2016

Welcome to my end of year review. I played a bunch of games throughout the year and I thought I'd sum it all up with the games I played during the year. I'm only going to talk about the games I played through for the first time, so unfortunately I won't be able to praise The Last of Us some more. Some games I played for the first time this year, I played in the earlier months before I started my reviews, so they will get their own section. Onto it then.

Best game I played in 2016: Sunset Overdrive

Runners up: Portal 2 and Batman a Telltale Series

This may be a surprise as the review isn't out yet, same with Batman. These reviews will be out in the coming weeks, so you'll be able to read more in depth about both. Sunset Overdrive was an incredible game, so unique and fun. Insomniac did an amazing job with this one and packed this game with content. I'll admit I wasn't a fan at first, I didn't like the combat as much, if you weren't jumping and grinding, you were playing the game wrong. I had to suck it up and adapt to how you were meant to play, once I did, I was hooked. I love the cartoony, but fantastic graphics. The hilarious dialogue and voice acting, the vast customization. The huge arsenal of unique weapons. I loved this game and Insomniac has left me desperate for more.

Worst game I played in 2016; Saw the Video Game

Runners up: Medal of Honor Warfighter, Sniper Ghost Warrior

The sad thing is about Saw, was that it could've been a decent game. The combat ruined this game, the fact that sometimes I just couldn't attack despite button mashing the attack buttons proved how bad it was. If it had not been for the easy achievements, I honestly wouldn't have bothered to finish it. The story was interesting, but the gameplay was so poor, I just lost interest. The puzzles and the traps were pretty good, but the unappealing graphics and crappy gameplay was enough to cement itself as the worst of the year.

Most disappointing game of 2016: Mafia 3

Runners up: Quantum Break, Homefront

It keeps me up at night how disapointed I was with Mafia. I was looking forward to it so much and yes, I did give it a pretty good score, but this should've been 8.5 at least. It simply just wasn't a Mafia game, they just used the Mafia name to help it sell. Please tell me were the Mafia part was, this was just a revenge story with brilliant graphics and good voice acting. The gameplay and stealth were good too, but the repetitive nature of it killed it. I just couldn't wait for it to end, I was so bored of doing the same mission in a different area over and over. It's a damn shame and I hope Mafia 4 will rectify this.

Biggest surprise of 2016: The Amazing Spider-Man

Runners up: Mars War Logs, Shadows of the Damned

I'm a sucker for a Spider-Man game, I didn't expect much from this one though. Movie games are often lacklustre, and a movie-game of a pretty average movie meant all hope was lost, but I enjoyed it. The graphics were poor and the acting was cheesy, but there was lots to do. I loved the web swinging animations and the spider suit looked great. Even the combat was pretty good, it was a shoddy version of the Batman Arkham combat, but that's so good, even a shoddy one is decent. I'm going as far to say that my most anticipated game to play of 2017 is The Amazing Spider-Man 2, that's how excited I am to play the sequel, and I'm going to play some awesome looking games next year.

So, the games I played at the start of the year, before I started reviews. I plan to review these games in the future, but I'm going to give a mini review on each. One or two I didn't feel the need to review and are included here too.

Torchlight (Xbox 360)

Honestly, this just wasn't my sort of game. I don't plan to give it a full review because I think it would be harsh. I just rushed through it and button mashed and spammed all my magic powers to kill the enemies. I skipped all the dialogue and didn't bother to explore the vast variety of weapons, armor, quests, abilities and enchantments. I feel this is a game people would get into, but it just wasn't for me.

Star Wars Battlefront (Xbox One)

EA have ruined this once great franchise. Graphics and sound are amazing, but everything else is dog shit. Fuck you EA, you money-grabbing, game-ruining, trash-polluting pricks. All you had to do was remake Star Wars Battlefront 2, it's one of the best games ever made. No single-player? Of course you fucked it up. I preordered this shambles and it's one of my biggest regrets. I only played three games the day it arrived and the third match crashed. I was so bored that I didn't even care it crashed and used it as an excuse to quit the game.

Dead Space (Xbox 360)

Brilliant. Terrifying. Absolutely loved it. Gameplay is fantastic, unique weapons, great boss fights, heart pounding chases. I first played it in 2008, it took me 8 years to get the guts to finally finish it. Truly a great survival horror. The fact that an enemy could literally pop out at any moment, had me on edge throughout. The Necromorphs are disgustingly scary, the only way to kill them was to shoot their limbs, I made sure to shoot every one because the sight of seeing them crawl after you was enough to keep me up at night. I'll never forget that opening scene, where you are chased by one, you don't even see it, but my God, do you not want to turn around and look for yourself.

Escape Dead Island (Xbox 360)

This was so shite. I don't know why there are so many Dead Island games, they're yet to make a good one. I'll admit that the gimmicky cartoon graphics were the best thing, but the awful acting and constant back and forth makes me question why they even bothered. Being able to stealth kill the zombies was pretty cool and it was actually pretty challenging, but the end boss fight went on far too long and the guy I played as, I absolutely hated. I think a game immediately fails when they can't make the protagonist likeable. But, it's like they didn't even try with this guy. He was literally a douchebag.

Duke Nukem Forever (Xbox 360)

10 years? For this? Are you fucking joking? Outdated. Simply put, Duke is not made for modern gaming. The sexualisation was ridiculous. Alien boobs that you can slap? Picking up literal shit? That sums up the crassness of this. It took me five years to complete, the thought of going back to it was tough. The unfair boss fights, the everlasting levels, the ridiculously long loading that makes Fallout look quick. If this is the best they can do in ten years, they should be shut down. Honestly don't know how this didn't just get cancelled.

Lost: Via Domus (Xbox 360)

Don't like the show, hate the game. It's pretty obvious I just played for the easy achievements. Let's just say that Lost is lucky I didn't review the game, as it would most definitely of rivalled Saw for the worst game. And the guy we played as was a fucking snake, don't make me play as terrible characters, who are dirty little rats.

2016 was full of gaming, it was great to go back and finish games I started years ago and play some great games that were more recent too. I plan to write even more reviews in 2017, but will anything ever beat The Last of Us at 9.5/10? With Days Gone, Red Dead Redemption 2 and of course, The Last of Us Part 2 all to come, it may just be possible!

Happy 2017.