I posted one of these in 2015 and 2014 and while I did actually write something up for 2016 I never got around to posting it. 2016 was a really really strong year for TV shows. As someone who loves monster, demon, and horror themed stuff 2016 had plenty of that to offer. They say a picture is worth a thousand words but maybe I pick shitty pictures so I decided to add a YouTube link to a trailer for each of these shows at the end of my ramblings.

10) Crazyhead

This show is a comedy version Outcast (you'll see my thoughts on that show further up this list). It is a goofy lighthearted comedy about two demon hunting ladies. I really don't know what else to say about it. It is really brief at only six episodes so there isn't really any reason for those of you with a Netflix account not to at least check it out. Trailer link.

9) Daredevil

Season 2 really did feel like two separate and distinct shows. This isn't a bad thing in and of itself but the difference in quality between the Punisher and Elektra plots is just so big it really makes the show feel incredibly uneven. The Daredevil/Punisher stuff was top tier TV, while the Elektra/ninja stuff was just incredibly poorly explained. The scenes between Bernthal and D'Onofrio really highlight how those two are just in a completely different league from the rest of the actors on the show. Anyway, the Punisher stuff is great enough to put it on this list, but ninja bullshit holds it down at the number nine spot. Trailer link.

8) The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead has had its ups and downs for a while now but this stretch of episodes since the crew got to Alexandria has just been nonstop fantastic. This year's batch of episodes has been no different. Outside of a very very very bullshit cliffhanger the show has consistently delivered fantastic episodes this year. It was great seeing Rick's group be the king shits for a while but putting them back in the underdog position with Negan's introduction has breathed some new life into the show. Trailer link.

7) Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

This show has gone from side dish to the main course. Agents of SHIELD is currently the best thing coming out of the MCU. I care more about what happens to Fitz or Daisy than I do about Captain America and his terrorist friends. This show never drags its feet and quickly moves through story lines that other shows would stretch to an entire season. The addition of Robbie Reyes (Ghost Rider) to this season has been fantastic and he surprisingly fit right in with the rest of the cast. Would it be too much to ask for six seasons and a movie? Trailer link.

6) American Horror Story: Roanoke

American Horror Story had a really good first season and an absolutely incredible second season, and then the show sort of stumbled and hasn't really found its footing until now. This finally feels like the successor to seasons 1 and 2. The show has so many twists and turns that it is impossible to go into any details without spoiling it but sufficient to say that it goes some pretty interesting places. Shoutout to Cuba Gooding Jr., he was a fantastic addition to the cast this year and I hope he comes back for future seasons. I strongly encourage anyone who was turned off from the show after Freakshow or Coven to give this season a shot. They throw so much shit at the wall and surprisingly, all of it really felt like it stuck (except for the hillbilly plot, that shit was a drag). Trailer link.

5) Outcast

A lot of people have gone sour on The Walking Dead but I still love it. When I heard that another Kirkman property was getting a show I knew I had to check it out. Instead of post-apocalypse zombies here we have demons and exorcisms. The pilot is hands down the greatest single episode of television I saw this year. A perfectly paced self contained episode that immediately sells you on the concept of the show. The season never again matches the highs of that first episode but it is still really damn good. It is like a more serious version of Crazyhead. Trailer link.

4) Haters Back Off!

"Comedies" about shitty people being miserable have always been hard for me to get into. It is the reason stuff like Louie and Bojack Horseman never really clicked with me. Haters does a good job of being a comedy first and foremost, with the main character being completely oblivious to how shitty she is. The best comparison I can come up with is Napoleon Dynamite without any of the awkwardness. The show goes for comedy 95% of the time so that when it turns serious it really has an impact and hits you in the feels, making you reflect on the season as a whole. Trailer link.

3) Stranger Things

It is like an amalgamation of Twin Peaks, Silent Hill, and the Goonies. A show in which pretty much every scene is drawing inspiration from something else but it is all executed so perfectly that I can't complain. Whether you understand the references or not is irrelevant to the actual enjoyment of the story which unfolds at a nice pace with its tight 8 episodes. A great professor of mine once said "if you were really smart you would figure out how to say what you want to with smaller words that anyone can understand." This show feels like the embodiment of that. It is an appropriate for all ages horror mystery thriller that doesn't feel dumbed down for kids or like it is filled with dialogue and themes that are only there to be understood by adults. I have seen some complaints about the high school stuff but I loved all that too. Then again, I am also the person that enjoyed all the high school drama in Twin Peaks too, so your enjoyment may vary. Trailer link.

2) Freakish

The best way I can think to describe this show is Dawn of the Dead meets Degrassi. It is a high school drama with zombies, with a group of kids being stuck in a school after a chemical plant explosion creates zombies. What really made the show entertaining for me was the acting. It is a cheesy goofy plot played earnestly by everyone with the exception of Chad Coleman who plays the lone adult. Coleman clearly realizes it is schlock and hams it up but everyone else plays things pretty straight which makes it much more entertaining. It is a stupid plot with characters that make stupid decisions and the show is filled with more than a few plot holes but the characters all being dumb high school kids really allows that stuff to slide more than it does with any other show. The brief 20-something minute run time of each episode combined with the 10 episode overall season make the show come and go before it outstays its welcome and left me eagerly wanting another season. Trailer link.

1) 11.22.63

This show gets a spot on my list if for nothing else then because it actually finishes the story it sets out to tell. They very easily could have made this show multiple seasons long if they wanted to but instead they decide to tell their story, conclude it, and put a nice bow on it. That is pretty damn great, especially when the source material is so open to the possibility of stretching itself out indefinitely. Time travel alternate history stuff is always interesting, and the set designs and actors are all top notch. With the recent election the thought of alternate histories and what ifs is as interesting as ever. That said, while 11.22.63 starts off with the premise of trying to stop the assassination of JFK, it quickly transforms into a love story which could have easily ruined the show but Sarah Gadon is so damn charming as Sadie that it is impossible to get mad. The limited series format is really kind to Stephen King's material and I hope we get to see more adaptations from showrunner Bridget Carpenter. Trailer link.

Hey everyone! So clearly we are pretty far away from the end of 2016 now but I never got the chance to post a blog for my favorite movies last year. Normally what I would do is create a simple post on another forum and then expand on it for a blog post here. I love doing these for archival purposes because it is great to come back to these years later and get a snapshot of what I was thinking in any particular year. Anyway, I was busy at the end of last year so I never got the chance to do this, and since my post already existed on NeoGAF I was ok with keeping my thoughts archived there. Only now those forums imploded after it became clear what kind of person the owner is. Anyway, I am now reposting my unedited thoughts on my favorite movies of 2016 here. It is fun to look back on this as even now, only a few months later, I do not completely agree with this list anymore. I felt (and still feel) strongly about my top five but after that I was just sort of filling space.

