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IMPress Polly
11-19-2016, 10:46 AM
As somebody who plays a lot of video games and realizes that frankly a lot of people who buy games for their friends and/or family members don't really know a quality game from N64 Superman, I figured I'd generously offer my hopefully helpful POV. Or alternately, even those who are gamers and haven't yet played some of these titles may theoretically find this useful.

Here's how I'm gonna do this: since I've acquired more than a hundred games this year and haven't even played them all yet, it would be rather impractical to try and review everything or even to cover everything in any way. Therefore, I'm just going to list 16 selected 2016 games below (har har, get it? 16 for '16?) in order according to my personal scoring system. I'll try and make it balanced by including an equal number of downloadable indie games and more mainstream, commercial releases. I'll score each and if you want a review of any of them or to ask if I've played another 2016 release that you're thinking of getting, feel free to ask.

Pony Island: 100%
That Dragon, Cancer: 100%
Oxenfree: 97%
Inside: 95%
Virginia: 92%
Perfect Woman: 91%
Dishonored 2: 90%
Bound: 86%
Adr1ft: 80%
Watch_Dogs 2: 77%
Song of the Deep: 70%
Gears of War 4: 70%
ReCore: 40%
Mirror's Edge Catalyst: 25%
Paper Mario: Color Splash: 20%
Bombshell: 0%

Common
11-19-2016, 10:51 AM
Dishonored2 is one of the highest rated releases, I am strongly considering it but I am addicted to World of Warcraft and I dont know if I could get fully into another game and enjoy it.

Peter1469
11-19-2016, 11:01 AM
I wish they would upgrade MecWarrior for Windows 10.

Ethereal
11-19-2016, 12:05 PM
I wish they would upgrade MecWarrior for Windows 10.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/342200/

Peter1469
11-19-2016, 12:31 PM
http://store.steampowered.com/app/342200/

Thanks. I will check it out.

Common
11-19-2016, 03:26 PM
I love online multi FPS games but alas I dont have the reflexs that I used to have and I went from being a pretty damn good player to meh. I still love them I just cant keep up with them anymore.

Thats why I played slower paced WOW, Rift, Guildwars2 and the Secret World. I would still be playing the secret world if it werent that their professions were so confusing and without being adept at professions you just couldnt progress because thats where you got all your gear

IMPress Polly
11-19-2016, 04:26 PM
Common wrote:
Dishonored2 is one of the highest rated releases, I am strongly considering it but I am addicted to World of Warcraft and I dont know if I could get fully into another game and enjoy it.

I'd recommend Dishonored 2, @Common (http://thepoliticalforums.com/member.php?u=659). A playthrough is about 15 hours, so you'll be able to get back to WoW in short order!

If there's one thing I like best about Dishonored 2 it's the lack of bloat that the game has. The average video game, in my observation, is mostly bloat. It settles into a routine where you wind up mostly doing the same handful of things over and over again, perhaps in rotation. Dishonored 2, by contrast, constantly introduces new gameplay elements, so the experience stays fresh throughout! Very little of it feels like filler material. Almost everything seems to have a purpose for being there. The result is that you won't get bored. That's very important to gauging a game's quality in my view! Having the choice of two characters who play differently in key ways to choose from and not being able to switch between them in the course of a playthrough also adds real replay value.

Furthermore, Dishonored 2's play logic defies the conventions of its revenge narrative. Revenge narratives in video games are pretty well always obviously crafted just simply to excuse wanton killing on the part of the player so as to make the player feel more powerful in a morally questionable way. Dishonored 2, however, disincentivizes the player from killing by rewarding you with a better ending for avoiding it. Now it's not exactly like Undertale in the sense that it doesn't attempt to humanize all the characters by giving them personalities, but nevertheless there are few adventure games on the market that in any way both allow and discourage violence, so I find this a refreshing and welcome element.

