2016 in gaming

[Fierce_LiNk]

The year is quickly coming to an end and 2017 is (hopefully!) going to be an eventful one as the Nintendo Switch will soon be in our hands. Not only that, but it should be a very interesting year for the other two main home consoles (aaaaand PC).

 

So, looking back over the last 12 months, how was 2016 for you? Were there any games that demanded your full attention? Did any title let you down? Were there any surprise packages? Or, looking at it from another angle, did you devote as much time to gaming as you would have liked?

 

(I'll post mine a bit later )

[Happenstance]

Just did my top 10 for another website so I'll post it here as well:

 

1. Hitman

2. Rise of the Tomb Raider

3. Titanfall 2

4. Stardew Valley

5. DOOM

6. Forza Horizon 3

7. Final Fantasy XV

8. Uncharted 4

9. Firewatch

10. Overwatch

 

I think its been a really good year for gaming but for me personally the trend of me not actually completing games has only gotten worse. Its something I hope to try and sort out next year by buying less games and not bouncing between multiple ones (he says after just buying Quantum Break and Call of Duty Infinite Warfare).

 

I've mainly stuck with PC gaming for single player multiplatform stuff and PS4 for multiplayer as I usually play with @Goafer.

 

Got the Vive when it came out but its taken until December before I started using it regularly for logistical reasons. I think next week's Steam Winter Sale will be used to pick up some discounted VR titles and I can really dive in a bit more. What I've played though always impresses me.

[Mr-Paul]

2016 hasn't been one of the greatest years for me, gaming-wise. I haven't really played a lot. The only Nintendo game I have bought was the Twilight Princess remake. Oh, and Pokémon Yellow on 3DS. There's still some things from Nintendo I would pick up, but I just haven't been that inspired by them. Got Pokémon Sun coming to me as a Christmas gift, but to be honest, this has been the most disappointing year for me in terms of Nintendo since I first got my Game Boy Color in 1998.

 

Had a few things on my PS4 ticking me over, and to be honest there's a lot for me to catch up on there too, and the last month or so I've been enjoying Overwatch even though I don't manage to get on it as much as I'd like to!

 

The game I've spent most of my time on this year has to be Pokémon Go! Just reached 100 in my Pokédex and went up to Level 25! I can't say it's the greatest game in the world but it keeps me busy when walking around or on the bus. Haven't been on it anywhere nears as much in the last few months compared to July and August but it still gets used most days!

[Ganepark32]

I think it's been a pretty solid year for gaming in general. Plenty of big hitting triple A titles and a huge amount of smaller indie titles that have well and truly stood head and shoulders with the big guys. The diversity of titles as well has been something that's been great for me as a gamer to see and given plenty of opportunity to play lots of different genres year long. I've certainly not had any droughts nor had a lack of games to play, it seems that there's been a steady stream of stuff getting released with enough to satiate everyone's tastes.

 

I've definitely ended up playing far more than I have in any other year as a result of that. Currently at 84 completed for the year and have played 100+ games with some falling by the wayside due to the amount of stuff coming along.

 

There were a couple of games that I knew were hitting this year that I had to play, Mirror's Edge Catalyst and Rise of the Tomb Raider (finally hitting the PS4) so I'm glad I got to finally play both and loved them. What's been good is trying out various bits and pieces that I either kept forgetting that were coming out (Deus Ex Mankind Divided for instance, it just kept slipping my mind this was coming) or that suddenly turned up on my radar. But by and large, I enjoyed many of the games I played and the only real things that weren't quite what I hoped were Unravel and Battlefield 1, and even then I still enjoyed them enough that it didn't hang over me too much that they weren't quite what I'd have hoped for.

