The extra 2015 awards...

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.

__________

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.

New year, new hype (top 10 2016 wishlist)

2016 looks like a beast of a year

So 2016 is definitely here by now. Instead of typing out some new years resolutions that I barely have related to gaming (just get a new laptop. That's kind of it) I have more to say on trying to organize the ridiculous amount of games coming out. Besides, that'll help me sort out laptop savings versus game savings. However there's too much for just the 10's, so lets also branch off a few for a "wait" list instead of simply a wishlist. As usual though this is not a list to be taken too seriously. As the year goes on, things change, and stuff happens, and expectations are also a bit of a bad thing to look to as they can tear us from the reality. This list isn't concrete, things could fall flat, or just not look that interesting as they come close. Meanwhile other things might seem even better over time. However as I see the year now, this is what has my attention.

10) Dying Light: Enhanced edition

I've been meaning to get this game, but its price has stayed higher than I'd want it to be. Scavenging around, flying through the air doing some minor FPS platforming, and the fact that I actually liked Dead Island made me look up to this game fairly positively. However I just didn't really care to get in on it so soon, and with such a generic open world format. Now when I was about to cave in on a $35 ranged deal I found for it, there's suddenly this new storm of info on a total revision. Its not just that it combines the DLC, which I don't feel a huge need for, but rather its the fact that it'll have advanced AI enhancements and completely revamped and improved gameplay right on the disc. No 10GB+ downloads as I'm sure other have to do every time they put the game on their HDD. As bad as that sounds, I'll pay a $40-60 price range for that convenience rather than simply for the combined DLC. Also I'd just like to support a dev that actually does this super edition enhancement stuff for free, as a content update after about a year since the game's launch is rare. That's some good support, while most companies try to make you pay for a brand new game.

9) Starfox Zero

Ugh, this one is a weird one. I can't figure out whether or not I truly want it enough to put down the money. I don't like rail shooters, and similar reflex based arcadey junk, but at the same time Starfox is just one of those games that does its story right in that awkward way that truly grips you. The quality of what it does is high, the story is there but shallow to the point of curiosity, the community surrounding the games and story are awesome (there's an animated series I've been patiently awaiting through last year), and its... well, its starfox. There's just something special about it, but not something special enough to totally erase the stuff I don't like about it. Meanwhile Nintendo's typical bullshit means this game wont dare move to compete for your money, and 2nd hand market wont help out with that either, so it'll be around $60 for the next 8 years or so. To its more positive credit though, the gameplay looks a bit more open, supposedly has been partially developed by Platinum (who are awesome), and.... well, its starfox? Yeah I dunno, this game is one of the shakier ones on the list, but ever since it was announced I couldn't help but think of it on my "to-buy" list moving forward. Its the kind of game I might be happy to pull out and play for an unsual burst of arcadey on-rails shooting fun. If Nintendo really wants to be awesome, they'll help me out deciding with a demo (and hopefully one that you can actually put on your Wii U instead of playing awkwardly at the store).

8) Yooka-laylee

...and I barely know squat about this one. I don't think I need to either. As it edges closer to release I'll give it a better glance, but as of now I know its 1) Made by former people of Rare's team that stands by B&K as one of their golden creations. 2) is a 3D platformer riding hard on the "B&K was awesome, so lets do another" idea. 3) You're reading the blog of somebody who grew up on, treasures, and begs for these kind of games. So... basically the concern comes down to how true to form it is (no jump-less Tinker BS), and if it can truly survive and be good enough based on crowd funding efforts. Outside of that, I can see very little going wrong. This should be a game to look forward to without necessarily sticking my nose too far into information fetching. Wait for it to come out, listen to fans, and if they say its on par with the 3D platformers of old I think I'll have no choice but to give this game so well earned support and welcome an entry into one of my favorite genres that AAA just forgot about.

7)Moon Hunters

I still remember the first time I saw the trailer of this. "Moon hunters coming to PS4 and Vita? What's that? A... myth based RPG?" ...and watched the trailer. The music struck a cord, the visuals were beautiful , the promises of a digital dream concept realized, and the entire thing together just shot an unusually strong sense of energy through me that had me physically feeling a sense of excitement. This was all lining up perfectly at first sight and I wanted to throw money at the screen and have it materialize on my vita right at that second. So why 7 out of 10 on the list? Well... since that time, there's been room for doubt. The team has been wishy washy with some of their original plans, scrapped a couple features (though also added some others to be fair), and haven't sounded the most reassuring on the Vita port (EDIT: But its still confirmed to be in the plans, by around summer. I haven't given up all hope for them to do this). On top of that, the prototype game they said to try which was an influence for their direction was kind of bad to the point of having me analyze the trailer and actually develop worries like how the combat accuracy actually looked horrible at the time (isometric fighting with only 4 straight directional input, it feels awful compared to 360 rotational dexterity). Despite the concerns though, we're still talking about a game that lets you play a mythical hero, develop that hero, fight legendary monsters, save the moon goddess, and is built for small sessions of replayability with stories that add on top of each other. The game has some amazing potential and still seems to be made just for me with a true RPG focus on mythology, folk tales, and adventure.

6) Stories: The path of destinies

...and then came Moon Hunters V2. Okay well the games are quite different, but they both have one very awesome thing in common: It feels like they're checking off my wish list and making a game I'd want to see. A swashbuckling fox rogue up against an empire, a love interest from the enemy side, sacred treasures and curses, a world set in the skies with air ships, and a narrator who tells your fairy-tale type adventures in the many ways you can take it. Oh please, please, please turn out as good as you sound. All 3 of these last places are all indie games that could easily become some of the best games I could ever play if they just do their job as ideal as they sound... which is admittedly unlikely. I'm fairly reasonable and don't expect pure 100% expectation matching, and with the details being as they are its hard to get an accurate feeling for any of these games. However what I do know has my excitement, imagination, and intrigue all fired up and I think I can place these games around the upper parts of this list as a side of cautious optimism... with a lot of great hope tucked away. By the sound of it, this particular game is also releasing early into the year, possibly even next month. So hopefully we'll be seeing if the first of three indie games is a worthy purchase very soon.

