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Donezo.
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GAF Games of the Year 2015 - Voting Thread [LAST DAY FOR VOTING]
- Thread starter Cheesemeister
- Start date
- Status
Donezo.
1. Assassin Creed: Syndicate ; One of the best open world games ever, the newest Assassins Creed is in a beautiful setting full of life. The parkour and combat are top notch and the side missions are the franchise's best ever. Open world games should look to AC: Syndicate as a first class example of an open world; one that is full of detail in its people and its building architecture.
2. Fallout 4 ; Fallout has some of the top notch game play in a RPG. The shooting feels fun and the loot system is great. The game has flaws in some of its story telling and overall world, but the breadth of missions and the people within the world is as fun as ever.
3. BattlefieldHardline ; A surprisingly fun addition to the Battlefield franchise. It doesn't take itself too seriously but provides a fun close quarters combat. I look back on this game and basically found myself saying "yeah but I had a lot more fun in this game than the others listed below".
4. Cities: Skyline ; A fun city-builder that is super easy to get into but also provides the depth for the game once everything is figured out. The great support and community has really made this game what it is. Easily the best current city builder.
5. Rocket League ; Fun with friends, not so much with randoms, this isn't so much a traditional sports game but its simple concept and balanced gameplay provides a lot of fun.
6. Bloodborne ; An unreal setting and feel to the game has really hurt itself in terms of a very poor sense of story-telling. I think From Software gets too much of a pass on its story-telling through the detailed and brilliant setting and level-design. Other games should look at Bloodborne's level design as a prime example of fantastic design.
7. NHL 16 ; NHL 16 has the best gameplay the franchise has ever had. However, there are still a ton of missing features and the half-assed features. Gameplay can only get so far when modes like GM still struggle and missing modes still remain.
8. Batman: Arkham Knight ; Arkham Knight has some of the best animations and its non-vehicular gameplay is the best the series has to offer. But lacklustre side missions and the addition of the batmobile really hurts the game. There is just too many mediocre to downright awful batmobile parts in the game that the story and overall game is hurt as well. A shame since a reduction in the "Bat-tank" parts of the game would have this game a few spots higher.
2. Fallout 4 ; Fallout has some of the top notch game play in a RPG. The shooting feels fun and the loot system is great. The game has flaws in some of its story telling and overall world, but the breadth of missions and the people within the world is as fun as ever.
3. BattlefieldHardline ; A surprisingly fun addition to the Battlefield franchise. It doesn't take itself too seriously but provides a fun close quarters combat. I look back on this game and basically found myself saying "yeah but I had a lot more fun in this game than the others listed below".
4. Cities: Skyline ; A fun city-builder that is super easy to get into but also provides the depth for the game once everything is figured out. The great support and community has really made this game what it is. Easily the best current city builder.
5. Rocket League ; Fun with friends, not so much with randoms, this isn't so much a traditional sports game but its simple concept and balanced gameplay provides a lot of fun.
6. Bloodborne ; An unreal setting and feel to the game has really hurt itself in terms of a very poor sense of story-telling. I think From Software gets too much of a pass on its story-telling through the detailed and brilliant setting and level-design. Other games should look at Bloodborne's level design as a prime example of fantastic design.
7. NHL 16 ; NHL 16 has the best gameplay the franchise has ever had. However, there are still a ton of missing features and the half-assed features. Gameplay can only get so far when modes like GM still struggle and missing modes still remain.
8. Batman: Arkham Knight ; Arkham Knight has some of the best animations and its non-vehicular gameplay is the best the series has to offer. But lacklustre side missions and the addition of the batmobile really hurts the game. There is just too many mediocre to downright awful batmobile parts in the game that the story and overall game is hurt as well. A shame since a reduction in the "Bat-tank" parts of the game would have this game a few spots higher.
Welfare
Member
1. Fallout 4 ; War. War never changes.
This quote is applicable to Fallout 4 in comparison to previous Fallout games in terms of straight up fun factor. This game is amazing! While it is more of a Skyrim 2 with lots of Fallout elements in terms of gameplay, Fallout 4 is able to provide its own charm and flavor that makes it stand out amongst other RPG's.
Like bugs.
But that's besides the point. The main quest feels meaty, the open world is huge and you can very well miss a shit load of content by not deviating much from the main quest. I have found two new companions after the main quest was over that you will never run into by sticking to the main quest, and one of the most fun side quests in the game is only found by listening to a specific radio frequency.
Bethesda took some inspiration from New Vegas with how the factions work. It was really tough for me to choose between 2 certain factions at the end game, and the pay off was incredible.
This list actually started off with this game as my number 2, but really, I'm not even done with it all the way and I can only see myself playing this more and more even after I 100% the first time. This game is just really fun.
2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; The game that kept me waiting ever since it was announced in 2013, and oh boy, the wait was rewarded.
This is by far the best Metal Gear Solid in terms of gameplay. The movement is so fluid and you really feel the weight of Venom Snake while traversing Afghan and Africa. The gunplay is also very fun and can get you by if you fuck up stealth, and speaking of stealth, the replayability of the open world allows you to tackle any outpost from a variety of angles so by the time you are done with the main story, you really feel like a boss just sneaking into any base to get resources or extracting soldiers for the Mother Base.
The story is admittedly weaker compared to the previous Metal Gears, but I don't think it is that much of a detriment to the whole game. I was having a blast playing it the whole way through and this game provided me a lot of enjoyment.
Oh, and the soundtrack is amazing.
3. Halo 5: Guardians ; This game was robbed its Number 1 spot for one reason and one reason alone. There is so little content it hurts.
This game is PHENOMENAL. Gunplay is solid, the new movement system allows for a lot of possibilities in how you tackle an engagement, music is eargasmic, the graphics are amazing and 60FPS continues to be the best change to Halo.
Too bad you can barely do shit in the game.
There are only 4 fucking game modes in the Arena section of multiplayer. Slayer, CTF, Strongholds (NEW) and Breakout (NEW). Oh, but there is a new section called Warzone, maybe that's where all the effort went.
Warzone (4 maps, 1 just added as DLC)
Warzone Assault (3 maps)
What is this bullshit? Halo 4 fucking launched with more unique gametypes back in 2012, why are we giving so little 3 years later? There is nowhere else in this game that the resources and commitment could've gone towards, so what were 343 doing for 3 years?
The campaign continues its downward spiral of shorter length, pointless sections for padding, and just overall boring AI that replaying it is sort of a chore. Something has to change in this area, and I don't think the current style of Halo campaigns can fit or even provide enough fun today.
This game is so barebones it hurts. It hurts because 343 actually made a good game, but you can't do much with it because there is barely anything different for you to play with.
Halo 5 should really be the poster child for why a multiplayer game does not have to be a games as a service. It hurts the game, but still, I have fun playing it every time I'm on. They keep pulling me back in.
4. Dragon Ball XenoVerse ; This game was really fun to play through. Creating my own character and going through the events of the Z series was enjoyable.
5. Ori and the Blind Forest ; Enjoyable 2D platformer. Graphics are vibrant and colorful, the controls are tight, and the music is nice. Very fun game.
This quote is applicable to Fallout 4 in comparison to previous Fallout games in terms of straight up fun factor. This game is amazing! While it is more of a Skyrim 2 with lots of Fallout elements in terms of gameplay, Fallout 4 is able to provide its own charm and flavor that makes it stand out amongst other RPG's.
Like bugs.
But that's besides the point. The main quest feels meaty, the open world is huge and you can very well miss a shit load of content by not deviating much from the main quest. I have found two new companions after the main quest was over that you will never run into by sticking to the main quest, and one of the most fun side quests in the game is only found by listening to a specific radio frequency.
Beware, Evil doers, for the SILVER SHROUD is here to clean up this neighborhood!
Bethesda took some inspiration from New Vegas with how the factions work. It was really tough for me to choose between 2 certain factions at the end game, and the pay off was incredible.
This list actually started off with this game as my number 2, but really, I'm not even done with it all the way and I can only see myself playing this more and more even after I 100% the first time. This game is just really fun.
2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; The game that kept me waiting ever since it was announced in 2013, and oh boy, the wait was rewarded.
This is by far the best Metal Gear Solid in terms of gameplay. The movement is so fluid and you really feel the weight of Venom Snake while traversing Afghan and Africa. The gunplay is also very fun and can get you by if you fuck up stealth, and speaking of stealth, the replayability of the open world allows you to tackle any outpost from a variety of angles so by the time you are done with the main story, you really feel like a boss just sneaking into any base to get resources or extracting soldiers for the Mother Base.
The story is admittedly weaker compared to the previous Metal Gears, but I don't think it is that much of a detriment to the whole game. I was having a blast playing it the whole way through and this game provided me a lot of enjoyment.
Oh, and the soundtrack is amazing.
3. Halo 5: Guardians ; This game was robbed its Number 1 spot for one reason and one reason alone. There is so little content it hurts.
This game is PHENOMENAL. Gunplay is solid, the new movement system allows for a lot of possibilities in how you tackle an engagement, music is eargasmic, the graphics are amazing and 60FPS continues to be the best change to Halo.
Too bad you can barely do shit in the game.
There are only 4 fucking game modes in the Arena section of multiplayer. Slayer, CTF, Strongholds (NEW) and Breakout (NEW). Oh, but there is a new section called Warzone, maybe that's where all the effort went.
Warzone (4 maps, 1 just added as DLC)
Warzone Assault (3 maps)
What is this bullshit? Halo 4 fucking launched with more unique gametypes back in 2012, why are we giving so little 3 years later? There is nowhere else in this game that the resources and commitment could've gone towards, so what were 343 doing for 3 years?
The campaign continues its downward spiral of shorter length, pointless sections for padding, and just overall boring AI that replaying it is sort of a chore. Something has to change in this area, and I don't think the current style of Halo campaigns can fit or even provide enough fun today.
This game is so barebones it hurts. It hurts because 343 actually made a good game, but you can't do much with it because there is barely anything different for you to play with.
Halo 5 should really be the poster child for why a multiplayer game does not have to be a games as a service. It hurts the game, but still, I have fun playing it every time I'm on. They keep pulling me back in.
4. Dragon Ball XenoVerse ; This game was really fun to play through. Creating my own character and going through the events of the Z series was enjoyable.
5. Ori and the Blind Forest ; Enjoyable 2D platformer. Graphics are vibrant and colorful, the controls are tight, and the music is nice. Very fun game.
timetokill
Banned
We've done that before. Doesn't change anything.
The only thing people seem to understand are bans.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
Mods...you know what to do
I don't think banning people is the way to go about this. And I still think this topic would have a lot of votes that don't fit the format, the biggest difference would be that this topic would end up being a graveyard. I think manually counting votes and not having such a specific format would be the best solution, honestly, but that's a lot more work on OP's end and I hypothesize that it won't actually affect the outcome a whole lot anyways.
Cheesemeister
Member
Yes, but you just wiped your ballot with votes for "Game" at ranks 1 and 2.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
enjoy your ban Tizoc
1. Shadowrun: Hong Kong ; Harebrained Schemes continues to bring back Shadowrun in a great way with their third RPG set in that universe. What I really love about this series is how they work to improve and iterate each time out. Basically everything is improved over last year's Dragonfall, both mechanically and visually. And most importantly, Shadowrun is still an incredibly interesting setting. A unique mix of magical fantasy and gritty cyberpunk filled to the brim with storytelling potential. Potential that the writers at Harebrained take full advantage of.
2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; I could honestly use up this whole post just writing about MGS V. Metal Gear Solid has been one of my favourite series in gaming ever since I first played it back in 1998, so Kojima's finale is an important game for me. I have some conflicting thoughts on the Phantom Pain's narrative and characters, but at the end of the day it's just so insanely fun to play that I can't bring myself to dock it too many points. I've always enjoyed Metal Gear's gameplay, but this is truly the best it's ever been. It controls like a dream and its missions are more open-ended than any other game in the series. You have numerous options for a stealthy approach as would be expected, yet it's the ability to handle things when the shit hits the fan that I think makes MGS V special. I didn't feel the need to instantly start over when I was spotted like I might in other stealth games. With MGS V, the great controls and combat that was significantly improved compared to past Metal Gear games allowed me to simply go with the flow and try and overcome any suddenly hectic situation.