But while these elements help separate Dishonored 2 from most other open world adventure games, there is also an important way in which it, in my view, improves on its predecessor: in the area of gender representation. I cannot think of any positive portrayals of women in the first Dishonored game. Though innovative in other ways, I found it personally insulting. I hence found it a very welcome change then to find that none of that was carried over into the second game. That made it a lot easier for me to get into the experience than was the case for the first game.

Put all of that together and you have a game that's unusually satisfying, particularly for a commercial, retail release.

Common
11-19-2016, 06:58 PM
It has extremely high ratings and I may give it a try based on your assessment thanks

FindersKeepers
11-19-2016, 08:34 PM
As somebody who plays a lot of video games and realizes that frankly a lot of people who buy games for their friends and/or family members don't really know a quality game from N64 Superman, I figured I'd generously offer my hopefully helpful POV. Or alternately, even those who are gamers and haven't yet played some of these titles may theoretically find this useful.

Here's how I'm gonna do this: since I've acquired more than a hundred games this year and haven't even played them all yet, it would be rather impractical to try and review everything or even to cover everything in any way. Therefore, I'm just going to list 16 selected 2016 games below (har har, get it? 16 for '16?) in order according to my personal scoring system. I'll try and make it balanced by including an equal number of downloadable indie games and more mainstream, commercial releases. I'll score each and if you want a review of any of them or to ask if I've played another 2016 release that you're thinking of getting, feel free to ask.

Pony Island: 100%
That Dragon, Cancer: 100%
Oxenfree: 97%
Inside: 95%
Virginia: 92%
Perfect Woman: 91%
Dishonored 2: 90%
Bound: 86%
Adr1ft: 80%
Watch_Dogs 2: 77%
Song of the Deep: 70%
Gears of War 4: 70%
ReCore: 40%
Mirror's Edge Catalyst: 25%
Paper Mario: Color Splash: 20%
Bombshell: 0%


Are any of these similar to the old Mario or Donkey Kong kind of games? That's what my niece is wanting but I really don't know much about the games. She's a good player and she's bright. She like the games where there are "levels" and things to find. But, she doesn't want too young of games. She like challenge. I see the Paper Mario scored pretty low on your list.

I'm lost and getting ready to buy her a diary for Christmas, but then I fear she'd just write how mean her Aunt FindersKeepers is for not getting her a game.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

IMPress Polly
11-26-2016, 08:33 AM
Are any of these similar to the old Mario or Donkey Kong kind of games? That's what my niece is wanting but I really don't know much about the games. She's a good player and she's bright. She like the games where there are "levels" and things to find. But, she doesn't want too young of games. She like challenge. I see the Paper Mario scored pretty low on your list.

I'm lost and getting ready to buy her a diary for Christmas, but then I fear she'd just write how mean her Aunt FindersKeepers is for not getting her a game.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hmm...I'll tell you what I'm going to recommend for her, @FindersKeepers (http://thepoliticalforums.com/member.php?u=1881): a game called Ori and the Blind Forest, which is available both for computers (ones that use Windows anyway) and for Xbox game systems (both Xbox One and Xbox 360) in both digital and hard copy forms for $20 (or sometimes less if you know where to look).

Ori and the Blind Forest is the best 2D platforming game I've ever played, and I've played a lot! It's also currently one of my five favorite video games of all time. It also meets most of the criteria you laid out: it's a 2D platforming game with a strong exploration aspect and that's well-balanced in terms of the level of challenge that it offers: easy to learn, but difficult to master. It's not exactly like the classic Donkey Kong and Mario games though: it's better (at least in my view)! It's got a more open-world play format that encourages exploration more than the strictly linear type of progression that the old Donkey Kong and Mario games featured and also features an unpretentiously simple yet touching storyline that I think she'd find refreshing, engaging, and motivating. (I know I did!) And like most other genuinely great games, Ori and the Blind Forest doesn't just settle into repetitious play at one point or another, but instead continually introduces new game play elements, which keeps you from getting bored with it.

