My Favorite Games of 2016
This was perhaps the strangest year in all of my time at EGM. Since my arrival at the company, I have been know as the person who would often ignore the major studio releases and instead relish in whatever smaller (and sometimes weirder) Japanese games happened to see localization at that point. And yet, here in 2016, every one of my top five titles was a big-budget project.
It isn’t that Japanese games weren’t good this year—from Style Savvy: Fashion Forward to Assault Suit Leynos, Atelier Sophie to Chase: Cold Case Investigations, Gotta Protectors to Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII, Fairy Fencer F to Stranger of Sword City, there was a flood of games from overseas that I either played and love or still need to get to. It’s just, it happened that the five games to most capture my heart—and eat up my time—were something you’d expect from a more casual player or “Western gamer,” and not a hardcore gaming weeaboo like me.
| 05 | Titanfall 2 |
I know that this might not make sense to anyone else, but Titanfall 2 is my Call of Duty.
While I’ve been playing first-person shooters since the original Doom and Unreal Tournament, a few years back I finally decided to try my hand at the two bread-and-butter franchises: Call of Duty and Battlefield. What I thought I’d get from Activision’s offering, and what I wanted from it, is what I now get from Titanfall 2. More than anything else I’ve found in these recent years, this is the game I enjoy going to for that more serious, down-and-dirty competitive shooter experience (as opposed to a particular other game coming later). The guns, the shooting mechanics, the movement abilities, the overall aesthetics—they’re all so keyed in to what I want from this sort of game.
And then, there are the Titans. I have an emotional attachment to mine—typically either Tone or Northstar—and the moment that notification of a drop pings and I see them crashing into the ground, I feel a little more confident and secure thanks to knowing I’m not alone on the battlefield. I could never have imagined I’d love mixing military-style gunplay with giant robots as much as I do.
| 04 | Tom Clancy’s The Division |
Ever since the days of Phantasy Star Online, I’ve been looking for a replacement for the game, something that would satisfy that itch of adventuring together with friends, killing enemies, collecting loot, and exploring various locations. The Division isn’t exactly that, because I’ve ended up soloing most of what I’ve played so far, taking a slower, more methodical, and almost MMORPG-esque approach toward the game. And yet, even while it isn’t what I was wanting, it also is.
The Division ticks so many of the boxes that I love: third-person shooter, modern-day setting, big city backdrop, taking place during the winter, and a story that unfolds in post-apocalyptic conditions. I feel so at home when stepping foot into this world, and the basic template that Ubisoft has built here could be directly copied into various other game ideas and I’d be just as excited. (There’s also, no doubt, part of me that sees in The Division so many of the elements that I’ve imagined in my head for the “perfect” zombie survival game.)
At the end of the day, this was a project that seemed to be tailor-made for a person like me, and I’m looking forward to the countless hours of more content I still have to make my way through.
| 03 | Street Fighter V |
When it came to writing my review of Street Fighter V, I tried to take the game’s failings into consideration—namely, the lack of single-player content. Here, however, focused solely on what I most enjoyed and wanted, let me make it very clear: I couldn’t care less about a fighting game’s single-player content. Does it have a practice mode? Can I fight against other players locally or online? If the answer is “yes” to both of those, then I’ve got what I need.
I know many of you out there are still waiting for Arcade Mode or better Survival options, but for me, Street Fighter V has already grown into a fighter that I love. If SFV’s future is not bright, that’s a shame, because Capcom has built one hell of a core game here, one far beyond its predecessor Street Fighter IV in terms of gameplay, finess, enjoyment, visuals, and that “true” Street Fighter feel.
Look, sure, I totally wish that Capcom hadn’t rushed the game’s release like they did, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a fantastic title that’s some of the best street fightin’ we’ve had in years.
| 02 | Dark Souls III |
Asking me which I love more—the original Dark Souls or Dark Souls III—would be like asking me which of my two (hypothetical) children is my favorite. One was my first, and through them I learned the joy of discovering a whole new level of love and a piece of my life that hadn’t existed before. The other child, well, that period of discovering parenthood is gone, but—if I’m being honest with myself—they’re the smarter and more attractive one. Which Dark Souls I think superior changes depending on the day, the weather, my amount of hunger, or any other number of variables, but that I even might consider one of its siblings to be on par with the first Dark Souls—one of my favorite game releases ever—should tell you something.
Dark Souls III was familiar yet different, rough yet polished, frustrating yet engrossing. Should it be the last Dark Souls chapter we get for a while—or, perhaps, ever—it will stand as a fantastic close to a series that should forever be praised for what it brought to our beloved hobby. Oh, Dark Souls III also gave me my favorite boss since Quelaag—the Dancer of the Boreal Valley—so that’s not bad either.
| 01 | Overwatch |
Had you told me on May 23rd of this year that Blizzard’s new first-person team-based hero shooter would be in the top spot of my “best of the year” list for 2016, I’d have rolled my eyes and walked away laughing.