1. The Witch

I normally hate movies set in this time period. I have never been a fan of the colonial america aesthetic. That said, this movie is so damn good none of that bothered me. Anya Taylor-Joy performance as Thomasin stands out as my favorite of the year.

2. Miles Ahead

I swear I am like one of a dozen people who actually saw this. Don Cheadle does a fantastic job as Miles Davis and the fictional plot he made up to go through some events of Miles' life is definitely an neat approach that makes the film a lot more interesting and fast paced than your standard biopic. Ewen McGregor is also great as is the soundtrack (duh). Cheadle really is one of the most multitalented people in Hollywood.

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

This movie is (almost) everything the first movie should have been. The cast was spot on, the dialogue was great, and the action was top notch. But those fucking turtles have got to be the most hideous and horrifying things put to film since Mars Needs Moms. It is a damn shame because they nailed the personality of the Turtles, they are just revolting to look at.

4. Green Room

One of the best thrillers I have seen a long time. Imogen Poots is always amazing in everything and Sir Patrick Stewart does a great job as the leader of the Nazi punks.

5. Zootopia

I went to see this opening weekend because the trailers and such made it look like a neat movie and Disney has been on a real hot streak lately. That said, the plot of this movie being as real and heavy as it was really took me off guard in the best way possible. We really are in a new golden age of Disney animated films.

6. The Angry Birds Movie

This movie should not be as entertaining as it is. Outside of Walt Disney Animation Studios I have never really been a fan of cartoon movies. That said something about the protagonists in this movie came across as really charming to me and I enjoyed seeing them go through the film being pissed off at the stupidity of everyone else. The movie came too late to catch the mobile game craze but it still does a good job of standing on its own a fun film in its own right.

7. Deadpool

They really knocked it out of the park with this movie. The limited budget they had was obvious in spots but they did great with what they had. It is amazing how good X-Men movies are when they Singer isn't involved. First Class, Wolverine and now this are great examples of how great (and different) superhero movies can be.

8. Captain America: Civil War

RDJ steals the show and this movie really does put a nice cap on the second Iron Man trilogy (Iron Man 3, Age of Ultron, Civil War). His character has gone through so much shit and it is really great being able to see how he has evolved and changed. That said, the Marvel movies really do all have such a sameness to them that they are starting to blur together. I really hope they start to shake things up soon because simply seeing these characters on the big screen is no longer enough in and of itself.

9. Doctor Strange

This movie has some really nice visuals. In a vacuum the movie is really really good but it gives me a feeling of deja vu like other Marvel movies have been recently.

10. The Jungle Book

Like Doctor Strange, this movie also has some really impressive visuals. The plot itself is eh but it is still worth seeing through once.

I have been really busy this year. Between working full time and going to graduate school I have had very little free time, and of that little bit of free time I allocate a tiny piece of it to videogames. I have officially reached the point where I have more money than I do free time and as a result my backlog has become ridiculous. After the one-two shitacular punch of Street Fighter 5 and Lego Avengers, and with Battlefront having just come out a few months earlier, I realized that I was just throwing money away on some really shit games. At that point I figured I would stop buying shit at launch and just wait for price drops, because I don't have much time to play games anyway. As a result I have been picking up a lot of games on sale at a fraction of what they cost at launch, but I don't actually have the time to play them so they just end up sitting on my hard drive or collecting dust on my shelf, mocking me. Among other games, I have Bloodborne, Until Dawn, Metro 2033 and Last Light, Dragon Ball Fusions, Enter the Gungeon, Firewatch, The Last of Us Left Behind, and Borderlands Pre-Sequel all purchased but never booted up.

Now normally I make a list of the top 10 or so games I played that released in a given year. That said, I just have not played enough good 2016 releases to be able to make that kind of list. Street Fighter 5 was a disappointing barebones mess of Battlefront proportions at launch and the disgusting DLC push ensures that I will never recommend it to anyone as is. Lego Avengers was more Lego goodness but the game was a fucking glitchy mess, more so than previous iterations. It would crash every two hours or so and I just don't have the time or desire to put with that kind of bullshit. I got finished with the semester early in December so I thought I would push through Pac-Man CE 2, Doom, Pokemon Sun and Rocketbirds 2 to be able to put together some kind of 2016 list, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Pac-Man CE 2 is kinda shit and just makes me want to play more CE DX. Doom is a mediocre game that I slogged through for about 4 hours waiting for the fun to start but it never did. Pokemon Sun takes fucking forever to get started and the Pokemon Bank not being available yet just made me decide to put the whole game off until it is available. Rocketbirds 2 is a legitimately fantastic work of art that you all should play but I just don't want to force myself to burn through it in order to make it appear on some arbitrary list. Hell, given my mentality I shouldn't even be making one of these lists this year. That said, even though I am no longer anywhere near as active on these forums as I once was, I have still been making GOTY lists and posting them on this site for half a decade now so I might as well keep going. Previous years can be found below.

• 2011
• 2012
• 2013
• 2014
• 2015

So anyway, I did still very munch enjoy the time I spent with these five games this year.

5. Resident Evil 6

As a way of trying to celebrate 20 years of Resident Evil, Capcom decided to rerelease the three best Resident Evil games again this year (4, 5, and 6). And of course I bought them all. Oddly enough Capcom decided to release RE6 first though and so I was reminded of why I loved this game so much. The gameplay is fun as hell. It plays like a slightly slower version of Vanquish with multiplayer and zombies/monsters. It is still as easy as ever to lose hours playing Mercenaries, the arcade score attack mode. The story is goofy and over the top but it takes itself seriously enough that you still care about the characters. It is that same balance that Saints Row 2, Fast Five and Furious 6 all have. A very delicate balance that when tipped to far gives you complete eye rolling stupidity like Saints Row 3 and Furious 7. I also of course played some of RE5 and RE4 and can say with confidence that RE6 is the best game in the franchise. 4 years later and this game still remains one of the best action games around. It is a damn shame what they have done to RE7.

4. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

I bought this game on sale after having been slightly interested for a while now. Holy shit is this game fantastic. It is everything I wanted from an Uncharted game. It reminds me of Golden Abyss, which remains my favorite game in the franchise. The focus on treasure hunting and solving puzzles is great and the combat feels just as good if not better than the Uncharted games. The set pieces aren't as good as what Naughty Dog puts out but those scripted events might as well be quick time events or cutscenes for all the player agency you have during them. The open map is what really makes this game shine. It allows you to explore each area and feel like you are discovering stuff at your own pace, even if the game funnels you along and gives you little reason to ever return to an area once you leave it. I really hope the newest Tomb Raider builds on the fantastic foundation they have laid here and doesn't attempt to make itself closer to Uncharted. They have already created the better game, they just need to double down on their strengths.

3. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition

This is a game that needs no introduction on this site, and is actually one that I had already beaten before on PS3. It was on sale though and I had never played the DLC so it seemed like the perfect excuse to play through this masterpiece again. This game is still so damn good. When the hell do we ever get an open world game that has customization, a great story and great gameplay? The hand to hand combat is the best version of the Arkham/Assassins Creed style and the gun play and driving are all a notch or two above what GTA V offers. While I thought the halloween DLC was stupid, the cop DLC was a lot more entertaining. Not sure what the hell Square was thinking not fast tracking an actual sequel to this game. It is a damn shame that developer United Front Games ended up getting shut down this year. At least we will always have this one awesome game.

2. Broforce

I remember when I first heard about this game it seemed like the most obnoxious thing ever. A stupid pixel game with a stupid gimmick. If I hadn't gotten it for free with PS+ I wouldn't have given it a second glance. It is just so much damn fun. The most fun I had playing coop this year. The "America, Fuck Yeah!" ultra patriotic dude-bro stupidity of the aesthetic is great because it completely leans into it. The characters all being action heroes is a fantastic bonus. Where else can you have the Terminator and Machete team up? Or Agent J from Men in Black and Conan the Barbarian? Or Ash from the Evil Dead and The Boondocks Saints? The aesthetic alone really elevates this already solid game into a higher tier. I am always a sucker for a good licensed game. The other thing that makes this fantastic is the quick levels and quick respawns. It is like Super Meat Boy or Hotline Miami in side scroller shooter form, with you dying constantly as you learn the level until you eventually speed through the level in a minute or two. Biggest surprise of the year for me by far.

1. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2

The first game just came out a year ago and yet this quickly turned out sequel has managed to offer enough to easily take the number one spot on my list. It takes everything from the first game and just adds more. More mentors, more transformations, more clothes, more attacks, a bigger overworld and more missions. The first game laid an amazing foundation but it was undeniably flawed. Every major complaint was addressed with this sequel and this game has really become what the first game should have been originally. The game allows you to import your save from the first game and I have to admit that seeing the human I made in Xenoverse 1 interact with my new Namekian in the story mode gave me way more joy than it should have. There is also a ton of race specific dialogue throughout the game that really helps personalize the story. All that said, what makes this game really have more lasting power than the first game is that the combat has been completely revamped and the game itself is actually fun to play now. The first game heavily favored people who would hang back and spam energy blasts. This new entry has really balanced out all play styles and gives you a lot more options for how to approach situations. My backlog is fucking ridiculous at this point, and yet every time I have tried to get into another game this past month I can't help feeling that I am wasting time with some other miserable shit game when I could be playing Xenoverse 2. If that doesn't say GOTY then I don't know what does.

It wasn't a particularly great year for games, but it was good. Last year was such a shit show for games though that the bar was basically placed on the floor and anyone could simply walk over it.

Awesome games that didn't release this year that I still want to give a shout out to:

inFamous: First Light

I really did not like Second Son. It might actually be the single most disappointing game I have ever played. That said, First Light managed to be a really great game by simply cutting out a lot of bullshit and making a more focused product. Traversal is more fun here than in Second Son thanks to the little speed rings that have been added to the map. The little tweaks they have made to how Fetch plays compared to Delson make a world of difference. The combat arena was also a spectacular addition to the game. In hindsight it seems so obvious that a horde mode is the perfect post game content for a game like this. I still enjoy playing a round of this every now and again. This combat mode also highlights just how clunky Delson feels. Playing as him in the combat arenas is so much worse than it is with Fetch. After coming close to losing all hope in Sucker Punch this game showed me they still know how to make a good game.

The Evil Within

The only reason I picked this up during the Halloween sale was because I remembered @n7 talking up what a great game this was and so I figured it was worth giving it a shot. I am totally glad I did. Outside of a terrible first chapter, the game is a ton of fun and feels like the true sequel to Resident Evil 4. It is a purposely clunky action game with a horror skin on top, just like RE4. Anyone who is deterred because they don't like scary games should still pick it up. While the game does have a handful of spooky moments, it is not that bad. There was only one jump scare that I can remember, and at least half of the game takes place outdoors during the day. The story is also interesting and did not pan out the way I was expecting at all. It is a really fun game and anyone who was a fan of Resident Evil 4 should absolutely check this game out.

And here are my top 5 games that actually released in 2015:

5. Splatoon

The multiplayer is clearly the focus of this game but I would like to take a moment and point out that the campaign is surprisingly great and the characters are super charming. The platforming feels good and the puzzles are also solid if not a tad too easy. The bosses are also really really neat. I hope we get a more fleshed out single player mode in the inevitable sequel to this game. The outline for a great campaign is totally here, it just needs to be fleshed out more. The multiplayer is also pretty great and feels very different from anything else currently out there. The miiverse community is absolutely spectacular and it is easy to lose and hour looking through all the posts and drawings people have made. All that said, I would have loved if they had added the option for local split-screen online or really any other local multiplayer modes besides the shitty balloon game. I was really bummed that I couldn't play with anyone locally. The game would be fine with just the pro controller. You would be at a slight disadvantage with no map and no super jump capabilities but it still would have been doable.

4. Dragon Ball Xenoverse

There are three types of people in this world. People who love Dragon Ball Z, people who have never seen Dragon Ball Z, and people who have no fucking soul. If you belong in the first group of people and haven't checked out Xenoverse yet you absolutely need to go play it. The game is full of fan service and the character creator and original story are fantastic. It does pretty much everything you would want from a game like this, allowing you to pick your race, costume, attacks and masters. It is a bit disappointing that they make your character a mute in the story mode though, especially since you get to pick your voice at the start and your character will actually say the names of the attacks. The gameplay itself also isn't perfect and the random loot drops on certain things fucking sucks but it is all forgivable because fuck, they let you create your own character in a Dragon Ball Z game that isn't garbage (looking at you Ultimate Tenkaichi). And if for some reason you haven't seen Dragon Ball Z before, go watch it.

3. Super Mario Maker

Building levels is surprisingly simple and fun to do. As someone who loves stuff like LittleBigPlanet and Disney Infinity I can safely say that the creation tools here are 1,000x better than anything in those games. It isn't the most fair comparison because the tools here are much more limited but I believe that is why it works so well. Those other games try to be jacks of all trades and end up being the masters of none. Super Mario Maker is fantastic at making platforming levels and nothing else. The tools are incredibly simple to use and it doesn't take more than an afternoon to make something solid. I haven't had as much time to devote to building stuff as I would like to, but I did have a ton of fun building this level with multiple paths and a way of passing the level in 15 seconds if you know where to look. I have also been having a lot of fun simply grabbing the remote and doing a 100 Mario challenge every now and again. The community levels can be hit or miss but it is worth sifting through to see some of the greatness people have made.

