THE BEST GAMES OF 2017:
- This was an amazing year for games, any way you slice it. There were a multitude of great, instant-classic games this year - games that were not just high quality, but games that actively got me excited about the medium as a whole. And I get that, on one hand, there is reason to be cynical about the direction the industry is headed in. This year felt like the culmination of a growing trend that, increasingly, saw too many games become bloated "experiences" that were overly complicated, overly long, artificially sprawling, and, worst of all, became about offering paid "service" to players in the form of obnoxious microtransactions. This came to a head with the Star Wars Battlefront II debacle, in which major publisher EA was forced - due to a vocal backlash - to remove planned microtransactions from its (very high profile) game at the last minute. And yeah, that sort of thing gives reason to be cynical. And yet ...
... for every example of a game that represented the worst in terms of where the industry is going, there were many more that represented gaming at its best. There was exciting new IP, like Sony's seminal Horizon Zero Dawn. There was a continued surge of interesting, innovative indie games - games that pioneered new ways of interactive storytelling, that paid homage to the classics, that provided the sort of simple and classic gameplay that is often missing from the bigger budget titles. And then there was Nintendo and the runaway success of The Switch. Now, I've been cynical about Nintendo for many years now. I turned away from Nintendo consoles as a teenager, when Sony won me over with its 3D-capable Playstation, which stole away key third party franchises like Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Castlevania, and Metal Gear. I never owned an N64, a Gamecube, a Wii, or a Wii U. But I bought a Switch - my first non-DS Nintendo console since the Super Nintendo. What changed? Well, partially it's me being older and having the ability to own multiple consoles should I choose to. But more so, I'd boil it down to four things:
a.) The Switch gave us multiple AAA titles - a new Mario and a new Zelda - in year one of release. That's unheard of. Sure, Nintendo console owners could usually count on a Mario and Zelda over a couple year span. But both right out of the gate? That's hard to resist.
b.) All the good Indie games are coming to Switch. The rise in indie gaming is Nintendo's stealth secret weapon this go-round. While the underpowered Switch is still going to be a red-headed step-child when it comes to Day 1, high-quality ports of AAA titles - indie titles are another story. You can already get some of the best recent indie games on Switch - Stardew Valley, Rocket League, Steamworld Dig, etc. And with Switch, you can play them on the go - a huge bonus.
c.) More big games are coming from Nintendo. Nintendo's first-party output slowed to a crawl with the Wii U. But the Switch already has Mario and Zelda, which now frees up Nintendo to pump out the kinds of games they should have been making all along. We know a new Metroid is on the way. And that may just be the tip of the iceberg.
d.) Portability. This Thanksgiving, I took the same Mario and Zelda games I'd started playing at home on my TV, and continued playing them on my flights back east. That's pretty awesome.
Now, if I had to choose one console and one console only, I'd still go with Playstation - no question. The Sony line-up of first and third party games is just too good and too plentiful to pass up (plus Sony still has the best controller!). 2017 saw huge Sony exclusives like Horizon and Uncharted: Lost Legacy - and in 2018 you've got Spider-Man, God of War, and beyond that The Last of Us 2. But competition is good - gaming always takes a nosedive when any one company's got a monopoly. Alas for poor Microsoft, their well seems to have mostly run dry this year. My sole regret about not owning an XBOX One is my inability to play Cuphead - so here's hoping that 2018 brings a PS4 port.
I'll also mention that my actual favorite game I played in 2017 may have been a game that first released a few years ago, but that I finally caught up on in recent months. That game was LIFE IS STRANGE, and it sort of blew me away. As someone who loves great stories in any and all media, Life Is Strange wowed me in that it felt like one of the best examples of interactive storytelling I've yet seen. It told a story that felt wholly original, with a unique vibe and tone that mixed teen angst with time-travel sci-fi to deliver something that, to me, was one of the best and most involving serialized stories of the last few years, period. Working in entertainment, I always hear people unfamilar with the games industry talk up some new piece of tech as being the next big thing. And I always shake my head, because it's ALWAYS about the content, not the tech. The tech is just the delivery mechanism, but it's nothing without great content. And while it's easy to get caught up in buzzwords and next-big-things, games like Life Is Strange reaffirm that what's really game-changing is simply a game that delivers a great new experience - be that an innovative play mechanic, a fully-realized new world to explore, or just a good, old-fashioned, really well-told story.
