Lens of Truth Staff | 
December 31, 2009 | 
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2009 Lens of Truth Awards Length: 00:07:17 We take a look back at 2009 in our first ever Lens of Truth Award show. |
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As 2009 comes to a close, the Lens of Truth stops and takes a look back at the games that got us through the year. Our site started in November of 2008 and after only one month, we thought it would have been silly to have a 2008 year end review. Instead, we decided to include November and December of 2008 into this year’s review. Those of you who’ve been there from the beginning can vouch for our growth. Some things we did well, sometimes our voice cracked from “website puberty”, but rest assured, we came out with more hair on our chest.
Awards for 2009 came down to many different factors. In some categories it was better to nominate and score based on the amount of comments an article received, whereas some categories had nominees based on staff member’s attachments. Feel free to let us know if you feel we missed any of your favorites. Following the awards is a list of interesting facts based on our site traffic. In the meantime though, let’s get to these awards!
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:: Conclusion :: |
Winner: Batman |
| The Best Head2Head Award goes to the game that impressed us overall from gameplay all the way down to analysis. It was the game that we just couldn’t stop playing, even after the capture session had ended. We enjoyed working on a lot of games this year, but this one was just too much fun. |  |
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| Runner up: Brutal Legend |
 -Nominees- |
:: Conclusion :: |
Winner: Operation Flashpoint |
| The Worst Head2Head Award goes to the game that made us hate ourselves from the get go. We didn’t look forward to playing them and when we analyzed them we wished that we hadn’t. The top two that caused the most pain where Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and Golden Axe: Beast Rider. |
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| Runner up: Golden Axe: BR |
 -Nominees- |
:: Conclusion :: |
Winner: Uncharted Evolution |
| The Best Evolution Award goes to an article that wasn’t a Head2Head, but rather about comparing similar games or games in the same franchise to show how they evolved. The winner goes to the game that showed a comparison within itself and showed an evolution at the same time. Uncharted Evolution and the Super Mario Evolution features did just that. |
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| Runner up: Mario Evolution |
 -Nominees- |
:: Conclusion :: |
Winner: Terminator |
| The Worst Screen Tearing Award goes to the game that just couldn’t keep it together, literally. Some games tore frames like it was an art style, but this winner proved that tearing could make you almost throw up on your brother. While there were many games that under-performed this year, the top two were Terminator Salvation (Xbox 360) and Golden Axe: Beast Rider. |
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| Runner up: Golden Axe: BR |
 -Nominees- |
:: Conclusion :: |
Winner: Street Fighter IV |
| The Best Fighting Game Award goes to the game that we would have gone broke playing back in the arcade days. This winner is no stranger to the arcade scene. This win is all about longevity and we haven’t put this game down since it was released: Street Fighter IV. |
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| Runner up: Tekken 6 |
 -Nominees- |
:: Conclusion :: |
Winner: DiRT 2 |
| The Best Racing Game Award goes to the one that raced its way to our hearts. The game that showed smooth performance, minimal screen tearing, realistic visuals, and great physics. The leader of this pack was DiRT 2 followed by Need for Speed: Shift in a close second. |
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| Runner up: NFS: Shift |
 -Nominees- |
:: Conclusion :: |
Winner: CoD: MW2 |
| The Best First Person Shooter Award goes to the game that not only was fun to play but showed that firing a gun is possible without screen tearing. Throw in great performance with clean graphics to get this winner. The top two first person shooters that met this criteria were Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Killzone 2. |
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| Runner up: Killzone 2 |
 -Nominees- |
:: Conclusion :: |
Winner: Batman |
| The Best Action/Adventure Award goes to the game that had a great story, great play mechanics, and just couldn’t get to the store shelves fast enough. The winner took a gamble on its story and content and became one of 2009’s best games. The winner of this award goes to Batman: Arkham Asylum, with inFamous in a close second. |
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| Runner up: inFamous |
 -Nominees- |
:: Conclusion :: |
Winner: Ghostbusters (Gen) |
| The Best Retro Review Award goes to the game that reminded us why we’ve played games for so many years. It took us down memory lane and reminded us that some classics stand the test of time while some duds turn out worse than we remember. The winner of this award goes to Ghostbusters on the Sega Genesis. |
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| Runner up: Jaws (NES) |
 -Nominees- |
:: Conclusion :: |
Winner: 50 Cent: BotS |
| The Best One Liner Award goes to the game that had some sort of dialogue that couldn’t be overlooked. For better or worse, these lines made us laugh and have been made a permanent part of our vocabulary. The winner here might also be the most understated quote in gaming history.
