Tatty's 2016 Game Of The Year Awards, 2016. LIVE! Of Duty! Pokemon! [Archive]

Tacitus

11-30-16, 08:24 AM

Now that the SEO is out of the way, I'll begin. :p

I've collected 15 games that I enjoyed more than the others this year, which were released this year, plus a few other random awards inserted when I get bored.

Onwards!

#15 - Trackmania Turbo

http://i.imgur.com/knC7btz.jpg

Developer: Nadeo

John-Ra (She-Ra's brother): Racing

March 24, 2016.

PC, PS4, XBO

Trackmania is more than just a racing game. It's a community driven, online multiplayer hellhole soundtracked by dubstep Cher remixes.

It's that good.

The purists will gravitate towards the earlier Trackmania 2 Stadium because the editing tools were a lot more open (and you could run your own music server) but Turbo has something that the earlier titles lacked - accessibility.

No doubt necessitated by a console release, Trackmania Turbo is a lot more locked down in terms of its lunacy but the blisteringly fast Time-Attack racing remains, and it's as tight as ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl2kZH9GO2w

In 5 years time I'll probably have left Turbo in the dust and will still be trying to find servers for Stadium which run the mighty Star Wars Metallica track, backed with the Buck Bumble theme, who's to say?

Sometimes you just wanna race, man.

CLASH OF CLANS!

Yoda

11-30-16, 01:12 PM

My excitement at this thread is counteracted only by the fact that I briefly thought the whole list had been posted. I got some coffee, sat down...and found only one. Sadface.

Tacitus

11-30-16, 01:44 PM

Countdowns are 2011's hottest internet trend. ;)

TONGO

11-30-16, 02:07 PM

I know Tatty knows his stuff, but hoping to see Blood Bowl pop up here. :)

Yoda

11-30-16, 02:21 PM

Countdowns are 2011's hottest internet trend. ;)
COUNTDOWN: Best Years Since 2011.

1. 2014
2. 2015
3. 2013
4. 2014
5. 2016

Tacitus

11-30-16, 02:43 PM

2016's bestest (year) old game - Until Dawn!

http://i.imgur.com/E5K4Ig3.jpg

For the first time since the mid 2000s, I bought a games console and couldn't wait to start playing all the hot exclusive titles that I'd been missing out on in the three years since this generation started.

There are very ... very few.

Fortunately, Until Dawn is an outlier and well worth a place in anyone's library.

It parodies a genre of film I don't really like (slasher horror) and takes the game style of a developer I have equally little time for (David Cage) but does it in such a style, such a joyous style, that I was immediately hooked. Basically, you're keeping as many teens alive as possible over the course of a long, jumpscare-ridden night.

The reason why I think Until Dawn succeeds as a 'cinematic' game (and why Cage's frequently fall flat on their noses) is that it's self aware. It's also one of the few games where I'm glad that it was massively delayed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESPKeMinQgI

Can you imagine this as a PS3 Move title? That's what the studio was originally shooting for. ;)

ANGRY BIRDS!

doubledenim

11-30-16, 02:45 PM

#15 - Trackmania Turbo

http://i.imgur.com/knC7btz.jpg

Please explain two girls, one...I mean, two drivers, one car. I wish this would drop in price (just like Overcooked), because it looks great.

2016's bestest (year) old game - Until Dawn!

http://i.imgur.com/E5K4Ig3.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/UrNHF3p.gif (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjLjpjMktHQAhWFSCYKHT5yAjMQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fimgur.com%2Fgallery%2FUrNHF3p&psig=AFQjCNG_L20x_Hw83tkn72-ghK9f8MksDA&ust=1480618055619247)

Tacitus

11-30-16, 02:50 PM

As far as I know (as I've not tried the mode) it's two people controlling the same car. Not one in charge of acceleration and braking and one doing the steering, as you might expect, but both players doing everything and the game taking some kind of average for their combined inputs.

gbgoodies

11-30-16, 10:49 PM

COUNTDOWN: Best Years Since 2011.

1. 2014
2. 2015
3. 2013
4. 2014
5. 2016

Wow, 2014 must have been an amazing year. It was so good that you listed it twice. :lol:

Tacitus

12-01-16, 11:42 AM

#14 - Dark Souls III

http://i.imgur.com/RIoc11V.png

Developer: From Software

Genre: Action RPG

March 24 2016

PC, PS4, XBO

Oh, Dark Souls. I've put probably 200 hours into Souls games over the last decade and only actually finished the first one, Demon's Souls.

Dark Souls III was going to be different, I'd told myself. It had the world cohesiveness of DS1 with the slick 60fps PC gameplay of DS2 and the hub mechanic of Demon's. What could possibly go wrong?

What went wrong, as it turned out, was some bone-headedness from me.

30 hours into the game (and with me enjoying it immensely) I decided, for no good reason other than "Yeah, why not?", to do a clean re-install of Windows. In these days of cloud saves I hadn't given any game progress a second thought ... until I booted up DS3 a few hours later. My save had gone.

No cloud save support for one of the year's biggest releases. Ok, then.

