GOTY 2016
Last year I had a rough time getting 10 games. This year I had to leave off a couple. Good year. Games Made Great Again.
List items
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Spent more time with this than any other. There seems to be some hindsight dislike for this game, but I have very few complaints. The initial level 1-30 progress is fantastic. The Dark Zone (at least during the first couple of months) was probably the most intense multiplayer experience I've ever had. The feeling of not knowing if that group of players up ahead was going to jack your stuff was incredible. I literally would hide behind stuff, mute my mic, and not move if I saw people coming down the street and I knew I couldn't handle them.
A little bit questionable in the post-launch, at least at first. Over the last couple months of 2016 they really seemed to get this game back on track. Not sure I'll ever be as into it as I was over the Summer, but what it did for me was more than good enough to be the best game I played this year.
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I hated the alpha test. I hated the second alpha test slightly less...but still hated it.
Somehow, in the brief time between the tests and the full release, they fixed it almost completely. The best multiplayer FPS since Call of Duty 4. I've been playing it non-stop since release, and I don't see that slowing down anytime soon. It's a shame they forced this out the door at an incredibly opportune time, which clearly hurt the success of the game.
Either way, this game far outclasses Battlefield 1, Overwatch, or Call of Duty as 2016's best multiplayer shooter. The singleplayer isn't even a discussion, as it has next to no competition at all in any genre...one game coming up next notwithstanding.
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Metal has always been the superior form of music when done right.
Doom 3 had a lot wrong with it. It was a Megadeth's "Super Collider." A name you knew with an incredibly underwhelming offering.
Doom 2016 was Strapping Young Lad's "The New Black." The most modern incarnation of a classic and respected act, that completely overwhelms you and leaves you steamrolled on the ground in satisfaction.
Only reason it's not higher is the underwhelming multiplayer. If it were better, it would be neck and neck for Titanfall 2's spot. Despite that, it was probably the best singleplayer FPS campaign I played this year.
Doom. Heavy fuckin' metal.
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Best racing game since Burnout Paradise. I'm usually not big on racers that aren't 100% arcade-y, and I appreciated the past Horizon titles, but this one brought everything they learned from the first two together. From surface-level stuff like the graphics, to minor features like being able to play in-game music through your Groove account, they made the perfect Horizon game.
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This game wasn't as big a "risk" as it may have seemed on the surface when it was first announced. It's still Battlefield with a few new tricks.
But the singleplayer story was fun, and the mega-battle multiplayer mode is interesting and something I'd like to see them carry on with in future games. Next to Titanfall 2, best multiplayer I got my hands on this year.
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God bless you, Fru. As someone who still has (and uses) their Kinect frequently (for voice commands, at least), it was nice to have a clever game to make use of my long-forgotten peripheral.
By the developer's own admission, it sold even less than expected (and those expectations couldn't have been very high to begin with), so that's probably going to be a one-and-done game. I'm just glad it came out at all.
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I'm someone who does equate money spent to time it takes to finish, so this one ranks a little lower than some probably have it. Just doesn't take much to be done with it and wondering if my ~20 bucks was worth it.
Looks outstanding, though. If this were a list of games just based on appearance, this would be top 2 or 3. Atmosphere is second to none. The way it just drops you in the game with no real tutorial or intro is fucking great, you just figure it out on your own without any problem.
Despite the short play time, I could definitely go for "one of these" every 3 or 4 years.
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Comes off super overrated whenever I see people talking about it, but it certainly one of the top 10 games of the year. Blizzard's "loot box" system is utter cancer and completely offensive (see Titanfall 2 for how to do unlockables/skins correctly). The character designs are sort of by-the-numbers, and the game actually seems super thin on content when looked at overall. No singleplayer is an especially glaring issue.
But - the gameplay is, for the most part, fantastic. That's what matters the most, so that's why it's one of the 10 best games of the year.
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This didn't do a ton for me. Just not enough has changed since Gears 3 for me to get super excited, and I could have done without it for a couple more years.
Multiplayer Gears has never been something I'm that interested in, and they did zero to change that this time around. Co-op multiplayer is a different story, as Horde mode still rules...it's just still not THAT different from what we've had previously.
But damn, this game really looks good at times. The singleplayer story is well-told and legitimately funny. Despite it still feeling stale, it's a really well done stale. I wish they'd do something to really reinvent it, but I doubt that'll happen.
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It's hard to make a sequel to one of the greatest games ever made. This game had a lot to live up to, and it definitely fell short in multiple areas. Looking at it completely on its own though, it's not bad. Music is still great, tons of visual options, and the challenge is there if you want it to be. I'm not a modern day Billy Mitchell, so I probably won't go back to it to challenge for higher scores. But I enjoyed my time with it.
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