3. Tales from the Borderlands ; I've had my issues with modern Telltale as a developer. I think their engine can be a real pain technically and I don't think all of their recent games have delivered from a narrative standpoint. And when this was first announced I was a bit confused by the idea. Borderlands didn't really strike me as a story-rich property that would work with Telltale's adventure game format. But it totally does! Telltale's version of the universe achieves a really cool space western vibe while also delivering plenty of genuinely funny humour thanks to the well written characters and dialogue. I'll admit that mechanically this isn't exactly reinventing the adventure game genre, but what is here is executed well and it all adds up to what I think is Telltale's best project in years.
4. Fallout 4
5. Axiom Verge
2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; I could honestly use up this whole post just writing about MGS V. Metal Gear Solid has been one of my favourite series in gaming ever since I first played it back in 1998, so Kojima's finale is an important game for me. I have some conflicting thoughts on the Phantom Pain's narrative and characters, but at the end of the day it's just so insanely fun to play that I can't bring myself to dock it too many points. I've always enjoyed Metal Gear's gameplay, but this is truly the best it's ever been. It controls like a dream and its missions are more open-ended than any other game in the series. You have numerous options for a stealthy approach as would be expected, yet it's the ability to handle things when the shit hits the fan that I think makes MGS V special. I didn't feel the need to instantly start over when I was spotted like I might in other stealth games. With MGS V, the great controls and combat that was significantly improved compared to past Metal Gear games allowed me to simply go with the flow and try and overcome any suddenly hectic situation.
3. Tales from the Borderlands ; I've had my issues with modern Telltale as a developer. I think their engine can be a real pain technically and I don't think all of their recent games have delivered from a narrative standpoint. And when this was first announced I was a bit confused by the idea. Borderlands didn't really strike me as a story-rich property that would work with Telltale's adventure game format. But it totally does! Telltale's version of the universe achieves a really cool space western vibe while also delivering plenty of genuinely funny humour thanks to the well written characters and dialogue. I'll admit that mechanically this isn't exactly reinventing the adventure game genre, but what is here is executed well and it all adds up to what I think is Telltale's best project in years.
4. Fallout 4
5. Axiom Verge
1. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt ; No longer do Bethesda and BioWare rule the RPG roost. TW3 has as much authored content as a five-volume fantasy epic, and in a fell swoop sweeps under the rug the patchy past of the series.
2. The Talos Principle: Road to Gehanna ; An outstanding follow-up to my favorite game of 2014. More heart, soul, and design brilliance than any puzzle game since the original Portal.
3. Crypt of the NecroDancer ; Deserves a place alongside other greats in the rogue-lite renaissance like Spelunky and The Binding of Isaac. I was surprised by how often I kept returning to this game since its release.
4. Grand Theft Auto V ; I held out to play this on PC. I was not disappointed. It's incredible to me that Rockstar can continue to build on a lasting formula and still make a new entry seem fresh and vital. Where other big-budget franchises have grown predictable and stale, the GTA series continues to surprise and astonish me.
5. DiRT Rally ; Criterion rescues their reputation with one of the best rally games I've ever played. I began playing this in early beta when the game was in rough shape, to say the least. But sticking with it into its official release has shown me just how important a dedicated community is to games like this. It's now among my favorite all-time racers. Not every game should go through an Early Access process like this, but games like this are the reason we should commit to a game early and often.
6. Her Story ; A strange, quirky, and occasionally clunky game that nevertheless does more for the video game medium than just about any other game released this year. I cannot help but think that this bodes well for the future of the medium. Not the best game of the year, but undoubtedly the most important one.
7. Downwell ; A small game with big heart and smart design. A minor treasure. I know I'll be playing this through much of 2016, as well.
8. The Beginner's Guide ; Clever and unexpected. A game about criticism, art, exclusivity, vision, and pretense. Loses its momentum in the end, but I loved the feeling of sharing in the discovery of an artist in the making.
9. Axiom Verge ; Metroidvania at its purest and freshest. I've played pretty much every major (and minor) game in the genre, and it's rare that a game in the genre introduces new ideas, weapons, and abilities, but this felt new in a way that few others in the genre do.
10. Ori and the Blind Forest ; Visually stunning. Mechanically entertaining, if conventional, metroidvania. Sometimes being beautiful is enough.
Honorable Mentions
x. Undertale ; This game never got its hooks in me because it's a little too "twee" for my taste, but I admire its heart and its inventiveness. Non-combat never felt so combative.
x. Sunset ; A brilliant concept marred by the realities of development. It's sad to know that these folks have left development. The industry is darker without their vision.
2. The Talos Principle: Road to Gehanna ; An outstanding follow-up to my favorite game of 2014. More heart, soul, and design brilliance than any puzzle game since the original Portal.
3. Crypt of the NecroDancer ; Deserves a place alongside other greats in the rogue-lite renaissance like Spelunky and The Binding of Isaac. I was surprised by how often I kept returning to this game since its release.
4. Grand Theft Auto V ; I held out to play this on PC. I was not disappointed. It's incredible to me that Rockstar can continue to build on a lasting formula and still make a new entry seem fresh and vital. Where other big-budget franchises have grown predictable and stale, the GTA series continues to surprise and astonish me.
5. DiRT Rally ; Criterion rescues their reputation with one of the best rally games I've ever played. I began playing this in early beta when the game was in rough shape, to say the least. But sticking with it into its official release has shown me just how important a dedicated community is to games like this. It's now among my favorite all-time racers. Not every game should go through an Early Access process like this, but games like this are the reason we should commit to a game early and often.
6. Her Story ; A strange, quirky, and occasionally clunky game that nevertheless does more for the video game medium than just about any other game released this year. I cannot help but think that this bodes well for the future of the medium. Not the best game of the year, but undoubtedly the most important one.
7. Downwell ; A small game with big heart and smart design. A minor treasure. I know I'll be playing this through much of 2016, as well.
8. The Beginner's Guide ; Clever and unexpected. A game about criticism, art, exclusivity, vision, and pretense. Loses its momentum in the end, but I loved the feeling of sharing in the discovery of an artist in the making.
9. Axiom Verge ; Metroidvania at its purest and freshest. I've played pretty much every major (and minor) game in the genre, and it's rare that a game in the genre introduces new ideas, weapons, and abilities, but this felt new in a way that few others in the genre do.
10. Ori and the Blind Forest ; Visually stunning. Mechanically entertaining, if conventional, metroidvania. Sometimes being beautiful is enough.
Honorable Mentions
x. Undertale ; This game never got its hooks in me because it's a little too "twee" for my taste, but I admire its heart and its inventiveness. Non-combat never felt so combative.
x. Sunset ; A brilliant concept marred by the realities of development. It's sad to know that these folks have left development. The industry is darker without their vision.
1. Bloodborne ; I haven't been this enchanted by a videogame since Super Mario Galaxy. I hadn't really tried enough of the Souls games before to understand what I was getting into, but when I started playing Bloodborne I couldn't stop thinking about it all the time... At work, while I was eating, before going to sleep... It's just so engaging and rewarding. For me no other game comes close this year.
1. Bloodborne
2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; So, boobs, and apparently the story was dumb but I was too busy sliding down hills on boxes and making goats fly to notice. The best-playing (eat it Vanquish) third-person game ever made and maybe the best open world sandbox.
3. Splatoon
4. Super Mario Maker
5. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; So, boobs, and apparently the story was dumb but I was too busy sliding down hills on boxes and making goats fly to notice. The best-playing (eat it Vanquish) third-person game ever made and maybe the best open world sandbox.
3. Splatoon
4. Super Mario Maker
5. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
1. Splatoon ; the freshest game of the decade, let alone 2015. Gameplay as innovative and engaging as this is something I'll probably never find. Also, if a game has got style, this is the one, goddammit! Now, if only the next one in this list would allow me to go back to it.
2. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; I loved Xenoblade Chronicles - I actually played it for the first time (for 120 hours) between May and July of this year. It captured me like no other RPG did before, and I really enjoyed the genre before. The engaging battle system, exploration-oriented gameplay, jaw-dropping setting and soundtrack and surprisingly deep story got me hooked. When X dropped earlier this year in Japan, the impressions got me worried it wouldn't give me the joy the first one was giving me at the time, but only 50 hours in (yes, I used "only" knowingly), I can safely say my fears were unwarranted. All those things I mentioned about Xenoblade Chronicles hold true for X, and most of them are turned up to 11 (the "exploration-oriented gameplay" part especially) . Monolith did it again, never doubt Takahashi.
3. Yoshi's Wooly World ; the true successor to Yoshi's Island. Looks beautiful to the eyes, sounds beautiful to the ears, oozes creativity and is fun as heck to play.
4. SteamWorld Heist ; one of the most engaging strategy games I've played in a while. No RNG bullshit, just pure skill, exactly how the dev describes it. Give this hidden gem a try, guys, you won't regret it one bit.
5. Ori and the Blind Forest ; lovely Metroidvania. Not a big fan of regions being locked out after specific events, but I'm a fan of pretty much everything else. Excited to see what the dev has in store for the future.
6. Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack 2 ; Baby Park aside, it's my favorite piece of premium DLC in a game ever. So much fun with KartGAF earlier this year; I need to play more with you guys!
7. FAST Racing Neo ; great futuristic racer, bravo Shin'en.
8. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D ; great remake so far, gotta play more!
9. Transformers Devastation ; Platinum greatness distilled into Transformers licensed flavor. So, uh... sweet stuff.
10. Drive Ahead! ; the best same-device multiplayer on iPad. So addictive, shame about the luck-based money-sucking progression system.
x. Axiom Verge ; not a big fan of the game's style, but it's a damn good Metroidvania. Arguably better than Ori, but that one gave me a better lasting impression overall.
x. Shadow Complex: Remastered ; the same great game by Chair, but even better now, and free!
2. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; I loved Xenoblade Chronicles - I actually played it for the first time (for 120 hours) between May and July of this year. It captured me like no other RPG did before, and I really enjoyed the genre before. The engaging battle system, exploration-oriented gameplay, jaw-dropping setting and soundtrack and surprisingly deep story got me hooked. When X dropped earlier this year in Japan, the impressions got me worried it wouldn't give me the joy the first one was giving me at the time, but only 50 hours in (yes, I used "only" knowingly), I can safely say my fears were unwarranted. All those things I mentioned about Xenoblade Chronicles hold true for X, and most of them are turned up to 11 (the "exploration-oriented gameplay" part especially) . Monolith did it again, never doubt Takahashi.
3. Yoshi's Wooly World ; the true successor to Yoshi's Island. Looks beautiful to the eyes, sounds beautiful to the ears, oozes creativity and is fun as heck to play.
4. SteamWorld Heist ; one of the most engaging strategy games I've played in a while. No RNG bullshit, just pure skill, exactly how the dev describes it. Give this hidden gem a try, guys, you won't regret it one bit.
5. Ori and the Blind Forest ; lovely Metroidvania. Not a big fan of regions being locked out after specific events, but I'm a fan of pretty much everything else. Excited to see what the dev has in store for the future.
6. Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack 2 ; Baby Park aside, it's my favorite piece of premium DLC in a game ever. So much fun with KartGAF earlier this year; I need to play more with you guys!
7. FAST Racing Neo ; great futuristic racer, bravo Shin'en.
8. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D ; great remake so far, gotta play more!
9. Transformers Devastation ; Platinum greatness distilled into Transformers licensed flavor. So, uh... sweet stuff.
10. Drive Ahead! ; the best same-device multiplayer on iPad. So addictive, shame about the luck-based money-sucking progression system.
x. Axiom Verge ; not a big fan of the game's style, but it's a damn good Metroidvania. Arguably better than Ori, but that one gave me a better lasting impression overall.
x. Shadow Complex: Remastered ; the same great game by Chair, but even better now, and free!
