It’s that time of the year when we start dishing out awards for the best games released in the past 12 months. Rather than pick one winner for the whole of PowerUp! or take a vote, we’re simply going to give you our own personal best games of 2016.
Here we have Dan’s list.
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No Man’s Sky – PC, PS4
No Man’s Sky may not have an expansive plot, or multiplayer, or the best space dinosaurs ever. It was still one of the most unique and fascinating gaming experiences of the year though. I genuinely loved going from system to system, upgrading my equipment and trading for new ships. Learning new languages kept me entertained and if I wavered I could always go and shoot god damn space lasers at brightly coloured moon-crystals.
It was honestly excellent. The biggest crime committed by Sean Murray was not including a photo-mode from day 1, because my God that game was gorgeous.
Titanfall 2 – PC, PS4, Xbox One
Titanfall 2 had all the great concepts laid out in the first game; platforming, shooting and mech combat. What it added was an amazing single player campaign that took full advantage of each one aspect. Taking it a step further it layered on more crazy gameplay mechanics that genuinely added to the experience.
By creating a great single-player campaign and increasing the depth in MP while committing to deliver new map content for free, Respawn made one of the best shooters of the year.
Street Fighter V – PC, PS4
The next chapter in fighting games lived up to the hype.
Its launch may have been rocky, but if your priority was online or competitive play, then the gameplay was 100% solid. It refined old mechanics yet introducednew ones. It was able to feel fresh enough to stand apart from the series, while feeling instantly familiar.
Also, they finally added Akuma this month, so GOTY I guess.
DOOM – PC, PS4, Xbox One
Full disclosure, I always held a candle for DOOM. Ever since it was first announced in 2008 as Doom 4. The nostalgia I had for the series and the faith I had in id Software kept my hopes up even after all these years.
Thank God (or Satan) it managed to not only make it a competent game, but make one of the best shooters of the year. id did it not by trying to re-imagine the game as merely a hell-themed Call of Duty, but by bringing the design back to what made DOOM great in the first place. Hoards of enemies, fast gameplay, a bad-ass soundtrack, and making the player feel like a motherfucking boss.
The Last Guardian – PS4
With expectations diminishing after such a long development process, The Last Guardian still managed to turn it around and deliver exactly what I had been hoping for all this time.
The amazing art direction, incredible score and clever puzzles already made for a great game, but the damn cat-bird-dog sealed the deal. To have a creature feel so REAL in a game is an achievement on its own. If you didn’t fall in love with Trico by the end of the game, you may want to see an exorcist, and you most likely are without a soul.
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There you have it. Dan’s top picks for 2016. Are yours similar? Do you disagree vehemently? Let us know in the comments below and keep an eye out for the rest of our picks for GOTY 2016.