5) Rise of the Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider 2013 was pretty awesome if you weren't stupid enough to think it was like an Uncharted game. I never get the comparisons beyond their shallow view of archeology hero 3rd person shooter game. That shallow premise aside, that's all they have in common. I loved how Tomb Raider played out like a 3rd person shooter with a heavier emphasis on exploration and soft puzzle solving. It had an extra element of gravity and character adventure to it that really tapped into something fairly intuitive and fun in me once I got in the right mindset for it. The sequel to the reboot sounds like its doing everything right to be way more than what the already great 2013 entry was set to be. Thanks to the stupid deal with Xbox though the game is doing poorly, and is out of my access. However when it does get here it'll probably be improved, come with the unique sounding DLC, and will of course still be a great adventure game if critics are to be believed. I really look forward to this. It sounds like a safe bet for a great shooter and adventure.

4) Horizon: Zero Dawn

Now for an unsafe bet, but one I still feel really damn good about. When this game first showed its face at E3, I was amazed and loved every single thing about it. The premise, the character, the gameplay, the environment, the fact that the trailer fooled me into thinking it would be CGI trailer crap but instead turned out to be one of the most impressive and re-watchable footages of gameplay in the whole show. It was so good I had to run and get someone else to show it to regardless of their lack of PS4 just to ask them if they thought it was just as ridiculously good. It was so good that I can't possibly see or let Sony live down the idiotic idea to get these concepts focus group tested. Oh, and uh, this is an open world adventure RPG game developed by the same guys that make my favorite FPS franchise, so that's also kind of a big deal. In the end that E3 trailer was enough to bottle up my hype, and with Guerrilla's reputation I'm almost certain to buy this game. I expect flaws in this new IP and new genre for Guerrilla, I expect some harsh critics that dare to give it a dreaded 7 (yeah, number scores still suck), and I expect to not care as I take a chance on this amazingly ambitious game and tear its scrap apart gawking at every positive detail that may lie under it. I really think they have something special, and contrary to Killzone hype I may just stay in the dark and let this nice little thing be a surprise. I don't think I can see myself backing down from this one, its just got so much ambition and my own personal trust in it. I'm hoping it ends up well

3) Doom (4)

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM to the rest of FPS, because Doom is coming out and looks amazing! Well, okay, I've got to be honest and say there are some concerns. Something about the trailer just didn't... gel right about the asthetics. I think it was the health pick-ups spilling out of bodies like popcorn and sucking into your system like tiny little digital cubes. That weird disconnect aside, this game seems spectacular. Timesplitter style map making, amazing multiplayer, old-school FPS gameplay, and a promising action packed campaign. This should be a safe bet for content packed FPS this year, and is a game I am certainly hyped for.

2) Dishonored 2

Oh Bethesda, few could land two spots in a row this close to each other on excitement, but you could pull it off. You've got great open world games yourself, and in the mean time also hold in some of the best single player linear developers in the industry. Well played, you still have my attention and my urge to throw money at you in return for your hopefully consistent high quality entertainment. Oh and as for specifically discussing Dishonored 2? Why would I do that when you can go look at it yourself. Go on... look it up, read the interviews, watch the CG trailer that manages to still impress, and then go play Dishonored 1 again. That's all it takes. Dishonored is such a great game, and does so much right. If you asked me what game represents what angle I come from and appreciate in known gaming, I would instantly point you to it.

Treasure, sneaking, open linear level design that is full of surprises and deep replay value, fascinating eccentric characters that just ooze style, dark mystic tones mixed with the right amount of silly cheesiness, spying on people and snooping through letters, environmental story telling, that "just one more try, I got this!" hook in trial and error, so many gadgets to play with, a revenge story that has dynamic endings with different character reactions, subtle side-objectives that influence the world, FPS platforming, physics manipulation, and melee combat. Pretty much everything interactive and tone based that I've ever loved in gaming is found right here, in this amazing stealth action game set in a naval steampunk English world where you play as an assassin out for revenge. Now imagine a sequel that is doing all of that AND more. By more I mean a brand new character to choose, more complex leveling system, and entire new set of powers as chosen by the character, and of course its on more advanced technology (duh). Oh, and the fact that one of those two characters is a matured Emily, the little girl you rescued and presumably raised from last game, blew my mind and sets a perfect premise for a sequel and gives you a potentially amazing character to build off of. There's still so many details left untouched, gameplay yet to be seen, and yet if they announced a CE of this tomorrow it would be painful for me to resist it. I am thrilled for this game, and I can't imagine it not delivering.

1) Ratchet & Clank

You knew this was coming if you pay attention to this humble little blog. You knew this would be here, you knew I would make a big deal of it, and you know this doesn't even have to try hard to be my GOTY. It just has to show up, does what it does best, and be great. Its Ratchet and Clank, one of my favorite franchises ever, one of the only 3D platformers left on the market (even if its not a pure one), and its last two true adventure releases (crack in time/Nexus) were nothing short of spectacular. This game is a remake of its low point start in the series, ties the story in better with furture games, introduces early Dr.Nefarious (AKA: Best video game villain ever), and has a movie to go alongside it. Oh and its built for the PS4 and looks almost exactly like you're playing a Pixar film based on what I've seen. Oh, and its coming out with a movie that actually looks good and has been partially written by the game's writer. Oh and its only $40. Oh and its.... going to suck hours of my life away as I play through it again, and again, and again, occasionally stopping to play with extras, revisiting my favorite cut-scenes, and digging around that last planet for just that extra bolt so I can unlock that cool looking alien skin on my hard mode NG+ playthrough. That is of course, if it all turns out to be good, but I really have little doubt. Maybe I could be concerned with it being the remake of the weakest link, and thus it may not have say... arena battles? But that's still not enough to dampen my optimism for this game.