2. Transformers Devastation

I got this on sale not expecting much and was very much surprised by just how much I ended up loving it. It is ranked this high based solely on its amazing gameplay. I don't like Transformers, never watched it as a kid nor did I ever play with the toys. The story in this game made no sense to me and the campaign took me less than 5 hours on my first playthrough, with subsequent playthroughs taking even less time. That said, the multiple playable characters, difficulties, and wide variety of weapons made me play through the campaign close to a dozen times. The real campaign doesn't even start until after you beat the campaign on hard, unlocking a fourth difficulty that changes the enemies you encounter and ramps up the difficulty a few notches. There is then another difficulty waiting after that in addition to collectables hidden in the world and 50 additional combat missions that for the most part are fantastic. Here is some gameplay for you all to enjoy from the second highest difficulty:

It is clear that the game was not complete, however. There is a loot mechanic, weapon upgrading system, character leveling and additional bells and whistles to add to your character but the campaign is so ridiculously short that it is unnecessary to deal with on lower difficulties and tedious to navigate on higher difficulties. There is also very little enemy variety and even less location variety. You go through the same three areas throughout the game, and even in such a short campaign you revisit the same areas over and over again. The combat is fucking ace though, and even with all of its flaws it is still really really really fun to fight robots as you pull off all sorts of crazy combos. I was really close to naming this my game of the year, but there are just too many flaws to overlook. If this game had been given the budget and development time of something like The Wonderful 101 it would have been a real thing of beauty.

1. Borderlands: The Handsome Collection

I had never played either of the games in this collection. I have only beat Borderlands 2 so far which was pretty awesome to go through. I played through the game twice. Once alone playing as the commando and once again in co-op as the sniper with my brother playing the gunzerker. The classes have a different feel and the open areas give a lot of options for how to proceed. The humor is great and I appreciated them fleshing out the characters from the first game. I love me a good sniper rifle in a game and the ones in this game are really damn satisfying. I also have to commend them for adding local split screen multiplayer. It is always nice to see at least a few developers still care about this. Younger me with way more free time would have absolutely loved how much replayability there is here. Hell, current me still wants to replay it a few more times with the other classes. Even without having played The Pre-Sequel, I feel good about leaving this at number one based on Borderlands 2 alone.

Honestly, free time for me is not what it once was. I don't always have the time to get invested in a big video game and even when I do, sometimes I just don't feel like it. Sometimes you just want some entertainment that doesn't require anything more than your eyes and ears. Ok, maybe you guys don't but I do. I received more enjoyment from these TV shows than I did from the video games I played this year. That said, if you are really curious about my GotY, you can read that list here. Anyway, here are my 10 (actually 11) favorite shows that I watched this year. Feel free to click on the title of the show in the header to go to the youtube link for that shows intro/opening credits.

Note: I am talking about the episodes that were released this year for the following shows. Because of the way some shows split up seasons and air the first half of a season at the end of the year and the second half at the beginning of the year, that means I am talking about the back end of one season and the first half of the following season. Does that make sense? It makes sense in my head.

10. The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead has had its ups and downs over the years. After being down for quite a while, the episodes we got this year were fantastic. Having Alexandria as a base has been a nice change of pace after having been on the road for way too long. It is also great that they have made the zombies a threat again just by the sheer number of them that they have thrown at the characters. However, I feel like the group has gotten to be too big and the writers don't know how to have them all in the same area at the same time. Once again we have several different groups running around and the show cycles through them week to week. That means we end up having to wait multiple weeks to get more information on each plot thread. Couple that with the fact that the first half of season six has taken place over the course of like two or three days and it feels like it is taking a long time to get anywhere. I have no doubt in my mind that this plot would be better served if it was binged all at once but watching it week to week can be pretty damn painful. With some better pacing this show would be something really special.

9. The Flash/Arrow

These shows are two sides of the same coin. The Arrowverse continues to be amazing as it expands the cast of characters, most recently adding motherfucking Hawkgirl to the universe. These shows have made me care about the DC Universe, something only Brave and the Bold had ever done before. Both shows are not without there problems. The Flash suffers from being a monster of the week show with the overarching plot inching forward at a very slow pace. Arrow suffers from some pretty terrible and stiff fight choreography that makes me feel like I am watching Power Rangers. That said, both these shows are a really fun ride. They have fully embraced there ridiculousness and they are pretty much live action cartoons at this point. I cannot wait for Legends of Tomorrow to begin.

8. Jessica Jones

Super strength is about as boring and generic a power as you can possibly have. So how the hell do you possibly make an interesting show out of a lady who can punch hard? You give her an interesting villain. Killgrave is a great antagonist and the show does a great job of making him a layered motherfucker who is quite the piece of shit. Jessica Jones delves into some pretty dark themes and it is pretty surprising that Disney allowed this to coexist in the same world as Ant-Man and Captain America. That said, the show has some problems. The twin is hugely obnoxious, and all of the characters are wildly incompetent. By the time you reach episode 10 you will likely have said "come on, are you fucking serious?" more than a few times. That said, it is still a great show and I look forward to seeing more of Jessica Jones in future Netflix Marvel shows.

7. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

This year just cemented what I was already saying last year. John Oliver has managed to take and perfect what Jon Stewart had been doing for years. The weekly in depth look at a topic are the highlight and it is amazing that they release them online, free for everyone. His chat with Edward Snowden was particularly great, so I shall leave this here for those of you who haven't seen it yet. The interview itself starts 15 minutes in, but it is worth watching the first half if your knowledge on the subject is a little fuzzy.

6. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has gone from being a fun companion to the Marvel movies that release in theaters to being a great show in its own right. The end of season 2 leaned heavily into the inhuman stuff and also tied in completely beautifully to Avengers: Age of Ultron. Age of Ultron starts with a big action sequence and it was really fantastic to get to see how the Avengers got the intel for that mission in the first place. Season 3 has managed to somehow surpass the last season and has been spectacular in managing to juggle multiple parts and making all of them just as interesting as one another. The show has done a fantastic job of making sure there is no central main character. Each of the main agents gets equal attention and they all feel equally important and are equally fleshed out. The Dubsmash War they had with the Agent Carter folks was also a ton of fun to follow in all its ridiculousness.

5. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

This show came out of nowhere for me. I had heard nothing about it and just checked it out when it hit Netflix. Holy shit was I blown away with how great it was. In a world with so many mean spirited comedies it is nice to have a show like this with a main character that is always cheerful and looks on the bright side. The show is filled with fantastic zingers and lovable characters. Watching this show would put me in a good mood, and I had to force myself not to burn through every episode all at once because I wanted stretch my time out with this show as long as possible. If you have a Netflix account and haven't watched this yet, go do so. Now. I guarantee you will like it. Unless you have no soul. In which case you may not like it.

