Mass Effect 2 is AIAS game of the year

By Robert Purchese Published 11 February, 2011

But game Oscars dominated by Red Dead.

Red Dead Redemption was the most prolific winner at this year's AIAS (Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences) Interactive Achievement Awards - gaming's equivalent of the Oscars.

Rockstar's cowboy game scooped best action game, best game direction, best art direction, best gameplay engineering and best character performance.

But it was Mass Effect 2 that scooped top honours and was crowned game of the year. BioWare's space opera also took home best RPG/MMO and best story.

BioWare's dynamic doctor duo Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk were inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame.

Cinematic PS3 thriller Heavy Rain was also well represented, claiming best visual engineering, best innovation in gaming and best music.

Double-winners were StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty with best strategy/simulation game and best online gameplay, and Limbo with best adventure game and best sound design.

Best racing game went to Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, best family game to Dance Central, best sports game to FIFA 11 and best fighting game to Super Street Fighter IV.

Best portable game was God of War: Ghost of Sparta, best casual game Angry Birds and best social game CityVille.

God of War III was recognised for best animation and Rock Band 3 claimed best soundtrack.

Lifetime Achievement award went to EA lifer Bing Gordon and the Pioneer Award to Bill Nudge.

Red Dead Redemption.

  • Action Game of the Year: Red Dead Redemption
  • Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction: Red Dead Redemption
  • Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering: Red Dead Redemption
  • Outstanding Character Performance: Red Dead Redemption
  • Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction: Red Dead Redemption
  • Role Playing / MMO Game of the Year: Mass Effect 2
  • Game of the Year: Mass Effect 2
  • Outstanding Achievement in Story: Mass Effect 2
  • Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering: Heavy Rain
  • Outstanding Innovation in Gaming: Heavy Rain
  • Outstanding Achievement in Original Music: Heavy Rain
  • Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year: Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
  • Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay: Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
  • Adventure Game of the Year: Limbo
  • Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design: Limbo
  • Family Game of the Year: Dance Central
  • Racing Game of the Year: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
  • Sports Game of the Year: FIFA 2011
  • Fighting Game of the Year: Super Street Fighter IV
  • Portable Game of the Year: God of War: Ghost of Sparta
  • Casual Game of the Year: Angry Birds HD
  • Social Game of the Year: CityVille
  • Outstanding Achievement in Animation: God of War III
  • Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack: Rock Band 3
  • Lifetime Achievement Award: Bing Gordon:
  • Pioneer Award: Bill Budge
Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • spekkeh #1 1 year ago

    Slavery gets shit done. (RDR)
    Edited by spekkeh at 11/02/11 @ 13:36

  • mrblonde #2 1 year ago

    I dont understand why ME2 gets so many plaudits. I played the game and found it to be an average 3rd person shooter, with parts where you could answer "multi choice questions" in a cut scene. The weapon upgrade was nothing special and mining the planets with a vibration was embarrassingly bad. The only thing it did approaching something special, was its use of the unreal 3 engine in its visuals.

  • Goodfella #3 1 year ago

    @mrblonde

    I'm baffled too, they're ok games but I really don't understand why they are so 'revered'. Careful though, you'll get labelled a PS3 fanboy around these parts for such blasphemy. Well, you would have before ME2 came out on the PS3. ;)
    Edited by Goodfella at 11/02/11 @ 09:27

  • infernox1 #4 1 year ago

    no super mario galaxy 2?

  • StolenGlory #5 1 year ago

    Ha, good.

    Fuck you Black Ops and the bug-ridden, festering nag you rode in on.

  • darkphoenix #6 1 year ago

    ME2 is Gears Of War with dialogues. Good ones.
    The story is nothing compared to ME.

    Never understood all the excessive praise.
    It's the Dark Knight of videogames.

    Imho, RDR is a lot more deserving of merit.
    ME2, although still a great action game, is a step-dumb down from the original.

  • gjgjg #7 1 year ago

    hats off all round.

    More off hats for the folks who weren't pressured into black opsing. However mario gal2. Is notibly absent.

  • jag10 #8 1 year ago

    God of War 3 was game of the year for me:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChLtZWSxNwQ

  • Flabio #9 1 year ago

    These ones are voted for by academy members, almost all of whom are western developers. Like the Oscars, they're pretty geographically focused on the US in terms of what gets nominated.

  • SClaw #10 1 year ago

    It was a damn good year for games but I think ME2 was the right choice there.

    Perhaps, considered absolutely isolation, it's not all it could have been but as part of a series you have to admit it pushed the blanket way out there in terms of storyline, characters and gameplay innovation. I mean yeah, it was dumbed down but at least it was somewhat different from the original - how many games are just reskins these days (I'm looking at you MoH, CoD, etc)? At least they tried something new.

