GregHorrorShow: Game Awards 2017

2017 was a stand out year for games, with some amazing titles hitting shelves. Whether hunting robot dinosaurs in Horizon: Zero Dawn or teeing off on the 18th hole in Everybody’s Golf, there were plenty of great games for all types of players.

As usual there were some games I didn’t get to, Assassin’s Creed Origins and Wolfenstein II to name a couple. Also I hadn’t played enough of Persona 5 to judge it on much beyond graphics and music.

So here are my favourites from 2017 but first another awesome title from 2016…

.

MISSED GEM OF 2016

I got this for Christmas 2016 so it wasn’t until early last year that I really got going with it. A follow up to Arkane Studio’s 2012 title, it picks up some time after the end of the first game. Once the opening scene plays out you are given a choice of whether to continue as the original games hero Corvo or as Emily Kaldwin. Both have different powers and I’m really looking forward to going back and replaying this with different abilities. A mixture of stealth and action, the game has a wonderful sense of style and the soundtrack gives it a distinctive flavour as well. Plus one of the levels, The Clockwork Mansion, is a true feat of design, seeing the entire level shift around you depending on which levers you pull. Great stuff.

WINNER: Dishonored 2

.

MOST IMPROVED GAME

As games become more of an ongoing service than ever, I thought it might be worth keeping an eye on which titles have evolved over the last 12 months. On the single player front No Man’s Sky is almost unrecognizable from the game it was at the time of release, with base building and a more detailed story now featured. It also features lots of ways to play the game, whether you want a punishing survival adventure or a more relaxed, exploration based experience. It’s worth checking out if you haven’t been back to it for a while. One surprise was The Division‘s recent update which added a ton of more content including a horde mode and more player v player options. This is in addition to the extra end game content and systems already added during the year. There were also a few paid for DLC packs that added more scenarios and areas. Battlefield 1 added a handful of more free maps and an awesome mode called Operations, which is a sprawling battle across numerous areas – definitely something for players looking to get into longer, more intense matches. Most of the Operations are available to all but some are locked behind the Battlefield Premium pass, along with a good number of maps. Overwatch continues to change as time goes on, alongside balance changes players have also received 5 new characters and 4 new maps. In addition the game has added tons of new modes in the arcade rotation, including Deathmatch, Elimination and Duels. There were also the event related modes like Junkenstein’s Revenge, Capture The Flag, Lucioball and Yeti Hunter, which all added to the variety of content. Uncharted 4 delivered more arenas and a huge of amount of characters and customisation. The addition of a horde mode and a much requested ‘Classic’ mode were most welcome and the game still feels great to play. All of these games have shown a strong development over the last year but I feel like Overwatch by adding, for free, such a big amount of heroes and new areas alongside balancing and entirely reworking existing characters gets the nod here. The fact you can buy the game now and have access to everything in the game content wise is fantastic and it has continued to suck up a lot of my time in 2017.

WINNER: Overwatch

.

THE JOE DANGER AWARD

I really enjoyed Everybody’s Golf on the Vita so I was looking forward to the PS4 version, thinking it’d be fun to play with friends and just online in general. I didn’t imagine the single player, with it’s golf carts, fishing and quizzes would draw me in but it did and I spent a lot of time working my way up the rankings and challenging the ‘boss battle’ style golfers to unlock more progress. It’s also a really relaxing game and can be great to play to just unwind a little.

WINNER: Everybody’s Golf

.

MOST ANTICIPATED GAME OF 2018

Could it be anything else? Without doubt one of my favourite games of the PS3 era, Red Dead Redemption was a stone cold classic that delivered an epic story and a really solid multiplayer offering. As much as I can’t wait to see the story Rockstar have planned for us it’s the multiplayer I’m most excited about. I loved it before but seeing what Rockstar have done with the online for GTA V makes me hope that this could really be something special.

WINNER: Red Dead Redemption 2

.

BEST TRAILER

I’m still not entirely sure what Death Stranding is even about but with each trailer Hideo Kojima reveals a little more of the characters and setting. His next project post Metal Gear Solid is shaping up to be like nothing else we’ve ever played. The trailer shows a world in disarray and people trying to protect a baby from supernatural forces. Graphically it looks great and he has both Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelson on board, so I’m really hopefully he will continue his run of amazing, and amazingly crazy, games. Watch the trailer HERE.