4. One Piece (English Dub)

I don't particularly care for anime. Outside of Dragon Ball Z and the first few seasons of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, I never really saw much growing up. A big reason for that is a vocal segment of anime fans who claim that dubbed anime is worse than Hitler and if you don't watch with subtitles you are a piece of shit. Anyway, I am here to tell you not to listen to those motherfuckers. One Piece is a fantastic show and worth watching in English. I watch it through the Funimation app which adds a new batch of around 12 episodes every month and a half or so. As a reference for those of you who watch the show in Japanese, the episodes that released in English this year were episodes 361-433. Both the Thriller Bark and Sabaody Archipelago arcs were without a doubt some of my favorites of the series so far. Thriller Bark was basically Scooby Doo: One Piece edition while Sabaody did a good job of showing just where the Straw Hats lie in terms of power and reputation in the world. The show is basically pirate superheroes, if that sounds even the least bit interesting, you should check it out. I also recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Dragon Ball Z, this show is better in pretty much every way.

3. Daredevil

In case you couldn't tell by this list, I really like superhero shows. Daredevil was a clear notch above the rest though. The show has a fantastic cast and every actor fit their role perfectly. Vincent D'Onofrio in particular stole the show as Wilson Fisk. He played the character with an awkward swagger and had a commanding presence that we haven't seen from any other villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe thus far. The action was fantastically brutal and well choreographed so that it didn't look babbys first fight scene (looking at you Arrow). While not the most original scene in the world, the hallway fight is a good example of just how well done the action is in this show, and it happens in the second episode so it is about as spoiler free an example as you are going to get. The story is also great and it plants plenty of seeds for both the future of Daredevil and the other Defenders. If I have one complaint it is that we did not see enough of Matt Murdock in trial. I really hope we get more of that in season 2.

2. Prison School

Once again, I don't really care for anime. I have a subscription to the Funimation streaming service but that is only for One Piece as it is only $60 and it is the cheapest legal way to watch the dubs. Anyway part of the reason I don't care for anime is the aforementioned obnoxious fans that insist on watching with subs. The other reason is that a lot of anime is really creepy and gross, as though it is being made exclusively for horny teenagers. Prison School is fantastic because it takes all those tropes and cranks them up to 11 in what is the most hilarious show I have seen in a really long time. It is a lot of juvenile humor and slap stick comedy but something about it just resonated with me because of just how ridiculous and over the top it was. I of course saw the English dub (because I am not an asshole) and it was nice that Funimation streamed both the English and Japanese shows almost simultaneously (the English episodes were only about three episodes behind). Also worth noting that there is a throw away joke about "gamer gate" people being creeps in the dub that wasn't in Japanese version and it apparently caused quite the mini shit storm with people claiming they were going to boycott Funimation. Anything those crazies hate can't be all bad right?

1. Sense8

In just a single season this show has managed to cement itself as one of my favorite shows of all time. I put it right next Twin Peaks at the tippy top of all time great shows. The Wachowskis have created something truly spectacular that has the same je ne sais quoi that made Twin Peaks so wonderful. There are eight main characters and each one has there own main plot and side characters and everything. And then on top of this there is a larger overarching mystery that is slowly chipped away at over time. It is not as singularly focused as Twin Peaks and thus it makes it hard to boil down what the hell the show is even about in a single sentence so I will steal this from Wikipedia: "The plot revolves around eight strangers from different parts of the world who suddenly become mentally and emotionally linked." It is a bit of a slow burn at the start as it takes its time building the world and showing rather than telling what abilities these people have. It will leave you with multiple questions but the show does a pretty good job of answering most of them organically as the show progresses. The shows soundtrack is also ace and the intro is spectacular. Anyways, I realize I have written a lot of mush here and anyone who doesn't know what the show is about likely still doesn't know. So I will just leave this clip here and strongly recommend that you check out the show on Netflix.

We had a really solid E3 this year. Every single one of the press conferences had something good to show and there really was something for everyone. The variety of genres shown was fucking beautiful. After having some time to let it all wash over me I have settled on these five as my favorites of the show although there were tons of other great looking games.

5. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands

I have never played a Ghost Recon game before, or even a Tom Clancy game for that matter. That said, everything I have read about this game seems really fucking awesome. After the huge disappointment that was GTA online I am ready for an open world game with good gameplay. Freedom to tackle each mission sounds great if they can pull it off. That said the lack of any sort of release window leads me to fear the worst. I fully expect it to be at E3 next year with a 2017 release date only to get delayed until 2018. I hope I am wrong.

4. Super Mario Maker

The footage they showed during the actual direct was kinda poop. It was just quick cuts of gameplay which looked like random chaotic shit put together with no rhyme or reason. However, the footage they showed during the Nintendo World Championship was everything I was hoping this game would be. The levels looked tough and the gameplay looked tight. While there will inevitably be a lot of shit to sift through, I hope Nintendo has something in place to help surface those levels that are the best similar to how Media Molecule does with LittleBigPlanet.

3. Fallout 4

All I wanted out of this was more Fallout 3. What has been shown looks like exactly that. The new features also look neat. I love that there are no longer any useless items and everything can be broken down for parts. The weapon customization looks great as does the whole "build your own town" feature. As of now though I am not planning on picking this up this year. Bethesda is in the same group as Warner Bros. for me where I simply wait for the complete edition that comes about 9-12 months after the initial release. Add to that the numerous bugs Bethesda is notorious for and there is no way in hell I am playing it at launch. Luckily there are two other great looking games coming in November of this year to keep me busy.

2. Need for Speed

I have been waiting for someone to make a good arcade racer with customization for way too long now. Midnight Club Los Angeles was released in 2008 for fucks sake! How has no one else stepped up since then to make one of these kinds of games? The Crew was incredibly promising and they seemed to nail everything except the actual driving part. Everything that has been shown of Need for Speed so far looks like they are on the right track. The driving and handling look solid so hopefully it turns out good. I also love that they went with FMV for their story. It looks terrible in the best kind of way.

1. Star Wars: Battlefront

Speaking of games that are long overdue, how about that Battlefront? Battlefront 2 came out over a decade ago! Everything they showed during the EA and Sony press conferences seems to indicate that DICE knows exactly what they are doing. The multiplayer and cooperative modes look perfect. And I am also ecstatic that they are including split screen local coop and multiplayer (and hugely bummed that we are in 2015 and split screen is as fucking uncommon as it is). Even more exciting is that if this game blows up and sells well (which of course it will) then maybe Disney will finally let someone make real Marvel games again.

¡Hola hola duders! This is a blog series where I discuss my favorite games on the systems I have owned. I had originally meant to post these on a more regular basis but alas shit happens and I hadn't had a chance to do another one of these until now. If you are interested, you can read about my favorite games on the Super Nintendo here.

