Something went wrong. Try again later

veektarius

This user has not updated recently.

6420 45 11 25
Forum Posts Wiki Points Following Followers

Veektarius' Top 10 of 2015

I actually did play enough games from 2015 to make a top 10 list, just barely. So I'm going to, and no one can stop me. I'm not sure how many things that came out this year are going to be regarded as classics in years to come, but a lot of big advances were made in game design that started to make it apparent when games were released using a "last gen" philosophy. As many expected, this generation is less notable for the advances in graphics than it is the refinement of design.

List items

  • The Witcher 3 isn't the perfect game, but what it does for games writing in general and characterization particularly will, I think, become extremely influential on the quality of product that consumers demand in years to come. All of my favorite characters this year came from this game.

  • I really love the new Tomb Raider games. Lara is relatable, the world is beautiful, and this installment adds great new combat/stealth mechanics and some pretty fun tombs besides. The story didn't do as much for me as last time and it still feels weird when Lara takes out a squad of commandos who have the advantage of surprise, but I hope its apparently lackluster Xbone sales don't hurt a series that could have a great third installment. But is it just me or did Lara's face change (and not for the better)?

  • This isn't a huge game, isn't terribly innovative, has plenty of jank and is already suffering from a precipitous drop in playerbase, but Vermintide was a very smart iteration on the addictive L4D formula that should have been made years ago.

  • I'm not a serious MOBA player. So if you say Heroes of the Storm is for filthy casuals, I'm living proof. I don't think I've ever even played it with a friend. But HoTS decreases the insane amount of investment that competing products ask of its players while also adding increased variety and giving everything that nice, charming Blizzard veneer.

  • Yes, Bethesda probably should have tried to do more to keep up with the new generation, and I think that they made a major error in not advancing the timeline of the setting more so we can get beyond rusted steel roofs and ancient recordings from a faux-1950s future. The failures to advance their style of games in major ways masks some important improvements in writing and gameplay, however, and when it comes down to it Fallout 4 is still a fun game that was crafted with a ton of care and attention to detail that no one else even attempts.

  • Halo 5 is a pretty game, a good-sounding game, a game with a good story. I love Halo and am glad to see it's still doing well, and it has some neat new multiplayer options for its fans. The replayability of the campaign is severely hampered by the AI's inability to exploit the strategies needed to defeat its main boss, however, which is a strange oversight and a massive downer. I wasn't too bummed by the cliffhanger ending - it felt earned to me, but perhaps I do sympathize with those who were. Locke and his team were barely developed and given almost nothing interesting to do, thereby making a large chunk of the game enjoyable only for its gameplay.

  • I saw a lot of people listing this game as most disappointing. Coming three installments away from Rocksteady's surprise GOTY, it is a surprise that they developer never found a way to distinguish "better" from "more". But I played the game to completion and enjoyed myself, because the core was just so good.

  • Rebel Galaxy is a small game with a shortage of story and variety that could be a lot better if it weren't $20 and made by a tiny team of developers. What it did in demonstrating that capital ship space combat can be fun, and what's more, arguably more fun than fighter dogfighting is a godsend for everyone who ever watched a Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica battle and wished there was something more like it in video games. Hopefully someone will take that lesson and build it into a full-priced game.

  • We're starting to get to a couple of games that probably don't deserve to be on this list. Gal Civ III has the distinction of being the best new 4x I played this year, but I don't really mean much by it. There have been very few meaningful innovations since the outstanding but now quite aged Galactic Civiliations II, but nevertheless Stardock remain the kings of strategic interstellar warfare.
Load Comments