The Moosies Part VIII!

It's that time of year once again! By which I mean the beginning of the wrong year because I didn't get around to finishing this in time to get it out for the proper year. Though, I bet this is the first and only time 2016 has been referred to as "proper." That said, for as much as 2016 was a burning train wreck and grim portent of the end times that are soon to be upon us, it was a pretty great year for video games. And, like every year I feel the need to partake in the annual list making and award giving that so many others do. But before that, let me go over the format of this here edition of The Moosies.

Last year, as I'm sure you all remember (I know you don't), I made some predictions about what I thought would happen through the year in video games. First, I'm going to go over those, and decide how accurate they were. Then, it's on to the proper awards. This is the same format as last year, with a numbered list, and "award breaks" between the numbered entries to highlight a few games that didn't quite make the cut. And finally there will be a new set of predictions for 2017 (only pertaining to video games, as my predictions about financial crashes and Climate Change induced mega-storms/droughts are a bit grim).

And, without further ado, let's get to it!

2016 Predictions:

Moosies 2016 GOTY: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - No spoilers about the ordering of the list, but you'll see soon enough. It'll get...what it deserves.

Moosies 2016 Game I Play More Obsessively Than I Should: No Man's Sky - Honestly, I do wish I played more of this game than I did. But when my copy of Watch_Dogs 2 arrived, I had to put it on hold. That said, no, I didn't play it more than I should have. Not yet, anyway.

Destiny 2 is a Free to Play Game - Still no official announcement about the game, but if the leaks are true about it, then I'm going to say it probably isn't free to play.

2016's Assassin's Creed is disappointing, as is that year's Call of Duty - From what I've heard about the Assassin's Creed movie, I'm going to say that part is accurate, but I'll say Infinite Warfare is half and half. The multiplayer seemed pretty boring based on what I played of the beta and heard from people, but the campaign was really well received.

Persona 5 gets pushed to 2017, renamed Persona V: The Persona Pain - Half right, at least for the West. We'll see if it gets delayed yet again.

Nintendo pulls a Sega Saturn with the NX. Announces and releases it the same day - For better or worse, nope.

There's still no new F-Zero or Metroid games - And my heart still hurts from all these years of neglect from this corporation not making games it (probably accurately) thinks wouldn't sell enough to be profitable. Hm? What's that you're saying about Federation Force? My heart hurts enough as it is.

The New Zelda Game finally gets a name, but still gets delayed into 2017 - I sure got this one right.

The Moosies Part VIII Top Ten Games of the Year (And Other Awards).

Keep in mind that only games I played count! Notable games I didn't play include: SUPER HOT, Hyper Light Drifter, Final Fantasy XV, Quantum Break, The Last Guardian, Inside, anything involving VR, Gears of War 4, and more!

X. Todd Howard Presents The Fallout 4 Award for Most Disappointing Game I Still Enjoyed Enough to Get Onto this List: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

I had really high expectations for this game. I figured that, with more time and presumably more resources for the developers, this game couldn't not be exactly what I wanted after Human Revolution. That was a game that I liked in spite of its flaws, which were mostly technical, or presentational things. And while Mankind Divided definitely feels like more money was thrown at it than was the first game, it just can't stick the landing in terms of how it handles both the main narrative, and how its thinly veiled stuff about racism.

It's a good thing that it was still a darn good stealth game, and that there were enough good side quests to make this a game I ultimately enjoyed a lot. More than I did Fallout 4 last year, at least, if I'm sticking with that bar of judging disappointment. But I also can't help but feel pretty disappointed with how they handled the story. What should have been a slam dunk turned into a foul ball.

However, one thing that salvaged some of my feelings about the main story was a fan theory I read online, which I will detail here. And yeah, I know I shouldn't let fan theories change how I feel about a game, but too late for that. Anyway, SPOILERS? The theory is that the character you play as isn't the original Adam Jensen, and is instead either a clone, or someone genetically altered and implanted with memories to look like and think he is Adam Jensen. It's maybe not the most original idea (which is why I sort of think this stuff was actually cut from this game), but it would at least explain things like the two Jensen faces on the main menu that never have anything to do with what's going on in the game. There's other clues and stuff in the game that back this up, but you can go read them on your own time.