 

The real disappointment is seeing several great games not hit the sales they deserve. EA should feel ashamed of themselves for throwing Titanfall 2 out like they did and refusing to acknowledge that they were in the wrong. It's good to see it is now picking up, partly through word of mouth and GOTY awards elsewhere but mainly through sales. Hopefully it won't be the end for the series as I'd love to see a third game take what the second has done and take it even further. Likewise, Watch Dogs 2 has missed out, admittedly due to a large amount of people being burnt with the first one, but it's a brilliant game that really deserves a bit more attention than it got.

 

I think the general attitude of apathy running through forums (not necessarily here, but places like over at Gamespot/GameFAQs and the PlayStation Forums) and the like around the web is slowly becoming detrimental to gaming as is partly evident in the sales of some games and the complete dismissal of indie games being announced for PS4/Xbox One/PC. It's a shame that some games haven't lived up to what they were but the pasting and vitriol some have gotten, including devs, has been disgusting so I'd say that too has been perhaps the biggest disappointment for the industry this year.

 

The sheer amount of high quality indie games, though, has been one of the most surprising and pleasant things to come out of 2016 for games. So many smaller games to play and so many of them out do some of the big titles this year on several areas, in my opinion anyway. I put together a top 10 indie titles for this year and this is what I ended up with:

 

1. Virginia

2. Firewatch

3. Inside

4. Abzu

5. Hyper Light Drifter

6. The Witness

7. Invisible, Inc.

8. Oxenfree

9. Unravel

10. Furi

 

With the exception of the last 2, it was ridiculously hard to place those top 8 games just because of how good they all were. Strong story/narrative, beautiful visuals, amazing soundtracks and excellent gameplay through out. Virginia, for instance, is perhaps the biggest surprise in that a game I knew nothing about turned out to be one of the most memorable games I've played not just this year but ever.

 

With these 10 and a list of triple A titles, it's left me with a list of 20 odd games to try and whittle down to a top 10 for this year. Probably going to end up being a top 20. But from how I'm going through it, the likes of Uncharted 4 and Deus Ex don't even land in my top 10. I'll post this some time soon once it's all worked out.

 

So yeah, it's been a fantastic year and I look forward to next year and what it brings. Some great smaller games lined up for console release for the first time (Dreamfall Chapters finally comes out on PS4/Xbone in March) and some finally coming to other platforms (The Flame and the Flood on PS4 in January) and then several big titles throughout the year.

[nekunando]

Looking through the list of games I've been through in 2016, there's almost a complete absence of titles released in 2016. That's probably largely down to a lack of Wii U and 3DS releases but it highlights the fact that it probably wasn't a particularly incredible year for me in gaming

 

Starfox Zero, probably my highlight of the year, is joined by Mario Party: Star Rush as the only two 2016 releases I cleared this year, the latter of which was for review. I'm playing through Rhythm Paradise Megamix, which is fun, and I hope to return to Twilight Princess HD before the release of Breath of the Wild, but other than that 2016 has been about taking care of a significant portion of the backlog.

 

I dubbed 2016 the 'year of the second tier' several months ago and I still feel it to be an accurate description of my experiences. A large portion of the games I played I could only really consider to be good, at best, with a sprinkle of gems mixed in throughout.. and a couple of stinkers

 

With my acquisition of a PS4, which I'm going to open on Christmas Eve in order to install any games and updates, and the Switch presentation and release just around the corner, 2017 should be a significant step up for me

[Ganepark32]

Sat down the other day and put together my top 20 for the year. Reiterating what I said in my previous post, I feel it's been a brilliant year in gaming and the fact that the likes of The Last Guardian, Dishonored 2, DOOM and Final Fantasy 15 aren't included in my list (mainly because I've either not played enough of them or haven't gotten round to picking them up yet) goes to show just how good a year it's been.

 

My games from 20 to 11:

20. Unravel

19. Battlefield 1

18. Oxenfree

17. Steep

16. Deus Ex Mankind Divided

15. Watch Dogs 2

14. Invisible, Inc.

13. The Witness

12. Uncharted 4

11. Hyper Light Drifter

 

 

And for my top 10:

10. Abzu - Absolutely beautiful game from start to finish that looked and sounded incredible and played extremely well. I personally enjoyed it more than Journey but that may be because it brought back memories of playing Ecco the Dolphin.