WINNER: Death Stranding

.

BEST VITA GAME

Steins;Gate is an older title but was far and away the best Vita game I played in 2017. Unfortunately with support outside of the indies drying up for the Vita there wasn’t a huge amount of new stuff I played on the system. However I’d definitely recommend trying this title out, the tale of a time travelling ‘mad scientist’ who has to battle a series of other outside influences in an attempt to use his time travel for good and save his friends. This visual novel goes dark in places but man, what a ride!

WINNER: Steins;Gate

.

BEST GRAPHICS

This was a crowded category in 2017 with plenty of amazing looking games arriving, whether it was the anime styling of Persona 5 or the photo realistic universe of Battlefront II. Naughty Dog delivered a wonderful looking game in Uncharted: Lost Legacy, with impressive vistas and Horizon: Zero Dawn‘s lush, beautiful expanses were a bit to play in. But I’m giving this to Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, a mid price game that gave us a well paced 10 hour experience that looked stunning considering it was made on a much smaller budget than the other games mentioned here. It was a darker world than the other games here but still absolutely stunning.

WINNER: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

.

BEST STORYLINE

I really enjoyed playing through Senua’s troubled story in Hellblade, it was a difficult experience at times but the pay off was worth it and I’d definitely recommend giving it a shot if you haven’t played it already. Unfortunately I only had time for one playthrough of Nier Automata this year, so while I know I still have story beats to come, I felt the game deserved a nod even just for the first run through. Naughty Dog did an amazing job of giving us another Uncharted title but with different protagonists, Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross, giving us a unique vibe. It worked a treat and I enjoyed the story here, the pacing was excellent. However, this year’s winner is Horizon: Zero Dawn which gave us a story told on several levels and with a few great twists along the way. Guerrilla Games did really well with this, especially after the story of Killzone: Shadow Fall, which didn’t really deliver.

WINNER: Horizon: Zero Dawn

.

BEST MUSIC (SCORE)

There has been some wonderful music made for games this year, Henry Jackman’s score for Uncharted: Lost Legacy was sublime and really added to the atmosphere of the game. Likewise Horizon: Zero Dawn had a great score which felt like a real part of Aloy’s world, especially the contrasts between battle themes and more peaceful moments. I’d actually thought Nier Automata would take this category as Okabe Keiichi’s score is hauntingly beautiful but although I haven’t finished the game I’ve spent enough time with Persona 5 to know a killer soundtrack when I hear one – that end of battle sting brings a smile to my face every time! Wonderful stuff as usual from Shoji Meguro.

WINNER: Persona 5

.

BEST MUSIC (LICENSED)

Full disclosure, as anyone who follows me on any socials will know, I helped to select the soundtrack for Dirt4 but I genuinely believe it’s a great soundtrack with a strong mix of old and new artists. Uncharted: Lost Legacy nabs a spot on the nominations list solely for a glorious and truly fitting use of M.I.A and FIFA 18 delivers another great selection of new music across genres. But the winner here is the absolutely brutal soundtrack put together for Devolver Digital’s cyberpunk title Ruiner. Featuring artists like Susumu Hirasawa and Zamilska I’d recommend giving it a listen if you’re not familiar. A perfect match to the dark, unrelenting action on screen.

WINNER: Ruiner

.

BEST VOICE ACTING

Melina Juergens has rightfully earned a lot of plaudits for her voice acting as Senua in Hellblade, she made the character believable and vulnerable, while still maintaining a rough edge along the way. I also thought Ashly Burch was great as Aloy in Horizon: Zero Dawn, unfortunately she was the best of the bunch, although there were a few other good performances scattered among the rest of the cast. There was more story in Destiny 2, which of course brought more voice acting, though not from your mute character – I really do wish they’d go the Mass Effect route and have the character voiced but I digress… What you do have is great work from Lance Reddick, Gina Torres and Nathan Fillion. Is Cayde-6 a little overplayed? Yes, but having some extra personality is better for me than none at all. There was plenty of personality in Uncharted: Lost Legacy, which takes home the award. It was fantastic to see the development of the relationship between Chloe and Nadine as the game went on and you really did feel a bond established between them. Just the right mix of quips and seriousness meant I didn’t miss Nathan for a second.

