What kind of chip you got in there? A Dorito?
Checkmate.
I haven’t played any of the games on this list. In fact, I think I’ve only played a couple of games that released this year. Looks like my top 3 games, most surprising 3 games, most overated, and most disappointing games of 2016 are as follows:
Street Fighter 5: I was surprised how much I liked the basic fighting and dissapointed that it wasn’t more fully featured. One of the 3 best games of 2016.
The Division: I was surprised this game was overrated and actually how good the 1.5 patch was. It’s become a great solo friendly MMO, though I am disappointed @Shellfishguy is playing on PC. Definitely one of the three best games I played from 2016.
Overwatch/Battlefield 1: I’m definitely surprised to find myself enjoying not one but two multiplayer FPS games. Haven’t done that since CoD 4 all those years ago. Not sure if they are in my top three since I haven’t really played either one much, but they are all that’s left so they win/loose by defualt. Hopefully I get a chance to play them more!
Persona 4 Golden: Still Awesome!!!
Brilliant write up of Blacksea! Haven’t played it yet but I love these paragraphs.
Okay, fiiiine, into my wishlist it goes, sheeshh :-P
This is what I love about these lists, normally I wouldn’t have given this game a second look based on its presentation and description.
Damn. The only game I played from this list is Shadow Warrior 2, which was indeed awesome. And I plan to play Oxenfree soon.
I am gonna check out Quadrilateral Cowboy and listen some more to Offworld Trading Company soundtrack, absolutely beautiful.
I’m going to say you may want to upgrade that potato.
Too bad you’re too busy spending your money on skateboarding medical copays to buy a decent computer. We could be playing The Division, Overwatch and BF1!
All in all it’s been a pretty great year for games, but it seems like there has only been one or two that I was really able to sit down with and lose myself in for hours. Those being the Division and WoW:Legion. Feels like everything else I bought this year I’ve just skimmed through for a few hours. Felt like it was a tough year gaming attention wise.
But the steaz can’t be denied!
XCOM overrated opinions waarrrrgl etc. Also no Dark Souls 3 opinions shakespear etc.
But really, the gem of the list and this year is Shadow Warrior 2. If I am running the Borderlands 4 team - and I’m not - I’m making everyone sit down and play Shadow Warrior 2. Because it out does Borderlands on several fronts. Not all of them - the looting aspect is fairly light, and while it does a great job with story and setting so does Borderlands - but it’s otherwise a superior game to play or do anything in.
This is how amazing Shadow Warrior 2 actually is: there are roughly 2.5 million games in existence where you climb ladders. Outsider of Shadow Warrior 2 this is typically, and rarely, a mild inconvenience. Otherwise it’s often an excurciating and painstaking experience that jarringly slows down gameplay. Hi, Dark Souls 3. In Shadow Warrior 2 you fly up ladders with nearly the same gusto with which you fly around the battle field. And you find yourself thinking, ever so briefly, “wow that’s actually amazing” and then you are killing the next thing.
Really the game’s only faults are: a bit short (and a bit repetative in terms of enemy types; but this was a fourty dollar game that otherwise has AAA trappings), you can’t triple jump and double air dash in some combo, and the loot isn’t great. It’s ok. I sometimes think Borderlands should come off of the procedural end of the spectrum a little more when it comes to looting. But that aside, if I’m running that show I want to redesign the gameplay experience with lessons learned from Shadow Warrior. Let’s give everyone a few active abilities. Let’s tighten up the shooting a bit. Let’s not be afraid of passives (which IMO Borderlands has grown somewhat allergic to in its skill trees over time; with some of that moving to the other account based progression system sure). And let’s make it so that are players find traversing the game world the unbridled joy that it is in Shadow Warrior 2.
Shadow Warrior 2 is better than Doom (which I liked, but I felt like Hell got tedious and very nakedly "move around a bit to the next contrived monster arena). It’s definitely in my top 5 this year and almost certainly in my top 3 and maybe even top 2 yeah probably.
But seriously devs, triple jump + double air dash in combination. Please.
I love just smacking into ladders in mid-air, glomming on to them and then zipping the rest of the way up the ladder. Also, I have no problem whatsoever climbing down a ladder, finding that sweet spot to press the “climb ladder” button, BECAUSE I DON’T HAVE TO. Allowing infinite falling is a pretty cool solution to that.
I wonder how much this has to do with breaking the level design. Although the levels are pretty huge and they don’t seem to have any problem letting you get up on roofs and whatnot, so that’s probably not the issue. I think I might just spazz out too much if there was triple dash/jumping. I’d press once, then press a second time, then press a third time, forgetting I’d pressed two time ago and I’d be hammering the button wondering why I can’t dash again.
-Tom
A couple of minor corrections, btw:
You dropped the “n” in Salt and Sanctuary. And given that it’s a 2016 list I strongly suspect you were talking about Dead Rising 4, not 2.
Correction:
“But from among the game[s] I did play”
Good list. I really really want to play Oxenfree and Quadrilateral Cowboy but I have enough games on my plate as is. Maybe you could hire me on as a writer so I can have more time for them, get some of that rarefied games journalism air, and rake in all the sweet doseph and fame that goes along with it.
That would work for me.
And if Quadrilateral Cowboy didn’t get sales, it got yet another praise : http://www.igf.com/article/quadrilateral-cowboy-takes-grand-prize-2017-igf-awards