 

9. Rise of the Tomb Raider - A year's wait to play this on the PS4 felt like ages but it was worth it for a game that steeped up everything from the first reboot and bettered it. It played extremely well and looked superb and while it may suffer some slight middle of trilogy syndrome with the story, it was still an incredible game I felt.

 

8. Far Cry Primal - Another game overlooked by many, partly because it's an Ubisoft title and partly because of Far Cry fatigue. Perhaps having not played 4 before this helped my enjoyment as I loved every second of this. It felt visceral, with weapon handling being great, having your own pets and being able to use prehistoric creatures to empty out caves was amazing and it was just brilliant from start to finish. It's certainly making 4 look pale by comparison now that I'm playing that one.

 

7. Inside - I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did but the look and feel of the game pulled me in and by the end I was completely engrossed in the wordless narrative and the themes heavily but well used throughout. Like Abzu, I enjoyed this much more than it's forebearer and it's become an instant classic for me and something I can't wait to play again.

 

6. Mirror's Edge Catalyst - Some might feel this is out of place here but for me, this took what the original did and simply amplified it, giving an open world to run through, more content and more Solar Fields music to get lost in. I think it outdid everything the first did and created a very smooth experience that told a much better story and gave Faith and the City of Glass a stronger background. It's a shame there isn't likely to be a third but I definitely think they left it on the right foot and subjectively, it's one of the best things I played all year.

 

5. Firewatch - One of two darling indie games hitting early this year, alongside Unravel, yet this one sunk its teeth in and left a deep mark. A strong narrative with fantastic writing and voice work, an intriguing story and exploration of themes and a beautiful art style and soundtrack, it's something that's lingered long in my mind and remains one of the most memorable experiences I've played this year.

 

4. Virginia - This came out of nowhere and like many who've played it, it left me flabbergasted. A beautiful attempt at a visual narrative with nary a word spoken, some stumbles here and there don't stop what is ultimately a strong and captivating story of betrayal, loss and redemption. The game that started the genre happened to release on PS4/XBone around the same time and by comparison looks dull, this game really was superb with a brilliant art style and soundtrack helping to exemplify the fact that you don't need to be triple A to be memorable.

 

3. Titanfall 2 - Perhaps the second biggest surprise this year after Virginia, Titanfall 2 gave us a brilliant campaign that felt straight out of the late 90's/early 2000's and lent strongly on the likes of Half Life to present the mainstay of the story as well as underrated FPS gem Singularity for perhaps one of the best moments in an FPS in the mission Effect and Cause. With a brilliant multiplayer suite as well, it really was the FPS that stood head and shoulders above the competition at the end of the year.

 

2. Ratchet and Clank - A superb romp through a humorous story with great characters to boot and spot on gameplay, despite the wealth of games that have come to market since April, this has remained one of my favourite games this year. Having only ever played Quest for Booty on the PS3, it was great to finally play a fully fledged R&C title and this didn't disappoint with it's tight gameplay and great selection of guns. If they're going to redo the sequel, count me in based on this effort.

 

1. Overwatch - And my GotY 2016 is this. A multiplayer shooter with heaps of character, a superb roster that suits just about every play style and some of the tightest controls and gameplay not only in an FPS but in general this year. I may not have played as much over the last couple of months but the amount of time I sunk in over the summer and the amount of fun that was had hasn't been beaten this year. And with continued support promised, this is a game that's gonna keep on giving into next year and beyond and I can't wait to see what else they bring with it.

