Uncharted 2 dominates BAFTA Awards

By Robert Purchese Published 19 March, 2010

Batman: Arkham Asylum wins Best Game.

Batman: Arkham Asylum shocked the BAFTA Video Game Award 2010 audience by winning Best Game - a trophy expected to fall to Uncharted 2. The Rocksteady-developed superhero game also took Best Gameplay.

Naughty Dog's superb action game Uncharted 2: Among Thieves didn't miss out, however, and took home four one-eyed golden face trophies - the most of any game.

Uncharted 2 scooped Best Action Game, Best Use of Audio, Best Original Score and Best Story. Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra were on hand to cart the trophies home. They thanked their families and loved ones for putting up with the long hours they had to put in.

FIFA 10 took home two trophies, one for Best Sports Game and one for Best Use of Online.

Wii Sports Resort was considered the Best Family & Social game, and Best Handheld Game was LittleBigPlanet PSP. Empire: Total War scooped Best Strategy Game.

Left 4 Dead 2 was voted Best Multiplayer Game, and Batman: Arkham Asylum was considered to have the Best Gameplay.

Artistic Achievement was given to Flower and the public-voted Game Award of 2009 went to Modern Warfare 2, with Assassin's Creed II in second place and Uncharted 2 in third.

BAFTA Ones to Watch was Shrunk! by The Butterflyers.

And, of course, Shigeru Miyamoto was honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship for his staggering lifetime's achievement in videogames.

The full list of winners (in bold) and their categories are in order below. Nominees are included.

Action

  • Assassin's Creed II
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  • inFAMOUS
  • Left 4 Dead 2
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Family & Social

  • The Beatles: Rock Band
  • Buzz! Quiz World
  • EyePet
  • Guitar Hero 5
  • New Super Mario Bros Wii
  • Wii Sports Resort

Use of Online

  • Battlefield 1943
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  • FIFA 10
  • LIttleBigPlanet PSP
  • SingStar Take That
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Use of Audio

  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  • DJ Hero
  • Flower
  • Left 4 Dead 2
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Handheld

  • Gran Turismo
  • LittleBigPlanet PSP
  • LocoRoco Midnight Carnival
  • Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
  • Professor Layton and Pandora's Box
  • Scribblenauts

GAME Award of 2009

  • Assassin's Creed II
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • The Beatles: Rock Band
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  • FIFA 10
  • Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
  • The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
  • Street Fighter IV
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
  • Wii Sports Resort

Strategy

  • Command & Conquer 3: Uprising
  • Empire: Total War
  • FIFA Manager 10
  • Football Manager 2010
  • Halo Wars
  • Plants vs Zombies

Original Score

  • Assassin's Creed II
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  • Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
  • PixelJunk Shooter
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Multiplayer

  • Battlefield 1943
  • The Beatles: Rock Band
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  • Halo 3: ODST
  • Left 4 Dead 2
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Gameplay

  • Assassin's Creed II
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  • New Super Mario Bros. Wii
  • PixelJunk Shooter
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Sports

  • Colin McRae: DiRT 2
  • FIFA 10
  • Football Manager 2010
  • Forza 3
  • Wii Fit Plus
  • Wii Sports Resort

Story

  • Assassin's Creed II
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • Broken Sword Shadow of the Templars: The Director's Cut
  • Brutal Legend
  • Dragon Age: Origins
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital

  • Colour Coded (Murray Sinclair, Faye Wright, Liam Wong, Sean Donnelly, Nnanna Kama - PixelPirates)
  • Quick as Thieves (William Wright, Michael Doig, Andrew Knight, Jamie MacKinnon, Lee Cresswell - Gentleman of Fortune)
  • Shrunk! - Vykintas Kazdailis, Andrew Macdonald, Michael Cummings, Jacek Wernikowski, Stuart Kemp - The Butterflyers)

Artistic Achievement

  • Assassin's Creed II
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  • Flower
  • Street Fighter IV
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Best Game

  • Assassin's Creed II
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  • FIFA 10
  • Left 4 Dead 2
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
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.

