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Greetings and welcome to the Lazy Game Review's Best Games of 2015.
And once again, this is going to be a list of my personal favorites
in no particular order.
Just based on how much subjective enjoyment I got from them.
And at the end, I'll have some sort of extra mentions for things that
were pretty good that I played, but, you know, weren't quite the best of the best.
But yes, let's get to the best of the best,
starting with Yakuza 5.
It may have taken three years for this to finally make it overseas from Japan,
but, man, was it worth it!
The fourth Yakuza game was phenomenal,
but Five somehow manages to top that one in all sorts of ways.
You get five characters to play, five locales to explore,
and hundreds of fascinating shops and side activities
making this one of the best examples of virtual tourism ever.
Plus, the crime drama that ties all the stories together
is solid stuff as always.
I implore you play Yakuza 5.
Even though it's only on PS3, and setting that thing back up is always a hassle.
Next up is Rocket League.
This provided some of the absolute most fun I've had in a multiplayer game in a long time.
Soccer with cars probably shouldn't work,
but in Rocket League it does to such a degree
that you wonder why the earlier attempts at this idea
by Psyonix didn't catch on in the same way.
Probably had something to do with the fact that it was free on PS4 for a while,
but whatever the reason,
Rocket League perfectly nails the feeling of playing an individual in a game of sport,
a feeling that draws in even those who don't typically care for soccer or racing games.
This is just awesome.
Splatoon
This provided some of the absolute most fun I've had in a multiplayer game in a long time.
Ha ha! Next to Rocket League.
Whether you're a squid now or a kid now,
slinging around colored ink
and trying to cover more of the arena than your opponents,
is consistently satisfying.
It's such a neat idea that Nintendo put forth here,
and I love when the typical deathmatch-style online formula
is turned on its head and you get something like Splatoon.
This is the kind of game that makes me grateful the big "N" is still around and doing interesting stuff.
Dropsy
What other game is there where the point is to hug everyone?
Dropsy is about hugging and doing good deeds for people,
even though you're misunderstood and hated by many.
And that's understandable–you're a creepy clown
but looks are not as they seem.
It's a point-and-click graphical adventure that reminds me a bit of Sam & Max
in style and design, but
the rest is downright unique and unbelievably charming.
Also, one of the best original soundtracks of the year, if you ask me,
one that I was happy to purchase in several formats.
Cities: Skylines
Finally, something to properly fill in the metropolis-sized void
left by SimCity 2013.
Skylines is the kind of city simulator that makes me so thankful for game developers
like those at Colossal Order behind this.
It's got that old SimCity charm,
but it introduces things like districts that also make it feel unique.
Not to mention a massive plot of land to build on
and a stellar modding community to
really tweak the game to your content.
And all this at a base price of just 30 bucks,
so, yeah, Skylines is a no-brainer if you're into urban planning city builders.
The Witcher 3
We've reached a new pinnacle of fantasy-action RPGs, folks.
The Witcher 3 is a wonderful game
even if you're not familiar with the first two.
But if you are, then it's even better,
because the lore and the story contained within
is one for the ages.
Not only that, but the graphical prowess on display is staggering on a decent PC,
and the gameplay itself is better than ever,
with a combat system that finally hits the sweet spot for me.
CD Projekt RED is a role model for the entire game industry, as far as I'm concerned.
Fallout 4
By far, this is the game that I spent the most time with in 2015
and it's no wonder, if you know my gaming preferences.
I loved Fallout 3, but Fallout 4
felt like a substantial improvement
in the ways that I most cared about.
Admittedly, I'm still turned off by the dumbed-down conversations
and a few other things, but
the overall experience is just superb.
Building towns, crafting weapons and armor
and exploring a densely packed, post-apocalyptic Massachusetts
has been a high point of the entire year for me
and I can't wait to play even more.
Also, mods.
Ori and the Blind Forest
Gorgeous visuals on par with animated classic movies,
hugely satisfying control over your character
and a narrative that is truly affecting.
Ori and the Blind Forest is a kind of reinvigoriation
of the Metroidvania school of adventure platforming,
and I couldn't help but be sucked in by its charms.
The abilities you learn and the puzzles you solve
increase in complexity and enjoyment steadily as you play
all while giving you a generous feast for the eyes
and for the fingers alike.
Dying Light
When I saw this was made by the Dead Island developers,
expectations were pretty low,
but HOLY CRAP! Dying Light is amazing!