It's a fun, crazy theory that I like a lot, and I hope they do something with it in the next game. Ultimately, a lot of this game feels like a middle chapter of a trilogy that doesn't really know what to do with itself, and because of stuff like that, I couldn't put it any higher up on my list. But like I said, I really like the stealth, and there's some good quests, so it had to get on here. Besides, I get kind of obsessive over sci-fi stealth games with crazy plots, don't I?

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided also wins:

• Best Tactical Espionage.
• Most Cybernetic Game.
• Best Difficulty Name: "I didn't ask for this."
• Game Mode Most Ruined by Microtransactions: Breach Mode.
• Best Fan Theory About the Story that Could Make the Next Deus Ex Rad if They Do it Right.

Best Remake: Ratchet & Clank.

Honestly, I'm kind of a fair weather fan of the series, as the only other one I played was Tools of Destruction on the PS3. I always meant to play A Crack in Time, but never got around to it. But, with a reboot, and a fresh start on PS4, I had a perfect opportunity to get back in! It's a great game, and a pretty good re-imagining of that first game, at least based on what I've heard from people and seen in speed runs of the first game.

However, despite being eligible for a spot on the list, as it is a remake rather than a remaster, it didn't quite make the cut. Yes, I put in Mankind Divided over this, shush. It's a fun game, but it's one of those games I stopped thinking about relatively soon after I stopped playing it. And, in a lot of ways, it does feel like a remake of PS2 game. A lot of the levels feel, in terms of layout and design, like they are from a game of that era. Small and constrained in ways I wouldn't expect, and in ways that I don't think Tools of Destruction was on PS3. Not that those are bad things, but I hope whatever is next for the series is a bit bigger, is all I'm saying.

Plus they brought back the Groovitron, and I definitely love making enemies dance in video games.

Ratchet & Clank also wins:

• Best Weapons.
• Best Game That Reminds Me of My Younger Years of Playing Lots of Platformers like This.

IX. Best Game For Open World Nonsense: Watch_Dogs 2.

I'm going to be honest here. I haven't actually finished Watch_Dogs 2 yet. If you think that ruins my integrity as I write about it, then I say that I never claimed to have integrity in the first place. Or at least I haven't made any claims of that sort recently. Despite that, I think Watch_Dogs 2 is a great game that deserves to be awarded by my nonsense awards. That, and maybe this was a year where I only had eight games that I felt super strongly about, one that I obsessed over because I'm an idiot, and gave Watch_Dogs 2 the last spot because it's a lot of fun.

Surprisingly fun, given the first Watch_Dogs. That was a grim, self serious game that never really let itself, or anyone in the game have any fun. It was too busy trying to import the seriousness of what was going on to the player than to actually stop and be a worthwhile game. Watch_Dogs 2, meanwhile, doesn't waste its time in showing that it's both a much more fun game in terms of the people in it actually being lively and enjoying life, and in terms of being a better designed, more interesting game.

I love the drones. When I'm near an enemy controlled area, I usually start by flying above, tagging enemies, and figuring out the best route to whatever it is that my objective is. If I can, I then switch to the jumper, and sneak my way past them. If not, then I go in with Marcus, and do my best to take enemies out non-lethally. I say "do my best" because I keep forgetting that the stun bombs will explode other things within their radius, and, well, lets say I've done this near exploding barrels more than a few times.

And it's a game that really feels alive as I move through it. One time I was walking along a boardwalk, and came across an NPC proposing marriage to her boyfriend. There was enough dialog between them that it was clearly something at least somewhat scripted, but there's plenty of other examples too. People gathered around someone playing a guitar, getting into fights, going about their business, dancing, singing, you name it, there's probably NPCs doing it in the game. It goes a long way to making the world of Watch_Dogs 2 feel more alive than most open world games do, for me at least.

Plus there's actual dogs this time! Lots of them, and different breeds! With different sizes too, so it's not just a reskin of the same exact dogs. I got the Trophy for petting ten dogs very early in the game, without even realizing there is a Trophy for petting ten dogs. And there's water_dogs too, but I haven't gotten to pet them yet. Not sure if you can. Or, you know, they're seals, or sea lions, if you want to be technical and not call them "water_dogs."

So, no, I haven't finished the game yet, and maybe I'll like it a little less by the end, as I have heard it doesn't end especially well. But what I have played so far has been more than good enough for me to put it on this list. It's just plain fun.