Cheesemeister
Member
The comment minimum is 1, which has already been fulfilled.
Here's my list. I don't have 10 games that I feel deserve recognition. I also don't have comments for all of them, but I've pasted my review thoughts on several from the time I wrote them.
1. Rocket League ; Wow, what a game this is. There is an immediacy to Rocket League that very few games manage in this day and age. Any person - gamer or not - could watch this game for one 5-minute match and have a perfect understanding of what the game is and how it's played. There is one rule - put the ball in the goal. That's it. What makes this game exceptional is the toolset given to the players to accomplish that goal.
Rocket League is basically a simplified version of soccer/football played by a team of (usually 3) players who each control a car. The cars aren't just normal cars, however. They are equipped with the ability to double jump, rotate in the air, and with booster rockets in the back that they can use to boost their speed on the ground, or launch themselves through the air once they get airborne with a jump.
These basic tools, combined with the simple nature of the game make Rocket League one of those truly rare games that are incredibly easy for a beginner to pick up and play while offering an extraordinarily high skill ceiling for those who put in the time to master it.
Everything in Rocket League is physics-based. I often rail against games that try to insert a physics engine into a genre that doesn't need it, but in this case it suits the game perfectly. The cars and ball all move predictably, but that doesn't make the ball easy to control. The cars are very easy to control on the ground, but once you get airborne - and you'll need to frequently - the difference between bad, good, and great players becomes quickly apparent. As for me, I probably fall somewhere between bad and good. I misjudge bounces and caroms at times, take poor routes to the ball and mis-time my jumps frequently, but when I get in the zone and start making consistent contact, there are few games more satisfying. Clearing a ball off the line, driving up the wall and back down while tracking it, and hitting it perfectly to put it in the goal is absolutely exhilarating. Making solid contact on an aerial ball while flying through the air under rocket power is equally so. I haven't scored off an aerial shot yet, but I have collected a few assists, and each one felt pretty great.
I only have two real complaints about the game. The first is that some of the quick-chat options are pretty worthless, and it's missing a "haha" or similar option for those absurd moments that crop up in the game from time to time. Also, the inclusion of a spectator mode would be very appreciated. The controls for such are already in place in the replay viewer, so I hope they can add it.
As with any online-focused game, some of the people who play it leave a lot to be desired, but it's hard to hold the game responsible because people online suck. People who quit games as soon as they go down by two goals (I mean come on - the game is only 5 minutes long) are a near-constant annoyance.
Those tiny issues aside, Rocket League is the best sports game to come along in decades, and perhaps one of the best games period. The combination of immediacy, simplicity and high-skill options make this a true achievement of game design.
2. Axiom Verge ; This game is pretty awesome. I had played it for about an hour or two when it first came out, and liked it, but got distracted and set it down. I started up a new game a couple months later, and ran through it in about 12 hours over the course of a few days.
Other than the fact that the story is more-or-less the greatest hits of my least-favorite cliches, this game is outstanding. On the one hand, the game is a very obvious homage to Metroid. It has a very similar look, from the doors between screen transitions, to the 8-bit color palette, to some of the enemy types being very similar and the fact that you have to go left from the first screen in the game to get a powerup. While I found it to be a tad bit off-putting at first, the game very quickly went from seeming like a by-the-numbers clone to something that really stands on its own.
The game evokes Metroid in lots of very obvious ways, going to far as to place obstacles in your path which look just like something you'd use a very specific Metroid powerup to get past. If it stopped there and stayed 100% faithful to the Metroid formula, I'm not sure I would have finished it. What kept me going were the ways in which it broke free from these expectations. I don't want to go into too much detail in how it does so, since the magic of discovering the powerups and learning to manipulate them to traverse the different areas is the real magic of the genre. Describing the powerups in detail would be more of a spoiler in this game than laying the entire story out in my review.
That said, I won't spoil that either. As I said, it starts with one of my least favorite cliches, the old "regular guy stuck in videogame world," and continues on through several more of my least favorite things in fiction, which I won't describe further since simply naming the tropes would spoil the entire story. Thankfully, the story is relatively light and doesn't waste too much of your time. There are 3 cutscenes in the game, at the beginning, middle and end, and a dozen or so text-box conversations that pop up throughout the game.
So while the story came up short, I won't dock the game for it. The level and world design are top-notch, the difficulty curve is almost perfect, (with the possible exception of one especially hard boss, and one who is a bit too easy) and the controls are responsive and allow for mostly accurate control. I say mostly, because by the end of the game, you have to pull off some pretty tricky move-a-into-move-b-into-move-c theatrics which my old fingers didn't always want to cooperate on. The few instances where these do occur, however, are always low-stakes situations where a failure only costs a couple seconds before trying again.
If you haven't played it and have any affection for platformers in general or the metroidvania genre in particular, you owe it to yourself to play this game.
3. Kerbal Space Program ;
4. Pillars of Eternity ;
5. Ori and the Blind Forest ;
6. Crypt of the Necrodancer ;
7. You Must Build a Boat ; This game, despite its odd name, is a sequel to 10,000,000, which came out a couple years ago on Mobile and PC. On a micro level, it's pretty much exactly the same game with as few minor changes. The first is that some of the match-3 icons have changed. Staves, Swords, Keys and shields remain, and do the same things as before. Crates have changed in that they now drop items on the board (rather into discrete item slots off to the side), while Stone and Gold have changed to Power and Mind icons. You will now gain gold from opening treasure chests in your runs, and selling loot afterwards.
The other change in the game is the end goal. In 10,000,000, you are presented with a simple goal - score 10,000,000 points in a single run. In You Must Build a Boat, your objective is to finish every quest in the game. You will go from location to location, moving to the next after you complete every quest in a location. Quests are similar to those in 10,000,000 - kill X enemy before he hits you, open 5 chests in a run, etc.
These differences are largely trivial, however, as the game plays out pretty much exactly the same in the end. The final quest requires you to go on a solid long run with a powered-up character, more or less in line with the point goal in the last game.
The presentation is a little nicer, but the view gets very cluttered as you increase the size of your boat and add NPCs to it. The other main negative I'd point out is that some of the art on the tiles looks pretty bad, and the crates take a long time to get used to seeing on the board and matching. Other than that it's a solid game and a worthy follow-up to the excellent 10,000,000.
8. Regency Solitaire ;
1. Rocket League ; Wow, what a game this is. There is an immediacy to Rocket League that very few games manage in this day and age. Any person - gamer or not - could watch this game for one 5-minute match and have a perfect understanding of what the game is and how it's played. There is one rule - put the ball in the goal. That's it. What makes this game exceptional is the toolset given to the players to accomplish that goal.
Rocket League is basically a simplified version of soccer/football played by a team of (usually 3) players who each control a car. The cars aren't just normal cars, however. They are equipped with the ability to double jump, rotate in the air, and with booster rockets in the back that they can use to boost their speed on the ground, or launch themselves through the air once they get airborne with a jump.
These basic tools, combined with the simple nature of the game make Rocket League one of those truly rare games that are incredibly easy for a beginner to pick up and play while offering an extraordinarily high skill ceiling for those who put in the time to master it.
Everything in Rocket League is physics-based. I often rail against games that try to insert a physics engine into a genre that doesn't need it, but in this case it suits the game perfectly. The cars and ball all move predictably, but that doesn't make the ball easy to control. The cars are very easy to control on the ground, but once you get airborne - and you'll need to frequently - the difference between bad, good, and great players becomes quickly apparent. As for me, I probably fall somewhere between bad and good. I misjudge bounces and caroms at times, take poor routes to the ball and mis-time my jumps frequently, but when I get in the zone and start making consistent contact, there are few games more satisfying. Clearing a ball off the line, driving up the wall and back down while tracking it, and hitting it perfectly to put it in the goal is absolutely exhilarating. Making solid contact on an aerial ball while flying through the air under rocket power is equally so. I haven't scored off an aerial shot yet, but I have collected a few assists, and each one felt pretty great.
I only have two real complaints about the game. The first is that some of the quick-chat options are pretty worthless, and it's missing a "haha" or similar option for those absurd moments that crop up in the game from time to time. Also, the inclusion of a spectator mode would be very appreciated. The controls for such are already in place in the replay viewer, so I hope they can add it.
As with any online-focused game, some of the people who play it leave a lot to be desired, but it's hard to hold the game responsible because people online suck. People who quit games as soon as they go down by two goals (I mean come on - the game is only 5 minutes long) are a near-constant annoyance.
Those tiny issues aside, Rocket League is the best sports game to come along in decades, and perhaps one of the best games period. The combination of immediacy, simplicity and high-skill options make this a true achievement of game design.
2. Axiom Verge ; This game is pretty awesome. I had played it for about an hour or two when it first came out, and liked it, but got distracted and set it down. I started up a new game a couple months later, and ran through it in about 12 hours over the course of a few days.
Other than the fact that the story is more-or-less the greatest hits of my least-favorite cliches, this game is outstanding. On the one hand, the game is a very obvious homage to Metroid. It has a very similar look, from the doors between screen transitions, to the 8-bit color palette, to some of the enemy types being very similar and the fact that you have to go left from the first screen in the game to get a powerup. While I found it to be a tad bit off-putting at first, the game very quickly went from seeming like a by-the-numbers clone to something that really stands on its own.
The game evokes Metroid in lots of very obvious ways, going to far as to place obstacles in your path which look just like something you'd use a very specific Metroid powerup to get past. If it stopped there and stayed 100% faithful to the Metroid formula, I'm not sure I would have finished it. What kept me going were the ways in which it broke free from these expectations. I don't want to go into too much detail in how it does so, since the magic of discovering the powerups and learning to manipulate them to traverse the different areas is the real magic of the genre. Describing the powerups in detail would be more of a spoiler in this game than laying the entire story out in my review.
That said, I won't spoil that either. As I said, it starts with one of my least favorite cliches, the old "regular guy stuck in videogame world," and continues on through several more of my least favorite things in fiction, which I won't describe further since simply naming the tropes would spoil the entire story. Thankfully, the story is relatively light and doesn't waste too much of your time. There are 3 cutscenes in the game, at the beginning, middle and end, and a dozen or so text-box conversations that pop up throughout the game.
So while the story came up short, I won't dock the game for it. The level and world design are top-notch, the difficulty curve is almost perfect, (with the possible exception of one especially hard boss, and one who is a bit too easy) and the controls are responsive and allow for mostly accurate control. I say mostly, because by the end of the game, you have to pull off some pretty tricky move-a-into-move-b-into-move-c theatrics which my old fingers didn't always want to cooperate on. The few instances where these do occur, however, are always low-stakes situations where a failure only costs a couple seconds before trying again.
If you haven't played it and have any affection for platformers in general or the metroidvania genre in particular, you owe it to yourself to play this game.
3. Kerbal Space Program ;
4. Pillars of Eternity ;
5. Ori and the Blind Forest ;
6. Crypt of the Necrodancer ;
7. You Must Build a Boat ; This game, despite its odd name, is a sequel to 10,000,000, which came out a couple years ago on Mobile and PC. On a micro level, it's pretty much exactly the same game with as few minor changes. The first is that some of the match-3 icons have changed. Staves, Swords, Keys and shields remain, and do the same things as before. Crates have changed in that they now drop items on the board (rather into discrete item slots off to the side), while Stone and Gold have changed to Power and Mind icons. You will now gain gold from opening treasure chests in your runs, and selling loot afterwards.
The other change in the game is the end goal. In 10,000,000, you are presented with a simple goal - score 10,000,000 points in a single run. In You Must Build a Boat, your objective is to finish every quest in the game. You will go from location to location, moving to the next after you complete every quest in a location. Quests are similar to those in 10,000,000 - kill X enemy before he hits you, open 5 chests in a run, etc.
These differences are largely trivial, however, as the game plays out pretty much exactly the same in the end. The final quest requires you to go on a solid long run with a powered-up character, more or less in line with the point goal in the last game.
