Game of the year is always the toughest decision. There were so many fantastic games this year that 2016 makes the best year for games this decade. Can 2017 top it? As we creep further into this console cycle many highly anticipated games are going to be released.
Battlefield 1 not only was the best FPS this year, but it was a series and genre that was known for no character or depth and to suddenly rise from the ashes with said features. Being the first AAA shooter to delve deep into WWI territory and do it right is kind of amazing. With the best multiplayer this year, fantastic campaign, gorgeous visuals, and highly unique weapons, Battlefield 1 just couldn’t be topped.
We all have our favorite character that has either been around for 25 years or 2 years. Very few games can make an impactful character that’s iconic and becomes the face of gaming. The likes of Mario, Link, Samus, Sub-Zero, and Master Chief from yesteryears to Lara Croft, Gordon Freeman, Marcus Fenix, and Mega Man. This year had some of the best new characters in nearly a decade.
Overwatch’s entire ensemble is just bursting at the seams with personality and they are by far some of the most iconic characters in the last decade. From Widowmaker’s sniper rifle and purple armor to Mei’s fluffy snowsuit and glasses. Bastion’s unique personality and Tracer’s stances and yellow suit. There is so much personality and love in Overwatch that’s it’s hard to not find a favorite character.
New to the upgraded PS4 Pro and Xbox One S is HDR. This is a brand new technology for 2016 that gives players better and more natural lighting effects through HDR or High Dynamic Range lighting. This is a process done through the TV and console on 4K sets and the results are just stunning. Only a handful of games used this feature this year and only a few of those utilized this feature to make their games pop with color and contrast.
The use of HDR through Uncharted 4 is unlike any other game. The sweeping vistas and gorgeous lighting effects just jump off your screen and feed your eyes. The amount of detail that went into the use of HDR is fantastic. This isn’t just a switch that was flipped to jump on the bandwagon. If you have a 4K TV with HDR, Uncharted is a must-have.
Anyone can throw together some rock music or famous pop artists and call it a day. Creating original music that helps build your game world and make it more memorable is a challenge and very few games can pull off.
DOOM’s soundtrack was a surprise hit as it took classic DOOM songs and gave them a crunchy metal techno mix. The music is raw and heavy and gets your blood pumping. The soundtrack is so good that playing it outside the game is highly recommended.
Colors: Crimson Red (2TB Gears of War 4), Storm Gray (500GB Battlefield 1), Special Blue (500GB Gears of War 4), White, Army Green (1TB Battlefield 1)
Every console generation has newer, slimmer hardware that brings about a new chapter in that generation. Usually, these are to promote blockbuster first-party games or brand new peripherals that only work with that console version. Sometimes it’s just to cut down on manufacturing costs as hardware gets smaller and easier to make as time goes on. We saw this all the way back in the 16-bit era. The most popular transition was from the Fat PS2 to the Slim PS2, which everyone has grown to love. It was one of the most attractive and compact consoles ever made and kept all the features of the PS2, minus the HDD bay.
The last generation saw three iterations for each console, and here we are with the first new transition to a smaller console. This time around, things have changed as the hardware inside has also gotten more powerful, which is a first in the console scene. Normally, everything gets smaller as the same hardware becomes cheaper and easier to make. In 2016, consoles are taking a page from PCs and getting more compact with more powerful hardware. With the PS4 Pro and Xbox One S in the spotlight, we can see a trend starting. Now the versions with older hardware also have a new iteration called PS4 Slim and Xbox One Slim. It’s a strange move, as you would think the older versions would be discontinued. This has mostly to do with a fidelity shift in the industry, where 4K is finally affordable, but most people haven’t adapted to it yet. Sony and Microsoft released a console geared toward 4K users while keeping 1080p users happy with new versions as well.
