Looking at GOTY contenders a number of games spring to mind that also spread across multiple genres and for different platforms. Given their critical and commercial success very real possibilities for game of the year include The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt and Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. If we compare these games to each other we see that there are quite a few similarities between the two.
These include expansive game play which includes player choice and control around the order in which they undertake different objectives and character development systems but the similarities don’t end there. So which game has achieved more of in terms of reception and meeting people’s expectations?
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain takes the stealth/action of the previous game in the series and puts the player in a nonlinear environment to use these tools. Like The Witcher 3 the player can then chooses how to complete the story in a very nonlinear fashion. Despite existing in different universes there are similarities too between Geralt and Big Boss. Both stoic warriors with great amounts of experience that exist in the grey area between good and evil who have overcome many challenges. The Metal Gear Solid series is a warning against the military industrial complex and The Witcher Series has also always set out to tell a good story.
With The Witcher 3 developer Projekt Red Studios were trying to improve on the solid foundation of the previous two games. An Action RPG in a fantasy world where Geralts quest to reunite with his daughter and defeat the wild hunt leads to the introduction of darker forces with possible apocalyptic consequences. The Witcher 3 has received major credit for being an achievement this year in the area of world building, the continent where the events of Witcher 3 takes place features an area 30 times bigger than the previous game with a great amount of opportunities for the player to get immersed in the world. The card game gwent has also intrigued players with collecting cards and being able to challenge notable NPCs an enjoyable side activity to monster slaying.
Where The Witcher 3 and MGS5 may fall down comes from a feeling of repetition that can begin to accumulate over time for the player, with an immense open in world in The Wild Hunt and Limited areas in MGS5. I have read the Wild Hunts swordplay does not hold up over the extended journey while MGS5 has received an admittedly mixed reception from players due to an apparently underwhelming story but also that with limited areas some of the offline content is just more difficult versions of earlier missions. It does seem though that The Witcher 3 has provided more overall satisfaction with the final product.
We have seen a few games this year that have involved giving the player lots of content to keep them busy. What make the best of these games? Perhaps open world gaming is what gamer’s are looking for so they can spend time developing themselves in the world of the game to pursue greater rewards and the cycle continues, with that in mind layered elements to the games world definitely add additional enjoyment. Why is the world the way it is? What does this player action lead to the development of? A good amount of context also certainly adds to the quality of the overall experience.
Then there is the amount of gameplay variation which also creates player freedom. With the release of the final open world game of this year we will see which game accomplished this the best and other factors that separate them. Fallout 4 is certainly looking to provide immense depth and possibly the best is yet to come.
Which game do you think is number 1 contender for game of the year? Let us know in the comments below.
Rivv
The Witcher 3
Bloodborne
MGS5
in that order
Phantom
Metal Gear Solid V
tplarkin7
I beat Witcher 3. It would have won GOTY easily last year. It isn’t an innovative game, though. Combat is run-of-the-mill RPG. You work alone most of the time. Collecting things is a chore. The best parts of W3 are cutscenes (which are amazing). MGSV is far more dynamic, and you have a buddy system where you can choose a combat partner. Customization of everything from weapons, partners, loadouts, etc. I love both games, but MGSV deserves GOTY more than W3.
Jack
Both are probably contenders to a lot of people… not for myself though. For me my top 2 so far:
Dying Light
Evolve
However with Halo 5, Battlefront, Rainbow Six Siege still lined up for release! Now to go sell organs to try to keep up!
PixelOmen
Neither, it’s Rocket League.
ChatWraithShichi
Neither, Shower With Your Dad Simulator 2015 was just released and blew them both out of the water.
edit: the frog based, math-related water.
Zarbor
Biggest no brainer. Not even close in my book.
The Witcher 3
Hands down.
Sanchez
They might be two different games but eventually both will be candidates for GOTY and even though they have different mechanics and world, they have similarities too. So here are my opinions:
————CONTAINS SPOILERS———–
Gameplay
What a game Kojima!! This is the part where MGS V easily gets the points i guess. Maybe the best stealth game ever made, artificial intelligience is the best i’ve ever seen. Controls are smooth and responsive, too many things you can develop, customize and so on. That mother base feels like in-game mobile game which you can easily forget the main mission and can be lost. I spent hours to just find good soldiers for the base. Playing the game is so fun, you just want to keep continue. TW3 on the other hand has its own mechanics. I mean they are not great but you can do variable things; using potions, bombs, crafting, riding, swimming, signs…and of course “the gwent”. But the main thing is combat isn’t it. Everyone saying how dull combat is while comparing it with Bloodborne but considering that combat is strongest side of bb i feel geralt’s abilities are more than enough. It is better than most RPG’s even if you can have some frustrated moments. And about the horses, even if D-Horse is more responsive and less annoying something is not right about it, so i would pick roach
Graphics
We are definitely started to see next-gen stuff, both games look beautiful. When you encounter wonderfull landscapes, stunning views at TW3, MGS V welcomes you with more photorealistic approach. Models and animations looks better in MGS V but we should remember variaty of people and animations in TW3 outnumbers MGS V. What dissapoints me about MGS V was texture quality but it is understandble because of the fact that the game came out for old consoles too. They are both open world games and there are no loading screens while you are in that area. TW3’s map is much richer than MGS, much more detailed and imo much much more beautiful. I mean i was being happy when a misson is too far in skelige, so i could watch around. I played both games at 1080p and ultra settings and got solid 60fps from MGS V while i was having 35-45 at TW3. So for me MGS V’s graphics something i can call “technoligical achievement” while TW3 is pure “art”. But still it is subjective, everyone has different taste.
