2017 honored titles

Instead of having a typical Top-10 list, I'm opting to give shout outs for extraordinary game titles I've had the pleasure and pain of playing this year. Keep in mind that the game's publish date may not have been in 2017. Looking through blog posts and my PSN profile, I have played over 60 titles this year, completing the trophy list for damn near all of them. One thing I noticed is the large amount of really well-done indie titles played this year. It's so nice that there are many alternatives to the full-priced games that take 40 hours to platinum and gobble up all your hard drive space, oppressively making you play multiplayer online. Not that that isn't worth it, sometimes *cough Battlefront II is amazing cough.* Also, it's worth noting that a great deal of games that I played and enjoyed this year are on sale for PSN's Winter sale. Get em cheap while you can!

That's said, let the ceremony begin:

Strider what??? I can't Hir-yu!

I have to say the funnest game to platinum was split between Strider and Infamous: First Light. Both open-world games are gorgeously designed with main campaigns that are shorter than 10 hours, and provide enough challenges to need some reflexes and timing. However, I got over any hard parts with just a few retries, so frustration was minimal. It also helps my frugal friends that you can usually find either title on sale for ~$10.

Speaking of enjoyable games with minimal commitment, I have to give kudos to Xeodrifter for being the shortest-but-sweetest. You could beat it in an afternoon and still have time to cook dinner, making sure to portion out the next day's lunch, of course. Xeodrifter is a side-view multiple-zone exploration action title with backtracking (yes, I'd rather call it that than Metroid-vania) and this gem was $3 when I bought it on the PSN.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there's the fully-budgeted triple-A colossus Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. This game was everything I expected from SquareEnix and more: upgraded sound quality, including a remastered orchestral soundtrack, a super-detailed job system that encourages multiple playthroughs, and a larger game than the original PS2 title. It also wins the award for being the longest. The platinum trophy was about 20 hours too long in the inevitable grind it took to beat the final trial, but the main game and most of the extra stuff was really enjoyable. Also, it's still a feat that battle is compelling with the attack mechanic (pretty much) removed. The art direction is top-notch, as expected from a Japanese developer.

One of my more recently-played games on this list is Abzu, which deserves special recognition for being playable art. Gameplay mechanics are simple, and difficulty is almost nonexistent...this game has the same soul as Flower and Journey (these are distinct things with stupidly basic names ala Apple's naming scheme.) (The new) Ratchet and Clank also gets a seat at the table for having beautiful art direction. Every one of these titles looks cartoony at first glance. However, between bug-free gameplay, a decent soundtrack, great voice acting, jokes, and amazingly-tested controls, R&C games kill my theory that Western developers don't prioritize stability.

Darksiders II, however, is shining proof that stability just is not a priority to some developers and publishers. This game wins my award for buggiest game played in 2017, and I played both Smite games' betas and a slew of indie titles. Nothing pisses me off more than unfinished games, especially ones that show off money in other places. To be fair, the game had a charming protagonist, neat art direction and the gameplay was like God of War meets Zelda. It was just buggy as fuck, and that's my top gaming pet peeve.

Before we descend into the Pit of Negativity, I want to give the loudest shout out to a few independent developers. The best game I played in 2017 that was made by a small indie developer was Axiom Verge. As a matter of fact, this was developed by one person. The game has a kick ass soundtrack, stylized 16-bit graphics, tight controls, and is an absolute blast to play. This game would have been impressive with any size studio, but Thomas Happ did the impossible and I got to hand it to the man.

Next up, for larger independent game dev teams is Pyre. I already talked your ears off (or typed your eyes off) about it, and just want to add that, in a year of other anticipated-but-disappointing experiences, Pyre was a 2017 favorite. The game's concept of dynamic storytelling is ingrained enough that even the final song has interchangeable lyrics based on what your characters did in the story. I have never seen this before, and it shows that SuperGiant Games is thoroughly artistic and talented. If you like games where you can affect your own outcomes, there are few titles that do it as well as Pyre, but it may be worth mentioning Stories: The Path of Destinies. This game deserves recognition for having 16 distinct endings, being super fun to play, and making me laugh out loud at several points.

Lastly, two games that resonated with me were RPGest RPG Earthlock, and side-view tactics game Steamworld: Heist. The former hit most of the notes of JRPGs, but backed off of a few of the corny tropes like being a farmer, not dealing with romance, and a clever character-improvement system. Steamworld has great art direction and I am a huge fan of turn-based tactical combat. It's also one of the few titles with DLC that I bought and gobbled up immediately.

How-abso-freakin-lutely-ever, the year wasn't without it's lame notes.

Don't forget to hunt and craft for 2 hours first.

I'd have to share my greatest disappointment of the year as Zelda: Breath of the Wild. If they had added crafting to the usual formula, that would have been great. If they had added difficulty and lessened navigational hand-holding, that would have been fine. If aiming didn't suck...well that's something inherent to Nintendo games, so whatever. Breath of the Wild is all of these things, and a lot to change at once, and gameplay has been slowed down significantly. I know that this is blasphemy, and am open to investing more time to try and like the game. However, two restarts and 20 hours total have been invested so far into exploring, dying, having to craft and getting bored of the whole process.

At least Zelda works, though. The same can't be said of FFXV's DLC, which is the crappiest of crap, mostly because of how badly it contrasts with my favorite game of the generation. From the obvious gap-filling of the main quest's story to the untested and unwelcome gameplay change of single combat and snowmobiling, these expansions represent Japanese publishers being swayed in the worst way to follow shitty DLC practices in the industry. For better or for worse, the gameplay of the DLCs are all different, so Episode Ignius may prove to be good after all.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 didn't make the list of disappointments because it's pretty gosh-dang sweet. The publisher ruined the online experience, but the game is an improvement in almost every way over the first game. Graphics, less-swimmy controls, rarely-enough-occurring heroes that have a balanced impact on the map, and more distinct weapons are all things I wanted. However, every other match, I ran into a pay-to-winner with a max leveled Vader that decimated whatever opposing team was unlucky enough to play against someone with a larger wallet. This is a real consequence of a greedy publisher choosing money over integrity. At the same time, Overwatch is periodically ruined by awful members who are supposed to be on your team, so multiplayer games just have that vulnerability of being not-so-great sometimes.

All things considered, 2017 may have been my most productive year in terms of games completed, and that's considering at least 30% of my game time attributed to Overwatch. Maybe I can hit 80 different console games played in 2018.