#rymante

A little later than intended, but as promised, here are my most anticipated games of 2017, at least so far :

Anticipating Nier Automata is a little strange since I’ve never played the prior game, but after trying the PS4 demo this is looking really solid, the music from what I’ve heard so far sounds incredible,  Now we just need to know when the PC version is coming out, come on Square Enix!

Another video game kickstarter I’ve backed but we’ve yet to see if it turns out well. I backed this as I miss the glory days of the 3D platformer & Banjo Kazooie remains one of my favourites.  So when a bunch of former Rareware peeps get together & announce they’re attempting to bring that style of game back I couldn’t back it fast enough, the Toybox demo showed promise, the controls feel good & the writing is on point, we’re supposed to see Yooka Laylee release in April.

Well Nintendo, your Switch presentation as a whole may have been somewhat underwhelming but man, that new trailer for the Breath of the Wild did it’s job, I very much want to play this game!  The world seems huge from the footage we’ve seen but will we actually want to explore it all?  We’ll find out when it releases on Wii U & Switch March 3rd.

I hope they announce a PC version of this plz gaiz I NEED TO DEFEND THE EARTH!

RANGER FINALLY GETS A SODDING SPRINT!

I took a chance a backed the kickstarter for the first Freedom Planet & I ended up loving the game enough to beat it multiple times.  Fast paced, Sonic-esque platforming but tweaked & enhanced for the modern age, challenging & intense boss fights inspired by game developer Treasure’s efforts & a catchy energetic soundtrack were all reasons why I liked the first game so much.

Developer GalaxyTrail have released gameplay videos showing some brief glimpses at how the 3 main characters, Lilac, Carol & Milla, have improved since the first game (with Milla IMO getting the biggest buffs).  A playable demo is due at the end January but the full game’s release is still unknown.

I’m not looking forward to buying a Switch for this, but goddamn a new 3D Mario game in the same vein as 64 or Sunshine is something I’ve wanted for a long time.  The Galaxy games were very good as was 3D World, tho I didn’t care for the timed nature of 3D World much & the Galaxy games levels felt a little too small & streamlined for the most part.

Odyssey looks gorgeous & the new hat throwing mechanic looks interesting, Super Mario Odyssey launches exclusively on Nintendo Switch ‘Holiday’ 2017.

You might wonder why there’s a picture of a tweet here?

Well Hideaki Itsuno has worked as the director for a few key Capcom games I’ve really enjoyed, namely Devil May Cry 3 & 4 as well as Dragon’s Dogma.

So when he says he’ll be announcing a new game this year, I pay attention.

Personally I will be very surprised if this ends up NOT being DMC5.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Yakuza 0, Shovel Knight : Specter of Torment, Outcast : Second Contact (a remake of an obscure 1999 PC game that no-one saw coming)

A bit late with this but I wanted to share my thoughts on my favourite games of 2016 once things had settled down a bit, so here we go!  Presented below in no particular order :

Let’s get the big obvious one out of the way, DOOM 2016’s single player campaign was surprisingly great.

I say surprisingly because based on pre-launch footage, the Multiplayer beta & iD software’s reputation at that point in time (largely thanks to the well-made but boring RAGE), no-one was expecting too much from this game.  So for it to come along and be basically the best single player FPS campaign in years is saying a lot.  We expected the Glory Kills to interrupt the flow of combat, they didn’t, we expected them to interrupt the flow with a heavy handed story that didn’t need to be there, instead we got this strangely funny, self aware tale where the Doomguy gives as much a shit about what’s happening as you do, couple that with incredible visuals running at a silky smooth 60 FPS even on consoles & gunplay that feels fantastic & you had one of the overall best games of 2016, at least in terms of single player, I didn’t really bother with multiplayer or Snapmap.

I didn’t expect to like Stardew Valley.  I didn’t expect it to steal a month of my free time away as I worked tirelessly to improve my farm, explore deeper in the mines, got to know the various townspeople with all their charming eccentricities.  If you’re in need of a cheap, cheerful, happy game with low stakes, perhaps consider the farming lifestyle of Stardew Valley.

