The nominations for the Game Critics Awards are out and Electronic Arts and BioWare’s science fiction game Anthem is one of the big winners of best games of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). All told, Anthem had five nominations, including one for the prestigious “best of show.”
I was one of a few dozen judges again. The Game Critics Awards are organized by Geoff Keighley (who runs one of gaming’s biggest award shows), and they include game journalists as judges from numerous publications. For the “best of show,” I voted for Spider-Man, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Battlefield V, Rage 2, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. In the official tally, Activision and From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice had four nominations, and a bunch of titles have three nominations.
Here are the full nominations below, as well as an explanation at the bottom of who was eligible. I would have voted for The Last of Us Part II from Naughty Dog and Sony, but the game was not eligible because it showed up only in the form of a cinematic, and it was not playable by judges at the show.
Above: Anthem has characters, and you’ll get to know them in the single-player narrative portion of the game.
Best of Show
- Anthem (BioWare/EA for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games/SIE for PlayStation 4)
- Resident Evil 2 (Capcom for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco Studios/Sorta Ltd./Nintendo for Switch)
Best Original Game
- Anthem (BioWare/EA for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Days Gone (SIE Bend Studio/SIE for PlayStation 4)
- Dreams (Media Molecule/SIE for PlayStation 4)
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Skull & Bones (Ubisoft Singapore/Ubisoft for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Best Console Game
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec/Ubisoft for PS4, Xbox One)
- Dreams (Media Molecule/SIE for PlayStation 4)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games/SIE for PlayStation 4)
- Resident Evil 2 (Capcom for PS4, Xbox One)
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision for PS4, Xbox One)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco Studios/Sorta Ltd./Nintendo for Switch)
Best VR/AR Game
- Astro Bot: Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio/SIE for PSVR)
- Déraciné (FromSoftware/SIE Japan Studio/SIE for PSVR)
- Echo Combat (Ready at Dawn/Oculus Studios for PC)
- Tetris Effect (Resonair/Enhance Inc for PSVR)
- Trover Saves the Universe (Squanch Games for PlayStation 4/PSVR)
Best PC Game
- Anthem (BioWare/EA)
- Battlefield V (EA DICE/EA)
- Metro: Exodus (4A Games/Deep Silver)
- Rage 2 (Avalanche/id/Bethesda)
- Total War: Three Kingdoms (Creative Assembly/Sega)
Best Hardware/Peripheral
- NeoGeo Mini (SNK)
- Poké Ball Plus (Nintendo for Switch)
- Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Ubisoft Toronto/Ubisoft for PS4, Switch, Xbox One)
- Vantage Controller for PS4 (Scuf Gaming)
- Xbox Adaptive Controller (Microsoft)
Best Action Game
- Anthem (BioWare/EA for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Battlefield V (EA DICE/EA for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch/Activision for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Metro: Exodus (4A Games/Deep Silver for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Rage 2 (Avalanche/id/Bethesda for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Above: Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey gives players choices throughout its story.
Best Action/Adventure
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec/Ubisoft for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games/SIE for PlayStation 4)
- Resident Evil 2 (Capcom for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Eidos Montreal/Square Enix for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (Massive Entetainment/Ubisoft for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Best RPG
- Divinity: Original Sin II (Larian Studios/Bandai Namco for PS4, Xbox One)
- Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square Enix for PC, PS4, Switch)
- Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix for PS4, Xbox One)
- Octopath Traveler (Square Enix/Acquire/Nintendo for Switch)
- Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee! (Game Freak/Nintendo for Switch)
Best Fighting Game
- Dead or Alive 6 (Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Jump Force (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai Namco for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Soul Calibur VI (Bandi Namco for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco Studios/Sorta Ltd./Nintendo for Switch)
Best Racing Game
- F1 2018 (Codemasters for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games/Turn 10/Microsoft Studios for PC, Xbox One)
- Team Sonic Racing (Sumo Digital/Sega for PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One)
- The Crew 2 (Ivory Tower/Ubisoft for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Trials Rising (Red Lynx/Ubisoft for PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One)
Best Sports Game
- FIFA 19 (EA Vancouver/EA for PS4, Xbox One)
- Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning/Nintendo for Switch)
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (PES Productions/Konami for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Above: In-game footage from Total War: Three Kingdoms.
Best Strategy Game
- Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden (The Bearded Ladies/Funcom for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Total War: Three Kingdoms (Creative Assembly/Sega for PC)
- Two Point Hospital (Two Point Studios/Sega for PC)
- Wargroove (Chuckle Fish for PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One)
Best Family/Social Game
- Dreams (Media Molecule/SIE for PlayStation 4)
- Lego DC Super-Villains (Traveler’s Tales/WBIE for PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One)
- Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee! (Game Freak/Nintendo for Switch)
- Overcooked 2 (Ghost Town Games/Team 17 for PS4, Switch, Xbox One)
- Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning/Nintendo for Switch)
Best Online Mulitplayer
- Anthem (BioWare/EA for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Battlefield V (EA DICE/EA for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch/Activision for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie/Activision for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Skull & Bones (Ubisoft Singapore/Ubisoft for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Best Independent Game
- Ori and the Will of Wisps (Moon Studios/Microsoft for PC, Xbox One)
- Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna Interactive for PC, Xbox One)
- Overcooked 2 (Ghost Town Games/Team 17 for PS4, Switch, Xbox One)
- Sable (Shedworks/Raw Fury for PC)
- Tunic (Andrew Shouldice/Finji for PC, Xbox One)
Best Ongoing Game
- Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie/Activision for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- For Honor (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Fortnite (Epic for iOS, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One)
- PlayerUnknown’s Battleground (PUBG Corp for iOS, PC, Xbox One)
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Special awards for graphics, sound, and innovation are coming July 2.
Note on eligibility
To be eligible for nomination, games must be “hands-on playable” to voting publications for at least 5 minutes of gameplay during E3 2018. They do remain eligible for special awards.
Due to this rule, the following games were disqualified: Battletoads (Xbox); Beyond Good and Evil 2 (Ubisoft); Control (505 Games); Crackdown 3 (Microsoft); Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red); Daemon x Machina (Nintendo); Death Stranding (PlayStation); Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom); DOOM Eternal (Bethesda); Dying Light 2 (Techland); Fallout 76 (Bethesda); Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Nintendo); Gears 5 (Xbox); Gears POP! (Xbox); Gears Tactics (Xbox); Ghost of Tsushima (PlayStation); Halo Infinite (Xbox); Just Cause 4 (Square Enix); Madden NFL 19 (EA); NBA Live 19 (EA); Nioh 2 (PlayStation); Super Mario Party (Nintendo); Stormland (Insomniac Games); The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (Square Enix); The Last of Us Part II (PlayStation); Wolfenstein: Youngblood (Bethesda).
