GamesRadar's potentially annual Platinum Chalice awards 2006
It's been a stupidly big year for games. Why don't we reduce it to a single glib article?
Winner: Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure
Atari | PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Bloc Party's song "Helicopter" can make anything amazing, but it didn't have to work too hard during the tram-ride sequence in Getting Up. Say what you will about the game, but frantically leaping between four aerial cable cars and shimmying around their edges to spray paint a single giant message - all while dodging machinegun fire and tossing riot cops off the tops of the cars - felt overwhelmingly badass the first time we did it. Add a soundtrack that wailed "Are you hoping for a miracle?" over roaring guitars, and this easily nets our most dubious award of 2006.
Honorable mention: Jaws Unleashed
Majesco | PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox
This otherwise crummy shark simulator was a treasure trove of stupid-awesome moments, but none so much as when Jaws spit explosive barrels at the beachfront homes of chemical-company executives, who were then eaten alive as they tried to escape by running toward the giant shark. Delicious.
Winner: Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure
Atari |PC,PlayStation 2,Xbox
Bloc Party's song "Helicopter" can make anything amazing, but it didn't have to work too hard during the tram-ride sequence in Getting Up. Say what you will about the game, but frantically leaping between four aerial cable cars and shimmying around their edges to spray paint a single giant message - all while dodging machinegun fire and tossing riot cops off the tops of the cars - felt overwhelmingly badass the first time we did it. Add a soundtrack that wailed "Are you hoping for a miracle?" over roaring guitars, and this easily nets our most dubious award of 2006.
Honorable mention: Jaws Unleashed
Majesco | PC,PlayStation 2,Xbox
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This otherwise crummy shark simulator was a treasure trove of stupid-awesome moments, but none so much as when Jaws spit explosive barrels at the beachfront homes of chemical-company executives, who were then eaten alive as they tried to escape by running toward the giant shark. Delicious.