To give a little background, I received one of the original square PlayStations as a gift from my uncle when I was a kid. However the thing was dead on arrival and so my dad took it to an acquaintance to get it fixed. We never heard from that guy again and thus I ended up sticking with my SNES for a while longer. Some time later I ended up getting a PS-One as a birthday present and later on got the LCD screen that attached to it. That screen, along with the car adapter made many long vacation trips much more bearable. Three days in a car isn't too bad when you have Crash Bandicoot to keep you company. I had a bit more games for the PS-One than I did for the SNES. Besides the ones I mention below, I also had Ford Racing, Casper: Friends Around the World, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, and every Crash Bandicoot game (including Crash Bash).

Note: An addition has been made from when this was originally posted. I added Spider-Man as number 3 and pushed some stuff back as a result. I would like to thank @pcorb for reminding me that I totally loved that game too.

6. Mort the Chicken

This was one of those games that I simply picked up because hey, the cover looks mad interesting. It is about a chicken whose name is Mort, there is no way this can be bad. I ended up really enjoying just going through levels. It was a really mellow game that wasn't particularly difficult. The game is a platformer that has you collecting baby chicks and eating corn as you make your way to the exist. There was also a goofy story that was good for a few chuckles here and there. It is interesting to note that IGN slammed this game with 2.5/10 in a review which I strongly disagree with. I didn't actually read video game reviews at the the time though so I was able to enjoy my time with this game blissfuly unaware how much some people hated it.

5. Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko

I never actually played Gex 1 or Gex 2. Once again though, the cover had a kung-fu gecko. How was I not supposed to buy this game? The Baywatch lady on the cover didn't hurt either. The gameplay had you jumping into different TV shows and thus every level had a distinct and unique atmosphere. I enjoyed the wise cracks and one liners that Gex would provide throughout the game. The gameplay was solid and the mini games were great at making sure things stayed fresh. The "Mystery TV" level in particular was my favorite, with the mini games that had you turning tiny and doing shit like hitting bubbles in a sink or kicking pool balls on a billiards table. I never actually played Mario 64 but looking back now it was clearly a big inspiration for this.

4. Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22

Dragon Ball Z in general is pretty fucking great you guys. I loved the show, so naturally when I saw a game for it I just had to pick it up. I would play it for hours on end, and after the first week my thumbs started to really hurt from pressing on the buttons so hard and attempting to do specials with the d-pad. The intro was great and the sound has been seared into my brain. Everything from the sounds of attacking to the menu music to the sound fighters would make when they were out of energy are unforgettable. Here is a video of Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis shitting on it back in the GameStop days.

3. Spider-Man

This game remains one of the best Spider-Man games ever made. The story was a great deal of fun and it was great to see cameos from heroes like Human Torch and the Punisher. The narration by Stan Lee was also a great touch. While the camera could be a bit wonky at times, the actual gameplay was solid . Swinging around beating people up Spider-Man style felt right. I also really liked the collectables and the story that had you fighting pretty much everyone you would want to in a Spider-Man game. I also loved the ending that had you fighting a Carnage/Doc Ock hybrid. Unlockable alternate costumes ranging from Scarlet Spider and Ben Reilly to Captain Universe and the Bombastic Bagman made sure multiple playthroughs were always fun. I also spent a ton of time in the arena mode just fighting off waves of enemies. It seems like Activision is only capable of releasing one good Spider-Man game per generation of consoles, and for the PS-One/N64 era this was it. If you are a fan of the wall crawler and have been disappointed with the quality of his recent games, this one is still worth checking out.

2. Crash Team Racing

Some people call this the greatest kart racing game ever made. I have a really hard time disagreeing. The weapons were fantastically balanced, the racing itself was tight and the tracks were beautiful with several shortcuts that weren't always apparent at first. CTR also has a fantastic battle mode with fully customizable weapon selection. It literally has the best battle mode tracks ever in a kart racing game. Of course it also has the standard cups where you race on four stages and the player with the best average is the winner. On top of all this though it has an amazing single player campaign complete with an open world level select, a story, and fucking boss fights. How the fuck is it that a kart racing game this fucking perfect came out in 1999 and yet here we are 2015 and Mario Kart 8 has maybe 1/3rd the content of CTR, if that? What the fuck? If ever their was a game deserving of an HD remake with online support, this would be it.

1. Crash Bandicoot: Warped

Crash Bandicoot: Warped is quite literally my favorite game of all time. I love everything about it. I have played it through to completion over half a dozen times and I never get tired of it. Collecting all the crystals, gems and relics never gets boring. Of course the basic platforming levels were fun, but I also really enjoyed the vehicle segments which included motorcycles, tigers, planes, and jet skis. The boss fights are a ton of fun and the power-ups you get for beating them brought about some neat gameplay changers. Unlocking the bazooka and being able to take enemies out at a distance was great. Naughty Dog also deserves kudos for making underwater levels that don't suck ass and are just as fun as the rest of the game. My cousins and I used to replay the tiger and motorcycle levels for hours on end trying to beat each others fastest times, even after CTR had come out. Seriously, if you have never played this game before you owe it to yourself to try it sometime before you die. I cannot recommend it enough.

Anyway, I would love to hear y'alls thoughts on the PS-One. Did you have one, and if so what games did you enjoy playing on it? For those of you that skipped the system, were you ever play these great games mentioned above later down the line or on another system?

2014 was kind of meh for games. There was a bit of fun to be had here and there but nothing really broke the mold. There were some really solid games I played this year that were not released in 2014 including ZombiU, Lego Marvel, Hotline Miami and Lone Survivor (you can read my opinion about those last two here). ZombiU was particularly excellent and would have been my GOTY had it come out this year. That said, in terms of 2014 releases it was just a lot of same-old same-old. And two games in particular that I had been looking forward to this year ended up completely disappointing me. I am talking about inFamous Second Son and The Crew. I made blog post detailing exactly why I disliked the Second Son (which you can read here) and I made a post in this thread explaining why I disliked The Crew so I won't bother reiterating my disdain for these two titles. That said, there have been other solid forms of entertainment that have picked up the slack for the lackluster year in video games.

Note: Everything listed below is in no particular order. I liked all of it.

Movies

The Lego Movie - What a fun ride this movie was. From beginning to end it oozed charm and the performances by everyone were great. Ever since seeing this movie I have periodically gotten this song stuck in my head.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - The golden age of comic book movies continues with another awesome entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Russo's did a fantastic job of bringing Captain America up to Iron Man's level. Scarlett Johansson continues to be perfect in everything and Anthony Mackie is a great addition to the movie universe.

Guardians of the Galaxy - Everything James Gunn touches is amazing, whether that be Scooby-Doo or PG Porn or anything in between. Guardians of the Galaxy is no exception. Michael Rooker in particular stole every scene he was in.

Big Hero 6 - This movie is top tier Disney, up there with Mulan and Hercules. The characters are all lovable and the story actually goes a lot darker than I expected it to in some spots.