[killthenet]

Only five games that I've played this year were released in 2016, so my best of list for new releases this year would be comically short and vary greatly in terms of quality. I have been on something of a mission to play as many games as I could this year though and eventually found myself trying to complete a game a week on average and in the end I completed 52 games as well as playing substantial amounts of a few others so I've decided to compile my top 10 of games that I've played this year rather than ones that were actually released in 2016. In alphabetical order because I couldn't possibly split some of them.

 

Dark Souls

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

The Last Guardian

The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX

The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D

Pokemon Blue

Shadow Of The Colossus

Silent Hill 2

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Super Metroid

 

I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into the glut of PS4 and Wii U titles in 2017 that I've missed out on so far, as well as upcoming big hitters like Breath Of The Wild. Hopefully 2017 will provide me with as many exciting and life changing titles as 2016 did.

[Hero-of-Time]

Most of my thoughts of 2016 gaming offerings have been placed thoughout the year in the Gaming Diary Thread, so I will just comment about the industry in general during 2016. I'm gonna be pretty negative here and say that 2016 highlighted to me just what a mess the industry is in and the dark road it is heading down.

 

Nickel and Diming

 

The year seen the rise of microtransactions and season pass being souped up to a whole new level. Season passes for games used to be around the £15-£20 mark and we've now seen them jacked up to £40, the price of a full game. Some of these passes didn't even indicate what was to be included in them and most of them get advertised well before the game is even out.

 

My biggest pet peeve has to be the rise of loot boxes in fully priced games. These kind of things are seen as acceptable in the mobile and FTP market but there have been more and more games in the console space that are starting to use this system.

 

Gears of War 4, a series I love, has been tarnished by the loot box practice and many fans have voiced their disgust accordingly. The game rewards players with gold coins when playing multiplayer, but at a stupidly low rate. These coins are then used to buy random loot boxes which contain things like, characters, weapons skins and xp bonuses, things that were unlocked normally in past Gears games. Adding insult to injury, just last week a special loot box dropped that cost 4000 coins and contained exclusive characters and weapons. The kicker here is that it was only available for 24 hours. Most players would never be able to earn that amount in the time given so they would be forced to pay real money if they wanted a chance to get new gear.

 

Broken Games

 

There have been so many releases this year where games have been released in a broken and unfinished state. Day 1 patches have become common place and the size of those have increased dramatically for a lot of games. Players who buy games on Day 1 are essentially just testing the games out for the developers and then another patch will be released soon after to fix the problems that have been found.

 

Final Fantasy XV was delayed a couple of months due to the developers wanting to release the game without a day one patch for those who don't have the internet. The game released and surprise surprise the game had a hefty day 1 patch. Not only that but a couple of weeks later it came out that S-E weren't happy with certain things of the game, both in story and gameplay, and that updates will be made to both in the future.

 

This is a prime example of a game not being finished yet being pushed out by publishers just to get it out the door, regardless of the damage it may do to the franchise.

 

Sticking with the day one stuff, on Gaf there is a topic about the things we have learnt during our gaming in 2016. One of the more popular answers is to not buy a game on day one and wait until everything is running properly. This shouldn't be the case. If you are excited by a product then you should be able to buy it as soon as it is released. You shouldn't have to wait a few months down the road until others have tested the game and the bugs have been fixed. These things should be sorted on release for the consumer.

 

The End of Year Rush

 

Publishers have always liked to release their games in the run up and during the Christmas period. It kinda makes sense as that's when a lot of people will be spending their money. However, this year has been a bit of a disaster with just how many games have been released in a single time frame. A lot of the games that have come out have been discounted already. Stuff like Titanfall 2, Watch Dogs 2, Call of Duty, Dead Rising 4, The Last Guardian have all hit the bargain bin stupidly fast in an attempt for retailers to move stock.

 

People only have so much time and money, so unleashing a horde of games at them in the space of a few weeks is nuts. While it's good for the consumer to be getting these games for a discount price, its not really healthy for the industry. You are conditioning people to wait for just a few weeks to buy a new release at a heavily discounted price. While waiting for a price drop is nothing new and is fine, having prices drop so fast has got to hurt the developer/publisher. I'm hoping this has been a wake up call for a lot of them and that they will start to sprinkle releases out a lot more, rather than saving them all for the end of the year.

