audiogrizzly

[audiogrizzly]

Time for another list. I usually start these with a bit of a personal update. Last year I was banging on about losing 60lbs and there being an ASDA Expressnear my flat. This year I’ve been able to maintain that weight loss (plus an extra 10lbs on top of it) and I’m moving into my own house! Means I will have to say goodbye to the ASDA Express, but at least there’s a full sized ASDA closer to me.

Anyway, games. I’ve bought 2 new systems this year, a PSVR 2 and a Quest 3, so it’s been a VR year. My living situation has meant that I’ve not been able to get too much into games in the last quarter of the year so it’s feeling a little light for my selections’ but I feel like I’ve got some good games on here. But more than any other year I have not been able to fit everything in.

Before we get into my list, I should say that I did give Balders Gate 3 a good shot, but I didn’t get too into it. Other games I was only able to scratch the surface of include Starfield, Like a Dragon Gaiden (which I’m playing right now), Pikmin 4, Asgards Wrath 2, A Highland Songand Resident Evil 4 remake. Nothing against any of those titles’ I just haven’t got round to playing them in full.

Let’s get into the list, starting as I have done before, with my game of the year selection, followed by 2 runners up and a list of honourable mentions before some special mentions. Enjoy

My game of 2023: Street Fighter 6

I always say that it’s hard for fighting games or racing games to win GOTY in any end of year multi genre list. But SF6 is the game I am selecting this year because it was the game I was most excited to play where I felt that my expectations were met. In future, I do want to avoid more games with micro transactions and seasonal content because I can’t keep up, I have too many games to play. I was still able to dedicate about 50 odd hours to the latest in Capcom classic fighting series though.

This time round, there’s no shortage of recognisable fighters in the base line up, all extra fighters look interesting and there’s less of a carrot dangling in your face when it comes to unlocking new ones. To me, I know that in order to get the added fighters, 8m going to have to pay for them, which I am cool with.

The new World Tour mode is a great addition, adding a daft story line to the game which was missing at the launch of the previous entry in the series, this time round it is not shy about how absurd it is while characters you have grown up with are struggling with modern technology like texting each other etc.

And it’s the first time in a while I have been able to get into online gaming in a fighting game, even won a few matches.

So SF6 is my game of the year, a tribute to my favourite game as a teenager (Street Fighter 2) and a legend that has truly lasted the years!

Runner up #1: Fire Emblem Engage

I didn’t get into the previous game, the one where you are a teacher in a school, with the 3 houses etc. This entry is more like a traditional FE, one which forgoes all of the social linking any that guff, just a straight up tactical RPG.

And I, a bit of a wuss, I never turn on the permanent death mode, I play on the easiest level too, because I just want to follow the story. And it was a blast, I really enjoyed this and didn’t mind the fact that it went on and on. Tried to experience as much of it as possible too, bought the dlc, played through the stories that enabled me to use each of the older characters. And that’s something else I love about it, there’s a lot of nostalgia if you have played older Fes, which I have. So this is right up my alley.

Runner up #2: Assassin’s Creed Mirage

This was a sort of a surprise, I loved the recent ACs because they were large open world games, but Mirage was meant to be closer to the old games, the ones which alienated me after part 4. But there’s still a lot of the mechanics in the recent titles like Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla which have made it over into the way this game controls. It’s just that Basim is not this out and out warrior like the protagonists in those games, but I do love me a bit of stealth.

Baghdad is a gorgeous location for the game too, the world was what I loved about Origins and this reminded me a lot of it. Short one too, but I still gave it 18 hours of my time!

Honourable mentions:

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

It’s not in my top 3, and its predecessor was only number 5 in my 2017 list but that doesn’t mean I don’t love these new Zelda games. It took me a while to get my head around the building mechanic and the resource collecting, plus all the merging you could do with items, the food cooking is always a weird one to get into too. But I loved the adventure.

Horizon Call of the Mountain

My intro may have given the impression I have had a bit of a VR year, but this is the only title that has made its way into the top end of my list. It’s a little derivative of all the climbing games you get on headsets, but you still get to experience the Horizon world and the appearance of a certain protagonist reminds you that you are playing in the canon of the main series. Shout out to the Burning Shores, the proper Forbidden West expansion, which was another top title this year.

Star Wars Jedi Survivor

A few performance issues made sure that I was not quite as into this game as I had hoped I would have been (the 60fps performance mode that eventually came out came a little too late) but this was still an enjoyable romp. I’m not even a bit Star Wars head but I do like a good sci fi action game and that’s just what this is.

Hogwarts Legacy

I’m not a bit Potter head, I was too old for the books and dismissive of the films but I do like an open world action game and Hogwarts Legacy is a very good one. Again, I had a few performance issues with the PC version of this, but I persevered and I might even try and play through it again one day. It’s perhaps the closest thing we have to a new Bully game here in 2023. In that it’s an open word game where you play as a school student, just a magical one.

Mortal Kombat 1

Unlike Street Fighter 6, the new Mortal Kombat doesn’t have to prove itself over its predecessor quite as much, but Mk1 doesn’t disappoint on all the things that have made the recent games in the series great. Could do with playing it a bit more but I haven’t had much of a chance to play it as of late. Looking forward to getting to grips with the DLC characters though.

Super Mario Wonder

This will be many other peoples GOTY, and rightfully so. For me, I played it a bit too recently and didn’t get to explore it to its full extent, just enough to finish its story. But I have not played a 2D platform that is this close to Super Mario World, and that’s why this is great, just like Street Fighter, it brings me back to my wonder years.

Quake 2 Call of the Machine

Another “call of the” game. This is merely an added campaign to a remaster of Quake 2. But that was always a special game and Machine Games didn’t muck this up a great addition to a classic, which itself is now available to more platforms.

And now some shout outs, other games I have played this year:

Forspoken

Hi-fi Rush

Dead Space

Metroid Prime Remaster

Dead Cells Return to Castlevania

Diablo IV

Cocoon

[audiogrizzly]

Game of the Year 2022

It’s mid-December (at the time of writing) and that means I am going to slave over this hot keyboard to bring you my games of 2022!

Again, very little is going to be written about the life front.  I have lost 60 lbs since the summer, which is great.  Managed to go abroad for the first time since the pandemic  and there’s an ASDA Express that’s opened locally to me.  Best year ever.

Onto games though.  Not much in the way of new systems.  I got an Xbox Series X and a Steam Deck, just new ways of playing games I already have really.  Although back in January I also managed to basically recover my Xbox 360 collection, I originally sold them all off when I got my PS4 9 years ago.  A nice walk down memory lane.

This year's top games have a sort of an indie flavour, which is most unlike me.  There are some AAA tier titles in there.  Plus there are also some omissions as a few games have just come out here in December which i may be able to get through before the end of the month, but Overwatch has basically taken over my gaming time again.  So Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Warhammer 40K Darktide, Crisis Core FF7 Reunion and Need For Speed Unbound will have to wait until next year for my time.  Also this year, I am afraid that Elden Ring did not manage to capture my attention as I struggle to get into those types of games (not action RPGs, but the type where you basically get punished for dying when the game is hard enough as it is), and there’s also a small handful of games I wanted to play but have yet to do so.

So, onto my list, just like last year, I will start with my game of the year:

TehRadge’s game of 2022!

OlliOlli World

It’s weird that I was so excited to play this considering that I wasn’t exactly all over the first 2 although I did appreciate what they were trying to do - recreate the Tony hawk experience in 2 dimensions.

The 3rd in the series has a lot more charm.  Funny, zany, non-irritating characters, a groovy soundtrack and the same finger gymnastic gameplay that Activision's classic series offered for many years before it dried up.  OlliOlli World had me hooked as soon as I saw it being previewed the year before.

And yes, this is the first time I have bestowed my “GOTY” accolade to something that can be described as an “indie” tier game.  In the past I have awarded games like Hotline Miami as my favourite game on a specific system (Vita in 2013) and a fair few have featured somewhere in top 5s and honourable mentions but never right at the top.

It’s a shame it doesn’t last long when you’re working your way through each of the “zones” meeting colourful and charming characters along the way, but there is plenty to keep you entertained long after the 6 hours or so that you need to get to the last map are over.  The way the game handles its social play side with an asynchronous multiplayer mode is great, offering you generated maps to share with your friends to compete for high scores, plus season based challenges to compete with strangers.  There’s also all the leaderboard support you can expect from a game like this.

It’s also highly “clippable” which is a term that I think the current generation uses a fair bit.  And it makes sense, each run is only going to last around a minute or so, making it easy to grab and edit footage whenever you feel you have done something outstanding.

And those characters, I want to cuddle them all.  I especially appreciate the way that some of the more cringeworthy skater speak is offset by the “Dad” character (named after his father, gives one of the other characters pocket money despite him being a grown man and not his son), the game has an irreverent sense of humour that adds to the charm in a big way.

Even after playing the 2 excellent DLC packs that came as part of the season pass, and old school type of season pass, there’s no microtransactions, loot boxes or FOMO-inducing battle pass type mechanics here, I still found myself playing through it all again on a second platform when the game went on sale during the autumn.

A great game that will stay with me for a long while yet and will undoubtedly fail to age.

Runner Up 1

Neon White

I should point out that these runners up and honourable mentions are not in any particular order.

Another indie title, and another “run” based game which uses online leaderboards to keep things competitive.  Neon White is also as we speak making its way to more platforms, which is great if it means more people can play it.

Designed by the same person who gave us the strange but funny Donut County, Neon White is a fast paced 1st person action platformer where you’re not only against the clock (getting better times allows better medals which help progression go faster), you’re also managing weapons you pick up that offer limited ammo and one-time use secondary abilities.  As well as being a test of your platforming skills, there’s also a puzzle element, do you expel all the ammunition in the pistol you picked up against a set of enemies, or do you drop it in order to use the extended jump it gives you in order to get to a higher platform and use another weapon to kill the baddies?

Highly stylish, I would only say that the story in this is trying a little too hard.  I never believe “gangster” type characters to also be anime loving nerds, I kind of feel it to be a little pandering, especially when you know it’s been made in the west.  A bit of a hot take there, some might think, but it did get to me while I was playing it.

Now that it's coming to more platforms, I may pick it up again and play it elsewhere, like I did with OlliOlli World

Runner Up 2

Stray

Technically an indie game too, this is the title that many will consider to be among their best games of the year too.  The cat factor definitely helps, many people seem to love their felines and playing as a wee furry creature who meows at the touch of a button, jumps on top of ledges scaring the crap out of NPCs (despite them being robots) and knocking things over is no doubt an appeal to many.

Personally, I loved the neon-drenched towns and post apocalyptic versions of our world, unravelling mysteries as a silent protagonist who can somehow understand the robots they are encountering and generally saving the day while working your way back to your pack (that you are initially separated from, one of the most heart wrenching scenes this year I should add).

