GOTY 2015
Here's my favourite games from 2015.
List items
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Oh Life is Strange. You started off with hipster kids, their teen ‘tude and time travel. By the end of it you’d sent me on a wave of so many emotions. I absolutely adore this game. I’d never enjoyed any of the episodic adventure game but this game sunk its hooks in me. Granted the choices you make in the game don’t mean a lot by the end but in the moment you feel like they mean so much. Being able to rewind and re-do certain choices doesn’t remove this weight however and on several occasions I rewound on choices 4-5 times. Upon completing episode I and a friend spent about 2 hours just chatting about the game. My only issue was how long the gap between some episodes was. The wait did get a bit much at times, the end of episode three and boy does this game get dark. This is a great experience and would highly recommend it.
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The sole reason I bought a Wii U. I played this at a StreetPass group that I attend and I fell in love. I’m so genuinely impresses that Nintendo took a stab at the online shooter and they did so much with it to make it fresh. Game types not being focused around kills and having no reason to care about your precious K/D. Matches of Splatoon are always fun. Nintendo have given so much support for this title since launch as well, for free! New ranked modes, new weapons, outfits and maps. Sure sometimes the connection issues can be an issue but not enough to drag it down. The look of the game is simply awesome to look at. The vibrant colours of the teams guarantee that the map will be a colourful mess when the match ends. The soundtrack is great as well and gets a lot of play on my IPod. I am really hyped to see what Nintendo can do with a Splatoon 2 (Spla2oon?). Maybe add a more substantial single player? If you want to mix up your online multiplayer this is the game to do it.
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Ok just to get this out of the way, Screw Konami and all that. Metal Gear Solid V simply put is an amazing open world game. Where so many open world games are feeling more and more like Assassins Creed it’s nice to have something that feels different. Even though the plot in this game is a lot less than other Metal Gear games I still really enjoyed it. The twist was pretty awesome. Playing this game is such a treat. I loved sneaking into enemy outposts and fultoning soldiers back to my base. The game allows you to tackle pretty much every mission in any way you like. It does feel bittersweet that this is Kojimas’ last Metal Gear game. I really need to go back and 100% this. Also Quiet for best buddy!
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Man this game is a treat. It wasn’t really on my radar initially but the more I saw of it the more interested I got. I’ve always liked the idea of the games by David Cage but the only one I played some of was Heavy Rain and lost any desire to keep going pretty early. With Until Dawn looking to be a similar style but playing out like a typical horror movie looked like a riot. This game looks incredible, even if some of the actors portraying look a bit too old for the characters they play. You’re choices in the game matter and can resurface in ways I didn’t expect. This is a game I’ve told any of my friends who enjoy horror to play this. This game is super fun.
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I can’t believe that in 2015 I got to play a new Project Zero / Fatal Frame game. I totally lost my shit when I saw teased by Iwata on the Nintendo Direct. This series has been one I’ve loved ever since I randomly came across Project Zero 3. This feels like an old-school Japanese horror game all the way, which isn’t a bad thing. Granted the controls are a little bit too clunky but for me at least it builds up the atmosphere. Some of the ghost designs straight up creeped me out. Using the gamepad for the camera view is a nice little gimmick. Sadly the game is just too easy on normal, which all I’ve played so far up to chapter 12. The game hands out healing items in every corner and when a ghost is nearby you get a red warning indicator pointing towards which stops them from jumping you. The game has still got me good with some of its scares and I really enjoy but you have to get over quite a bit to have fun with it.
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Another year and another imported Senran Kagura game in my top 10. I still have so much respect for the developers behind this game. Like Onechanbara they don’t hide away from the fan service or try to down play it. To call it a great Dynasty Warriors clone seems harsh but that is the best way to describe the gameplay. Can’t really say much about the plot since it was an import copy and I can only just about navigate the menus. Sadly this game doesn’t have as many new characters as Shinovi Versus had but they are still pretty cool. The fan-service is still pretty bonkers and some cool updates have added new characters. I am looking forward to the UK release in early 2016.
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Last year was the year of Dark Souls for me. I fully pointed both games and put some decent time into Demon’s Souls I was super looking forward to this and was the game that made me upgrade to the PS4. The change in combat forcing you to be more aggressive was a challenge I looked forward too. The new setting of the game is incredible and at times made it feel more like a survival horror game. Sadly I dropped off pretty close to the end and haven’t gone back to it. Maybe I will just before Dark Souls 3.
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Ok I have to first start off by saying this spot is for all the Hyperdimension Neptunia games that Idea Factory International localized and released this year. That includes ReBirth 2, ReBirth 3, Action Unleashed and Hyperdevotion Noire. It’s pretty awesome work from the team to get 4 games out in one year so props to them. All the games in this series are super 4th wall breaking and poke fun at clichés from all sorts which pretty much hit well. Granted they are not the deepest games out there but they fun enough and great titles for the Vita and took up a lot of time on my breaks in work.
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Initially I was a bit worried about Revelations 2. Resident Evil 6 still loomed over me like a dark cloud. The HD version of Remake did make me feel a bit better though as they charged a decent price and put some work into it. The idea of a Resi game being episodic was at first a red flag due to how many episodic games take sooo long between episodes that you can lose interest in them. Thankfully Capcom had a nice tight schedule set for the game. Each episode was a decent length and swapping between the two stories was nice. The game play is this game worked so much better than Resi 6 and felt more responsive. Extra modes for the story and an updated raid mode add so much replay value as well. Raid mode in this game can be quite addictive with the constant levelling of your character and unlocking new skills. Hoping Capcom keeps the positive train going with the upcoming HD master of Zero.
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Going back to S-rank the 360 Onechanbara game before this title dropped really helped show how much the series has improved. Granted the game knows what its main selling point is but if you don’t mind fan service *and I for one don’t*you have a fun action game that still has some awesome ideas. The concept of your weapon being covered in gore having an actual effect on how much damage you do is neat. Getting the timing on combos for the extra damage is rewarding and a lot easier on this game instead of just button mashing. This game has a nice sense of style and I had enough fun to go for the Platinum, thankfully not as hard as the 360 Onechanbara game.
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