Very hard to choose an overall game of the year
Many great games for different reasons and for different tastes
Bioware strike 2
Respawn best new EA dev
Capcom on a roll
Long awaited darlings finally arrive
Focus Home Interactive shining bright
AA games kicking it with the big boys
Rogue-likes and Rogue-lites
Zombie Hordes
Showing 1-10 of 87 items
Positives: + The sense of exploration, discovery and wonder is outstanding + Free to tackle things in which order you want + The mini functional solar system and passage of time, makes doing anything exciting since the world doesn't revolve around you. + Interesting planets + Cool Macro level puzzles to solve + Interesting storyline and lore to piece together + Really gets it's hooks into you once you start making sense of what's going on + Does a lot with very simplistic graphics. Can be very impressive visually at times thanks to great design. + Unique and exciting on a budget + The music becomes quite memorable and is a good fit overall + A game that feels both small and big at the same time. "Wide as a puddle, deep as an ocean". Negatives: - Some stutters here and there - Some jankyness due to the nature of the game - Again, the visuals are very simplistic and certain areas can look very dull. - While the art style grew on me over time, it's initially a bit unappealing and surely resulted in a lot of people writing the game off because of how it looks. - The game only "takes off" once you actually take off, the initial first couple of minutes may loose some people
Positives: + Kojima is back (and is unhinged) + Some of the most beautiful (and massive feeling) environments I've traversed in a game. + The right track kicks in at the right time while traversing + Peaceful and chill for the most part (great pallet cleanser) + A game where the environment is the main enemy. + Graphics are really top tier + Love most of the character models, great design + Acting and facial animations are on point. Great performances from damn near every main actor. + Helping other players and stumbling upon help from them (the whole social strand system is quite great) + Some great positive themes and messages (a game that has something meaningful to say and isn't afraid of it) + Things fall pretty neatly into place at the end. + Lots of great gadgets and rewards peppered over the course of the adventure, keeps things interesting. + Sound design is pretty great and love the use of licensed tracks. + Liked the fact that all the scenes they showed prior to the game's launch actually made it into the game. Negatives: - Game can feel very dumb at times despite also being quite genius (it's a Kojima game alright) - Some of the writing is downright cringe. Seriously Kojima, hire some writers to help. - A bit to convoluted at times - Hard to recommend to others because of some of these dumb moments and the relatively slow start. - Outside of BB's theme and the licensed tracks, I wished I loved the original soundtrack more. Feels a bit too...just ok - The Menu's needed to be better. - Combat stuff feels shoehorned in - While spectacular, boss fights are very simple
Positives: + Singleplayer is present and it's a solid one + Warzone is one of the best and largest Battle Royal maps I have played, and it's free for all + Free DLC maps and content. Finally we're seeing Activison a bit less greedy. + Cross platform play. Great to see this supported in more games. + Back to the Modern Setting + Return to a darker grittier tone + Significant visual and technological upgrade over the last one. One of the better looking and playing FPS's of the generation. + Still runs great on most machines. + Weapons feel even better then ever to shoot. + The Battlefield like mode is a pretty cool addition and should serve as a warning to Battlefield to step it's game up + Soundtrack is great and complements the new tone nicely. + Sound design is solid + Probably the best "bang for your buck" in the entire series to date. And pretty much the most solid game in the series of this generation. + Letting you uninstall components that you do not wish, to make space Negatives: - Still quite plagued with micro transactions and battle passes - Texture loading issues still persist, especially in multiplayer matches. - The game is HUGE, taking well above 200 GB of space if you want everything installed - Can't seem to remove Warzone from the package - Frequent large updates that impede your ability to just drop in and have a quick match is annoying (thanks to Warzone) - Some crashes - Even though it's one of the most solid entries in the franchise, it's still pretty silly to think that we're already rebooting Modern Warfare. They really need to slow down and support their titles long term, rather then releasing a new one every year.
"Never played the original" Positives: + Looks absolutely gorgeous + Plays very well + Oozes polish + Wonderful use of sound + Great acting and mostly good writing + Has great atmosphere + Zombies dismemberment + It's scary and tense + Mr. X is a perfect wild card + Good balance of resources + The RPD is a very well designed level + Makes me really hopeful for the future of the series Negatives: - I wish the B route was less repetitive and had more clever differences and connections to the A route. Felt like a wasted potential. - The later areas aren't as good as the RPD - The side characters mission's aren't very inspired and kind of a slog to get through. - Feels like it needed 1 or 2 more enemy types - The boss fights are not very good - Not the biggest fan of the extra modes as that isn't really the aspect of RE 2 that I like the most. #TheSweetSpot: Looking at the map of the area planning your next moves while also carefully managing your inventory only to have Mr. X appear forcing you to react on the fly and change up your plan.
