2016 was a pretty great year for videogame releases. It actually saw the release of several long delayed games (Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian), the excellent sequels in several franchises and several great original IPs (Stardew Valley, Overcooked). 3 years into the new console cycle finally shows as releases are fully designed to take full use of the power offered, yet the gameplay in all these games remains top notch.
When asked to describe Hitman to a friend I called it, "A puzzle game where the reward is murder". Hitman is a series of intricate interactions trying where the player tries to find the perfect way to assassinate a target. What makes Hitman so interesting is that it's episodic format actually works for its formula. Giving the player time to learn the stages and strategies through repeated playthroughs and slowly introducing new content every month. After a disastrous launch with broken servers and content syncing, the team an I/O Interactive have improved the game with a steady stream of patches and content that helps keep the game feeling fresh and challenging throughout the year. While other games I played and stopped after a while, I found myself returning to Hitman to experience new content, tackle elusive targets or just have fun in this murder puzzle game.
If Wolfenstein The New Order showed how to deconstruct a character and reboot a series with a weird mix of melancholy and action, Doom throws all that away and instead sticks to it's core principles of action, action and more action. Doom is a game about the ultimate power fantasy over your enemies. Each combat area is about juggling weapon priority, health and ammunition while moving to dodge enemy fire. The glory kills system encourages up close action rather than the cover based shooting action of the last few years. Doom is a lesson that sometimes returning to basics is a good thing.
Overcooked was my favorite local coop game this year. An absolute riot with friends, trying to coordinate cooking, serving and cleaning dishes. This is easier said than done with players often separated from ingredients or each other making for a hectic game that only gets more fun with additional players.
War is hell and Battlefield 1 does an excellent job at depicting World War 1 on various fronts. Frostbite is shown to full effect as the action rarely leaves any part of the level in the same state as it began. While the campaign is a mixed bag, it does a good job in showing different parts of the game and its environments. Multiplayer (especially the Operations mode) is where the game truly shines depicting the era's warfare with mud, dirt and debris flying all over.
When Titanfall 2 gets going, it gets their fast. Perhaps the fastest first person shooter I played this year, Titanfall 2's campaign is a series of moments that cannot be missed. Titanfall 2 features the most original campaign of the year, with different chapters introducing new concepts and ideas that slowly increase in intensity and insanity.
Oxenfree is your average adventure game but features one of the best conversation systems I've seen in a game. The game rarely pauses during conversations so while completing puzzles conversations are still ongoing allowing the user to answer questions, make comments or observations. On top of that add a dash of science fiction horror to the story and an interesting implementation of New Game Plus, Oxenfree is an adventure game that shouldn't be missed.
I have mixed feelings on Uncharted 4, while the story is definitely stronger than Uncharted 3 some parts of the game feel padded on to make the game feel longer. Yet, you can tell Naughty Dog went all out with detailed locations, animations and characterization. If this really is the final Uncharted game, Naughty Dog ended the series on a great note.
Stellaris was marketed as the game to: Make space great again. The game mostly succeeds with easy to use and understand systems allow you to manage your space empire to your hearts content. What makes Stellaris stand out is its excellent quest system that allows you something else to do during the downtime of empire management.
American Truck Simulator is the (currently) the southern United States version of European Truck Simulator. Add in a late rescale that helps make the world feel larger and more dense, American Truck Simulator offers the experience of long haul truck driving in bite-sized chunks.
The other big local coop game, Tricky Towers is Tetris but it's not. While it offers several different modes the game shines in race mode where players build towers while obtaining powerups to slow their opponents in a variety of ways. There's nothing like seeing a tower fall over and scrambling to rebuild on the wreckage.
An easy to learn but difficult to master strategy game set before and during World War 2. The lead up to world war 2 scenario is the more interesting as you spend the first part building your industries, economy and perhaps sneaking in a quick conquest before the world breaks into total war. Balancing your nations's military movements and economy when war does break out is almost overwhelming but easy to use systems help make the game manageable and fun.
A remaster of one of my favorite games of last generation, Dead Rising faithfully captures all the moments and gameplay (for better and worse) of the original game.
