AndiC.uk

July was typically quiet for video game releases, but not for Nintendo. Splatoon 2 launched on the 21st, making it the first multiplayer shooter on the Switch. It received some criticism for being more like Splatoon 1.5, but for anyone who missed the original game on Wii U (understandably a lot of people) this is an excellent game that I can praise in every department.

The big addition to Splatoon 2 is a single player campaign, which has so many great levels (5 and 23 are my favourites) with a huge range of unique (and bonkers) weapons. The umbrella and the bucket spring to mind. And then there is the multiplayer which is the main focus of the game. Turf War is an excellent game mode whether you're a good shooter or not - the objective is to simply paint the floor. My only pain point is having to listen to Pearl and Marina every time I load up the game.

The other significant title in July was Pyre. Another PS4 console exclusive that received some of the highest critical acclaim for a small indie title. The game is best described as an action RPG sports game - and the sport involved is closest to basketball. It sounds like such a weird concept that I would like to try, but I’m convinced this will be a PS Plus game in the future.

August was the start of the busy period with some really surprising titles. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was chief among them. An emotional single player story starring a female protagonist, Senua, and her journey through hell whilst combating serious mental health issues. The game was so widely praised, and the mo-cap actress playing Senua (Melina Juergens) even picked up a Game Award despite being a video editor with no previous acting experience!

More great games in August included Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle exclusively on Switch, and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy exclusively on PS4 (read my review here). Sadly some exciting-looking games did not fare as well such as Matterfall and Agents of Mayhem.

The most underplayed game though has to be LawBreakers. The next game by Cliff Bleszinski. It was aimed at latching onto the success of hero shooters (or maybe we should just call this category Overwatch now) from last year. It was a £30 online multiplayer-only game, featuring futuristic military characters, with jetpacks and anti-gravity being key gameplay mechanics. Sadly this game flopped so badly and I'm not too sure why. The player base just disappeared a few weeks after its launch.

The other disappointing news this month was for Xbox fans, as Crackdown 3 was delayed from its 7th November release to Spring 2018. It would no longer launch alongside the Xbox One X.

Moving into September, I think everyone was expecting Destiny 2 to be the game of the month. However, despite a better story, Bungie and Activision really did take one step forward and two back with this game. After hitting the max power level for your character, there was nothing interesting to do in the end game, and fancy cosmetic items were locked behind random lootboxes - that you earned while levelling up, or could pay for with microstransactions. This pattern continued with the DLC, which infuriated players who wanted specific DLC items.

This meant that many Twitch streamers moved on to a different game. Which turned out to be the most popular game on Steam for the year - Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (or PUBG for short). I still can't believe how it achieved so much global success from a fairly simple-looking 100 player free-for-all shooter, which we now deem as Battle Royale.

Latching onto the success of PUBG was Fortnite - originally a 1-4 player build-a-base, zombie defence game on consoles. In late September it released a Battle Royale mode. PUBG accused Fortnite of copying it's game, which back-fired badly as it promoted the console game's new mode. With Fortnite's Battle Royale mode being completely free, its player base also sky-rocketed, and it's up there with the most streamed games today.

Xbox fans finally had some exclusives to talk about in late September and early October, and both were fantastic. Cuphead finally released and it looked amazing with its 1930's cartoon art style. Forza Motorsport 7 also received critical acclaim as one of the best racing sims of the year, and was the first game to truly use the power of the Xbox One X.

The Switch gained more traction in October and September with some of the best indie games, including: SteamWorld Dig 2, Golf Story, Axiom Verge, Stardew Valley, and Oxenfree. All of which lead me to finally buying a Switch with Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon 2.

A huge talking point in the latter half of 2017 was lootboxes, kickstarted by Destiny 2. The next game drawing controversy was Middle Earth: Shadow of War. This is really the first single player game to feature microtransactions tied to lootboxes, that give you gameplay items. Essentially a 'pay to win' model. I highly imagine most people who played this game simply ignored them and had a blast playing another game set in the Lord of the Rings universe. But the fact they are present projects such a negative impression on the game. It's obvious that publisher Warner Bros. is trying as many money making schemes as possible.

On 17th October EA announced they were shutting down Visceral Studios - the development team behind Battlefield Hardline and Dead Space. They were working on a new story focused game set in the Star Wars universe, with Amy Hennig at the helm - lead writer on the early Uncharted games. EA stated the game will be continued by other EA worldwide studios but it will be completely different after initial testing feedback. With much more depth for players to explore and return to, rather than a linear story-based adventure game. Which sounds much more like a Destiny concept than an Uncharted game. It was planned for 2019, so I'd now push that back a further year at least.

GT Sport finally released in mid October to expected average reviews. It was certainly outscored by Project CARS 2 and Forza 7. The game did receive a classic GT mode in December though, and they are adding more cars each month, so as a GT fan, I suspect I will pick up this game in 2018.

The 27th October was the big launch day. Assassin's Creed: Origins, Wolfenstein 2, and Super Mario Odyssey all releasing on the same day. Each had high expectations and I think it's fair to say they all delivered.

With Assassin's Creed: Origins being set in ancient Egypt, it's potentially the prettiest game of the year, certainly up there with Horizon Zero Dawn. Ubisoft has turned this game into much more of an RPG with a huge levelling system and all sorts of weapons to find as loot. My main issue though is the ability to control arrows like homing missiles. It just doesn't feel right for a game set in that era.