Already a big surprise this year, not only did this game came from nowhere but it also managed to make Battle Royale feel like a fully fleshed genre and not only an afterthought or game mode. This is one of my favorite BR games, I like how well it is designed and streamlined so that even folks like me can get into it but it still has enough of a skill ceiling for you to want to get better. I will say I am a bit sad we are not getting Titanfall 3 because of this, but I am willing to wait some more for TF3 and will play this in the meanwhile.
Positives: + The atmosphere is thick and good + The game has a lot of heart and soul poured into it + It looks really good and is graphically very impressive despite some of the jank + Variety + Has that trademark East European feel (I would know) + Immersive + The characters grow on you + Feels like a journey + Creepy and uneasy + Open areas that let you explore and have side missions + Weapons customization and overall weapon feel + Stealth opportunities + Some cool dynamic weather effects + Dynamic time of day Negatives: - Some of the sound design is very amateurish - Movement can feel to sluggish at times (though it's probably by design) - Way too dark at times. Had to mess with the brightness quite a bit. - The writing isn't as strong as you would expect, at least for character dialogue. - Voice acting tries too hard to sound russian, also they constantly talk over eachother and make it hard to understand anything. - Some regions/seasons aren't as good as the others
Positives: + The overall acting is really good + Most of the writing is competent + I particularly like Sam Witwer's portrayal of Deacon, makes the character stand out + A lot of the side characters are also quite memorable and good + Good weather effects + Atmosphere + Bike riding feels great + The zombie hordes are impressive and intimidating + The world is dangerous making you play carefully + The game looks good and is fairly well polished + Gets better the deeper you go in it, both the story and the gameplay + Long story Negatives: - Zombies...again - Combat just doesn't feel as good as it could - A bit too many familiar formulas, would have like a few more original ideas - Has some slowdowns when riding the bike fast through areas - The first half of the game isn't as good as the second half
Positive: + Back to old stylish DMC + Graphics are great + Runs smooth for the most part + Fast, tight action with little in the way of compromises + The soundtrack is awesome all around and has some real bangers + Dynamic music + The announcer is a nice touch + Cool monster and character design + Environments can look real nice at times + Nico is the best new character in the series + Replayable + Bloody Palace + Boss fights are good and plenty + Like the fact that you can view the model of all the monsters and bosses + Some nice homages to the series + When present, Cameos can be quite cool Negative: - Story was a bit nonsensical. Literally Kingdom Hearts level. - Sad that one character had minimal screen time and wasn't playable - Didn't like the way the game treated Lady and Trish, also wish they were playable or at least would help more. - There is a hint of cool co-op potential, but it's not built upon enough. - While the areas themselves look alright, the levels are all too straightforward and dull - Lack of any meaningful diversity other then combat. Puzzles and platforming are barely present. - There is one boss fight track I found really disappointing - Not being able to switch between the various devil breakers freely is very odd. Having a button that destroys a devil breaker placed so in your way is also odd and bad.
Complete Edition Positives: + Lots of destructibility and objects to fling around + Love the special effects + Fun combat + Style + Pretty good atmosphere, even a bit spooky + The Oldest House + Some good voice acting + The weird but enticing world they created + More open nature of the game + Paranormal stuff + Ashtray maze + Light RPG mechanics + Side quests hold some cool rewards and encounters Negatives: - Dying can be extra annoying since you have to walk all the way back from the nearest activated control point - Load times should be shorter after death - Gets a bit repetitive after a while - Throwing objects is a bit too useful - Ending was a bit meh - Could have used better puzzles or even some light platforming to diversify the gameplay rhythm - The Map isn't very usefull
Positives: + Visuals are overall good but quite inconsistent + Level design + map variation + Combat + Sound + Characters + Takes many elements from various games and makes it work for the most part Negatives: - Texture pop in - Frame rate - Load times - Bugs - Needs better customization elements - A surprisingly buggy/unpolished AAA games