At this point I'm fully on board with hyping this game. There isn't a month that passes by without me remembering to check the news, scan the internet for new stuff related to it, and just retrack through some fond old memories, wallpapers, and fan commentary on thinking back to just how grateful I am for the better parts of this franchise. This franchise is like the definition of fun incarnated into an image of a cartoony looking cat with an oversized space laser gun, and that's what you get to spend 10-15 hours playing as (and that's just one round of it, you've got to play it again on NG+ to truly beat it). To say I'm excited for this and disappointed with the rest of the net for downplaying it (even PlayStation focused sites outright forgetting it) is an understatement. Most people just see this game as existing, if they even know that much about it. To me though, this is that special game that truly clicks with me and ignites a sheer joy that comes from a long lasting franchise that goes way back, and fills me with that "this is why I game!" levels of excitement. This game just needs to show up, be itself with all the formulaic valuables a fan could want, and introduce a couple minor tweaks and new story bits. Do that, and it could easily be one of the best smiles you can get from a disc that I have all year. In the mean time... well, I still play Crack in Time annually and find myself still feeling like its one of the best games and 3D platformers ever made. Up Your Arsenal and Deadlocked are very close beside it. Looking at this game, its the next actual full length Ratchet & Clank adventure since early 2009, and we more than deserve this to be a good one that releases this year after that kind of wait and after putting up with some bullshit spin-offs that just didn't work. This is by far, my most anticipated game of this year and something I have a locked $40 saved up for. I'm also planning, similar to wolfenstein, a few well themed articles leading up to its release.

Just... look at it!

Now what about those other games that couldn't make the list, but still have me anxiously waiting the 2016 results for? What other incredible games are coming out this year that have my attention, despite being well out of likely budget range for their immediate release? Well...

Wait-list...

• Uncharted 4 - Yeah I know, PS fanboys would love to hang me for putting R&C on the #1 spot and not having this on the entire top 10 list (or worse, TR, which idiots think is a poor clone of Uncharted). However fact is, I'm just not that uber hyped. Maybe that will change, but as I see it I can really wait here and rent it instead.
• Rime- If this comes out this year, I'll probably have to kick something else off of this list. Rime just looks like my idea of an Ico game done right (I'll uh... explain that again soon). However I don't think I've heard from this game for a while, to the point where I forgot about it while already starting on my top 10 list. Maybe... it really isn't top 10 material? I dunno, I want to see some more from it, but I've got hopes and a wish to grab this game when it comes out, but I've got a decent amount of caution as well warning me that perhaps... it is just another Ico type of game done like an ico-ish game.
• Tekken 7 - Love Tekken as far as fighters go, but its still a stupidly simple and restricted game where its basically about two guys punching each other until health is out. I cannot possibly see how this genre gets by on $60 launches, but whatever. I'll wait it down.
• Zelda Wii U - Yeah I'm excited to see what this supposedly hyped up "open world-ish sorta" Zelda is all about. Show me something cool, free up the mundane formula, and you may have me on board with this.
• Warriors stuff - Look there's just going to be a lot of warrior stuff as usual, and now that I actually care this stuff is on my watch list. However I have plenty to enjoy right now, plenty coming up this year, so there's really no rush for even one of these.
• Warhammer Vermintide - Awesome rat creatures swarming over gothic medieval towns, great melee combat, and bots... sounds like my kind of game, and the PS4 version releases soon. However the multiplayer focus has me questioning its buy-ability out of the gate in such a big year.
• Far Cry Primal - Heck yeah! Love far cry, love weird themes like this, and love melee combat. Well.... good melee combat, which may not exactly be present here. This... this looks, um.... yeah, I might wait and see I'm kind of scratching my head on this one.
• No Man's Sky - Nice premise, but it seems like it could easily be shallow and forgettable. I'm just not on the hype train for this, but I've got a close eye because I really do want a good relaxing yet adventurous space game, and it may deliver on that. ...that is, assuming its supposed to happen this year.
• Dreams - What the-!? How the... what is this thing!? It sounds amazing, but I just have a natural skepticism that it'll work so easily. I hope it turns out great though, and if it does then it'll instantly get me attention. Until then, its just loosely on my radar.
• Dark Souls 3 - Love the souls series, but I have yet to finish a single one, and Dark Souls 3 just... hasn't done anything to get me beyond a blissfully ignorant shrug. I believe it could be awesome if not spectacular, but right now all I feel is that I don't need it and there's way too many other interesting things coming out. I think I see myself waiting on a GOTY edition for this one.
• Mirror's Edge: Faith- A very weird and hard to explain choice, but this game does look... curious. I'd like to hope it recaptures or even perfects what made the old one good by its cult fanbase's standards, while also doing something interesting with its new approach. I think it could be a good game, but... as much as I hate to say it (and I know it'll upset the fanbase that knows EA has ridiculous standards and are ready to can the franchise), but I just can't see myself paying $60 for it. I'd love to rent it, wait for it at $40 or less, and it may just be something shockingly good. Lets hope for that. Meanwhile I have a friend who has it under a microscope analyzing it for everything it does right and wrong from the original. Since he's a super fan, I hope he's happy with it as well, but he's definitely got different expectations than me.
• The Last Guardian- Look, I really don't think this one is for me. Linear design, push puzzle = do thing, and then "Feel stuff" moments. There's better things out there that do this for far less the price. I'm really not a fan of Team Ico's stuff. I can see the appeal, kind of, but I can't say I'd put down big money for any of it. Despite all that though I always watch onto their stuff with curiosity, and in the long run I don't think I'll rule this title out for the right sale.
• Firewatch - Son of a- I was nearly done with this article when I remembered just how amazing this game appeared to be. There's just way too much to keep up with honestly. So this game puts you in the weird yet intriguing situation of being a forest ranger. The premise then takes off to do just about everything it can to wrap you up in drama, suspense, and mystery. Along the way there's a lot of dynamic chatter and some silly looking physics fun, so it looks like a great experience-based sort of game to enjoy. May certainly look into it. 