The presentation is a little nicer, but the view gets very cluttered as you increase the size of your boat and add NPCs to it. The other main negative I'd point out is that some of the art on the tiles looks pretty bad, and the crates take a long time to get used to seeing on the board and matching. Other than that it's a solid game and a worthy follow-up to the excellent 10,000,000.
8. Regency Solitaire ;
Gotcha.
1. Bloodborne ; It's a good game.
2. Life is Strange ; Kids out in Oregon.
3. Until Dawn ; Kids out in snow.
4. Destiny: The Taken King ; Microtransactions out for Destiny.
5. Fallout 4 ; Tomb Raider out of launch date.
6. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; Kojima out of Konami.
7. Rocket League ; Good game out of PS+.
8. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ; 8 out of 10.
9. Tales of Zestiria ; Tales out on PS4.
10. Galak-Z: The Dimensional ; Mech out in space.
2. Life is Strange ; Kids out in Oregon.
3. Until Dawn ; Kids out in snow.
4. Destiny: The Taken King ; Microtransactions out for Destiny.
5. Fallout 4 ; Tomb Raider out of launch date.
6. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; Kojima out of Konami.
7. Rocket League ; Good game out of PS+.
8. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ; 8 out of 10.
9. Tales of Zestiria ; Tales out on PS4.
10. Galak-Z: The Dimensional ; Mech out in space.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
I don't think there's any way I'm going to be able to get to Undertale, Bloodborne, or finish Pillars of Eternity before the deadline. Feels bad man
Right now there's gonna be two puzzle games in my top 10. I can hear Carrie's Mom saying "they're all gonna laugh at you"
Right now there's gonna be two puzzle games in my top 10. I can hear Carrie's Mom saying "they're all gonna laugh at you"
2015 was a great year for games. I had no trouble coming up with a top 10 list with a few honorable mentions, and there was a lot of stuff I didn't get to play that I wanted to. Here's the list I came up with, looking back:
1. Crypt of the NecroDancer ; I played a lot of this game last year in early access, and it was great then. The final release is even better; I love everything about this game. The four zones have great personality and enemy variety, the graphics generally look like a lost 16-bit masterpiece, and the soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal. I racked up close to 100 hours on this game, including dozens of runs through the daily challenge. Crypt of the Necrodancer has been a game I've played off and on for over a year now. I'm pretty likely to go back to it in 2016, too.
2. Bloodborne ; I don't know what it is, but it seems like every year I end up with another Souls game in my #2 slot. This one has a different flavor than From's usual fare, but their masterful level and enemy design skills shine through the eldritch horror just as brightly as in high fantasy. Yarnham is easily the best realized, most memorable locale from any game I played in 2015. Bloodborne is spectacular in every sense.
3. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate ; I've always bounced off of Monster Hunter in previous years, but this time I had help from some of my friends. Let me just say: this game is brilliant in cooperative play. The methodical action RPG gameplay is great with a couple of friends on Skype, as is the endlessly compelling journey towards that next sword you just have to have. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate claimed over 100 hours of my life, and I had a blast playing it.
4. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; It's weird viewing this game in the past after looking forward to it for what felt like forever. While I was apprehensive about the reduced emphasis on story and the very, very different soundtrack, those apprehensions were quickly laid to rest. Xenoblade Chronicles X is its own game in a lot of ways, and it's a tremendously large package. More than just being big and pretty, it's also mechanically deep and a lot of fun to play with or without concrete goals. I've already spent dozens of hours exploring Mira with and without my huge mech, and I'm not done yet.
5. Super Mario Maker ; I had pretty high hopes for this one, and it still blew me away. The biggest draw is obviously the editor, which combines ease of use (and actual fun just playing with the editor itself) with a deceptively comprehensive tool set. Of course, then you go to play online, and wow. There are a lot of jerks on the internet, huh? Still, buried in the mounds of wannabe Kaizo dross are an infinite number of good, earnest efforts. There's some impressively clever stuff to be found, too. Part toolkit, part compilation, and part elaborate social experiment, Super Mario Maker is something everyone should experience.
6. Undertale ; This is an interesting one, to say the least. While it's visually and aurally arresting, the thing that most impresses me about Undertale is the writing. I feel like it's the best written game I've played in a very long time; certainly the best I encountered in 2015. Endlessly clever and endearing, this game (and these characters) will stick with me for quite a while.
7. Splatoon ; This is the first time in quite a while that I've really enjoyed a shooter, and a lot of that is due to how fresh this game is. It has a cohesive style that binds everything together in a gooey, 90s cartoon aesthetic that hasn't had a chance to get old. Even if you're no good at the online multiplayer (I feel your pain), the single player campaign is still a lot of fun and has some surprisingly awesome boss battles. Mechanically clever and spectacularly stylish, Splatoon is a blast.
8. Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance ; Unrepentantly trashy, mechanically sound, endlessly engrossing. Disgaea 5 is indeed another Disgaea game. I will apparently keep buying, playing, and loving these as long as NIS doesn't actually go out of business.
9. Ori and the Blind Forest ; Possibly the most beautiful game I played in 2015, Ori is a great little Metroidvania game. The painterly look is seriously impressive to behold, and it has some very nice set piece moments to punctuate the normal explore/upgrade/revisit progression.
10. Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros. Edition ; Having played the "real" Puzzle & Dragons on my iPhone, PDZ is an interesting point of comparison. It's nice to have a version of the game without the exploitative free-to-play vibe. Kind of makes me wish iOS games had $20 "actual game" versions I could purchase to bypass the stamina bars and grubby currency schemes. Regardless, PDZ and SMB edition is a great little puzzler in its own right. I sunk a large number of hours into this one playing it here and there before bed or while traveling.
x. Box Boy! ; A fun little puzzler with a great minimalist style. Box Boy! is more charming than it has any right to be.
x. Etrian Odyssey Untold 2: The Fafnir Knight ; A nice update to one of my favorite DS RPGs. The story elements work better here than in the first EO Untold title; perhaps informed by last year's excellent Labyrinth Q.
1. Crypt of the NecroDancer ; I played a lot of this game last year in early access, and it was great then. The final release is even better; I love everything about this game. The four zones have great personality and enemy variety, the graphics generally look like a lost 16-bit masterpiece, and the soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal. I racked up close to 100 hours on this game, including dozens of runs through the daily challenge. Crypt of the Necrodancer has been a game I've played off and on for over a year now. I'm pretty likely to go back to it in 2016, too.
2. Bloodborne ; I don't know what it is, but it seems like every year I end up with another Souls game in my #2 slot. This one has a different flavor than From's usual fare, but their masterful level and enemy design skills shine through the eldritch horror just as brightly as in high fantasy. Yarnham is easily the best realized, most memorable locale from any game I played in 2015. Bloodborne is spectacular in every sense.
3. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate ; I've always bounced off of Monster Hunter in previous years, but this time I had help from some of my friends. Let me just say: this game is brilliant in cooperative play. The methodical action RPG gameplay is great with a couple of friends on Skype, as is the endlessly compelling journey towards that next sword you just have to have. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate claimed over 100 hours of my life, and I had a blast playing it.
4. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; It's weird viewing this game in the past after looking forward to it for what felt like forever. While I was apprehensive about the reduced emphasis on story and the very, very different soundtrack, those apprehensions were quickly laid to rest. Xenoblade Chronicles X is its own game in a lot of ways, and it's a tremendously large package. More than just being big and pretty, it's also mechanically deep and a lot of fun to play with or without concrete goals. I've already spent dozens of hours exploring Mira with and without my huge mech, and I'm not done yet.
5. Super Mario Maker ; I had pretty high hopes for this one, and it still blew me away. The biggest draw is obviously the editor, which combines ease of use (and actual fun just playing with the editor itself) with a deceptively comprehensive tool set. Of course, then you go to play online, and wow. There are a lot of jerks on the internet, huh? Still, buried in the mounds of wannabe Kaizo dross are an infinite number of good, earnest efforts. There's some impressively clever stuff to be found, too. Part toolkit, part compilation, and part elaborate social experiment, Super Mario Maker is something everyone should experience.
6. Undertale ; This is an interesting one, to say the least. While it's visually and aurally arresting, the thing that most impresses me about Undertale is the writing. I feel like it's the best written game I've played in a very long time; certainly the best I encountered in 2015. Endlessly clever and endearing, this game (and these characters) will stick with me for quite a while.
7. Splatoon ; This is the first time in quite a while that I've really enjoyed a shooter, and a lot of that is due to how fresh this game is. It has a cohesive style that binds everything together in a gooey, 90s cartoon aesthetic that hasn't had a chance to get old. Even if you're no good at the online multiplayer (I feel your pain), the single player campaign is still a lot of fun and has some surprisingly awesome boss battles. Mechanically clever and spectacularly stylish, Splatoon is a blast.
8. Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance ; Unrepentantly trashy, mechanically sound, endlessly engrossing. Disgaea 5 is indeed another Disgaea game. I will apparently keep buying, playing, and loving these as long as NIS doesn't actually go out of business.
9. Ori and the Blind Forest ; Possibly the most beautiful game I played in 2015, Ori is a great little Metroidvania game. The painterly look is seriously impressive to behold, and it has some very nice set piece moments to punctuate the normal explore/upgrade/revisit progression.
10. Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros. Edition ; Having played the "real" Puzzle & Dragons on my iPhone, PDZ is an interesting point of comparison. It's nice to have a version of the game without the exploitative free-to-play vibe. Kind of makes me wish iOS games had $20 "actual game" versions I could purchase to bypass the stamina bars and grubby currency schemes. Regardless, PDZ and SMB edition is a great little puzzler in its own right. I sunk a large number of hours into this one playing it here and there before bed or while traveling.
x. Box Boy! ; A fun little puzzler with a great minimalist style. Box Boy! is more charming than it has any right to be.
x. Etrian Odyssey Untold 2: The Fafnir Knight ; A nice update to one of my favorite DS RPGs. The story elements work better here than in the first EO Untold title; perhaps informed by last year's excellent Labyrinth Q.
Fantastic banner! Also props for putting SteamWorld Heist on your list!
Cheesemeister
Member
Haha, I'll take you up on it next time I'm in the Springs. (Decades from now at this rate...)
1. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate ; Start of last year is just a blur of hunting and killing. Then recharging 3DS and doing it again. Game is real good. Most played and most enjoyed.
2. Bloodborne ; The nipple twisting intensity you expected from FROM. This time with trick weapons that seem cool as heck. Kirkhammer should be called the godhammer.
3. Guilty Gear Xrd ; The hypest most buttrocking fisticuffs. Looks amazing and plays awesome. Best fighter of the year.
4. Dragon Quest Heroes ; Dragon Quest Musou. Musou is good and always getting better. This was tight.
5. Dead or Alive 5 Last Round ; Fun fighter. Smooth and easy to pick up.
2. Bloodborne ; The nipple twisting intensity you expected from FROM. This time with trick weapons that seem cool as heck. Kirkhammer should be called the godhammer.
3. Guilty Gear Xrd ; The hypest most buttrocking fisticuffs. Looks amazing and plays awesome. Best fighter of the year.
4. Dragon Quest Heroes ; Dragon Quest Musou. Musou is good and always getting better. This was tight.
5. Dead or Alive 5 Last Round ; Fun fighter. Smooth and easy to pick up.
Megatron
Member
Yes you can. That's why the window is so large, because dec 31 is a tough deadline to get to everything you wanted to in 2015.
1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; I just love this game. It almost sucked from me as much as EU4 or Xcom.
2. The Witcher III: Hearts of Stone ; again this expansion is the best i've ever played. I loved not only the wedding part but all of the content.
3. Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void ; Great conclusion to whole story. a little silly, but mechanically excellent.
4. Pillars of Eternity
5. Grand Theft Auto V
2. The Witcher III: Hearts of Stone ; again this expansion is the best i've ever played. I loved not only the wedding part but all of the content.
3. Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void ; Great conclusion to whole story. a little silly, but mechanically excellent.
4. Pillars of Eternity
5. Grand Theft Auto V
1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; This game hits the perfect balance of everything that I love in games. It's open world - but in a meaningful way. It has an open quest design with interesting choices - but feels like a linear story experience. The characters are great and the world is the most believable game world I've played. CD Projekt RED deserves very praise that they get and Cyperpunk 2077 is now my must wanted game.
