Yeah I mentioned I had a little something extra or two in mind for this year's 2015 best of list. A new set of spots entirely separate off of the top 5 list. As such though I ended up thinking over adding it to or taking it out of the same article, and well... its just easier linking the two together and letting them read separately. The rules for this one is that there will be a much simpler 3 base (or less) structure of games following a certain award as set by the conditions of its area. That can even include going outside of 2015 unless stated otherwise, because that's a big part of the reason in separating this from the other list. No more worries over ports, remasters, or if that one amazing game I discovered this year just so happened to release at December of the year outside of the list. Without further intro, here's the list of rewards based on game experiences I had in 2015 rather than what came out of the year...
Favorite online experiences
These were my top 3 favorite sources of online amusement. With my connection being unstable, and my desire to play online gaming a bit dull, this list may not hold the most conventional of ideas. However I still do love online and try to give it a good try when I'm able to, and some game experiences are amazing that way. Oh and an honorable mention goes to Black Ops 3, as while it doesn't do anything too special, it is a really solid job of COD compared to its more recent entires. I really haven't enjoyed it enough worth buying ever since Black Ops 2 fell flat on its face. However I've been enjoying the new one casually, its just that it doesn't quite do anything special to make it among these 3. So without further intro....
3) Rainbow Six: Siege
Would you count this if I only spent a few matches of it across two whole days? Well I am, because while I only rented it and kept it mostly a solo affair, I loved the online transition I experienced in this game. The way the maps and tools are set up leaves every battle to feel intense, unpredictable, personal, and can at times also end up kinda funny as well. If I had a more stable connection and could rely on this game to be this much fun, I'd be $60 poorer. Blasting through walls, climbing up buildings, dodging around windows, playing around with RC spy cars, or stopping that all as you intensely wait and anticipate an attack with buddies is all pretty unique and good fun here. The maps are also very well designed. Just a great overall time online.2) Hardware: Rivals (beta)
Yeah, I know, another weird thing to put here since this is the beta. The real game releases VERY early next year (it might be out by the time this article has been finished). However out of all the online experiences on my mind, this was one of the better ones. More arcadey and yet in a way that's more sensible, this game had its beta go nearly around the same time as Battlefront did, and I managed to enjoy this one waaaay more. It was basically car combat at some of its simplest. Drive a tank or jeep around the map, tear each other apart with charged up weapons, and don't die so much. However within such simple rules and controls (you can't even aim up or down), it hosts some amazing fun. Cruising around the battlefield in a clunky vehicle pits you against people who are constantly trying to beat you by simultaneously trying to drive and aim, meaning its all about out-maneuvering and multi-tasking. Meanwhile classic map memory comes to your aid in this nice old fashion style, armor repair is needed, and the resourceful quick learners like myself tend to have an edge here. Had a lot of fun playing this, and I hope the real game continues to be this much fun. You'll probably be able to see yourself, its coming to PS+1) Awesomenauts
While awesomenauts is a game I knew well and played outside of this year, this year was a monumental change of pace for Awesomenauts. I got the PC version cheap on sale giving me the best version and some DLC I had been missing off the PS4's version, and alongside me came a friend who finally activated his copy he got from a humble bundle. We played this thing almost ritually together, on a daily basis, for what had to be over a month. Its not a beta, it wasn't a rented game, and it wasn't some small casual session of Black Ops 3. It'd be stupid of me not to put this up on the top spot of this list. Even to this day where I can't play it due to my laptop situation, I'm still being told all the news, all the rebalances, community reactions, etc because it just made that much of an impact that my friend can't not talk about it with me months after seeing me play it. It was a pretty fun time trying out new character as they came along for once as well, whereas the PS4 version still lacks two characters that came out months ago. Definitively an improved experience, and a really fun one. Its just a shame that out of what I've been hearing lately, the updates are getting pretty stupid with such nonsense as the XP system completely overhauling and wrecking the balance of a game that's been doing just fine for two+ years without it.