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

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Comments (67) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ryn.x #1 2 years ago

    Congrats to Rocksteady, looking forward to the sequel as and when we see it.

  • effinwooly #2 2 years ago

    Fully deserved

  • chaywa #3 2 years ago

    Well deserved, the most atmospheric game of the last year

  • Chufty #4 2 years ago

    Congrats, well deserved. Miyamoto too, what a legend.

    Dara O'Briain is also awesome:)

  • Power_n_Glory #5 2 years ago

    Fifa shouldn't have won anything considering the amount of bugs it has.

  • Stupid_Fat_Hobbit #6 2 years ago

    "Best use of online"? Online what? Adjectives do not work that way!

  • RexRunti #7 2 years ago

    So as predicted BAFTA ignore all the great games of 2009 and give all the awards to Modern Warfare 2... well OK just the one... which was voted for by the public...

    In all seriousness I never really had any problems with the nominations and have even fewer with the results. Congratulations to Rocksteady for winning game of the year (I voted for it for the Game award even if it didn't get enough to make the top 3).

    Great hosting by Dara, crap voice over though (guy has clearly never played a game in his life). Worst comment goes to Dom Jolly though (narrowly beating Edith Bowman) for his "Strategy games are all wizards and warlocks" line before showing the nominations. Not one of them featuring a wizard, warlock or any magic what so ever.

  • Dave797 #8 2 years ago

    Batman AA a deserving winner of Best Game, what they did with the fight engine was nothing short of spectacular.

  • TonyHarrison #9 2 years ago

    Finally, I did love Uncharted 2 but Batman deserved at least one big win...

  • jag10 #10 2 years ago

    GOTY 2010 God Of War 3 easy!

  • drewman5150 #11 2 years ago

    Uncharted 2 is my favourite game from last year, which considering 90% of my gaming is on my 360 I think says a lot about the game - the dialog, the story, the graphics, and most importantly the gameplay had me hooked.
    Graphically, it's not a case of the PS3 can do things that the 360 can't, it's simply that Naughty Dog (IMO) made decision (like in the first game) that other developers pass over (for whatever reason).
    Character reflections in water, snow collection on clothes, trails left in the snow, character actually looking like he/she has been in water - these are things that make Uncharted (1&2) stand out.
    I've just re-read my opening gambit, and yup, it probably reads like the typical "I have both machines but (insert fanboy bait here)"
    But it's not, honest!
    I just like the bloody game!
    Edited by 1 at 19/03/10 @ 23:10

  • Beranmee #12 2 years ago

    Good set of results there!! No complaints here.

  • Lee_Morris #13 2 years ago

    Not too embarrassing to watch and a little bit touching in parts. Plus Dara was classy, funny and obviously a gamer which is so refreshing in this day of band wagon jumpers. I was so glad Flower won the Artistic Achievement award that I genuinely gave a little cheer haha. Throughly deserved though.

    PS good on Edith Bowman for calling out game developers and there inability to step out of the tight waste and big boob model they're in.

  • Beranmee #14 2 years ago

    Oh and Miyamoto truly deserved that award, the man is a legend!

  • M4RV #15 2 years ago

    Congrats to Rocksteady, for releasing such an awesome game really... It was one of the reasons if beefed up my PC, so I could play it all over again, with PhysX on High so to speak. Love it every single moment of it; I'm still surprised how come the game is that good... :))))

  • Quickstick4 #16 2 years ago

    im glad empire total war won stratergy, while it may have had numerous bugs, out of the nominations it was the best.

  • Crazyreyn #17 2 years ago

    I thought Ralph Little was actually quite funny, calling out the Assassin's Creed II and Pro Evolution Soccer devs. It's refreshing to see an award show that was happy to poke fun as its own industry, while remaining a complete celebration at the same time. Great night.

  • neems #18 2 years ago

    So Uncharted 2 was the best action game, beating out Batman AA amongst others, but Batman was the best game?

    Okay.