Sounds
And it is time for calling TW3 clear winner this time. So many dialogs, amazing voice acting, incredible weather and nature sounds; just go inside a hut when the storm breaks or just listen the sound wind makes through the leafs. Don’t even get me started with music, i mean wow. Great job CD Project Red and whoever compose the soundtracks, thanks to you guys. Priscilla’s song must be the best song i heard in a video game. Or the music that plays when you encounter crones, or getting relaxed with ard skelige theme… As a musician myself, i loved them, all of them. So let’s turn back to MGS. I must say i kinda dissapointed. Big Boss is aheemmm… he is… quiet.. too quiet. You are just waiting for him to say something but no, he is just… quiet. Not just Snake, i felt there has to be some kinda talk in couple of cutscene’s but they were just… quiet. You can listen some information via cassettes you found which is good for the story. There are some cool songs you can find but even they are not enough to rescue MGS V i think.
Story/Content
First i want to tell that i haven’t played former MGS games, i just read about them and looked at some people’s comparasions with MGS V. The first 1 hour was really intense, i felt relieved when i finished, it felt the same way with MadMax Fury Road movie for me. No time to breath. After that game puts you in an open world and you can start doing main missions which felt like side missions to me.People who played other games says the story is not strong as before which i have no idea as said. It gets better while you progress but i must say it was not that good imo. Quiet’s departure made me feel sad, other than that not couldn’t give myself away to the story. TW3 has clearly a better story, there were times i said myself this could be like this and that but still enjoyed every bit. And they did better job when it comes to telling it too, the game able to change your emotions and pulls you inside its world. And being able to decide events develoing around you, stretching the possibilities about story.They are both open world but MGS looks like couldn’t get it right putting the story in that world while Geralt’s story more feels blended. And CDPR accomplishes one hell of a job with side quests, everyone of them different than each other and unique its own way. Both games have a lot of content and details. Especially in TW3 the stuff there are riddicilious amount of stuff you can find and get suprised. You can easily hit 100 hours without knowing in both games.
We have two great games and we should be glad for that. Both games are gamechangers and mustplay games. TW3 makes you spend your precios hours with its beautifully created, amazing world while MGS V won’t let you leave the controller because you are having too much fun with infiltrating outposts, expanding mother base, recruting soldiers and so on. Tastes differ and i know it, i just tried to share my opinions . But if i need to say a name in the end, my heart goes with The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. Thank you CD Project Red for creating this masterpiece.
P.s: Not a native English speaker, so apologies for any typos or grammar mistakes
Ananya Chakravorty
Witcher 3..the best of the best..I doubt there will ever be any game better than W3
bigboss92110
MGS V
HalfCroissant
The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
Arthur Johnson
I’ve put in about 150 hours in MGS V and still counting, and about 40 in the Witcher 3 before getting bored. So yeah MGS V is GOTY for me easily. Not saying W3 was bad but the gameplay is just way better in MGS V. Only one of the games held my attention long enough to beat it, going for platinum now.
Mahmoud Hamdy
MGS:V is way better than this witcher guys stop thinking with your d**ks why always +18 gets higher score because ur brains is not in ur heads but it is in ur ….ks
i believe if MGS has +18 scenes sure it will get so much higher score
thats just pathetic
Horus SC
Seriously, you can’t possibly be thinking for real that W3 success is due to nudity and such… it’s as pointless as to think that some of the playing value of MGSV is related to Quiet’s assets.
witcher3.exe
The Witcher 3 has better game than MGSV. The Witcher 3 will be the GOTY.
madfaka
Easily The Witcher 3
sri aurobindo
Hands down the Witcher 3. The story in mgsv sucks, every mission is either rescue, extract, or destroy, over and over. It is repetitious and monotonous, even with doing missions different ways. It recycles the locations over and over. The 2nd chapter is sloppily put together with missions and re-dos that are absolutely unnecessary padding. And for an open world, the player sure is restricted from engaging in a lot of it. Would have been much better if there was more freedom to climb all those places we can see in the game, rather than a designated crack here and there.
mohd basri
The witcher 3 ..i just play 30min..than feel bored..play mgsv ttp more 120 hour..still feel enjoy this games…more gameplay.
Horus SC
It took me 250 hours to complete Witcher 3’s 200+ missions (95% of them with exclusive flavor text specifically written), and I took 550 hours to examine Metal Gear Solid V’s 51 Missions and every inch it had to offer.
Maybe MGSV is funnier (you can always ruin another player’s experience
by FOBing, which is something some people find enjoyable) and the
long-term goal of a world without nukes for a special ending sounds
fabulous…
but The Witcher 3 is a magnificently crafted work, and CDProjekt has
taught the industry several lessons about what to give players for the money they pay.
Hell; they even changed several swords and redesigned items, just for the Role of it (that part many new RPGs lack profoundly). Let alone the New Game+ feature and the other 15 free DLCs.
For the production values, the constant improving of the game and the insane amount of DLC material plus the multiple endings -and now a TRUE Expansion- and the perfectly tied story, in my opinion it has to be Witcher 3.
I believe that Witcher 3 is what a Game of The Year should be.
They’ll eventually give out Single player and multiplayer’s GOTY.
And do not forget Ori and the Blind Forest, which is a masterpiece.
ParkerPL
Wild Hunt. MGS5 did nothing spectacular. Boring empty copy/paste world, repetetive mission, stupid story, game heroes with no personality, poor voice acting. Lazy done game for lazy gamers.
sa8eer m3an
mgsv ofcousre
SteeLisPain7
MGSV pretty much blows the Witcher 3 out of the water in every aspect.