One day later, the first steps toward that inevitability were taken. It was a game I never thought I’d care about; one I got confused with Battleborn or Paragon or other rival releases; and one I only even began to notice because I thought the fanart of its characters was cool. Now, no game in recent memory has taken over my life anywhere close to as much as Overwatch did.
When I wasn’t playing games for work, I was playing Overwatch. When I wasn’t playing it, I was thinking about it, or interacting in its community, or hunting down the creations of its fans. As a person who never focused too much on FPSs, now I am obsessed with one, maining my favorite character (Mercy) or trying to learn someone for the first time (most recently, Soldier:76). I can’t wait to not only find and join a team, but be there ready with heals as a support—yes, we do exist—in hopes of pulling out a win. I came into this year thinking Street Fighter V would be my longest-running time sink, and yet, even it has seen neglect for “just one more” round of pushing the payload or capturing points.
I don’t know how you turned me into this kind of player (or person) Blizzard, but congratulations—and thanks.
| EX | My Biggest Shame of 2016 Becoming Overwatch Shipper Trash |
Look, I’m not going to pretend that I’ve never imagined two characters from a particular video game being romantically involved with one another. Examples over the years have been pairings such as Leon / Ashley, Chie / Yukiko, Nathan / Elena, or Seiko / Naomi—but those were always more passing thoughts of “wouldn’t they make a cute couple” and little more. Even when I got into the whole Max / Chloe vs Max / Warren thing with Life is Strange, that was born of decisions that actually existed within the game.
With Overwatch, however, I’ve taken a deep, dark, decadent turn in life. I’ve caused EGM’s Slack work chat to break out into shipping discussions at times. I can rattle off pairing names like “Widowtracer,” “Meihem,” and “Polar Bears” (though I prefer “Russian Winter”). I’ve argued at length how Pharmercy is “OTP” and made cases for why Mercy76 could have been a thing before, but now Soldier is the single dad raising gremlin D.Va when she’s not with her moms or off seeing grandpa Reinhardt and grandma Ana. I’ve dug through everything from Reddit to Tumblr to DeviantArt to Pivix looking for more fuel for the fires of shipperdom—and then helping to redistribute said art through my own Overwatch shipping-dedicated social media accounts.
Remember when I just thanked Blizzard right before this for having turned me into who I am now? I should maybe instead be sending them bills for therapy.
| EX | The “I Love You, I Hate You” Award Nintendo |
I’ve always had a weird relationship with Nintendo. I adored the NES but was bored by the SNES. I tend to care very little about the latest Mario or Zelda, but obsess over a number of the company’s smaller releases. I own 11 DS and 3DS models, yet not a single Wii U.
This year, however, they pushed my on-again, off-again romance with them to a whole new level. In 2016, I received the two Nintendo games I’d been wanting the most in English—Style Savvy: Fashion Forwardand Rhythm Heaven Megamix—but both came ridiculously late compared to other regions, and the latter was suddenly dropped during E3 without any marketing or push behind it. Nintendo of America finally gave the best size of New 3DS a proper stand-alone release recently, but as part of a misguided Black Friday push—instead of as a permanent model/price point for a platform that’s getting long in the tooth—which has left so many people unable to buy them as holiday gifts.
And then, do we even need to talk about the utter botch job that has been the NES Classic Edition? It’s looking like Japan received over 60,000 more units of the Famicom Mini in one week than the U.S. received of the NES Classic in one month. Is it good business to offer up one of the hottest gifts of the season and then make sure nobody can actually buy them?
| EX | The “Don’t You Dare Call it Dead” Award PlayStation Vita |
I like to consider myself a pretty easy-going person in terms of being able to take a joke or laugh at my own expense. However, there are two things that I never, ever play around about: my red hair, and the PlayStation Vita. Try pulling that “Vita has no games” joke to my face, and I’ll have to be held back from socking you in the mouth. While I know some of my fellow coworkers would like to believe otherwise, Sony’s handheld is far from dead—even if they seem to wish that it was at least forgotten.
2016 was still filled with tons of great games, and with folks like Limited Run Games and PQube joining the fray, it seemed like more companies were giving love to the little handheld this year than last. Plus, we aren’t even into 2017 proper yet, and the Vita already has at least 15 releases announced for it in the coming year. So, don’t you dare tell me that one of my favorite gaming platforms is ready to be buried six feet under just yet. (Also don’t remind me about the stupid amount of Vita games I’ve purchased this year. Yikes.)