The Video Game Wishlist of 2016.
October 6, 2016
Society as it is today revolves around the idea that there is the market always has something so great offer that you just have to buy it. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the product in question is the best thing ever, but it does create a sort of urgency for consumers to spend money on what they think will make them the happiest. This can be seen across many different types of markets, including the video game market. Unlike other products, the success of video games relies on several components rather than just one or two. To begin with, in order to be considered great, a video game must be challenging enough to enjoy, interesting enough to return to, reliably functional and easy to learn. That is why, whenever a video game is regarded as amazing, there is no shortage of greatness. This is why it is so important for gamers to become informed of what games will be the smartest buys of 2016; gamers have to learn how to distinguish between the titles that are just ‘interesting’ or ‘creative’ and those that are absolute masterpieces.
Best Games of 2016:
The games listed here are nothing short of marvels. They are innovative, engaging, and just plain fun. These are the games of the year.
Dishonored 2:
The stealth game franchise has grown exponentially more popular ever since its conception several decades ago. One entry in the franchise that set a high standard for future titles, introducing new and creative mechanics to the genre, was Dishonored. Made by Bethesda, Dishonored is a progressive first-person stealth game set in an imperial dystopia in an alternate universe. The city’s Empress has been assassinated and her child, Princess Emily, has been kidnapped. The main character, the Empress’s royal bodyguard, Corvo Attano, has been framed for the crimes. The game was wonderfully fun to play through, as the player is given the option to approach every objective in any manner possible with an arsenal of traps, gadgets, weapons, bombs, magical powers and creativity to restore Corvo’s credibility and rescue the young princess. Dishonored set itself as a phenomenal example of innovative and artistic game design,excellently mixing stealth with seamless, yet utterly brutal, combat. With fans itching for another installment of the story, Bethesda proudly displayed footage of Dishonored 2 at 2015’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Ever since its announcement, fans have only grown more eager for its release. It takes place ten years after the events of the first game and allows players to take control of both Corvo and an adult Princess Emily in a new location, with new powers, new tools, new enemies, and a new story. It seems that the sequel will offer a far more expansive world to explore and play in than the first game, which, essentially, means that Dishonored 2 will provide the amazing thrills of the first game with an added benefit of new abilities and equipment to experiment with in a much larger environment.
Perhaps the most anticipated entry on this list, Battlefield 1 has been making the hearts of first-person shooter (FPS) fans throb since the first trailer was aired on May 6th. The main reason why Battlefield 1 has been so popular among fans is because its development team openly lashed out at the Call of Duty franchise for rehashing the same idea and advertising it as revolutionary. What EA and DICE, developers of the title, have done to make Battlefield 1 very unique is setting the game in World War 1, a time period that has never been seen in a well-known title. This is very exciting to fans, because the Battlefield franchise is known for its hyper-realistic simulation of all-out massive warfare. In an average game, there would be large firefights, with fighter jets swooping over the battlefield, tanks causing explosions, helicopters falling out of the sky and full-sized skyscrapers toppling over in an unscripted display of destructive conflict. The world will finally be able to see how the chaos of the Battlefield style of gameplay interacts with the atmosphere and technology of World War 1. Compared to other FPS games, Battlefield 1 is hugely dynamic with a plethora of destructible environments, expansive maps, vehicles and a large team size.
This hero-based team shooter by Blizzard was released as an unlikely adversary to Team Fortress 2 and quickly snowballed into one of the year’s most popular and well-received titles. The game consists of two teams of six people competing over an objective in a variety of stunning locations around the world. The thing that makes Overwatch truly special, though, is its character roster that includes 22 heroes with extremely diverse backstories, play styles, looks and motivations. Among these characters are a robot monk, a mutated pig-human, a cyborg mechanic, a hyper-intelligent gorilla, a shotgun-wielding ghost plus 17 more.The outcome and play style of every game is based on which characters are in play and how they interact with each other. Where one match could feel like a fast-paced blur of lasers and explosions, another match could be a slow and decisive battle over territory. Overwatch offers a diverse collection of engaging gameplay with a profound sense of continuity and accessibility. Overwatch is the perfect example that Blizzard can masterfully create games of different genres in one attempt.
Like Dishonored 2, the next entry on this list is a dynamic player-driven sandbox of possibility and replayability. Before its release, Deus Ex Mankind Divided was greatly overshadowed by the the hype of No Man’s Sky, another game released the same year. However, when the game was made available to the public, the gaming world was taken by storm by highly positive reviews for Mankind Divided. Following the events of the previous Deus Ex, Mankind Divided continues the lore by showing the world’s social war between augmented humans (people with advanced prosthetic limbs that grant them special abilities) and the rest of the world due to the events of the previous game. The game takes place in a futuristic Prague where tensions between augmented humans and everyone else are running high. Players assume the role of Adam Jensen, an augmented agent for Interpol who must prevent the world from collapsing in on itself while simultaneously taking down a terrorist organization. The player’s ability to choose how to play and how to upgrade Jensen makes this game truly amazing. One player could complete the game stealthily, not killing a single person, while another player could complete the game by pumping everyone full of lead or using cybernetic swords, killing everyone they see in this explosive firefight of a game. No matter how players choose to play the game, there is still a sense of unbreakable immersion and fluidity. Mankind Divided is the ultimate tool for making players feel like an unwavering badass. Deus Ex Mankind Divided is gorgeous, immersive and a completely customizable experience. All around, it was a pleasant surprise that gamers didn’t know they wanted until they had it.
