Catching up

     I'm back here, not for Robot wars and not for Sonic but for a look at game of the year, but before I just jump to that there are a lot of games over these past 5 months I've played but not given any talk of, so how much can you accept my jump to them being game of the year contenders without me even mentioning them, therefor I'm going to give a brief look at the notable games that have come out this year and that I've played in my writing absence so you can see what might be coming. (Wow, just looked at the games I've played, turns out there's a lot), gonna have to skip many for the sake of my SAnitY)

No Mans Sky

   I'm not sure what I can say that hasn't already been said elsewhere by real people with real opinions, but many people sure do seem to hate this game. Sure, it certainly didn't live up to what was promised, but ultimately my real problem is that it was simply boring. I spent a long time searching around for large quantities of gold to sell and buy a big, bad arse ship, and I did. I was flying around the star systems like a legit boss. But then what? The game then became flying to another system, walking for ages to get the resources to refuel your hyperdrive in order to jump star systems and repeat, over and over and over and over... I did this for a couple of hours after buying the ship, and then figured whats the point? there's no story, just the mission to reach the centre of the galaxy and try and get all the trophies if that's your kind of thing. As I've mentioned I'm mainly an Xbox guy so if it were achievements I may have pushed on a little longer (although i can't imagine I'd have pushed all the way through anyway) but as it was trophies, I didn't care. Sorry to the detractors and the lovers and their 'opinions', I live in the middle ground where the truth lives, and the truth is that No mans sky is just dull.

The Witness

   I was never intending to play this game, I knew I'd find it annoying and boy was I right. Sure, it's a beautifully created game and island setting, but the game (as I knew going in) is walking around solving little puzzles (as you can see above), and it's a great idea for some to slowly work your way methodically around the island finding all it's secrets, but after about 2 hours of this I wanted to throw my controller through the TV, Throw my PS4 in a fire pit, hunt down a lobotomy expert (they exist, right?) and jump off a cliff. This game is not for me, which I knew, and still spent money on, what a stupid idiot.

The Banner Saga 2

I got this one free on 'Games with Gold' when it was released on Xbox (I know it was on PC before but it was new to me damn it) and I would never have considered this game otherwise, but it was great. It's a mix of turn based combat (as seen above), a great looking array of interactive cartoon cut scenes and decisions making which costs you lives of members of your squad.
   I have not played the first game in this series unfortunately so I didn't know the set up going in (it's basically one long story) although I think I figured it out throughout the course of this game but interestingly you get to carry your party and decisions over from the first, but I couldn't of course, having not played it, I felt like some sort of PS3 sucker who had to start Mass Effect at the third game and had generic story decisions made for them up to that point, How will they ever know how much of a shit Zaeed was?
   I love the story of your travelling band of misfits trying to run from evil and get to safety while losing so many members of the caravan along the way due to my own terrible decision making. Add in its RPG element and it makes for a terrific game, and I can't wait for the third game. I highly recommend this one, but unlike me you should probably play the first one first.

Recore

This was an interesting one, a new franchise that was an Xbox one exclusive (unfortunately a bad idea these days, thanks terrible 2013 presentation) which was shown as a teaser a couple of years ago at E3 but little was said about it since. It had the name of Keiji Inafune attached (the creator of Mega Man (and also mighty number 9...)) which is promising, but the fact that very little was shown of the game for a long time and it's 2/3 price point of regular retail releases gave a bad sign going in.
   Ultimately it was okay. It had some good 3D platforming, a good idea about wrestling for the cores of opponents to gain some extra power from them (much like eating the heart of an animal to gain its courage) as well as your little AI buddy that you could put in to different robot bodies to help you out in different ways. The story had a decent set up about humans escaping to another planet but robots taking over or something, I can't really remember now because it really wasn't explored as much as it should've been.
   Ultimately it got stale and repetitive,  also, I got stuck towards the end to game. I didn't grind like I apparently needed to and as you get in to the big tower that leads you up to the final boss you can't go back so it became near impossible to get though, and by that point I really wasn't enjoying it enough to force myself to do so, which is weird because I usually do.

Forza Horizon 3

   This has probably taken the place of Forza Horizon 2 as my favourite racing game of all time, it really is fantastic. It's got everything that 2 had (I never played the first one so can't comment on that) but in a much better and varied location of Australia, with more cars and the ability to import your own sound track using Microsoft Groove, which did take me a lot of faff to get going with the one drive and data transfer and signing up, but was ultimately worth it when Alanis Morissette is pumping out you TV. Of course, you could mute the radio on the game and just play your music from your own chosen source of media, but that's not the point. What game was I talking about again?
   The game controls fantastically as Forza always does, the variety of different types of races keeps the game from growing stale as I find the main Forza series to be in the same way Gran Turismo is. The levelling system is smartly done with the free spin of the car wheel and the upgrading system which doesn't effect the actual gameplay but the money and style points, which are used to level up. The only real problem with the game is that, despite what I said at the start, when you take away the whole package of the game and strip it down to the moment to moment gameplay, it doesn't feel any different to Horizon 2.

