They don't have to be released this year, or even recently. Anything goes from Pong to Captain Toad. As long as you played your first playthrough this year, it's on the table.
I have to give mine to Pandora's Tower. This game is so quintessentially un-Nintendo, but it's still amazing. The combat is fun, the dungeons are decently designed, the music, while limited, is nice, and the shop and crafting system is really well done. But what really puts the game over the top for me is the character development/story and the bosses. The game actually makes your relationship with Elena a gameplay mechanic, and I actually felt bad when saw she had partially transformed. The bosses are also absolutely amazing. Each boss was creative, action packed, and challenging.
Honorable mentions:
Okami
Tales of Vesperia
Steamworld Dig
Worst of the year:
Weapons Shop De Omasse- Not funny, not fun, waste of money.
Bayonetta 2 - awesome game in a dead genre. The reason I bought a Wii U (and anger every time they deleted it), and my God it was worth it. One of my favorite games of all time.
DKC: Tropical Freeze - I wasn't expecting much from this game. I hated Returns, it was just too boring to me. Well, few days later, I saw a copy for 35 euro, so I tought why not if it's cheap. And when it came in, I got totally glued to the controller. 100% it, absolutely loved nearly everything about it... It is just a great game.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor - I was hoping like idiot for Arkham Knight, but they delayed it and instead there was this. My gf bought it for me and I was amazed how good this game turned out to be. Nearly everything in it was done right, except bugtest, because for some weird reason it can pretty much fry PS4 when you uncover 2nd map before doing quests (after most of them are done, game goes back to normal - it's weird). Other than that, gameplay was fluid, the graphics beautiful and the world wasn't just tacked on for brand recognition, but actually done with care (although Golum felt like he was pointless and was added only for fans to cream all over him).
That reminds me... I still have Pandora's Tower unpacked. Damn that backlog!
The best is inFamous: Second Son.
Other great games I played this year are:
SSB Wii U
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Rune Factory 4
Samurai Warriors 4
Towerfall: Acension
Honerable mentions:
Dust: An Alysian Trail
Don't Starve
Red Dead Redemption (360) - I actually got this for Christmas last year, but I put off on playing it until this spring, because it had everything going against it in terms of my interest (I've never cared for westerns, at least when it comes to films. While I've enjoyed the sandbox games I've played before, I never got around to finishing them. The desert theme is one of my least favorite in gaming)...
However, I decided to boot it up when I had no other games to play, and was instantly hooked. The game world was large & beautiful (very fun to explore), and with lots of things to do (it also probably helped that it was the first sandbox game I played that wasn't set in a concrete jungle). The story was actually quite engaging, and once I got into it, the theme actually really helped it out since it was unlike anything else I've played. The gameplay itself was very refined, and there was a lot of variety in mission types (in addition to all the gunfights, you had to tame wild horses, run a cattle drive or two, hunt down a grizzly bear, race on horseback, etc.), although I think my favorites were the epic military assaults you started to get into about midway into the game.
Not everything about it was too my liking (it got a little too dark at times for my personal tastes, and the swamp, plains, forest, & mountain biomes were all stuffed into 1/3rd of the map, while the other 2/3rd's were 2-3 different desert biomes), but it was still a genius game that managed to get me into a new genre with many things going against it going in. Color me impressed.
Honorable mentions:
Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (3DS Amb) - First time playing YI, and it is as brilliant as everyone says.
InFamous (PS3) - Got into it after beating RDR. This one was a little rough around the edges, but it was very fun as well.
Kirby & the Amazing Mirror (3DS Amb) - A lot like InFamous. It was trying some new ideas (for it's franchise, at least), and while it's rough around the edges, it was intriguing, and I'd like to see how they could improve upon it in a sequel.
Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale (3DS eShop) - A very charming experience, with beautiful hand drawn pre-rendered backgrounds, and a very innocent tale anyone can relate to.
Zelda: Oracle of Ages (3DS VC) - While not one of my favorites, it's a solid Zelda adventure, which is always a good thing, and Veran made for an interesting boss.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
Shovel Knight and Smash 3DS (don't have the Wii U version yet) for games released this year. Xenoblade Chronicles, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Fire Emblem: Awakening for games I first played in 2014.
My list is heavily biased in favor of Nintendo because most of the games I played this year (at least, most of the ones in the second half of this year) were on Nintendo systems.
Storytime7
3DS Friend Code: 4124-5304-9315 | Nintendo Network ID: storytime7
the year started how last year ended, on a heavy GTA V online and FIFA 14 manager mode binge. this year the FIFA bug finally left me and I now only casually play the new one on PS3, and I didn't fall for the GTA V remake, I'm not wasting $500+ on the new Playstation for something I already beat on and offline for a year.
played Mario Kart Double Dash and New Super Mario Bros Wii with my girlfriend a fair bit this year, also Mario Kart 64 of course. as soon as Smash 3DS came out I got hooked, after getting well into Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon for a couple months. I also completed Pokemon X this year, I think that came out last year but it took me a while to warm up to it.
I enjoyed this far, far more than I thought I would. First off, it has a great battle system and customisation/skills progression that make it more tactical and engaging than most other Tales games I have played. I also liked the characters and though the story wasn't amazing, I thought the script itself was good. Many of the skits are funny and really helped to flesh things out. Very pretty visuals and nice music round off the package nicely.
only counting new games that i never played before.
1. Resident Evil Revelations (3DS)
i still can not believe what the developers achieved on the 3DS 2. Rallysport Challenge 2 (XBOX)
amazing visuals even for today standards. challenging semi-simulation gameplay. coregaming like xbox is none for. 3. Steel Diver Sub Wars (3DS - eshop)
over 79 hours played. they have to make a sequel with a proper single player mode. so much potential! 4. Fantasy Life (3DS)
very polished game but the combat feels shallow and way too easy. i hope the next nintendo handheld will get a sequel to this in form of a mmorpg
the rest without order (honorable mentions):
Project Gotham racing 2 (XBOX)
Splinter Cell 2 Pandora Tomorrow (XBOX)
Splinter Cell 3D (3DS)
Steamworld Dig (3DS - eshop)
Metroid Prime Hunters (DS)
AiRace Speed and AiRace Xeno (3DS - eshop)
Nintendo Pocket Football Club (3DS - eshop)
games that i have played before but played again this year:
age of empires 2 (PC)
rollercoaster tycoon 2 (PC)
mercenaries (XBOX) - the main reason i bought a xbox again
Forums
Topic: What is (are) the best game(s) you played this year.
Posts 1 to 18 of 18
This topic has been archived, no further posts can be added.