2. Bloodborne ; Not many developers can give me an experience as FROM can. The gameplay, the world, the storytelling - this game gives me the same feeling as playing games when I was a child and I love it!
3. Fallout 4 ; This is the game I've spent most hours with this year. There are many great things to say about this game, but unfortunately there are also a lot of critical aspects you can point out. But still, wandering the wasteland with Dogmeat is amazing.
4. Rocket League ; I'm not in any way interested in cars or in football. Yet the gameplay is so fun that I can't stop playing it.
5. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; This was such a huge disappointment. And thinking about it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. The story, the open world design nor the characters was what they should have been. Yet the gameplay was extremely well designed, so it deserves a spot on the list.
6. Titan Souls ; Shadow of the Colossus is one of my favorit games of all time. This game gave me a small fraction of the same feeling.
7. Journey ; Didn't play it when it first released. A beautiful, spiritual journey.
8. The Crew: Wild Run ; I don't normally play car games. But playing it as a USA road trip simulation is so meditative.
9. Destiny: The Taken King ; This game is still far from what I had hoped it would be. But the gameplay and the world is still addictive.
10. Grand Theft Auto V ; I've already played this on xbox360 and ps4. But it still gives me goosebumps driving around the beautiful world. And using it as a walking simulator with first person view almost makes this a new game experience.
2. Bloodborne ; Not many developers can give me an experience as FROM can. The gameplay, the world, the storytelling - this game gives me the same feeling as playing games when I was a child and I love it!
3. Fallout 4 ; This is the game I've spent most hours with this year. There are many great things to say about this game, but unfortunately there are also a lot of critical aspects you can point out. But still, wandering the wasteland with Dogmeat is amazing.
4. Rocket League ; I'm not in any way interested in cars or in football. Yet the gameplay is so fun that I can't stop playing it.
5. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; This was such a huge disappointment. And thinking about it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. The story, the open world design nor the characters was what they should have been. Yet the gameplay was extremely well designed, so it deserves a spot on the list.
6. Titan Souls ; Shadow of the Colossus is one of my favorit games of all time. This game gave me a small fraction of the same feeling.
7. Journey ; Didn't play it when it first released. A beautiful, spiritual journey.
8. The Crew: Wild Run ; I don't normally play car games. But playing it as a USA road trip simulation is so meditative.
9. Destiny: The Taken King ; This game is still far from what I had hoped it would be. But the gameplay and the world is still addictive.
10. Grand Theft Auto V ; I've already played this on xbox360 and ps4. But it still gives me goosebumps driving around the beautiful world. And using it as a walking simulator with first person view almost makes this a new game experience.
Tizoc
Member
Bans is really extreme for this
Giving them a title above their avatar or an avatr that shows they didnt follow the rules is better
Banning peopel over this is just extreme.
1. Bloodborne ; Bloodborne is exactly what I want out of a sequel. It takes one style of Souls-combat ( the shieldless, dodgey aggressive playstyle which I found to be my go to way of playing the Souls games anyway) and really focuses on it and develops it. Visceral attacks and charged heavy attacks fit the combat system so elegantly, and the transforming weapons give individual weapons a variety of use that is fun to engage with. Souls games have flirted with Lovecraftian themes, Bloodborne goes all in on it, and does so confidently. The art-style is more consistent throughout and more evocative than ever. Bloodborne still captures the aspects of the Souls games I love, a realized world, a mechanical and systemic completeness, and design that feels considered and cohesive. Bloodborne feels like a more focused and refined Souls-experience, it comes at the cost of the variety the Souls games had had, but as an experience all its own Bloodborne is a triumph.
2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; I have incredibly complicated feelings about Metal Gear Solid V, but ultimately I loved my time with it. It fails in all the regards that a Metal Gear game shouldnt, yet succeeds in all the ways Metal Gear has not. The game is lacking in the Metal Gear moments department, so as someone who comes to Metal Gear mostly to see what crazy shit will happen next I was disappointed, however from a raw mechanics and systems standpoint MGSV is a huge success. The loop of landing in a territory, scoping out an encampment, figuring out an approach and then improving your way through a mission is phenomenal, and its backed up with great controls, fluid animations and sound stealth mechanics which are a joy to play with. 100 odd hours into the game I still found myself loving the core mechanics of the game. Thats not say the game is without fault ( All the motherbase stuff sounds better on paper than in practice, the upgrade system feels needlessly tedious, the mission structure isnt varied and would be really frustrating if the core gameplay wasnt so strong, anytime the game opts out of its freeform stealth approach it becomes a frustrating mess and the open world design is more functional than interesting ) but the core of this game shines so bright that I found myself forgiving its faults and loving my time with MGSV.
3. The Beginner's Guide ; The Beginners Guide is the second game on this list from one of the minds behind the Stanley Parable. Where Langeskov captured Stanley comedic sensibilities, The Beginners Guide plays more like the moments of Stanley where it got self-meditative and when it felt like a surreal horror thing. The Beginners Guide is a story of two people, it deals with issues relating to the creative process; from whether or not a creator can find satisfaction creating in a vacuum, finding meaning where there might not be any, to the relationship between creators and their fans. The Beginners Guide even tackles more personal emotions like how you can fool yourself into helping someone when in fact youre just using them to help yourself. The Beginners Guide is pensive, voyeuristic and unsettling, and it the most successful narrative experience in gaming this year.
4. Kerbal Space Program ; Kerbal Space Program feels weird for a game of year inclusion for 2015 since Kerbal feels like it has been a part of the video game conversation for quite some time now, but Kerbal officially released this year so this is my opportunity to give it props. Kerbal Space Program is full of wonderful little moments and accomplishments, that are worthwhile by virtue of how involving Kerbals simulation is. Crash landing my ship on the Mun for the first time and just barely surviving impact is probably a gameplay moment I wont ever forget. Furthermore KSP avoids the problem a lot of other simulation games have where there is this enormous barrier to entry you have to traverse before you can have any fun, KSP is fun from the get go ( in this case; crashing your ship on the launchpad ) and allows you to progress in a really organic way, setting objectives for yourself and testing your ability within the play space.
5. Rocket League ; I loved Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Power Battle Cars. Rocket League is even better. The foundation of Rocket League allows for incredible analog control over your vehicle in an environment that is just chaotic enough to be thrilling but not so out of control that you cant have a meaningful impact on a match. Rocket League feels more akin to playing a real sport than all 20 odd years of EA Sports offerings, and you can take that as either incredibly high praise or condemnation.
6. Her Story ; Her Storys method of interaction (querying interrogation clips from a database via keywords from dialogue) is incredibly simple, but emulates the feeling of investigation better than any detective game or mode Ive ever played. The story is well acted and well written enough to be engaging. Her Story is both incredibly innovative and well executed and worth playing if you havent already.
7. Downwell ; Downwell combines aspects of endless runners and rouge-likes to create a very simple and well crafted game. It is constantly asking you to way long and short term risks in a fast and frantic environment. The art is incredibly simple, and it needs to be to communicate information at the pace that this game moves. A triumph in simplicity.
8. Undertale ; Undertale had the impossible task of living up to the expectations that surround it. With a fanbase so passionate and vocal its hard not to want to share their enthusiasm. Unfortunately the constant expectation of something remarkable probably kept Undertale from ever truly resonating with me the way it resonated with its fans. What I did experience was a game that was incredibly endearing, consistently clever and occasionally very frustrating. Its a testament to just how endearing and clever this game is that it ranks where it does on my list. Undertale is an incredibly likeable experience that you just want to root for that is quite unlike anything else in 2015.
9. Fallout 4 ; Fallout 4 is a Bethesda open world game developed by Bethesda for fans of Bethesda open world games. Its premise conflicts with how a game of this nature should function, its combat runs the gambit of frustrating to utterly mundane, the rpg systems, weapon and armor upgrades arent particularly complex, nuanced or interesting, the number of busy-work quests far outnumber the genuinely engaging ones. YET with all that said Fallout 4 is still worth playing. The possibility space is just varied enough to create some wonderful office-water-cooler gameplay stories, by tieing the junk littered throughout the world to the upgrade and settlement systems Fallout 4 encourages engaging with its massive world on a more minute level. Lastly the drive to explore the next unexplored node on your compass that is a staple of Bethesdas games is still incredibly satisfying and makes wandering around the world really compelling.
10. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin ; I would be really interested in more game 'remixes' of the sort of Scholar. It doesn't fix the more structural issues I have with Dark Souls 2, but Scholar manages to surprise and delight more than I thought it could.
2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; I have incredibly complicated feelings about Metal Gear Solid V, but ultimately I loved my time with it. It fails in all the regards that a Metal Gear game shouldnt, yet succeeds in all the ways Metal Gear has not. The game is lacking in the Metal Gear moments department, so as someone who comes to Metal Gear mostly to see what crazy shit will happen next I was disappointed, however from a raw mechanics and systems standpoint MGSV is a huge success. The loop of landing in a territory, scoping out an encampment, figuring out an approach and then improving your way through a mission is phenomenal, and its backed up with great controls, fluid animations and sound stealth mechanics which are a joy to play with. 100 odd hours into the game I still found myself loving the core mechanics of the game. Thats not say the game is without fault ( All the motherbase stuff sounds better on paper than in practice, the upgrade system feels needlessly tedious, the mission structure isnt varied and would be really frustrating if the core gameplay wasnt so strong, anytime the game opts out of its freeform stealth approach it becomes a frustrating mess and the open world design is more functional than interesting ) but the core of this game shines so bright that I found myself forgiving its faults and loving my time with MGSV.
3. The Beginner's Guide ; The Beginners Guide is the second game on this list from one of the minds behind the Stanley Parable. Where Langeskov captured Stanley comedic sensibilities, The Beginners Guide plays more like the moments of Stanley where it got self-meditative and when it felt like a surreal horror thing. The Beginners Guide is a story of two people, it deals with issues relating to the creative process; from whether or not a creator can find satisfaction creating in a vacuum, finding meaning where there might not be any, to the relationship between creators and their fans. The Beginners Guide even tackles more personal emotions like how you can fool yourself into helping someone when in fact youre just using them to help yourself. The Beginners Guide is pensive, voyeuristic and unsettling, and it the most successful narrative experience in gaming this year.
4. Kerbal Space Program ; Kerbal Space Program feels weird for a game of year inclusion for 2015 since Kerbal feels like it has been a part of the video game conversation for quite some time now, but Kerbal officially released this year so this is my opportunity to give it props. Kerbal Space Program is full of wonderful little moments and accomplishments, that are worthwhile by virtue of how involving Kerbals simulation is. Crash landing my ship on the Mun for the first time and just barely surviving impact is probably a gameplay moment I wont ever forget. Furthermore KSP avoids the problem a lot of other simulation games have where there is this enormous barrier to entry you have to traverse before you can have any fun, KSP is fun from the get go ( in this case; crashing your ship on the launchpad ) and allows you to progress in a really organic way, setting objectives for yourself and testing your ability within the play space.
5. Rocket League ; I loved Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Power Battle Cars. Rocket League is even better. The foundation of Rocket League allows for incredible analog control over your vehicle in an environment that is just chaotic enough to be thrilling but not so out of control that you cant have a meaningful impact on a match. Rocket League feels more akin to playing a real sport than all 20 odd years of EA Sports offerings, and you can take that as either incredibly high praise or condemnation.
6. Her Story ; Her Storys method of interaction (querying interrogation clips from a database via keywords from dialogue) is incredibly simple, but emulates the feeling of investigation better than any detective game or mode Ive ever played. The story is well acted and well written enough to be engaging. Her Story is both incredibly innovative and well executed and worth playing if you havent already.
7. Downwell ; Downwell combines aspects of endless runners and rouge-likes to create a very simple and well crafted game. It is constantly asking you to way long and short term risks in a fast and frantic environment. The art is incredibly simple, and it needs to be to communicate information at the pace that this game moves. A triumph in simplicity.
