sum_guy's GOTYs for 2017!

Today was a great year for gaming with over 20+ games beaten and with quite a large number of those being from this year alone! Thus, I figured with respect to the forums, and games themselves, I'd do my own take on my Games of the Year. I'll try my best to stick only titles from 2017 but may sub in an older title if I did nothing of the genre due to backlog. So with that being said let's get started!

Best Platformer: Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)

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Let me begin by prefacing that I grew up in the collect-a-thon window with Super Mario 64, Dk64, Banjo Kazooie, Glover, Gex the Gecko and the others comprising some of my favourite video game genres. Every 3d Mario game always seemed to scratch that itch of exploration, reward, and trying new things quite nicely and Odyssey is no different.

The story is more or less similar to every Mario game; Peach is kidnapped by Bowser, Mario saves her by travelling worlds, and needs a gimmick to help navigate worlds and collect the mcguffin to help his quest. What makes Odyssey special however is just the charm of balancing traditional Mario platform controls with the addition of the cappy system which lets you "possess" enemies and other items as a way to help achieve your goals. Here you can get incredibly creative as to HOW you're gonna solve the puzzle; as if taking some good cues from other big hit Nintendo game Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Motion controls are optional but actually can lend a hand to some fun uses, and the ability to add costumes is hilarious for screenshots and just personalizing the adventure as you can see in my screenshot above. Additionally, once you beat the game there's more to unlock and easter egg throwbacks

My only criticism of the game is that there are very many moons to collect, and while the system works and generally is fun to find. I did get fatigue now and then and wished it could've been more focused akin to 64 or Sunshine's # of collectibles per world.

Honourable Mention: Crash Bandicoot N-sane Trilogy

Score: 4.5/5

Best RPG: Nier Automata (PS4/PC)

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Now, I actually did play the original Nier once upon time when needing to buy a game for my PS3 and it was a unique experience that was full of charm, but enough odd choices that i couldn't see the game getting a sequel. Imagine to my surprise when it was told a sequel would in fact arrive!

While a sequel, the game is set 1000s of years from the first one making it accessible enough for newcomers to enjoy as the plot centers around humanity and aliens getting into a proxy war with the last of humanity being stranded on the moon until the area is safe once more. You as the player play as 2B and 9S, two androids who help scout and eliminate recent uprisings in the machine network and ensure humanity survival is ensured. However, to those unfamiliar with Yoko Taro's games, nothing is truly ever black or white as you learn what its like to feel as an ai-based robot soldier, stuck in a 100 years proxy war as the world and people open up around you.

Gameplay is partly based on Platinum Games's memorable hack and slash, while also transitioning on the fly to 2.5 top down combat, twin stick shooters, and "hacking" mini-games. This can lead some to be frustrated to those who prioritize one gameplay over the other but given there's 5 core endings to truly piece the story together(as well as 26 endings overall) there effort makes it worthwhile.

Also notable, is the soundtrack being absolutely ethereal. In the original Nier, the score and lyrics were created in something called "Chaos Language" being a mix of languages sung with its own unique vocabulary and composed in grand orchestral, and some electronic components. The fact that we got the original composer and songstress to come back and create new work was amazing, and let me tel you, if you put the time in, the ending credit song to the 5th core ending will really show you what its like. If I had to put this game on any other list I'd argue this game is going to be one that defines this console generation.

Honourable Mention: Persona 5 (PS4)

Score: 4.5/5

Best Horror Game: Doki Doki Literature Club (PC)

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As much a I feel this is a bit of a spoiler for something truly special, I need to put it on the list.

I'll be honest the less said about this game, the better it is for the experience. All I can say is the game subverts tropes, your choices matter, and you should do your best to protect the one you love. That's it, I'm sorry I can't say more but if I share more info, you lose out on the charm.

Also it's free! and the guy from Smash Bros project M was involved so definitely worth checking out. What a sleeper hit for the year

Honourable Mention: Until Dawn

Score: 5/5

Best Multiplayer Game: Overcooked (Switch/PS4/Steam)

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You ever play those dine and dash games on PC and mobile and wished there was more to do? Well if you like those and wanna get some friends involved AND add terrible obstacles then THIS is the game for you. Overcooked is a cooking simulation game where every kitchen has a terrible gimmick and to get 3 stars for your meal you have to be willing to throw food on the floor and jump between trucks.

