Day 1

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Welcome to day 2 of my 5 day rundown of all the best and worst of gaming in 2016. Today is a celebration of both the audio and visual aspects of games and then I get to the games that disappointed me the most, and some games that came out of nowhere to be my favorites of the year. With that being said, let's get to it.

As with yesterday, spoilers will be thrown around at will and all the videos/screenshots are mine unless otherwise stated.

Most Grafix

What started as a joke award that went exclusively to FMV games, has now become slightly more serious. Anyway here are the games of 2016 that have the most grafix.

• Dark Souls 3
• Doom
• Far Cry Primal
• Hitman
• Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
• Uncharted 4
• The Witness

Runners Up:

Dark Souls 3:

Of all of Dark Souls 3’s breathtaking environments, the one that stands out is the Irithyll of the Boreal Valley level. Most of the levels look amazing, but this gorgeous level stands out as one of the best-looking areas in a game this year.

The Witness:

When first starting up The Witness, you will be greeted with a dark tunnel. After solving a few simple tutorial puzzles, you will open up the door and lay eyes upon one of the most jaw-dropping art styles in the medium.

Winner:

Uncharted 4:

There is not much I can say about Uncharted 4 that the screenshots can’t say for themselves. Simply put, Uncharted 4 is the best-looking game I have ever played. Here are many screenshots to demonstrate that.

MOST STYYYYYYYYLE

Every once in a while, a game will come along with a combination of a unique art style, soundtrack, mechanics, and an overall feel that no other game can replicate. This award celebrates the most stylish games of 2016.

• Doom
• Furi
• Inside
• Let it Die
• Mafia 3
• Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
• Oxenfree
• Overwatch
• Stardew Valley
• The Witness

Runners Up:

Furi: Furi's style can only be described as cell shaded, cyberpunk anime. This combination works brilliantly on top of gameplay presentation that brings the whole game together in a cohesive, styyyyyyyyylish package that I would recommend to anyone looking for a great looking game. (Not my video)

Overwatch: So much has been said about Overwatch's style that I really don't need to go into detail with this one.

Winner:

Let it Die: Despite what I personally think of Let It Die, this game oozes style out of every pore. The overall aesthetic of this game gives off an amazing first impression that carries the rest of the game further than it should have. There's a skateboarding Grim Reaper, a ton of ripping guitars, and a mushroom that makes you do yoga to restore your character's health bar. I feel that it lacks in many key areas, but it certainly does not lack in STYYYYYYYYYYYYYYLE.

Mafia 3 presents the award for

Best use of a song in Mafia 3

• Ace of Spades by Motörhead- Call of Duty Black Ops 3 DLC #3
• Paint it Black by The Rolling Stones- Mafia 3
• Bad Moon Rising by CCR- Mafia 3
• You Belong to Me by The Misfits- Mafia 3
• Green River by CCR- Mafia 3

Runners Up:

Paint it Black by The Rolling Stones- Mafia 3: One of the opening scenes of Mafia 3 is a celebratory moment cut short by the legendary intro to this song. The rest of the song is used to great effect and sets up the rest of the game. (Video is not mine)

Green River by Credence Clearwater Revival- Mafia 3: Late in Mafia 3, the game tasks you with disrupting a riverboat party. After destroying the riverboat, Lincoln stalks the main target of the mission through the swamps while this song plays in the background. (Not my video) It is also worth noting that, John Fogerty actually says "New Bordeaux", the fictional New Orleans in which the game takes place, in the song.

Winner:

Bad Moon Rising by Credence Clearwater Revival- Mafia 3: CCR is one of my favorite bands ever, so I am always overjoyed when one of their songs gets used in a game. Mafia 3 uses about half of their greatest hits, none more effectively than this classic track. While it may be a little on the nose, the song is still used in a fantastic way. (Not my video)

Best Music:

• Doom
• Firewatch
• Furi
• The Last Guardian
• Mafia 3
• Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
• Oxenfree
• No Man's Sky
• Stardew Valley
• XCOM 2

Runners Up:

Firewatch: Firewatch's soundtrack mostly comes down this acoustic guitar riff, but it is a good one and it is used effectively every time it comes up.