 

 

 

I will say that 2016 has given me a better appreciation for what Nintendo do. I buy a game from them and I know it is a complete and polished product that will, most of the time, leave me satisfied as a gamer. I'm just hoping the rest of the industry doesn't rub off on them...

[dazzybee]

Yeah, I think the past few years have been the worst in gaming in my life time or be honest. The GameCube/ps2 era was the one that made me fall out of love with gaming a little, but not because of the industry or state of gaming, just burnout, finishing un I think. But I've not loved much the past few years outside of nintendos offerings. Hate a lot of the practices which hero mentioned. I'm mainly loving retro games to be honest, which is fine by me.

 

Here's a breakdown of my platforms for completed games

 

TOTAL: 37

 

3DS - 12

iOS - 8

Wii U - 6

PSVR - 4

NES Mini - 4

PS4 - 3

 

I haven't completed a game on the vita for over 2 years now, I played through half of gravity daze. Definitely going to sell it, definitely the worst purchase for me personally. I actually quite like the device and there's some good games, but for me, and my lack of time, my sensibilities, I've definitely not got much out of it at all. Shame.

 

Saying this, I am actually very excited for the switch. And psvr to be honest. I think it fits into exactly what I want out of gaming, and fits into my life and how busy it is and with a kid and such.

[drahkon]

Back home again and had some time to go through my list of games I played in 2016.

46 games. One Wii U game, the rest on PS4 or PSVita. Not bad.

 

Time to pick my top 5 of 2016

 

 

The perfect example of how video games can be art. No dialogue, "weid" art style, incredible music, emotional story...everything works.

 

Destroy everything with a golf ball. What's not to love It was just mindless fun and as an added bonus it was a game my girlfriend and I played together and enjoyed it equally.

 

Fun, funny, beautiful, great game play. The best 3D platformer I've played in years. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

If you enjoy puzzle games do yourself a favour and play this. Getting the Platinum made me feel like a genius. Clever puzzles and an amazing story.

 

Even though I haven't finished it, yet, I can already say that it's the best FPS I've ever played. The campaign is an absolue blast.

 

Looking forward to finishing it and playing it again. Will also play the multiplayer from time to time this year.

One honorable mention:

 

Call of Duty: Black Ops III - Multiplayer

 

My mate and I spent so much time with this. It was awesome

 

[dan-likes-trees]

The sheer amount of high quality indie games, though, has been one of the most surprising and pleasant things to come out of 2016 for games. So many smaller games to play and so many of them out do some of the big titles this year on several areas, in my opinion anyway. I put together a top 10 indie titles for this year and this is what I ended up with:

 

1. Virginia

2. Firewatch

3. Inside

4. Abzu

5. Hyper Light Drifter

6. The Witness

7. Invisible, Inc.

8. Oxenfree

9. Unravel

10. Furi

 

Read that list and thought it was your actual top ten, which seemed pretty on point to me - suggesting that indie games are definitely where my interest lays as I get older! Looking forward to playing Abzu, Inside, Witness and Invisible Inc.

 

6 games I've played and actually enjoyed this year..

 

6 - Stardew Valley for being a total relaxing joy to come back to during my first few weeks on a new job

5 - Overcooked for the great local coop

4 - Hitman for bringing back some childhood joys

3 - Firewatch for the great voice acting and engaging dialogue

2 - Witcher 3: Blood and Wine DLC for basically being a full game stuffed with great quests and amusing detours

1 - Last Guardian, which I haven't quite finished yet but is quite unlike anything I've played, incredible animation and interaction with Trico, and some deeply beautiful environments. Can't quite believe it didn't suck after all these years!