It’s also been a while since I listed a game I don't even own as one of my faves of the year.  I played this via the game catalogue on PlayStation Plus.  Now that I remember that, I may just keep an eye out for a sale or a physical release so I can have this forever.  An intriguing world and a likeable protagonist, what more can you ask for?

Honourable Mentions (again, no particular order)

Horizon Forbidden West

The follow up to my best game of 2017.  Has less of an impact the second time round, but still one of my favourite worlds in a game of this genre

Cult of the Lamb

Loved this, narrowly missed out of being in my top 3.  I do wish there was more to its endgame.

God of War Ragnarok

Similar to Horizon, loved the previous game, also a GOTY in the year it came out.  As a sequel, it’s great, I’ve just been here before

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

A big surprise, never played a Kirby game before, perhaps the nearest thing to a traditional Nintendo action adventure that came out this year

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge

Was really hyped for this, especially after falling in love with Streets of Rage 4.  Love the fact that retro 2D beat ‘em ups are popping up all over the place.

Arcade Paradise

The weirdest game I played this year, especially at the start when you’re just putting laundry on all the time.  Make me remember the days when i used to work backshifts and closed up shop.  A story for another time though

Shout outs:

Here are some additional games I enjoyed playing this year

Overwatch 2 (more of a sort of “I got back into it this year” type of thing)

Call of Duty Modern Warfare II

Bayonetta 3

Splatoon 3

Multiversus 

Ghostwire: Tokyo

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands

Looking forward to next year:

Fire Emblem Engage

Forspoken

Dead Space

Destiny 2 Lightfall

Star Wars Jedi Survivor

Resident Evil 4

Diablo 4

Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

Street Fighter 6 

Suicide Squad

Starfield

Redfall

Hyper Light Breaker

Metal Slug Tactics

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Phantom Fury

Hades 2

Dead Cells Castlevania DLC

Horizon FW DLC

Here’s to a smashing 2023!

[audiogrizzly]

Game of the Year 2021

It’s time for another year end roundup from little ol’ me.  I downplayed the whole 2020 thing last year, and I am going to do the same this year too because this really isn’t a life blog.  Plus global pandemics do result in more game time!  But I must say that I did procrastinate a little in 2021 when it came to new games.  Regardless, I still have been able to play the majority of all the new games I wanted to and have been able to put together this list which once again is not a traditional top 5.

Rather than pick on GOTY and a list of honourable mentions, I am also selecting 2 runner ups from the games I played this year.  For a few months now, I have had 3 games which I knew were ideal for the top slot and after finally selecting my number one, I really didn’t want to just throw the other 2 in among the rest of the rabble.  The runner ups are not in any particular order, I’m still being sort of lazy.

And I think last year I forgot to post a look ahead for 2021, so I need to make sure I do one for 2022 as I do have a number of games in mind.

And there won’t be any further build up, this is my number one…… now:

TehRadge’s game of 2021!

Deathloop

It was tough to select my best game of 2021 because there were a couple of strong contenders.  In the end I went with Deathloop because out of the top 3, it is the game I spent more time thinking about after I had finished my first playthrough.  What worked against the decision was the fact that the other 2 games are installments in 2 of my most favourite franchises ever while Deathloop is a new property and also that I spent the first couple of hours of playing it just scratching my head and not being able to make head nor tail of it.  After a while, it did click and I was obsessed.  I even bought both versions of the game, PS5 and PC (which I will admit, is something I could not do with the runner up games.

The cleverest games that base themselves around the whole roguelike influence are the ones that try to weave the looping mechanic into the narrative, none of this “we are already dead so we keep coming back” nonsense.  When you play through Deathloop you get to experience a great story and it lets you keep guessing while twists and turns are lining up for you.  And you get left to play through the game as you wish (though whenever games offer me that choice, I never find that an all out assault with guns blazing is the option that works for me and Deathloop really did send the cavalry after me each time an alarm was raised, I mostly played with stealth in my run).  And the characters are something else, especially the 2 leads.

And like I said, I thought about this game even when I wasn’t playing it, I would think about what sort of life all the eternalists and visionaries would be doing in a world where there was no loop, what would they expect to be doing the following day and what were they doing before?  The game even tells you a lot of that in its narrative.

Different enough to really stand out, but still niche enough to make me seem really cool by recommending it, it’s not for everyone and I know a lot of my friends will just say “oh yeah, Battlefield” when asked about their games of the year.  For me, this choice is a little like the one I made in 2019 when I selected Control as my game of the year.  2 years on and I still feel that way, so it’s looking good for Deathloop.

Runner Up 1

Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart

It’s been a long time since we got a major or “proper” entry in the Ratchet series.  Nothing against 2016’s game based on the film based on the 2002 game which served as a bit of a remake, but this felt like catching up with some old pals we haven't heard from in a while.  A lot of eyes were on this as it was due to be the first post-release triple A first party PS5 exclusive which many were expecting would take advantage of what that system has to offer.  Fast loading and controller haptic feedback are definitely on the play along with amazing set pieces where Ratchet is sent through various environmental locations, not really possible on any other machine in a widely available title (due to the fact that ALL PS5s have a really fast SSD), the game was a feast for the eyes and the controller holding hands and I enjoyed it all the way up to my umpteenth platinum trophy.

Runner Up 2

Metroid Dread

This is actually quite a landmark decision because it has not been since 2017 that I have selected a Switch game to be included in my GOTY picks (and it wasn’t even the game you may be thinking of).  I was surprised to see the return of Samus in 2021 as I think many people were, I had heard of the original idea for a Metroid game on the DS back in the day and I just assumed that it had fizzled out.  Metroid Dread is still as atmospheric and as unsettling as previous entries in the series and there is still plenty of exploration to be done.  Many people will have a hard time settling into the new direction the game has gone in since the 3DS entry, but it was the same when Metroid Prime came out.  A stand up entry in one of my favourite game series.

Honourable Mentions

It Takes Two

It also took me a while to get around to finishing this game.  I’m not the type of person who plays co-op games, especially when it’s 2 players.  In the end I was able to get an old friend to help me get to the end of It Takes Two and I am glad I did, at the time of writing it has just won itself the game of the year prize at Geoff Keighley's Game Awards.  A very charming game with a ton of stand out moments and at least 2 playthroughs that are enough to make it worthwhile (as playing both characters makes the game different enough each time)

Persona 5 Strikers

This took me ages to play, not anywhere near as long as the original Persona 5, I just kept getting distracted with older games earlier in the year.  Lovely to spend time with these characters again, as it always is with Personal games (due to the fighting and rhythm games they always release), it was also good to have a break from turn based combat, as I’m not that much of a JRPG fan.  Persona is usually my exception though.

Death's Door

Another game my friends were too busy looking at screenshots of Battlefield 2042 to play.  I took a chance on Death’s Door when Eurogamer gave it a glowing review.  Parts of this game are tough, especially a certain boss battle towards the end (not the final one), in that respect, it reminded me of Hyper Light Drifter.  There’s also a bit of the ol’ Zelda about this game too because of the overworld and the little dungeons you find yourself in.  It’s one of those games that really tests you but you always know it’s not the game’s fault, that’s what keeps you coming back until you have either solved that puzzle, or beaten that boss.  It helps that playing as a crow reaper is highly charming too, believe it or not.

Call of Duty Vanguard

I may have left Call of Duty off a few of my GOTY posts, but I do play it each and every year.  I also played a good amount of Cold War in 2021 too, all the CODs these days seem to merge into each other.  In that regard, it’s actually been a little boring as of late.  But it’s still CoD and it’s still as addictive as ever.  I played a lot of it and that’s why it’s on here.  I’ve mentioned my friends, this is the main game I play with actual people regularly, and I do have fun with it.

Forza Horizon 5

Another mid-year surprise was the reveal of a new Forza Horizon.  Many people believe this game should be considered an actual overall game of the year rather than just a “best driving/racing/sports” title.  But I honestly don’t find it to be different enough from previous entries for it to really stand out to the point where I feel it’s worthy.  Still like it a lot though, I do miss bombing down Prince’s Street, though Mexico is lovely.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy

This game is mainly on here because of the story and the way all the characters are written.  Deep down, it’s just another character based action game that isn;t really doing much different to anything we have seen before.  But the writing, the script and the characters, that’s what made Guardians of the Galaxy stand out in 2021.  Worth a look if you can pick it up in a sale (if you’re the type of person who never buys a full price game unless it guarantees multiple replays or online multiplayer, which this game doesn’t).

Solar Ash

I only just finished this game before writing this post out, it was a bit of a wildcard throughout the year as I didn't know much about it other than the fact it was developed by the same person or people who did Hyper Light Drifter.  It reminded me of The Pathless in terms of its scope (a 3rd person exploration action game with puzzles), but when I started playing, what I really loved was how the game was geared around the momentum of your character and how slick it all was.  Still too early to say if I would play it again, I was able to complete it 100%, but I may pick it up on PS5 if there was ever to be a physical release of it.

Other than that, there were a few more games I played that I did enjoy but I either did not play enough of them for them to really make an impression on me or I just felt they were kind of OK.  I did play a bit of Back 4 Blood, Riders Republic and Halo Infinite (came out very late in the year, could be a big one in 2022, also, the multiplayer needs a lot more content and direction before I start to enjoy it in ways I have enjoyed Halo in the past) but there’s more time to come in December and in the first couple of months of the new year (it was during that time I was able to catch up on things like Hades, Immortals and Cyberpunk this year), plus there’s all of the new games still to be released that I can play.  See you in another post for my most anticipated games of 2022 soon!

[audiogrizzly]

GOTY 2020 - Runners Up

I feel I should start off with saying a bit about what this year was like for my gaming hobby,  it was the first in many years that the PS4 was not the system where I took away the most games, for me it was the PC for a change which has slowly been becoming my number 1 place to play.  Though this year also brought a new console generation and I have picked up a PS5, as well as an Oculus Quest 2 (so technically I can now play PC VR, which for a couple of years was always a platform that gates off a few key releases for me despite having a headset for my PS4.  And yeah, working from home has allowed me to use the time that would have been taking up with commuting to play games, so I have had more time to play than usual.

Just a note, I’m only one person and despite what I said in the previous paragraph, I cannot play every single game that comes out in a year, I try to prioritise the games I want to play and I do pay attention to games that get good write ups from critics.  At the time of writing, I have yet to give a good amount of time to the following titles which are likely to come up on many other GOTY lists: Half Life Alyx, The Pathless, Hades, Cyberpunk 2077.  I’m sure these are great games, I have enjoyed many other titles that the developers of them have released before, but however much I enjoy them further down the line, they have missed their chance at being included in this particular list.