Watch_Dogs 2 also wins:

• Best Dogs.
• Most Cyber Game.
• Best Use of Drones.
• Game that Most Reminds Me that Yo-Yos are Rad, even though the melee thing he uses isn't actually a yo-yo, but it still makes me think of them every single time.
• Liveliest Open World.
• Best Selfies.
• Most Improved Game Over the Previous Installment.
• Best Use of Judas Priest.

Amped 3 Presents the Best Use of FMV: Let It Die.

The game itself is fine, just too grindy for me. I'll let this cutscene speak for itself:

Let It Die also wins:

• Filthiest Game.
• Best Rogue-Like-Like-Like-Like-Like: Let It Die.
• Game Most Inexplicably featuring Mark Hamill.

VIII. Best Use of Mechs: Titanfall 2.

After I played the beta, I felt confident Titanfall 2 was going to have a fun multiplayer mode. I wasn't especially confident about the campaign, though. The first game's "radio play" of a story that I heard about from others didn't fill me with confidence, and neither did the fact that (at least for the people who had been at Respawn since Infinity Ward) the last campaign they worked on was Modern Warfare 2. I wasn't a big fan of that game, even if I'm in the minority there.

But then they went and made the best "CoD style" campaign I've played. Granted, "CoD Style" is a pretty nebulous term, but you get what I mean. The story may be a hacked together mess that's only memorable because they made the robot a good character, but the game itself is super fun throughout. It made first person platforming not just palatable, but actually fun. And a lot of fun! There's plenty of neat gimmicks in most levels, like one where a cavernous factory is building, well, buildings, and you can ride these half built buildings as they spin and turn, whilst fighting off enemies. There's a level that has you being thrown from ship to ship as they fly along (not in space, sadly), which culminates in a duel against a flying Titan! And, of course, there's the now legendary Effect and Cause mission, which is built around time travel.

I really wish I had played more of the multiplayer than I had, which was around 30-ish hours, I think. There's still time to play more, of course, but you know how these things tend to go. Anyway, Titanfall 2 is a super fun game, and I do honestly wish I could've put it higher on this list. But, I kinda feel that way about all the rest of the games, so this one had the bad luck to only get number eight. It's still an honor to be on the list. Unless it's in the Todd Howard slot.

Titanfall 2 also wins:

• Button Prompt of the Year: "Press L1 to Time Travel."
• Best New Character: BT-7274.
• Best Platforming.
• Saddest Robot that I want to Hug and tell it that Everything will be Okay.

Best Packaging: Rise of The Tomb Raider 20 Year Celebration Edition.

I am quite a fan of when games come with, or in things that aren't just the standard, ho-hum packaging. Especially now that it's been years since instruction manuals were standard, and that was years since said manuals were actually worthwhile. Of course there's also those fancy, extra expensive versions of games that they really want people to buy, and I'm sure plenty of you reading this are all "digital this, digital that," but I at least still appreciate a thing I can put on my shelf and have collect dust.

And, I think this particular game came in some nifty dust collecting packaging. Instead of a regular transparent blue PS4 case, it's a book thing, clad in something that's at least supposed to look like leather, and complete with pages of art to Celebrate the 20 Year Edition. Or something like that, I think the name is a bit silly, but I like the packaging enough to call it out!

Rise of The Tomb Raider 20 Year Celebration Edition also wins:

• Big Bo Presents The Year of the Bow Bow of the Year.

VII. Most Styyyyyylish Game: Furi.

Furi went from, "I've never heard of this game" to "actually this seems great" faster than just about any other game I've played. It managed to stay great throughout, and continue to be so during the several other times I played the game through the following months. Including beating that game on Furier, the harder difficulty, which, let me tell you: If you think Furi is hard on the default setting, you haven't seen anything yet.

It's a game with no upgrades, no leveling, and no new items. Aside from the last boss (my least favorite in the game), nothing changes from start to finish. "The Stranger's" abilities are the same throughout, which means the only way to do better at the game is to actually get better at playing it. More so than any other game in recent memory, by the time I had beaten the game on Furier, I felt like my skills had increased dramatically. I went back and replayed the first few bosses on the default difficulty, and I just breezed right through them. Bosses that initially took multiple attempts, and felt like I only just scraped by were now downright easy. Of course, I'm sure I've let those skills atrophy in the time since, but if I put in the time again, I could get back there.