I tried starting again, rushing through; but rushing is one thing you can't do in a Souls game and I quickly became frustrated, then de-motivated before eventually giving up.

This cut me up because Dark Souls III is fantastic. They've kept enough of the basics to sate long-time players but have injected the combat with a sometimes frenetic pace, which will keep even jaded veterans on their toes. And get this - If you take your time and do a little planning, it's not offputtingly difficult.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWBwFhUv1-8

Now that some time has passed, I can see myself starting again and actually finishing the game ... but maybe not in 2016.

Bonus points for the game's cover - The first thing which came into my mind was a guy giving a really unenthusiastic thumbs-up to the camera, as if to say "Ok, I've got this! Dark Souls doesn't scare me ... honest!" :D

FRUIT NINJA!

Tacitus

12-02-16, 10:23 AM

#13 - DOOM

http://i.imgur.com/PiEsj0f.jpg

Developer: id Software

Genre: Action

May 13 2016

PC, PS4, XBO

Doom was never supposed to be this good.

The id Software making it was far removed from the company of Romero, Carmack et al and their previous game had been the unloved Rage. The multiplayer Beta garnered criticism from all quarters and even pre-release gameplay videos hinted more at Halo than harked back to the original Doom.

Pretty much everyone on the internet was wrong.

I'm someone who generally doesn't like first person shooters (and wasn't a massive fan of 90s Doom, being more of a Quake guy) but Doom is quite possibly the best franchise reboot I've ever played.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO90omga8D4

It's lightning fast, gory and has controls which are tighter than a really tight thing which has been washed on too high a temperature. It's also super, mega fun.

The game will doubtless appear at the top of many lesser GOTY lists but (and Linda Carter has phoned me personally to confirm this) it'll be damn happy to feature at all here. Diversity! :D

THE SIMPSONS: TAPPED OUT!

rauldc14

12-02-16, 11:15 AM

COUNTDOWN: Best Years Since 2011.

1. 2014
2. 2015
3. 2013
4. 2014
5. 2016

2013 was a beast. And 2016 was second I'd say.

Tacitus

12-03-16, 10:36 AM

#12 - N++

http://i.imgur.com/Zc4nPDb.jpg

Developer: Metanet Software

Genre: Hair-loss inducing platformer

August 25 2016 (game released in 2015 on PS4)

PC, PS4

In 2005 there was a little browser based indie platformer called N. I played it and thought it groovy.

2008 saw the release of N+, an Xbox 360/NDS/PSP sequel. N+ was one of the best games on the XBL Arcade and in the hard platformer stakes, I thought it was an even better game than Super Meatboy.

You're a Ninja. You love gold. Levels contain gold, along with the possibility of an early death. You prefer gold to life. I think.

It's taken Metanet a long time to release the third entry and on the face of it they haven't changed an awful lot - It's still got some of the most fluid floaty movement I've ever experienced; it's still got wonderous music; it's still got hundreds of levels. In addition, N++ now has a level maker and uploading facility so as long as their servers stay up, you'll find it hard to run out of content.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AmCMMlGKBI

I don't buy a lot of platformers, finding them a bit dull and dated in 2016, but the great ones still tend to find their way into my collection. N++ is one such great game - It can get as difficult as anything from the SNES/Mega Drive era but it never feels cheap, and has a style all its own.

FARM HEROES SAGA!

TONGO

12-03-16, 01:15 PM

Honestly I am not up to speed on the video game market, and this is the first im seeing of N++

Damn that looks tight as hell! I just put it on my wishlist, thanks Tatty ;)

Tacitus

12-04-16, 08:34 AM

#11 - ABZÛ

http://i.imgur.com/qs32BTD.jpg

Developer: Giant Squid

Genre: Life Affirming Explorative Diving Sim

August 2 2016

PC, PS4, XBO

ABZÛ comes from a new studio set up by Matt Nava, one of the people behind Journey, Flower and flOw. If you've played those particular games, you'll not be surprised by the feel of ABZÛ, which isn't a negative. At least in my eyes. :)

In terms of packing an emotional punch, Journey was one of the most powerful games I've ever played and while ABZÛ doesn't quite reach those heights, I don't think it was ever shooting for them to begin with.

Sure, you'll feel a number of poignant highs and lows as you explore the ocean depths but the message I took from Nava's new game was not one of humanity (as I did in Journey) but an appreciation for life itself, in all its forms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2G54w8H4oM

Sorry if I'm coming across as a little free range yogurt or organic eggs here but, and you'll have to trust me in that there's no BIG MESSAGE agenda at work here. No smug 'the current world is bad, ours is idealistically good' nonsense, just a feeling of awe. Without the shock.

Apart from one minor jump scare. :p

It's one of the most beautiful pieces of art (there I go again) that you'll see all year and, apart from a couple of minor gripes, the game's got the mechanics and feel of scuba diving down pat. Score by Austin Wintory, and that's all I need to say on that ... erm ... score.

ABZÛ might not be as genre defining as Journey was, but as a new studio's calling card it's still mighty fine.