Best obsessions
We all have those moments where we want something badly, or get into something really deep. Something comes along and it just ignites a spark in us that keeps us strongly in favor of it. We suddenly want it all over the place, all of its games, need to talk with the fans, need to make it more than a game, or... or we just at least really, really, really like that game. Games easily pull us into this because by being gamers, we're used to thick pages of lore and fiction building to get invested into, and gameplay that rewards us for loyalty in grinding or determination within something. Chances are, we're probably playing the game a bit more true to its form when we're obsessed with it rather than if we just merely sit there because its on our "to-do" list. Being who I am, these things sometimes take hold and merely come and go as something less than even a phase (which is probably good, because serious obsessions may not be healthy), but never-the-less whenever its got something to do with games, I usually get something good out of it because that's how games work. Here are some of the positive ones I remember when thinking back over this year...
3) Metal Gear Solid
I remember this first starting when I picked up and played MGR early this year. It was not only a great action game, but its kind of rapid and intense energy thanks to Platinum mixed with the silly but deep and interesting eccentricities of the MGS style narrative made for an absolutely incredible experience. When the credits rolled, I wasn't sad at the ending nor the mood, wasn't casually dismissing the game with its closure, or any of those normal reactions; I was physically excited, like electricity was shooting through my veins. My mind was racing, I wanted to get up and run up walls, and more importantly: I wanted MGSV to come out the next day because I was reignited and ready for more silly cyber-military philosophy to be spouted alongside absurd but amusing set-pieces. Without any of the core gameplay traits, I somehow managed to remember so much of what I had loved about this series. Its so easy to forget when its off screen, so easy to pass it off as a "great stealth game" and nothing more, so easy to say "I'll ignore the hype train and wait for a price drop", but then when it hits you again its like a tsunami of shock and awe. Even just the thematic alone had me wanting to play more. Of course, the funny thing is this died right back down as things sat off-screen once more, but it'd be ignited later this year. I knew of a youtuber who was really deep into the lore and analysis of this series, and they popped up in time to remind me of this series around about a month off of its release. I finally decided to peak at some gameplay, the 45 minute video of it to be exact, and was amazed by it (this time from the gameplay side). That was it. Ran out, bought the HD collection on PS3, grabbed a cheap copy of MGS4, and re-installed MGR. That month up until release was full of MGS fun, even if I didn't actually finish everything (or rather, just finished MGS3, but that's the best one). MGSV itself of course followed its way to the end of the cycle (though with the hype interrupted around its release funnily enough, but more on that soon), only the sad thing was.... it was actually found a bit lacking. Its hard to explain without going into total detail, but sad to say it didn't exactly deliver on the hyped up train of being a big conclusive MGS experience. Of course its still a ridiculously good game, no doubt about that.2) Armello
A classic example of being somewhat obsessed with a core single game, or more importantly its anticipation. Long ago I had heard of this game as it was running kickstarter. A hex based strategy with small RPG elements and staring the role of animal clans who try to fight for a kingdom. Sounded great! But its PC focused release, and polished looking visuals, as well as the skepticism behind it reaching its crowd funded goal all kind of shut me out of the hype for it. Some months later, it was on its way to early access. "Oh cool, I remember this! Well hope it does well." Then... "PS4 release coming!" Awesome! Maybe I'll play it. "Vote for it on plus!" Okay, destiny is pushing me right into this thing. So I read up on it... and read up on it... and read up some MORE on it. I kept on looking this up, hearing of its features, trickles of new information seemed to surprise me every once in a while, and it just sounded awesome. I also kept hearing it compared to Game of Thrones and Redwall, and while I've seen GoT and didn't have it catch on (I ironically love things that are compared to it though. I guess its like the Zelda of TV for me), I ended up instead looking up and watching the 2nd season of Redwall on youtube to help kill the wait. I was so excited that a week before its release, it was actually set to come alongside MGSV and I was actually more "ready" for this than the big open world stealth conclusion to one of my favorite franchises. I knew MGSV would be better as a game, but Armello was the thing burned on my mind in the moment as something new and mysterious. When Armello finally released I bought it (and was actually kind of glad it "lost" the free vote), and played the heck out of it. I really got absorbed into the lore side of it. I guess its just one of those games that got story telling teases right, where you get just enough story and insight to entertain you, but lacked enough to keep you wondering and imagining more and thus coming back like a good mystery you haven't solved.1) The Warriors franchise