One of the things I really love about Furi is its confidence. It's confident enough to know it doesn't need collectibles, or an over world, or really anything that isn't necessary. It's a game where you fight a boss, and then walk slowly to the next boss. Does it really need the slow walking? I think it adds to the atmosphere, and again, I love that this game just says, "Hey, you're going to slowly walk to the next boss and you're going to like it." And you know what? I did.

It honestly is a game that I kept thinking about for months after release. Whether it's because I kept listening to the fantastic soundtrack again and again, or just because it's a rad game, it didn't matter. I couldn't get it out of my head, and if it weren't for me still having new games to play, a certain game or two further along the list that I want to keep playing or replay, and all this writing to write, I might be playing it again right now.

Furi also wins:

• Best Boss Fights.
• Best Music.
• Hardest Game that I Eventually Got Pretty Good At (But Probably Lost Those Skills in the Time Since).
• Best Hair.
• Walking Simulator of the Year.
• PS+ Game of the Year.

Game I'm Still Most Glad I Didn't Play: Destiny: The Rise Of Iron.

Yes, I'm going to continue doing this gag until either I play Destiny again (a potential Destiny 2 would count for these purposes), or there is another game that I'm more glad I didn't play. That is all.

VI. Best Story That Was Held Back By Too Much Game Play Filler: Mafia III.

When I first made a preliminary version of this list, Mafia III was much closer to number one than it is now. But, I made that list pretty soon after I finished Mafia III, when I was still feeling that "high" after seeing the game through to the end. After some time passed, I lowered it a few spots on the list, and I think that was the right decision.

Mafia III has some really fantastic performances, and characters in it. If I had spent less of my time with the game repeating the same handful of tasks over and over and over again, and more of it interacting with those characters, I think this game could have been much closer to the top on my list. I almost never say this, but I do really wish this game was much smaller than it is. It'd make the game much easier to recommend to people, and I'd probably play it again if I could get through it in about ten hours, instead of thirty.

It's still a great game, and it'll probably end up like the first three MGS games for me, where every year or so I go and rewatch all the cutscenes on YouTube. So I can experience the best parts of the game again, but without having to actually play them again. But again, let me stress that even with the incredibly repetitive game structure, I still loved the story end enough to rank it above some fantastically playing games.

Mafia III also wins:

• Best Ending.
• Best Use of Rolling Stones Songs.
• Best Use of Alligators.
• Best Revenge.

Game I Probably Should Have Played: Hyper Light Drifter.

Of all the games I didn't play this year, this is the one I wish I had the most. It's also the one I feel the worst about my "reasons" for not playing it. Unlike $60 retail games (Final Fantasy XV), which are expensive, or games that simply weren't released on a platform I own (SUPER HOT (okay I do own a PC but mine couldn't run it)), I don't really have a good reason for not playing Hyper Light Drifter. The best I can come up with is that I've gotten into this state of mind where I shouldn't buy certain types of games on PSN because they'll just be free on PS+ within a year. It happened to me several times in 2016. Galak-Z went free less than a year after its release, and so did Rebel Galaxy and Helldivers. Not that I regret buying those games, but it's a bad state of mind to be in, and one that's hard to get out of.

So here's to Hyper Light Drifter, and me hoping it either goes free, or gets super cheap at some point. Or that I attain enough money (or a way to make enough money) that I can get out of this dumb way of thinking.

At least I didn't buy it and not play it like I have with that Witcher III DLC. I'll get to that after I finish Watch_Dogs 2.

Runners Up: Final Fantasy XV, SUPER HOT.

V. Most Soulful Game: Dark Souls III.

This might surprise you, but I really liked Dark Souls III. A shocker, I know. While Bloodborne is still my favorite game from From Software, and will probably remain that for the foreseeable future, I honestly think Dark Souls III is the best Dark Souls game. Part of that is because I think there's not really any bad sections of the game, unlike I and II, but I also genuinely think it's the best "designed" game From has made yet. Enemy encounters, level design, boss design, and item "balance" (at least for playing on your own, I'm not talking about fighting other players) are all done extremely well.