So in addition to my GOTY, Ghost of Tsushima, here are the other games I have enjoyed most of all in 2020, ordered by release date:

Journey to the Savage Planet

This was the traditional January game for me.  I know a lot of people see the first month of the year being a bit slow for games but I feel there’s always at least one gem.  It was great to see a Metroid style game that took a lot more from the Prime series rather than the 2D roots of that genre.  The humour didn't quite connect with me but this was a fun distraction that I wasn’t expecting at the start of the year

DOOM Eternal

One of the earliest games I had added to my 2020 watchlist, the sequel to one of my top games of 2016 was always going to be something to be all over.  I felt it was a little more arcadey and leaned on typical game mechanics (e.g. extra lives, traversal puzzle, arena based encounters) rather than the exploration aspects of the 1993 original that the 2016 reboot left intact.  But you don’t get action as satisfying and as brutal as DOOM

Final Fantasy VII Remake

The earliest game I picked up that I put forward for this list and wasn’t on my original watch list.  I didn't play the original FF7 all the way through, but I had played to the point where this remade 1st episode stops at, it essentially covers the first disc on the 1997 original.  I’m more into action RPGs than the turn based menu cooldown mechanic that’s more typical of Japanese RPGs, so with that out of the way I was able to enjoy the world and the story.  I got really engaged by this one and I can’t wait to carry on the story.

Gears Tactics

I always loved the idea of the turn based tactical strategy game when XCOM Enemy Unknown came along.  But I was always more a fan of the combat side than the whole running of the base part of the game.  XCOM was also one of those top games that I always sort of pretended to be into, to make myself seem more like a thinker than a button masher, y’know?  I can name a large number of people who fall into that category too.

I reckon Gears is perfect for this genre and I’m glad to see that Tactics doesn’t make me collect resources and develop new technology while making sure my underground bunker has enough power.  It’s pure action and I love it.

Streets of Rage 4

This game was on my watch list but even I was surprised at how good it turned out.  SOR4 will appeal more to those who played the original games, and the second in the series is my favourite SEGA game ever as well as being quite high up my all time list in general.  This 21st century continuation does not diminish the originals in any way and even makes you come around to the third in the series in a way by including references and it’s best elements.  A hyper stylish tribute and great brawler in its own right.

The Last of Us Part 2

I assigned Ghost of Tsushima as my game of the year, but TLOUP2 would have come a close second.  I just enjoyed being in the world of Tsushima more than I did in the zombie infested post-apocalyptic Seattle.  I see this game as being the equivalent of a great box set, typical more of the second season of an excellent American TV series where they do add a few interesting ideas, a few “wow” moments, but more than its share of devisive moments too.  I can get why people didn’t like the twist as we are used to playing heroes in our games, it can throw us when a bit of perspective is added.  Personally, I felt it was an act too long, but still an intense action adventure.

Rocket Arena

I still played a lot of Destiny at the start of the year and both last year and this year's Call of Duty's were on my most played list.  But Rocket Arena held my attention for most of the summer.  Ultimately, I fell off the game because I was sick of teammates leaving matches, it’s the sort of game where leavers get penalised but are not replaced.  But I found the game to be enormous fun and soon I hope to jump back into the game as I see a few changes have been made.  The game has also taken all sorts of steps to be made available to as many people as possible thought giveaways on Twitch and PlayStation plus as well as being added to EA Play Pro, everything that stops short of just being made free to play which is something I actually hope it shouldn’t have to come to as I like the idea of the Overwatch model where new maps and characters are added for free every now and then.

Carrion

Carrion was a game I added to my watch list after it was shown in Devolver Digital’s over-the-top and sometimes sort of ‘trying too hard to be subversive’ E3 presentations (2019 and 2020).  It looked like a take on the Metroidvania game that took, if you ask me, one of the most appealing aspects of the Metroid games, it’s atmosphere.  Plus it sometimes feels great to be the menace, especially when you go out to total massacre your captors (see also Ape Out)

Fall Guys

I’m sure a lot of people have just totally fallen off of this game since about a month after it’s launch in August, I know I have.  But when it was new and in the conversation, there was no doubt that this was a fun game.  It also came out around the time where you could have guests round and it made for a great “pass the controller” type of game, despite having no split screen modes.  It may be my lack of desire to play a new multiplayer game which stopped me from playing it, though it’s appeal to me is that it’s one of those first of games you can just leap into matchmaking by yourself with.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2

I don’t normally put ports or remakes into my year lists, but I will make an exception here (and one later on) as it has been so long since the games included in this collection first appeared and to compare old with new, it’s almost a whole new world.  Yet it is still familiar, and there’s no bloat, even the item shop (where you can buy decks, wheels, profile pictures etc) doesn’t get in your face.  It also, thankfully, takes influence from the right places of the follow up to both of these games, Pro Skater 3, in making the most finely tuned Hawk’s experience.  I only wish they had included the 3rd game, at least as DLC, but there’s still time.

Star Wars Squadrons

Air or space combat has never appealed to me all that much over my many years of gaming.  I’m not even all that big a Star Wars fan, but I got on board with Squadrons in a big way.  Playing in VR and with a HOTAS really immerses you too, there’s nothing like playing past someone and turning your own head to see where they heck they have got to.  And although I am not all that big into Star Wars, I can tell they have taken great care with the universe and turned out something that doesn’t interfere with cannon all too much.  Put this alongside Gears Tactics in the “I like the idea of this sort of game but I never get on too well with it, but I really liked this one” bucket

Watch Dogs Legion

I know Legion got a hard time in reviews, and I did experience a less than optimal performance in the game, but it was great to run around modern London on foot for a change.  I enjoyed Watch Dogs 2 before this and yes, I get why people think the game is just silly, but Legion finally shows that the game knows when to not take itself seriously and it's all the better for it.  A great touch is when you recruit people for your organisation, they can all get into any car and drive it around, but every now and then you will find a recruit for whom one of their perks is “has their own car”, that is London in a nutshell!

Dirt 5

Dirt 5 wasn’t on my list, and I have had a sort of on-off relationship with the series.  Dirt 5 represents a sort of middle point in the scale between the off-road racer and the serious rally simulation.  I would actually say it's closer to the former actually, it’s definitely the most arcade like the franchise has been in years.  It forgoes point to point rallys in favour of an “all racers” starting grid in most disciplines.  The inclusion of a story is a bit weird, especially as you never actually see any of the characters, it made me wonder what the point was, but I loved the racing as well as all the weather and mud effects.

Assassins Creed Valhalla

I’ve literally just finished this game at the time of writing and what a monster this was at over 55 hours in my playthrough.  I had my doubts that a game set in Viking/Saxon era England could rival the BC Egypt in AC Origins, and that game is still my fave, but there was a lot of beautiful scenery in Valhalla as well as crazy plot points when you got near the end.  It was great to finally play one of these “new” AC games with a steady frame rate (I always had technical problems before) as I have enjoyed the new combat system since Origins and it was fun to visit settlements whose names I recognise from modern era England.  Apart from one really annoying game breaking bug (saved by a previous save file) a number of freezes and it being maybe a bit too long, I’d recommend this heartily.

Replay corner:

Master Chief Collection (throughout the year)

As I said earlier when I talked about Pro Skater 1+2, I don’t normally put ports and remakes, but I wanted to give a shout out to the Halo Master Chief Collection, which I played on PC throughout the year.  It’s in it’s own section here as part of it was released last year, but each couple of months in 2020, it was great to replay each of the games in this series, especially as I said goodbye to Xbox in 2013, Halo was one of the franchises that I knew I would miss and it’s great that I can finally get reacquainted with all the ones I have played before.  It's a shame that Infinite did not come out this year, though I can tell why they wanted to put it back in the oven, plus I still haven’t really played Halo 5 yet as it’s one of the few games that are actually Xbox One only, I have my fingers crossed for a PC port of that though.

[audiogrizzly]

Game of the Year 2020

As I said before, this year I am not going to run down a list of my fave games of 2020 in no particular order and also present a designated game of the year.  It will make for better reading if I get the GOTY out of the way just now as the runners up will all be cramped into one post.  So without further ado…

My game of the year for 2020 - Ghost of Tsushima

A lot of people might think this game is a little “by numbers” and something which is starting to get a little typical of Sony’s recent output (Days Gone, Horizon, even Spider-Man) in that it’s another one of these open world checklist type of games, but what set’s it (and Horizon, for me) apart from most thing that genre kings Ubisoft can churn out is the setting.  For many years there has been a considerable, if a little quiet as of late, amount of people who have been asking for a feudal Japan era Assassin’s Creed and this really is the closest we are going to get to it.

What I love about it is how it resembles an old samurai movie in its tone and cinematography, especially in the one on one showdowns between characters, they are sort of the centerpieces of the game’s spectacle and although there is no shortage of friendly NPCs for you to meet and ally with along the way, a lot of it you’re just this lone warrior with his horse out on your journey.  It’s a world I really enjoyed being in and it was absolutely gorgeous.

I still have a good bit to play of the game thanks to the multiplayer expansion it was given and the new game plus mode whenever I feel like it.  Which is great because I would love to play more of the game on PS5 now that it runs in a more fixed 60 frames per second.

GoT might not come up for many other sources as a GOTY for 2020, but my selection is often very personal and this game really attached itself to me.  It was my first platinum trophy this year too, something which took me a while to get round to.

[audiogrizzly]

OK, yadda yadda, it’s not been a regular year, this is something no doubt a lot of people will be saying in their 2020 round up blogs so I’m not going to bore you with that.  Just know that my game of the year list will be incoming soon and it’s going to be a wee bit different to the last few I have had.

Not since I made the change in 2015 (or it might have been 2014) where I went from having a top 5 for each platform to just having a single overall one have I played with the formula a little.  Basically, it was hard to make a top 5, I know what my game of the year is going to be, but I am having problems coming up with 4 other close calls.  

So starting this year, I am going to post about my best game and then run down a list of “honorable mentions”.  We’ll see how that goes, I might even change it next year.  I’m going to start writing my posts soon.

[audiogrizzly]

Top 5 Games of 2019

It was a little tricky to construct a top 5 for this year, though there have been a couple of surprises.  I wasn’t expecting the year to be a bit crap as we are no w on the cusp once more of a new generation.  But 2012 wasn’t all that bad of a year (PS4 and Xbox One would release in 2013) and at the moment, everyone is doing alright.  PS4 has sold through over 100 million systems, Nintendo are definitely on an “on” generation with Switch, Xbox has been able to get back into peoples good books with things like Game Pass (on both Console and PC, their PC side they seem to really be turning around), there’s even interesting things happening in the mobile space with Apple Arcade.

This won’t be the last year where my top 5 games are full of current gen titles, I am expecting the new systems to drop in around November, last time it was hard to find a top 5 specific to PS4 (as I listed each platform separately back then).  It IS however, another list of mostly AAA tier games.  If you want to know what smaller more “interesting” games I have been playing, check out my honourable mentions at the end.

Also, follow me on Melee.  It’s this new image blogging service from Imgur which you can download now on the IOS App Store (its just on iPhone at the moment) and it has seemingly been built to help people share gaming related clips and images off of places like Twitter and Instagram (and err, here on Tumblr).  I posted a couple of daft clips of me failing in Modern Warfare and Destiny 2 and it didn’t take long for them to amass a few likes and comments.

