My favourite newly released games in 2015; with commentary on the top 10.
Showing 1-10 of 37 items
Affordable Space Adventures has a brilliant and unique design that fully utilises the Wii U gamepad. By moving the puzzle solving to the GamePad itself, the player has to use both dexterity and ingenuity. The black-humour, theme and emphasis on stealth made this my standout game for 2015. I can't say any more without spoiling it. Own a Wii U? Play it!
Bleak, desolate, violent and beautiful. A genuine vehicle roll-play-game and probably the best action-RPG of the year. I sunk over 80 hours into the world and I don't think I saw the same location or feature twice: it's huge and varied. Despite what I have read the car combat is superb, with the convoy takedowns being intense and thrilling. Ignore the reviews and try it for yourself.
The previous game from Cyanide was faithful to the 30 year old tabletop game but wasn't well executed. This sequel is a revelation and makes it a genuine turn-based strategy game. It brilliantly hides all but the flavour of dice rolling behind its fantastic XCOM style strategic gameplay. Blood Bowl 2 features a colourful selection of races, online leagues, great graphics/animation, and a lengthly campaign-tutorial. Superb.
Arthur C Clark meets an episode of the Archers. This is the most English game I think I've every played. It perfectly captures the feel of cold-war 1980s Britain - which I grew up in. There's Sci-fi DNA in the game from classic BBC science fiction of the 1960s and 70s such as the Quartermass series and Day of the Triffids. Fundamentally Rapture is a game about relationships, trust and belonging: it successfully makes the human drama shine through despite the powerful thematic fatalism. Our GameBurst game of 2015.
I love the Tropico games. It's the perfect blend of political satire, strategy and city building. The fifth game steamlines the trade system whilst introducing new buildings, eras, and a greater sense of building one nation. The campaign is fun, whilst the two DLC campaign packs offered some unique and funny twists on the formula. *PS4 release was in 2015.
Incrementally improves on many things and offers a more urban wasteland than either 3 or New Vegas. The main story is still the weak link and never matches New Vegas for the clever integration of faction allegiances. The side quests once again make up for this: the highlights being the 'Silver Shroud' and 'USS Constitution' side-stories. Fallout 4 feels more of an evolution rather than revolution.
My favourite regular [see Blood Bowl 2] sports game of 2015. It made baseball accessible and fun [to me with little or no knowledge]. It controls great and has a fun-stylised presentation.
A big surprise to me. I hadn't enjoyed City at all, and never completed Origins - even though I preferred its structure and plot. I thought I was done with Batman and open world games. Who knew the Batmobile and a thematically more coherent story would elevate this game up there with the original. I even enjoyed the Joker challenges and emphasis on complex puzzles. In fact, after finishing the entire game I went back and played City and Origins to completion as well.
The Witcher 3 is stunningly beautiful and brutally violent. I've only played around 10 hours, but I've seen enough to appreciate the craft, quality and story telling. However, I do really struggle to engage with the main character (I'd rather I could roll my own character) and I find some of the RPG systems to be unnecessarily convoluted. More time needs to be spent in this game and world during 2016.
Definitive Edition. Had I not already completed this game on its original release, it would have been much higher up the list. One of my favourite games of the past 5 years.