8. Undertale ; Undertale had the impossible task of living up to the expectations that surround it. With a fanbase so passionate and vocal its hard not to want to share their enthusiasm. Unfortunately the constant expectation of something remarkable probably kept Undertale from ever truly resonating with me the way it resonated with its fans. What I did experience was a game that was incredibly endearing, consistently clever and occasionally very frustrating. Its a testament to just how endearing and clever this game is that it ranks where it does on my list. Undertale is an incredibly likeable experience that you just want to root for that is quite unlike anything else in 2015.
9. Fallout 4 ; Fallout 4 is a Bethesda open world game developed by Bethesda for fans of Bethesda open world games. Its premise conflicts with how a game of this nature should function, its combat runs the gambit of frustrating to utterly mundane, the rpg systems, weapon and armor upgrades arent particularly complex, nuanced or interesting, the number of busy-work quests far outnumber the genuinely engaging ones. YET with all that said Fallout 4 is still worth playing. The possibility space is just varied enough to create some wonderful office-water-cooler gameplay stories, by tieing the junk littered throughout the world to the upgrade and settlement systems Fallout 4 encourages engaging with its massive world on a more minute level. Lastly the drive to explore the next unexplored node on your compass that is a staple of Bethesdas games is still incredibly satisfying and makes wandering around the world really compelling.
10. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin ; I would be really interested in more game 'remixes' of the sort of Scholar. It doesn't fix the more structural issues I have with Dark Souls 2, but Scholar manages to surprise and delight more than I thought it could.
Cheesemeister
Member
I've added "Game" as an ineligible title so your post here doesn't wipe your previous ballot.
Bans for not reading the OP are entirely at the discretion of the mods.
Tizoc
Member
Hmm fair enough in that case i guess.
mcwizardry
Member
1. Bloodborne ; The perfection of the Souls formula.
2. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; The most fully realized open world and fantasy universe.
3. Rise of the Tomb Raider ; Great follow-up to the Tomb Raider reboot with some pretty cool challenge tombs.
4. Fallout 4 ; Fallout 3 Improved but still the best post-apocalyptic game around.
5. Batman: Arkham Knight ; Solid conclusion to the trilogy.
6. Axiom Verge ; Still blows my mind that one person created a game that can stand next to Super Metroid.
7. Ori and the Blind Forest ; Excellent Metroidvania in a beautifully animated world.
8. Super Mario Maker ; One of the best level creation tools, very cool that Nintendo made this.
9. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker ; Awesome concept executed very well.
10. SOMA ; Awesome atmosphere and story and best use of an underwater setting since the original BioShock.
2. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; The most fully realized open world and fantasy universe.
3. Rise of the Tomb Raider ; Great follow-up to the Tomb Raider reboot with some pretty cool challenge tombs.
4. Fallout 4 ; Fallout 3 Improved but still the best post-apocalyptic game around.
5. Batman: Arkham Knight ; Solid conclusion to the trilogy.
6. Axiom Verge ; Still blows my mind that one person created a game that can stand next to Super Metroid.
7. Ori and the Blind Forest ; Excellent Metroidvania in a beautifully animated world.
8. Super Mario Maker ; One of the best level creation tools, very cool that Nintendo made this.
9. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker ; Awesome concept executed very well.
10. SOMA ; Awesome atmosphere and story and best use of an underwater setting since the original BioShock.
sleepydeer
Member
Can I check if The Talos Principle: Road to Gehenna will be counted? The PS4 release includes it but it's DLC on PC.
e: Not on the spreadsheet or eligibles list.
e: Not on the spreadsheet or eligibles list.
Nestunt
Member
bloodborne is going to win with some margin
1. Dying Light ; I like pretty much everything about this game. Both the traversal and combat especially stand out. I was also pleasantly surprised by the writing and the side quests.
2. Fallout 4 ; Just finished the game with my second character this week. It is disappointing in several major ways but it still managed to hook me like the two previous games and keep me coming back for more.
3. Bloodborne ; I've played through 99% of it thee times at least. Great world, atmosphere, combat, etc. I also managed to beat it once and almost beat it twice completely on my own with very little frustration.
4. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; Has my favorite quest ever. So much to do. Amazing atmosphere, world and writing. The story did seem a little stretched thin in the middle but that doesn't detract too much from an excellent game.
5. Rebel Galaxy ; The gameplay loop on this game is so fun. Very repetitive but still fun as hell. It also looks nice and is streamlined in all the right places so as to not be a chore to play. Amazing stuff from such a tiny team. Their promptness when it comes to answering fans and customers also amazes me considering how much other stuff they have going on.
6. Assassin's Creed Syndicate ; This is my favorite Assassin's Creed ever and the first one I've wanted to keep in my collection permanently. The setting is the best one so far, much of the irritating stuff from the series has been removed or alleviated by smart changes and the grappling hook makes a world of difference to a series that has had trouble making traversal fun since the first game.
7. Borderlands: The Handsome Collection ; Two games I love, chock full of content and looking and feeling better. I had a lot of fun playing through both again.
8. Forza 6 ; The racing in this is very fun and surprisingly so is the career mode. The last Forza game I really loved was Forza 2 and 6 brought me back to the series in a big way. It looks great to boot.
9. Mad Max ; I was forced to replay 70% of the game due to a glitch and while it was a little repetitive I still enjoyed playing through that 70% for a second time. Taking down bases was something I particularly had fun doing.
2. Fallout 4 ; Just finished the game with my second character this week. It is disappointing in several major ways but it still managed to hook me like the two previous games and keep me coming back for more.
3. Bloodborne ; I've played through 99% of it thee times at least. Great world, atmosphere, combat, etc. I also managed to beat it once and almost beat it twice completely on my own with very little frustration.
4. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; Has my favorite quest ever. So much to do. Amazing atmosphere, world and writing. The story did seem a little stretched thin in the middle but that doesn't detract too much from an excellent game.
5. Rebel Galaxy ; The gameplay loop on this game is so fun. Very repetitive but still fun as hell. It also looks nice and is streamlined in all the right places so as to not be a chore to play. Amazing stuff from such a tiny team. Their promptness when it comes to answering fans and customers also amazes me considering how much other stuff they have going on.
6. Assassin's Creed Syndicate ; This is my favorite Assassin's Creed ever and the first one I've wanted to keep in my collection permanently. The setting is the best one so far, much of the irritating stuff from the series has been removed or alleviated by smart changes and the grappling hook makes a world of difference to a series that has had trouble making traversal fun since the first game.
7. Borderlands: The Handsome Collection ; Two games I love, chock full of content and looking and feeling better. I had a lot of fun playing through both again.
8. Forza 6 ; The racing in this is very fun and surprisingly so is the career mode. The last Forza game I really loved was Forza 2 and 6 brought me back to the series in a big way. It looks great to boot.
9. Mad Max ; I was forced to replay 70% of the game due to a glitch and while it was a little repetitive I still enjoyed playing through that 70% for a second time. Taking down bases was something I particularly had fun doing.
Hellsing321
Member
1. Life is Strange ; I just recently finished this but it was so affecting to me that it instantly shot up to my number one spot. The game isn't without its flaws but the atmosphere and characters are so well realized that I was pulled into their lives and struggles. It's become one of my favorite games ever.
2. Bloodborne ;
3. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ;
4. Fallout 4 ;
5. Until Dawn ;
6. Xenoblade Chronicles X ;
7. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water ;
8. Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward ;
9. Dragonball Xenoverse ;
10. Mortal Kombat X ;
2. Bloodborne ;
3. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ;
4. Fallout 4 ;
5. Until Dawn ;
6. Xenoblade Chronicles X ;
7. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water ;
8. Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward ;
9. Dragonball Xenoverse ;
10. Mortal Kombat X ;
1. The Witcher 3: Wild hunt ; I had very high expectations for this game, and it delivered in spades. The combat may not be the best ever (but still is more than adequate), but the world and universe are some of the best I have ever seen in a game. It is gorgeous yet feels like a terrible place at the same time, it is believable yet fantastical. I completely fell in love with the world of the Witcher, I even start reading the books! It is just amazing. But that is not even the best part of the Witcher 3, that would be the quests. So many open world games have way too many standard, busy work fetch quests, and while the witcher has some of those here and there, yet the huge number of quests that ARE interesting, DO have depth and great characters and hard choices is kinda absurd. It shows that quality AND quantity are not necessarily at odds with each other, something that is extremely impressive. Just the sheer breadth and number of interesting stories that you can find in the game is truly unparalleled and sets a new standard for open world games. Not only is this my GOTY, it is a strong front runner for GOTG right now. Truly a masterpiece.
2. Ori and the blind forest ; Man, that opening. MAN, THAT OPENING. One of the most emotional strong scenes I have ever seen in a game. A near perfect mix of amazing animation and a fantastic soundtrack immediately shows that Ori is incredibly ambitious. And when the game actually starts, it turns out that not only does it sound and look absolutely stunning, it plays great too. Controlling ori feels almost perfect, and when you die in one of the games many hard as nails platforming segments it never feels that happened because of something out of your control. The game really does feel like a sort of metroidvania version of super meat boy with absolutely stunning 2D graphics and animation. Not only one of the best games of the year, but one of the best 2D platformers I have ever played period. This game is a work of art.
3. Grand theft auto V ; Finally came to the PC this year and the port is actually good! The game looks great and Los Santos may be the most detailed open world I have ever seen. The gameplay and missions are also vastly improved from GTA IV, which a lot more over the top crazy stuff happening. The story and characters, while good, could have been better though. Especially the story has some pacing problems. Still, holy shit Los Santos is so full of details it is almost unbelievable.
4. Metal gear solid V: the phantom pain ; The “anti metal gear”. Previous entries in the series I played for the story and characters while the gamplay was so-so. This game I played for the gameplay while the story and characters were…..almost non-existent. Assaulting a base, either while using stealth or going full on rambo, feels amazing, the game is truly a joy to play. But the story just isn’t there, and especially the characters are just….flat and boring, they do jack shit. Especially in chapter 2 that becomes apparent, and that last mission that forces you to redo that segment is just really boring and such a stupid idea. The final twist was….OK I guess but also felt really forced and just there to have a twist, it didn’t really serve any purpose. But damn if this game doesn’t feel great to play.
5. Tales from the borderlands ; I didn’t care about the borderlands universe. I now care about the borderlands universe. Not only is this by far the funniest telltale game, it also has the best characters. I really did care about what happened to them, something I never thought I would say about characters in a borderlands game. Sure, your choices don’t seem to have that much of an impact, and there isn’t really much gameplay, but I didn’t care, I was more than happy to just sit back and watch this like a really good TV-show about borderlands. One of telltales best games.
6. Fallout 4 ; This game was a bit of a dissapointment. Sure, the shooting is 10x better than in fallout 3, which is great! but outside of that bethesda games just seems to have stagnated or at some aspects even gotten worse! There are way too many loading screens and they are way too long, the performance on pc fluctuates ridiculously, the graphics aren’t that great, the level up/skill system has become worse (no leveling up specific skills by using them?), there are still way too many fetch quests and the new dialog system is an abomination. A lot of past bethesda games had the same issues, but I guess I just expected more of it considering the length of this games development cycle and this being a new generation of consoles. I still love this type of game, and that is the reason why it is still relatively high up on this list, but all the other bethesda games were GOTY candidates for me. Fallout 4 is a great game, but is certainly not a GOTY candidate.
7. Undertale ; Undertale may not be the best looking, best playing or most ambitious game of the year, but it is one of the smartest games I have ever played, is funny and has a shitload of personality. Almost every character in the game is interesting and fun, and it has more than a few genuine funny moments. But the real strength of undertale is how it plays with it’s own gameplay elements in smart and unexpected ways, and even uses your own presumptions about game elements you have seen 100 times in such a way that turns them on their head and surprises you. I didn’t care for the core gameplay, and it really speaks for everything surrounding it that this game still made it onto my list. It’s surprising, full of personality, funny and above all very, VERY smart.