I have it on the Switch and controls are fairly simple, Joystick to move, one button to grab items, one to perform and action, and one to gain a speed boost. Goal is essentially to make the most meals as quickly as possible to get enough coins. Oh and there's a mini story about needing skills to stop an evil monster you meet at the first intro level so don't worry about that as your burger is burning right now.

The game for me came with the DLC, story co-op and competitive mode available but my peers and I have regulated ourselves mostly to story co-op as it gets hard. While there IS singleplayer functions you essentially control two chefs at once and its just as hard. Also, there is NO online multiplayer so this is an offline affair only; but if you can manage to get up to 4 people then you're in for a real dish of excitement!

Honourable Recommendation: Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2005 version) as the servers came back online

Score: 4/5

Best Remake: Yakuza Kiwami (Ps4)

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Originally a PS2 game, once ported to PS3 in Japan only, we now have the completely worked Yakuza 1 on PS4 with added missions, minigames, and story as the "Kiwami" Edition. Now to be fair, I never did get a chance to play the original Yakuza game but after watching videos I can see how sheer the remake became. It borrowed the well worked combat system of big hit Yakuza 0, added additional cutscenes to flesh out the main antagonists journey to villainy and retained a fairly inexpensive price of about 39.99 CAD for a pretty fleshed out game.

The story is quite interesting about a former Yakuza mobster taking the fall for a murder their friend committed only to come back and realize things have changed for the worse and getting himself stuck in what could become an underground mob conspiracy. Honestly, it's pretty decent of any B-movie film line at the theatre, just you get to choose if you wanna progress in the story or go around playing bug-girl card games, batting cages, pick fights or engage in the quirky but charming sidequests.

The Yakuza series is known for being filled with lots to do, and weirdness to explore but this is the perfect jumping on point for newcomers (especially as a sequel remake has been Greenlit)

Honourable Mention: Crash Bandicoot N-sane Trilogy

Score: 4.5/5

Best Handheld Game: Splatoon 2 (Switch)

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With the power of the switch you can now take a LOT of games handheld and if you have a good wi-fi connection or data plan you can even do multiplayer online. Splatoon 2 makes good use of this as I've had some great moments where I could just bring my Switch to family's houses and just play some 3minute multiplayer matches pretty much on the go or at least work singleplayer mode if offline. Also nice is the fact that at home I can just undock the switch and play the damn thing wherever I want portable and not suffer performance loss at all.

Goal of the game is simple, In single-player learn the weapons and use them to get back the great zap-fish and restore power to the squid lands! In multi-player either go turf war, ranked or salmon run for variety action. I've had plenty of fun with several PD members here just playing and they can attest their productivity was certainly dropping at work when the matches took priority!

That said, this game gets the most criticism on list as there's odd choices to be found. You can't sip the intro video which resets every time stages are re-selected or you go offline from online, teaming up with friends is un-balanced at best Only after recent patches can you now switch weapons between matches, no in-game voice chat, Salmon Run/hoard mode is locked to specific hours of day and singe-player is pretty near identical to the Wii U's first entry.

That said the game still oozes freshness with splatfests allowing you to pick teams and fight for your vote to matter, Crazy awesome drawings and dank memes in the community lobby and customizing your squid/kid to be the freshest/dankest there can be.

Honourable Mention: Stardew Valley ( switch version)

Score: 4/5

WORST GAME OF THE YEAR: Sonic Forces (PS4/Switch/PC/Xbox One)

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While Sonic Mania was supposed to be a great game (I haven't played it yet myself so can't say personally) Sonic Forces is a hodge podge of content that doesn't blend at all together.

The story is rushed, nonsensical, and writes itself out of continuity by the game's end. With little to no character motivation for anyone they bring in to introduce.

The Physics engine is absolutely broken with some levels either being incredibly quick to finish at 1-2mins when they work or 10 minutes when they don't understand how speed/distance works. Retro Sonic mechanics are worse than sonic generations, and some items just making YOU broken with invincibility frames.

I went going in expecting to play an "okay" Sonic game that's at least better than '06 but this game is arguably worse as I would fall off, not connect with enemies, suddenly slow down and miss jumps and finish the entirety of this game cheap deaths and bonus levels in all in just 3 hours time.

On the bright side, there were about 5/30 missions I DID enjoy but ended quickly and the costume unlocks were cool as well as the soundtrack but this game was absolutely terrible.

DISonhourable Mention: Starwars Battlefront II (2017)

Score: 2/5

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