After Dark Souls II was disappointing (though still good), and Bloodborne became one of my all time favorites, I had low expectations for Dark Souls III. I didn't think it'd be bad, but I thought I wouldn't be enamored with it. Either it'd be another good but not great game like II, or "Souls Fatigue" would finally hit me. I'm very happy neither was the case, and that From got to close out the Dark Souls on a very high note. Let's just hope they can keep the magic going with whatever they do next, and that Bandai Namco doesn't decide to force some other developer to make a Dark Souls IV in the next couple years and potentially sully the franchise.

Dark Souls III also wins:

• Most Praising of the Sun.
• Murkiest Swamp.
• Best Wyverns.
• Best Final Boss.

Funniest Game: Hitman.

The first time I played the Marrakesh level of Hitman, I killed the first target by disguising myself as a cameraman to infiltrate the Swedish Embassy, and then whilst he was being interviewed, I dropped a life-sized moose statue on his head. Then I disguised as a printer operator, infiltrated the other fortified area of the map, and killed the second target by pushing him into a printing press. In Hokkaido I used yoga to push a target off a cliff. In Sapienza I murdered a man by poisoning his spaghetti, and then pushing him off a cliff as he vomited. Then I lured a woman onto a pier by pretending to be a private investigator she hired, and...shot her with a cannon from the other side of the map.

Hitman is a really funny game. The people who made it have an eye for the absurd, and are unafraid to make these kills as silly and bizarre as they can. And, honestly, I think it's the game's strongest suit, because the rest of the game hasn't clicked with me nearly as well as it has for most other people. Where they see boundless possibilities in a world of assassination, I see a handful of possibilities placed throughout the level. I see a game where I spend almost half of my time waiting for NPCs to get into specific spots so I can do whatever it is that I want to do, and sometimes they can't even do that because their AI broke. I see a game where ideas I have to kill targets simply aren't possible because the game wasn't built with that stuff in mind, or because the developers didn't include it.

Take the most recent Elusive Target (as of this writing). He's a food critic, so naturally my first thought was to disguise myself as a waiter and deliver some poisoned food to him. But, so far as I could tell, there's no way to do that. Meaning your options are either to concoct something stupid, or wait minutes for another waiter to talk to him three times, then wait for them to walk down to the kitchen, and wait for the target to taste a cake. But that's assuming you already knew that was going to happen, poisoned the cake beforehand, and managed to best the game's spotty stealth mechanics by achieving that without being spotted.

Maybe I missed something, but then again, I spent most of my time with Hitman feeling like I missed something. It's tremendously fun to watch, but not so much to play. It kind of reminds me of Sleeping Dogs. Watching Vinny play it was hilarious. But when I played it myself, I found it to be a good, but not great game. And the same is true for me and Hitman. Though I will say that Sleeping Dogs is a better playing and more fun game than Hitman, in case you wanted that lukewarm take.

But at least those bespoke comedy kills can get pretty hilarious. They saved what otherwise would have been a complete disappointment for me.

Hitman also wins:

• Best Game to Watch Other People Play.
• Best Murder Simulator.
• Best Use of a Moose Statue.
• Best Bespoke Comedy Kills.
• Best Use of Exploding Rubber Duckies.
• Best Use of Spaghetti.

IV. Best Multiplayer Game: Overwatch.

Overwatch is the best multiplayer shooter I've ever played, period. Nothing else has ever come close to holding my attention as long as this one has, both for real world time over the months, and in game hours played. The core of why it's stuck with me as long as it has (and will stick for some time to come) is because of the characters. Blizzard made a large cast of likable, memorable, and most importantly, fun to play characters. They're all really different from each other, and that variety is the key. I fell off from Titanfall 2 partly because that game doesn't have nearly as much variety.

Overwatch is possibly the game that surprised me the most with how much I fell in love with it. Not to say it's the only game I expected to not love (that seems to be almost all of the games on here), but aside from Titanfall 2, everything else here is single player focused. Overwatch doesn't have a campaign. It has a tutorial, and a practice mode, but it's effectively a multiplayer only game. I never would have thought that a multiplayer only shooter would be one of my favorite games of the year, and one that I'll probably keep playing for years to come. At least until Overwatch 2 gets made, assuming that's the direction they're taking the series. I have to imagine loot box sales will dry up eventually, right?

