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squadaloo · 7 years

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My year in games - 2016

So for the past few years, I’ve been recapping the games I’ve played for the first time in the past year. I was going to do things differently for 2017 as the first 6 months of this year were full of absolutely amazing games and the second half of the year is looking just as good. However, I realized I actually never posted my 2016 games here, so let me do that first! Here are the games I played in 2016 and what I thought of them:

The Witness (PC) - I actually wasn’t that big of a fan of Braid, but I like puzzles so I picked up Johnathan Blow’s latest game. Quite fun with a lot of great puzzles, but suffers from indie art game syndrome where it thinks it’s more amazing and profound than it actually is. Beat the main ending, didn’t beat every puzzle.

Star Fox Zero (Wii U) - The controls in this game get a lot of hate, but outside of a couple of circumstances, I thought the gyro controls made the game way more fun and with some practice became extremely rewarding. However, the game is insanely short, and I had pretty much tired of the limited content after just 5 hours. It has less content than even Star Fox 64 which is unacceptable for a supposedly major release in 2016. Beat the game, didn’t get every medal because I’m not a completionist.

Star Fox Guard (Wii U) - The tower defense game that came with Star Fox Zero. I’m not a big fan of Tower Defense and only played it once for about an hour.

Uncharted 4 (PS4) - Being tired of Nintendo not supporting the Wii U, I decided to pick up a PS4 and so Uncharted 4 was the first game I played. Personally, the only other Uncharted I really liked was 2 (1 was shit, 3 was mediocre) so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The game has an excruciatingly slow beginning, but picks up after a while. Never reaches the heights of 2, but ends up being a fun enough adventure by the end. Beat the game.

Gravity Rush Remastered (PS4) - I like this game way more than I should. The plot sort of falls apart in the second half and the gameplay can be very repetitive, but this is mitigated by the fact that flying around with control of gravity is a blast. It also helps that it has an excellent soundtrack. I actually delayed beating Uncharted 4 so I could play this all of the way through. Actually got sad when I got the Platinum trophy (my first!) since it meant there was no more game left. Beat the game.

Batman Arkham Knight (PS4) - The Batman Arkham games are pretty much all great including, IMO, the non-Rocksteady developed Origins which I feel actually has the best story. Arkham Knight is no exception, although it does have one notable weakness: the Battank. Driving around with the Batmobile is fun, but as soon as it goes into tank mode, the combat becomes repetitive and boring: two things this series has typically done a great job of avoiding. Beat the game, didn’t get all of the Riddler trophies and see the true ending, though.

No Man’s Sky (PS4) - I…actually liked this game? I wanted a relaxing game I could just waste time doing meaningless (but somewhat fun) tasks in for a few weeks, and that’s what I got. I wouldn’t recommend it for normal people though, as it’s lacking content, but by now you’ve probably read about that Didn’t get to the center of the universe because I don’t like losing progress.

Journey (PS4) - I know everybody and their mother loves this game, but I just didn’t. I do not care for games that put storytelling way over gameplay unless they go full in (more on that in a bit), and I really don’t care when the storytelling isn’t very compelling. I felt like I knew where the game was going from the moment I turned it on, and got more and more bored as I was continuously proven right. The multiplayer aspect however, was a very good idea. Beat the game.

Shantae Risky’s Revenge (PS4) - A rather fun platformer. It’s pretty short (I beat it only a little over 2 hours) but it has some fun ideas. There’s two areas that feel like the platformer equivalent of Zelda dungeons which were extremely good, but they only made up about 30% of the game. The rest was more standard (but decent) fare. Beat the game.

Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse (PS4) - A much better platformer than Risky’s Revenge. It has similar Zelda-ish dungeons but more of them spread throughout the game. The presentation is better with lovely HD artwork, and the game’s sense of humor is excellent. Highly recommended. Beat the game.

Transformers Devastation (PS4) - A PS+ free game which I otherwise wouldn’t have played since I don’t give the slightest care about Transformers. I didn’t make it very far into the game, but it was a pretty fun and very challenging action game from what I had played. Didn’t come close to beating the game as I got a PSVR the next week.

Playstation VR Worlds (PSVR) - And here’s where we get into the wild and crazy world of VR. I bought a PSVR because I was curious about VR and had cash to burn, but I really didn’t try it until this game. VR Worlds is really a collection of 5 tech demos I MEAN FULLY REALIZED GAMES MOST DEFINITELY NOT TECH DEMOS BEING SOLD BY SONY, NOPE. Some are good. Some are not. I’ll go into each game in a bit, but let me just say if it had not come in my PSVR launch bundle, I would not recommend buying it for $40.

Ocean Descent - A simple experience in which you stand in a shark cage in the ocean. At the end of the main dive, a shark attacks the cage. This is the first thing I played in VR and judging by the fact the game comes with the headset in the launch bundle and the fact that it always defaults to Ocean Descent on bootup, it’s basically designed to be a first experience…and succeeds massively. Within seconds, I was giggling like a little boy at how awesome it was. VR is the real deal! There is no gameplay, so it’s a very easy thing to show to non-gamers. I also showed this demo to my parents who are not gamers, and they loved it as well.