That sounded like a sponsored advert but ain’t nobody paying me for this.  Let’s get into my top 5

5. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order

I was about to select Gears 5 to be my number 5 until I saw sense and cast my memory back to when I started playing Jedi (all the way back in November.  I was impressed by its intense action, impressive visuals and great characters.  I especially enjoyed the 4 armed pilot who always complains.  I did feel that towards the end I got sick of managing large groups of enemies so I dropped the difficulty to get through it, but I still haven’t achieved 100% of activities on all planets so I can still go back to it one day.

4. Borderlands 3

We all knew this was coming but not even I had any idea that we would have been actually playing it in 2019 way back at the start of the year.  For me, I look at the game.  I don’t care about weird magicians or their insane sounding legal woes, all I’m interested in is the work of a team who deserved better for their last title, but am still glad returned to what they do best, looting and shooting.  I enjoyed rejoining these characters I have followed over the last 10 years, all the referenced to older games, cameos from characters from Tales From the Borderlands and The Pre Sequel and was sad to see some people go.  I still have about a year of extra content to go through and I really appreciate the efforts they have made to make the game last longer than just one playthrough through in the Proving Grounds, Circle of Slaughter and Mayhem modes.  Though I have always tended to stick to Borderlands games and create builds for each and every vault hunter, so I will be doing that.

3. Mortal Kombat 11

It’s been a while since I last put a fighting game into my end of year round up.  And I HAVE fallen off MK11 a little bit, but this entry reminded me of how impressive it is for Nether Realms to pack their fighting games with some many things to do and keep people playing outside of just going into matchmaking and fighting others.  The Vault this year is basically another little adventure full of exploration and puzzle solving and the Towers of Time give you plenty of challenge and direction of many months to come.  You also have to give the developer credit for never backing down on the brutality of the game, they must have all got their heads together after DC Universe vs. and vowed never again to make watered down versions of Fatalities.  It is a game that keeps getting better and better.

2. Call of Duty Modern Warfare

I was debating whether or not to include this years CoD.  I always get the same type of enjoyment out of it each year, people complain that it never changes but I’m glad it sticks to a formula.  Of course they are not identikit games, there are new maps, new modes, new ways of building your loadout and new touches, like how in this year you can snap to edges to stay in cover while you shoot, there’s the new special equipment system where you can drop ammo or reduce your footstep noise.  Having doors you can either peek through or smash open adds another level of strategy, there have been times where I have been able to escape being under fire by closing a door, re-positioning and then wasting whoever just wanders in.

The campaign this year, good to see it back, but whatever, the co-op mode is Spec Ops again, like it was back in MW2 and 3 but on a much larger scale, I have yet to complete one of these btw.  But as always, it’s the multiplayer that does it for me and Modern Warfare deserves credit for being what must be the first AAA game to feature cross platform play, not just launch with it.  I know that games like Fortnite are popular, but I don’t see that as a AAA title, it doesn’t have the full package, it’s just a mode and it started off small.  Call of Duty is expected to be big each year, has a lot riding on it and allowing for cross play is a big step.  I especially appreciate being able to play with a keyboard and mouse on PS4 and being able to matchmake only with people playing with controllers on PC, in fact, I have never really given the game much of a shot on PC before as I know people just fall of it, there has often been low player numbers reported on the PC versions of CoD and it looks like it won’t have that problem this time round due to cross play.

Modern Warfare still has to contend with Destiny 2 and Overwatch for my time as my main multiplayer game but it’s still as fun as ever.

1. Control

Put this down as my main “surprise” game of 2019.  A game which was not on my watch list, though I was aware of it as you can’t ignore a game from the makers of Max Payne (I did skip Alan Wake and didn’t care much for Quantum break though).  Bought it at the last minute before its release, downloaded it and was wowed by the sinister nature of the environment you run around in.  This weird fictitious US government agency which looks into paranormal activity which you seem to have become in charge of because you picked up a mysterious weapon from the deceased Director while searching for your brother.  What then follows is about 12 hours of wacky powers and odd video clips as you unearth what has been going on in this strange ever morphing building.

I especially loved how the game never holds your hand too much, the map of each floor is vague enough that you also have to rely on in-game signposting to move around, as well as a bit of memory work.  There is also great humour involved too in some of the PSA posters on a lot of the walls, the antics of the caretaker and the videos you find of Dr. Darling throughout the game.

I did have a few weird technical issues with the game throughout playing, but still found it to be visually pleasing, there was this weird hitch that used to appear after coming out of the pause screen that always threw me, it would be followed by a few moments of low performance before getting back into the smooth action.  But this didn’t stop me from having a great time with Control.  Perhaps the game that will be the most prominent in my head when I think of 2019.

So there you have it, control is my best game of 2019.  But let’s look at the other new games I played throughout the year in my honourable mentions:

Gears 5

The Outer Worlds

Days Gone

Apex Legends

Far Cry New Dawn

Trover Saves the Universe

Concrete Genie

Devil May Cry 5

Tom Clancy's The Division 2

And also a special mention to these old games that were rereleased/remastered/repackaged etc in 2019:

Borderlands Game of the Year Edition Remastered

Halo Reach

And now, a look at the games I have on my watchlist for 2020:

Cyberpunk 2077

Last of Us Part 2

Ghost of Tsushima

Halo: Infinite

Watch Dogs Legion

Phantasy Star Online 2

Gods & Monsters

Doom Eternal

Overwatch 2

Diablo IV

Minecraft dungeons

Marvel's Avengers

Carrion

Streets of Rage 4

Will they all even come out?  Let’s find out, happy new year!

[audiogrizzly]

My Top 20 Games of the 2010s

I will still be doing my usual top 5 this year, but seeing as it’s the last year of a whole decade, I am going to start off with a list of games that encompasses the whole of the last 10 years.

A couple of things to point out before we get cracking:

This is a personal list, so there’s gonna be some games that you the reader may not agree with.  I’m actually in a privileged position to play whatever I want, but I don’t necessarily agree with everything professional game writers say.  There will be a list of “honourable mentions” at the end, this may include a few of the games you might have been expecting

I do cheat a little, some entries are dedicated to a franchise of games.  At the end of the day, if you are into Destiny, chances are that Destiny 1 and 2 sort of merged into each other, Destiny 1 changed as much over its 3 year lifespan as the final product changed into Destiny 2

There are no games from 2019 in here, apart from part of one of them, see my previous point.  Maybe one day I will look at Apex legends and say “yes, that was the best game of the 2010s”, but it’s too early to say now.

I know there are a lack of Nintendo games.  There is one Nintendo exclusive and another that I played on a Nintendo platform (in the top 20, there may be more in the honourable mentions), but all in all I won’t be mentioning what system I played these games on unless I have to.  If you must know, the majority were played on either PlayStation 4 and PC.  A couple of Vita, PS3, Switch and Wii U.

I will be adding information on where each game scored in my previous yearly top 5s though and I did do those on separate platforms up until 2013.  So in a way, that’s confirming what systems I played these all on.

If you have followed my yearly top 5s, you’ll see some inconsistency, as in the fact that I have got my number 1 game from 2015 further down the list than my number 2 of that year.  Also that I have my 1st and 3rd best game from 2018 on the list but my number 2 game is merely on the honourable mentions.  This is because your thoughts towards a game can change.  I still love all the games I have ever placed on a top 5, but some games age better than others.

And I’m not going to write descriptions, I always write something in my yearly lists.  As I said before, I’m not a games writer, it’s going to take way too long and I don’t think anyone's going to read what I write anyway, just look at the list.

At the start of this decade, I had no idea if I would still be playing games by the end of it or where I would be.  I’m actually still sort of in the same place I was in 2010, but it’s been a fun ride, in a sort of “slipping into middle age” sort of way.  But I think I was born to be old to be honest.  Now I find myself at the start of the 2020s, I’m wondering how my hearing/eyesight/reactions will be at the end of the next decade.

Now that I have depressed the hell out of you, let’s begin!

20. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (2nd on both my PS3 and Vita lists in 2012)

19. Vanquish (4th on my PS3 list from 2010)

18. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (1st on my 2015 list)

17. Steamworld Dig 2 (3rd on my 2017 list)

16. Marvel’s Spider-Man (4th on my 2018 list)

15. Gravity Rush 1 & 2 (GR1 1st on my Vita 2012 list, GR2 on my honourable mentions from 2017)

14. Dangonronpa Series (D1 5th on my 2014 list, DV3 honourable mention for 2017, D2 not listed)

13. The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt (2nd on my 2015 list)

12. God of War (1st on my 2018 list)

11. The Last of Us (2nd on my 2013 list, though I really started to enjoy it more when the Remastered version came out on PS4, 1st on my 2014 list)

10. NieR: Automata (2nd on my 2017 list)

9. Horizon Zero Dawn (1st on my 2017 list)

8. Persona 4 Golden (Not listed, this is the only game I didn’t play in the year of its release on here)

7. Diablo 3 (3rd on my PS3 list in 2013, Honourable mention for PS4 in 2014)

6. DOOM (2nd on my 2016 list)

5. Portal 2 (2nd on my PS3 list for 2012)

4. CoD Series (yes, all of them, here’s a list within a list:)

10. Ghosts (2nd on my PS4 list in 2013)

9. Advanced Warfare (3rd on my 2014 list)

8. Infinite Warfare (Honourable mention in 2016)

7. Black Ops 3 (Not listed, but didn’t do honourable mentions in 2015)

6. Modern Warfare (not listed yet, but like I said, it’s too early for me to feel confident in a 2019 game, though MW is a cracker)

5. Black Ops 4 (5th on my 2018 list)

4. WWII (Not listed, not even on honourables, weirdly)

3. Black Ops 2 (2nd on my 360 list from 2012, making this my only Xbox game on my list)

2. Black Ops (Not listed, didn’t do honourables in 2010)

1. Modern Warfare 3 (1st on my PS3 list from 2011)

3. Mario Kart 8 (Not listed, the only top 5 I can find from 2014 is a PS4 list, I got this rather late in the year though)

2. Overwatch (1st on my 2016 list)

1. Destiny 1&2 (D1 2nd on my 2014 list, D2 5th on my 2017 list)

Destiny there being a good example of a game that gets better over time, I think the whole “live game” scene found its stride in the 10s and it’s made sure that this game that was never number 1 in its year of release could go on to be the game I have perhaps put the most hours into.  You also have multiplayer games taking up my entire top 4 too (I mostly play CoD for multiplayer), though all in all, the majority of this list are single player titles.

And all CoDs in the list?  It’s basically just CoD itself that’s at number 4.  If I was forced to adhere to a list where there was only single games listed, there would be no way I would have Ghosts or Advanced Warfare on there at the end of it all.  I would just keep MW3 on there perhaps, but then I would feel iffy about some of the games at the bottom of the list.  Do I really like PS All-Stars and Vanquish more than Black Ops 1 & 2?