I could go on and on forever about all the things I love about Overwatch, but most of those are things I've said before many times, and plenty of other people have said. I've spent well over 250 hours playing Overwatch last year, and I'm looking forward to another couple hundred hours with it this year.

Overwatch also wins:

• Best Box Opening Animation.
• Best Use of a Talking Gorilla.
• The Moosies Overwatch Character of the Year: D.Va.

Most Spacious Game: No Man's Sky.

No Man's Sky is an odd one. On the one hand, it's so massive that it's impossible to comprehend everything that's in it. On the other, there's such a small amount of different possible things that could be in it that you could see everything the game has to offer in a few hours. It's a game that is at once tedious and boring, yet also engrossing and exciting. Sure, Planet M00SE II of the M00SE 3 system might be totally boring, and lacking anything even remotely worthwhile, but every time I land on a new planet I feel a sense of wonder. Sure, the game might be held back substantially by the lack of possible "things," but at least in the time I've spent with the game, I'm still enjoying it.

Oh, for some bizarre reason, apparently the word "MOOSE" is not allowed when naming things in the game. It says it's blocked by the "Profanity Filter." Could someone fill me in on how that happened, or if there's any logic to it? It's certainly easy enough to skirt around, just by switching the "OO" with "00."

All that said, I didn't enjoy it enough for it to get onto the numbered list. It's enjoyable, and I think Hello Games made something really impressive from a tech perspective. I just hope they can add in some...thing...else over the next year to flesh it out some more. Even if they don't, it's still amazing for getting rad screenshots.

No Man's Sky also wins:

• Best Screenshots.
• Best Procedural Generation.
• Weirdest Aliens.
• Strangest Profanity Filter.

III. John Romero Presents The Most Demonic Game of the Year: DOOM.

I'm still amazed that 2016 had both the best multiplayer shooter I've ever played (Overwatch), and the best first person shooter campaign I've ever played. DOOM. DOOM is, in many ways, a masterpiece. It's the best combat I've ever played in a shooter. I almost don't even know how to convey to you how much I just adore the combat of this game. So, instead, let me tell you what happened to me over the last month or so, and this game.

I played DOOM months ago. I absolutely loved it at the time, but, as much as I wanted to play through it a second time, I never got around to it. Not really sure why. As we got closer and closer to game of the year season, I spent more time thinking about these sorts of things. I made my preliminary list, started thinking of some dumb awards to give to games, and everything was going as it usually did. But then one day...something in my brain happened, and I couldn't stop thinking about DOOM. I have no idea what caused it, and I'm not even sure when it happened. But I haven't been able to get DOOM out of my mind since.

And I still haven't replayed it because I've had a bountiful amount of new games to play. As soon as I'm done with those games, DOOM is the one I need to replay. If I don't it's going to rip and tear my brain apart from the inside. Just like how I ripped and tore my way through that game. The glory kills as a system for finishing enemies is great on its own, but maybe my actual favorite part of the game is the power up that affects them (also, this game has power ups!).

Berserk. What happens when you get the Berserk? The Doom Slayer puts away his guns, and pulls out his fists. And from there, every single attack is a one hit kill against all enemies. He literally just RIPS and TEARS them to pieces, and it is the most satisfying, gory, ridiculous, and fun thing I've played in a game in a very, VERY long time. In a game that is full of incredible, amazing things, that this silly power up is possibly my favorite part is saying something. It just feels so good, especially with the driving metal soundtrack amplifying the slaughter to almost trance like levels.

And then there's the story, which is actually good! The story about Hayden and his evil corporation siphoning energy out of Hell, and that going wrong is good enough, but then there's all the lore around THE DOOM SLAYER. He is an avenging angel, a Hell Walker, a SLAYER of DOOM who marched his way through Hell, killing everything that stood in his way. Eventually the demons had to collapse an entire castle onto him to take him out. Even then, they only knocked him unconscious, and had to seal him away in a tomb, until he was eventually freed by Hayden and company.

They could've just had him be a generic, faceless, and voiceless space marine, and there wouldn't have been many complaints. I would have, because I usually hate silent protagonists. But DOOM somehow manages to do the impossible: Make a silent protagonist that I really like. He never speaks, but he conveys more character in what he does (mostly punching and wrecking things after being told not to) than many characters do with an entire game's worth of dialog.