I don't know for sure if I'd really count this as the most hyped or obsessed over thing for this year, but its probably the one that I not only remember the most in recent times, and I also know that it'll hold the most impact. Armello was a nice boardgame that had my attention strong and then diminished as a fun game. MGSV concludes MGS. Warriors was an entire new door opened, and one I am leaving opened. I had my eyes set to this series in the past, but never followed it up with anything. Hyrule Warriors came along and I said "One day, I'll have it!". Never happened. Dragon's Quest came along, and I said the same thing... but for later, and only just got it for Christmas. But at some point I snapped and said, screw it, I'm going to get a warriors game and not only that but its going to start with a real one, whatever that meant. I did some heavy research, listened to some reliable fans talk about how good the series was, and then concluded that there were quite a few games to go after. In the end, I wound up getting in on the franchise not with any one game, but with three: Samuri Warriors 4, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires, and Warriors Orochi 3 ultimate. Oh and I also ended up grabbing Dynasty Warriors 8 for the vita, because obviously I needed to take something of its nature with me. I played the heck out of SW8 and DW8 empires, absolutely loving those games. As I continued playing, I learned more about the series and where its going, and I can say that I'm definiately interested to stick with the ride and keep coming back and playing sessions of the games I've got. I'm into a brand new, and very big franchise thanks to this small explosions of fascination.
The Downhill Spiral
Not every game we played this year is going to live up to what we expect out of it. Games come along and either disappoint, or decline in the fun factor we initially had with them. This is a list dedicated to such games that I've experienced within the year.
3) Rogue Legacy
This game started out as a lot of fun. I even recall making an article praising the game to bend my expectations, and to come out as a blast of fun. It was nice having this colorful retro fantasy world with a couple diverse character types and combat options to let you hack away through a castle. You found lore, faced traps and surprises, and tried to endure yourself with a clear and suitable penalty for failing. At least, that's what I thought, but the more you play the harder it is to tell yourself that with a clear conscience. The thing is the metagame is too dependent on you magically getting better while the main game is still a reflex focused platformer at heart, only the edge of memorization is tossed out the window to make it even less about skill and getting better than it ever could be. Upgrades get too ridiculously expensive, the same castle is used over despite layout changes, and you either get luck or get stuck in an infinite loop of slightly altered bits and a grind to get out of it. It went from surprisingly fun to being everything I hate in a rogue-like in the matter of a few play sessions. It was what helped me define this category as not a generic "disappointing" list, but rather leave it open to a game that truly descends in quality no matter your initial expectations. That is just as bad as anyone "disappointed" with a game. That being said, it still gets off a bit easy on this list because... well I can still see that someone would have fun with this game. Its okay for what its supposed to do and I cannot call it a bad game like some of the others, but it certainly is a game that struck sour with me.2) Legend of Kay: Anniversary