8. Starcraft II: Legacy of the void ; I like RTS games with base building. Unfortunately, that genre has almost completely died out. Starcraft II is one of the last remaining signs of life of the genre. And with this add-on Blizzard created another great campaign filled with fun missions and...eh...a story that makes no sense and is kinda bad. But I don’t care, I just want to play a bunch of fun campaign missions and this add-on delivers exactly that. The co-op missions are a great addition and it is a blast to tackle missions with a friend.
9. Batman: arkham knight ; I love the batman series. Asylum and City were my GOTY in their respectable years. Arkham knight still has the great combat, fun stealth encounters, interesting villains, amazing graphics and fun collecteton (yes, I am one of those persons that actually like the riddler stuff!) that made me fall in love with this series. It also has a bunch of additions I really didn’t care about. The batmobile in particular felt like just adding stuff to add stuff. Driving around is fine, but man the tank combat is boring as shit. And there is soooo much of it, even most of the bosses are now tank battles. It really sucks. Even the combat had some things added to it which imo made it to complex. There are so many button combinations you have to remember and counters to specific enemies, it just all has become a bit to much. They needed to scale it back, more options is not always better. It still shows signs of the brilliance that is the arkham series, unfortunately it is buried beneath a pile of boring stuff this time around. And then there is of course the fact that it took THREE FUCKING MONTHS before I could actually play the game on my pc without it stuttering like a madman. That was just embarrassing.
10. Lara croft Go ; Looks great, plays great, very fun game for if you have a couple of minutes to spare. I love the way the Go series reinvents well known series into fun little mobile puzzle games. Keep them coming!
2. Ori and the blind forest ; Man, that opening. MAN, THAT OPENING. One of the most emotional strong scenes I have ever seen in a game. A near perfect mix of amazing animation and a fantastic soundtrack immediately shows that Ori is incredibly ambitious. And when the game actually starts, it turns out that not only does it sound and look absolutely stunning, it plays great too. Controlling ori feels almost perfect, and when you die in one of the games many hard as nails platforming segments it never feels that happened because of something out of your control. The game really does feel like a sort of metroidvania version of super meat boy with absolutely stunning 2D graphics and animation. Not only one of the best games of the year, but one of the best 2D platformers I have ever played period. This game is a work of art.
3. Grand theft auto V ; Finally came to the PC this year and the port is actually good! The game looks great and Los Santos may be the most detailed open world I have ever seen. The gameplay and missions are also vastly improved from GTA IV, which a lot more over the top crazy stuff happening. The story and characters, while good, could have been better though. Especially the story has some pacing problems. Still, holy shit Los Santos is so full of details it is almost unbelievable.
4. Metal gear solid V: the phantom pain ; The “anti metal gear”. Previous entries in the series I played for the story and characters while the gamplay was so-so. This game I played for the gameplay while the story and characters were…..almost non-existent. Assaulting a base, either while using stealth or going full on rambo, feels amazing, the game is truly a joy to play. But the story just isn’t there, and especially the characters are just….flat and boring, they do jack shit. Especially in chapter 2 that becomes apparent, and that last mission that forces you to redo that segment is just really boring and such a stupid idea. The final twist was….OK I guess but also felt really forced and just there to have a twist, it didn’t really serve any purpose. But damn if this game doesn’t feel great to play.
5. Tales from the borderlands ; I didn’t care about the borderlands universe. I now care about the borderlands universe. Not only is this by far the funniest telltale game, it also has the best characters. I really did care about what happened to them, something I never thought I would say about characters in a borderlands game. Sure, your choices don’t seem to have that much of an impact, and there isn’t really much gameplay, but I didn’t care, I was more than happy to just sit back and watch this like a really good TV-show about borderlands. One of telltales best games.
6. Fallout 4 ; This game was a bit of a dissapointment. Sure, the shooting is 10x better than in fallout 3, which is great! but outside of that bethesda games just seems to have stagnated or at some aspects even gotten worse! There are way too many loading screens and they are way too long, the performance on pc fluctuates ridiculously, the graphics aren’t that great, the level up/skill system has become worse (no leveling up specific skills by using them?), there are still way too many fetch quests and the new dialog system is an abomination. A lot of past bethesda games had the same issues, but I guess I just expected more of it considering the length of this games development cycle and this being a new generation of consoles. I still love this type of game, and that is the reason why it is still relatively high up on this list, but all the other bethesda games were GOTY candidates for me. Fallout 4 is a great game, but is certainly not a GOTY candidate.
7. Undertale ; Undertale may not be the best looking, best playing or most ambitious game of the year, but it is one of the smartest games I have ever played, is funny and has a shitload of personality. Almost every character in the game is interesting and fun, and it has more than a few genuine funny moments. But the real strength of undertale is how it plays with it’s own gameplay elements in smart and unexpected ways, and even uses your own presumptions about game elements you have seen 100 times in such a way that turns them on their head and surprises you. I didn’t care for the core gameplay, and it really speaks for everything surrounding it that this game still made it onto my list. It’s surprising, full of personality, funny and above all very, VERY smart.
8. Starcraft II: Legacy of the void ; I like RTS games with base building. Unfortunately, that genre has almost completely died out. Starcraft II is one of the last remaining signs of life of the genre. And with this add-on Blizzard created another great campaign filled with fun missions and...eh...a story that makes no sense and is kinda bad. But I don’t care, I just want to play a bunch of fun campaign missions and this add-on delivers exactly that. The co-op missions are a great addition and it is a blast to tackle missions with a friend.
9. Batman: arkham knight ; I love the batman series. Asylum and City were my GOTY in their respectable years. Arkham knight still has the great combat, fun stealth encounters, interesting villains, amazing graphics and fun collecteton (yes, I am one of those persons that actually like the riddler stuff!) that made me fall in love with this series. It also has a bunch of additions I really didn’t care about. The batmobile in particular felt like just adding stuff to add stuff. Driving around is fine, but man the tank combat is boring as shit. And there is soooo much of it, even most of the bosses are now tank battles. It really sucks. Even the combat had some things added to it which imo made it to complex. There are so many button combinations you have to remember and counters to specific enemies, it just all has become a bit to much. They needed to scale it back, more options is not always better. It still shows signs of the brilliance that is the arkham series, unfortunately it is buried beneath a pile of boring stuff this time around. And then there is of course the fact that it took THREE FUCKING MONTHS before I could actually play the game on my pc without it stuttering like a madman. That was just embarrassing.
10. Lara croft Go ; Looks great, plays great, very fun game for if you have a couple of minutes to spare. I love the way the Go series reinvents well known series into fun little mobile puzzle games. Keep them coming!
Cheesemeister
Member
Go for it.
Only other game I played that released this year is MM3D, but I didn't feel it was different enough from the original to warrant a spot on the list. Since I only have 1 game I'll make it a long one.
1. Splatoon ; Splatoon is the type of game where just moving around is a lot of fun in and of itself. The squid form is one of the most enjoyable movement mechanics I've had the pleasure of using in any game, let alone in shooters which rarely tend to emphasize movement like Splatoon does. Whether it be through stealth or erratic, deliberately confusing movement, taking advantage of this in the heat of battle and out-maneuvering your opponent to get behind them to score the kill is one of the most satisfying things in any multiplayer game I've ever played.
Some of the weapons are also fairly unique for a shooter, best of all being the rollers which, when used against competent players, forces the user to master the movement mechanics to get up in your opponent's face and land the melee ohko
. Of course, despite not being quite as effective, stealth in splatoon allows me to use any weapon and still stick to this playstyle. I had a lot of fun surprising people by sniping them from a random corner as they walked out their spawn.
Presentation-wise, the game is visually distinct and looks really pretty, at least to me. The soundtrack is also pretty unique and unlike what you usually hear for a game soundtrack: the battle themes sound like counter-culture bands trying to appeal to overly edgy teens and the single player themes are just off the wall weird, but I love it all.
The whole over the top "cool" 90s vibe they got going is hilarious. The shop owners are all too good for you, denying service to low-level un-fresh losers. The Squid Sisters are a fucking riot, with an ever-increasing (at least until the end of this month, anyway) number of lines in which Marie takes the ever loving piss out of Callie, and every once in a while, Callie hands that snark right back. And then there's also the standard explanations and stuff which are fully of silly "cool" vocabulary like fresh and radical. It might be a bit much for some people but I really adore the personality of this game; never back down on the silly-ness Nintendo!
Lastly is the single player, which I feel is an underrated gem, providing a selection of fun and creative levels which let you use the ink and your squid form in ways which wouldn't be possible in multiplayer. My personal favorite is "Inkvisible Avenues" in which about half the level is completely transparent and the player needs to use their ink to uncover the path forward. The bosses are also somewhat interesting, but the one really worth talking about is the final one (so, spoilers I guess).
Splatoon's single player is topped off by what is in my opinion one of the best and most memorable bosses not only in shooters but of any game I've ever played. First off, the fight is against an angry DJ Octopus king who spends the battle DJing his own music and throwing some of the most ridiculous yet funny insults ever at the player, something which would make no sense in any other game yet somehow fits perfectly in the context of Splatoon. "Slimy little hipster" will never not make me laugh. Second, the fight acts as test of the everything the player has learned in the single player, reintroducing almost every mechanic the player learned throughout the campaign and forcing the player to use them against the boss. But while you're doing this, you also have dodge an barrage of attacks which quickly increase in number, speed, and variety while the battleground constantly decreases in size, making keeping track of everything going on more and more difficult. It's the type of fight which keeps you focused on the action and stresses you out with how little breathing room you have, something I really love. It's a bit of a difficulty spike compared to the rest of the game without being punishingly difficult, making for a perfect final challenge. Lastly, the fight is an over the top audiovisual spectacle, taking place in a floating arena full of giant stereo-speaker octopus tentacles with rave lights shooting up from the abyss. And when you reach the final phase, they amp up the intensity and switch the music to the amazing squid sisters final boss theme, which fits a finale for this game perfectly and really hyped me up to push through the challenge and finish off the boss.
All in all, while Splatoon isn't perfect and may have a few weird decisions, the game is a fresh take on the shooter genre, focusing on things other than the shooting and doing a great job of it, while also having a unique style and a surprisingly good single player.
/gush
1. Splatoon ; Splatoon is the type of game where just moving around is a lot of fun in and of itself. The squid form is one of the most enjoyable movement mechanics I've had the pleasure of using in any game, let alone in shooters which rarely tend to emphasize movement like Splatoon does. Whether it be through stealth or erratic, deliberately confusing movement, taking advantage of this in the heat of battle and out-maneuvering your opponent to get behind them to score the kill is one of the most satisfying things in any multiplayer game I've ever played.
Some of the weapons are also fairly unique for a shooter, best of all being the rollers which, when used against competent players, forces the user to master the movement mechanics to get up in your opponent's face and land the melee ohko
except for you dynamo cheaters >:[
Presentation-wise, the game is visually distinct and looks really pretty, at least to me. The soundtrack is also pretty unique and unlike what you usually hear for a game soundtrack: the battle themes sound like counter-culture bands trying to appeal to overly edgy teens and the single player themes are just off the wall weird, but I love it all.
The whole over the top "cool" 90s vibe they got going is hilarious. The shop owners are all too good for you, denying service to low-level un-fresh losers. The Squid Sisters are a fucking riot, with an ever-increasing (at least until the end of this month, anyway) number of lines in which Marie takes the ever loving piss out of Callie, and every once in a while, Callie hands that snark right back. And then there's also the standard explanations and stuff which are fully of silly "cool" vocabulary like fresh and radical. It might be a bit much for some people but I really adore the personality of this game; never back down on the silly-ness Nintendo!
Lastly is the single player, which I feel is an underrated gem, providing a selection of fun and creative levels which let you use the ink and your squid form in ways which wouldn't be possible in multiplayer. My personal favorite is "Inkvisible Avenues" in which about half the level is completely transparent and the player needs to use their ink to uncover the path forward. The bosses are also somewhat interesting, but the one really worth talking about is the final one (so, spoilers I guess).
