With the disappointing category from Game of the Year 2016 out of the way, the rest of our GOTY content is all positive, guaranteed! Today, we discuss the Best “Old” Game, the Best “Free” Game, as well as the Best Surprise, and our most anticipated game of 2017. Join us!
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MOST ANTICIPATED GAME
This one was tightly contested between 2 main titles, with a third garnering one vote. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the one that took the solitary vote, with Mass Effect Andromeda coming away with quite a few. However, the winner by a slim margin was HORIZON: ZERO DAWN – Guerilla’s open world tale of robot dinosaurs in a stunning looking environment.
Ben: Horizon: Zero Dawn has gone from somewhat of a curio for me to an absolute must-play after having seen it up close and personal. The world looks astonishing, with the weird and wonderful robotic creatures taking centre stage alongside our flame-haired protagonist. Whilst I’m a little concerned that the level of open world games is reaching saturation point, Horizon looks like it’s making all the right moves to ensure that it stands out from the crowd.
Gari:The more I see of this game, the more I need it in my life. The game sees you take control of Aloy and placed in a vast open playground to explore alongside the machines that run the land and it all looks sensational and so refreshing and original. The guys from Guerrilla Games have stepped away from Killzone and bought us what looks like one of the most anticipated titles of 2017.
BEST SURPRISE
This award threw up a good few games for nomination, but there was a clear winner when all was said and done. Honourable mentions go to FIFA 17’s “The Journey”, and the wonderfully frantic couch-based multiplayer of Overcooked, but with everything stacked against it, I don’t think anyone really expected DOOM to be anywhere near as fantastic as it ended up being
Jonny: All the signs indicated that this was going to be a damp squib, none more so than Bethesda not releasing review copies until launch, a move they’ve now made their standard procedure because who really needs respect from customers anyway? I can even identify the exact point when I knew it was all going to be fine with Doom; after the opening level, your silent protagonist is greeted by a video screen explaining the backstory and upcoming plot, only to punch it away as a chunky, modern version of the classic metal theme plays. From thereon out the game never stops to breathe, even jettisoning ideas like reloading to keep up the pace. Musically and visually perfect too; hell has never looked so good.
Matt: Who’d have thought Doom would have been this good? Miles better than it had any right to be, id took everything great about the series and dragged it kicking and screaming into 2016
BEST “OLD” GAME
For this category, we took a look at all the games that had us coming back for more in 2016, despite their original release being from a previous year. Games in this category could have had plenty of support in 2016 from the developer, they could have been games that slipped off our radar for whatever reason when they were initially released, or they could be games that simply had us scratching that “One more round” multiplayer itch. There was no game that really got a majority here, so with honourable mentions going to Rainbow Six: Siege and Red Dead Redemption, our winner (after a period of discussion and a slight temper tantrum from one member of the team) was ROCKET LEAGUE!
Jonny: Everything you’d expect from a game that combines the best parts of football and racing. Continually updated with new modes, including basketball and hockey simulations, new cars and items and recently featured in Danny O’Dwyer’s Noclip documentaries, this is one that could easily feature in this section again next year. Simplicity and fun like this will never get old.
BEST “FREE” GAME
This category is dedicated to those games we get each month from our PS Plus and Games with Gold subscriptions. Whilst the services (particularly the Sony offerings) have come in for a bit of criticism this year, they’ve both provided us with some great games to get our teeth into. There were a couple of major front runners here, with honourable mentions going to Transformers: Devastation and Gone Home, but JOURNEY takes it, with a sizeable majority.
Nick Still one of the finest games of all time, and being able to replay it on the latest console for nothing was an absolute pleasure, even if the first time will always be the most memorable.
Ben: Journey is still an incredibly special game. The fact that this game was included in anyone’s PS+ subscriptions earlier this year left the majority of players with no reason to miss out on this wonderful experience. One of the best soundtracks committed to a game, it is absolutely glorious from start to finish.
And there we have it! Our second day of Game of the Year 2016! Come back tomorrow for our picks that didn’t quite make the top 10, and then on Friday as we begin our final countdown!
The post NGB’s Game of the Year 2016 – Day 2 appeared first on Next-Gen Gaming Blog.