With that said ... it's going to be fascinating to follow where the industry goes in 2018. A lot of companies have a strong investment in seeing VR still succeed ... but it's still very unclear what possible killer app is going to finally push VR into the mainstream. I'm sure there are great minds at Sony, Occulus, and Facebook working on it as we speak ... but no doubt VR is a tough nut to crack. In terms of the ongoing console war, we know a lot about Sony's 2018 slate, but not as much about Nintendo or Microsoft. What is clear though is that Nintendo is back, and is going to likely be a sales juggernaut through 2018. How will third-parties react? TBD.
Without a doubt, I felt more invested in games and more excited about games this year than I have in a long while. And a lot of it was due to the titles below.
DANNY'S BEST GAMES OF THE YEAR:
1.) Super Mario Odyssey
- As a kid, there was nothing more exciting to me than a new Mario game. The series was, after all, the gold standard of videogames. I still remember the feeling of waking up one early morning to find my new Super Nintendo all set up with Super Mario World ready to play, to explore, to discover. But it's been many a year since I've played a new Mario game. I was out of the Nintendo loop. I'd moved on to less primary-colored pastures. But man, playing through Super Mario Odyssey has been some of the most fun I've had with any game in quite some time. Odyssey has its share of nostalgic moments, but it also presents an all-new primary gameplay mechanic, in the form of Mario's sentient hat, Cappy, who can be tossed at any enemy either as a combat technique or as a means to possess them and utilize each enemy's unique abilities. It's simple, but as implemented, it's sheer genius. Odyssey is just filled with delightful moments, with fun challenges, and tons of stuff to discover. It's also, by coincidence, the perfect antidote to all the overstuffed open world games out there - this is just pure gameplay - all killer, no filler.
2.) Horizon Zero Dawn
- Whether one prefers Horizon or Zelda is a matter of individual taste, but I give Sony's big new franchise the slight edge. Both games are phenomenal, but Horizon wins in my book because it does a couple of things better than Zelda. One is story - Horizon's got a top-notch, uber-intriguing narrative that slowly reveals itself as you play - brought to life by fantastic voice acting (Ashly Burch, who I became a fan of via Life Is Strange, voices main character Aloy). The characters are cool, there's a kick-ass female lead in Aloy, and the world is unique and looks amazing. Which brings me to point two - absolutely killer graphics. Horizon is, arguably, the best looking game ever made, and that's not nothing. This is a game that will cause you to just stop and stare at the awe-inspiring visuals that bleed out from the screen. Finally, this game controls like a dream - you can run and jump like you're in Uncharted, but there's also finely-tuned combat with a strong element of strategy. Going into this one, I was skeptical about yet another massive open-world behemoth. But Horizon really raises the bar.
3.) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- And then there's Zelda. Breath of the Wild is very clearly Nintendo doing its take on the Skyrim-style open-world RPG. But what Nintendo does so well is distill down the mechanics to their essence, simplifying things and guiding the player through action rather than endless text or tutorials. Zelda is also Zelda, so of course there's all kinds of amazingly-designed puzzles. And Zelda being Zelda, the overall production value is top notch - the game looks phenomenal despite the limitations of the Switch - the art direction is fantastic, the character animation is gorgeous, and the world is impeccably designed and rife for exploration. Another new classic from Nintendo for the Switch.