Honestly, it kind of hurts me that I couldn't put this game any higher on this list. At least not without making it a tie with something else, and I don't really want to do that either. But, just take my word for it when I say that DOOM is absolutely one of the best games I've ever played. It's "Probably" the "Objectively" "Best" Game of the Year, at least out of the ones I played. As much as I adore this game, I think my reasoning for ranking makes sense.

But holy cow is DOOM fantastic and near perfect.

Doom also wins:

• "Probably" the "Objectively" "Best" Game of the Year.
• Best First Person Shooter Campaign (Ever).
• Best Weapon: The Super Shotgun.
• Power Up of the Year: Berserk.
• Best Lore.
• First Silent Character To Ever Be Good: The Doom Slayer.
• Goriest Game.
• Most Metal Game.
• Best Reversal Box Art.
• Best Music to Murder to.

The Moosies Old Game of the Year: The Talos Principle.

The Talos Principle combines a lot of things that I like. Solving puzzles, ancient architecture, pyramids, robots, an interesting story that gets slowly trickled out through the game, robots, and puzzle pieces used to progress deeper into the game. Nothing it does is especially new, or noteworthy, but it does it all very well, and has some really fantastic puzzle design.

The Talos Principle also wins:

• Best Use of Pyramids.

Runners up: Yakuza 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Journey.

II. Most Puzzling Game: The Witness.

To prepare myself to write this section, I decided to listen to "In the Hall of the Mountain King" again, which was both a great decision, and also a terrible one because it's taking me right back to trying over and over and over again to complete The Challenge. Which I DID, for the record, but still.

I know you're probably going to roll your eyes when I say this, after just saying Overwatch and DOOM were several "best evers," but I really do think The Witness is the best puzzle game I've ever played. And even if it wasn't, I was still OBSESSED with this game for weeks. I spent every morning and afternoon for a solid week playing this game, combing every inch I could, and solving every puzzle I could. I took pictures with my phone to help better solve puzzles. I made and colored in grids on my computer to help solve some of them! Here's one of them, or at least the only one I still have saved. I have no idea where it was from in the game, but I guess spoilers if you're worried about that, assuming this was an actual solution, and not a failed attempt.

And even when I wasn't playing The Witness, I was still thinking about it. Thinking about solutions to puzzles, about things in the environment, about what was "really" going on in the game. I don't really think that last aspect of the game was especially great, but that didn't matter. The actual puzzle solving, the act of slowly working my way through the island, unraveling its mysteries, why even the JOURNEY ITSELF WAS THE REAL FRIENDS WE MADE ALONG THE WAY. Er, I think I got my wires crossed there.

You know, way back when this game was announced, and announced specifically as a game about solving puzzles by drawing lines on panels, I couldn't help but think, "That can't be right, there has to be something else." I kept thinking there'd be other sorts of ways to solve puzzles, because there was no way even the "mighty" Jonathan Blow could make a full, lengthy game about that. And, well, I was both completely wrong, and also right. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I won't spoil it, but I will say that it was one of the best moments of the year. Wink wink.

Of all the games I played in 2016, this is the one I wish I could wipe my memory of and play again fresh. Sure, I bet some of the puzzle tricks have faded from my memory, but it still wouldn't be the same. I'd remember enough, about enough things. I did get to experience fresh once, though, and I'm very glad I did. This is a game that will stick with me for quite a long time.

The Witness also wins:

• Best Puzzles.
• Best Use of A Song to Drive Me Mad.
• Most Obsessive Game.
• Most Secretive Game.
• Most Bespoke Game.
• Most Lines.

And..... Let the dramatic tension increase!!!! Here's the logo again to stop you from seeing the winner! Even though you already know what it is!

The Moosies Part VIII Game of The Year: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.

Much like how The Phantom Pain was always going to be my Game of the Year for 2015, Uncharted 4 was always going to be that game for 2016. It's the cross-section of all the things that Moosies Game of the Year games are. It invokes emotions out of me because of its great characters, like Deadly Premonition (2010), it makes me feel nostalgic for an earlier time in my life, like Skyward Sword (2011) and Smash Bros for Wii U (2014), and it's the conclusion of a series I love and hold dear to my heart, like Mass effect 3 (2012), and MGSV (2015). Not only all that, but it's also easily the best Uncharted, and that alone would be enough to get this award most years (I do somewhat regret Skyward Sword, in retrospect (though had I played Dark Souls or Saints Row the Third in 2011, one of those would have won instead anyway)).

