Here we go, my annual “games of the year” list.
Not to be confused with the best games that were released in
2015, what follows is a compilation of my favorite games that I finished in the
past year.
This is usually a “top ten” list where I pick my favorite
ten out off all the games that I completed throughout the year, however in 2015
three things happened that make this list different.
1) I
got a transfer through work and relocated my family across the country. This included selling a house, finding a new
one, and everything that comes with starting a new job and getting the kids
settled in a new place and school.
2) Destiny
3) Persona
4
These three events killed my free time. While the real addicts still call me a noob,
my Destiny playtime currently is right at 300 hours, which is absolutely an all
time high for a single game for me.
Persona 4 took me 80, and moving across the country does not have a
playtime clock, but I can attest that it took a ton of my time as well. So what I’m getting at is that this year’s
list is every game that I beat in 2015, and it comes in at seven games long.
7) Journey
This game set the world on fire when it came out. Everyone was talking about how great it was,
and it showed up on many “game of the year” lists last year at this time. Unfortunately
I was a 360 guy at then and never got the chance to play it. This year it came to the PS4, and I have to
say that it may be one of the most overrated games of all time, maybe coming in
second right behind Mario 64. It was
fun, and it was definitely beautiful, but come on… It’s a game about walking up a mountain.
6) Super Mario 3D World
2015 was quite a weak year for the Wii
U.
5) Uncharted: Golden
Abyss
My first Vita game and my first Uncharted game as well. Super freshman outings on both fronts. This is not the type of game that I imagined
the Vita would be able pull off, and other than a few gimmicky control
situations, it really shines in all regards.
Nate Drake’s kill count does climb to a point where you cannot take the
story seriously, but I was willing to put the blinders on in that regard so
that I could enjoy the rest of this great experience. It also is definitely a “walking down a
hallway” game, however I found the simplicity added to my enjoyment. Sometimes I just want to sit back and enjoy
an action and platforming experience, and as far as those go, this is one of
the greats. Uncharted started my time
with the Vita off with a bang.
4) Hotline Miami
This game hit me out of the blue. Another experience that I had missed out on
during my 360 years, I knew that this was critically acclaimed, but other than
that I had no idea what I was getting myself into with Hotline Miami. This game is a unique experience that really
is not like anything that has come before or since. The gameplay loop is totally addicting, a ton
of fun, and had me in “just one more” mode in a way that no game has in a long
time. The pixilated art style, mixed
with ultra violence just layered on more uniqueness and gave this game a feel
that was really a surprise. In the past year
we have had a deluge of 16-bit looking games that are quite frankly bad and
feel as cheap as they look. It has made
it tough for me to give each one a fair shake as they have come to market. However, games like Hotline Miami, Resogun,
and OlliOlli2 have been so good that they have proven that I need to remember
that looks aren’t everything and even in 2015 gameplay can still be king. In this nebulous medium of “videogames” that
can mean so many things, the enjoyment of the experience that Hotline Miami
brings can go toe to toe with the AAA big boys any day.
3) Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
A part of this year’s Uncharted Collection, Drake’s Fortune
is an eight year old game with a fresh coat of paint. It’s a very fun experience that I played for
the sake of catching up before this April’s Uncharted 4, but it definitely has
the feel of an almost decade old action game.
That said, this was the game that finally broke me out of my year and a
half Destiny binge, and while doing that it really hit all the right notes for me
and what I wanted in a game at the time.
Like Golden Abyss, this is a super linear, simple experience, and each
negative that I listed for Abyss holds true for this game as well. However, I was having way too much fun
exploring the exotic locales and blasting my way through the baddies to
care. I can’t wait to play the rest of
the Uncharted story.
2) Shadow of Mordor
As this one was going through the preview rounds, it really
looked to me like a totally generic action game with Assassin’s Creed gameplay,
that had LOTR painted on top. As much as
I love me some hobbits and elves, I was sure that this was going to be a
stinker. Boy was I wrong. Not only was this a great action game with a
way above par fighting engine, not only did it have true RPG character leveling
that I found to be better than it’s Creed and Batman contemporaries, but it
also brought something brand new to the table that I don’t think anyone was
expecting. The orc army that are your
enemies in this experience reacted in a way that was a first in games. The enemies had a leveling system that
promoted the orcs that bested you throughout the game, moving them up the chain
of command, and on top of that they remembered you when they saw you again (and
said so). It truly became a personal
experience each time I ran into my most heated rivals throughout the game, and
the ending played off this metagame in the best possible way. It was an experience like none other, and
still is. I cannot believe that more
games have not yet incorporated this style of enemy AI and organization
since. This one is hands down the best
LOTR game ever made.
1) Persona 4 Golden
I would have never imagined in the second full year of the
Playstation 4, as it really starts to hit it’s prime, that a handheld remake of
a Playstation 2 game would be my game of the year. …and yet here we are.
Persona 4, and my love of it is complicated for sure. This is a story about teenagers experiencing
their last year of high school. It’s a mystery
told as a fantasy story that sets it’s roots in a current day, country village
in Japan . There, and in a dream-like world that certain
people can get to by jumping into televisions.
…and there’s a talking teddy bear that befriends you. So yes, the foundation of this story is not
only unique to say the least, but also full of cultural differences when
compared to what I know and remember from that same time in my own life. Also, unlike any game I have played before,
half of this game is a “relationship simulator.” Your character makes friends with his fellow
students and family members, and dates classmates as the game goes on as
well. You pick which relationships to go
after and how much work you want to put into them. It’s the sort of thing that I would absolutely
be embarrassed of if a non-gaming adult walked in and watched over my shoulder
during some of this stuff. All that said,
by the end of the story, this method was done well and had created a history
with each character in the story that would be different for each person that
plays the game, and thus really felt like a personal experience. It definitely surprised me and had created character
development and a sense of concern for these friends and teammates that is
unparalleled in the medium. I really
cared about what happened to these kids as the eighty hour long story
progressed, and was sad to see it all come to a close as the year came to an
end. What started out almost making me
feel uncomfortable, in the end is the game’s greatest asset, and has given me
fond memories in a way that few games (or stories of any sort) have ever done
before.
