Child of Light / The Game Awards 2014

Hi, Daniel here. I have been recently playing a game and I have achieved to finish it, enjoying it a lot. I am talking about UbiArt's franchise Child of Light. Also I would like to make a list of the several winners of The Video Game Awards 2014. So, here we go:

CHILD OF LIGHT

Child of Light is a JRPG-ish, turn-based combat, graphical adventure fairy tale which I enjoyed a lot: every single minute I played. It makes us play as the daughter of an archduke of Austria. After the Holy Week celebrations, she falls ill and dies, but then she resurrects in a fantasy world. There she finds new friends, such as Igniculus, a “firefly”, or so she thinks it is. Eventually, the story ends in a dramatic climax, with an epic boss fight, and I think no one will regret to have played the game.

The turn-based combat system is something many people dislike. I was one of them. But Child of Light focus this concept in a different way. You can move Igniculus and make him bright to blind your enemies, and so slow them; or rather make it bright over your allies to heal them. Moreover, you can interrupt enemies attacks by attacking them when they are casting their abilities. The combination of all this mechanics make the combat system in this game very dynamic, and enjoyable no matter if you like turn-based combat or not.

I think it's also important to say that all the dialogues are in verse. I know some people are not keen of that, but I didn't dislike it.

PROS:

• Gripping and beautiful story.
• Gorgeous art style.
• Many characters, that make variety in terms of combat.
• Many kinds of enemies.
• A vastly dynamic combat, even though it being turn-based.
• Side-quests (which is a “pro” taking into account that this game is about 10h of play).

PROS/CONS (you can like them, you can not):

• All the dialogues are written in verse.
• It is a fairy-tale story.

CONS:

• It is too short for its quality.
• Even if you like verses, it makes understanding the main thread of the story very difficult.
• In some computers (like mine) it is bad optimized, and you can do nothing to improve its performance.

THE GAME AWARDS

As many of you may know, The Game Awards have been celebrated. Even though I don't like most of the winners, here it is a list with the most remarkable awards:

• Game of the Year & Best Role-Playing Game: Dragon Age: Inquisition
• Best Narrative: Valiant Hearts: the Great War. (yay!)
• Best Action/Adventure: Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor.
• Best Fighting game: Super Smash Bros. WiiU
• Best Sports/Racing & Best Family game: Mario Kart 8.
• Best Online Experience & Best Soundtrack/Score: Destiny.
• Developer of the Year: Nintendo.

Valiant Hearts: the Great War is the one I liked most and, so, I think it is the one which deserved the most its award.

What about YOU? What game do you think it deserves the most its award? What game would you include in the list?