It was difficult, but I finally narrowed down my top twenty games of 2016. I say this every year, but man oh man was the year stuffed with great treasures. I split my list into my actual favorites and then another going through hidden gems. Basically I gave myself an excuse to talk about twenty amazing games. I’ll have more content put before the week’s end as well to fully wrap up my thoughts on 2016. For now enjoy these two video countdowns!
Shu, from the context of the opening cutscene, is about a group of anthropomorphic bird people on the run from a menacing cloud of darkness…with teeth. You, Shu, are tasked with gathering the splintered remains of your clan. It’s a platformer that both looks and plays like the recent Rayman games. The characters are hand drawn, beautifully animated, running in 3D environments making Shu and the other birds pop. It’s not as jarring as seeing a cartoon in reality, but the one thing that is off-putting about this style is the size of our heroes compared to the levels, making it hard to see and forcing me to oftentimes stand next to my TV, as grand as it is.
Along with this small gripe, the controls aren’t as tight as the aforementioned Rayman adventures. To compare it to another platformer it’s like LittleBigPlanet: loose and floaty. There are even checkpoint similar to LBP that saves your progress, but gives you an allotted amount of lives that if snuffed out, means you have to restart the level. It’s five every time and they’re replenished at each station. Due to the controls and cheap structure of the levels, it can be difficult and frustrating to navigate, harshing the game’s inviting allure.
Bad comments aside it’s also an inventive platformer granting players access to new abilities throughout the entire adventure. Shu begins alone only able to jump and glide. Across each set of worlds she’ll encounter two survivors, each with their own special quirk whether that means smashing through wood, walking over water, activating pulley systems, or what have you. It keeps players on their toes with a few other surprises as well. With that said there are way, and I mean WAY too many chase sequences that make the already taxing checkpoint system more infuriating. It’s not fun pure and simple.
Shu is an astounding piece of art with a lot of blemishes. For it’s willingness to try new things I applaud its mechanics albeit with generally loose controls overall. The checkpoint system accompanied with the chase sequences and cheap obstacle deaths keep Shu from becoming as iconic as Rayman, or even Sackboy. Fortunately Shu is short to those hungry for a new platformer despite some flaws plus the extras are a nice bonus for speed runners.
Shu Score: 3/5 Stars
Special Notes: I was provided with a review code for Shu.
Banner Saga 2 continues the adventures of a caravan of refuges and mercenaries outrunning a horde of world engulfing creatures known as the Dredge while looking for secrets to stop them. In charge of this traveling circus of misfits are Rook and his daughter Alette. Based on events from the ending of the first you must choose who dies and who lives as the continuing leader. Dialogue differs slightly, but the same overarching narrative is present no matter what is chosen. It’s told through character interactions at camp, on the trail, or with beautifully animated cutscenes. Much like Game of Thrones it suffers from an overabundance of characters and lore making it difficult to follow, or care at times. It’s a world steeped in Viking culture and the mythos around it, which I dug, but again it wasn’t gripping.
Your quest moves along much like Oregon Trail except without the dysentery. Marching forward you’ll be presented with small dialogue choices, or story bits that either result in fortune, failure, or skirmishes. Your caravan is comprised of citizens, fighters, and a dying race known as the Varl. Traveling costs supplies and your decisions with effect those along with morale. Camping can improve conditions where you can rest, train characters, shop, talk to clansmen, and other various activities that spring up depending on where you park. It’s tasking to keep track of everything especially when every decision you make is watched with judging eyes. Not only that, but your currency is split between surviving and leveling up, but more on that in a second.
Now battles are situated on a grid much like Final Fantasy Tactics, but with XCOM like difficulty and punishments attached. Generally you can have about six teammates participate, each situated with varying classes though most of what you have to memorize is their weapon layouts from bowmen, spear wielders, mages, or Menders as they’re called here, and the like. Killing certain amounts of enemies earns that hero a promotion. Once you hit the targeted number you can then level up with Renown. This, as I hinted at before, is also your item currency so even strengthening your army is a hard twist of the wrist. Not only that, but party members come in and out with the story so actually beefing up certain people may betray you as well. Like traveling it’s a lot to take in and it’s not for the feint of heart although once you play around with everything and learn to just go with the flow, good or bad, it’ll all eventually sink in.
One thing that’s apparent from the start is Banner Saga’s art, which translates amazingly between dialogue discussions, cutscenes, and even battle animations. It was hard to tell if my tears were gushing because it was difficult, or because I couldn’t believe the beauty before me. The music is also astounding, scored with heavy drums, violins, and chanting, furthering the Viking aesthetic. I had no difficulty in terms of performance. Even as a newcomer to the series the recap and in game lore present was enough to catch up me to date, well, mostly. The only thing I can think of to complain about was the lack of manual saves.
Banner Saga 2 is a somber tale of survival through lush, colorful environments. The plot didn’t grip me, but that gameplay loop sure was addictive. So whether, or not you played the previous I suggest you toss those doubts aside and try it out. It’ll surprise you and probably, like me, have you purchase the first one and then play them all again to better appreciate the experience.
Banner Saga 2 Score: 4/5 Stars
Special Notes: I was provided with a review code for Banner Saga 2.