Tacitus

12-06-16, 10:46 AM

10 - Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

http://i.imgur.com/YTD3UfR.jpg

Developer: Capcom

Genre: Action RPG

January 15 2016 (PC version)

PC, PS3, X360

I played the original release of Dragon's Dogma and didn't get very far. It had some neat ideas but the severe performance issues and my overall Dark Souls fatigue meant I didn't spend much time with it. By the time the updated Dark Arisen version came to console I'd pretty much packed those machines away for posterity so only gave it a cursory glance.

Fast forward 3 years and word came out that Capcom was porting the game to PC and would be selling it at mid-price. I wasn't massively excited.

Japanese developers had rarely gotten PC ports 'right'. All too often they were locked at 30fps, had nonadjustable resolution options and paid no more than lip service to the weirdos PC users who preferred using a keyboard and mouse while playing a console game. What chance did a three year old mid price game which hardly set the world alight on original release have?

It's one of the finest PC ports from any region in years.

Gone are the muddy textures, enforced screen borders (to cut down on having to render an entire screen on console), sub 30fps gameplay and sundial-measured load times. We can no concentrate entirely on the game itself, and the game is a bit of a gem.

Much as the Souls games looked West for their gameplay inspiration, Dragon's Dogma is a JRPG only in terms of where it was made. There are no spiky haired, morose teenaged heroes. No overly flashy combat systems. No hamstrung, linear progression.

It's open world, for a start, with combat (while not in the From Software league, that's not what they were aiming for) that can be adapted for multiple situations and character builds. The story itself is a bit cookie-cutter but the world feels vibrant and eminently explorable with tons of interesting characters and quests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goH1mtLiyGU

Capcom's cherry on the cake, however, is the Pawn system. Much like with Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis mechanic, once I'd played Dragon's Dogma I wondered quite why we'd not seen it in a game before.

At the beginning of the game, after you've rolled your player character you create your 'pawn', a follower/valet who you can level up and equip in the same way you do and who is with you throughout the game. The great thing here is that your pawn can be with other players throughout their games too - When you're not playing, the pawn can be hired by other players and will level up while in battle with them. if they do well, they come back to you with a gift: sometimes a few apples, sometimes a rare weapon, given by the pawn's hirer.

You adventure with a party of four so there's ample chance to always have two pawns from other players. It's a simple, neat and well implemented system which gives personality to your NPC party. Forza's Drivatar (ugh, that name) system is the only thing I can think of which is similar.

If you own a half decent PC (the game plays great on even budget gaming rigs) there's no reason not to pick up DDDA in the next Steam sale. It's one of the best kept secrets out there.

COOKING MAMA 3: SHOP & CHOP!

Tacitus

12-06-16, 11:05 AM

2016's Most Disappointing Game: Street Fighter V

C'mon, you figured it'd be No Man's Sky didn't you? :p

Whilst Hello Games' ... thing provoked the internet's chattering classes in 2016, once it had been revealed that the game would be little more than another open world survival crafting experience, my hype was well and truly crushed.

Street Fighter V, though. It's effing Street Fighter! Vee!

Pre release rumours weren't great - The game would initially ship without a story mode, without a proper arcade mode and with a non-functioning in-game store. No proper tutorial mode either.

It's still a Street Fighter game, yeah? It'll at least have the opportunity for epic online match-ups?

The net code stinks. They couldn't even get that right.

I can see the reason behind Capcom rushing the game's release - They wanted it to be playable by the time their E-Sports tournament began - and they've largely kept to their word of regular introductions of missing features, but the world (and me) has largely forgotten that Street Fighter V exists now.

It's a shame because, underneath, it's one mightily impressive fighting game, but for all but the small proportion of hardcore fans (who mainly play local one-on-one matches) it's one who's time may already have passed.

When you consider how long Street Fighter IV's tail was (and how well that game is still regarded), it's criminally disappointing. I mean, it's got Akuma coming and I don't care.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P0NI8ed_eg

Effing Akuma! :(

Tacitus

12-07-16, 11:39 AM

#9 - Pac-Man 256 (non-phone version)

http://i.imgur.com/qeXsBNy.png

Developer: Bandai Namco/Hipster Whale

Genre: Arcade/Runner

21 June 2016

PC, PS4, XONE

You might have heard of Pac-Man. He's a greedy little fella who scares ghosts, loves fruit and pills, and is obsessed by (although some would say trapped in) ever changing mazes.

Basically, he's a meth head.

Unlike most normal meth heads, however, Pac-Man has had a long shelf life. I can remember playing some of the first Pac-Man machines on family holidays in the early 80s and loved the game so much that I eventually bought a non-functioning table cabinet. It was going to cost a total bomb to restore so I swapped it for a Galaga machine, but that's quite another money pit story. ;)

There have been a number of sequels over the years but Pac-Man didn't really get his second wind until Championship Edition was released in 2007. The little speed freak was cool again!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKlUCiuRaeo

Pac-Man 256 is a game by Hipster Whale, the team behind Crossy Road. Its underpinnings are similar - Keep moving upwards while the ground disappears behind you - but gameplay is a lot more nuanced. You've got power-ups, chain bonuses and, of course, Pac-Man's arch nemeses: law enforcement Blinky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde.