WINNER: Uncharted: Lost Legacy

.

BEST SINGLE PLAYER GAME

First off a shout out to Call Of Duty: World War II which was, admittedly, dire and relentlessly depressing for the most part but delivered one of my favourite levels of the year with a great set piece that sees you infiltrate a Nazi base as a Resistance member. Fun and different. Again, I’ve only played through Nier Automata once but I really enjoyed what I did and thought the story was interesting – I know there is more in store for me on further playthroughs so I’m looking forward to seeing what’s on offer. Uncharted: Lost Legacy gave me exactly what I was hoping for, a story in the Uncharted universe that didn’t revolve around Nathan Drake (as much as I love him, Uncharted 4 rounded out the arc perfectly). It was really well paced and looked absolutely gorgeous. But I have to give it to Horizon: Zero Dawn. What an amazing game. Robot dinosaurs was the premise, hunting them and having to take them down. The developers really delivered on that promise and then some. There is so much more to the game. So much in fact that a hint on the loading screen after I’d finished the game told me about a type of weapon I hadn’t even known existed! Horizon really is a game you can lose yourself in, if you haven’t already grab yourself a copy now.

WINNER: Horizon: Zero Dawn

.

BEST MULTIPLAYER GAME

2017 was a weird year for multiplayer. As I mentioned in an earlier category, a lot of big games from the last few years stepped up and gave us more, sometimes different, content. I played more Overwatch, Rocket League and Battlefield 1 this year than I did any of the games on this list. Everybody’s Golf turned out to be a title that I stuck more time into offline than online. But I had great fun playing with friends and doing the online challenges. FIFA came back with a bang and I reignited my Ultimate Team career after barely touching it the previous year. The only issue is that it’s very easy to pay-to-win using real money so sometimes it’s just not that fun if you haven’t spent cash yourself, I’ve been on the end of a fair few 7 or 8 goal thrashings that I imagine might infuriate more volatile players. Speaking of pay-to-win, I was tempted to give the award this year to Battlefront II. I don’t think it’s a popular opinion but putting aside the loot box shenanigans (at the current time you can’t actually pay real money to win) I’ve genuinely enjoyed the time I’ve spent with the game. It handles well and, for the most part, has felt fair to play. Having said that, Destiny 2 handles like a dream. Being able to play through the story with friends and then get online for some crucible action has been more than enough of a value proposition for me. I loved the PvP in the original Destiny and I love it here. The mix of weapons and abilities gives a flexibility you don’t always see in online shooters. And the shooting feels so good you won’t want to stop.

WINNER: Destiny 2

.

BEST OVERALL GAME

When Guerrilla Games announced they would be making something completely new after our Killzone titles, I was caught in two minds. I love Killzone (and hope it comes back at some stage) but something fresh could be great. Then they announced Horizon: Zero Dawn and I was blown away. Blown away and a little worried. I had faith in Guerrilla but moving from a gritty, first person environment to a third person, open world RPG? Added to that was the fact that, while the multiplayer delivered, the last Killzone’s game story was a big let down. Could they give us a story over tens of hours that would stand up? I need not have worried at all because they smashed it out of the park. Horizon: Zero Dawn is up there with the very best open world games I’ve played – GTA V, Metal Gear Solid V, Red Dead Redemption, Aloy’s wondrous journey is on a par with these gaming masterpieces. The robots themselves are so brilliantly designed that I loved working out ways of taking them down. The story is fantastic, the world building is great and I always felt like I was doing something and not just grinding for XP. Aloy’s character is subtle and, as a rare female lead, treated in exactly the same way a male version of her character would have been. It shouldn’t be impressive but it can hopefully pave the way for more games with female leads. I can’t wait to see what Guerrilla Games do next but I’m there day one.

WINNER: Horizon: Zero Dawn

———————————————————————————————————-

So there you go, another fantastic year done and 2018 looks to be another good one with Red Dead Redemption II, Far Cry 5, Anthem, Detroit: Become Human, the God Of War reboot and a title I’ve been looking forward to for months – VA-11 Hall-A, a cyberpunk game in which you play a bartender. I can’t wait!

.

FIFA 12 – Review (PS3)

It often gets to the stage with sports games that they become merely annual roster updates, with a huge list of supposed gameplay changes that in actuality make little or no difference at all. However for the first time in a long time FIFA 12 bucks that trend.