Final Fantasy XV begins on familiar territory. A hungry empire is hell bent on taking over the world with magical technology and hordes of monsters. While your party, consisting of a prince and his three bodyguards, eventually turn their attention to saving the world instead of marriage, the story is more about their comradery. Prince Noctis is quiet and reserved although his friends help him grow as a character as does everyone else as they share their joys and sorrows with one another. More so than any other Final Fantasy the story is told through gameplay as the boy band roams through deserts, forests, caves and the like in search of treasure, monsters, and answers. It’s heavily influenced by western modes of storytelling and dropping the traditionally long, elaborate cutscenes. Part of me misses these extravagant cinematics, but it was nice to just hang out and get story elements throughout dungeons and whatever. This, however, does not hold true with the second half where things slowly start to nose dive, but we’ll get onto that later.
Combat is essentially like Kingdom Hearts, but more elaborate. You can only control Noctis, but the other three hold their own pretty well. Pressing Circle will cause him to automatically attack the closest opponent and moving the analog stick in any direction will alternate his moves. Holding Square initiates a dodge and pressing it again when prompted will create a counterattack. Locking onto enemies, or environmental objects, can also allow Noctis to warp to them. Now warping and dodging use MP and while there is magic it doesn’t deplete it in this game. Instead there are three elemental crystals you can find in the world and absorb similar to Final Fantasy VIII’s Draw system. They can then be molded into grenades of fire, ice, and lightning, dealing area damage that not only look amazing and deal crazy amounts of damage, but they effect the environment as well like burning grass, or freezing enemies to a slow crawl. It’s stunning pure and simple. You can map these elemental bombs to the four directional buttons, which can also hold various weapons for Noctis to switch on the fly as well.
It may sound complicated and like other combo heavy games like Bayonetta, it is and will give players a run for their money at first. You’ll stumble through battles looking like an idiot only to become a badass by the end as you dodge between enemies, throw in bombs, warp away to heal, warp back to strike, and so forth. Everything about the combat will make you want to strive towards getting better so you can look cool and if not, the game makes up for your faults. It’s not easy by any means, but again, it’s forgiving to some degree.
What would a Final Fantasy game be without a beautiful world to get engulfed in? The character and monster designs are top notch and they fill an ever-expanding world of deserts, forests, swamps, and cities. Everything about the game is jaw droopingly gorgeous enhanced by the fantastic soundtrack composed by Yoko Shimomura. Previously she’s worked most famously on the Kingdom Hearts series and it shines through here with one of the best scores the franchise has seen in ages. As stunning as it is there’s not much to do in it aside from killing monsters, or grabbing items. Riding in your car, The Regalia, is fantastic for sight seeing, but when you have to do this back and forth nonsense for quests much of the scenery starts to wane in value. There is fast travel, but it sends you into a set of long loading screens. As repetitive as this MMO inspired design is the rewards are well worth it. Even at the worst moments it never bothered me to an ill degree. I just thought it was worth pointing out. There is, however, something I touched on earlier that did grow on my nerves.
I say this without hyperbole, but the first half, or more like 2/3 of Final Fantasy XV, with all its tiny flaws, is a 5/5. Hands down my top pick for Game of the Year 2016. The combat is fun, it’s beautiful, your group feels alive, the music is wonderful, and the list goes on. This opinion altered after chapter 8 when the gang leaves the first big area and embarks on a linear set of locations, structured much like a level designed for a shooter let’s say. While chapters 9-12 start to detract from the more open gameplay I was mostly fine with this although the once simple story started to become more convoluted and then at chapter 13 the game jumps a gigantic shark. It takes about 1-2 hours to complete, but it felt like an eternity as it tries to introduce mechanics best found in another popular Japanese franchise that is, let’s say, horror related. It’s awful. The fact that it got through play testing is beyond me. Continuing on from there the last bits of the end combined with this left me feeling bitter.
With all that said I still highly enjoyed the game. It’s easy to see why this game took so long and feels bloated, as there have been many hands and altering visions thrown in. Who knows how much of this game survived the evolution from Final Fantasy Versus XIII into Final Fantasy XV, but at the end of the day I believe the director, Hajime Tabata, and his crew did the best they could in a timely manner and created one hell of a discussion. So much so that it’s impossible for me to put all of my thoughts into this one review. I invite you all to look at my week one impression on the game along with my breakdown of the ending sections all of which are also linked below my video review. With those and this I finally bid Final Fantasy XV adieu for now. It was one hell of a road trip and I enjoyed every minute of it bumps and all.
I still cant’ believe it, but Final Fantasy XV is finally out after ten long, long years of waiting. When it was announced as Final Fantasy Versus XIII in 2006 I was a senior year in High school. It then lasted throughout my entire college experience and five years of my games journalism career. That’s insane! The good news, despite some flaws, the game turned out great. No, wait, better. I love it!
Needless to say I’m going to get a lot of mileage from not only playing, but also writing and making videos about it. I’m not going to let it fade away as a passing thought especially not after waiting this long. So today I want to share a brief discussion my friend Shay and I had on our week’s worth of progress with some slick gameplay footage. And don’t worry there aren’t any spoilers. Enjoy!
This is one game I’ve been meaning to cover for awhile, but it kept getting sidetracked with one project, or another but it’s finally time to talk about the sequel to Dikembe Mutombo’s 4 ½ Weeks to Save the World, which cranks up the wacky settings to the max. I’m talking about Old Spice You Land. Lauren joins me again for a great return of Bizarre Bits. Enjoy!
Game Jurk 