Evan Griffin’s Top 10 Video Games of 2015
- “Super Mario Maker”
Shigeru Miyamoto shares his 30 year toolbox with the world to see what they come up with, and the result is an ever-expanding and improving network of levels that are anywhere from absurdly impossible to creatively simple, and now with the event course additions, Nintendo, and any professional game enthusiast, can challenge fans across the globe with new designs. Super Mario Maker is a game that makes even the most casual player appreciate quality game design as they boggle their brain to come up with cool ideas to share with their friends at home and online.
- “Undertale”
More than any game I’ve played before, “Undertale” fantastically connects players to the characters on the screen through unique design, memorable moments and some of the highest quality music in a game all year. This is a game that sticks with you more as time goes on, and by the time you’ve realized just how much you loved it, the time you’ve spent with it will have been far in the past.
Read Evan’s full review of the game here.
- “Axiom Verge”
This game is a clone of “Super Metroid,” which is one of my favorite games of all time. Because of this, the game’s familiar shooting mechanics and map platforming are as solid as you would expect from the “Metroidvania” genre, however this 16-Bit throwback has its own unique energy and atmosphere sporting a cyberpunk digital world, off-beat suspense and tone setting music alongside some fantastic art direction. People will be speed-running
“Axiom Verge” for a very long time.
- “Tales From the Borderlands”
By the time I finished “Tales From the Borderlands,” it felt like I had just finished a five episode season of a really REALLY good science fiction series on par with Firefly, and it had a fantastic sense of humor from beginning to end. It’s arguable that Telltale’s library of interactive stories doesn’t evolve much in it’s mechanics; but as storytellers, I find that “Tales From the Borderlands” is an example of how good the company can be at writing, pacing and satisfying plot and character moments in a package that allows you to play as two very different characters throughout.
Read Evan’s full review of the game here.
- “Downwell”
The moment I first set eyes on this game at PAX East this year, I knew I would want to get my hands on it the second it released. Between the game’s simple controls, and its tricolor art direction, “Downwell” is deeply immersive, making you feel like you you’re playing on an old GameBoy pocket instead of an iPhone, and it’s crazy kinetic pace keeps you playing longer and longer when you start getting better at it.
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- “Soma”
While “Amnesia” didn’t grab me in the way it did with other players, Frictional Games has enchanted and terrified me with “Soma.” You play a man transported to an abandoned underwater facility in the future. The gameplay to “Soma” is secondary here, as its strongest moments deter from the survival horror elements and instead build suspense as you make your way through corridors and discover the mystery as you make your escape, but more important is the game’s storytelling as it asks the unsettling question of where humans will draw the line when enslaving machinery once it is eventually capable of its own intelligence…
- “Destiny: The Taken King”
You would think we’re talking about a completely different game than the one that game out in 2014. “Destiny” is as addictive, and simple to play as “Candy Crush” (gross) with the quality controls you remember from “Halo” years ago. Leveling up in the Crucible, venturing out on Strikes with a few friends to make a 3-man Fireteam and picking up dropped items hoping for something to upgrade your Light keeps players logged in constantly. And for those who play the game daily, there are STILL new weapons being added and weekly Raids to take part in. “Destiny” is now packed with content with “The Taken King Edition,” and if you play it casually, you’ll have much to learn as you level up your Guardian over time.
- “Rocket League”
“Rocket League” is the most accessible game to be released all year, and it’s also the most difficult to master. So much so, that actual knowledge of playing soccer will probably help your strategic ability to play the game. Who wouldn’t want to partake in “Rocket League” with a premise as delightfully absurd as, “teams of rocket boosted cars and trucks are trying to launch a massive soccer ball into the opponent’s goal.”?
- “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain”
Carrying its style of control and User Interface from MGS: Peace Walker, Phantom Pain drops Snake into the open world to complete operations in the long and short form, and allows players to complete said missions any way in which they choose. Where an explosive entrance and manslaughter is an option here, the series continues to reward players for achieving their goals with no trace, or shot fired. While the Mother Base management looks overwhelming as a whole, it is dispersed through the game’s first act. When mastered on the player’s iDroid, it begins to feel less like grinding for upgrades, and more like making every action and objective in the open map an addictive goal to better your base and grow Diamond Dogs into something worthy of Big Boss’ legacy.
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- “Lara Croft GO”
Winner for Mobile Game of the Year at 2015’s The Game Awards, this app on iPhone was far more rich and worthwhile than I would ever have expected it to be. Square Enix has produced a very immersive puzzle adventure that makes me want to go back through every level to make sure I’ve collected all the treasures I missed as I tried to solve my path through traps and evil creatures.
Honorable Mentions: “Yoshi’s Wooly World,” “Mad Max,” “Fast Racing NEO”
On Evan’s “To Be Played” List: “XenoBlade Chronicles X,” “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,” “Fallout 4,” “Rise of the Tomb Raider,” “The Talos Principle”
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