Splatoon's single player is topped off by what is in my opinion one of the best and most memorable bosses not only in shooters but of any game I've ever played. First off, the fight is against an angry DJ Octopus king who spends the battle DJing his own music and throwing some of the most ridiculous yet funny insults ever at the player, something which would make no sense in any other game yet somehow fits perfectly in the context of Splatoon. "Slimy little hipster" will never not make me laugh. Second, the fight acts as test of the everything the player has learned in the single player, reintroducing almost every mechanic the player learned throughout the campaign and forcing the player to use them against the boss. But while you're doing this, you also have dodge an barrage of attacks which quickly increase in number, speed, and variety while the battleground constantly decreases in size, making keeping track of everything going on more and more difficult. It's the type of fight which keeps you focused on the action and stresses you out with how little breathing room you have, something I really love. It's a bit of a difficulty spike compared to the rest of the game without being punishingly difficult, making for a perfect final challenge. Lastly, the fight is an over the top audiovisual spectacle, taking place in a floating arena full of giant stereo-speaker octopus tentacles with rave lights shooting up from the abyss. And when you reach the final phase, they amp up the intensity and switch the music to the amazing squid sisters final boss theme, which fits a finale for this game perfectly and really hyped me up to push through the challenge and finish off the boss.
All in all, while Splatoon isn't perfect and may have a few weird decisions, the game is a fresh take on the shooter genre, focusing on things other than the shooting and doing a great job of it, while also having a unique style and a surprisingly good single player.
/gush
Neon_Icarus
Member
1. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; A pretty good example of a game where a couple of key strengths really outshine its (numerous) small failings. Learning all the game systems one by one within its 100 hour+ playtime was really satisfying. Elma for Smash!
2. Bloodborne ; Personally I prefer the deeper gameplay systems and the variety of character builds possible in the main souls games. A good number two though.
3. Splatoon ; Splatoon is one of those games with controls that feel so polished that simply moving around feels satisfying. Original and charming.
4. Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. ; I absolutely hated the art style when I first saw it, but it really grew on me. Manages to look good on the famously low resolution 3DS screen. Great strategy gameplay from Intelligent Systems.
5. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin ; Would have surely ranked higher had it been a new game.
6. Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush ; I didnt feel compelled to finish the original, but the wonderful presentation of the Wii U game really won me over.
7. Yoshi's Woolly World ; Its not as inspired as the original Yoshis Island, but still better than 99% of the platform games out there. The real pleasure is in thoroughly exploring all the levels and collecting the items.
8. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker ; Ingenious (and very pretty) little puzzle game.
x. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water ; It has the usual feminine horror atmosphere which really appeals to me. Theres really nothing else quite like it in gaming. Its too bad that repeating the same environments and ghost encounters again and again really undermines the tension and at times can make progression seem like work. I still enjoyed it, but dont feel like it fits into a GOTY list.
2. Bloodborne ; Personally I prefer the deeper gameplay systems and the variety of character builds possible in the main souls games. A good number two though.
3. Splatoon ; Splatoon is one of those games with controls that feel so polished that simply moving around feels satisfying. Original and charming.
4. Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. ; I absolutely hated the art style when I first saw it, but it really grew on me. Manages to look good on the famously low resolution 3DS screen. Great strategy gameplay from Intelligent Systems.
5. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin ; Would have surely ranked higher had it been a new game.
6. Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush ; I didnt feel compelled to finish the original, but the wonderful presentation of the Wii U game really won me over.
7. Yoshi's Woolly World ; Its not as inspired as the original Yoshis Island, but still better than 99% of the platform games out there. The real pleasure is in thoroughly exploring all the levels and collecting the items.
8. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker ; Ingenious (and very pretty) little puzzle game.
x. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water ; It has the usual feminine horror atmosphere which really appeals to me. Theres really nothing else quite like it in gaming. Its too bad that repeating the same environments and ghost encounters again and again really undermines the tension and at times can make progression seem like work. I still enjoyed it, but dont feel like it fits into a GOTY list.
I am a big strategy game player (especially Paradox titles), so most of the games I put time into this year were earlier games. Next year should be more exciting with Hearts of Iron 4 and Stellaris though! Most of my gaming hours this year went into Europa Universalis 4, Civilization 5, Pillars of Eternity and Skyrim. I also only play PC games nowadays.
1. Pillars of Eternity ; I actually did not know much about this game until right before its release. I saw a GAF thread on it and decided to check out some videos on it since I have recently become a big fan of RPGs and played the hell out of games such as Torchlight. This game is amazing! Having never played games such as Baulder's Gate before the concept of controlling a whole party of characters was new to me. The different abilities and interactions between the classes really pushed my buttons in the best way. It was fun figuring out how to use different classes together effectively in order to take down opponents more quickly. I have not beaten the game yet but am enjoying the story and the interactions between my party members as they travel this world together.
2. Sorcerer King ; Although strategy game releases were relatively light this year this game was a pleasant surprise. It is a super fun, fantasy 4X game with heavy RPG elements. I also like how they took the game scenario in a different direction than most other 4X games, with you as a small, recently defeated nation that is trying to overthrow the powerful Sorcerer King before he completely takes over the world with his devious magic. Fun and well made!
3. Star Wars: Battlefront ; I know a lot of people on GAF are not a fan of this game for various reasons (high price point, perceived lack of content, no single player) but I am very happy with my purchase. The game is beautiful on PC and I really feel like I am in the Star Wars universe. I really enjoy the gunplay and powerup system; some of the most fun I have had this year gaming was when I got to play as Bobba Fett and absolute destroy the opposing team. In the end, I wanted to experience large scale battles in the Star Wars universe, much like I did in Battlefront 2 years ago. This game certainly delivered on that front. A great game to play for an hour or two before bed a few nights a week, the sound and graphical design really push it over the edge for me.
Cheesemeister, I did not find Sorcerer King on the spreadsheet, maybe should be added?
1. Pillars of Eternity ; I actually did not know much about this game until right before its release. I saw a GAF thread on it and decided to check out some videos on it since I have recently become a big fan of RPGs and played the hell out of games such as Torchlight. This game is amazing! Having never played games such as Baulder's Gate before the concept of controlling a whole party of characters was new to me. The different abilities and interactions between the classes really pushed my buttons in the best way. It was fun figuring out how to use different classes together effectively in order to take down opponents more quickly. I have not beaten the game yet but am enjoying the story and the interactions between my party members as they travel this world together.
2. Sorcerer King ; Although strategy game releases were relatively light this year this game was a pleasant surprise. It is a super fun, fantasy 4X game with heavy RPG elements. I also like how they took the game scenario in a different direction than most other 4X games, with you as a small, recently defeated nation that is trying to overthrow the powerful Sorcerer King before he completely takes over the world with his devious magic. Fun and well made!
3. Star Wars: Battlefront ; I know a lot of people on GAF are not a fan of this game for various reasons (high price point, perceived lack of content, no single player) but I am very happy with my purchase. The game is beautiful on PC and I really feel like I am in the Star Wars universe. I really enjoy the gunplay and powerup system; some of the most fun I have had this year gaming was when I got to play as Bobba Fett and absolute destroy the opposing team. In the end, I wanted to experience large scale battles in the Star Wars universe, much like I did in Battlefront 2 years ago. This game certainly delivered on that front. A great game to play for an hour or two before bed a few nights a week, the sound and graphical design really push it over the edge for me.
Cheesemeister, I did not find Sorcerer King on the spreadsheet, maybe should be added?
1. Witcher 3 ; I generally enjoy more gameplay focused games like Bloodborne, but in the end Witcher 3 was the most enjoyable game this year. The games world, quests, and writing are some of the best and the gameplay on the higher difficulties is enjoyable enough to not make combat a chore.
2. Bloodborne ;
3. Yakuza 5 ;
4. Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance ;
5. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain ; One of the most satisfying games to play. Unfortunately the story is wack.
6. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; Not as good as the original, but still a great rpg with an amazing sense of exploration.
7. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter ;
8. SOMA ;
9. GUILTY GEAR Xrd -SIGN- ; Good port of a great fighting game.
10. Fallout 4 ; Solid fallout game, but not as good as New Vegas. The dialogue system changes in particular really bring it down.
2. Bloodborne ;
3. Yakuza 5 ;
4. Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance ;
5. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain ; One of the most satisfying games to play. Unfortunately the story is wack.
6. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; Not as good as the original, but still a great rpg with an amazing sense of exploration.
7. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter ;
8. SOMA ;
9. GUILTY GEAR Xrd -SIGN- ; Good port of a great fighting game.
10. Fallout 4 ; Solid fallout game, but not as good as New Vegas. The dialogue system changes in particular really bring it down.
It will automatically be added. All this means that you're the first person to vote for it.
Ah, alright! Too bad for everyone who missed out then haha.
1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; Amazing world, characters, music, atmosphere, and a hell of a lot of fun to play. Such great, memorable side quests too. The DLC is also excellent and worth every penny because it's just as good as the main game, if not better. I've been playing since release and I'm still finding new events or locations in the world even now.
2. Her Story ; Really surprised me with how much I enjoyed the unique format. This one really stuck with me afterwards.
3. Splatoon ; Definitely has the best final boss fight of the year for me. Extremely fun and it never gets old.
4. Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair ; This is the perfect game for mindless fun after a rough day. I love the series and this one is the best one yet.
5. Just Cause 3 ; I love the world, gameplay, and sense of humor in this.
6. Yoshi's Woolly World ; Yoshi is awesome and the gameplay is great. I love everything about this.
7. Bloodborne ; One of my favorite settings in any game and extremely addictive to play. It's a shame I only just got to it now.
8. Tearaway Unfolded ; I really enjoyed the look of this game and how unique it is. It has a lot of awesome ideas and it was really fun to play.
9. Ori and the Blind Forest ; Gorgeous visuals and great gameplay.
10. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; Huge world to explore and it's addictive. I can easily lose a day to playing this without realizing it.
2. Her Story ; Really surprised me with how much I enjoyed the unique format. This one really stuck with me afterwards.
3. Splatoon ; Definitely has the best final boss fight of the year for me. Extremely fun and it never gets old.
4. Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair ; This is the perfect game for mindless fun after a rough day. I love the series and this one is the best one yet.
5. Just Cause 3 ; I love the world, gameplay, and sense of humor in this.
6. Yoshi's Woolly World ; Yoshi is awesome and the gameplay is great. I love everything about this.
7. Bloodborne ; One of my favorite settings in any game and extremely addictive to play. It's a shame I only just got to it now.
8. Tearaway Unfolded ; I really enjoyed the look of this game and how unique it is. It has a lot of awesome ideas and it was really fun to play.
9. Ori and the Blind Forest ; Gorgeous visuals and great gameplay.
10. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; Huge world to explore and it's addictive. I can easily lose a day to playing this without realizing it.
1. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; Completely shits on every other open world this year or even in general, makes Witcher 3, which I loved, look unfinished at best. Not even talking about Fallout 4. Will make a thread about it in the next few days.
2. Witcher 3 ; Huge fan of the characters. Technically the world is absolutely impressive, helps how well it actually performs if you turn off the Nvidia crap. Gameplay and level design is lackluster, of course, but fighting every monster for the first few times, exploring new parts of the world for the first time and altering the story is pure fun as long as it lasts. Geralt is easily one of the most charismatic protagonists ever.
3. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate ; Despite many, many game design choices with this game I find horrible, it's still Monster Hunter and also adds some cool stuff. In my eyes easily the deepest PvE combat there is, endless content, a fun community, great design, art, music and performance.
2. Witcher 3 ; Huge fan of the characters. Technically the world is absolutely impressive, helps how well it actually performs if you turn off the Nvidia crap. Gameplay and level design is lackluster, of course, but fighting every monster for the first few times, exploring new parts of the world for the first time and altering the story is pure fun as long as it lasts. Geralt is easily one of the most charismatic protagonists ever.
3. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate ; Despite many, many game design choices with this game I find horrible, it's still Monster Hunter and also adds some cool stuff. In my eyes easily the deepest PvE combat there is, endless content, a fun community, great design, art, music and performance.
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