 

Shoutout to some 2015 games that I've been playing catchup with; Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, Subterfuge, and about every Telltale game form last year

 

Probably spent the most time with Rocket League this year, which just keeps getting better and less annoying the more I play it.

Edited January 3, 2017 by dan-likes-trees

[Ganepark32]

Read that list and thought it was your actual top ten, which seemed pretty on point to me - suggesting that indie games are definitely where my interest lays as I get older! Looking forward to playing Abzu, Inside, Witness and Invisible Inc.

 

It's partly why I ended up with a top 20. As can be seen, there were quite a lot of really high quality indie titles last year and they pretty much all gave the bigger budget titles a run for their money in various categories. Some have definitely become some of the best gaming experiences I've had ever. Like yourself, it's something I'm finding myself drawn to a lot more as I get older, smaller titles that are rich in story or characters and have a nice gimmick here or some great gameplay there.

 

It's refreshing, to say the least, to find such diversity sitting alongside the bigger titles as it means that there's always something of interest to play (and not having to fork out £40/£50 each time to play is always a nice bonus) regardless of what platform. Here's hoping it continues this year and beyond.

[Blade]

I've just went through the 2016 gaming diary thread. For me i've not done too bad:

 

FFVII (PS4) not played since the PS1 days. Platinumed

Uncharted: Drakes Fortune (PS4) (new)

Uncharted 2 (PS4) (new)

Uncharted 3 (PS4) (new)

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (3DS) (new)

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (Wii U) (New)

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4) (New)

The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt (PS4) I played the whole game again just to get the platinum

Super Metroid (Wii U) (New)

Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds (3DS) (New)

Final Fantasy X Remaster (PS4) (New)

Titanfall 2 (PS4) (New) platinumed

Sonic the Hedgehog (3DS) (Replay)

 

Highlights were FFVII, Witcher 3 (again), Super Metroid, Uncharted 4 and Titanfall 2

[Glen-i]

Well, I'll just do a quick dirty list for my top 5. Seeing as I've already given more than a few summaries in the Gaming Diary thread.

 

5. Bravely Second: End Layer

4. Monster Hunter Generations

3. Hyrule Warriors Legends

2. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE

1. Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon

 

Pretty decent year for me, at least on the gaming side. Pokemon Sun let me down a little, but still nice.

[Jonnas]

I've mostly played from my backlog. I believe the only 2016 games I played were Superhot (during one of Steam's free weekends) and Another Metroid 2 Remake (which was free, anyway).

 

So, the Top 10 games I finished this year are:

 

10. Card City Nights (2014): A fun little card game with potential, but doesn't quite realise it. Soundtrack's great, though.

9. Rayman Forever (1995): What could be a timeless gem turned out to be way too difficult to fully enjoy. The bad PC port didn't help, either.

8. Blocks That Matter (2011): A great little puzzle game made with a lot of love.

7. Tetrobot & Co. (2013): The sequel to the aforementioned puzzle game. Slightly better overall.

6. Another Metroid 2 Remake (2016): A wonderful fan-remake, marred only by a few design hiccups. Still the best game of 2016

5. Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010): A fantastic platformer all-around. Its flaws are minor in the grand scheme of things.

4. Deponia: The Complete Journey (2012-2013): A fun, European-made point&click trilogy that warms my heart. Well, from a meta standpoint at least, since the main character is still an arse.

3. Little Big Adventure 2 (1997): One of my favourite games of all time, it's up there with the best that Zelda has to offer. Only reason this didn't make first is because it was a replay.

2. Bastion (2011): Quite the work of art. Its message of accepting loss and sadness is wonderful, and the best way to close out the year.

1. Freedom Planet (2014): It takes a lot for a game to tick my nostalgia bone while offering entirely new content at the same time, and never dropping in quality while they're at it. I tip my hat off to you, Freedom Planet.

 

Funny that the first and last game I finished this year were best and second best, respectively.