It’s that time of year again… 2009 is officially in the books, which can only mean one thing. Okay, it means it’s 2010, but it can mean only one other thing at Adventure Gamers: it’s Aggie Awards time!
Following last year’s successful debut, the Aggies return for a new three-day extravaganza of shiny golden statuettes, overly long speeches (those are by us), and divisive public reactions. Of course, along with our own selections, included in the presentation are the Readers’ Choice awards, so every game had two shots at the coveted hardware.
At the risk of sounding clichéd (heaven forbid that would happen in this genre!), bear in mind that there are no losers here, only winners. Many of the competitions were extremely close, and all nominee finalists are deserving of recognition this week. But not all of them can win, and it’s time now to celebrate the very top games in their respective fields.
Without further ado, then, Adventure Gamers is pleased to present… the 2009 Aggie Awards.
Table of Contents
Page 1: You are here
Page 2: Best Story
Page 3: Best Writing – Comedy
Page 4: Best Writing – Drama
Page 5: Best Gameplay
Page 6: Best Concept
Page 7: Best Setting
Page 8: Best Graphic Design
Page 9: Best Animation
Page 10: Best Music
Page 11: Best Voice Acting
Page 12: Best Sound Effects
Page 13: Best Port/Enhanced Re-release
Page 14: Best Casual Adventure
Page 15: Best Independent Adventure
Page 16: Best Console/Handheld Adventure (Exclusive)
Page 17: Best First-Person PC Adventure
Page 18: Best Third-Person PC Adventure
Page 19: Best Adventure of 2009
Page 20: Final notes
First up: Best Story… the envelope, please!
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Best Story: Tales of Monkey Island
Best Story for a comedy game? And an episodic adventure to boot? It seems unlikely, doesn’t it? Almost as unlikely as ever seeing a new Monkey Island adventure almost a decade after the last. But not only did the beloved franchise return with a worthy new installment in Tales of Monkey Island, Telltale Games upped the episodic ante in a big way, producing a surprisingly epic adventure that took us sailing over and diving into the deep blue sea, swallowed down the belly (and other unmentionable areas) of a giant manatee, and ultimately sent kicking and screaming (does Guybrush know any other way?) to a world beyond our own. Full of unexpected twists and turns, with pirate battles and love triangles and everything in between, there were times of unbridled laughter and poignant moments of tenderness, leaving us never quite sure what to expect next.
Rather than a loosely connected series of episodes, the five “chapters” of Tales connect seamlessly into one long adventure, with shocking cliffhangers making it that much harder to wait another month. Yet we were always eager to follow along. Memorable characters old and new weave in and out of Guybrush’s quest to recover La Esponja Grande, an ancient voodoo artifact that’s said to have the power to remove the curse he’s accidentally unleashed. Complicating matters is his arch-nemesis, LeChuck, who has become human again and still carries a torch for Guybrush’s wife, Elaine. He’s also being chased by pirate-hunter-and-biggest-fan, Morgan LeFlay, who wants his autograph as much as she wants to deliver him to a mad French scientist. And the Voodoo Lady may well have an agenda of her own, as it’s hard to be sure if she’s helping or hindering. With a story like this, Tales of Monkey Island delivered a pirating page-turner of a sequel-in-five-parts that was well worth the wait.
Runners-Up: Emerald City Confidential, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Readers’ Choice: Tales of Monkey Island
And so ends the debate about whether an episodic adventure can provide a substantial storytelling experience. Sure, we had a to wait a month between chapters, but Telltale’s first true serial clearly had us hooked for the duration in more ways than one. We laughed, we cried, often at the same time, and when it was all over, who didn’t find themselves wondering: what’s next?!
Game information
Adventure Gamers Awards
Aggie Award winner of
Readers Choice winner of
GAME INFO
The Blackwell Convergence is an adventure game by Wadjet Eye Games released in 2009 for iPad, iPhone/iPod Touch, Mac, PC. It has a Stylized art style, presented in 2D or 2.5D and is played in a Third-Person perspective.
