The five best games of 2016 hand picked by our resident gamers
IT’S that time of year again, when games reviewers name their top games for the past 12 months. Here are our picks.
IT’S that time of year when games reviewers name their top games for the past 12 months and people debate the merits of said choices in the comments sections across the internet.
So as 2016 comes to a close, technology editor Matthew Dunn and game reviewer Royce Wilson give you there top five games of the year.
GAME OF THE YEAR
Someone has deliberately infected banknotes during the pre-Christmas sales, unleashing a weaponised, modified form of the smallpox virus on New York.
A few months later, 90 per cent of NYC is dead and armed gangs are roaming the streets.
You are a member of The Division and tasked with helping what remains of the government to find a cure for the virus and stop the city’s further ruin.
That is the awesome story behind Tom Clancy’s The Division.
The game is an interesting combination of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) and single-player role-playing game (RPG) — a style that never appealed until I played this title.
The combination of impressive graphics, atmospheric setting and frantic gunplay created a thoroughly engaging and addictive experience.
Usually I am lucky to sink more than 15 hours into a game, so the fact I put more than 100 hours into The Division tells you everything you need to know about this title.
The team-based first person shooter (FPS) genre has been shaken up by the arrival of this title from Blizzard, which has proven extraordinarily popular and quickly established itself as one of the pre-eminent games in the field.
With a cast of balanced characters, useful skills and appealing visuals, Overwatch expertly caters for everyone from the newest of newbies to the most hardcore of pro eSports gamers.
It’s a hell of a lot of fun, lends itself extremely well to short bouts — when you want some gaming but don’t want to necessarily write your evening off — and it maintains a positive, upbeat and welcoming tone throughout.
When I’m not reviewing a game and am looking for something to play for fun, chances are I’m firing up Overwatch; hence its place as my Game of The Year for 2016.
CLOSE SECOND
Before you get up in arms, I will admit that Mafia III had repetitive gameplay, glitches and boring driving sessions.
But this didn’t bother me as the story was world class.
Mafia III puts players in the middle of a gruesome tale of death and destruction, with a plot worthy of a Hollywood film.
More than just a gritty revenge story, the game didn’t shy away from racism — trying to offer authentic social commentary on what life was like as a black man in the southern part of the US during the 60s.
With stellar writing and performances, era-appropriate pop music and well thought out cutscenes, Mafia III offered a cinematic experience unrivalled by most games on the market.
Sure, it might have been repetitive at times, but I loved this game.
SID MEIER’S CIVILIZATION VI — ROYCE
Sorry, I’ll be with you right after this next turn. I kind of got tied up in a war with Montezuma again. He started it, and he’ll be sorry when I finish researching nuclear fission.
The Civilization turn-based strategy games have been going strong for 25 years and this entry in the series builds on its predecessor to deliver a better and more engaging experience, with more depth, more to do and a stronger endgame.
There’s a lot to like here, whether you’re a long time Civilization fanatic or new to the intricacies of empire management, and the game caters to a variety of play styles.
If you like your gaming at a more sedate pace and like it to involve long-term strategies, I recommend this one.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
When I logged into the campaign mode, I was greeted with all too familiar difficulty levels of “I’m too young to die”, “Hurt me plenty”, “Ultra-Violence”.
I then knew Doom was going to be awesome.
Similar to its predecessors, the game has minimal narrative and revolved around the hero trying to destroy every single demon on Mars.
From the very first time you destroyed an enemy, you were thrust into an exhilarating and slightly exhausting challenge of trying find health pick-ups, ammunition and whatever else you needed to help you survive the endless waves of demons you had to defeat.
If I were to describe the experience, I would say playing Doom felt like playing the original, just with much better graphics and smoother gameplay.
I am so glad that not only did someone actually make a World War I FPS, they made a good one. Sure, it’s not completely historically accurate, but it’s a lot of fun and the war stories are exceptionally well done — one of them even casts you as an Anzac soldier at Gallipoli.
The change of FPS setting to an era with horseback cavalry, steam trains and biplanes was long overdue and the gameplay mechanics remain solid and fun.
The action is still fast and furious while still capturing the grim nature of World War I combat in an approachable way; it’s a solid FPS all around, enhanced by its setting and the vast quantities of historic weapons available.
If the bright colours, animated-style aesthetic and character-based nature of Overwatch don’t appeal, then this is the FPS you should load and make ready.
IO Interactive’s murder simulator Hitman saw Agent 47 returning in spectacular fashion.
Unlike its predecessors, the game was ever-evolving in the sense it has been created to provide a seven-part episodic release structure until the end of the year.
The initial release of the game offered players three different locations in which potential killers could test their skills.
Similar to earlier games in the franchise, Hitman required serious patience to achieve the more cinematic kills.
There is no denying the game was hard, but the reward of killing your target in a gruesome and hilarious method was well worth the stress.
If you want to live out a dark fantasy as a contract killer this is the sick, guilty pleasure you have been chasing.
Setting a game in 10,000BC sounds like a recipe for boredom and disaster, but instead it’s proven to be a welcome fresh take on a familiar genre.
Ubisoft took the Far Cry series from its modern setting, with all the guns and technology and more guns, and wound the clock back to an era when banging rocks together to make fire was one step removed from sorcery and “going clubbing” didn’t involve expensive drinks or floor-shaking bass.
The developers put an incredible amount of detail into the world. University professors created actual languages for the game based on real-world ones from the era, there’s different environments, plenty of savage beasts, and yes, you can ride a woolly mammoth around while throwing spears at things and shooting flaming arrows into people.
It’s refreshing to see someone taking a punt on something different, especially when that something different pays off as well as it does in Far Cry Primal.
HONOURABLE MENTION
This game was technically released in 2015, but how good is being able to play rugby league on the Xbox One?
Footy fans could emulate their favourite rugby league player, burst over the line to score a try or drag players over the sideline in the game — so why wouldn’t it still be one of my favourites.
There had been some huge improvements to the game in terms of controls and gameplay, but the graphics were still a little dull.
You only control the one player during career mode, which was kind of weird.
While it made for an authentic experience, I found myself playing exhibition more.
If you think rugby league is the greatest game of them all, you will think this game is fresh and should held to EB’s bargain bin to grab a copy.
Oh and if you think I am trolling, wait until you see Royce’s final pick.
Put down your pitchforks and burning torches, digital villagers. Yes, the hype associated with this game was so large one has to wonder if an Infinite Improbability Drive was involved somewhere and yes, a lot of people thought the game they were promised and the game they got were two very different things.
But you know what? It’s still a decent game, especially now it’s received a significant update which added some additional features. Whether it’s wandering around a mind-bogglingly large procedurally generated universe harvesting resources, running away from sentinel drones, fighting space pirates, discovering new life forms, admiring breathtaking alien vistas, or just being the astronaut version of Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski, the game bills itself as providing a “chill exploration experience” — and it does.
More importantly, the marketing for No Man’s Sky is a masterclass in how to create buzz around a new game. Regardless on your views of the released product, it sold extraordinarily well on release and had the sort of top-level market recognition usually reserved for AAA blockbusters; a remarkable feat for a first-time developer and worthy of some acknowledgment just for that alone.
Do you agree with the selections? Continue the conversation with Matthew Dunn on Twitter or Facebook. You can also chat with Royce Wilson on Twitter.
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