4.) Nier: Automata
- Japanese games continued to make a comeback in 2017, and Nier: Automata was case in point. This Playstation-exclusive action/RPG, from enigmatic game designer Yoko Taro and the Platinum Games studio, is a concentrated burst of hyper-stylized weirdness. It combines the frantic action of a Devil May Cry or Bayonetta with sprawling open-world levels, RPG elements, and an out-there sci-fi anime story about a dead universe now populated solely by robots. And, oh yeah, the camera and gameplay style will flip on a dime, suddenly shifting gear into an overhead scrolling shooter or a 2D platformer. This game is flat-out insane. It's bursting with creativity and strange ideas, but it's got a rock-solid action core.
5.) Injustice 2
- The first Injustice was a very pleasant surprise, especially for a major DC Comics fanboy like myself. Not only did it have extremely fun fighting mechanics, but the single-player story mode told an incredibly-epic superhero story that tops anything seen recently in DC movies or TV shows. Luckily, the sequel kept the momentum going. The story mode was again excellent. But even better, the gameplay felt much more finely-tuned and balanced, with tighter control and more intuitive special moves. The traditionalist in me still very much disapproves of how reliant on DLC this and other fighting games now are, but that aside, Injustice 2 was a real winner.
6.) Tekken 7
- Meanwhile, Tekken 7 helped make 2017 an awesome year for fighters (now featured on televised ESPN e-sports competitions - this is big business now!). I've always loved the Tekken games, and had been jonesing for a PS4 iteration. Tekken 7 did not disappoint. While the core Tekken gameplay remains relatively intact, the addition of Injustice-style super moves changed things up just a bit. But where this game really wowed me was with its huge character lineup, with a mix of old favorites and a plethora of fun (oftentimes fairly insane) newly-added characters. The best Tekken game yet.
7.) Uncharted: Lost Legacy
- Uncharted is perhaps my favorite current videogame franchise - but I'll admit that recent entries, while great, have felt a bit bloated and overlong at times. Enter Lost Legacy, a streamlined, budget-priced Uncharted spin-off that pound for pound, is as good as any game in the series to date. It simply cuts out a lot of the fat and focuses on quicker chapters and a more fast-moving storyline. I approve. It's also cool to see the focus shift to two leading ladies - Chloe and Nadine. While their in-game banter is not quite up to Nathan Drake levels, it's cool to have a new story and character dynamic at play. And developer Naughty Dog doesn't rest on their laurels when it comes to gameplay, either - while there are many segments that feel like old hat to the Uncharted faithful, there are some interesting new mechanics introduced as well. A worthy entry in the series, and a new direction that I wouldn't mind seeing more of - for this series and others.
8.) Resident Evil 7
- As a longtime Resident Evil fan, I was reluctant to see it go first-person. But Resident Evil 7 succeeds by shifting the series' focus back to horror, after recent entries had gone too far into all-out action territory. Yes, I'll always prefer third-person, but I'll also give RE props for getting back to survival horror basics. The game is creepy af. And while it gives a new spin to the series, it still feels like Resident Evil at its core.
9.) Thimbleweed Park
- Thanks to developers like Telltale, the last several years have seen a full-on revival of the graphic adventure genre. But now, the OG masterminds behind games like Monkey Island have returned to show everyone else how it's done. Thimbleweed Park is a classic point-and-click adventure, with the trademark sense of quirky, self-aware humor found in the old Lucasarts PC classics. It's got a great story, and is the perfect game to get on the Switch to play on the go.
10.) Steamworld Dig 2
- Another big trend of the last few years has been the indie-space revival of the "Metroidvania" genre that was popularized in the 16 and 32-bit eras (by, as the name implies, the Metroid and Castlevania series). We've seen new games take classic 2D gameplay into the next generation. One of the best examples of this Metroidvania new-wave yet comes in the form of Steamworld Dig 2 - a game filled with clever mechanics (you can essentially dig your own path through the various levels) and eye-popping art and animation. Another indie game perfect for the Switch and it's ever-handy portability.
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