It’s that time of year again. The time when we here at GAMbIT look back on all the games we have covered/played to provide you a list of the best of what 2015 had to offer. Sure, you can read any old website and no doubt see the same games show up, but we here at GAMbIT do things a bit different. The rules for Games of the Year is simple: a contributor either had to have reviewed or played the game in 2015, and that’s really about it.
Just because a game may have earned a 5 star rating (don’t think any did this year) does not mean that it automatically is in the running. Indie games are judged right alongside AAA titles, so it’s every game for themselves. We won’t announce a best game of the year, as we think that defeats the purpose of enjoying games as a whole, but below you will find a list of our 10 Best Games of 2015 in no particular order:
Grey Goo
We are going all the way back to January of this year for the lovely classic styled RTS Grey Goo. January is the time of year when game releases are extremely light, and companies are usually pushing out games that are pretty terrible, so it was a nice surprise to find Grey Goo and give it the attention it deserved. Pulling from classic RTS styling and offering up an interesting story, Grey Goo is the sort of game that RTS fans have been wanting. Heck, it’s damn impressive to see a game of this level and quality come from a studio that isn’t called Blizzard. RTS games are rare, and good RTS games are even more so in this modern-day of sepia toned, hard-knuckled, super cereal war games. Pick this one up is you get a chance, you won’t be disappointed.
Kalimba
We live in a gaming sphere that often rewards style of substance, so when a game comes around that can offer both, we get excited. Kalimba is a puzzle platformer that keeps its gameplay nice and simple, while still driving one to maddening levels with the difficulty. What made Kalimba great is that you never got mad because the game screwed you, rather, you got mad because you screwed up. The mechanic of controlling two separate characters at once made for some really interesting gameplay moments. Top all the fun with truly enjoyable characters (Hoebear is still a hoot) and a color palette that is stunning to watch in motion, Kalimba is a definite must own on any platform. The game may have hit Xbox One in December of 2014, but the PC edition dropped in 2015, so it made the list. Plus, how can you not love a game that isn’t made up of 50 shades of brown!
Transformers Devastation
Not only was Transformers Devastation the best Transformers game to ever be released, it was also the best Transformers “anything” released in a very long time. Pulling from the much-loved G1 Transformers, Devastation was a short game, but gave players just enough to leave them wanting more. Often times games try to pad themselves out, even when they only have a very simplistic game mechanic, but that wasn’t the case with Transformers Devastation. Fans wanted to see classic Transformers battling it out against Decepticons in a game that felt like it was pulled from a classic episode of the series. Platinum games seemed to really understand this and released a game that shocked just about everyone. Now if only they stop making those Bay Transformers movies and did one in the style of this game, we’d be all set.
Mad Max
Mad Max was a happy surprise to us here at the site. We were huge fans of Fury Road, as well as the series as a whole, but our expectations for the Mad Game game were about as dry as the wastelands themselves. Still, when we got our hands on Mad Max we could not stop playing the damn thing. For a game filled with nothing but inhospitable sand dunes, the world of Mad Max still managed to feel alive. The car combat and upgradability of the Magnum Opus never got old, even long after the game should have. Of everything we played this year, Mad Max was the only game that we had a 100% completion rating on. So invested were we that the ending drove us mad, and had arguments flying about whether it was the right way to go out. At least we could all agree that Mad Max was the perfect Australia simulator.
Tales From The Borderlands
It was a tough choice to pick between Tales From The Borderlands and Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series -we can all ignore that Minecraft mess of a game for the time being. Borderlands ended up edging out Game of Thrones simply on the story alone. As a fan of both series, and their larger worlds, I felt that the comedy of Tales From The Borderlands shone through and made it a more enjoyable experience as a whole. The new characters that were introduced were incredibly likable, and the voice work done was simply top-notch. There is a reason that Telltale Games is one of the few studios doing adventure games, and Tales From The Borderlands shows that they will continue to be kings of the mountain for quite some time.
The Rivers of Alice – Extended
Telltale may rule the point-and-click adventure game scene, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the only one releasing games; or even releasing the best ones. The Rivers of Alice – Extended bills itself as “a classic-style, emotional, graphic adventure set in a universe of puzzles and characters from the imagination of vetusta morla.” We can’t really argue with that, as the game is downright fantastic. While the game may be quite short for most, it is powerful enough to leave an impact with you long after you have finished. The Rivers of Alice – Extended is a gorgeous game that everyone needs to have in their library.
Super Mario Maker
Say what you will about Nintendo and its perceived issues, but there is no other studio/company out there that has produced such high quality content on a regular basis. 2015 had been a stellar year for Nintendo, even if Star Fox –one of their most anticipated titles– was pushed back into 2016. Super Mario Maker showed that even the game that revived an entire industry back in the 80s, can still be just as fun in 2015. There is a beautiful simplicity in being able to create your own Mario levels and share them with people all around the world. You can still jump onto YouTube and see people uploading levels today, long after the game came out. Not only is Super Mario Maker a fantastic game, but it showed just how special the Wii U Gamepad could be, and how no other console on the market could emulate something like this. In my review of Super Mario Maker I noted that this was the sort of game whose popularity will long outlast the console itself. I can easily see people going out to buy a Wii U a console generation or two from now, just to be able to play Super Mario Maker again.
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Another game that dropped early in 2015, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate left an impression on not only the Japanese market that has loved the series for years, but broke into the West in a major way. The game easily captured people and sucked hundreds of hours from them throughout the year. And all this from a game on the portable Nintendo 3DS! Massive boss encounters that required you to think smart and understand your enemies movements made for a bloody good time. The lack of health bars also cleared up a lot of real estate on a smaller screen to really show off the power of the handheld. The combat system is deep, and the the various monsters you will face will test to to your limits, all so you can build that next weapon, or craft some new armor. All this so you can go out and kill even bigger monsters in a seemingly never-ending cycle of fun. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is reason enough to own a 3DS, but be ready to lose 100 plus hours if you do take the plunge.
Crypt of the NecroDancer
Rougelike games are not my cup of tea, so when one breaks through and grabs me, it’s a pretty big deal. Crypt of the NecroDancer a thing of beauty for how it successfully mashes up two distinct genres that I never would have thought of slapping together. The game is ingenious in how it takes a dungeon crawler and a rhythm game and spits out something wholly unique and memorable. What makes the game special is the way in which you move, fight, and explore each level of the dungeon. Every action in the game is dictated by the music that is specific to each of the games levels. You just use the arrow keys to move in time with the music, so all you need a bit of rhythm to enjoy the hell out of this game. Even writing about it now makes me want to go fire it up again and do some exploring.
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt
I said in my review of the game that, “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the first game that finally justify this new generation of games” and I still stand by that. The game is so nice that I bought it twice; once for the Xbox One, and again for PC during a sale. I even went out and upgraded y personal PC just so I could play it again at max settings. The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt is a gorgeous game to behold from start to finish. I can’t tell you how many times I just stopped to enjoy the sunset as I wandered the lands on my grand adventure. Fallout 4 was a lot of fun but didn’t do anything new for the series and Metal Gear Solid V was really solid, but skewed so far from what the MGS series was; The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt on the other hand did everything right. We got a fantastic visual treat along with more of what we love, while still offering up enough new features and bigger story. While other games may fade from the gaming consciousness, The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt will be one of the titles synonymous with this current gaming generation. Also, free DLC from the developers is simply a thing of beauty in the day and age of micro-transactions for everything.
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