(I also recommend Ori because the protagonist is female and honestly I think people tend to be drawn in just a little bit more when we share an attribute like gender with the character we're playing as.)
Here's a trailer for the game. See if this looks like something that your niece would enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cklw-Yu3moE

FindersKeepers
11-26-2016, 03:55 PM
Hmm...I'll tell you what I'm going to recommend for her, @FindersKeepers (http://thepoliticalforums.com/member.php?u=1881): a game called Ori and the Blind Forest, which is available both for computers (ones that use Windows anyway) and for Xbox game systems (both Xbox One and Xbox 360) in both digital and hard copy forms for $20 (or sometimes less if you know where to look).

Ori and the Blind Forest is the best 2D platforming game I've ever played, and I've played a lot! It's also currently one of my five favorite video games of all time. It also meets most of the criteria you laid out: it's a 2D platforming game with a strong exploration aspect and that's well-balanced in terms of the level of challenge that it offers: easy to learn, but difficult to master. It's not exactly like the classic Donkey Kong and Mario games though: it's better (at least in my view)! It's got a more open-world play format that encourages exploration more than the strictly linear type of progression that the old Donkey Kong and Mario games featured and also features an unpretentiously simple yet touching storyline that I think she'd find refreshing, engaging, and motivating. (I know I did!) And like most other genuinely great games, Ori and the Blind Forest doesn't just settle into repetitious play at one point or another, but instead continually introduces new game play elements, which keeps you from getting bored with it.

(I also recommend Ori because the protagonist is female and honestly I think people tend to be drawn in just a little bit more when we share an attribute like gender with the character we're playing as.)
Here's a trailer for the game. See if this looks like something that your niece would enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cklw-Yu3moE


Thank you soooooooo much! I wanted to "like" your post a hundred times!

I just got off the phone with my niece's mother -- yes, they have the Xbox One system and no, they don't yet have this game. (I asked to make sure I didn't get one they already had.)

I think the trailer looks fantastic and when I explained it, as best I could (with your help), her mother thought so too. I already ordered it from Amazon. Yay! I actually think her mom is excited to play it, too.

Like you, I also like the idea of a female protagonist for a young girl. Growing up in KS, my niece needs all the help she can get to feel confident in her own abilities. I also buy her YA books with female protagonists. She's a very bright tweener.

You just made it easy to get my niece something she'll love -- and love me for it!

I can't thank you enough!

(((hugs)))

IMPress Polly
11-27-2016, 08:24 AM
*hugs*

Glad I could be of so much help! :smiley: You'll be the cool aunt from now on. :wink:

2D platforming games were the first kind of video games I ever played (my first was the original Sonic the Hedgehog back in 1991), so these types of games have a special place in my heart too. Resultantly, I still play a lot of them even though they've long since ceased to be the dominant game genre. Ori is the best of the bunch in my experience. It's got a better story and less repetitious game play than any of the others do and that's what separates it. The runners-up in the platforming category would be Rayman 2: The Great Escape, Super Mario Galaxy, and (if you don't mind the absence of any real storyline) Super Mario 3D World, but none of those are even 2D games, only the last one lets you use a female character, the first two are kind of old now. Ori is without serious competition in the 2D platforming category.

IMPress Polly
12-10-2016, 08:19 AM
Since we're getting closer to the holidays now, here are my personal scores for 16 more selected games from 2016:

(Again, note that these scores reflect my personal opinion of the games in question and do not come from a philosophically neutral point of view.)

The Last Guardian: 95%
Stardew Valley: 94%
Firewatch: 88%
Azbu: 85%
Unravel: 80%
Hyper Light Drifter: 80%
Superhot: 80%
Overwatch: 79%
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End: 63%
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: 48%
Nights of Azure: 37%
Final Fantasy XV: 33%
No Man's Sky: 18%
Metroid Prime: Federation Force: 15%
Far Cry Primal: 10%
Star Fox Zero: 5%

Feel free to request a full review of any of the above titles.