So what of the decade’s honourable mentions?  Will it feature GTA or Red Dead.  The answer to the latter is “yes” and the former, here:

GTA 5

Batman Arkham city

Uncharted 3

Red Dead Redemption

Super Street Fighter 4

Hyper Light Drifter

Dishonored 2

Titanfall 2

Battleborn

Watch Dogs 2

Ratchet and Clank

Red Dead Redemption 2

Tearaway (Vita and Unfolded)

Sonic Mania

Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (yes, in my honourables!)

Hotline Miami

Bioshock Infinite

Tomb Raider (2016)

Borderlands 2

Life is Strange

Uncharted 4 (and Lost Legacy)

Persona 5

Assassins Creed Origins and Odyssey (Origins I played the year after it came out, it would have been considered a game of the year if I’d had played it in 2017)

Far Cry 3 (Plus its legacy, even FC5)

Bulletstorm

And I’m just going to add Control to that list too as it’s the only game from 2019 that I have enjoyed that I see as being something that will stand up in a couple of years, maybe the Outer Worlds (I haven't played Wilds) too, but I will need to give that another play.

So there you have it, 10 years in gaming from me.  Will I still be playing games after another?  Time, and my body, will tell.  Look out for my top 5 of 2019, I still have to give Judgment and Death Stranding a good go before I can make up my mind, maybe I will play Outer Wilds too.

[audiogrizzly]

My Top 5 Games of 2018

Time for my yearly top 5 blog!

OIK, so my list is a bit predictable this year, in fact the “special mentions” that come after it are the real interesting ones, lol.  But regular readers of my yearly top 5 will know that I do like a good obvious game.

5. Call of Duty Black Ops 4

I loved how people were into it this year.  All it took was one of those Battle Royale modes that everyone loved to hate.  Incidentally, I did have a bit of a Fortnite phase this year, but that only lasted a week or two.  I have still really only played the multiplayer section of Black Ops 4 too, I keep meaning to play Blackout and Zombies, all in good time.  I’ve already prestiged twice, which is likely nothing compared to the real CoD heads out there.

4. Marvel’s Spider-Man

I can’t remember what game it was, but I was playing this recent character action game which must have had a much smaller budget than Spidey’s latest offering, all the characters faces looked like melted down wax works when I moved to this game afterwards.  The level of detail in the faces of everyone in Marvel’s Spider-Man is staggering.  Also the recreation of Manhattan and the speed at which you swing around it is breathtaking.  It did get to the point where it got a bit samey, but that was after I had finished the main story, I just had to stick around for the relatively easy platinum trophy.

3. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

This was a bit of an Assassin’s Creed year for me as I played through Origins as well after missing out on it last year.  I will admit that I fell off of AC after Brotherhood, though I did play a wee bit of AC 3, I never got anywhere near the end of it.  Then I just didn’t play anything in the series until this year.  For me, it’s the simplified combat system, the Destiny style weapon and armour system and the gorgeous locations.  I might prefer Egypt to Greece if I’m being honest, but only new games are eligible for this list and the second best AC is still top 5 material.

2. Red Dead Redemption 2

Played this right after game number 3 up there, went from playing on PC to PS4 too, 60 to 30fps and it took me a while to adapt.  But this game, this world, these characters and this western saga, it’s like I had been waiting the whole time I have been down in London for this without realising it.  I did enjoy RDR 1, but I hadn’t really thought about my experiences since I finished it back in the day.  I think you could put that down to me losing the save game after my PS3 got the ol’ yellow light of death.  But playing this makes me want to go back and finish the story of John Marsten all over again.

The whole “survival” game type features put me off at first, feeding and cleaning your horse, making sure to eat etc.  But they don’t really come into play as you get into the game, and it’s easy to go off the beaten path and just discover random stuff in the world.  I’ve yet to get stuck into multiplayer too.

1. God of War

It starts off really slow with you chopping a tree down, but that fight with the Stranger really got my blood going.  The fact that it isn’t slow for 45 minutes like some other games shows that the people behind God of War know what the series is really about.  Perhaps the most radical change of direction any game has ever gone in as far as the way it treats its characters, the representation of its main lead too, you can forget everything you know about Kratos.  But then again, why is Greece’s most violent man living the quiet life in the land of the Nordic gods?  I went into this game with many questions and eager for the new direction, but the most Kartos’ history gets reference, the more fired up I got for this spectacular adventure.

It’s a very similar story to my top game of last year in that it feels like a standalone.  I know Horizon was followed up with a piece of DLC, but even that was pretty old school.  GOW has yet to have anything major added to it, it feels like it is and always be the game it was meant to be, something that isn’t broken.  There MAY have been a couple of issues at launch, but they were all fixed in some very quick patches.  I wouldn’t say no to another batch of side missions, but roll on sequel.

Honorable mentions

Like I said, there are other games to my list, ones that are a bit more interesting than my top 5, so here we go..

Yakuza 6

Yoku's Island Express

Forza Horizon 4

Warhammer Vermintide II

Destiny 2 Forsaken

Darksiders 3

Dead Cells

Astro Bot Rescue Mission

And a couple of remastered replays..

Shadow of the Colossus

Burnout Paradise

Red Faction Guerrilla

Yes, I know Shadow of the Colossus is a remake and not a remaster, but it’s technically the same game, just so much more impressive than it once was.

That’s my list for the year.  I am planning on doing another post about my watch list for 2019, I already have about 10 games I;m looking forward, same length as the list I had for this year, I thought it was a bit short, but only 6 of the games I have mentioned in this post are from that list, all the others were a nice surprise.

[audiogrizzly]

Games for 2018

And now to look ahead to next year.  As I did many moons ago, I am just gonna leave a list here of what I’m looking forward to over the next 12 months.  This list is shorter than the one I had for 2017 which is no bad thing.  These are the games I am interested in looking to pick up as soon as they are released, as long as the general “feeling” is good.  In other words, if they manage to hold up well in previews and early impressions.

And the fact that there are only 10 means my wallet won’t be hurt too bad.  Let’s go.

Darksiders III

This is already being shown off in many places with gameplay footage.  Had a kind of a surprise announcement last year and had generally thought to have been lost due to THQs closure (though both parts 1 and 2 in the series had got the remaster treatment). I’m looking forward to playing as a new character and I’m looking forward to getting another adventure to stick my teeth into, especially as that’s the genre of game I played so much of in 2017.

God of War

This was on my original 2017 list, it was pushed back into 2018 so here it is included.  My enthusiasm for this game has not diminished at all and each time the game is shown, it impresses me more.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Another 2017 list original, now sure to come out in 2018.  it’s really the only game that has a chance of toppling GTA 5 to be honest.  Rockstar North ARE the masters though, but the series has faced competition from its own development family in RDR and Bully.  I’m looking forward to seeing what they do to try and best GTA Online.

Far Cry 5

FC3 was a surprise hit for me and number 4 was no disappointment.  I know I kind of give these open world Ubisoft games a bit of a hard time, but each year there is always one that stands out.  Far Cry has done it in the past after a couple of hit/miss entries, Watch Dogs 2 did it in 2016 and in 2017 it was actually the return of Assassin’s Creed which surprised many.  What;s to say that Far Cry can’t come back and do it all over again?

The Last of Us Part 2

As far as I can remember, this wasn’t a game on my 2017 list, it’s here for the first time, though it COULD always slip into 2019.  it would be a shame if it did as TLOU was one of my faves from the PS3/4  changeover period and ranked high on my list in both years it came out (including PS4 remaster).  I’ve said before that I don’t get on with survival games, but i see The Last of us as being more of a stealth action.

Dissidia Final Fantasy NT

Dissidia was one game I really wanted to get more into when it came out for PSP, but I never really got on too well with handheld games, especially when they entered the 3D world (note that there’s no handheld games on this list, there’s not even any Switch games).  I’m not the biggest Final Fantasy guy, but I like a good fighting game, this was evident in my 2017 list where there were 3 games included.

Anthem

EA are on many peoples shit list right now due to the whole loot box discussion.  When Battlefront 2 went down the pan many people looked to this Destiny-type action RPG (announced at E3) and assumed the worst.  Developers Bioware haven’t exactly been doing well as of late (though bear in mind that Mass Effect Andromeda was mostly developed by a different team to the one who developed the more successful original titles). I’m up for it because of the Destiny comparisons, will be interesting to see how they do.

Spider-Man

There’s been that many Spider-Man games that it’s hard to keep track.  for those that don;t know, this will be the 1st party published PS4 exclusive developed by Insomniac Games, it doesn’t seem to be linked to any particular movie in the any recent cinematic series and seems to be a bit of a one shot.  Though it;s not related to it’s development, I want to point out that I loved the old PS1 Spider-Man games so i hope this invokes a lot of good memories.

New Tomb Raider Game

Maybe this is going to be called “Shadow of the Tomb Raider”, maybe not.  If you believe the supposed leaks anyway.  The 2013 reboot and Rise of the Tomb Raider are some of my most favourite games in recent years so another entry in its timeline is just what the doctor should be ordering for me.  We all have those doctors that sells us games right? I just hope that I can get it for a platform I own at launch this time, eh?

SOULCALIBUR VI

Only just announced so this list could be added to (this post will remain the same though).  It;s been a while since the last SC and I don’t think number 5 got a real good showing, it kind of got overshadowed by Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and not even that managed to shine too hard.  Like many others, I enjoy the SOULCALIBUR games because you can do impressive stuff.  I don;t believe you can just jam on the buttons and win, you can still use finesse to win, but it never fails to look good.

That’s my list, let’s enjoy 2018!

[audiogrizzly]

Top 5 games of 2017

It’s that time again!  really don’t think I have posted much this year but hey, this list is as traditional as they get so here goes.

So last year I gave a run down of the spread of games I got for each platform.  Let’s see how I did this year:

PS4: 61 PC: 14 Switch: 7 Android: 4 3DS: 2 Wii U: 1

And yes, that Wii U game was Zelda, also this was the first year I did not buy any new PS3 games, or Vita games for that matter. The numbers in  general are smaller than last years, I made conscious effort not to take quite so many games home with me in 2017.

So onto my top 5, once again, these are across all platforms, as I have been doing in recent years.  I’m fortunate enough to have access to almost all modern platforms, it’s just the Xbox One I don’t have but all of it’s games are on PC or PS4 anyway.  Also before anyone asks why it’s not on the list, I didn’t play PUBG.

5. Destiny 2

A game that I doubt will be in many peoples top 10s let alone top 5s, but that’s ok, Destiny has proven itself to be a series that gets better over time, this was proven in the first game (which has been my favourite PS4 game for a while but didn’t even make number 1 in my list for the year it came out) so there is still time.  For me, it was great to play a game with excellent shooting as always, something that Bungie has always delivered on.  And I didn’t even feel as burnt out as many others did as I don’t play it obsessively, just enough to max out one character.