  • Dogzilla #19 2 years ago

    How the hell did FIFA win best use of online? The EA servers are a joke!

  • Murton #20 2 years ago

    "So Uncharted 2 was the best action game, beating out Batman AA amongst others, but Batman was the best game? "

    It's a weird one isn't it? How can the best game of the year not be the best game in its class? Not uncommon either as it happened with last years Spike TV awards, Uncharted was Best Game but Assassin's Creed 2 won best Action Adventure, which is the class they put Uncharted in. No idea how they work it out to be honest.

    Good to see that MW2 didn't pick up anything from the judges though, massively overrated game that doesn't really compare to the titles that it was up against.

  • Froggit #21 2 years ago

    Having not previously followed these thigns before, is it possible to get Best Game and best in whatever genre?
    Or do they basically go "This is our best game overall, and out of the others in it's category this other one is the best"?

    Also, concerning MW2...
    While many of you are rather pleased the judges didn't give it anything, "the people" did.
    Some ofyou lot may see it as an overrated piece of shit or whatever, but obviously many others don't. The game's been out enough time for people to have judged it, so it can't be purely down to hype anymore, but if that hype added to people's overall enjoyment of the game while they were playing it, having gotten worked up over it etc, and they do genuinely think it's their best game of 09, then that's their call.
    I mean, it's not their fault they're not as sophisticated as us ;)

    Not played the thing yet, mind, so can't personally offer an honest opinion on it.

  • feistycheese #22 2 years ago

    Glad that Batman:AA won, it was a fantastic game. I am slightly surprised that UC2 didn't take it, but not bothered in the slightest as I loved both and am hugely chuffed that a British developer gets the kudos.

  • GamesConnoisseur #23 2 years ago

    Great results for all round and yes a good thing that MW2 didn't win anything BUT mainly only cos the troubles would have been too much!!

    I thought the game was fun and online Inc for what mileage it gave me and yet agreed not really deserving of any recognition other than the title causing most griefs to the hysterical gamers!

    Lessons? We may need to trust the public and our fellow gamers a bit more and also to let them enjoy MW2 3 etc if that what they like.

  • chaywa #24 2 years ago

    Well done to the Flower devs as well, its a fantastic game that deserves every word of praise it gets.

  • VandelayIndustries #25 2 years ago

    Well done to both Naughty Dog and Rocksteady, richly deserved, I loved both your games :D
    Edited by 2 at 20/03/10 @ 01:49

  • RedSparrows #26 2 years ago

    I liked Batman AA, but I didn't fall in love. Not sure why. I think it felt a little too gamey, oddly.

  • Anthony_UK #27 2 years ago

    An award for best gameplay just seems off in itself

  • Syrette #28 2 years ago

    Assassin's Creed 2 deserved more tbh.

    My personal game of the year.

    Batman:AA, Uncharted 2 and AC2 were all stellar games that the devs should be immensely proud of.

  • Eraysor #29 2 years ago

    Glad to see Batman win, excellent game. Also, I think more categories are needed.

  • Koborover #30 2 years ago

    Batman: AA is a very worthy winner, I'm happy for Rocksteady.

  • fiery_jackass #31 2 years ago

    hooo-fucking-ray, Batman AA is a brilliant game and I'm delighted

  • BabyJesus #32 2 years ago

    I actually agree with the majority of Award winners.

    I'm shocked.

  • laharl80 #33 2 years ago

    Uncharted 2 should have won best game and mw2 winning the public vote is a good enough reason to abolish democracy.I would have given Disgaea 3 best use of audio.

  • AHiFi #34 2 years ago

    Froggit - Well said.

    Nothing majorly wrong with the game other than the attitudes of some players...it still got its nominations though. That said, I liked the MW2 score and would have liked to see it win. Heck, ODST wasn't even nominated; I was surprised given that it is a good score, it's a bit different and...it's Halo.