“Bitch took my Skull!” – 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand |
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| Runner up: Brutal Legend |
 -Nominees- |
:: Conclusion :: |
Winner: Ghostbusters (PS3) |
| The Worst Cross Platform Port Award goes to the game that almost deserves an award for making the game look like two different games. This award is also why the Lens of Truth continues to show the differences. Remember, not all ports are created equal. |
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| Runner up: Operation Flashpoint (PS3) |
 -Nominees- |
:: Conclusion :: |
Winner: Soul Calibur IV |
| The Best Cross Platform Port goes to the game that proves to the entire gaming community that a company can, in fact, make a game look exactly the same on each console. The winner proves that load times, color accuracy and performance of the port is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly or pushed to the end of the development cycle. |
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| Runner up: BlazBlue |
 -Nominees- |
:: Conclusion :: |
Winner: Uncharted 2 |
| The Game of the Year Award goes to the title that impressed us the most this year. For us, the game had to be fun, have a great story, killer multiplayer and push the visual envelope. There were many great games released in 2009, but one stood head and shoulders above the rest. That game was Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Congratulations to all of the talented folks at Naughty Dog. |
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| Runner up: Batman |
The Lens of Truth lives and breathes by fan interaction and user traffic. To better understand what you look for in and on the site, we’ve collected data and will continue to refine the information you all look for. Here are some interesting facts created by you that we thought were interesting:
| Most visits to the site | Least visits to the site |
November- 138,000 (Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 was featured) |
April – 14,000 (50 Cent/ Wanted/Red Faction/Godfather 2/HAWX were all featured) |
| Most viewed Head2Head | Least viewed Head2Head |
Ghostbusters – 86,500 |
50 Cent: Blood in the Sand – 1,600 |
| Most viewed Flash Review | Least viewed Flash Review |
Uncharted 2 – 3,500 |
Contra Rebirth – 352 |
| Most viewed Retro Review | Least viewed Retro Review |
| The Adventures of Batman & Robin – 1202 | Bonk’s Adventure – 45 |
Last, but not least, the staff at Lens of Truth would like to thank everyone for making our first year worth while. At times we weren’t even sure if anyone wanted to know about the differences between platforms, and we weren’t sure how many people cared about the older systems as much as us, but slowly and surely, throughout the year, we found out we weren’t alone. Of course our comparisons get blamed for many fanboy wars, but as we’ve stated before, we aren’t here to prove one system superior to another. We came here as a “consumer alert” after buying games that didn’t match what reviewers were showing. We’re glad you saw through their inaccuracies too, and so, we’re happy to put 2009 to a rest, and look forward to an exciting line-up for 2010.
unbelievable review awards good job guys!!!
<3 the screen tearing review, I would've loved to see an award for a port being better than the original in terms of texture:P
Really fun read, The screen tearing one made me laugh.
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I’m going to look forward to this feature every year. =D
Good call on GOTY. Uncharted 2 really deserves it.
I think Terminator: Salvation should receive the worst cross-platform. I mean the 360 version was so bad it looked like a last-gen game.
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Yeah nice awards…but just one thing…best race game?why not forza 3?
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I think these are awards based on games they played, did head2heads on, did retro/new reviews, etc.
If you look at the nominees, Forza 3 is on there and I don’t think they’ve done anything with that. Also notice Call of Duty: World at War is on the list but that was 2008 release.
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I agree with Dirt 2, its widely available meaning its multiplatform, and also because it had amazing graphics/physics.
Forza 3, I am a big fan of as well, it just didn’t bring the graphics it needed with it (atleast not compared to dirt 2) and is a Sim, which isn’t the easiest for every1 that isn’t hardcore.
For me in terms of racing game of the year for 2010 I gaurantee it will be Gran Turismo 5.
What I hated about forza 3 though, which angered me, was 720p. Look at Gran Turismo they managed to fit 1080p FULL, and Forza which had a more powerful Video card at its displacement didn’t go the extra mile in an HD world? :@
Either way In my book:
Dirt 2 > Forza 3 > NFS Shift
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How do these awards work? What does is mean to win best Head to Head? As in they were the closest visually and performance-wise?
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Great review awards.
Happy new year to everyone.
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Keep it up, your head to heads are the best! Greetings from Austria (EC), have a good year (with many h2hs)!!
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I hope you guys will stay for a long time. I appreciate all the work you guys put.
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Great website. While I do own darn near every console past and present, your head2head articles are essential in my current gen purchasing decisions. Keep up the great work and you’ll be a cornerstone in every gamers’ online toolbox. (PS) – With EGM magazine rising from the ashes , your delicious head2heads would make great editorial addition… L.O.T in PRINT!
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I feel like I had something to do with Ghostbusters winning the worst port. It must have been the Dorito detail that sealed their victory.
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LOL. I miss the live shows they used to put up.
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