Turtle Rock Studios brought a standout offering to E3 2014 with its asymmetrical multiplayer game, Evolve, and it was an impressive enough showing to land the studio a total of six nominations in the annual Game Critics Awards, the most of any contender. The GCA is the “official” awards mouthpiece of E3, with just over two dozen media outlets — including Digital Trends, as of this year — voting on the best games in a range of categories. Evolve is up for the top Best of Show award, along with Best Original Game, Best Console Game, Best PC Game, Best Action Game, and Best Online Multiplayer.
Trailing behind Evolve are Destiny and Rainbow Six: Siege, each of which nabbed four nominations apiece. Oddly, Destiny didn’t make the cut in the Best of Show category; it was bested by Alien: Isolation, Batman: Arkham Knight, Middle-earth: Shadows of Mordor, and No Man’s Sky (along with Rainbow Six and Evolve). 2K Games, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and Ubisoft are the most celebrated publishers, with eight nominations apiece for their assorted games.
This year’s nominee lineup features a couple of quirks. The Best Sports Game category, for example, may as well be the Best EA Sports category, as the mega-publisher continues to dominate in the realm of gaming’s sports sims (exclusive licensing deals may play a role in that as well). And the poor, forgotten strategy genre makes a light showing this year, with just two games nominated in the category: Petroglyph’s Grey Goo and Firaxis’ Civilization: Beyond Earth.
Now all that remains is for the judges to cast their votes, and for those votes to be counted. Here’s a full down of all of this year’s nominees, by category.
Best of Show
- Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
- Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady/WBIE)
- Evolve (Turtle Rock/2K Games)
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith/WBIE)
- No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Best Original Game
- Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
- Evolve (Turtle Rock/2K Games)
- No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
- Splatoon (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
- Sunset Overdrive (Insomniac/Microsoft Studios)
Best Console Game
- Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
- Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady/WBIE)
- Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
- Evolve (Turtle Rock/2K Games)
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith/WBIE)
Best Handheld Game
- Murasaki Baby (Ovosonico/Sony Computer Entertainment)
- Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (Atlus/Atlus)
- Super Smash Bros. for 3DS (Sora/Namco-Bandai/Nintendo)
- Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (Square-Enix/Square-Enix)
Best PC Game
- Civilization: Beyond Earth (Firaxis/2K Games)
- Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware/EA)
- Evolve (Turtle Rock/2K Games)
- Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Best Hardware
- Alienware Alpha (Alienware)
- Oculus Rift (Oculus VR)
- PlayStation TV (Sony Computer Entertainment)
- Project Morpheus (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Best Action Game
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Sledgehammer Games/Activision)
- Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
- Evolve (Turtle Rock/2K Games)
- Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Best Action/Adventure Game
- Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
- Assassin’s Creed Unity (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
- Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady/WBIE)
- Sunset Overdrive (Insomniac/Microsoft Studios)
- The Order: 1886 (Ready at Dawn/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Best RPG
- Bloodborne (From Software/Sony Computer Entertainment)
- Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware/EA)
- Fable Legends (Lionhead/Microsoft Studios)
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith/WBIE)
- Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (Atlus/Atlus)
Best Fighting Game
- Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN(Arc System Works/Aksys Games)
- Killer Instinct Season 2 (Iron Galaxy Studios/Microsoft Studios)
- Mortal Kombat X (NetherRealm Studios/WBIE)
- Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (Arc System Works/Atlus)
- Super Smash Bros Wii-U (Sora/Namco-Bandai/Nintendo)
Best Racing Game
- Driveclub (Evolution/Sony Computer Entertainment)
- Forza Horizon 2 (Playground Games/Microsoft Studios)
- The Crew (Ivory Tower/Reflections/Ubisoft)
Best Sports Game
- FIFA 15 (EA Canada/EA Sports)
- NHL 15 (EA Canada/EA Sports)
- Madden NFL 15 (Tiburon/EA Sports)
Best Strategy Game
- Civilization: Beyond Earth (Firaxis/2K Games)
- Grey Goo (Petroglyph/Grey Box)
Best Social/Casual
- Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes (Avalanche/Disney Interactive)
- Fantasia: Music Evolved (Harmonix/Disney Interactive)
- LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (TT Games/WBIE)
- Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
- Yoshi’s Woolly World (Good-Feel/Nintendo)
Best Online Multiplayer
- Battlefield: Hardline (Visceral/EA)
- Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
- Evolve (Turtle Rock/2K Games)
- Splatoon (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Best Indie
- Axiom Verge (Tom Happ)
- CounterSpy (Dynamighty)
- Below (Capy Games)
- No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
- Ori and the Blind Forrest (Moon Game Studio)
