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berjiwhir

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GOTY 2016

At this point it's a cliché to call 2016 a social dumpster fire, but holy shit. Luckily, as a balm to all the bad, bad crap happening, video games were really good! Maybe too good! Even though I played what felt like a lot of games, as of this writing my I've got a big ol' stack of stuff that I haven't gotten around to yet. So, honorable mentions to Dishonored 2, Pokémon Moon, DOOM, Watch Dogs 2, Virginia, The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine, and probably a bunch of others I haven't gotten to yet.

I loved a lot of games in 2016, and these were my favorites.

List items

  • Overwatch does pretty much everything right. In a year of bleakness and existential dread, Overwatch was a bright, colorful, positive game. Add a collection of lovable cartoon heroes, brilliant maps, and the ever-present hunger for loot boxes, that was it. Playing this online with friends was my favorite gaming thing this year.

    And Lúcio is the best.

  • I got deep into this. For the better part of a week, it consumed me. I had one friend at work who was also playing, and we must have sounded like crazy people as we discussed tetrominos, light refraction, and what in the hell those videos that play in the theater under the hill are supposed to mean. When I conquered a particularly tough area, it was like I could actually feel something tightening and shifting in my head as I assimilated and learned to speak this game's unique puzzle language. I loved just walking around the island. It made me feel this strange sort of intellectual and existential isolation, a sadness tempered with occasional epiphany and triumph.

  • I've finished Hitman, but I'm far from done with it. All I want to do is dive back into some of my lesser-played maps and try new stupid things. My favorite parts of the game ended up being the weirdly exploitable dream-logic of the AI behavior (What? Some guy just took a fire axe to the head? Well, I didn't see who did it, so nothing is wrong, I guess) and the absurdist sense of humor. Strutting down the catwalk as Helmut Kruger, with murder on your mind, while that dumb thumpy fashion music blares is the best. Each map was unique and weird in its own way. The game is constantly giving you new and interesting opportunities to make managed mayhem. I mean, come on. I killed a man with a pillow while posing as his therapist. I haven't even unlocked the exploding rubber duck yet.

  • Titanfall 2 proved that there's still a place for this sort of shooter in my gaming diet. And of course it's easy to justify it when the game in question is this good. While the first TItanfall was a neat but ultimately over-lean proof of concept, this sequel is a robust and complete gameplay package, practically bursting. And each mode--the sterling single player and the frenetic multiplayer--is polished to a blinding sheen. In each mission of the campaign I was excited to see what new thing they were going to throw at me. What I didn't expect was that I'd actually grow to care about my laconic robot pal. And even though a few of the narrative beats were predictable, I still felt very fulfilled and did a little fist pump when I reached the end of the story.

  • I don't often feel compelled to tackle games in single or long sittings, but I played Inside front to back in one go. I was captivated. The attention to detail in the level design is second-to-none. But what I really appreciated was the finely-crafted and pervasive sense of dread. Things scared me in this game. Every level introduces something different and novel. And while I didn't love the surrealist human-blob ending as much as others seem to, Inside is a clearly a master class in game design. There's no higher praise I can think to give it than to say I wish I could have sat even just a little longer.

  • Coming off the stellar showing that was 'The Last of Us,' kind of the last thing I wanted from Naughty Dog was for them to go back and fiddle with Uncharted. Some franchises have had trouble justifying their leap from last-gen to the current batch of consoles. What makes Uncharted 4 special is that they tackle the subject of Nathan Drake's extended career head on. And, of course, since this is a Naughty Dog game, the production values are off-the-charts. No one makes games like they do. I loved learning more about Drake's past. Elena gets a more mature and important role. The series reaches a conclusion that feels, I hope, actual finally this time. Some of the things that have always bugged me about Uncharted still rankled me here, but a few overlong firefights and fiddly aiming did not spoil an otherwise incredible experience.

  • IT COUNTS OKAY?!

    Look, this remaster has some issues with it. Some of the framerate stuff should probably be better, and some of the new textures look real icky. But, come on, I got to play a dolled-up version of Arkham City on my PS4. And you know what? It's still a really, really good video game. Add to that the unimpeachable Arkham Asylum, and you've got a package that is practically tailor made to delight me.

  • SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.

  • I wish I liked Firewatch as much as others seem to. While I loved the sense of isolation and the beautiful use of color, some bits of the narrative left me cold. Firewatch scratched the same itch that Inside did, and it was the the first of two games this year that I finished in a single sitting. There's a drive and a really neat sense of mystery. Who is this character? Why would he choose to spend a season alone in a tower? What is he hiding from? The game is really smart about the way it uses dialogue to flesh out the two principal characters. When I got the end and realized that they were never going to meet in the flesh, I felt a surprising sense of loss and melancholy. I really admire the game for building a game around those complex and uncomfortable human emotions.

  • Look. Pokémon Go is a bad game. It's certainly a bad Pokémon game. It's razor-thin. The gyms are terrible. I uninstalled it and never want to play it again. But here's the thing, for a golden hour just after release, Pokémon Go was kind of magic. I live near a college campus, and EVERYONE was playing this thing. There was this crazy sense of community and understanding. Yes, we're all wandering through the streets, eyes glued to our phones, trying to catch this fucking Bulbasaur. Once, while hunting, we even stumbled onto a campus movie screening of the Pokémon movie, which was going on to take advantage of the craze. I had a couple good sessions with the game, but I'll remember one particular magic night, walking around with my wife, content just to walk and talk and maybe catch some pokeymans.
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