Take parts of Dead Island, Mirror's Edge and Far Cry
and you get an idea of what to expect.
Big open world, lots of zombies, tons of stuff to do,
little bits of role-playing elements.
The parkour works great,
the weapons and upgrades are hugely satisfying,
the environment is lots of fun to explore,
and the story is...
Well, I forgot the story, actually, so who cares.
But the rest of the game is top notch,
in both co-op and single-player.
Undertale
Not only is this one of the funniest games I've probably ever played,
but it's one of the only games in recent memory
that has thoroughly knocked me for a loop.
It doesn't just toss your gaming expectations aside,
it throws them out the window
and then tells you the window never existed in the first place
and overwrites your save game and
just doesn't give a crap about anything anymore and...
Yeah, that's Undertale.
Not only that, but the fact that you can win
typical RPG battles via pacifism,
it's just awesome.
Undertale's classic gaming inspiration–
Earthbound, Shin Megami Tensei–are obvious,
yet its execution is anything but.
Forza Motorsport 6
In every conceivable way, Forza 6
is what Forza 5 should have been.
Something like 500 cars, dozens of tracks, night racing, weather simulation,
and a revamped career mode made me more than happy as a fan of the franchise.
And its signature level of customization and personalized gameplay is better than ever.
So it'll go about as arcade-y or simulation-y as you want.
I'll be playing this one *well* into 2016.
especially with the frequent car pack updates.
Until Dawn
Now this one really caught me by surprise.
Until Dawn is a survival horror adventure game
that uses every trope in the book liberally.
And somehow that only works to its advantage.
It's like a '80s/'90s cheesy horror movie
with stupid kids that you just wanna see die and they do and it's great!
It's creepy and it's stupid and it's...
entirely awesome what you can pull off by the end.
Once everybody starts dying, it's just like,
wow, there's some real consequences here.
And, yes, it's seen some comparisons to David Cage's flawed Quantic Dream games,
and I do enjoy those quite a bit, but
Until Dawn takes that same basic formula
and really irons out the weirdness
to make something truly worthwhile out of it.
And that's it for my main list.
I do want to mention a few others honorably here,
first up being King's Quest.
I really enjoyed this so far, but
eh, it's an episodic game and I don't know–
it kind of is weird to me to, like, just say,
"Oh, this is one of my favorite games of the year," when it's not even all out yet.
There's just the first couple parts.
Really good, though. It's got a lot of nods to the old games as well as some stuff for the new.
There's also Mad Max, which is a really cool game.
I love the atmosphere of this, the setting of it, the graphical style and everything
of this desert is just awesome to look at and play around in, but
it feels so much like so many other games that I've played, most notably
Shadow of Mordor.
Even the Far Cry games a bit. I mean,
it didn't hold my attention for as long as I thought it would, but it's still worth grabbing.
Same with Assassin's Creed: Syndicate.
A heck of an improvement
over Unity. I mean... massive improvement.
I didn't have any game-breaking bugs.
I didn't really have many glitches at all, it was just
a fantastic entry in the series
And it really reminded me of like "the glory days," so to speak,
of Assassin's Creed II and Brotherhood.
And a super cool setting with the Victorian England thing, but
yeah, definitely one to wait out for a good sale on.
And then finally, Bloodborne.
Just because I super respect all the stuff that's being done here.
I love the look of the atmosphere.
Everything really but the gameplay. I just can't
get into this style of game. I just can't.
Any time I've tried to get into Dark Souls things, it's never worked.
I just can't get my head around that style of combat
and it just irritates me, but
that's just not for me. So...
that is my list
off the cuff, somewhat,
of 2015.
I hope you enjoyed it, and
if not, I'm sure you'll let me know in the comments.
And all the games that I missed or, you know, haven't played yet.
What the heck, man, I've still gotta get through Soma.
That one looked awesome and I've only gotten a little bit into it.
Not to mention Metal Gear Solid V,
haven't played it yet.
Rainbow Six Seige, haven't played that.
And Just Cause 3, haven't finished it yet,
but, yeah, it hasn't really grabbed me so far.
I mean, it's Just Cause 2.8, which is fine by me.
It's a heck of a lot of fun, but it was also just not like
"Best Game of the Year" material for me.
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And as always, thank you very much for watching,
and Happy New Year!