My 2016 in Gaming

Welcome to my second review of the year blog! This one is about them videogame things I love to harp on about. Why was  my first one about cinema trips then? Because it was far easier… I could probably just list the  games I’ve played this year and it’d be as long as my usual musings, but  A) it’d dull as dishwasher and B) I can’t flipping remember them all. Highlights it is then..

 

The other problem with talking the year in games is that most of what I played didn’t even come out this year. That’s because I like a bargain and I’ve only got so much spare time between this hobby, scratching my leg and staring out windows thinking about fresh air.

 

The game that took up most of my time in 2016 was the 2015 release Witcher 3. I spent about three months going through that fantasy land, cutting people’s heads off and watching awkward sex scenes. As much as videogame visuals have improved it still looked like that bit in Team America, but not as funny. Other stuff happened too, I think. I spent a long damn time on that game and right now I’m wondering if all I did was collect herbs and cut stuff. Hmmm…

 

Remasters took up a big chunk of my time, playing games for the first item that most gaming geeks finished ages ago. I started the year with Dishonored which now ranks as  one of my favourite things ever (though I haven’t got Dishonored 2 yet because I’m way behind on new stuff). Planning and patience made it a welcome change from most games I played, plus I love the visual style of it all. Boasting a similar look are the Bioshock games and this year I finally got to experience those. One and two are done with Infinite still to be played. Those are really great. The atmosphere and story are what really sets them apart but once I worked it out I was also a fan of the hacking mechanic and using your surroundings.  Gravity Rush and Tearaway Unfolded are both versions of PS Vita titles. They’re nothing like each other but then neither is like anything else out there and added some variety to the PS4 line up. Gravity Rush allowed to switch off gravity and soar through the sky or run up walls, whilst Tearaway had you using every feature on the controller to interact with a paper crafted world. Both were inventive gems.

 

The end of the year has that murky period of time when you’re saving for Christmas and you try not to treat yourself. Those months had me replaying old stuff, the extra nifty titles that stayed on my shelf instead of heading to CEX. The Last of Us is still a fantastic experience. Despite knowing what would happen each step of the way I was just as emotionally manipulated as before. It still scared me, still left me upset and my heart still beat 1000mph during that finale.  I could rave about game forever. My Wii U got a lot of love too, partly because It might get boxed up once the Switch hits in 2017. That machine excels at platformers with Rayman Legends being one of the best. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze might be the very best though. It’s just bliss to play and when you know each level off by heart (which takes about 80 deaths to get too) the pace and flow is smile-inducing epic-ness. The soundtracks a beauty too. 

 

Indies and download only titles… So many of them. This is the bit were I’ll struggle because I’ve played so many. Most of them are on the short side so excuse my memory not picking up some four hour experience I had back in the spring. Abzu, Hue, Freedom Planet, Bastion, Unravel, Volume, Fez, Gone Home, Nova-111, Everybody’s gone to the Rapture… There’s a bunch. In that list of titles I have been a hero made of wool, a spaceship, I’ve walked through empty houses in America and England hearing stories unfold, I have swam with dolphins and whales, I’ve sneaked past guards, I’ve shifted perspectives and I’ve ran really fast. It was all superb.

 

Last part: the actual 2016 games I played in 2016. Or at least the boxed ones, some of those indies were this year. Let’s not overthink my blog structure… StarFox Guard was a crushing disappointment. Fans have waited years for a strong new entry in the series and what we got was an unplayable mess that made me want to smash my controller. Maybe unplayable is harsh, I’m sure it’d work fine if I had two heads and the dexterity Mr Fantastic. No Mans Sky was another soul destroyer. For a good week and a half I was completely immersed in this game of infinite space travelling. It created a real sense of loneliness as you repeatedly mined planets in order to go to another planet in which you could feel lonely again. At the end of two weeks I quit the game because it genuinely altered my mood and ruined my happiness. Or maybe I was always an unhappy lonely git and just hadn’t realised. 

I’m halfway through Doom at the minute and should beat it by New Year’s Day. How fudging awesome is this game? I suck at shooters but there’s been few adrenaline rushes like charging around an enclosed area blasting demons in the face with a shotgun before ripping out their hearts and making them eat it. Fast, frantic and utterly barmy. The last big release I’ll cover for this year is probably my favourite. Uncharted 4. It’s not perfect by any means, with pacing issues early on and the difficulty taking a big jump near the end. When it’s on form though it is an excellent action title with some really nice character moments. The throwback to the developers past is nice, the halfway point mission that has the church bell and the chase scene is exhilarating and then there’s the ending which manages to pull off a wonderfully mature cap on the series. It’s not what I expected and I adored it even more for that. 

 

So that was my year in gaming. If your favourite isn’t mentioned then I probably just haven’t got to it yet. Currently owned but not yet played: Deus Ex, Ratchet+Clank, Inside, Firewatch, Steamworld Heist. When I’ve got through those there’s’ about twenty games I want in 2017 not including whatever Nintendo announce in just over two weeks. There’s to many games. I blooming love it.