4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

This will be many peoples number one, but I didn’t get into it that much at first.  I always played it at around the same time as many other great games I enjoyed this year (a few of them are in this top 5) and I felt BOTW to be a bit of a lonely experience as I was being left to figure how how to get through the game on my own.  I also felt like I rushed through it a bit as there were other games I wanted to get on with, but I have started a second play through (I played on Wii U first, then got it again when I eventually got a Switch) and that’s where I felt like it really clicked, as by then I knew what I was doing. This also feels like the least Nintendo-like game from Nintendo’s internal development teams.  Playing with a dual analogue controller, it feels like a normal 3D action game, which is great as there’s always something up with their games and their controls (though the button placement was still a bit weird).

3. Steamworld Dig 2

The “surprise” entry in my list as Steamworld Dig 2 wasn’t on my radar (the list of games I make each year which I am looking forward to), I didn’t really know it was coming out and I didn’t enjoy the first game in the series.  I did however enjoy Steamworld Heist and that sort of got me into the universe.  The first game in the series didn’t appeal to me as I wasn’t keen on “survival” games, games where you could run out of resources whilst up shit creek and you lost stuff if you died. Steamworld Dig 2 feels a lot more like a traditional Metroidvania style of game and it throws out the randomly generated mines in favour of a set map.  It also ozzes charm and had me addicted until completion.  Though it’s only number 3, it’s the first game I would recommend if someone asked me about games in 2017 as it’s the one I feel people may have missed.

2. Nier Automata

I reckon Nier will be a popular game in the top 5s this year, but maybe not a consistent number 1.  It’s definitely Platinum back on form (at least Bayonetta 3 should be good) though I’m thankful for it;s more simplified combat as opposed to the lists and lists of commands their games have provided in the past. The game has you following a batshit bonkers storyline, one that kind of put a few people off, but for me it;s the soundtrack that i really enjoyed and I don’t feel that way about many games. it was the only game I made a post about this year and how I felt dirty about buying trophies in order to get the platinum, but I still feel like I got the most enjoyment out of playing what I did.  I will return for a repeat run through one day.

1. Horizon Zero Dawn

I’m glad to be giving my first place selection to a new IP and one from a developer who were in great need of getting something new out to save their reputation, as much as I like Killzone it seems that the general public don’t have much of an opinion of it.  I was hoping for a Witcher style adventure before the year started, but was disappointed at the reports that likened it more to Far Cry.  After playing for 60 odd hours (plus more in the Frozen Wilds DLC), i will admit it IS closer to Ubisoft’s open-world-by-numbers romp but in a very good way.  The robots are the best bit about the game, overcoming them is always a challenge and gives an enormous sense of satisfaction when to drop them. The world had me enchanted from the get go too, from the wintry starting area to the sun drenched city in the west, I also love future set fiction where they regard our generation as ancients. Would love to see this story continued.

So there you have it, ok as I did last year, some special mentions that did not make the list:

Gravity Rush 2 Persona 5 Injustice 2 Sonic Mania Nex Machina Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Dishonored: Death of the Outsider Hob Pyre Danganronpa V3

Plus, it was a pleasure to re-play these games in their re released forms: Bulletstorm: Full Clip Vanquish

[audiogrizzly]

My Most Shameful Platinum Trophy

I’ll admit I’m not one of these, what you may call, “trophy addicts”.  OK some people may call them trophy “hoarders” or rather offensively trophy “whores”.  Let’s just say that I’m not an actual enthusiast.  But I do feel a great sense of achievement when gaining the all coveted platinum trophy in a game.

I have 32 of these now (for those that may have forgotten, the platinum trophy is the one awarded to the player when they have completed all “base” game trophies in a title, so not including DLC) but according to the guides on www.playstationtrophies.org for these titles, the platinums I have achieved have an average difficulty rating of about 3/10.  It’s all stuff like Borderlands 1 and Killzone 3 etc.  Even recent completions like Gravity Rush 2 and Horizon aren’t all that hard when it comes to getting everything done.

Last night I unlocked the Platinum trophy for a game that the above website also rates as a 3/10, Nier Automata.  Now, some of you might have heard that after completing the games 3rd playthrough (which is basically Nier Automata: Part Two), one of the helpful NPCs in the Resistance Camp will start selling you trophies for about 50,000 - 200,000 units of the in-game currency.  And these aren’t just silly nonsense trophies.  These are trophies that you would normally have earned by achieving goals and tasks.  The sort of tasks you would have worked for.  You can just buy them!  Not with real money I should add, there’s nothing slimy about PlatinumGames and Square Enix as far as this game goes.  But it is still weird.

Previously, my only grey area in my collection was with Buzz Quiz TV, where I used a title update glitch to unlock a load of trophies at once, I was pretty ashamed of it and was always glad that no one had noticed.  But that game came out during the time trophies were rolling out, in fact the game’s original European release did not feature them, they came along with a patch a couple of weeks after release, even though the game came out after trophies were a thing.

But Nier is a new game, and with PS4 being a bit more social than PS3 (the What’s New feed will often show a constant stream of friends showing off their achievements) and with me having a lot more friends than I used to, more people will have noticed my latest platinum.  They can’t help but notice this:

There were about 18 trophies I unlocked right after each other int he space of a couple of minutes.  I have censored the descriptions for spoilers, but there’s no way I could have naturally unlocked those that quickly.

I think it’s an interesting experiment, that’s why i went ahead and bought them, as an experiment.  I didn’t even have enough currency, I sold all of the excess items in my inventory, bought what i could, quit the game and re-downloaded my previous save from the cloud, then repeated until I had everything.  But I hope that “buying” trophies does not become a thing.  Even if it is with in-game currency.  The guide on www.playstationtrophies.org states that the Platinum has a 3/10 difficulty and that’s without visiting the trophy shop, but it will have made the game experience 10 hours longer.  If you work a bit harder to gain every trophy in a game, you’d feel a bit miffed if people were just unlocking them without doing what it is you were meant to do for them.  Would you not?

[audiogrizzly]

Games to look forward to in 2017

When I wrote out my top 5 list for 2016, along with the special mentioned footnote, I realised that apart from Street Fighter V, every game on the list featured gameplay based around shooting and that all but about a handful of them were FPS games.  Today I’m going to look towards my 2017 watch list and see if this sort of theme carries over.

First of all, i;m going to post my watch list for 2016, not the one I ended up with as we got past a couple of delay announcements, the one from earlier in the year.

XCOM 2

Mighty No 9

Street Fighter 5

Fire Emblem Fates

Tom Clancy’s The Division

Senran Kagura Estival Versus

Ratchet and Clank

Star Fox Zero

Battleborn

Homefront: The Revolution

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Overwatch

No Man’s Sky

Gravity Rush 2

Destiny 2 (or whatever activities Bungie has lined up for this year)

The Legend of Zelda for Wii U

Persona 5

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Horizon: Zero Dawn

Trackmania Turbo

The Last Guardian

So there we have it. 22 games, only half of which revolve around a shooting mechanic in a 3D action space so that’s not including XCOM or Mighty No. 9.  Plus where are Doom and Dishonored 2?  I did add Titanfall 2 in a later version of this list though, but the one you see up there is how I felt at the start of 2016.

Also, check the amount of games on that list that were delayed, it’s hardly any actually.  And who would have thought that The Last Guardian actually would come out in 2016?

OK, onto 2017’s list.  This is what I am looking forward to for next year, no particular order, though the first few are sort of in an order of release, not all games have firm release dates:

Gravity Rush 2

Here we go, not a shooter.  In fact, Gravity Rush is kind of a beat em up.  Kat goes about the world wailing on enemies with her kicks and gnarly gravity powers.  Loved GR1 on Vita and the PS4 remaster was one of the highlights of the beginning of 2016 for me, didn’t include it on my list because it is technically an old game.  This will be new though and most welcome for fans of the original.  Was also on my original watch list for last year.

Horizon Zero Dawn

Another 2016 handover.  Looks like it’s forming into an excellent new property for PlayStation too.  Killzone was always had an odd presence in the world of first person shooters and it’s all Guerrilla have done for over 10 years, it will be refreshing to see how they can flex their muscles in a different Sort of game.

Oh yeah, also not a shooter.

Ghost Recon Wildlands

This wasn’t on my list for last year, I guess because it never had a firm release date.  I have it on here now because I have been a Ghost Recon fan since GRAW 1 showed me that tactical shooter (this is a shooter) can be approachable and interesting.

Think I’m going to miss the near future setting though, though I am not actually sure this one is present day, it seems that what has been shown already doesn;t prove that the Ghosts have total sci fi tech this time round like their camera guns or UAV drones.  I have an eye on this one, though I’m not expecting it to set the world on fire.  Bit like The Division really.

Persona 5

Here’s where my selection gets real different from my top 5 of last year.  A full on JRPG.  Was on last years list and is not a shooter.

It was 2015 when I finally arrived at the Persona party.  Fortunately all the other guests were more than welcoming, after all they have one of the greatest examples of japanese culture, storytelling and gaming as their favorite title.  Persona 4 Golden had me hooked so much that I immediately went back and played Persona 3.  Then I played both of the fighting games and then waited patiently for the music rhythm dancing game that came along.

This time I finally get to play alongside an audience who are also getting to play for the first time.  Unless they imported from Japan where the game is already out of course.

Crackdown 3

When I listed my top 5, I put Gears of War 4 as a special mention and pointed out that it was my favourite Xbox franchise.  I also used to play Crackdown, but not as much as Gears or Halo.  I still found the open world sandbox to be a lot of fun and now I get to carry on playing.

The original team is closed down, but series and GTA creator David Jones is apparently on board with this sequel.

It has shooting, so it can be classed as a shooter I guess (I’ll stop pointing this out with each game).

Injustice 2

A fighting game was the only real non-shooter in my 2016 round up.  This year I have 3 of them in my watch list.  

Mortal Kombat is a sort of a guilty pleasure of mine, a stance I should actually change.  It was a bit naff in the old days but somehow, as of around this decade, American studios know how to make fighting games.  This has been proven by Skullgirls, Killer Instinct and Mortal Kombat 9 and X.  Injustice as well of course, but it;s easy to bundle this in with MK because it’s by the same guys.

The original was a highly enjoyable, over the top, comic book style fighter.  I’m looking for more of the same with this one.

Mass Effect Andromeda

Another carried over from last year.  In 2016, I finished off my second playthrough of the Mass Effect trilogy.  I will admit that they are not my most favorite games in the world, I’ve never been a massive fan of the combat.  But I’m willing to give the game another chance to wow me.  I have a feeling they’re going to knock it out of the park for the hardcore fans though.  I’ll play it, but I won’t base my year around it.

Red Dead Redemption 2

This is the big one.  Rockstar’s second most enigmatic title and it’s only on its third outing, technically.  The sequel to what many people consider to be the best game of the last generation.  One which I lost a lot of hours in actually, I got the yellow light of death after playing this, I had completed it and was basically finished, but there were moments where I felt like cleaning up everything I hadn’t got round to doing.  A replay for RDR 1 is on my to do list, hopefully before the new game comes out later in the year.