The ghosts. Those are the names of the ghosts in Pac-Man. I have known this since I was a child. That's not weird. No.

It's not.

Whether it's (free to play, and in a fair way) on phone, PC or console, Pac-Man 256 is a joy. It's fiendishly addictive, with new power-ups changing gameplay at regular intervals, without having the 1000 mile an hour speed which made Championship Edition DX so difficult to nail.

Championship Edition DX 2 was second in my 'most disappointing' list, by the way. 256 is awesome because they tried something new.

MINECRAFT POCKET EDITION!

Tacitus

12-08-16, 11:58 AM

#8 - Thumper

http://i.imgur.com/ehJCbo2.png

Developer: Drool

Genre: Rhythm Violence

10 October 2016

PC, PS4

Generally, the only thing which makes me feel actual emotions in a video game is a well told story provoking a connection with characters and events. Thumper turned that on its head.

This game makes me scared.

Not scared to play it, but tense and nervous while I am, followed by a wave of relieved adrenaline when I pass a stage. It really is quite something.

If you've ever played a Guitar Hero or a Dance Dance Revolution game you'll be familiar with the basic premise - Press buttons or combinations of buttons in time with the beat and/or a visual cue. Thumper is like that ... in Hell.

Weird TRON Hell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrgC-SqEF90

The game was made by the bass player (surprisingly not the drummer) from Lightning Bolt, Brian Gibson, and the musician's touch shines through Thumper's diabolic mixture of TRON Light Cycles, Wipeout and Elite Beat Agents - A lot of sections require to hit cues off the beat, jazz drummer style.

You jump, you ride, you fly and you slam your strange Space Beetle towards each level's boss to a cacophony of industrial dance music which is so good, I quickly bought the game secondly and picked up the soundtrack edition.

It's probably best played in short bursts - finishing a level actually leaves me feeling drained, but elated - but play it you should. I've never seen anything quite like it...

Austruck

12-08-16, 03:27 PM

Wow, 2014 must have been an amazing year. It was so good that you listed it twice. :lol:
And 2012 must have really sucked because it didn't rank at all... :rolleyes:

Tacitus

12-10-16, 01:04 PM

#7 - Darkest Dungeon

http://i.imgur.com/l91Erp2.png

Developer: Red Hook Studios

Genre: RPG (with the dreaded Roguelike elements)

January 19 2016

PC, PS4, PS Vita

Darkest Dungeon was one of the Steam Early Access success stories, finally getting a 1.0 version this year followed by a lucrative (hopefully) Sony console release.

I know some people who don't dig it but, frankly, those people are WEAK. They become attached to their party of adventurers, thrust into the titular dungeon, and become sad when one of them dies. And die they will, since Darkest Dungeon's random number generator style of gameplay means that a big, ugly Cthulhu style brute will bump you on the head rather hard and rather often.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-mXN3akTPU&t=2s

There is a learning curve, and the trick to it is to treat your adventurers like cattle. Herd them into the dungeon's abattoir and don't be surprised when the abattoir do what it do - You've got plenty of willing ... erm ... cows left over.

You'll soon find ways round most of the enemy types. They'll still kill you, just not as regularly and not as cheaply. ;)

Darkest Dungeon's got style. Beautifully drawn characters, appropriately OTT doomy music and a narrator who must curse himself every day that Hammer Horror is no longer a thing.

The final dungeon - the darkest one, natch - is tough, so tough that I've not cracked it yet in nearly 40 hours. Other games have caught my eye but I keep getting pulled back every so often when I think of a new combination of adventurers for a party.

It's not a game for everyone, and if I don't see another Roguelike for as long as I live I'll be content, but there's enough polished fun to be had for Darkest Dungeon to easily make my top games of the year.

Death is not the end, if you own the dungeon. Those contractors you hired to clear it out?

Yeah, it's probably the end for them. ;)

FLAPPY BIRD!

False Writer

12-10-16, 05:25 PM

2016 has been a pretty good year for games imo. Probably better than last year and maybe 2014.

I've only played Doom so far that's on your list; not too much of a Dark Souls fan and the only indie games I've played recently are Firewatch and Outlast.

Have you played Final Fantasy 15? I'm pretty addicted to that one right now, and still need to get Dead Rising 4 to close out the year.

TONGO

12-10-16, 07:24 PM

Tacitus

12-11-16, 05:49 AM

Have you played Final Fantasy 15? I'm pretty addicted to that one right now, and still need to get Dead Rising 4 to close out the year.

I'm torn. The massive, weird patch they've announced which will flesh out character development and rebalance content is enough for me to pause the game until it's out. I'm enjoying it up to a point, and much more than I thought I would, but the time spent versus satisfaction gained ration isn't near where it should be.

And yet, even though my time has decreased markedly these past few days, I still play it.

@Tongo: It's probably a great game right now - it certainly is according to diehard fighting game fans - but I guess I'm past caring.

Tacitus

12-12-16, 03:01 PM

#6 - Civilization VI

http://i.imgur.com/BWOWp24.jpg

Developer: Firaxis

Genre: 4X Strategy

October 21 2016

PC

Sid Meier (I can never spell that guy's name correctly) is one of the few, possibly the only game developer who deserves his name on the box, independent of the development team. Sorry, American McGee. :p

Even though he's more of a company figurehead (think: talented George Lucas) these days rather than a hands-on coder, having Sid Meier associated with a game means something.