So yeah, with this many upcoming releases, 2016 looks to be a ridiculous year full of interesting stuff. Lets hope most of the desired experiences deliver. Just be cautious even when optimistic. Anything can fail, including even my super-hyped R&C release that should be easy to get right. Be careful, look into mechanics and not pure emotions to spot the bad ones, but also be ready to have some fun. Whatever you're hyped up for, I hope it ends up doing well.

Look to the stars, wish upon them, but don't try and fly into the sun.

Now Playing: EDF 2025

I'm actually playing quite a variety, but at this point I really need to get another one of these articles out and this is probably the best talk-ative game fit for one that I'm currently playing. Somewhere along the path of working on Dragon's Quest Heroes, occasionally nibbling at some fun replays on Transformers Devastation, working on Yoshi's woolly world when I can, laughing at the silly and dumb but kind of fun for it Cabela's African Adventures, AND also enjoying Hardware Rival's launch I've also worked up the desire to go back and played an old game I've barely touched: Earth Defense Force 2025 for the PS3. That's what's been truly on my mind these past two days, and its a good deterrent from running out and paying $50 for its newer counter-part that I don't actually need but have been hearing so many good things about.

EDF started for me with Insect Armageddon, which is funny because people hate that one and I still have a hard time seeing why. IA was the first to truly advertise itself for me at the right time, show up in the press, and impress me with trailers promising tons of raw destruction, jetpacks, and giant monster alien bugs. Sounded perfect. I picked it up one day by chance when I was able to get whatever and only thought this looked good out of the new releases, and was told how lucky I was to get just the last copy at my local gamestop. Never been told that (except later last year where Witcher 3 had the same effect), so I felt like it must have been a really good game to have sold out despite its limited marketing. I'd love to talk all romanticized on how it truly was a lucky sign and things were meant to be fantastic, but it didn't mean much in the end. I was initially kind of disappointed. Instead of being this masterpiece of cheese and destruction that felt like a good old crazy shooter, it was just kind of... barren. It sacrificed EVERYTHING for that mentioned premise of big bugs, destruction, and unlimited ammo. All the other systems in place were just so shallow. Gunplay was spray and... well spray. Just hold the fire button down, and occasionally reload or switch weapons. Classes really just weren't appealing (which included the very limited jetpack class, essentially tossing that fun out the window), destruction felt kind of flat along with the guns themselves, and the bugs didn't do a whole lot except for a few that were just plain annoying. Still I played it and kind of went dull to the sense of what value it did offer. I embraced the excitement in boss fights, loved the hilarious intel chatter, and kept pushing on the next level daring the game to show me a city that would truly fall apart by an amazing show of collateral damage between me and the bugs.

Word got around that a better EDF was coming soon. The "real" creators were getting in on it, PC fans were begging for a port to replace the "crappy IA version made by bad western devs" and whatnot. So I thought to myself, wow I have no clue what went wrong with IA, but if these guys invented and know the concept better than I really have to get in on this game and see how its really done. To this day I still don't see hardly any differences, and in fact IA still has some superior features. I ultimately understand two key things at best: IA's objective based gameplay was a step back, and their game was very short by comparison. That much makes good sense at least. However it seemed fairly the same in general so I just waited for a fair price for this one. By the time I finally got it, I just... really didn't do much with it. I fought up to about level 6, experimented a tad bit, but felt like the spiders annoyed me way too much and I'd rather take a quick break... which turned into leaving the game cold for months. Now with word on how 4-1 looks, runs, and plays I would actually really like to try it out. However its just a re-imagined and better 2025, so... *boots up the game*

I'm really now in a better mindset for this kind of game right now. You enjoy the mindless rampage, laugh at some goofy dialogue, and treat difficult replays of past levels like a chance for ARPG style loot drops. Its a fun, even if highly repetitive, mix and the game so far has been paced just right to introduce some crazy scenes in at the right moments. I just now made it to the 12th level where space ship drones fill up the entire map to a near crashing point and just wreck everything, and its crazy. They zip around so fast, and fall so hard that its like watching alien bumper cars play out over your head... only to end by bringing the building beside you to rubble. Moments like that are just awesome. With the framerate going into practically 10fps range, and the bad PS2-esque graphics, I know the PS3 can do better (and no the count and destruction isn't THAT good) and I wish the game had been better optimized, but its playable enough to be fun. I will definitely be happy when the 4.1 version is more easily accessible and runs smooth on better tech, but until then I've got a lot of work to do on this one. Going to try out some of the other classes soon as well, I think I have the hang of this enough so that I know what to do with them. I think I finally found the right mentality to get back into this game, and so hopefully with Yoshi and DQ balanced in mind, I'll be enjoying some good 'ol bug smashing for a for some time. Can't wait to see the part where dragons come into this.

EDF! EDF! EDF!