The Xbox One S is 40% smaller than the original version, and you can really tell. Even the large power brick is gone in favor of just a two-prong cable. The system looks sleeker and sharper, and the newly redesigned features are beautiful. The Xbox One is completely rectangular, with all its sharp corners. The power button is in the same spot, but it is now a physical button instead of a touch button. The disc eject button is now a small dot next to the drive, and the controller sync button has been moved to the bottom of the console in the front, out of the way. You will also gladly find a USB port up front and center instead of on the side. All of the same ports are in the back, like TV IN, optical audio, Ethernet, and other ports. The console is also much lighter and not so much of a giant building.
Once you plug the console in, I immediately ran into a major problem. There was a system boot loop every time it tried to connect to WiFi. I had to open up my wifi to allow the Xbox to connect to get the latest firmware update because it won’t let you into the dashboard without connecting. This is completely insane and needs to be fixed immediately. I only figured this out after an hour of research and trial-and-error. Outside of that, the system booted up quickly, and I was ready to set everything up.
This is where I have to say that you need a 4K TV with HDR to warrant the price of the Xbox One S. If you don’t have a 4K TV, then don’t bother because you’re not getting anything besides slightly better running games. Everything is upscaled to 2160p as the Xbox One S does not render games natively in 4K like the PS4 Pro does, which can be a major turn-off for most customers. However, this is the only console that plays 4K UHD Blu-Rays, which is a major plus. The PS4 Pro does not, which is very odd. Each console has a major trade-off, so you decide which is more important to you. To be honest, even games being upscaled look fantastic, and there’s a huge difference from games rendered natively in 1080p. HDR is a huge addition to next-generation games and movies, and it adds a layer of fidelity and beauty that you can’t get anywhere else.
Even older Xbox 360 games looked pretty damn good upscaled in 4K, as it made the game sharper and less blurry. I did notice some games loaded a tad faster and ran slightly better, but most won’t notice a difference. The Xbox One S has an 11% power increase over the previous model. Microsoft overclocked the GPU to 914 MHz over 853, and the ESRAM bus speed was increased from 204 GB/s to 219 GB/s. This allows for faster load times, which are noticeable.Secondly, the system comes with a slightly redesigned controller, which is for the better. If the Xbox One controller wasn’t amazing enough, the new model has better Bluetooth, a new home guide bezel, fewer clicky bumpers, and can work on Windows 10 PCs via Bluetooth without the dongle. The back of the handles has textured plastic, and the thumbsticks have wider concaves for better grip. I love this new controller design and can feel and see the difference from the previous model.
Overall, the Xbox One S offers awesome new colors, features, and parts where they should have been, upgraded hardware, and 4K upscaling that makes games look clearer and sharper. The addition of a 4K UHD Blu-Ray player is something that will steer some people away from the PS4 Pro. However, unless you have a 4K TV with HDR, there are not enough added benefits to justify a purchase.
Atmosphere is something in a game that makes you believe it exists or pulls you in. It’s not just being scary, but having a world full of life, culture, and lore. Some games can just be so convincing that you wish you never left.
Inside came in at a close second thanks to its intense and brutal world. Battlefield 1 creates a believable World War 1 setting that no other game has ever created. The battles are rich with detail and excitement. The sights and sounds are breathtaking and something that has been missing in shooters for decades.
Great and memorable stories are hard to come by in games, and 2016 was the most disappointing I can remember. So many games this year were great but lacked memorable stories. There were a few that managed to really stick with us, so not all hope is lost.
It was a close toss-up between Firewatch and Inside. Firewatch delivered the most memorable and intense story with fantastically written dialog and characters. Firewatch kept me thinking about it months after playing and I tell people to play it whenever they ask what games have good stories.
Sound design is tricky to decide as all games have a good sound or they wouldn’t be games. What makes the best sound design is a game that can pull the player into the most unique and unusual worlds and be convincing or make the player feel they are in an alternate reality.
Battlefield always wins this award for a good reason. DICE has some of the best sounding games ever created. The distant crack of a sniper rifle, explosions, dirt particles falling around you, people screaming in the background, and it’s the directional placement and unique sound engine DICE created with Bad Company and continues to amaze to this day.
