 | 2015 sure had some video games, didn't it? |
10. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain: Whether or not this is the final entry in the Metal Gear Solid franchise, it doesn’t change the fact that while this is an excellent action-stealth game, it makes for an awful Metal Gear Solid game. Despite its numerous flaws (that shouldn’t have raised their heads in such a highly anticipated game by such a well renowned studio), I played the hot hell out of Phantom Pain, Fulton extracting anything that moved or had value for my Mother Base. This could’ve been my pick for game of the year, but too many annoyances kept me from tooting its horn on the mountain tops.
9. Undertale: Undertale has proven to be an absolute smash, and it has all the parts to justify its success; an interesting gimmick, a colorful cast (excluding the protagonist who is as useful as Big Boss was in the story, and by that I mean not at all), comedy paired with good writing and of course that fantastic soundtrack. In the end however, Undertale shirks its responsibilities as an RPG, leaving battles to be a contextual button press - That is, if you intend on actually fighting. The game leaves you at the mercy of random encounters which, at first, are fun and interesting, however, once you learn the trick to enemies and their jokes become exhausted, these random bouts turn into time wasters that delay you from reaching the next boss. Undertale is by no means a bad game, but it simply wore out my patience by artificially extending the game time.
8. Kerbal Space Program: Rocket science is actually really, -really- difficult. Who would’ve thought? Even though there’s an incredible amount of science, data, and math to crunch when building rockets to launch into the inky darkness of space, Kerbal Space Program handles most of the numbers, leaving the construction of rockets and piloting them up to you. The game’s simulation can still suffer from wild errors in physics out of nowhere, but it certainly has been both smoothed and fleshed out during its lengthy time in Early Access. The inclusion of a career mode makes Kerbal Space Program enjoyable as a proper game, even if your first few dozen ships will hardly even come close to the Mun. You’ll fail, learn from it and improve that little bit more on your next launch making success, big or small, taste oh so delicious.
7. The Beginner’s Guide: While I felt that the narrator’s dialogue felt far too practiced and rehearsed for such an emotional and personal story, this uncomfortable look into a depressed game developer’s thought process by a third party was certainly something to think about and enjoy. The ‘game’ has little staying power after the initial playthrough, but the morality and nature of the relationship between a developer and their player base was certainly an eye opener, and I was left stewing on it for some time after the credits had rolled.
6. Crypt of the Necrodancer: I was expecting Crypt of the Necrodancer to be a janky, buggy mess of an experience since the combination of rhythm game and roguelike sounded about as likely to work as mixing as oil and water. It turns out that Necrodancer does an absolutely fantastic job in bringing a challenging roguelike experience while fueling it with enjoyable music. Yes, there is the luck that comes with roguelikes which results in ‘the run’, but getting a batch of powerful items means nothing if you can’t dance around the enemies’ unfaltering moves.
5. Rocket League: Cars playing soccer with rockets - Really that’s all you need to know, and Rocket League just does it so right, even if controlling your car and keeping up awareness of the playing field will take some practice to pull off. Your enjoyment of the game will depend on your skill and whether or not your teammates try to score on themselves every chance they get, but I’ll bet that upon your first goal you’ll understand why many think so fondly of this ridiculous, but great digital sporting event.
4. Super Mario Maker: While there are still some odd omissions in the currently available tool set (which are being addressed with each new update), Super Mario Maker has proven to be a pleasant surprise in how easy it is to create and share your own levels, be they easy and fun or difficult and hair-pulling. The creation process is wonderfully simple and, despite the lack of quality control, you’ll have hundreds of levels made by players around the world to dabble with and enjoy.
3. Cities: Skylines: SimCity(4) was solid in its city management gameplay, though it was plenty bogged down with limitations and multiplayer components that players didn’t really engage in. Skylines may not have the same flavour and character as it's EA counterpart, but it certainly makes up for it with a bigger, better scale. To go from your initial plot of land only to expand further and further out and around can be overwhelming, but the lack of a fail state means you can play at your pace with your rules, making it a great game not only to flex your simulation muscles in, but to also relax with.