Under the christmas tree (2015)

Well I've been trying and doing different articles, but with things being as busy as they have been lately, they're mostly turning up late and unfinished. I still plan to work at some of them, but things it might be a while. Furthermore I'd also like to announce the GOTY piece might be late, but with good reason, and some potential merit to that lateness. I'm considering to extend things a bit to go with awards beyond a top 5 list (or rather in addition, top 5 count is still present and will likely always stay, as will honorable mentions). However the other reason is that... well, to be honest, I haven't actually completed the game that is supposed to be #1. Sounds dumb to put it there you may be thinking, but its just such a big game that I haven't had the patience to endure it all in one consistent run-through, or even the multiple ones I've given it. Nothing to do with the quality of it. However while I'm okay with putting powerful yet incomplete games on the list (see Darksouls 2), I don't think its acceptable to publish the list without beating the supposed definitive GOTY choice. So until then, here's an article I really WILL complete real quick. As with last year, its a quick impressions run of everything I got on Christmas day.

If I were to be honest, I didn't actually get a lot in terms of direct game presents this year, but I'm also kind of okay with that. Sure I would have loved Fallout 4, GTAV, or Mario Maker, but at the end of the day I'm very happy with what I got and already have a lot to work on with what I already have. Before this day I was still in the early phases of Xenoblade X, recently got Black ops 3, and that is still after trying to balance time between the warrior games. Oh and I've got a run to do on Dishonored definitive version, and I still need to finish the mysterious GOTY game. So yeah, not really a fuss to make, but its just not as much to say on as last year. Which again, might be good so I can get the article out of the way.

Dragon's Quest Heroes

AKA, the most ridiculous full-name for a game ever. Seriously just look it up, I'm not even bothering with it here. However that aside, the game is fantastic. I've gotten into the warrior games in a big way around the late fall, but even before then felt somewhat strangely hyped to this game. Never even played Dragons Quest stuff before either. It just... looked so good. In reality, it is indeed very good. Its actually the smallest warriors game I've played in terms of scope, characters, and levels, yet it manages to do enough right to totally make that a worthy (or maybe even beneficial) sacrifice. The combat system is so well made with magic attacks specially crafted into it, each character feels unique enough and fun with their own skill set to work on, and replayability comes in the form of endless mode reworkings of previous maps which somehow manages to be way more awesome than it sounds. Ultimately I love this game. However the last boss battle I faced was cheap, and the XP system doesn't make a lot of sense to the effort I put in. Still a great game, and one I'll definitely be working on. The campaign is also way more focused and engaging, so it'll actually probably be the first warriors game I can see myself "completing" as weird as that may sound. On that note its also probably the core game I'll be working on out of this list.

Yoshi's Woolly World

Was one of the first games to go on my wish list, both because of fear that the amiibo bundle would fly off into a black hole, and because its a freakin' Yoshi game and those make for some of the best 2D platformers in my eyes. This one so far seems to match that just fine. Its charming, relaxed, fun, imaginative, and its just... so joyful. It charm isn't so much as trying to play it as much as it is to feel like your on a ride through the most whimsical level craftsmanship you'll see all year. Though I do hear world 9 gets stupidly hard compared to the rest, but I suppose that may be expected. We'll see. Definitely a good game, and the Amiibo looks great displayed below the TV alongside a couple pop figures and the plush fox I have sitting alongside it. Oh and speaking of which, I got a starfox amiibo I got to open early on Christmas eve, and its the only amiibo I have that doesn't translate to an unnatural looking yarn Yoshi in the game. He just sort of dons a tan-ish orange color and the uniform for the most part.

Transformers Devastation

Okay I'd be lying if I acted like I have a fresh take on this one. Beat it multiple times through a rental, but while I feel all messed up from sinus problems right now I really don't feel like its worth the trip again when my own head can't keep up with the fast paced action. I loaded it up just to make sure it installed and remembered my data, played a challenge, loved it but sucked at it, listened to some music from the model gallery, and turned it back off. Still looks good, feels good, and has a ridiculously good soundtrack, but aside from that just go see the article I made on it to hear me preach about my old thoughts. This game should still be just as fun as when I rented it.

King's Quest: Chapter 2

Okay so as you could probably guess, I'm kind of cheating here and I didn't find a digital download episodic game under the Christmas tree this year. However I did get a $20 PSN card, got an extra $5 chipped in, and bought the season pass while it was on the Christmas flash sale. Not something I'd regularly do, but the first episode was such a spectacular game, and the 2nd reviewed in... okay enough status that I decided I would take the risk on what could easily be the best adventure series ever to me. However I was warned this would be darker, and... well, sadly it is. I really loved the first for hitting the perfect heart-warming fairy tale tone. It left me overwhelmingly happy, but still knew how to throw a heavy sad punch along its tale. However I also get this shift. Its not just some fancy tale being told, its a life story of a king, and so this king doesn't live a full life of luxury all the time. What they did to weave a heavy and hard tale where he's forced to take on tough responsibilities was a neat little thing to do with such a story. Its just that... well, I made it a bit darker than I wanted it to be. I messed up bad, and I think I got one of my favorite characters axed off. However I will try to work on solving some more puzzling matters and make it out of the dark goblin caves. I will see this adventure through unless it does something to really piss me off. So far I can tolerate this tone shift, and maybe I'll have to take its lessons harder with somebody dying under these pressured times, but I really do hope they don't stay on this track. I really do hope that at some point things back up a little bit to that princess bride vibe, even if things are expected to get tough in life. Chapter 1 is likely to stay on top at this point, but we've got 3-4 more chapters left, and I'm still not calling the 2nd a bad game at all from what I've played so far.