This year gamers are treated to a full physics engine that means the end of canned animations for players on the pitch. While that may not sound like a big deal it means that every time two players are involved in a scuffle for the ball the result will be different.

Rather than one player entering into a pre-determined ‘ball winning’ animation and the other a pre-determined ‘losing ball’ animation you get a natural clash and outcome, as you would at a real game. Of course there are still a few teething issues – the occasional pile up of players on the ground as they trip over each other being at the comedy end of the scale – but overall this new feature adds so much more to the game.

As has become expected in recent years the gameplay of FIFA is second to none. You will really feel like you are involved in a real game of football – especially against human opponents locally or online. The AI is a little too good for my liking 😆 but most of my time is spent online anyway.

Last year the main draw online was Ultimate Team, a sort of fantasy football where you build a roster of players and control transfers etc. This remains in FIFA 12 but personally I feel it’s been eclipsed by the awesome new Head To Head league mode. This sees you needing a required amount of points in 10 online games to progress up through the leagues. As you move up through the 10 leagues you need more points to stay in that division and face better players that match your skill level. It is extremely addictive, so be warned.

Have no doubt, FIFA 12 is the ultimate football package both offline and online. There is something here for everyone and if you have any interest in football, this is the game for you. The new physics based gameplay means this title is a genuine step forward for the genre.

Rating: 10/10

The End Of An Era… But The Beginning Of Another.

As with so many things, gaming has changed a hell of a lot since the start of the decade.

It’s been a progressive ten years, seeing the arrival of the Playstation 2, Playstation 3 and PSP – as well as rival consoles from Nintendo and Microsoft that helped push Sony to improve.

Games are a much bigger part of life now – more mainstream than ever before. Most houses will have one of the consoles, if not more, as parents and children play (sometimes together 🙂 ).

METAL GEAR SOLID: One of the original Playstation’s finest moments

There can be no doubt that Sony was the manufacturer of the decade – the continuing success of the PS2 secures them that accolade.

But in the current generation of consoles they sit in last place. XBox 360 started so well and then Nintendo arrived with the Wii to rape and pillage the ‘casual market.’

However as time has gone on the PS3 has made great strides to catch up with the XBox (I just can’t take the Wii seriously as a platform) and seems to finally be getting the games to back up it’s hardware.

GOD OF WAR: The series that showcased just how much was left in the PS2

As this decade comes to a close we’ve seen various companies go bust. From well established ones, like Acclaim or Midway, through to lesser known but good studios such as Pandemic no-one seemed safe from the threat of extinction.

I’ve had some big changes in gaming since 2000 – swinging from FIFA to PES back in 2001 and then back to FIFA again in 2009. Going from casual gamer to setting up my own blog and reviewing games.

The main difference for me now is in online gaming. With XBox Live on the 360 and then the PSN for PS3 gaming became even more social than before – with friends lists and even the inclusion of Twitter updates of your in game progress (Uncharted 2).

KILLZONE 2: The game that has defined online gaming for me this decade

I never thought I would ever play with a headset – but as online games have developed it’s often essential to be able to communicate to the people you’re playing with, not least to be able to dish out some friendly ribbing now and then 😆

Games are so well developed now that people who were just casual gamers are finding themselves completing games and playing online.

It’s a great time to be a gamer and with a slew of great titles confirmed for 2010/2011 it looks like it’ll just keep getting better and better.

UNCHARTED 2: The complete gaming package

For the record here are my Top 10 favourites games of the decade:

1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)

2. Killzone 2 (PS3)

3. GTA: Vice City (PS2)

4. Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (PS2)

5. Metal Gear Solid (PSX)

6. God Of War II (PS2)

7. Dead Space (PS3)

8. Fallout 3 (PS3)

9. Resident Evil 4 (PS2)

10. GTA IV (PS3)

And because of “it’s great balance of Final Fantasy and Disney” my wife has submitted her game of the decade: Kingdom Hearts.

So that rounds out the decade!

See you all in 2010! 😎

The Sudden Decline Of Pro Evolution Soccer

My experience with PES started on the PS2, with Pro Evolution Soccer, hence why my chart of the series begins here.

