AndiC.uk

2016 will certainly be remembered as a tragic year by many. With Brexit, Trump, and countless big name celebrities passing away. Thankfully in the video game world it was a far prettier picture, and sets up 2017 to be an even better year.

Way back in January, a little game called The Witness launched. This ingenious puzzler achieved astonishing critical success so early in the year, it caught everyone by surprise. A top tier indie game filled with increasingly difficult inter-linking puzzles, set in a beautiful island world. I know I'm doing myself a disservice in not playing this (yet!) but a game of the year contender already was a fantastic way to start the year.

February first saw the release of XCOM 2 on PC. Another highly praised game in the military turn-based tactics series that I'd love to play someday. Indie games Firewatch and Unravel were also released. The latter's hero character Yarny didn't quite live up to expectations, but Firewatch reviewed extremely well with it's brilliant voice acting.

Street Fighter V launched despite large chunks of the game missing. Rocket League finally made its way to Xbox, and triple-A Ubisoft title Far Cry Primal launched. I loved Far Cry 3 and 4, but mainly due to the weapon arsenal and vehicles, so gave the prehistoric Primal a miss. February was not complete without two top titles from Steam. Superhot being a super cool first person shooter where time only moves when you move. And Stardew Valley, which gained huge popularity on Twitch with its cute, retro farming and dating (believe it or not).

The Division was finally released in March after several conference appearances and delays. Seen as 'the new Destiny' by many, with its always online world, this game was huge at launch but did not have the same lasting appeal as Bungie's shooter. I knew this would be case as first person shooters are generally more appealing than third person, and the supposedly highly desired loot was just not as cool as that in Destiny.

Another release I was watching closely was Pokkén Tournament for Wii U (the only Wii U game I'll mention). A fantastic idea to combine Tekken with Pokémon characters. It's looks a blast to play with a seriously steep learning curve. I wonder if this makes it's way over to Switch?

At the start of 2016 I did manage to clear some backlog. The Call of Duty: Black Ops III campaign was great - continuing the trend of the Black Ops series, and I was absorbed in the specialist based multiplayer. Last year's Assassin's Creed Syndicate proved to be thoroughly enjoyable. A welcome return to form for the series with much improved parkour mechanics, two great playable characters, and a stunning setting in Victorian London. I also couldn't resist jumping back into Need for Speed for the newly released community wraps and hot rods.

Towards the end of March saw the release of Trackmania Turbo. A game I was so keen to play with it being the first Trackmania game available on PlayStation and Xbox. With 200 progressively harder time attack tracks it's strangely appealing how much a precision arcade racer can be. Striving for that unknown Trackmaster medal - awarded for beating a developer's best time, is a real feeling of achievement. Plus, the region and global ranking shows just how well you've done against the rest of the world (I ranked #1 in England on this track below!).

March also proved to be the official public launch of virtual reality headsets. On the 28th the Oculus Rift went on sale, and a week later the HTC Vive, both of course only for PC.

April and May are rapidly becoming the new October and November with serious big budget titles released. April saw DiRT Rally, Quantum Break, Dark Souls III and Ratchet & Clank. DiRT Rally being the sensational rally simulator finally ported to consoles, with the best graphics I've seen in a racing game to date. Ratchet & Clank followed suite with its stunning 3D platforming.

May was even better with Uncharted 4, Doom, and Overwatch. Three ultimate game of the year contenders. Uncharted 4 blew me away (see my thoughts of the series here), and Doom's brilliant bloody reboot surprised almost everyone. Its single player campaign respected the original 90's games and lived up to the hype from the gore-filled trailers and demos.

Lastly there was Overwatch, and before diving into its brilliance I want to remind everyone about a similar game called Battleborn. This was supposed to launch much earlier in the year but delays carried it into the firing line of Overwatch. Both are hero based shooters, but the quality of the latter from developer giant Blizzard blew away the competition after seemingly a few days. RIP Battleborn.

So how to put this quality into words... I've put more hours into Overwatch this year than anything else. And I've never properly played a Blizzard game before. It's fast-paced like your typical first person shooter, but it's far more colourful, diverse, team focused, and can be played competitively or casually. The 21 characters or heroes (at launch) are full of personality, have their own unique play style, and are so well balanced there is something for everyone. If your shooting aim is feeling off for example, you can play a support role, have just as much fun, and your team is actually more likely to win. I also love the Play of the Game feature, which is so clever technically, and provides that sweet icing on the cake if you manage to achieve it.

Thankfully game releases were much thinner in the summer. Disappointingly Dangerous Golf did not turn out to be the indie game I was hoping for. Developed by Three Fields Entertainment - a team comprised of former Criterion developers who worked on the Burnout series, I was super looking forward to this crash-mode-meets-golf game. Sadly there wasn't much content and barely any skill involved. It looked more like a destructible pool game with just the cue ball.

Mirror's Edge Catalyst also didn't meet fan's expectations. It was a surprising sequel right from it's announcement, but a huge lack of story really cost this game.

However after E3, great indie titles were back. Inside, the Xbox exclusive initially, launched at the end of June and saw staggering critical success. Developed by Playdead - the studio behind Limbo - gives you an idea as to why. I'm yet to play this short, dark, mysterious masterpiece (as quoted by some) so have avoided spoilers at all costs. On PS Plus this month was Gone Home the console edition, which proves to be super scary despite no combat or enemies at all. I wasn't that keen on the story but it certainly left an impression.

On 6th July the most popular game of the year launched, Pokémon Go. I remember seeing the first trailer (which I can't believe was in September 2015!) and thinking a; how this is going to work? And b; will it catch on? I don't think anyone predicted how much of a global phenomenon it turned out to be.

With 100 million downloads by August it broke every record in app sales history. Of course adopting the free model with micro transactions was the key to its success. But from my point of view, and I'm sure most gamers will agree, Pokémon Go is a terrible game. And especially compared to the original GameBoy games. There's no real ability to fight with or train your Pokémon. It's purely about walking around catching as many Pokémon as possible including duplicates! It's just not a fun gameplay loop. There are frantic finger swiping gym battles, but this is just catering to the masses who play Candy Crush on the bus. This game (app I mean) is all about the social aspect, and to its credit, it did get a lot of people out and about exploring their towns and cities - myself included for a short time.

August finally saw the release of No Man's Sky after further delays. I still hope developer Hello Games can turn it around with this game to deliver some of those misleading features. Overwatch unveiled its first seasonal event - Summer Games 2016. Throwing in Olympic styled character skins and a new Rocket League-esque mode called Lucioball.

Another indie game launched this month which I think has become somewhat of a hidden gem exclusively on PlayStation. Bound, by developer Plastic, is a pretty simplistic 3D platformer with no combat and not much challenge to complete. But you control a ballerina and her movement is so graceful it's a joy to watch. Combining this with stunning sunset back-drops, it becomes one of the prettiest games of the year. I highly recommend it.

2016 Year Review - Part 1