...and that concludes this small list here. Looking forward, I can see a lot of good games on the horizon, but there's also some games worth going back for (like again, Fallout 4, GTAV, etc). I may also end up saving some money towards a new laptop, which I really need (and it would make this a lot easier as well). Anyways I hope everyone got got what they wanted, spent time with family, and had a merry Christmas!

Battlefront 3 is still in a galaxy far, far away...

Well now its out, and for whatever reason I kind of made it almost like my duty to discuss the game's falls and triumphs from the perspective of both a fan of the original two, and... well that just creates a great situation to poke at its many holes and show you just how far some aspects of gaming have fallen (but of course, others have risen). This isn't just about a sequel being made by a new team; this is Star Wars on the whole getting a near reboot in modern day after it has been about maybe a decade since the last games and movies were a big deal. In that time so many different things have changed around our games, and unfortunately... I believe Battlefront EA (its actually in the title) has taken on some of the worst. The true successor to the games we originally got, is still in a galaxy far, far away.

For starters its worth it to point to something surrounding the game rather than the game itself: The licensing deal. Back when Battlefront was started, it was done also by EA at the marketing, and Pandemic as the development team (same guys that did Mercenaries and Saboteur) with what I can only assume was some assistance under LucasArts gaming department. They were simply focused on Battlefront when it came to star wars games, nothing really different at first sight. However when someone else was called up to task, well Free Radical took it up and was working on Battlefront 3 before some problems arose. Fast-forward to current day where EA has an exclusive deal with Disney (who now owns Star Wars) and you've got a nice little analogy for the way things drastically changed across 7-8th gen, and its odd almost nobody else seems to talk about it: Owning companies and games. In the PS2 era and prior, most teams could walk around and find a publisher for their games. There were plenty of kind opportunities out there where developers would check your ideas out, and fund your game based on if they liked it or could make a couple changes. That was it. Now I'm sure we're all aware these developers aren't walking anywhere. Dice makes stuff under EA, Free Radical (or what's left) is owned by Deep Silver, Arkane under Bethesda (a pairing that actually fits great), and its hard to say just what exactly Ubisoft owns between their oversized studios umbrella that pumps out their games. That's not to say pre-8th gen was perfect in this regard, there are plenty of troubled stories with Naughty Dog and Insomniac's days with Universal, and Activision was bullying their teams since the original Call of Duty by telling them they had to keep it in WW2 or else no console devkits would be given. Still its gotten much worse since then, with the only free team outside of indies I can think of being Insomniac, and they only found a publishing deal that let them keep their own IP through Microsoft which obviously limited their console reach.

Just stop and think about it all for a second. Think about all these annual releases, reoccurring series, and developers that have been cut down or re-used outside of what they were known for. Its all in part due to the fact that they, and their very games, are owned not by the artists but by the same people whose main job is to set up deals like this and market the game. No wonder indies are such a big deal now. Well in addition to all of that, lets close this in circle formation by reminding you that EA pretty much owns Star Wars on the gaming field for the foreseeable future, because that's very true to the nature of current publishers right now.

While on topic of publishers, this feels appropriate

So now that's out of the way, lets talk about the game itself since that's also kind of important. The main point of concern is... well, actually lets talk about the originals first. They weren't all too amazing by its own mechanics in today's market as we've had multiple multiplayer titles now with big battlefield. The only real difference that makes it special in mechanics is that it had better stock mechanics with a real health system, and a reason to carry support people or visit munition depots. No casual hide and restore crap, or reflex based gunfights. Though there was no sprinting in the original, which sucks for that side of things. Aside from that it was nothing special save for the star wars theme. However that's just the thing: It was massive star wars fan service. Massive scale battles across 16+ levels battling over flags or territory in a wide array of vehicles, a strategy mode allowing you to build up and take over the universe with any of the major army factions while paying off favors and abilities, and of course the fact that you could play as a famous big name hero like Han Solo, Darth Vader, Yoda, etc. All the while you could do this offline or online, split-screen as well, and across both timelines and many planets (even ones that didn't make much sense, like a rebel vs empire war on Kamino clone facility). Then of course the sequel refined most of the process better expanded mode functions, customization, better award system, and the most popular addition of space battles where you could blow apart capital ships or board them and blast them from the inside. These were all within $50 PS2 games straight on the disc. Now how has the game improved after over a decade? 8 maps (not planets, maps), prequel content and wars totally omitted, online only with a couple arcadey co-op modes you could play on your own, and oh yeah classes and normal vehicular use is completely scrapped. So a massive step backwards in every way at surface-value. To be fair now, there's way more multiplayer modes, but they're already hurting with low player count which wouldn't be a problem if they had bots to fall back on (but they don't). If that doesn't grab you, then you'll just hate it when I also tell you they're asking you to pay extra for the deluxe edition and have been pushing for their season pass at a hefty $50 range with promise that they'll split the community more with map packs. Oh but relax, you're also paying for early two week access to DLC so you can be more lonely in them while everyone else has to wait on an intentional delay.