    EDIT: Actually, was Left 4 Dead 2 even nominated? Another interesting use of a soundtrack. Takes the original score, adds a bit, makes it Southern sounding and it acts as a hint to the player of the impending doom. Great stuff.
    Edited by 3 at 20/03/10 @ 05:32

  • altitude2k #35 2 years ago

    ODST wasn't nominated for best score? Fair enough it wasn't the best game, but the music was excellent.

  • FutureDave #36 2 years ago

    Nice to see slightly less negative news coverage of the event.

    MW2 only second to Avatar for revenue? Crikey.

  • woodnotes #37 2 years ago

    How is there absolutely no mention Mass Effect 2 or Heavy Rain? Did they come out too late?

  • icematt12 #38 2 years ago

    Probably woodnotes, they would have to survey the community months before the actual event.

    Batman, and the guys at Rocksteady, are awesome. Showcase to the industry of how you use a licence and not just see the (insert type of currency here).
    Edited by 1 at 20/03/10 @ 09:31

  • Incarta #39 2 years ago

    Good to see the better games winning the awards, in most cases. The event featured on the BBC Breakfast show this morning and there was far more positive chat then negative. For a change.

  • prettyboytim #40 2 years ago

    Wii Sports Resort? Pfff!

    \not bitter

  • welshben23 #41 2 years ago

    These were the 2009 Bafta Awards, woodnotes. Heavy Rain and Mass Effect should definitely be in the running for a lot of awards next year.

  • curtlikesmeat #42 2 years ago

    As someone else said, how on earth did Fifa win anything? Does anyone who actually plays games vote for these or is it just voted on reputation? Fair enough some of the ideas for Fifa online were good but their servers are notoriously terrible making it a very hit and miss experience.

    Also, WINNER OF ONLY SPORTS GAME 2009: FIFA 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111111111111111111111nomnomnom

  • Chufty #43 2 years ago

    I guess they're judging FIFA on the game's online features rather than EA's inability to host servers.

    MW2's award wasn't voted for by the public, it was voted for by GAME shoppers.

  • FladgeMangle #44 2 years ago

    This actually made it onto the BBC news, albeit in a misguided and overtly patriotic fashion.

    "Plucky British game triumphs in awards dominated by foreigners." No really, that's pretty much what they said. Try to imagine the Pathe newsreals of the 1940s and you'll get the mood.

    Not one single mention of any games apart from Batman, although they did stress the 4 billion pounds generated by the industry last year and the 22,000 people it employs.

    So games... Still the unloved spotty kid then.
    Edited by 1 at 20/03/10 @ 10:51

  • woodnotes #45 2 years ago

    And yet just a couple of years ago they were going on and on about how LBP was a British-developed game and won the BAFTAs.

  • GreyBeard #46 2 years ago

    Its hard not to see giving Batman:AA the top prize as a political decision, but truthfully anything that raises the UK development scene's profile and helps with negotiating tax incentives and other sorts of monetary assistance from central government must be seen as a good thing.

    That said, congratulations to Rocksteady because AA is a top-class game and deserves respect. They just had the unfortunate task of competing against Uncharted 2, and an all-time best performance by NDI who are undoubtedly one of the best teams in the world.

  • AHiFi #47 2 years ago

    Right since my other comment about MW2 is sitting at -5, does someone care to explain what is majorly wrong with MW2?

  • amiga_dude #48 2 years ago

    The voice over was very LOUD! Was watching and everytime when there played the voice over I had to turn it down. All in all very good event just shame about the voice over.
    Edited by 1 at 20/03/10 @ 12:18

  • AHiFi #49 2 years ago

    amiga - Yeah it was a bit distracting, but I guess it's because online broadcasts hardly have big budgets.

  • des #50 2 years ago

    People actually watch this meaningless crap?...zzzzz

  • effinjamie #51 2 years ago

    Well deserved, Naughty Dog's Game was easily the best thing I played last year

  • spekkeh #52 2 years ago

    I've had a lot of fun gaming last year, but given the nominees/winners it was actually pretty mediocre (the first two months of 2010 beat the whole of 2009 easily).