Titanfall 2

   I enjoyed the first game, but it was missing a single player game, and now they added one. okay, better take it back a bit. This is an FPS largely based around multiplayer with the hook of periodically being able to call in giant mech suits (or 'titans', hence the name) to use and fight with. For the single player the game is fun. the parkore that is a large part of the out of titan gameplay is implemented very well here, much better than in the multiplayer for me and the shooting is fun too with well designed levels and a solid if not cliched story. There is a very memorable level in that involves jumping forwards and backwards in time that is particularly good.
   The multiplayer is as good as it was in the first, it certainly takes some practise to get good at, but when you get in the groove it becomes a lot of fun. There are 2 major problems though. firstly, there is no where near enough maps and although it means you can easily learn the maps they also get stale quickly. The other problem was that due to its bizarre and unexplained release between battelfield one and call of duty, barely anyone bought the game and therefore there wasn't many people playing online. This didn't really effect the main game modes, but if you wanted to play some of the more varied game modes in the game then you'd be waiting for 10-15 minutes to get in to a game, which I could never be bothered with.

Dishonoured 2

   I loved, loved, loved the first Dishonoured. The fantastic stealth elements, the varied ways to finish missions, the slightly Steam punk world and story of assassination and retribution. This one has the same basic setting and gameplay style but it just didn't grab me. It may have been my own fault, there are now 2 playable characters, Corvo from the first game and Emily, his daughter. Going in I figured I was definitely going to play it through twice so I'd play it through in 'classic' Corvo style first then move on to Emily, but then I got so bored while playing it that I didn't want to play through again. (which was odd for me anyway as I think the last game I played through twice the 2004 hit GTA: San Andreas). This it's not a bad game at all, btw,  but it doesn't seem to be any different from the first game at all to me. I was so disappointed, just like I was with Xcom 2 earlier in the year (scroll down through the older posts) in that a first game in a series (or relauncehed series as in the case of Xcom) was so good, and I loved them like my own non existent children, only for the sequels to seem to take no steps forwards and be essentially the same game. Yes, I'm aware I said this in a more positive manner with Forza earlier, and I can't explain why I still like that and these 2 disappointed me, I don't know why I think things, but the ultimate point is that I was disappointed. Also, I've noticed over the last few years I've got significantly worse at stealth games, so that doesn't help either.

Battlefield 1

   Remember when all Fps' were all set in world war 2, god that was boring, I'm so glad they moved on. But wait, World war one, ooooh, now that's interesting. Turns out no, this game feels like a ww2 shooter and not in a good way. A lot of people seem to enjoy this game for that leap back in time but I feel the opposite. I am not a Call of Duty fan, don't get me wrong, but if I'm going to be playing an FPS it's more likely to be futuristic than set in some kind of old timey war, basically, give me titanfall 2 over this any day.
   The single player mode was a good idea, no long campaign but the 'great war' told from 5 different perspectives across the world and it got quite emotional at times and was well written, but as I didn't enjoy the gameplay I found these tales really dragged on, especially towards the end of each tale where I just wanted to see the ending of the short story but was stuck in some half hour battle to take a castle that I just wished was over. On the plus side, there is a bit where you get to play as a pigeon.
   Battlefield is known for it's vast, expansive multiplayer with giant maps, lots of players and objectives and all sorts of vehicles, weapons and turrets. But, as you can figure by now, I don't like these weapons or vehicles from a WW1 game at all and also, I was terrible at it, but that's my problem. As they say, War, World War never changes...

Watchdogs 2

   I'm still playing this one at the moment and will likely finish it but I feel like I know enough by now to make my point. So, Watch dogs was was fine, i don't have the hatred for it that some do, in the history of the GTA style game it ranks somewhere in the middle. I watched the trailer for this one though and it seemed like all the characters in the game were a bunch of dickheads, and I was right. Am i supposed to like these people? Basically, you're in a not too distant future where everything is controlled by a light Big Brother system where everything is connected and of course, it's being used by the wrong hands to market at you and other such evils. Ooh, these dousche hackers have to fight for the right of the common man because who else can? On the plus side, they do make a reference to DS9...
   The game itself isn't bad but it is very repetitive, a lot of the missions can be completed without getting personally involved and letting your drone and RC car do everything for you. It is somewhat disappointing then when the wrench (haha, geddit (it's the name of one of the characters)) is thrown in to the works and you have to get involved when you haven't bothered to level up your shooting abilities and suddenly you need them. The hacking is improved from the original game, there are plenty of ways this can be implemented well under different circumstances, This feels like a good first step for a hacking system for a game whereas the system in the original game was basically useless.
   The world map is based on San Fransisco. Now, I've been there, but I don't remember any of it. unless you live or have lived there I don't see why anyone would care, just create your own fun place like Vice city or something (or ideally, Watch Dogs 3; Birmingham (that would be bostin')). They have a fast travel system in the game as well where you can travel to many locations in the game which basically negates the point of driving around at all and, although time saving, takes a massive part of the genre of this game away. All in all it's fine, I don't hate it but I doubt i'll remember any of it 6 months from now.


   I should also note that one of the best things I've played this year is the Witcher 3 DLC: Blood and wine. That came out this year and really reminded me what an all time great it is, but as it's DLC, it doesn't count by my own stringent self imposed rules. There are a few other games I've played in this period such as Worms WMD, Deus Ex: Mankind divided, Virginia, WWE 2k17, overwatch and a few others but I don't have anything of note to say about them and obviously they wont be involved in anything else I'm likely to say. Well, stand by for game of the year.