Oh this game. On one hand I still got some good fun out of it. I still found it worth playing through, and I still think the world needs more games of its kind, but still... damn is it just bad on an objective level. I went in okay and accepting that the writing and voice acting would be silly at best, and amazingly awful at worst. Even with that expectation fixed in place I was shocked to find some of the bad quality where it held through. The game has a bunch of unusually contrived moments, showers you over and over again with cut-scenes that serve no other purpose than to give you trashy dialogue that delays the gameplay, doesn't even know the species of one of its own plot important characters, has a horrible last boss battle, one of the worst secret systems I think I've ever used, inconsistent unlocks, no way to replay the game without replaying the entire game, and is just.... sooooooooo badly written and voiced and contrived. However its still got some great elements within it. Its from that era of fun PS2 platformers, only it tried some unique stuff. It combined some hack and slash spectical fighter stuff, it a great setting with some interesting story bits, its got a nice shop and upgrade system, and got a great extra menu to unlock if you are able to. In general I'm glad I played it, but its certainly not a 3D platformer I'll be holding in high regard, and may even never play it all the way through a 2nd time.1) Never Alone
WOW! I... I don't really know how well this fits over kay, but I've got to say I can at least redeem kay as a game I'm glad I played. This game I went in thinking it wasn't that great. I knew not to expect much, I knew it wasn't aimed at me, and yet I wanted to give it a chance. It had a nice cultural theme to it, evil spirits as an obstacle, you controlled a little fox companion, yeah it could be fun right? Besides, so many people praised the game like crazy, even though the one reliable critic I trusted had the same feelings as my expectations and even said as far as puzzle platformers go it was bad. He was so right, and I cannot even begin to imagine how everybody else saw anything more than a broken platformer in Never Alone. The jumping was clunky and off putting, physics felt a little funky, the AI was terrible to the point where it would kill itself (literally, more than once the AI actually jumped off into a bottomless pit or for whatever reason just failed a normal platform hop that I just successfully made myself) or go against the level design and fail you even if you did everything right yourself. ...and yeah, I get the game was made to be best played with a buddy, but even then we have clunky controls to deal with.
Even if everything in the game worked perfectly right and well, the game is just amazing in how pretentious it is hyping you all up about this under-represented culture while doing absolutely nothing to make its gameplay any special. There is no reason what-so-ever to play this game outside of unlocking DVD-like documentary bits on the culture. The obstacles themselves, the way things play out, they all felt like they boiled down to basic and familiar generic puzzle platforming. Nothing stood out, and in fact because they choose such a colorful genre that is oversaturated and filled with interesting worlds, even the culture itself is sort of outshined by its competition. Glowing evil spirits, and [SPOILER] a fox that reincarnates into a ghost boy that flies around poking at contextual objects [/SPOILER] is about as far as the creativity and interesting use went in what I saw, so it was fairly boring even as a basic platformer. The premise behind this game deserves so much more than what it got. I had low, low expectations and it still flopped bad on them. Its one of the few truly bad games I played this year, and even the other "bad" one I played was still functional in what it aimed to do. I got practically no redeeming quality out of trying this game out, and so it lands the first place on the list of disappointing games or those that spiral down from more cheerful expectations.
Best reworkings to have my attention
Whether you've accepted it by now or not, remasters are a decent sized part of the industry now. Not only that, but there's remakes, ordinary re-releases, premium emulation, and other similar stuff of that sort. I'm fine with them myself because I love the option to get in on stuff that's been made better if you're a major fan or still haven't played the games yet. Some games really deserve the treatement of being upgraded. If you find one that you think is worthless, money grabbing, or silly, then... well you just don't touch it. That's all there is to that. However despite showing support and seeing some good remasters exist, very few have gotten my support by purchase. This is mostly due to the stupid price hike where suddenly $30 for 3 old games isn't good enough anymore, and you can charge one game on its very own for damn near the price of a brand new release. The people sitting there pretending Uncharted collection at $60 with a mode chopped off is a "steal" have me completely lost. So for the most part I sit and wait for these games to hit dirt cheap prices. Sometimes it goes smoothly, other times I look and see GTAV, Last of Us, and Windwaker still hugging a $50 tag. Here are the two remastered games that managed to capture both my attention and joy this year.