Stardew Valley: At first Stardew Valley just seems like another 2d pixel art indie game, but the second the music kicks in, it sets itself apart. Not just that song but the entire soundtrack is pretty damn enjoyable. When this is the first song you hear, you know it's going to be a good game. And a bonus song for the holiday season. (Not my videos)

Winner:

Mafia 3: Mafia 3 wins this category by virtue of having damn near every major hit from the 1960's. This soundtrack helps give the game a sense of place and is just pretty damn amazing in its own right.

Most Disappointing:

This category isn't actually as self-explanatory as it seems. There is a lot that goes into being disappointed by a game, such as previous expectations, hype from people you trust, or just being able to see a game's good ideas being overshadowed by the bad ones.

• Sid Meier's Civilization VI
• Dark Souls 3
• Doom
• No Man's Sky

Runners Up:

Sid Meier's Civilization VI: It's not that Civ VI is a bad game, it just does nothing to grab me the way previous games have. I love the new art style and the smart gameplay changes, but there is just something about this one that makes me uninterested in playing more than 10 minutes of it. Maybe when the game gets Steam Workshop support and Mass Effect mods I will come back to it, but for now, I will just stare at it wonder why I just don't enjoy it.

No Man's Sky: What do I even say about No Man's Sky (other than the 4000 words I've already said about it). I played this game after all the grievances about it were aired and yet I still came away from it wanting more. Similar to Fallout 4, the more I played No Man's Sky, the more I saw what it could have and by all means should have been. Despite this, I do want to go back to it and see what the new creative mode is like, but I don't think anything will be able to alleviate my disappointment with this game.

"Winner":

Dark Souls 3: Coming off the heels of one of the best games I've ever played in Bloodborne, I expected the world of Dark Souls 3. What I got instead was the third game of this type (fourth if we count the Dark Souls 2 remaster) in as many years. On top of this, many people described it as a "greatest hits" of the Souls series, which isn't a bad thing, but it describes the game perfectly. This was a game I hoped would learn from Bloodborne, but it seems to have gone in the opposite direction, making it an easy choice for the most disappointing game of 2016.

Best Surprise

The opposite of Most disappointing, this category celebrates the games that may have slipped under the radar for a variety of reasons before I played them, but left a positive impression when I finally got the chance.

• Far Cry Primal
• Firewatch
• Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
• Oxenfree
• Stardew Valley

Runners Up:

Mirror's Edge: Catalyst: Mirror's Edge: Catalyst may not be a great game. In fact, it may have the worst story of a game I've played all year. But very few things match the fluidity of motion that this game allows for when running around the environment. I enjoyed the freerunning, I really like Faith as a protagonist, I found some of the supporting cast to be rather enjoyable as well. I heard a lot of bad things about this game, but it was nowhere near as bad as people made it out to be. I'm not sure if the Mirror's Edge franchise will ever get the game it deserves, but this game was a step in the right direction in a lot of ways.

Far Cry Primal: My past experiences with the Far Cry franchise weren't particularly memorable. I hated what I played of Blood Dragon and I enjoyed some parts of Far Cry 4. In Far Cry: Primal, I found a game that I had a ton of fun just running around and making my sabertooth tiger maul any bad guys I could find. Anything the game makes you do is terrible, but that didn't stop me from making my own fun with the systems the game gave me. And at the end of the day, isn't that what open world games are about? Also riding around on a wooly mammoth is just as fun as it sounds.

Winner:

Stardew Valley: If Stardew Valley is a time vampire, then I'm time Bella Swan. Over the course of SEVEN days, I put over 60 hours into this game. It is one of the rare games in which I just lost myself. If you've seen the quick look, the exuberance Dan shows is exactly how I felt throwing 13 straight hours into this game on some days. Every aspect hooked me and if I got bored of those, I would move on to one of the other million things to do. The best part is how this game seemed to come out of nowhere. One day some of the people I follow on Twitter lost their damn minds over it. Then I saw the quick look and gave it a try. Needless to say, I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaallllllly like this game. Now if my damn rabbit could drop a rabbit's foot, I could finally finish the community center.

And that's the end of Day 2. If you've made it this far, I hope you are enjoying my lists. If you are just joining me I suggest going to check out Day 1. Either way, I hope you join me tomorrow for day 3, as things really pick up, as I celebrate best performance, best new character, best gameplay, and finally best story. Thanks for reading.