This is why I never intended to buy the game on launch. Even with both of my copies of Battlefront on the PS2 being unable to work, I simply don't see the value here. I'd be better off getting a brand new computer and purchasing Battlefront 2 off of steam/GOG, or Ebay shopping for the PS2 originals. They have way more content in the box, are cheaper, and are far more accessible, and I'd even say have a more consistent fun factor to the gameplay. The sad thing to is that I don't exactly hate the new battlefront. The beta was pretty fun despite plenty to complain about. I kind of side with the portion of players and critics out there that talk about how fun it is as a casual shooter. Its great to just hop on there, melt some people with laser blasters, call down wild power-ups, and see what the end results are. I'll even say that some of the changes are great. I've never had as much fun in an AT-AT as I did when I had a range of cool-down super powers including an orbital strike. Its also the most well realized star wars presentation ever... period. I don't even think the movies are this good as pulling you into the world, because this one actually lets you walk on areas that were photographically digitized into the games, and then unleashed in a big sci-fi battle with amazing sound design pulled right from the SW universe. The graphics, sound design, and "feeling" of being there is just absolutely perfect for a star wars game. ...and then we get back to just what this is doing so wrong as a modern game, with its 8 maps and online only ability shoved down your throat. I've really got to wonder in a time like this if it truly is a case of graphics and big budget fancy stuff taking priority over gameplay. If it wasn't that, something else is seriously wrong here. Was it held back for DLC? Were their maps too big to make more of? Is their AI programming really that terrible that they can't be bothered to code bots? Were they drunk when they paved the groundwork for a matchmaking only online point? No really, I want answers or some kind of excuse, because at every corner outside of presentation it feels like this was set up to be a sub-par backpedal from a game made back in freakin' 2004 and the sequel that followed in '05. Heck even some of the PSP games have done things like space battles and fun bots to fight against!

Its not just nitpicks or purist complaints either (heck if it were, Battlefront 2 would be thrown under a bus as well for messing some stuff up), its the fact that I literally cannot play 90% of this game during a lot of Comcast's awful low speed connection where as everything I came to love the series for before came from an offline experience I played on my own time. This is lazy design that assumes everyone just wants to play online, and is totally fine with all of your short comings, and fixed modes. As a matter of fact offline play is such a big deal to me, my entire perspective of Rainbow 6 siege has changed from "ignore it" to "Definitely curious, renting it" based on the mixed reception of solo play, and hints of AI bot design. So I'm literally trying and potentially buying an online focused game because I hear it may have a solid offline mode with AI, and nothing else has contributed to me changing my previous thoughts before. But this is the era where Destiny, and Assassins Creed Unity are big sellers, and reviewers don't actually analyze the games they review before passing a 7+/10 score to. Its nothing new that something like Battlefront is made and money begging before its even released, and somehow gets away with poor quality. I predicted it all ahead of time, and that's why I'm not supportive of EA owning all the Star Wars gaming space, and why I was never truly excited about a new Battlefront made by Dice. It just wasn't going to come even close to doing what I like in the series, and competitive wise it doesn't sound like a good buy in itself either. I think in the long run, this really is about graphics taking a bigger priority, but not just in a simple way of one over the other. This is 2015 where such high end graphics cost a massive budget, and then they're rushing it to the market to cash in their game multiple times before they have to risk another big budget dip. The PS2 game did the best they could do before they shipped it with a moderate team on a plain budget, in a time where you actually had to make a good game (or do something spectacular for marketing) that people talked about to get it to sell. Now there's just too many other factors, chokes, and expenses racking up for quality content to take the biggest priority. They can just patch or sell it to you later, and sweep anything else under the rug. Or they'll "make up for it" with an online only sequel that adds maybe space battles to quite people down, and heavily ride on that criticism being fixed.

But at least it looks nice

However I don't want to be all doom and gloom here, because there's actually some hilarious twist here where I'll tell you of a terrific new FPS that releases with more content than even the original Battlefronts had. I mean I'm not the biggest fan of this series at all, and would usually bash on it for several reasons. However if you want what Battlefront offers on the up side (a fun little casual romp around sci-fi battlefields), and would be okay with offering up graphics for content, then I have just the remedy to tell you about: Call of Duty Black Ops 3. Yes, COD. If there is one thing COD gets undeniably right every damn time its lets something out into the world, its just how crazy accessible, and content stuffed it is. Okay so its not always perfect, Black ops 3 has some stupid stuff locked behind online mode like the emblem maker, but in general they even managed to outdo themselves on quality content. They have the normal horde mode, multiplayer, and campaign parts, but they also have a brand new hidden campaign which completely changes things, a return of arcade game dead ops (which I absolutely love), a bot mode full of custom options, full blown local co-op support in everything, a theater mode, and heck you can even spend hours just fooling with the painter. Oh, and there's also a $50 seasons pass promising you more content, so suck it EA, they've got that to and don't need a famous movie license to sell it.

Okay so I'm not trying to intentionally market to you about COD's game, I'm sure you get that enough from Mountain Dew bottles by this point, but what I'm saying is there still is an example of... well, doing the opposite of Battlefront EA. It is still possible to find quality AND quantity in gaming. There still are people out there making sure you not only have a lot of content in addition to passable graphics, but also go out of the way to surprise you with it and give you more than what you thought you paid for. This is why nobody except maybe GTAV has beaten COD. Despite all the copy-cats, gimmicks, and dumbing down that has been done to match COD, they always skimp on the content or formula in some way that prevents it from going big. However this is one of the big secrets to COD, its that content and accessibility. Its the empowerment they give to each and every player in reward for their $60 purchase. Meanwhile you may have to fight with servers just to even get into the game in Battlefront. Its not easy saying COD wins. I should be thrilled about an FPS that doesn't use ADS, has some of the best laser rifle aesthetics in the history of gaming, and re-introduces intentionally overpowered elements that make you panic or powerful. It should make me cheer for an anti-COD mentality and say "This was when shooters were better"! Instead its a reminder of how far south some parts of the industry go.