2) Dishonored
I've spoken before about how Dishonored is not only a game worth playing, but one of my favorite games ever. Naturally I was a bit excited when even a simple remaster was announced... then it slid under the $40 tag and I said "nope, not even for you Dishonored". Thankfully it dropped to $15 fairly nice around a black Friday sale. To be honest though I haven't really played it all that much. The opportunity to enjoy it came around the same time I was busy experiencing Warriors for the first time. On top of that, as reviews have dictated, this is a poorly done "remaster". I'm not expert at noticing it, but it supposedly runs at 30fps, and the graphics can't go but so far above and beyond its Unreal 2 frame. Still I've seen effects that have been improved, noticed even a couple little details I wouldn't before, love recording the gameplay and re-achieving trophies, and just having the full game and all its DLC on the disc without even installation required for the extras. Its still the "definitive" console version of one of my favorite games ever, and I've loved what little I did with it so far. Oh and this also marks possibly the only game I've ever bought 3 times. Got the original game and tarot card set, got the GOTY edition with a poster when that actually went cheaper than the DLC itself, and now I've got the PS4 version and I just need the art book to complete an unintentional collection of everything Dishonored. If they by any chance do a CE for Dishonored 2 I may just have to aim for it just to keep the tradition going.1) Metro Redux
Now this one definitely wins hands down not only for being in such a small category, but because it was also a big brand new game that I loved playing around the beginning of this year. It wasn't just a fun distraction, a fun re-trek through familiar territory, or even simply playing an old game that was slightly juiced up. The original Metro was completely reworked into the skin of Last Light in order to make it a better overall game, meanwhile actual models and textures were bumped up in a big way, resolution and framerate met their good standards, bugs were fixed, and generally the core games were still amazing. Then there was all the last light DLC I never bothered to get. The journey for the first time through the original game was an amazing 12 or so hour campaign, and then there was new DLC content to enjoy afterwards, and then Last Light to replay once again in better form than ever. For $15 that I also waited this one down for, this game had a great amount of value and might have been one of the better games I played in this year even if it truly came out way back when the Xbox360 was still new. I love Dishonored, but this game gave me a lot more than just a "remaster" even if that's still what it really is.
Catch-up games of 2015
Look even all the self-ran critics out there are sitting there telling you they didn't have the time or money for everything that came out. I certainly miss quite a lot of games every year, especially on the basis of the games releasing that year at a full price. Sometimes my top 5 lists are of a very narrow selection to begin with where those 5 may have been 5 out of perhaps 7 games of that year I even had. This category are games I never played much in 2015 or never even touched at all due to expenses and tough choices. These games had my strong interest for some reason or another though, and so I feel its worth mentioning (especially with the new year in mind) what games probably seem like they'd be most worth going back to pick-up. Oh and quick honorable mention to Dying Light, which I wont put on here because as much as I'd like to have it, I'm now looking for the enhanced edition that is technically not even out in this year. Then there's GTAV remaster that I keep hoping for a good enough price drop on at just the right time, but oh well. So I'll just briefly mention them here, while the following 3 games are a bit of their own case...