One thing I will always appreciate in a video game (really any medium) is having great characters. Not only has Uncharted had that since Drake's Fortune, but they've grown and gotten really fleshed out over the years. But I don't just mean that they have more back story, I mean that they've grown on me. After the five years between Drake's Deception and A Thief's End, I didn't realize how much I missed Nathan, Elena, and Sully. But, I realized pretty early on how much I did, and loved going on one last romp with them more than anything else I played in 2016.

I also just think it's a fantastic game. I know many other people talk about how the first thing they did was turn it down to easy, which is fine, I'm not badmouthing them. But I'm the person that beat the game on normal, and then went and started it again the next day on hard. And, aside from one encounter near the end, I actually enjoyed it more than I did the first time. I've always loved playing these games, and this is the best one yet. The shooting is better than ever, and now stealth is way more viable, and fun. Traversing around environments to get above, behind, or under enemies is great, and for once feels like an integral part of the experience. It's not just a game of taking cover and shooting anymore, it's about moving around environments to take out enemies whilst they're doing the same.

I think it's fun.

Sure, the "main story" is the same treasure hunting story we've seen umpteen times since Raiders of the Lost Ark in the 80s. But that's not actually what the game is about. It's about obsession, it's about family, it's about learning when to let go, and when not to. It's also just, again, really good! And it's backed up by the some of the best acting I've ever seen and heard in a game, and definitely the best visuals I've ever seen in the game. Not just in the cutscenes, but in the regular game. I couldn't tell you how many times I stopped in awe of the incredible vistas in the distance, and the stupendous detail in the environments. I'm still not sure how Naughty Dog did it, and made a game that looks so much better than anything else on the PS4. It's marvelous.

Uncharted 4 is about as perfect as send off for Nathan and Elena as I can imagine, and I sure hope Naughty Dog actually sticks to it this time. Though, I'm not going to lie, I wouldn't mind a game starring a grown up Cassie Drake, with Nathan in the grumpy old man role instead of Sully. But, enough about that, this isn't the predictions section. The last thing I'll say is that Uncharted 4 made me feel happy and warm in a year filled with cold and darkness. And, in these dark times, that's more than I can ask for.

Thanks for the great times, Naughty Dog.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End also wins:

• MGS4 Award for best callback to an older game.
• Best Looking Game.
• Best Overall Acting.
• Most Unstable Architecture.
• Best Story.
• Best Use of Winches.

New Predictions:

9^th Moosies Game of the Year Prediction 2017: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. -Hey, if Skyward Sword could get it, then this one probably will too. Unless it gets delayed again.

Knack 2 is good enough that we all eat our words and play it. - I'm going to say there is a relatively low chance of this happening. The game will probably be fine, but not that great.

Persona 5 gets delayed one more time before its Western release. - I'd say I would eat my hat if this doesn't happen, but I have enough health issues as it is without eating a hat. Also I'm not sure that I own a hat.

Nintendo Switch sells only marginally better than the Wii U, is yet another system owned only for Nintendo developed games. - I'd love if the Switch does really well for Nintendo, but I have serious doubts.

In a move that defies all logic, Nintendo announces the Newer 3DS, ruining our dreams of them unifying development behind one system. - That's most likely not what they'd call it, but I still have a bad feeling it'll happen. I just don't know that Nintendo sees the Switch the same way we all want to see it.

Still no more F-Zero or Metroid. - Still can't fill that void.

Half-Life 3 gets released. It's a new character for Dota 2 instead of a game. - It'll be a game box with the logo and Gordon Freeman's face on it running around in Dota land, doing Dota things.

New Splinter Cell game is announced. - We're about due for a new one.

Xbox Scorpio is fueled by actual scorpions. - In the post apocalyptic wasteland, scorpions may become a valuable source of energy and protein.

Red Dead Redemption 2 gets delayed to 2018. - Again with the metaphorical hat eating.

Second Kickstarter for Shenmue III. - I do wonder how close to completion that thing will be by the end of the year.

Closing Comments.

Thank you for reading this. 2016 may have been a bad year for me personally, and for most of the world, but it was a great year in games. Let's hope that 2017 is at least another great year for games. Take care of yourselves.