Also, Rockstar never disappoint.  Something that bodes well for this game.

Scalebound

I just have my eye on this one, don’t really know much about it.  I’m hoping that this will be one of the “good” Platinum games so I have my fingers crossed.

South Park The Fractured But Whole

Meant to come out in 2016 but wasn’t on my list.  I have seen the error of my way and added it to 2017s now that it has been delayed.  If they can recapture at least what was good about The Stick of Truth, the robust combat system and the fact that it looked almost exactly like an episode of the cartoon in its many cutscenes, this will be a cracker.

Tekken 7

It’s been a long time since part 6 I’ll tell you that.  Though there was the free-to-play Tekken, and Tag Tournament 2 which was forgotten about really quickly.

I’m more of a Street Fighter fan, but I always have time for a bit of Tekken.

The Legend of Zelda The Breath of the Wild

The only game on my Nintendo Switch radar, mainly because it’s the only announced game.  I’m not going to make the same mistake I did with Twilight Princess, It’s gonna be the new system or nothing this time.

Obviously other Nintendo games are going to come up in time for launch, and I may add more to this list over time, but so far this is what I’m getting a Switch for.

Tokyo 42

Have had this on my Steam watchlist since the summer after hearing the Giant Bomb crew talking about it.  Looks like it's release will be early 2017.  A sort of mix between Syndicate (the original) and GTA, you’re an assassin in a Japanese city (Tokyo most likely) trying to uncover a dark mystery.  I’m down with it purely based on the style of the game.  Looks fine to me.

Destiny 2

Had this on my list for last year, here’s hoping that Destiny will at least get a new base game to build another chapter off of and that it will be good enough out of the gate to live up to their best previous games.  In it’s third year, Destiny 1 is a humdinger, my favourite PS4 game and one of my main go-to games for questing or multiplayer FPSing.  I would only want a full sequel to replace it if need be

God of War

I’m sure that this one is going to end up being a 2018 game.  Love God of War, I rank the first 2 among my best games of all time and there's nothing terrible about any of the follow up games in the series.  But it looks like the game is getting a new coat of paint for this reboot.  Most of all, I’m interested in finding out how exactly Kratos managed to move over to norse mythology, if that’s what has happened here.

Danganronpa 3

Loved the first 2 games in this series, among my favourite Vita games, we’re going to be getting the 3rd game in the main series in 2017 along with Japan.  I will be plumping for the PS4 version this time round unless there is cross save.

Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite

The last 3 games are sort of late additions as they were only announced at PSX.  I was surprised to see a new Marvel crossover fighting game announced despite the rumours.  Mainly because they deleted the older games in the series off of the PlayStation store.  Then they go and release a PS4 version of Ultimate 3!

Part of the fun for me though is finding out which characters they are going to use, I love those videos when they come out.  So the fun starts now!

Uncharted 4 The Lost Legacy

This was a surprise, but after Left Behind, you should basically expect that they would do this again.  A standalone expansion to UC4s story.  I like the Chloe character too, it will be interesting to play through a whole campaign as a character that isn’t Drake, of course UC4 did this a little with Sam.  But you also had all these people who predicted that Drake would die in Uncharted 4, perhaps this will appease that crowd, give them something new to chew into.

Pyre

I enjoyed Transistor, but I was a little late the the party with Bastion, only finished the latter this year.  But I really enjoyed Bastion, to the point where I am like “I get it” and I want to be able to get Pyre too.  Seeing some solid previews already so I am hoping this will be an early release.

[audiogrizzly]

My Top 5 Games of 2016

Welcome to my game of the year post where I run down my top 5.

These are all games that were released in 2016 and I must say, it was tough this year.  I made a special effort to play as much as I could and tried to finish what I started in all cases.  But I am confident I have made an accurate list here.  As last year, I have refrained from doing lists for each of the platforms I own.  But on that topic, at the time of writing, and at this point, the last game from my 2016 watchlist has been released, The Last Guardian, the platform totals look like this:

PS4: 79 games PC: 20 games Vita: 17 games 3DS: 3 games PS3: 1 game

And that’s it.  Well this has been my most prolific year for PS4 by a long stretch, it’s mainly thanks to PSVR.  The Vita list is surprising as I feel like I’ve barely played with it this year but most of its games are cross buy titles I bought for PS4.  The PS3 game was a late addition, Hyper Void is on PS Plus this month and it came out in January.  The 3DS games are basically 2 games, I have included Metroid Prime Blast Ball as it’s own thing because Nintendo released it early.  And this is possibly my most prolific year for PC games, I got back on board with that platform in a big way fresh after upgrading my processor and graphics card, shame that here in December I feel like my system is getting a bit out of date.

That’s probably it for PS3 and Wii U though, I still have games to play on them from previous years so they’re not getting packed away just yet, but with a new system out next year, Nintendo’s Switch, I can assume they won’t be getting many new games.

Without further ado, the list

5. Rise of the Tomb Raider

I came back to it!  Back in May I was reluctant to put the game on my top 5 because a) it was actually a 2015 game, on Xbox, and b) I had technical difficulties while playing through it on my PC because I didn’t realise my CPU heatsink was obstructed.  I wanted to hold off rating the game until I could play the PS4 version too, but when that came along, I found it almost unplayable compared to the 60fps experience my PC was now giving me.  And the PS4 version is still good, I had just experienced better before.

I played a few of the story sections again, the game is packed really well with customisation and extra features.  It took me a while to get round to it, but for Halloween I played through the Blood Ties section in the Croft Manor, both the walking simulator section and the nightmare mode, chilling.  Plus I have been visiting old regions in the main game to find as many collectables as I can as well as trying out different costumes.  I’ve even been doing a bit of score chasing.  Basically, if you have the season pass, or the 20th anniversary celebration version, there is a lot in this game to return to.  It’s just a shame that I had to suffer a shoddy frame rate while experiencing it for the first time.  It’s probably the reason I have put it in 5th place.

4. Dishonored 2

It took me ages to get round to really giving Dishonored a good go.  I gave up on the PS3 version a few years back because I wasn’t in the mood for sneaking around.  Before I sat down to play Dishonored 2, I made sure to play through the first game.  D2’s showing at E3 made me want to play it, but I knew I would have wanted context for the game’s plot so I took a couple of nights to play the original.  Both playthroughs were a stop/start juggernaut of save scumming, I wanted to play as sneaky as possible as well as collecting as much as I could so I could unlock all the abilities I wanted.  I managed to play through the game once as Emily in a weekend while achieving a low chaos outcome.  What I am really looking forward to is playing through as Old Man Corvo and killing everyone.

The choice of paths at your disposal is magnificent, plus the world itself is to die for.  I loved each minute I spent in this game.  The only problem is that the enemy AI maybe isn’t predictable enough for a stealth game, sometimes they do different things each time you reload the game and you can’t always guarantee a 100% stealthy playthrough without saving before each encounter.  But finishing as low chaos was good enough for me,

3. Titanfall 2

When we got to the summer, I already thought I had my top 5 of 2016 wrapped up, I made a post about it in the summer.  But the last 3 months of the year should never be written off just because it’s often jam packed.  Releasing a game at the most competitive time of the year is now beginning to prove to be a bad idea and at least 2 games on my list suffered saleswise, this is one of them.  Though I shouldn’t dwell on that subject too much, Titanfall 2 is a great game and a lot has been said about it’s short but eventful single player story mode.  It’s a little cheesy in places, basically a love story between a generic soldier (“John Cooper” no less) and a hulking big mech suit with a stoic AI.  Playing through the campaign was a thrilling ride and its short length suits it perfectly, but I would feel short changed if it was the only thing on offer in this game.

Titanfall 2’s multiplayer is one of the most spectacular battlefields I have witnessed, especially when it’s the standard attrition mode.  Many accused the original game of using smoke and mirrors to make the game look busier than it was by throwing in lots of computer controlled soldiers and robots, hiding the fact that it’s 6v6 humans.  It’s the same in the sequel but you don’t notice it, it just gives you more to do on the map.  There’s no player name above?  There should still be some points in it for you.  Throw in the fact that the game is so fast and that it has the same free movement that the first game had, you start to feel like you’re a real badass.

The campaign is good, the story not as much so, but don’t overlook the multiplayer experience in this one.  Problem is, there were more than enough multiplayer shooters this year so this might be a reason for the game suffering.

2. Doom

My top 2 are important games in the list this year because they represent my renewed interest in PC gaming.  Though both of them also came to PS4 and I have them on both platforms, this game and my number one selection are games I used to retrain myself on keyboard & mouse controls.  Playing Doom with this control method made the game feel so much faster and exciting.  The game itself is still good, I haven’t got round to playing it much on my PS4 yet, but it’s still as visceral and exhilarating over there.

As a contrast to Titanfall, for me playing Doom was all about the single player.  I actually thought the beta earlier in the year was alright, but a lot of people were down on it and basically wrote this game off.  Then bethesda did the thing where they didn’t send review copies out early which game the impression they weren’t confident in the game’s quality.  But it turned out the be a surprise hit and basically served as the justification for the publisher to hold back review copies of Dishonored and Skyrim Special Edition later in the year.

Compared to the 1993 original, it still feels like a modern game, but one which is different enough to stand out compared to the Battlefields and Call of Duties.  But the developer was definitely able to recapture the atmosphere of the original, not to mention the whole “one man versus the hordes of hell” angle.

Plus the post release updates have only improved the game.  Sure extra maps are good for those that do play multiplayer, but the arcade mode they added was a perfect reason not to delete the game off anyone's hard drive who even remotely enjoyed Doom. 1. Overwatch

As if there was any doubt.  It’s been a busy year for multiplayer games.  I have played as much as I could of everything that came out this year, but I kept feeling drawn back to the endless experience of player vs player combat.  I still played a lot of Destiny in 2016, managed to prestige a couple more times in Black Ops 3 as well as Infinite Warfare and I have already talked about Titanfall 2.  Overwatch is possibly the best, most approachable and accessible objective, class based shooter out there.  And it was new for 2016.  A year that really needed a game like this.

There was a trailer that came out before the game's release.  Though it’s a multiplayer title, there is still an overarching story in the universe that is told through animated shorts and ARG experiences.  In this one trailer, Tracer, the British Overwatch agent, tells a young fan that the world could always use more heroes.  It’s a really positive note for a time when real life heroes are dying each week while actual villains are achieving power.

There has not been a shooter that has provided such a vibrant, eclectic and diverse selection of characters as this.  Each one of them would not look out of place in a Street Fighter style fighting game.  In fact, I would love to see a Street Fighter X Overwatch game further down the line.

Many people took exception to the praise bestowed upon this game, seeing critics views as a contradiction towards the reception that Street Fighter V and Star Wars Battlefront got.  I mean, Overwatch is multiplayer only, and what is there?  3 modes?  And one of those, is it not just a mix mash of the other 2?