For the company it probably means a zillion more sales, for the consumer it denotes quality. I frequently wonder why I don't enjoy non-Civ strategy games with any regularity and I think it's because for me, the pan-genre gamer, they denote games that are not only highly polished but also have enough familiarity and approachability to be fully inclusive to the more casual audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KdE0p2joJw

They're not mind-numbingly impenetrable, in other words.

Civilization V was a great game, and with all the expansions running, became a classic of the genre which can be spoken of in the same breath as the venerated Civ IV. I was wary of the new game initially - Civ V was so feature complete by the end, surely they'd have left some major mechanics out in order to justify the inevitable DLC?

Nope, everything that Civ V had (including trading and religion) is in Civ VI from the get-go. It makes me wonder what on earth they've got planned for the expansions?

The basic gameplay loop is an iteration on mechanics that are a quarter of a century old, of course, but things have been expanded on (even over V) to such an extent that they feel fresh. I think the artwork, which has come in for criticism from many quarters, is flat-out gorgeous - Certainly more in the vein of the exaggerated style of the (massively underrated) console title, Civilization Revolution, than past games but all the better for it.

Civilization VI, then. Outside the top five for no other reason than I enjoyed four games slightly more. :D

FARMVILLE!

Tacitus

12-12-16, 03:02 PM

Well, that was the easy part.

I'm agonising over the order of the top five a lot more than I should be, but I think I'm happy with it.

Tacitus

12-13-16, 12:04 PM

#5 - Firewatch

http://i.imgur.com/RsneGzk.jpg

Developer: Campo Santo

Genre: Narrative Adventure

PC, PS4, XONE

February 9 2016

What is Firewatch?

That question got asked a lot during 2014 and 2015. Turns out that Firewatch was another "one of those", a narrative focused adventure game. A walking simulator.

It also turns out that Firewatch is the best "one of those" I've ever played.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddvxe_72fc0

Games like this stand and fall on how they engage the player and Firewatch does this in a number of ways - A killer script, fine performances from the actors and an inviting, beautiful world. It's linear, these games have to be if they've got a story to tell, but a recent patch has added an open world mode so you can wander to your heart's content.

Firewatch affected me emotionally in a way that media of any kind seldom does. It's a story of loss, guilt, love and acceptance wrapped up in the plot of a thriller Alan J Pakula would have been proud of.

I'm not going to say too much more, because the story in this game is the main draw and it doesn't deserve to be spoilered. You'll play through it in 4 or 5 hours, so it won't be a major time sink.

Just buy it. A million people already have, and I find that heartening. :)

Everyone should have "one of those" in their library...

Yoda

12-13-16, 12:08 PM

Awesome list so far. :up: I think I can guess a couple of the choices left, but I'm very interested to hear the order and reasoning and all that, too.

False Writer

12-14-16, 10:16 AM

I did like Firewatch, it looked great and the voice acting was good. I was actually really let down by the ending though.

Sedai

12-14-16, 10:56 AM

I still need to fire up Firewatch. :D

gandalf26

12-14-16, 06:14 PM

You ever try Europa Universalis IV Tacitus? I used to play Civ games and Total War then I graduated to the much more in depth EU4.

Tacitus

12-14-16, 06:27 PM

You ever try Europa Universalis IV Tacitus? I used to play Civ games and Total War then I graduated to the much more in depth EU4.

I have it, and have sunk 20-odd hours into the game but I've never been able to get into the EU series.

Crusader Kings 2, on the other hand, is one of my favourite games of the past decade. ;)

Tacitus

12-14-16, 06:41 PM

Worst Game of 2016 - Trials of the Blood Dragon

http://i.imgur.com/W78GnKn.jpg

Developer: Redlynx and (tellingly) Ubisoft Kiev

Genre: Self-satisfied kitsch puzzle platformer

13 June 2016

PC, PS4, XONE

How the **** do you mess up a Trials game?

Previously, every Trials game released has been a minor classic. They're pitch perfect 'just one more go' physics and momentum based puzzle games, basically.

The new Trials is a sequel to another Ubisoft property, Far Cry: Blood Dragon.

Whereas the original Blood Dragon took a cheesy 80s action movie take on what made Far Cry 3 popular - shooty stuff, base capturing - Trials of the Blood Dragon tries to be clever. We get the signature impossible looking motorbike jumping which is at the franchise's core, true enough, but they had to add something to it, didn't they? They just couldn't help themselves.

What the developers added were sections of some of the worse platforming I've ever seen in a video game.

It's now pretty obvious that the Trials engine does one thing very well - 2-wheeled action. Getting off the bike and running around? Not so much.

A good Trials game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL0EB6Fd-xk

A woeful Trials game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8sTwDF85nA

I bought the game as soon as it was announced at E3, which was a very bad move.

It is rancid.

MonnoM

12-14-16, 06:54 PM

I did like Firewatch, it looked great and the voice acting was good. I was actually really let down by the ending though.

