2004 AG Underground Awards
Last year when we handed out the first annual Adventure Gamers Underground Awards, we talked about how excited we were that the strength of the field led to so much lengthy debate to settle on our nominees and our eventual winners. We certainly couldn't have foreseen how much stronger the field would be this year—a fact which will become even more evident as we reveal the winners for 2004 in the coming pages.
To avoid repeating such exhaustion, though, we changed our methods this year. Last time we attempted to settle the awards by lengthy, subjective debates, and vowed never again to put ourselves through that. This year, the five members of the Underground staff each cast their votes for winner, plus first and second runners up. Using a 3-2-1 scoring system, we arrived at our winners (and were fortunate enough to avoid ties). I think you'll find the results to be quite interesting.
Of course we want to thank all of the dedicated Underground designers out there who continue to devote their time to creating free adventures simply for a love of the genre. We salute you and hope to see the quality of Underground adventures continue to grow in 2005. Now, take some time to refresh yourself on who the nominees are, and then let's begin handing out the awards!
(Berian Williams and Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw contributed to this article.)
Best Graphics
No-Action Jackson by Britton O'Toole
It's extremely rare that an amateur adventure comes along that really compares in any way to the Golden Age commercial adventure releases of the early to mid '90s. In this category, we reward the Underground games that have shown a level of graphical excellence that compares to that hallowed era. This year, that winner is No-Action Jackson.
NAJ's graphics are of a warped, Day of the Tentacle-influenced style, with a main character who's very reminiscent of DOTT's Bernard, without looking overly derivative. The backgrounds and characters are of an equally high quality, with a tremendous amount of detail and lively color. The twisted artistic style makes the game, which is humorous in theme, all the more charming. No-Action Jackson is a highly deserving winner of this award, with graphics comparable to the LucasArts classics that we've all grown to love.
First Runner-Up: Apprentice II by Herculean Effort Productions
Second Runner-Up: Patrimonium by Chuck Productions
Best Sound/Music
Apprentice II by Herculean Effort Productions
In 2004, the first Apprentice game ran away with this award. With a sequel boasting 25 minutes of in-game music, Herculean composer Greg Schlaepfer outdid himself with this effort. We spoke last year of Apprentice's knack for catchy, medieval tunes; the sequel continues this trend with even stronger and more complex compositions, and the occasional flair for the dramatic. The result is yet another runaway win in the most underrated category.
It is a testament to the excellence of Apprentice II that this was the only category where all five of the voters unanimously agreed on the winner. There is clearly no other choice, no other developer who values this aspect of their games as much. Our hope is that Herculean's peers in the Underground community will begin to put stronger focus on the audio aspects of their games. For now, though, the Apprentice series continues to set the standard.
First Runner-Up: Ben Jordan: Case 3 by Francisco "Grundislav" Gonzalez
Second Runner-Up: Brain Hotel by Pinhead Games
Best Story
Enclosure by Femo Duo Entertainment
Sierra's AGI games were never what you would call complicated when it came to storyline. King's Quest rarely had any variation beyond "rescue A from B," the Space Quests were pretty much always "save planet from destruction," and the less said about the first Leisure Suit Larry game the better--so it's interesting that an Underground game using the same, limited AGI engine could outdo Sierra on their home turf, as it were, and take our Best Story award this year.
While certain disparaging comments have been made about Enclosure's ending, that does not compromise the fact that from beginning to end, the game easily boasts the strongest storytelling of the year. Starting off by presenting the player an intriguing mystery in an isolated research station, the story goes from strength to strength with excellent pacing, well-rounded characters, and a genuinely unnerving sense of claustrophobia as the station and inmates descend with increasing rapidity into madness, horror and death. If only more technically proficient games could boast this level of storytelling skill.
First Runner-Up: Two of a Kind by Epileptic Fish
Second Runner-Up: The Dead City by NiHiLiS
Best Writing
Cirque de Zale by Rebecca Clements
Of course we at Adventure Gamers would never want to be guilty of stereotyping, but the reality is that the majority of developers in the Underground community are of the male gender. However, proving once again that quality always beats out quantity, Cirque de Zale is the brilliant product of Australia's Rebecca "Kinoko" Clements. This game boasts what is clearly the most on-target understanding of the style of humor that made Monkey Island, Sam & Max and other Golden Age classics so engaging. With a fearlessly unlikable hero and a perfect balance of clarity and insanity present throughout the writing, as well as a great attention to detail that makes style manual dorks like me very happy, Clements' dialogue is top-notch, with nary a misstep through the entire game.
Countless Underground games have tried so hard—way too hard, in most cases—to hit the target, that special sort of oddity that the aforementioned classics seemed to boast so effortlessly. Cirque de Zale, to us, is the first Underground game that reaches that level. We generally like to give this award to dramatic writing, but Kinoko just blew us away. Well done, Rebecca—you've made all the guys jealous.
First Runner-Up: Peasant's Quest by HomeStarRunner.com
Second Runner-Up: Two of a Kind by Epileptic Fish
Best Game
Two of a Kind by Epileptic Fish
Now the coup de grace…we never would have thought that each of these five awards could be won by a different game, but once the votes were tallied, we realized that Two of a Kind is a perfect example of how well-rounded a game should be—in no individual area was it the best of the year, but in each area it excels, with no real weakness to speak of and an incredible care and attention to detail.
Dramatic Underground games have been lacking in the past—last year's GOTY winner was the wonderful comedy Out of Order—but with his previous Bestowers of Eternity prologue and now TOAK, Dave Gilbert is quickly establishing himself as one of the top dramatic writers in the community. The story is impressive in its scope, and the game earns special credit for being one of the few Underground games to exploit the concept of multiple player-characters.
Gilbert, after retiring from his former gig as editor of this here Underground website, assembled a brilliant team and produced a wonderful, classic adventure game. I suppose that, with this level of quality, we have no choice but to forgive him for leaving now! Congratulations to Dave and the entire Two of a Kind team for creating the Adventure Gamers Underground 2004 Game of the Year!
First Runner-Up: No-Action Jackson by Britton O'Toole
Second Runner-Up: Cirque de Zale by Rebecca Clements
And with that, we wrap our look at the best games of the past year. The fact that many fine games didn't win, and more still didn't even make the final selection, just goes to show how high the quality of Underground games has become. No doubt next year's selection will be even tougher, but it's a challenge we're looking forward to eagerly.
Once again, well done to all the winners!