Sure, Street Fighter V is a better game now at the end of the year, but Overwatch was loved from the start even when it was bare bones because of the experience.  There was no story mode, but a million stories could be told from playing the game.  You and your friends make your own based on crushing defeats and glorious victories.  There’s not one character I hate to play as though I do have favourites.  And they’re adding new ones, for free!

Then there’s the competitive mode.  I’m glad Overwatch has it even though I never play it.  Because all the dicks are in there, complaining about people leaving games early.  That’s why you need to find friends and play as a team, make sure no one’s going to arse around.  I will stick to Quick Play thank you very much.

If it wasn’t for Destiny, Overwatch would be my sure fire choice for my go-to MP shooter.  In fact there’s enough room for the 2 of them in my life.

Special mentions

Got to give a shout out to a few other games that didn’t make the top 5, though are still some of the best games around

Destiny Rise of Iron - About time for a complete overhaul, should hopefully get that next year.  But this expansion was enough to tide over the most keen Destiny players, including me. Ratchet and Clank - Always love R&C games, but even I was surprised at how well this remake was received.  One of my favourite franchises. Uncharted 4 - Would love to play more of the multiplayer, but the story in this game was a highlight for me this year.  A series that always feels like a blockbuster. Gears of War 4 - Still without plans to get an Xbox again, I never thought I would have been able to play the latest in what was my favourite series on Microsoft’s console.  Should try and play more of this online too.  Glad I am able to play on PC. Street Fighter V - The only thing that stopped this from being a top 5 is that I didn’t play as much due to feeling daunted by going online.  Regular updates kept me coming back and the actual fighting is flawless. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - As much as I loved CoD 4 and appreciate the remaster, I always have time for the newer games.  A brilliant campaign and as always, fun multiplayer. Battleborn - Matchmaking could have used a casual mode, one where player dropouts were replaced by new players.  This game challenged me by introducing me to MOBA style gameplay in the safe confines of a first person shooter.

[audiogrizzly]

My Top 100 Games

Of allllll time.

Was working on this the other day because I was thinking about lists.  I already published my top 10 a couple of years back, the top of the list remains unchanged apart from the top 2, I swapped them around.

Anyways, I know the waffle up at the top here isn’t important so I will just crack on.  No descriptions, what i will say though is that the platform I have listed next to each is the platform I played the game on mainly, it’s where I enjoyed the game, on some occasions it’s multiple platforms.  Enjoy.

100. Jetpac (Spectrum) 99. Sonic the Hedgehog (Game Gear/Master System) 98. Tomb Raider (PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4) 97. Mystical Ninja. Starring Goemon (N64) 96. Grand Theft Auto (PlayStation) 95. Wipeout (PlayStation) 94. Timesplitters Future Perfect (PlayStation 2) 93. Tony Hawk’s Underground (PlayStation 2) 92. Nights Into Dreams (Saturn) 91. NBA Jam (Super Nintendo) 90. Resident Evil 2 (PlayStation) 89. Fighters Megamix (Saturn) 88. WRC 3 (PlayStation 2) 87. Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution (PlayStation 2) 86. Metal Gear Solid 2 (PlayStation 2) 85. Fallout 3 (PlayStation 3) 84. Diablo 3 (PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4) 83. Mario Kart 8 (Wii U) 82. Half Minute Hero (PSP) 81. Metroid Prime (Gamecube/Wii U (Virtual Console)) 80. Capcom vs SNK 2 (PlayStation 2) 79. SingStar (PlayStation 2 platform) 78. Batman Arkham City (PlayStation 3) 77. Street Fighter 2 (Arcade/Super Nintendo) 76. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Xbox 360) 75. Jak 2 Renegade (PlayStation 2) 74. Okami (PlayStation 2/PlayStation 3) 73. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) 72. God of War (PlayStation 2) 71. Ratchet and Clank (PlayStation 2) 70. F-Zero X (N64) 69. Wipeout 2097 (PlayStation) 68. Super Cars 2 (Atari ST) 67. Uncharted 3 Drake’s Deception (PlayStation 3) 66. Red Faction: Guerrilla (PlayStation 3) 65. Borderlands 2 (PlayStation 3) 64. God of War 2 (PlayStation 2) 63. Tomb Raider (Saturn) 62. Metroid Zero Mission (Game Boy Advance) 61. Batman Arkham Asylum (PlayStation 3) 60. Colin McRae Dirt 2 (PlayStation 3) 59. Portal (PC/Xbox 360) 58. Peggle (PC) 57. Uncharted 2 Among Thieves (PlayStation 3) 56. Vanquish (PlayStation 3) 55. Tetris (Game Boy) 54. Rock Band (Xbox 360) 53. LittleBigPlanet (PlayStation 3) 52. Killzone 2 (PlayStation 3) 51. The Last of Us (PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4) 50. Tekken 3 (PlayStation) 49. Grand Theft Auto V (PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4) 48. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (PlayStation 3/Vita) 47. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 (PlayStation 3/Xbox 360) 46. Red Dead Redemption (PlayStation 3) 45. DOOM (1993, PC/Sega 32X) 44. Wizard’s Lair (Spectrum) 43. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (PlayStation 2) 42. Tomb Raider 2 (PlayStation) 41. Gears of War (Xbox 360) 40. Overwatch (PC/PlayStation 4) 39. Out Run (Arcade) 38. Flashback (Super Nintendo) 37. Persona 4 Golden (Vita) 36. Skate 2 (PlayStation 3) 35. Rainbow Six Vegas (Xbox 360) 34. Unreal Tournament 3 (PlayStation 3) 33. Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike (Dreamcast) 32. Portal 2 (PlayStation 3/PC) 31. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 (PlayStation) 30. Soul Calibur (Dreamcast) 29. The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (N64) 28. Lemmings (Atari ST) 27. James Pond 2 Robocod (Atari ST) 26. Ratchet and Clank 3 (PlayStation 2) 25. Burnout Paradise (PlayStation 3) 24. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 (PlayStation 2) 23. Super Street Fighter 4 (PlayStation 3) 22. Burnout Revenge (Xbox) 21. Sonic The Hedgehog (Mega Drive) 20. Turrican 2 (Atari ST) 19. Treasure Island Dizzy (Atari ST) 18. Super Probotector (Super Nintendo) 17. The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past (Super Nintendo) 16. Wipeout 3 Special Edition (PlayStation) 15. Legend of the Mystical Ninja (Super Nintendo) 14. Street Fighter Alpha 3 (PlayStation) 13. Streets of Rage 2 (Mega Drive) 12. Destiny (PlayStation 4) 11. Borderlands (PlayStation 3) 10. Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare (PlayStation 3) 9. Beyond Good and Evil (PlayStation 2) 8. Magic Land Dizzy (Spectrum) 7. Super Mario Kart (Super Nintendo) 6. Canis Canem Edit (PlayStation 2) 5. SSX3 (PlayStation 2) 4. Final Fight (Arcade) 3. Speedball 2 (Atari ST) 2. Street Fighter 2 Turbo (Super Nintendo) 1. Super Metroid (Super Nintendo)

There you have it.  Some interesting entries on this list, but if you knew me, you wouldn’t be surprised at a lot of things.  I might do a follow up post at some point to explain a couple of things, there were some I thought of when I was typing all of this out but I have forgotten what I wanted to say now.

Feel free to comment.

[audiogrizzly]

New Control Training Part 3

There have been two occasions since the beginning of last year where I have forced myself to undergo control “training”.

The first was in March of 2015 where I played Borderlands and Destiny to rid myself of the desire to select inverted camera controls.  Not because I felt it was the proper way to play, but to stop having to make the effort to keep changing the option that enables it.  Why shouldn’t I think that up is up and down is down?  Before this, people would lambaste me for being an inverted player, now they have no idea.  Sad, sad people.

An update on this, I’m fully converted and I find it weird when I load up a game I haven't played in years and find that the controls are still on the old setting I used to prefer, turns my world upside down it does.

The second was earlier this year in May when the draw of playing Overwatch on PC persuaded me to finally get myself used to keyboard and mouse controls.  Although I started off playing games on computers, the modern FPS did not exist back then and I used to play arcade style games using single button joysticks.  Since then I have been a long time console player and would end up using an Xbox 360 joypad to play the Orange Box games.

But I stuck it out in the spring and felt I had complete control over Overwatch and Doom, both of which I still play to this day.

Here at the end of 2016, the new Call of Duty has encouraged me to fiddle around not with my actual control device not the sticks, but the button configuration.

As much as I was enjoying Infinite Warfare when I started playing its multiplayer component the day after the game's release, I was reminded rather quickly of why I stopped enjoying the series quite as much after Advanced Warfare, all the jumping idiots.  See, the latest entries in the Call of Duty series are a bit sci-fi and offer context for the player characters being able to boost jump and double jump, this has all lead to what in my mind is the worst type of player, the jumping prick.

I watch these guys on the killcam (when they kill me obviously) and used to wonder who they were able to jump around and still manage to aim their weapon squarely at me.  I figured the answer out pretty quick, they were using as control set up that placed the jump button on the top of the controller, along with the aim and shoot triggers.

This control method is commonly known as “bumper jumper”.  An annoying term that references the Xbox 360’s shoulder buttons and probably has its origins in Halo or some other Xbox exclusive title.  Halo didn’t have boost jumping but that arsehole could jump pretty high, it would make sense that the player should be allowed more control while they were up there.

Changing to bumper jumper controls in Infinite Warfare was a little disorientating at first, it really only just swaps the tactical equipment button and the jump button around.  But I would commonly throw a blackout grenade right at the start of each round because I meant to jump onto something, or skip over the to the closest domination point.  Activating your payload is a little weird too as now you have to hold down R1 and X.  But after a couple of goes, I was jumping around and shooting people like a madman.  Like an annoying prick I should say.

After sleeping on it for an evening, I went into work and on my lunchtime, I played a game where I managed to score 38 kills.  The best result I think I have ever had in a CoD game.

That morning, I also fiddled about with the settings in Destiny and Titanfall 2 the two other shooters I play on PS4.  Both of them feature similar control presets, Destiny calls it Jumper and Titanfall also applies the Bumper Jumper name to this method.  Destiny is being a bit of a challenge because this method also does things like put the melee on the right stick and the grenade on R1.  Makes it a lot like Call of Duty now doesn’t it?  You’d think so, but the standard Destiny control setup is so ingrained into my muscle memory that I can’t process not pressing the shoulder button to punch someone, especially when it involves the old shotgun “one two”.

But I’ll get there, the only downside of this is imagining how I will return to games that insist on the traditional shooter control method.  Bumper Jumper is listed in Modern Warfare Remastered, but I like to use shock and flash grenades and I like to aim while I’m holding them at the ready, this is hard when the button is X.  But if I can move directly from controller to mouse and keyboard then back again, surely I can get the hang of this.