If DOOM 2016 was my single player FPS of the year then Overwatch definitely takes multiplayer FPS of the year for me.

It’s surprising how little it took too.  The appeal can basically be boiled down to really tighly designed FPS gameplay where teamwork is necessary to succeed combined with very nicely varied characters with colourful, varied personalities & appearances.  I definitely see myself playing more of this with my friends in 2017.

For the record my favourite heroes so far are Genji, Pharah, Reaper, Zarya, Winston, Lucio & Zenyatta.

Another great FPS what’s going on?

Yes to my surprise Titanfall 2 lived up to the rather lofty expectations the internet at large had set for it.  The single player campaign is actually really good.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, it is a linear, set-piece driven game from a lot of people who used to make Call of Duty, but it is a REALLY GOOD one of those.

It’s surprising how much a boost to your mobility & speed can liven up one of these kinds of games, there were speedy platforming challenges in Titanfall 2 that were ACTUALLY FUN, there were boss fights that were ACTUALLY FUN and (small spoiler here) there was a time travel gimmick in one level that was ACTUALLY FUN!

I really hope Respawn Entertainment sticks around to make more games coz Titanfall 2 was fantastic, I do think DOOM 2016 was just a bit better in terms of single player but Titanfall 2 was incredibly solid regardless & when I played the multiplayer during a free weekend that was pretty cool too!

TO SAVE OUR MOTHER EARTH FROM ANY ALIEN ATTACK!

FROM VICIOUS GIANT INSECTS WHO HAVE ONCE AGAIN COME BACK!

WE’LL UNLEASH ALL OUR FORCES WE WON’T CUT THEM ANY SLACK!

THE EDF DEEEEPLOYYYYYYYS!

Disclaimer - I backed this game on kickstarter.

I’m glad I backed it too, because it turned out better than I expected.

It’s hard not to go into a crowdfunded game without some trepidation these days thanks to some high profile failures, so thank god Shantae Half Genie Hero turned out pretty great, the worst thing I could say about it is that it doesn’t really fix many problems the Shantae series has always had but, it’s still a solid 2D platformer with incredible cuteness, funny writing & more energetic Jake Kaufman music.  As long as this series continues to offer these things I will continue buying it.

So in 2016 I finally found an MMORPG I liked enough to stick with for the long haul, I like the way the combat works, I like how pretty the world is (tho I hate how it makes me want to make expensive PC upgrades), I even unexpectedly grew to like some of the Life Skills.

However it has to be said, I don’t think I would’ve stuck with it were I not lucky enough to become part of the Cwown guild, whose members have been a MASSIVE help in getting acclimated to the inner workings of Black Desert Online, we’ve had some great experiences together (personally I’d say the mad rush to get Witch Awakening was a highlight) & I look forward to growing my characters more & further adventures (or maybe misadventures) with the guild as new content is added.

The summer of 2016 ended up being my time to conquer the Dark Souls trilogy.  I had a TON of help (especially from my co-op buddy Suuslas, thanks man ^_^) but that feeling once you finally crack Dark Souls is so goddamn satisfying.

Dark Souls 3 actually came out in 2016 so it gets on this list, I liked the speedier combat in this game compared to the others, I liked how much easier it was to co-op with friends in DS3, I enjoyed the callbacks to Dark Souls 1, all in all, Dark Souls 3 is just a pretty good game, the fact that it was only “pretty good” might explain why it was overshadowed in most Game of the Year lists………...BUT NOT MY LIST!

Let’s finish this list with Naughty Dog’s send off for Nathan Drake, this game would’ve earned a spot on this list if it only included the Madagascar chapter & nothing else, that’s how good that chapter is compared to the rest of the game.

Not that the rest of the game is bad by any stretch, infact I kinda liked that game let me stealth my way through more encounters than I expected, the banter between the characters is as enjoyable as ever & the hook mechanic added a lot to the game when it actually let you use it freeform in battles (which sadly was never often enough).

This might be a slightly controversial opinion, but I think Uncharted 4 might be my new favourite of the whole series.

Wow, so I really liked 9 games this year, my lists are usually shorter than that!