    I suspect this year will be even better for games. I think ME3, assuming it does come out this year, will blow my balls off with awesome but it's got serious competition from the likes of DA2, Witcher 2 and Deus Ex (if they don't screw it up, it's bound to be one the best games of the year).

  • Gambit1977 #11 1 year ago

    Glad heavy rain got some recognition, but best original music? Hmmm...I probably wouldve given that to ME2 (but not some of the other awards).

  • mrblonde #12 1 year ago

    @gambit

    Heavy rain ? What for being a pretentious, and worst of all boring title, which takes gaming back to the dark ages of early 90's FMV.
    I think of the recent kinect thread where someone said it offers less control than we have allready, HR offers the player virtual no control whatsoever imo and was a deserved flop.
    Edited by mrblonde at 11/02/11 @ 10:13

  • Mumbo #13 1 year ago

    Bill Budge is a quality name.

  • kinky_mong #14 1 year ago

    Happy, because Black Ops got nothing and RDR cleared up.

    Sad, because Super Mario Galaxy 2 was ignored.

    Puzzled, that Gears of War with dialogue trees got best game.

  • xero521 #15 1 year ago

    mr blonde u talk shit imo! i only jus finished heavy rain 2wk ago and its one of the best games ive played this year, having played it with move made it even more enjoyable! its unlike any other game ive played apart from farnhite on ps2! i mean how many endings does it have? so to say its just fmv is bullshot the graphics and music are top notch!

  • Ranger101 #16 1 year ago

    Well done to Limbo. Deserved, especially the Sound Engineering.

  • hello_fi #17 1 year ago

    "AIAS (Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences) Interactive Achievement Awards"

    AIASIAA?! Read out loud it sounds like a scouser trying to fence the stuff he recently robbed.

  • darkphoenix #18 1 year ago

    why is my previous comment being buried?
    is it mandatory to idolize ME2 as the best game ever?
    ...shame some trolls - I mean, EG users - just use the voting option to express their ignorance and fanboyism.

  • arcam #19 1 year ago

    Saying ME was better than ME2 is one of the worst things you can say on EG ;)

    I'm with you man.

  • telboy007 #20 1 year ago

    "is it mandatory to idolize ME2 as the best game ever?"

    Yep.

  • obihobson #21 1 year ago

    @mrblonde

    the thing is mrblonde yuor right it is a mediaocre shooter with multiple choice questions, however IMO ME2 is still awesome, and deserves its prasie and plaudits although i cant explain why ;o).. I am just happy that black ops didnt win anything. In fact if Zumba fitness had won over black ops i would still be happy!

  • obidanshinobi #22 1 year ago

    ME2 was a MASSIVE disappointment compared to ME1. Still liked it though.
    ME1 has a much better story, RPG elements, a wider selection of armour and guns, the Mako (come on guys, planet exploration is better than no planet exploration).
    ME2 has better a better engine but thats about it.
    If you've played the first one then you cannot deny that ME2 was dumbed down alot.

  • Smoped #23 1 year ago

    Am I the only one who thinks RDR suffers, to a slightly lesser extent than GTA IV, from basic gameplay that is essentially, if not quite broken, then at least not very fun at all? I mean I liked both games and the story & voice acting are really great by videogame standards, but outside the well-honed story missions, in the open world/sandbox, the game was really quite lousy.

  • Saxo #24 1 year ago

    Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption are also such brilliant games. well deserved indeed. Also i gotta buy limbo soon :D

  • tyrant1 #25 1 year ago

    I can understand ME2 winning "game of the year" because it was dumbed down to appeal to as many shooter fans as possible, but best story and best rpg? Thats a complete joke!

    The story was a load of disconnected side missions which merely impacted which interchangeable squadmate died, and the RPG elements were scaled back to fuck!

    Its not an opinion that ME2 scaled back, dumbed down and all round didnt perform as well in many respects as ME1 did, its just plain fact. It was all part of that "rip out most anything approaching complexity and replace it with dumb whack-a-mole shooting".

    Its a pretty decent, shallow and well polished retard friendly TPS, but as an actual ME game (which is supposed to be something much more special entirely) it fucking sucks.

  • bladdard #26 1 year ago

    Some excellent games won some well deserved awards. I've yet to play RDR but the only a game that's missing from that list that deserved some credit is Bayonetta.

    Really glad to see ghost of sparta getting some recognition, it truly was the pinnacle of portable gaming in 2010 in spite of this sites shitty review.
    Edited by bladdard at 11/02/11 @ 19:15

  • Farzlepot #27 1 year ago

    The hell with Rockstar, Bioware and Electronic Arts. They're rolling in money, they don't need praise. I'm just glad to see Limbo getting some kudos!