    I actually think MW2 was my game of the year, and I'm really tired of FPS games. Also enjoyed Batman AA, but found it too much of a GAME game for what it tried to accomplish, many last-gen design decisions. Still, good game.

  • Zaiz #53 2 years ago

    ...So, best strategy has two sports games, a tower defense game, and the lovably broken Empire Total War. *slow clap* I mean, Empire Total War was fun, but seriously, Dawn of War II. Way, way better. It was certainly more focused on the competitive multiplayer, but it also tried to push the genre in new directions, which Empire Total War did not.

    But the bigger WTF has to be Assassin's Creed II in the running for Best Story. Egads. A global templar conspiracy to fight a global assassin conspiracy(with the assassins being the descendants of "Adam" and "Eve";) to uncover an alien super-civilization that existed at some point in time, who left powerful artifacts all over the place, in fact, one of which is underneath the Vatican(I wonder why no one noticed the fancy alien hologram...). I mean, what the fuck? Who thought that was a good idea? Whoever wrote that damn game needs to lose his goddamn hands. Seriously, Dawn of War II was better written, and it only barely had a story, but at least it made more sense than that cavalcade of Micheal Bay on acid.
    Edited by 1 at 20/03/10 @ 17:32

  • Raiftel #54 2 years ago

    How did Uncharted 2 beat Dragon Age and Assassin's Creed II for story? The world building, characterisation and plotting in both those games were miles ahead of Uncharted's Indiana Jones retread.

  • beef_spread #55 2 years ago

    Uncharted 2, Tomb raider with some guy. Interactive blockbuster was fully achieved with Blade Runner in 1997. The crack team of award givers has seemed to ignore creativity and progression in favor of popularity and social belligerence.

  • devilmyarse #56 2 years ago

    Is there any way of watching this online? I would like to watch it very much.

  • andywilkie35 #57 2 years ago

    Haha, Batman was the best game, yet wasn't even the best action game apparently...?

    Either way, both Bats and Uncharted are superb games, well deserved

  • beef_spread #58 2 years ago

    awards went to rightful recievers, apart from many rehashes of the same game. Really who is going to play uncharted 2 in a years time?

  • beef_spread #59 2 years ago

    Is there someone who works for sony putting down every comment I make about Uncharted 2? It's the worst conspiracy i've been involved in

  • Bill_Sexpot_Gates #60 2 years ago

    Nah, sorry Beff_spread. It was me. You're a collosal douche. Please stop buying Xbox products, you're giving us a bad name.

  • AOFanboi #61 2 years ago

    @boabg: Yes but it was still in 2009.

    "Flower on PS3 was released on Thursday 12 February 2009."

  • gjgjg #62 2 years ago

    AC2 was more deserving of best use of audio / original score. unch2 was very very good, one of my fav's of last year but not 'wipe the floor clean' good.

  • taurus82 #63 2 years ago

    Wow, finally a game that I like getting a GotY award.

  • I\'mListening #64 2 years ago

    I thought Batman was good but that is all. Well crafted, yes, but with something missing (though I'm not sure what). Maybe because it is a superhero game that doesn't completely suck is why it is being so highly rated?

  • berryl227 #65 2 years ago

    "Really who is going to play uncharted 2 in a years time?"

    @ beef_spread

    me

  • onyxbox #66 2 years ago

    Batman was a good game but no way was it contender for game of the year IMO. It was obvious, repetative and was nothing technically to write home about. I finished it and thought it was enjoyable but I did wonder at the time about what all the fuss was for.

    I think this game came out at the right time when the 360 comunity was starving for a decent full (non arcade) game, same reason Prototype got so much attention.

    either that or people really have got a thing for that cape, boots and spandex :)

    anyhow, I look forward to the sequel and it's good to see the awards give the British developer the nod

  • kinky_mong #67 2 years ago

    What a fantastic result. Not only did all the right games win the important awards, but it's further proof that democracy doesn't work at all.
    Edited by 1 at 22/03/10 @ 10:44