Misc. Blog 09 – Games of the Year!

Things have wound down for the year at Junkfish Manor, so I figured it’d be an idea to wrap up the blog post with the team’s games of the year!

Well, most of the team’s anyway. Our Glorious Leader, His Imperial Excellency and Admiral of Our Hearts Simon couldn’t make up his mind, Bean got lost in space and time and Adam is swimming on a roof somewhere…

Anyway, let’s roll! In their own words and no particular order:

Steph: Ni No Kuni – A studio Ghibli game that is utterly gorgeous, the story and soundtrack are fantastic too. It felt like I had jumped right into a story book. Mr.Drippy is a great character, flippin!

Peter: The Last of Us – It combined a well-written, emotionally touching story with spectacular set-pieces, and competently designed action/fighting sections. The character dynamic between Joel and Ellie was very well crafted, and the manner in which it evolved over the course of the game was both compelling and endearing. It borrowed mechanics from various other games, primarily the Uncharted series, but it combined and executed them in such a manner that it would be a dismay to see this game missing from any GOTY list. 11/10. Very much yes.

Gary: Bioshock Infinite – Waited for this game for ages and when I finally got my hands on it I was not disappointed. The story of this game lived up to its amazing predecessors, delivered beautifully on graphics and had exciting and challenging gameplay. The change of setting away from Rapture to the new Columbia was a nice change while still giving the fans their nostalgia by having references to Rapture throughout the game. To anyone who hasn’t played this yet I would highly recommend it.

Grant: Outlast. While horror fans were gearing up for the sequel to 2010 hit Amnesia: The Dark Descent, this one really came out of the woodwork. Packed with beautiful set pieces (albeit a tad covered with blood and viscera), intense chase sequences featuring disturbing and memorable enemies, and scares as clever and memorable as the infamous ladder scene from F.E.A.R, it’s a shining example of what a good horror game can be. In addition to tight gameplay mechanics, Outlast has a great sense of pacing, and while it loses its momentum a bit towards the end you never feel bored or like the game is being artificially padded. It’s a very linear game, but the level design and art direction is so good that even though for many chases you will be running down a set track, it still feels incredibly tense. I would highly recommend this to any fans of the genre.

Runners Up: Bioshock Infinite, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Grand Theft Auto V

Andy Tait: I hate picking things. I love all my children equally. XCOM Enemy Within was gid. Aye. I liked that. Though I think I had a fantastic (and unexpected) blast playing through blood dragon and shadow warrior. Both so over the top. And funny. Yeah. They are my fav games this year, maybe. I can’t remember what I played. So my GOTY I ‘spose. Shadow Warrior if I have to pick between them, just because of the sword. I don’t know.

Judy: I’ll say Don’t Starve. Its a great rogue like game with a lot to it. I love how your able to plan your stratergy indepth. Stuff like what tools you make first, what materials you need to make said tools, how dangerous is it to get these items, planning wheres the best place to set up your base, exploring the randomly generated environment all the while trying to not starve to death are just a few things the game has to offer. Plus it has a cool creepy vibe.

Jaime: I wrote up a list for another site that was in no order, so having to pick one from that is a bit of a pain. I’m probably going to go with Rayman Legends, with Super Mario 3D World a seriously close second. The pair could flip easily. I’ve been playing both of them on the WiiU and co-op, which is probably why Rayman wins out over Mario (That bloody multiplayer camera! My only compaint with the game!), but in terms of single player it’d be the other way around. Both are bright, vibrant and just straight up fun to play. Rayman does have the music stages too though.

And there we have it! 7/10, and we’ll patch in the rest later :). We’ll be back in the new year with a slightly revised blog format and serveral other rather exciting things, so do keep an eye out!

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!