Wolfenstein 2 has to be one of the biggest surprises for widespread critical acclaim, especially for a gritty first person shooter, single player game. I love the concept of the Wolfenstein games where Nazi Germany won World War 2, I will be playing the first game (The New Order) before jumping into this sequel.

Lastly, there is Super Mario Odyssey, which is an utter joy to play. It's guaranteed to put a smile on your face. I've put over 50 hours into this game on Switch so far, I've collected 670 power moons and I'm still not done with the game. The capturing mechanic with Mario's hat feels revolutionary, and the classic 2D levels mixed in with the glorious 3D open areas are fantastic to play. The ending sequence is also one the best I've ever played.

Nintendo have implemented ingenious controls too. Leaping forward, hat throwing and hat diving take hours to master, but are available to you from the minute you land in the Cap Kingdom. Nevertheless there is one tiny negative I have with Odyssey and that is reaching the total moon count of 999. After completing the game, you can simply buy moons from any Kingdom's shop with in-game currency. It's a built-in pay to win scheme. If only these moons didn't count towards the total I would be much happier. Having said that, it is another masterpiece game for this year.

Moving into November, and yet again it meant Call of Duty time. This year they finally decided to return to World War 2 with (the inventive name) Call of Duty: WWII. Boots on the ground was welcomed with open arms by fans with a very classic campaign, and Nazi zombies making another return. The best addition to multiplayer was the War game mode - my favourite mode from World at War, funnily enough the last WW2 Call of Duty game from 2008.

However for the first time since Call of Duty has been dominating sales charts, the multiplayer launched with terrible server issues, and staggeringly double XP. During the first "Double XP" weekend for the game, players were actually receiving triple XP for a short time. It's crazy how this happened given Call of Duty's huge development teams and their vast experience in handling online multiplayer from day one. YouTuber TmarTn has a great video on this.

On 10th November, EA announced they were buying Respawn Studios for over £340 million. Apparently this included Metacritic-tied bonuses for upcoming Star Wars games and Titanfall 3.

This was also the launch day for Need for Speed Payback, which unfortunately turned out to be pretty disappointing. Developer Ghost Games fixed a lot of criticisms in the previous game, such as adding a full day-night cycle, improving the aggression of cops, and dropping the always online component. But there were plenty of new additions that were completely baffling.

There was no online free roam at launch. Cops can only be engaged in events! And possibly worst of all is a random card game system for applying upgrades or perks to your cars. They also decided to replace the live action cutscenes with CGI ones (a good move), but sadly these didn’t look great either. The Need for Speed series will surely bounce back with a stronger title than this.

Continuing with EA, their last game of the year was their biggest in terms of budget and marketing, with Star Wars Battlefront II. Even I was looking to this (as a very minor Star Wars fan) just because of their announcements from E3 this year. However to say this game attracted negative press at launch would be an understatement.

Firstly, the campaign that everyone was craving for after the previous Battlefront game, did not review well. Too many classic characters had been crammed into a super short story. Then there were the relentless issues around it's terrible progression system and rewards in the multiplayer. It's crazy how many patches were thrown at this game, just in November. All the early praise on no season pass and completely free DLC was completely blown away.

Moving away from EA, Nintendo surely had its last hurrah with the 3DS as Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon released in mid-November, and to surprisingly good reviews given how close the games are to Pokemon Sun and Moon from last year.

The Switch finally received some top tier, big (although old) third party games. Doom, L.A. Noire, Rocket League and Skyrim all launched on the console in November. Hopefully a sign of further third party support next year.

In December, Rockstar reminded us that GTA Online is still receiving amazing new content, four years after it launched! The Doomsday Heist was an awesome new set of co-op missions, with a James Bond villain base setup and Back to the Future-esque flying cars, it looked amazing from its trailer.

The last notable release of the year was PUBG's debut on console, exclusively on Xbox One. And I think it's fair to say that this port was clearly not ready and not finished. The game was buggy as hell with server connection issues, and the inventory system was not designed for console play at all.

This all concluded Microsoft's poor (or at least very lacking) year for exclusives. Their first party games released throughout the entire year were only Halo Wars 2, Cuphead and Forza Motorsport 7. Compare that with Sony which had dozens spread across the whole year.

Microsoft also launched a brand new console this year with the Xbox One X, but it really hasn't made much of a splash, similar to the PS4 Pro really. The games on the system is what defines the success, and that is where Nintendo is clawing back it's glory days.

The biggest overall take from 2017 is that Nintendo is back in top form. Everyone is talking about the joy of the Nintendo Switch. The ease of which to play games anywhere and with anyone (to quote their marketing strapline). And the games released on the system this year have been some of the greatest ever in Nintendo's history. Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, backed up by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Splatoon 2 is an incredible first party lineup. It's clear to see why the Switch became the fastest selling console in U.S. history.

However despite all this praise for Nintendo, and how much I love Super Mario Odyssey. My game of the year is Horizon Zero Dawn. I can only say a massive hats off to developer Guerrilla Games. The same studio behind the Killzone series! They have truly delivered an amazing new IP, with fantastic visuals, combat and story, with barely a single flaw. It is an outstanding achievement and surely the start of a new blockbuster series for Sony.

2017 Year Review - Part 2