2016 was a pretty good year for video games, and not such a good year for a lot of other things. I don't think I played that many video games that came out in 2016, but I had a lot of fun with the ones I did. Here they are in an ordered list...
Overwatch is kind of an odd choice for me when it comes to games I usually play. I rarely get into online multiplayer shooters. But this one was special. I (almost) always felt great while playing this game; even when my team wasn't doing too well. It plays fantastically and I loved playing with my friends.
What a fantastic JRPG. I love the battle system. I really like the characters in this game. I love the style; I like the music; I like so many things about this game. Even with Persona 5 not coming out in 2016, at least we got Tokyo Mirage Sessions; and that's more than good enough.
I really like Pokemon-style games. I like collecting different monsters, raising and evolving them. Digimon Story added a lot to that style of game and changed it up in the right ways. I liked the design of the digimon and the evolution (and de-evolution) paths of each. I also really liked the style of this game. Another great JRPG in 2016.
I haven't played a Dragon Ball game since the Budokai Tenkaichi games on the PS2; but I think I chose the right time to come back with Xenoverse 2. I liked creating my own DB character, giving them the coolest moves in the series and kicking ass. The combat (while pretty basic) looks and feels awesome. And it looked pretty good, too. I think this might be one of the best Dragon Ball games I've played since the Budokai games.
I've always liked the Uncharted series. While 1 and 3 were pretty good games in their own right, I would say 2 was the pinnacle of the series. That is until A Thief's End came along. I loved pretty much every moment of this game. From the gunplay, to the exploration, to the story; it was all perfectly crafted. A great end to the series.
I haven't had too much experience with the Final Fantasy series. I've played about 20 hours of 10 and... that's about it. So a lot of the Final Fantasy tropes and callbacks were kind of lost on me.
With that said, I still had a great time with this game. The world was huge and beautiful; the combat was cool (if a little cumbersome); and the story was interesting, if a little rushed (or completely cut out) in spots. Overall I really liked the game and plan to go back to it at some point to do the post game content.
Ratchet & Clank continues to be a great game series. This one was a little short (it being a sort of remake of the first game), but it was still Ratchet & Clank - so it was still great.
This one was a bit of a disappointment for me. Awakening was one of my favorite games of 2013, so Fates had a lot going for it. It's still a Fire Emblem game, so the gameplay is great, but the story wasn't super engaging. I kind of lost interest near the end.
I managed to finish it, and am happy that I did; but I probably won't do another playthrough like I did with Awakening. Birthright was my game of choice, but I probably won't play Conquest or Revelations. Too bad I guess.
I was way into Xcom Enemy Unknown. I got frustrated with it quite a bit but overall I had a ton of fun with it.
I don't think Xcom 2 is quite as good. It really built on the foundation that was built by the first one, but I just kind of fell off halfway through. It's a cool and interesting game and I may come back to it some time in 2017 (if they make those load times better on consoles).
