Haven't played 10 games from this year yet (Tax season is my busy season), and I'm not counting oldies, because well yeah Bayonetta PC, **** everything else. But I did play 3 games from this year and so far
1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - it's fucking amazing. As someone who usually thinks 3d Zelda is on its best days good, but nowhere near great, this was more up my alley. The sheer freedom you get, how it rids itself of Zelda's usual bullshit, I liked how the shiekah slates are used versus how items are used in previous games (they are usually a key to a lock more or less), and there is usually an interesting payoff for my exploration. People foolishly try to argue it's any other open world game, which doesn't surprise me, half of you have no analytical skills what so ever when playing a game and are easily amused by shiny shit. But as someone who prefers a sandbox approach to open world gameplay, and not the usual rank n file, Breath of the Wild is a breath of fresh air. That it finally makes good on a Zelda game actually living up to the brand name, is just a bonus to me. So take that, it's not even Nostalgia for me or bias for the franchise, I love it mostly for the ways it's not like the other 3d zeldas, if anything it's our first true sequel to the original Legend of Zelda, and that's apparently the game they should have been making a sequel to all this time.
2. For Honor - Now it I don't take any joy in enjoying a Ubisoft game, because as said plenty of times: Champ hates things, and well I don't hate thing. For Honor's 1 v 1 and 2 v 2 mode have been a blast to play. It's mechanically simple with just enough nuance n depth to satisfying my bottom tier fgc needs, don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for the game to take over Street Fighter's spot at Evo, but it's one of the freshest takes on a fighting game in a long ass time. The elaborate game of rock, paper, scissors you play with deft timing and mind games you play with your opponent with a mechanics set up that is as simple as this game is, is kind of genius. The dominion mode sucks, and I'm not fond of the game's business practices, but luckily none of the game's shitty business practices has any impact on the way I like to play the game, and that's as a fighting game. Either 1 v 1 or with a buddy in 2 v 2s. It's on that right line of being fresh and unique enough that elevates a game I might usually knock for being just aight, but fun, to meh, it's good, it beats the hell out of gun wank 9037.
3. Night in the Woods - The story stuff is kind of neat because Mae and her friends are believable and have real people issues like bills, anxiety, growing up in a small town and feeling like you're stuck there, not being able to discuss your own internal disappointments with your parents, all that jazz. I know on paper that's not as exciting as douchebag kills all the gods in olympus, but this is what a well rounded character looks like people, not a one dimensional douchenozzle. That said, when the game goes hooky town with the supernatural stuff I'm not a fan, and it certainly doesn't help the game when my biggest complaint: Is the "I don't like anything that has to do with playing it" routine, it's by its nature not a good video game. Because as always gameplay matters, more than anything else a game does, and it's not fucking close.
Not sure what the next 2017 game I'll play. I'm gonna go through Swat 4 this week, and maybe try to finish up boring ass Tearaway. Maybe I'll finally start Nioh or Red Head Redemption (horizon). Or I'll go back and try to finish Yakuza 0, because Majima is pretty rad.
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