Some games are focused on fine tuning, improving, and content creating, and others have just let it all go down the drain as they shove you into a multiplayer cycle and expect you to pay $60-$100 and beyond for less. It actually works to, and sales so far are positive. On one side of things I do hope people still have fun, as that's what matters most at the end of the day. At the same time though, I can't help but look on in disbelief that this was actually sold as Battlefront. This just isn't the real sequel. It doesn't use the same core mechanics, doesn't have the same features, doesn't have the right kind of balance, and they didn't even put in an effort to make it feel like a successor as there's barely anything it does better outside of technical perspective. Heck, it even shows in the marketing art. We're talking about this and this being epic war scenes turning into this emptiness, or this guy's helmet with a reflection of slight action. Its a good sign of what you're in for, because one let you experience consistent and interesting battles from the star wars universe in many ways, and the other bottle necks you into another online shooter with a pretty picture. Its a shame it had to be this way. Its another case where content was removed and dumbed down, in a series that could have truly meant something by returning to the big console scene after a decade. Oh well. Hopefully this wraps up my Battlefield coverage. I'm sorry if I've spent too much time nagging about it, or talking about how sad it is, but it really is a great study piece in the dark side of modern gaming and how something can go from one of the best games of my youth, to the ideal game to make a stand against. Well... no, I'm not really sorry. I mean look at what we're talking about here! Would it have really killed them to add some damn bots or get more creative than 4 planets at launch?



At least we still have this in our history

Path of the warrior

I can't remember the last time I had such a sudden burst of enthusiasm, interest, and a will to hunt down a series like this. Maybe its in part because I've got some small system of income to my own now, but its also got a lot to do with just the games showing up again and again in the right time and places. No more beating around the bush though, this whole article is about how freakin' awesome the Warriors franchise is. Actually is it even fair to call it a franchise? It kind of goes beyond that. Its like if Shadows of Mordor, batman, and mad max were all attached to the same team and relative formula as Asssassins Creed, and each new release earned the association of it being a "Creed game". That's kind of what the warrior franchise is. There's various spin-offs involving other franchises like one-piece and Zelda, Samuri warriors, Dynasty Warriors, and then a cross over for the publisher themselves by the way of Warriors Orochi. On top of that each series or game seems to have its own Capcom-esque hyper ultra semi-sequel revised edition going on for it. Crazy stuff. Needless to say its intimidating to find a good place to step in and hope for a quality experience and without being cheated of content. However I ended up indulging on it through three games, just to make sure I hit my mark: Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate, Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires, and Samuri Warriors 4 (not to be confused with 4-2). So far I'm holding Orochi on the backburner as SW4 and DW8E suck up my time and make me wonder how 9am became so dark all of a sudden with the clock saying 6. These games are way better than you'd think they have any right to be.

Basically they all work off the base idea that you go around some unusual jagged map with spots of territory, dealing mostly melee + magic based attacks, mowing down literally a thousand or more brain-dead army minions while cutting down the occasional high ranked official. The basic shared combat trait is that you mash in the square buttons for light hits, triangle for strong, and you make chains with them that eventually transition into energy that helps you pull off specials. That's it as far as shared traits go, and it usually stays relatively that simple for the most part, but each series has its own liberties and interesting tweaks. For example SW4 has two characters you can switch between and command around, as well as a Hyper attack system that begins with strong attacks and has a unique sweeping motion. There's also an inventory system and each character gets better over time by traditional RPG methods of experience points. DW8E allows two weapons (which come from a long list, whereas SW4 just gives each character their own thing), has more double the special types per character, and also some weird elemental system I don't quite grasp yet. Ultimately though its not just about the combat. What hooked me initially as I played a demo for it long ago was the novelty of commanding an army on a massive field, and claiming territories. That natural conquest tug-of-war is a feeling I always love in war themed games, and this just felt like nothing but that at first. Of course the combat seemed really lame at first, and the AI way too stupid to make this fun, but over time (especially thanks to Hyrule warrior's kiosk demo) I came to really appreciate the combat and seek out the depth under its shallow surface. Combined with the strategy, meta game of leveling up, and the personalization of a few features and this game series has me fully hooked.

In a couple of cases I found myself feeling kind of like a kid again with these games, and I wasn't fully sure what it was at first. I'm a nostalgic person, but use that term somewhat differently as a way of celebrating good things of the past rather than being clouded by it or intentionally trying to force a kid-like view out of it. So this feeling is actually quite rare. At first I found myself just thinking "I bet I would love this way more if I were 8" because of how awesome the novelty was, and some replay features. I then changed that to actually feeling as if I were 8, upon seeing the ridiculous piles of customization on Empires. That was it! I had found a surprisingly good gem of a series with a brand new list of things to learn, some solid strategy elements to it, and so much customization (especially empires) that if I wanted to I could get sucked into this game for days just playing out my own stories. All of that exactly like how I saw the worms 3D trilogy back in my childhood days; those games were fun strategy games with some edge to beating them, and a lot of creative ways to goof off after that work. There wasn't a lot of legit powerful strategy to them, and mechanically you could probably get whatever you wanted out of it in two weeks. Meanwhile due to my creative mind they would eat up over a month of my time, making armies, stories, and special rule sets catered to my role-playing mind. This game is like a modern day form of that, coming in with heavier surface mechanics of distributing live attacks in various and evolving combos, while being able to adjust and adapt to an evolving battlefield. It feels more relevant to me now than it might have in the past (besides, no way little me would grasp Empire mode), and delivers things under a style I kind of appreciate more at the moment than I would have before... but the draw is a whole line of creativity and an entirely unfamiliar formula to learn that throws me right back into an old mentality I've missed.

So now I'm just really hooked on this. I don't know how long it'll last, but so far I've got a lot to still do, and I'm still playing it with barely any incentive to leave the TV never-the-less give up on any game. This thing made me put down and forget about just getting Dishonored Definitive Edition as well, and I've honestly got no intentions on returning until I'm satisfied with this new little discovery... and that includes the still wrapped Orochi game. I still also kind of want to say something on battlefront, or maybe the recent dead or alive situation, but I just don't want to because I'd rather be playing these awesome games. ...and so with that being said, its time to get back to it. Time to continue the path of the warriors.