I kind of, sort of feel the same. I don't think the ending is bad, it fits the tone of the overall story and it did go for the more unpredictable, which I commend them for. I was disappointed when I first played the game, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it had to be that ending to emphasize what they wanted to achieve with the story. However, after reading the several different ending ideas from other players, I can't help thinking what could've been. Some of those ideas were pretty great, but no doubt would've made for an entirely different game.

Gatsby

12-15-16, 12:39 AM

Expected Pokemon, didn't get it.

#stopclickbait

Tacitus

12-15-16, 05:52 AM

Expected Pokemon, didn't get it.

#stopclickbait

I have played Pokemon Go.

Didn't think much of it, to be honest. I have enough strange little people coming to sit in my living room as it is, I don't need virtual ones. ;)

False Writer

12-15-16, 11:31 AM

I kind of, sort of feel the same. I don't think the ending is bad, it fits the tone of the overall story and it did go for the more unpredictable, which I commend them for. I was disappointed when I first played the game, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it had to be that ending to emphasize what they wanted to achieve with the story. However, after reading the several different ending ideas from other players, I can't help thinking what could've been. Some of those ideas were pretty great, but no doubt would've made for an entirely different game.

Yeah I didn't think it was a horrible ending, when I said disappointed I wasn't trying to say the ending flat out sucked, "underwhelming" I guess is the more appropriate term. I understood that they were going for something a bit different, but it really could have been so much more.

Yoda

12-15-16, 11:32 AM

Firewatch is a game that demands clarity on the distinction between a good ending and an ending that makes you feel good.

Austruck

12-15-16, 11:44 AM

Taccy, your woeful Trials video clip doesn't seem to be available anymore. Sadness... because I was really hoping for a good chuckle when comparing the two videos. :)

Austruck

12-15-16, 11:46 AM

Firewatch is a game that demands clarity on the distinction between a good ending and an ending that makes you feel good.
I see your point here, but that ending made me feel ... well, nothing, really. Just a lot of, "Well...??"

A lot of "Meh," and I otherwise loved the game. I tried overthinking it in order to squeeze more out of it, but it didn't happen. Perhaps because I had just recently played Oxenfree, whose ending also gave me a sort of bleh feeling. Can't have too many games with mediocre endings in a row or one becomes highly vexed. :D

Tacitus

12-15-16, 04:31 PM

Taccy, your woeful Trials video clip doesn't seem to be available anymore. Sadness... because I was really hoping for a good chuckle when comparing the two videos. :)

Works fine for me, maybe it's a region restriction.

Here's the same one from another source.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzxhVkeWgPY

Austruck

12-15-16, 04:48 PM

Yeah, I can see now how that's not really an upgrade at all in terms of graphics (although they capitalize on the '80s kids toys feel quite well, ha!).

Tacitus

12-15-16, 04:51 PM

#4 - Superhot

http://i.imgur.com/DDfGgWJ.jpg

Developer: SUPERHOT Team

Genre: Action/Puzzle/Simulator

February 25 2016

PC, XONE

Ingenious ... but enough about me, what about Superhot? S'alright, I suppose. :p

I had my eye on the development of Superhot for quite literally roughly two years. The premise seemed simple - Time runs when you move - but the style was what drew me in. They eventually released a free browser-based Beta/demo and the game played as well as it looked.

My real reservation was a fear that Superhot couldn't flesh out its core concept into something which made sense as a £15 game. A seemingly ambiguous collection of levels was the most I could hope for. Happily I was wrong.

Really really wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4LkToI4xzE

The narrative behind Superhot isn't exactly original but (and here's that word again) the style with which the developers (a small Polish team) make things play out is stunning. Better, for me anyway, than, say, The Stanley Parable or Gone Home by a sizeable chunk.

I'll not spoil it, but it'll behove the player to dig around in the main menu, do some exploring and let it all wash over them. It really is l33t something.

The game's relative brevity (although it is extremely replayable) stopped me ranking it any higher, but Superhot is surely a game which will go down as a classic. I'm really intrigued at what the developers will do from here - They've already followed the game up with a VR spin off that I'm actually interested in playing, and that's praise indeed. ;)

Remember:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CJzce-hU5s

Tacitus

12-18-16, 06:18 AM

#3 - Stardew valley

http://i.imgur.com/lw6dSDu.png

Developer: Eric Barone

Genre: Simulation: Farming, marriage

February 26 2016

PC, PS4, XONE, Nintendo Switch (!)

Rarely do I have to physically stop myself playing a game because the great laundry basket of life is beginning to overflow. Oblivion a decade ago was one such game, Stardew Valley is the only one I can remember since.

I've never owned a piece of Nintendo hardware, so I've never played a Harvest Moon game and thus came to Stardew Valley's core loop totally fresh. It makes no secret of its influences but a number of people I know who have played both, tell me that SV is ultimately the more satisfying game.

There's no Tom Nook shaking you down for money every week, for starters. ;)

The game was conceived and developed by one guy and even after an hour's playing, you can see that he poured his heart into it. Stardew Valley is soulful ... it's got spirit.