3) Mario Maker
Mario maker is something I literally asked for years ago. Potentially over a decade ago. I can't pinpoint the exact time, but I was just a bit bored and fed up with reflex based linear games that just move forward until you're stuck... exactly the nature of 2D platformers really. Looking at the 2D planes of games like Mario (which was exactly the game I was playing when I thought about it) I wondered, isn't it possible to let us make our own world and path in the world? Wouldn't it be so easy to make a tile based design where you plop down grass, dot the map with coins and hazards, and play your own levels from start to the end? The game will be amazing! Endless smiles, laughs, enjoyment, and the game never ends whether you're stuck on the main path or just finished. Its a win-win for every player! Of course cynicism later developed to say, they don't want to risk that, or else then what would they sell you? Of course that's not true, but that's what I assumed Nintendo thought, and so I settled for the games that did come along with that idea. Finally Nintendo does it, and naturally, they do it with quite a lot of surprises and tricks packed in with it. Its not perfect by any means, but it still sounds identical to my basic wish. However the fact is that was also years ago. Now I'm more experienced, know more about what I want and how I react to things, and I know that... well, even with a map maker its still just a sidescroller and I've got better things to play. So I spent money on MGSV, and Dynasty Warriors instead. However I can't stop looking at this game and thinking... "You did good Nintendo, and I really do want to play this dream that was finally reality.". However fair is fair. Nintendo was a bit late with this idea, and I'll be a bit late in supporting it.2) Fallout 4
I wasn't a fan of Fallout 3. I respect what it did, but it just wasn't for me. Fallout 4 on the other hand was amazing! I rented it and just kept finding reasons to enjoy it. Collecting scrap to contribute to the settlement, finding the next big gun, exploring that abandoned building to find awesome loot, and... well that's actually mostly it. For such a big world, I shockingly got a ton of fun essentially playing a wasteland robin hood roll. Find scrap, fight bad guys, and take things back to my settlement to share and make their lives better. Everything in between was just sweet icing on the cake. There was plenty to discover, learn, and be surprised by on its own, and whenever I got tired of aimless side-quests or looting I'd aim hard at the main campaign. However looting for a purpose alongside all that exploration was just amazing in its own right thanks to the solid gameplay for it. Oh and the gunplay is a huge improvement over the 3rd game! In general I just had a lot of fun with this. However it was all a rental, and now I'm just left staring at the case on store shelves wondering if I should go back to the wasteland.1) Undertale
Truth is, I don't know if this is really #1 material. My brain fought hard wondering to put this or Fallout 4 in the spot. On one hand I know fallout 4 is a great game. Its fun, I was fully immersed into the world, it was full of surprises, refined gunplay, and the future for it looks even better. Now Undertale... I want to trust it, but I just can't completely give it all my faith that it'll be a great game. The demo spelled it out for me as well. Its hours of random JRPG encounters, puzzles, and... well more puzzles. The story has so much heart, and the gameplay is very cunning, but that's about where my excitement ends. However I then asked myself... which one would I really be more likely to get? Fallout maybe if it drops to $40 would be an easy buy, but then I'm still fighting hardrive space to keep it on there as well. I'll probably be preoccupied with other stuff. Undertale? $10s for a massively acclaimed work of heart and soul, and a unique experience. Yeah, this is probably the game I'd most easily catch up to.
On top of that, I just can't get it out of my head. I didn't play it in 2015 because I have no computer. I'm still blogging off of a half-buggy hybrid tablet as my sole source for PC interaction. If I had a computer, I would have trusted this game as soon as I watched my first video of it. The first time I truly found out what this was, had me hooked. Watching somebody play a tutorial has never been interesting, never the less THAT interesting. $10, on steam, literally rated as one of the best PC titles all-around to release in recent memory, and its full of heart and soul in a way that seemed so good. Its been following me in social sites, its been GOTY to some credible critics, and its done enough to make me think its synonymous with getting a new computer. I actually think of it every time I'm reminded I want (or kind of need) a new laptop. I want to play this game. I want to see this world, hear its characters, and to witness them overcome their struggles. There's a part of me that has my doubts, and I fear it could potentially fall to tedium, but its still been burning on my mind to try it. Its one of those adventures where the ugly side is showing, but that's just the perfect analogy for it. The bugs will bite, the vehicle may not be prepared for the drive, and there will surely be foreign people you can't understand, but damn those mountains look so beautiful, and something unique and magical is bound to happen at least once on the way there. This isn't some expensive plane ticket or road trip though, this is a $10 game on steam. I think the good is worth that much to say the least. Unfortunately I lost my car keys, I mean laptop, and so I've got to figure that mess out before any adventure can begin. But you bet this is a big priority on that list.
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And that's my extra awards list. I hope it was just as entertaining to read if not maybe a little bit more than what the main list will be like once that's finished (still a delay based on backlog gaming progress). I originally planned to release them together-ish, but I think its worth giving something to hold things off a bit more.
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