While other entries on this list are commemorated for their riveting gameplay, creative possibility and stunning graphics, Doom is on this list because of its gut-wrenching gore. That may sound a bit disturbed, but the true beauty of Doom lies within its sadistic humor of shredding demons to bits with a chainsaw. The game is Bethesda’s total reboot of Doom improves upon the original fantastical slaughterfest by adding cutting-edge graphics, new weapons, new enemies, new settings, a fast-paced multiplayer option, a map-creator and a plethora of brutality. Executions and takedowns, special cinematic attacks, feel very personal, with the player looking into the eyes of the unlucky demon who’s leg is smashing its own head. Gameplay is rapid and driven by instinct and reflexes rather than meticulous strategy; the player is forced to make split decisions at every corner which can result in either success or demise. Things are not too different in the game’s multiplayer game mode, which includes player versus player action relying on minute adjustments taking place at a blisteringly quick pace. Matches can quickly turn into a blur of blood, bones, and bullets. Rather than relying on a character-driven story or morally-challenging decision-making to make itself a great game, Doom utilizes turbocharged gameplay with callous violence to earn its place in the FPS hall of fame.
The final entry on the list of must-have games of 2016 is Mafia 3, an open world crime game that aims to beat Grand Theft Auto at its own game. Where the Grand Theft Auto franchise leans towards the sillier side of action and storytelling, Mafia 3 employs a gritty and realistic style to deliver a wonderful experience to its players. Set in 1968 New Bordeaux, a fiction version of New Orleans, players are given control of Lincoln Clay, a mixed race Vietnam War veteran. The game will most likely include the heavy influences of racism and the anti-war movement in society, placing racial and societal obstacles in the player’s way. Combine that with badass gunplay, gang warfare, the thrill of driving and the option to approach every objective in any way imaginable, and Mafia 3 will offer a great gaming experience to the world.
There has been a lot of ambition among game developers in 2016. There are many titles that aim to accomplish things no games have in the past and they were either successful or they fell flat. Regardless of their popularity, these games are still worth taking a gander at.
Inside:
Inside is a fantastic artistic indie gem of a game that was made by the people responsible for the highly acclaimed Limbo. The game consists of guiding a nameless boy through a dreary dystopian country, requiring players to solve various puzzles to progress. What truly makes Inside amazing is its ability to tell such a complex narrative without any dialogue.
No matter what kind of gamer somebody is, chances are that they will say that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was one of their best gaming experiences of their life. From its beautiful landscapes to its thrilling story and its limitless availabilities for different styles of play, Skyrim is easily one of the best video games ever made. Better yet, the masterpiece is being re-released for the PS4 and Xbox One with greatly improved graphics, mod support and all of the downloadable content from the original. For the unlucky few who never had the chance to play Skyrim when it first came out in 2011, there is now an opportunity to experience it at its very finest.
Despite being an overall failure among critics and fans, No Man’s Sky is a highly ambitious project that tested the limitations of modern software. The game consists of players exploring the ever-expansive universe that includes 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 procedurally generated (unique) planets to traverse, each with their own unique ecosystem, animal life, vegetation and landscape. To put that into perspective, there are around 100,000,000,000 planets in the Milky Way galaxy. The reason why most people were upset with No Man’s Sky was because it felt a lot more like a survival game than the exploration-based game it was initially advertised as.
Another good game from 2016 was Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, a prequel to the cult-classic indie platformer, Mirror’s Edge. In Catalyst, players are let loose to traverse the mesmerizing City of Glass while avenging the death of the protagonist’s parents and seek out the destruction of a corrupt government. Like its predecessor, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst focuses on a first person parkour gameplay mechanic that excellently combines close quarters combat with fast-paced traversal across rooftops. Where the gameplay, graphics and beauty of Catalyst are amazing enough to keep players happy, the game suffers from a lackluster story, repetitive side objectives and a somewhat restrictive environment. Nevertheless, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is a well respected entry that helps fans of the original game relive that game’s great experience.
Overall, 2016 has become a great year for games. From colorful, cartoonish team shooters to silent puzzle platformers, there has been no shortage of greatness in the gaming world. For the most part, the recurring theme among the games listed here has been the ability to tailor the game to every player’s interest, playstyle and desire. Does this mean that games are becoming more of a reflection of who is playing them? Absolutely. Nowadays, gamers have limitless control over how they react to things in video games. This means that no two people will go through a particular game in the same way, creating a truly dynamic and organic experience for everybody.