Happenstance

Ok then, here's my top 10 games of 2015: 10. Mortal Kombat X I didn't think the story in X was as good as 9 but it was still a damn good fighting game. New characters for the most part were pretty good. 9. Super Mario Maker I was hoping Mario Maker would grab me more than it did. I only ended up making a handful of levels and then just spending my time playing other people's creations. Better community tools for sharing levels etc and I probably would have placed this a bit higher. 8. Fallout 4 Kind of surprised that I'm putting this at number 8. When I finally gave them a chance I absolutely loved Fallout 3 and New Vegas and was expecting to love 4 just as much. It still feels like a solid game but I haven't played it in a couple of weeks and just haven't felt that urge to keep playing. I plan to complete it eventually and knowing me, I'll still end up loving it but I think being able to go this long without needing to come back says something. 7. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture The Chinese Room did an amazing job capturing the feel of an English village in this game. Its not a horror or even scary game but the atmosphere in it had me tense throughout a lot of the game. The stories you followed with the villagers lives also just added to the feel that this was a real place. Its also one of those games where whats actually going on is basically left up to the person playing and I tend to love those, along with the discussion and theories that come afterwards. 6. Kerbal Space Program I haven't actually played too much of the final release of Kerbal but I have easily played enough of the pre-release stuff to know that I love this game and it deserves its spot on my list. So much fun! 5. Batman: Arkham Knight Its a shame that the Batmobile felt so shoehorned into this game otherwise its another one that probably would have been higher on my list. The actual Batman parts though, along with the story managed to make up for it. 4. Life is Strange This game just seemed to come out of nowhere and really impress me. Great story and writing, interesting world and some damn touch decisions they made me make! 3. Rocket League Just pure fun. Not much else I need to say really. 2. Metal Gear Solid V I have never been any good at stealth games but I think MGSV was the first time that everything clicked. Kojima finally got the controls and options for you down to the point where I could feel like a stealthy badass. I would spend ages scouting a base, working out my plan of attack and actually being able to then do everything I wanted to. This game was pretty much the best gameplay experience I had all year. The only things that let this game down, and probably kept it from being my number one was the fact that the story felt very lacklustre. Kojima either seems to have games which are these epic stories with stupidly long cutscenes or amazing gameplay and worlds but the story was barely there. If he had managed to strike a balance between the two then this would most likely have been one of my favourite games of all time. The other problem of course was Kiefer Sutherland's Snake and how he basically turned into a silent protagonist for way too much of the game. 1. The Witcher 3 The Witcher 3 struck a great balance between intriguing story/characters and enjoyable gameplay/rpg elements. It was a living world where I was constantly interested to see what I came across next. The memory of playing through the Bloody Baron storyline will stick with me for a long time.

Yeah. Now I just have to make it through the interview :p To be fair though I have basically been doing half of this job for around 6 months which is probably why they've asked me to interview.

Bursar had a meeting with me today at work and asked if I would be interested in applying for the Development Assistant position that they are advertising. A lot of the technical side is basically what I already do for them now but I hadnt applied because I wasnt interested in the "schmoozing" side of the job. I think I probably will still go for this though as its basically double my current salary and I think dealing with posh alumni will just have to get easier the more I do it. They have said though that they know that area wouldnt really interest me and would be willing to try and work around that. They do still want to let me go fulltime in my current job but still cant get the money for it so I think it'd be better for me if I went for this new job instead.

To be honest this isnt going to be tallied up or anything so people can make whatever lists they want! I tend to just do games released in this year but that doesnt mean we all have to. I think maybe we try and do a 2015 list each and then whatever other lists we want?

GOTY lists are starting to emerge on the Internet this week so I figured it was time for us to start thinking about our lists. Its been a great year of gaming for me so I'm gonna have no problem filling the whole 10. I just need to figure out their order now!

I own it on PS1, Vita, PC and now PS4 and i've still never completed it. I plan to this time though!

Given how absolutely terrible the first one was, I dont hold high hopes for this at all. At least it has Green Arrow in it though I can pretend its just an episode of Arrow and he's under cover :p

I've still never really been able to get into Minecraft on a console. Without the speed of a mouse it just feels too sluggish. That of course and I just cant really play it these days without a load of mods installed. Its a shame the console users never really get to experience those as so many of them really add a large amount of great content to the game.

Pretty much yeah. It wasnt just that it was missing open world features, it just doesnt feel quite right. Old fashioned but not in a nostalgic way.

Yeah see mine is a launch PS4 and the controller is still fine.

Im happy enough with the shape and material used personally. The thumb pad materials are definitely an issue though. Luckily I havent had it happen with my controller but its widespread enough that hopefully Sony will take note.

I would say the Dual Shock has progressed in all the areas it needed to. The sticks are better than they used to be, the triggers have been massively improved, the trackpad...is also there :p Fair enough if certain people dont like the stick placement but probably just as many such as myself are absolutely fine with it. If Sony dont want to change it then they dont need to change it. I dont need them changing up the controller every gen just for the sake of it. Im much happier with them simply fixing smaller problems, which they have.

Oh yeah everyone absolutely loves Cesaro. I think the biggest thing holding him back is his mic work. Thats why they put him with Paul Heyman for a while but that barely lasted long at all.

He's the type of wrestler that Vince McMahon likes to get behind and while he was still with the Shield he was getting pretty popular with the crowd. It was only afterwards really that when the WWE decided to give him the big push that the crowd turned on him, especially when Daniel Bryan came back and the crowd as usual decided they wanted him as the main guy instead. I feel sorry for Reigns to be honest. Yes he isnt the most interesting wrestler but a lot of the hate he gets isnt really his fault. Wrestling fans either have way too much power or at least think they do these days.

I'll get back to it eventually but im back into FFVII now and then it'll be carrying on with Fallout 4. If the prologue had impressed me more I might have stuck with Xenoblade but unfortunately it didnt. Compared to FFVII which I thought I would play for a bit as I'd played it before and then ended up on it all Sunday.

Looks like System Shock 3 is coming. Otherside are made up of some of the original System Shock devs as well. http://www.othersidetease.com/strawberry.php

I might have to rewatch Advent Children when im done with the 7 port. Not the best movie but it had some great fights and the soundtrack was amazing.

L3 speeds the game up x3 (which I dont think is necessarily bad, I just dont need it) and R3 gives you a load of buffs in battle.

Yeah im not looking to use any of the cheats or perks either, especially since I feel like I just understand how to play RPGs so much better now than when I first played the game. I remember the elevator bosses at Shinra HQ causing me a lot of trouble the first time around while this time it was absolutely fine. Im taking a break at the moment anyway to watch the football but last bit I did was the Kalm flashbacks. Should be interesting from here on out as I remember so much from the beginning Midgar part of the game but actually not a lot afterwards so it'll be nice to go through again.

For me the sweet spot would have been £8.99 for PS2 games, £4.99 for PS1.

The PS4 pad is definitely my favourite current one. The Xbox One pad would be up there as well if it wasnt for those terrible bumpers.

I noticed on Neogaf this morning that some people werent able to get some trophies so hopefully there will be a patch at some point.

Hmmmm. I may still buy Rogue Galaxy for £11.99 as I always wanted to play it but most PS2 games I expect I'll wait until sales come up.

I wonder if they'll keep this bit in the remake:

I think its going to be interesting to see how the remake deals with the more "out there" aspects of FFVII. The trailer we saw had a pretty serious mood but then of course I just got done infiltrating a mansion by cross dressing and had a battle with some lizard men with tridents in the port lol