It's also unabashedly nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot7uXNQskhs

You inherit a small house and plot of land and you farm it, selling your produce either in the village next door or to the nasty and corporate (although not too nasty and corporate, the game's not like that) out-of-town supermarket.

You reap, you sow, you fish, you make friends, you watch the seasons turn.

Gameplay is varied, from trading to combat to fishing to tending, enough that your daily routine is never a chore, and you have plenty of time to explore and level up (oh yes, RPG mechanics! :p) your character.

There's a wistful nod towards an earlier time here, a time where you actually knew and cared about your neighbours. A community spirit.

It's rarely that I play such a warm and engaging game. I can see (a hyper stylised and rose tinted, true) the village where I grew up, and now live once more, in Stardew valley.

They're both full of good people. :)

Austruck

12-18-16, 11:15 AM

I'm happy you like Stardew Valley, Taccy. I got it on your recommendation and I'm still playing it (about 300 hours of gameplay so far!). It's like a happy, colorful questing RPG, with some humor, some silliness, and a weird sense of accomplishment as you hit various plateaus of achievement.

It reminds me of the Wii game Animal Crossing -- although Stardew Valley is a vast improvement over that game. (In AC, the seasons change whether you're playing or not, which is disconcerting if you step away for a month or more and come back to find crops dead, fruit gone, etc.) The achievements and goals are pleasantly out of reach without being vexing.

I've played other farming games (Farm Town and Farmville on Facebook, for instance), but this is the only one that continues to be fun after so many hours in.

Tacitus

12-18-16, 11:35 AM

What year are you on, Aus? I think I was mid way through year 2 and 80 hours in when I stopped.

Set myself the goal of getting married. ;)

Austruck

12-18-16, 11:43 PM

I started a second farm once I realized that buying all the community center achievements from JoJo Mart would take me in a wrong direction. First farm made it to early in Year 4. Second farm is now in Year 6. Got married. Had a kid. But your trailer showed a bunch of things I haven't seen yet, so apparently I have a lot of achievements ahead of me.

The one skill I abhor and cannot get the hang of is FISHING. HATE HATE HATE it and avoid it whenever I can. I've got some crab pots and hope to just catch fish that way because I cannot get the hang of those fishing poles. Or I just wait and buy fish from either Krobus in the sewers or the traveling cart on Fridays and Sundays.

SV is the kind of game I can play when I want to veg out in front of a game but don't want anything too mind-taxing. It's oddly relaxing. :)

Austruck

12-18-16, 11:44 PM

Oh, apparently one of the recent updates allows you to choose from a few farm layouts instead of always having the same one. I was tempted to start a third farm but haven't succumbed to the temptation yet.

Yet.

Tacitus

12-19-16, 10:10 AM

The one skill I abhor and cannot get the hang of is FISHING. HATE HATE HATE it and avoid it whenever I can. I've got some crab pots and hope to just catch fish that way because I cannot get the hang of those fishing poles. Or I just wait and buy fish from either Krobus in the sewers or the traveling cart on Fridays and Sundays.

This is a mod you're going to want (http://community.playstarbound.com/resources/easier-fishing-standalone-1-1.4226/). ;)

I installed it pretty soon after I started the game.

Austruck

12-19-16, 11:49 AM

This is a mod you're going to want (http://community.playstarbound.com/resources/easier-fishing-standalone-1-1.4226/). ;)

I installed it pretty soon after I started the game.

Thank you!! Will install it sometime today!

Tacitus

12-19-16, 02:43 PM

#2 - Forza Horizon 3

http://i.imgur.com/5Rgb1T7.jpg

Developer: Playground Games/Turn 10 Studios

Genre: Racing/Clarkson Simulator

September 27 2016

PC, XONE

Until recently, I thought I'd never play another Forza game. My roots with the franchise go back to the first iteration on the original Xbox, a direct answer to Sony's Gran Turismo games, but I figured that the series' Xbox 360 swansong, Forza Motorsport 4, would be the last one (at least for a number of years) that I would own the hardware with which to play.

Whereas Gran Turismo always called itself 'The real driving simulator', Forza was more approachable - Its cars maybe didn't have their physics modelled to the same degree but the developers 'got' the reason people buy these games.

http://i.imgur.com/ULIpljP.jpg

They want the approximation of owning a garage full of exotic cars, being able to customise, modify and drive them at their limit. A wet dream for petrolheads, in other words, with Gran Turismo remaining, whilst still a great game, a little dry.

The Forza Horizon spin-offs took things further - You were a competitor (and by the third game, the boss) in a road racing festival. They're less buttoned-up than the numbered Forza Motorsport games, more arcade-like but still having the satisfying SimCade handling physics.

Horizon 3 is the best of the lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD1ccSM9qiA

Its birth wasn't easy - Microsoft's insistence on having all first party titles launched simultaneously on Xbox and PC has resulted on a PC library which is, and I'm being kind, patchy in terms of performance. No doubt things will get a lot better now that developers know what's expected of them in a more usual timeframe but FH3 launched on home computers in a pretty ropey state.