TV Shows

Orange is the New Black - This continues to be one of my favorite shows of all time. Seriously, it is right behind Twin Peaks for me. The backstories for the prisoners this season were even better than the last. If I have one complaint about this season it is that there wasn't enough Pornstache. If you have a Netflix account and haven't watched this yet, what the hell is wrong with you? Go watch it. Now!

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - It is pretty incredible how in its first year John Oliver has already managed to be a better show than both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report combined. The budget is higher and his commentary is much more entertaining than the same tired old schtick the other two have been using for too long now.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - As a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I love that this show has allowed me to revisit this world once a week (at least while it airs). The things they have been doing this season have been great and it is crazy that they have actually introduced the Inhumans on this show. Kyle MacLachlan (of Twin Peaks fame) in particular has been great as Mr. Hyde.

The Flash and Arrow - Yes these are two different shows but they are a part of the same world and complement each other really well. While Arrow is a much darker and grittier show, Flash is lighthearted campy fun. The crossover episodes were fantastic and cemented my feelings that this TV world DC has created is every bit as great as the one Marvel has made.

Comics

Spider-Verse - I haven't actually been keeping up to date on any other comic series, mostly because it can get really expensive really quick. That said, when I heard that they were making an event with every single Spider-Man ever I knew that I had to check it out. I have been picking up every single tie-in issue and so far it has not disappointed. Spider-Verse #1 and Edge of Spider-Verse #4 in particular have been the stand out issues so far.

Videogames

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - Stupid title aside, this really is the best playing Smash Bros. game yet. The lack of a story mode is disappointing but the solid online play helps lessen the blow. The roster is nearly perfect (RIP Ice Climbers) and Charizard being his own character has made me absolutely love this game.

Mario Kart 8 - Much like Smash 4, Mario Kart 8 is the best playing Mario Kart game yet. The tracks, kart customization, and soundtrack are all incredible. It is just a damn shame that they didn't include a proper battle mode. The online is perfect 99% of the time though and the DLC tracks, karts and characters have all been great additions. The character animations in this game are also pretty great.

Hyrule Warriors - It is a fun hack and slash game. The story is neat but damn did it make me wish they would add voice acting. Reading subtitles is no fun. The characters all have a unique feel and the amount of content they have packed into this game is ridiculous. The story mode alone will take you quite a bit of time and after that there is a giant adventure mode that will easily take you at least three times longer to complete. On top of that there are a few other modes I still haven't checked out because I have been busy with the other two modes. I have been playing through the whole thing in co-op and it has been great.

How to Survive - For those that don't know, this is a top down, dual joystick, survival horror loot game. I played through the whole thing in coop and had a blast. The hunger, food and sleep meters were all nice touches and the weapon variety and crafting system were solid.

So the year wasn't a total bust?

Nah, as you have seen 2014 had a lot of great pieces of entertainment. It is a shame there weren't that many great videogames but the other awesome stuff was more than enough to compensate.

What about next year?

2015 is looking similarly bleh for gaming. Outside of Star Wars Battlefront, Until Dawn and Drawn to Death, there aren't any videogames that have really grabbed my attention. That said, there is still a ton of other stuff to look forward to. In terms of movies, we have Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Furious 7, Jurassic World, and Star Wars Episode 7 all coming out next year. And with TV there are going to be new seasons for all the shows I mentioned above as well as Agent Carter, Narcos, and Daredevil. With comic books next year is bringing about Secret Wars 3 which is sure to be amazing.

So how have you felt about entertainment as a whole this year? For those of you who also felt this years videogames were lackluster, what did you replace them with?

With the fairly big drought in video games I am interested in at the moment I decided to go through some of the PlayStation Plus games I had downloaded but never played. The three I tried out were Thomas Was Alone, Lone Survivor, and Hotline Miami. I knew pretty much nothing about any of these games going into them so I had no preconceived notions as to what these games were. I played all three of them on Vita. I also beat them all to 100% completion which means that what I have to say about each of these games is an indisputable fact and if you disagree with me then you are wrong (not really, I am actually curious to hear what you guys think of these games).

Thomas Was Alone

I want to get this one out of the way first even though it was the last of the three that I played. I honestly did not like this game very much at all. Thomas Was Alone is a perfect example of why some people simply dismiss all indie games in general. The platforming and puzzles are all fairly basic and none will take you more than a few minutes to complete. I plowed through all the 100 levels in a little over 3 hours. Even in that short amount of time I grew to be sick of the bland soundtrack.The platforming controls are fine but switching between characters with the shoulder buttons can be a pain the ass. You also have the option of using the touch screen to switch characters but most of the time the blocks are so small and they are so close together is is an equally big pain in the ass. These complaints would be forgivable if there was some incredible story that kept you moving forward. Unfortunately there isn't. That's not to say the story is terrible, it did make me smile a few times. The overarching plot just wasn't very interesting to me and there is no real payoff at the end. The whole game is just aggressively mediocre.

If for whatever reason you were thinking about picking this up but haven't yet I recommend you pick up a copy of LittleBigPlanet instead. There are literally thousands of platforming levels that people have created that are significantly better in just about every single way.

Lone Survivor

As a huge fan of Twin Peaks, I am ashamed I did not play this game sooner. Lone Survivor is a survival horror game that is a combination of David Lynch and Silent Hill with Jasper Byrne also throwing in some of himself to give the game its own identity. When you first start the game, it recommends being in a quiet area with headphones on and the lights off in order to better build the atmosphere. I did all of these things which allowed me to become better immersed in the world that is incredibly unsettling and scary without ever utilizing cheap jump scares. The giant pixel art looks great and gives everything a blurry look that had me saying "is that what I think it is?" multiple times. The shooting mechanic is stiff but this appears to be by design and actually adds to the atmosphere. Combat is completely optional and I had just as much fun on my pacifist playthough as I did on my aggressive one. There are several other mechanics such as sleep, hunger, and pills that are never properly explained and caused me to not fully understand their point of until after my first playthrough. My first playthrough took about five hours with each subsequent playthrough taking less time as I knew the areas. The soundtrack is amazing and all over the place much like the story.

The story is completely insane and the first time I played it it made no sense. It wasn't until after the credits that I had the "aha" moment that made me immediately want to play through it again. I unlocked all five endings and I still am not entirely sure what the hell happened. Their lies the one complaint I have with this otherwise spectacular game. Not enough is explained. Don't get me wrong, I actually prefer it when stories are open to interpretation but Lone Survivor just doesn't flesh out enough of the world. After getting the platinum trophy I scoured the internet to try and get more info on the story and found this fantastic interview Rock, Paper, Shotgun did with Jasper Byrne (part 1 and part 2). I get why he left some stuff up to mystery, once again I love Twin Peaks and really liked how much of the crazy stuff is never explained and is instead left to the imagination. However, there is a line and I feel Lone Survivor is on the other side of it. I still don't really see the theme of nature vs nurture that he talks about in the interview.