I’ve given these games ratings out of 100 from my experience so you can get a clearer image of my opinion.

As you can see the initial high standard was maintained throughout the PS2 years, with some games obviously more favorable than others. (Down to personal opinion).

It seems to have been the move to next gen that has caused the most problems.

PES 2008 was, quite frankly, a disgrace. As next gen bows go it was a shocker.

The graphics obviously looked a bit better than the PS2 ones but they weren’t really stretching the PS3.

The game stuttered and shook, particularly on replays.

And the gameplay was ok but didn’t seem to have improved that much.

The online was the worst I’ve EVER experienced in a game. Some of it was unplayable. Meanwhile FIFA’s games were running, for the majority, smoothly.

We were promised changes for PES 2009 and we sort of got them – the problem being PES 2009 was the game PES 2008 should’ve been.

It left PES a year behind and allowed FIFA to close the gap.

PES 2009’s online was better than 2008 and the gameplay was much improved but I have no inclination to play a Master League (Career Mode) – I’ve played one on every other version (even PES 2008).

Yes there is Be A Legend Mode which is pretty cool (and hopefully will be updated and improved for the next installment) but the major faux pas for me is giving the player 20 blank teams to create but not letting them use them in solo game modes! What. The. Hell? 😡

I played FIFA 2009 and I found it to be a little slow and lacking in control of players, however it was easily the best FIFA game I’ve played since the turn of the Millenium.

I have faith in Konami. I think they lost their way and the one glimmer of hope is that there was a (small) incline at the end of the graph.

They really do need to nail PES 2010 though otherwise it might be time for me to end almost a decade of PES and switch to FIFA.

PES Through The Years…

Wow, that was certainly a trip down memory lane.

Just on my way home from the Konami 40th Birthday Celebration at Centre Point in London.

The evening focused on Pro Evolution Soccer and how the game has developed and improved since the early days of PES (back on the SNES).

They had various iterations of the game on different consoles.

First up we sampled the SNES version. This was a tough one to control and the shooting wasn’t great.

Tackling wasn’t too bad and the passing was fairly accurate but the shooting was where we were struggling and a lot of the goals came from the keeper spilling a save and the forward sliding the ball home.

The graphics were true 16Bit – really took me back and while the controls were different enough to keep us on our toes I managed an 8-0 victory 😀

Next up we tried the new Nintendo Wii version of PES 2009.

You use the stick on the controler to move your player, the nunchuck to direct where you want to pass and a shake of the controller to shoot. It’s all a little bit complex and there is a hell of a lot going on on screen.

I’m sure with more perseverance it would get easier and it was quite nice to have total control over the play. This one finished 1-1.

Then we headed over to the first PS2 version ‘Pro Evolution Soccer.’

This was more like it but first impressions were “whoa! How fast is this?!” I played a fair bit of this game and certainly don’t remember it being so quick.

The passing was very unresponsive, often not kicking the ball until a good second or two after you’d pressed the button.

We went for a Euro XI vs World XI which was a close game as both teams were so good – managed to squeeze a 1-0 victory and got the same result again in the next game; Germany vs Uruguay. Felt a bit bad as was the better @shandation team in the 2nd game by a mile but succombed to the German counter attack. 😆

Our final stop took us all the way back to the N64.

This was easily the worst of the versions we played – didn’t help that the graphics looked even worse than they should as it was on a big HD TV.

It was hard to tackle, hard to shoot and we had no idea how to change player.

Dribbling was easy and fun (a little too easy at times, although they may have been us jumping into challenges 😀 )

It turned into a bit of a goalfest and I ran out as the winner with a final score of 10-3 to round off the evening in style 😎

It was great fun to revisit the older versions of the game, especially as I no longer own any of them.

 

Playing the previous games in the series really made you appreciate just how good the latest PES title is, even with the faults it does have.

Hopefully football titles can continue to evolve and improve with each version. FIFA has made great strides to make up ground on PES.

I used to play FIFA from the first game in ’94 right through to 2001 when I discovered PES. It’s been PES all the way since then but I am looking forward to seeing what both titles bring to the table this year.

Could FIFA 2010 really tempt me away from PES? We’ll have to wait and see.

For now I’m basking in the warm glow of nostaglia and enjoying reminiscing about great times had hunched over a control pad playing Pro Evolution Soccer.