Gears of War has always had a special place in my heart, especially the first game. It introduced me to the next generation—a whole new fidelity of gaming. HD gaming was only a possibility on PC, but with Xbox 360, we could now play games in 1080p natively. Gears of War was the best-looking game made at the time, and it featured revolutionary combat, cover mechanics, multiplayer, a unique art style, well-designed enemies, and great characters. It featured traits that most shooters don’t possess, which threw it into the mainstream and made it one of the best-selling games of all time. Gears of War single-handedly helped sell the Xbox 360 during the holidays of 2006.
The game still holds up perfectly fine 10 years later. While it feels a bit dated compared to newer games in the series, there’s a simpler, more personal touch to this game than say Gears of War 4. Each location is unique, the game is perfectly paced, and the story unfolds in a way to keep you interested all the way until the end. Thankfully, the team kept the balancing and mechanics exactly the way they were in Gears 1 and didn’t update them. All the weapons feel the same, and the characters even move the same.
The only thing that has changed is the visual upgrade, which uses Unreal Engine 4 and makes the game look absolutely amazing. Running at 60FPS in 1080p is nice, but being upscaled to 4K on the Xbox One S is just pure eye candy. Honestly, this is the fourth or fifth time I’ve played through this game, and I never get sick of it. The original Gears campaign is just so well designed and wonderfully set up that you can’t help but play through it once a year.
I’m not going to go into too much detail on how Gears of War is played because every Xbox fan has played at least one by now. Gears do take inspiration from other games like Resident Evil 4’s over-the-shoulder camera and Kill Switch’s cover system. Unreal Tournament’s art style and heavy-handedness on weapons, as well as the gore, were also taken. Playing as Marcus Fenix in Delta Squad, you are tasked with deploying a light bomb resonator to help map the Locust’s stronghold, who are trying to kill all life on Sera. You personally feel like you are part of this war, and the game really shows the devastation and sheer loneliness thanks to epic set pieces and small, detailed cut scenes.
Gameplay consists of arena-based shooting in which you go into a large open area with cover, kill everything, then move on. Enemies vary from locust drones to giant Corpsers. Each enemy requires a special way to be taken down, and your arsenal is some of the most unique in any shooter. The Lancer is now a gaming icon with the chainsaw bayonet that helped propel Gears into the mainstream. Cutting a locust in half is one of the most satisfying things to ever do in a game. The Gnasher shotgun, Snub, Boltok Pistol, Boomshot, and various other weapons are just perfectly made and designed for this type of game. You will use each weapon and change your loadout according to the enemy type and the environment. This is hard to do for shooters, and Gears does it best.
Without going into the game too much, I have to say that co-op is well worth it, and multiplayer takes a small upgrade. Added are game modes seen in sequels, and all the maps have been updated. You can also play as characters in later games. If you loved the Gears 1 multiplayer suite, then this is for you. I personally find Gears of War a hard multiplayer shooter to get into because it’s tough as nails and requires an extreme amount of skill. I also feel the mechanics aren’t right for multiplayer, but it’s still a lot of fun, and plenty of invested time will yield great results.
With that said, I still feel this is worth a purchase for long-time fans and newcomers. Just the visual upgrade alone is well worth the cost, and the added PC acts are a nice plus since that version is no longer available to purchase and is not playable anymore. To briefly sum up this new act, Delta Squad must get to Timgad Station and turn on the power to a bridge that leads to the train yard before the end of the game. During this act, they are chased by a Brumak, and the end of the act ensures a shootout with one. It’s a great piece and was sadly cut from the 360 version due to time constraints.
Overall, the Ultimate Edition ups the visuals and preserves the game just as we remembered it. With the added act from the PC version, upgraded multiplayer, and added content for it, there’s no reason not to play the Xbox 360’s best shooter. You will be playing a piece of gaming history.
This year was chock-full of games that were bursting at the seams with artistic visuals. These aren’t necessarily games that will make your graphics cards sweat, but they bring about a visual statement and help create and carve a unique path through the game industry like no other games can.
The Last Guardian is by far one of the most beautiful games ever created. Like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus before it, the game paints a wonderfully atmospheric picture before us and the visual style is so unique to the series that anyone can recognize it.
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Try multiplayer. A lot of fun !