That said it is still a really amazing game and what pieces of the story I could parse out were incredible. I highly recommend you all check this game out. Also check out that interview! They talk about some really interesting stuff.

Hotline Miami

I am pretty late to the party on this one. Several people in the forums here and the staff have talked this game up but for whatever reason I hadn't gotten around to it until now. The soundtrack in the game was the first thing that jumped out at me (some of the songs were by the creator of Lone Survivor). The music along with the visuals give this game a unique feel that I immediately feel in love with. Even the first image that you see when you start the game up on the Vita lets you know you are in for an amazing time. Much like with Lone Survivor, I was not really sure what the hell was going on for the first half of the game. One thing I really liked about the story here though was that, unlike with Lone Survivor, you are given enough information to get the basic gist of what is happening but the details are left up to the player to fill in. It is also amazing how much violence they are able to convey with their art style. Some of those melee finishers, like pouring boiling water on an enemies face, are absolutely gruesome.

The gameplay took me a while to get used to which led to me dying a lot of times as I got the hang of everything. Once I did though I ended up having a ton of fun with the combat. I really loved being able to move the camera and lock on to enemies using the touch screen and I honestly can't imagine having played it any other way. I played very conservatively on my first playthrough killing every enemy one at a time always careful not to alert everyone to my presence. This was fun but it led to me getting a shit score on all the levels. When I replayed everything to get an "A+" score I went running through the levels killing everyone in one big combo chain. This led to a lot of deaths but, much like with Super Meat Boy, it restarts you so quickly that through trial and error I was able to get a perfect score on all the levels. Another thing I really liked was how although the enemies will usually follow the same path every once in a while they go somewhere different making it necessary to always be aware of where the enemies are.

The aesthetic alone makes this game worth checking out. Couple that with some solid gameplay and you have a game that I have enjoyed more than anything else in the first half of 2014.

tl;dr

Hotline Miami and Lone Survivor are both really fantastic games that highlight the unique experiences some indie games can provide and are more fun than most AAA games. Thomas Was Alone on the other hand is a prime example of why a lot of people go "bleh" when they hear the word indie game.

So what do you duders think about these indie games? Did you actually like Thomas Was Alone? And are there any other similar games out there that you would recommend I check out?

Was anyone else really bummed out with how inFamous: Second Son turned out? It was a step down from inFamous 2 in almost every single way. I personally absolutely love (loved?) the inFamous franchise. inFamous 2 is one of my favorite games of the last generation. That said Second Son is easily the weakest game in the franchise.

Let me start with the positives

• The game looks beautiful. It is easily the nicest looking inFamous game to date.
• The graffiti mini games were neat.

Now for the parts where Second Son shat the bed

Enemies. There was no variety to them whatsoever. It is the same damn concrete soldiers over and over again with like three variations and they are all shooting at you with guns. The first inFamous game had you fighting three different groups including Reapers, the First Sons, and homeless garbage people. inFamous 2 upped the anti and had you fighting red necks, swamp monsters and ice monsters. And these swamp and ice monsters came in several varieties including huge almost boss like giants that would appear in combat scenarios. Even the downloadable Festival of Blood had you fighting different kinds of vampires.

Boss Fights. inFamous 2 to had you fighting Godzilla sized monsters. The best thing Second Son has is a fairly small rock scorpion.

Story. Or lack there of. This games story is really really short. Like ridiculously short. It felt like it was in a rush to get to the end for whatever reason. Festival of Blood had a more interesting story and Bloody Mary was more fleshed out than anyone in Second Son. inFamous 2 also had a fantastic story that took its time and allowed you to see the group of friends you make all interacting as you all planed your next move. They even took the time to add in a scene of Zeke and Cole just chilling on the couch which is arguably one of the best parts of the series.

Side Missions: There was no variety to them whatsoever. It is literally the same five or so things done over and over again in each part of the city. What happened to the variety in inFamous 2? At least there they were having fun with it and you got goofy stuff like defeat this angry mob of street performers. The only thing close to the side missions of the old games in Second Son was the Cole's Legacy DLC missions.

Pacing. I strongly disliked how every side mission was available at the start of the game. You were also given the location of all the blast shards in the area as soon as you take down the DUP truck. inFamous 2 would give you a few side missions every time you completed one of the story missions so that there was always a small break between story missions. You also did not get the location of every blast shard on your map until after you completed all the side quests, which was near the end of the game.

Dodge/Roll/Cover. Why the fuck was this removed? This was a key ability that made it possible to leap into the middle of a combat situation and be able to survive. You would roll from enemy to enemy and if shit got too bad you would hide behind cover and shoot at enemies. Instead in Second Son you have the dash button that is only good for running far away and then running back. They easily could have had both. Festival of Blood gave you the ability to fly and you could still role and take cover behind objects.

Powers. It is pretty funny that they gave this game the"enjoy your powers" tagline when it has the worst powers in the series. Yes you have access to four different powers. On paper that sounds great. Unfortunately, all the powers are limited to slight variations of a pea shooter, a missile, an immobilizing grenade, a dash and a screen clearing finisher. Whats more you can only use one power type at a time. inFamous 2 allowed you to mix and match your powers at will by simply allowing you to select which attacks you wanted to assign to each button. You could throw an electric grenade followed immediately by an ice missile if that is what your heart desired. Also what happened to the Star Wars like force push? It was one of my favorite powers and it allowed you to throw grenades and rockets back at enemies.

Traversal. Getting around with smoke powers through vents and getting pushed up was pretty neat. However, with the neon and video powers you just zip around the buildings to the point where traversal ceases to be fun and just becomes a chore. Grinding lines and hovering to get around in the other inFamous games was great and the smoke power gets close to recreating that but unfortunately the location is just not as interesting.

Location. The world is really really bland. Maybe that is just because Seattle is a boring place but the environment is incredibly stale. Empire City looked like a place where shit was fucked up. New Marais had the vibrant city on half the map and the hurricane struck flooded city on the other half.

UGC. Also known as user generated content. Was it clunky in inFamous 2 and Festival of Blood? Yes. But I still would have loved to see them try to iterate on it. There is absolutely 0 post game content in Second Son and that sucks.

In Conclusion

I am extremely disappointed with Sucker Punch. It is mind boggling how much of a drop in quality Second Son was. It really seems like their heart wasn't in it this time. If this is the kind of quality we can expect to see from their inFamous games then I would rather they work on a new IP and leave the inFamous franchise to someone who actually gives a shit.

I am really curious to hear what you duders thought of this game. Do you agree with my sentiments or do you feel like this was just as good or better than the old inFamous games? Had you ever played an inFamous game before or was Second Son the first one you played?