2. Fallout 4: While we could sit here and argue whether more of the same is a bad thing, Fallout 4 has brought enough new to the table in terms of mechanics and changes to the formula that it makes for a worthwhile next-gen entry for Bethesda’s open world games. While combat feels imbalanced regardless of your armour and weaponry, the modifications to perks, weapon customization, and how you build a home base makes up for a lot of buggy frustration that comes from a Bethesda joint.
1. Heroes of the Storm: I had been resigned to the idea that MOBAs would involve nothing but gold scavenging, meta shattering item builds, stupid bickering over ward placement and people eyeballing the in game clock so zealously that a lost second would result in the world ending - Not to mention companies seeming to go out of their way to make sure that players fought one another, and not the opposing team. Blizzard seems capable of turning pretty much any genre into gold, and while the beta days to Heroes of the Storm had been rocky, HotS has been able to shake off its ‘baby's first MOBA’ title and can now hold its own. While balance issues are still prevalent they are on a much smaller scale, and steps have been taken to ensure that teammates are fighting together, not against one another - Clowns and trolls will always exist after all. No item builds and scrounging for gold means there’s more focus on the character’s skills and better use of them is required, rather than relying on a sword that gives 40% critical chance to allow for ridiculous steamrolling. As I’ve written in the past, HotS may just be my e-sports fix after all.
Honourable Mentions
Lisa the Joyful: Alright, so I’m cheating a bit. Joyful is actually DLC for Lisa (the Painful), but I’d be betraying myself if I didn’t include Austin Jorgensen’s work on this list somewhere. While I was disappointed and found myself wanting after completing the DLC, that isn’t to say that I wasn’t happy to play more in this brutal, horrifying and tragic universe - Incredibly dark comedy included.
Splatoon: I had high hopes for Nintendo’s attempt in getting into the competitive shooter scene and at first, I was in positive spirits. Eventually however, I began to notice that the few problems the game has ends up bringing the whole thing tumbling down for me. No anti-idling means that players can just never leave home spawn and still be credited, the matchmaking creating imbalanced teams in both player count and levels, the first Splatfest not even working properly despite being a major event in the game, and the end fact that the player base still seems unsure of how to play the game properly. Splatoon is certainly still good and a silly joy to play, but the juvenile design flaws results in grinding my teeth instead of having a fun time.
Dishonorable Mentions
Dark Souls 2 Scholar of the First Sin: So nice they released it twice. I can’t really add much to what’s already been said, save for the fact that the latency in player versus player continues to range from passable to the stuff of nightmares and that playing with/against friends is needlessly complicated. The defense that these are somehow ‘features’ of the game to bolster its hardcore state isn’t really acceptable for me anymore, doubly so when hackers continue to make an absolute joke of the ‘legendary’ PvP.
Dying Light: While I downright hate Dying Light for its story, characters and finale that culminates to a series of flaccid button presses, it certainly was an incredible improvement over the Dead Island games which merits credit on its own. However, even with the high level parkour providing a lot of very fluid fun to the game, a weak story with weak arcs and the infuriating trope of an ‘intellectual’ villain made me despise the game as I continued to play it.
Hotline Miami 2: The first Hotline Miami was bloody, violent, confusing and an absolute trip; the sequel wanted to do the same thing but more, and it ended up face-planting because of it. Trying to flesh out the storyline only made me further scratch my head, and the larger maps turned the frantic risky gameplay into a trepidous assault, sucking away most of the speedy joy and replacing it with the fear of having to restart a lengthy sequence fraught with assailants. It did bring more Hotline which is grand news for some, but for my money, it tried to do too much.
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dementedhut - February 12, 2016 (09:41 PM) One of the more interesting lists I've read so far. I'm actually surprised seeing Kerbal Space Program on that list. I might have to check that out in the future. |
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honestgamer - February 13, 2016 (04:01 PM) I saw Kerbal Space Program mentioned a few times around the Internet last year, and I think its title really works against it. The image that appears in my mind every time I hear it is of a shoddily constructed educational title from the 80s. I know that's not what it is, but it's a difficult image to dispel. I wonder how many others respond similarly? |
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