Luge VR - It’s street luge you control with your head. The graphics look horrible and blurry, even after properly callibrating the headset. I played it once, and that was enough.

The London Heist - A 40 minute interactive experience in which you help steal a diamond. It’s split between about 70% interactive cutscenes and 30% shooting action sequences. Cutscenes are far more effective in VR and I don’t mind them as much. The shooting sequences are great. However, outside of a choice right at the end of the experience, there’s not much of a reason to replay it other than just for fun. It does have a shooting gallery mode which is somewhat neat.

Scavenger’s Odyssey - A FPS in which you pilot a mech. So far, this is one of the only times I’ve gotten VR sickness. VR sickness, for those who don’t know, is basically what happens when your eyes tell your body it should be moving when it knows it isn’t. This is why most VR games either use teleporting for movement or give you a fixed point of reference while moving (like being in the cockpit of a mech) instead of just giving you standard FPS controls. While this game does try to sidestep VR sickness by putting you in a mech, it also involves jumping and flipping gravity which is what pushed me over the top. I quit for a while but eventually came back and finished it. It’s...ok. Nothing really special.

Danger Ball - An arcade game that’s effectively like cooler PONG except your opponent is in front of you (like in actual ping pong) and you move your paddle by looking in a direction. It’s kind of fun, but in order to put spin on your ball, you have to flick your neck which kind of hurts because I am out of shape and spend all day on a computer. It’s kind of fun, but not something I’d really return to.

Batman Arkham VR (PSVR) - It’s a Batman game in which you don’t fight and it only lasts 40 minutes to run through the story. While this is disappointing, it’s not as much as it would seem for two main reasons. First, the game is only 20 bucks. Second, VR is awesome and being Batman is awesome. The story is somewhat interesting and the VR is probably the most immersive out of any title. The suiting up and entry into the Batcave sequence is honestly one of my favorite experiences I’ve ever had in a game entirely because VR sells it. As for the game itself, I liked that they emphasized the detective aspect of Batman and would have gladly wanted a longer game with more cases even if it still didn’t have combat (although it would be nice). The game has optional Riddler challenge upon completion so the full amount of gametime is probably more like 3 hours, which isn’t too shabby. Love the experience, despite its length.

Rigs (PSVR) - I’m not much of an FPS person, but after playing the demo of Rigs, I decided to go ahead and buy it. Rigs is a team-based FPS in which you drive giant mechs and compete in a sort of sports league. It’s probably the most complete experience currently available in PSVR as it has single player offline modes and online play. It could use more modes and maps (which is why it’s a good thing they’ve announced another map is coming soon) but it’s still pretty fun. I’ve always hated shooting with control sticks on consoles which is why I like that you can aim with your head. VR also makes the scale of the game feel massive which I love.

Windlands (PSVR) - A first person platformer where you use grappling hooks to get around. This is the first VR game I’ve played with full locomotion with no static frame of reference and I thankfully did not get sick. The game itself is pretty decent. There’s some fun platforming but it’s a bit bland as there’s no enemies or major obstacles: just you vs. the geometry of the level. Overall, probably not the best use of VR.

Job Simulator (PSVR) - A game in which you visit the museum of jobs run by robots in the year 2050. The robots don’t exactly know how these jobs worked which leads to…let’s just say inaccurate emulations of Office Worker, Chef, Convenience Store Clerk, and Mechanic jobs. This is a good example of a game that would suck if not for being in VR. There’s something that’s a ton of fun about throwing crap around and screwing with people in VR. The game has a great sense of humor as well. However, the game is light on content (a major pain point with most early VR games) and some of the jobs get repetitive. Still, it’s a good game to show to people who are new to VR and want to see what it’s like to use motion controls to interact with the environment.

Call of Duty Jackal Assault (PSVR) - A free game in which you pilot a ship in space and shoot down other ships. The detail in the ship is great and space combat is way easier when you can look separately of aiming thanks to VR. However, it only lasts about 5 minutes, which I guess is fair given it’s free with no strings attached…outside of the massive terms of service you have to read prior to playing.

Star Wars Battlefront (PS4) - I bought this on sale for less than $8 because of the VR experience coming soon. I never bought it originally because it seemed like every other modern shooter I don’t like where only a couple of shots can kill you and you have regenerating health…and that’s exactly what it is. It can be fun from time to time, but I just suck at it and given the offline AI is stupid, I can’t really get any better either as there’s no good way to train. The VR mission is pretty nice, but only 20 minutes long and features some absolutely horrible voice acting for your playable character that tries its best to ruin the mission.

Bound (PS4/PSVR) - I bought this because it was 50% off at the same time I was picking up Battlefront and it’s got a VR mode and I’m starving for VR content. It’s very artistic like Journey, but the more platformy gameplay makes it feel more gameplay based. Also, the fact that it’s very immersive in VR really helps. Hell, I’d probably have liked Journey a whole lot more if it were in VR as well. I haven’t finished this, however, because the VR camera was kind of rough at launch. They’ve since patched it but I still haven’t returned to it because there’s been pretty much nonstop games I want/put tons of time into this year.

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