The game's been patched a number of times since release and performance for me is generally great, but there are still a lot of people with more powerful PCs than I do complaining of worse performance - I can run the game at 60fps and UItra settings nearly everywhere but I know guys with new 6700k CPUs and monster 1080GTX graphics cards getting a lot of slowdown.

Sucks to be them, right? :p

I haven't had more joyous abandon in a game for years, barrelling around a lovingly rendered Australia in my car, doing pre-set events or going online for competitive or cooperative challenges. The closest thing I can compare it to is Burnout Paradise, a similarly open world racing game but one with fictional cars and a fictional location.

Burnout Paradise was one of my favourite games of the 360/PS3 generation but playing it after the 100+ hours I've put into Horizon 3? Wow .... BP is dated beyond belief.

These aren't staged shots, by the way - I took them myself in-game:

http://i.imgur.com/u4ra5Rv.jpg

It obviously doesn't look as good, it's pushing a decade old after all, but the handling isn't as much fun, the events aren't as cohesively placed in the world and there's none of the customisation. None of the 'Forza sheen', where you can upload photos and videos to a central hub and share them.

I'm beginning to think that Forza Horizon 3 is the best racing game I've ever played...

Yoda

12-19-16, 02:50 PM

Dave loves him some car games! :) Nice writeup.

doubledenim

12-20-16, 06:27 AM

The best vg reviewer/ commentator/ kinda real, but still an internet person I know!

Tacitus

12-20-16, 04:17 PM

Thanks dd. :)

Life has taken over this evening so everyone will have to wait until tomorrow to see if Final Fantasy XV or Dishonored 2 will be my GOTY. :p

Tacitus

12-21-16, 11:54 AM

My Game of the Year 2016 is - Hitman!

http://i.imgur.com/ZPul1XR.jpg

Developer: IO Interactive

Genre: Action/Stealth Action

March 11 2016

PC, PS4, XONE

I'd had a passing regard for earlier Hitman games, but nothing more than that. Until Blood Money I'd found them clunky and arbitrarily difficult, a cool idea hampered by so-so execution.

Blood Money turned things round - It played a lot better, goals were now more coherent and a wry humour was beginning to manifest itself. That game's sequel, Hitman Absolution (aka Hitman: Porno Nun Trailer) was a step so far backwards that most feared that the franchise would bleed out right there - Agent 47's personality was getting rounded out at the expense of gameplay, with Absolution having tiny maps and a bizarre checkpoint system.

The announcement of a new Hitman game wasn't met with much fanfare. Late in the day, it was announced that the game would follow an episodic model rather than the originally proposed 'full game'. Had developers run out of money? Was the game rushing towards a concrete release date unfinished? The gaming media then turned its back...

Thankfully for IO Interactive, Hitman is a triumph.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i4ldqM3mjg

The maps on offer are large and varied, begging to have multiple playthroughs - The more you discover, the more challenges you complete, the higher your rating for the map (with the promise of new goodies unlocked for a new attempt).

If all the maps had been released at once, I doubt there'd have been anything like the experimentation by the player base. They'd have completed the hit and moved on to the next chapter...

Hitman welcomes new players like never before. In addition to a couple of excellent tutorial levels, every subsequent map has multiple opportunities you can highlight which will guide you towards outlandish and amusing assassinations. It's a great system that the player can choose to avail of as much or as little as they choose.

One thing the game doesn't have is much pretence to realism - NPC AI is extremely 'gamey' but I don't have a problem with it, quite the reverse. You'll soon figure out Hitman's rules - What actions you can get away with, what objects work in situations etc. They're a selection of puzzles waiting to be figured out.

If they're not exactly 'realistic', NPCs have one huge thing in their favour - The greatest book of incidental dialogue lines I've ever seen in a game. In fact, you often find yourself dallying when you shouldn't just so you can hear a conversation between two people that play no real part in the chapter.

IO have gone above and beyond here, and the flavour they have imported to the world is wonderful. For instance, one small gameplay loop gets treated like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeqskaJ9Ek4

I've had so much fun with Hitman. Some maps are better than others but every one is super playable, vibrant, funny and cohesive. There's an overarching story on offer which ties the chapters together - It's a little cookie-cutter but is more than sufficient to ward off the plot hole police.

The game could perform better, you could control Agent 47 a little more snappily and the UI could be a little clearer but nothing that detracts from the vibrancy and opportunity to 'mess around' that the core game provides.

I actually only finished the game a few weeks ago, having spent most of my time going after challenges on older maps - IO are constantly adding content to the game with new side mission Elusive Targets (you get one chance to get them, then they disappear) appearing every week and a potentially great Christmas bonus episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT8ksrKxPEU

The existing game will be released in disc form on console soon, and IO have announced a season two for next year - I couldn't be happier. :D

If anyone's on the fence, the tutorial levels (two sizeable maps) and the opening Paris chapter (one of the best maps in the entire game) are for sale at £10.99.

After foiling a Paris fashion show (and, if you play your cards right, getting Agent 47 to parade the catwalk), subsequent chapters take you to Italy, Morocco, Thailand, Colorado and Japan. Lots of bad people to kill in interesting ways...

Jump in!