more dramatic than some of the explosive set-pieces scattered throughout the game.

Uncharted 4 cannot possibly be mentioned without a nod towards the dazzling visuals on offer. It is without doubt the best-looking console game on the market; the character models are so intricately detailed (only furthered by the incredible performances of the voice cast), and the many gorgeous vistas are the very reason many games now feature an in-game camera to take screenshots and share to that very niche group of friends you have on social media.

Overall, the Uncharted series has been an incredible journey to experience – and although Nathan Drake’s adventures may be over, we still have The Lost Legacy to look forward to, starring Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross, two of the brilliant bad-arse ladies from the games.