Dannie Kitten's Gaming Year

You may have read about my "Top Three Games of 2015" on Honest Games Reviews (http://honestgamesreviews.com/blog/hgrs-games-of-2015/) but as I mentioned there, I don't think picking just three games has given enough credit to the games of 2015. So I have chosen to expand upon that here and give you my top picks of 2015. 

I have found 2015 to be a great year for gaming. There have been a massive number of Indie and AAA games that have been hugely enjoyable. I've been thinking about formats in which I could write about my picks of the year...a top ten, choosing the best of the genres etc. And in truth I still don't know how I'm going to tell you about my favourite gaming moments this year. So I'm just gonna start writing and see where it takes me...

Best Game for Kids: There have been plenty of games I have been able to enjoy with my son this year and in fact I was going to give this to Octodad: Deadliest Catch purely based on how much time we spent laughing together at it. But seeing as this is the award for kids I should probably ask my kid what he thinks and his vote goes to Lego Dimensions because it's "really, really good. About a 1000% good" because "you can go in Homer Simpson's world as Batman". I should point out that this is one of the main reasons Lego Dimensions is great, unlike Disney Infinity which only allows you to use certain toys in certain areas Lego Dimensions gives you free reign to play as whoever you want whenever you want, which has gone down a storm in my house. 

Best Xbox One Exclusive: Some people love them, some people hate them but there's no denying that console exclusivity is here to stay. I'm not going to count timed exclusives in here, because unless you're a really impatient person you can get the game on any console at some point in time. These categories are for the games that will never see the light of day on the "rival" console. So with that in mind it is Gears of War:Ultimate Edition that has to win this crown. I know, I know it is a re-release BUT it is a damn perfect re-release of a game that is actually pretty old. Seriously load up the original and just feel how clunky it is. 

Best PS4 Exclusive: Now I bought my PS4 when I felt like there were enough exclusives on it that I wanted to play. A lot of people give Sony stick for not having exclusives, but I don't really understand where this comes from...I found it much harder to nail down my favourite PS4 exclusive of the year. I haven't been able to play some of the games I have on this yet, so they obviously couldn't enter into the list (sorry Bloodborne!). I opted for the game that I primarily bought the PS4 for, Until Dawn. I bought this and my brother came round the next night to play it and over the next couple of weeks I saw him much more than usual! Until Dawn is basically a game of a cheesy 90's horror film...and that's what makes it GREAT! Graphically the game is superb and the game really does have plenty of shocks. I can't wait to play it again and hopefully save more people!

Best Wii U: Seeing as we've given awards to PS4 and XB1 exclusives we obviously need to do it for the Wii U too. Choosing this was pretty hard too, much harder than it was choosing for XB1. But really there has been one truly stand out game on the Wii U and it ties in with the below award too...

Best Fan Service Game: In a year that saw a bazillion games getting a HD remake "because the fans wanted it" this award should have been a lot harder to give out. But in my mind the only game that can be considered a true fan service this year is Super Mario Maker for the Wii U. Super Mario Maker gave Mario fans the world over the power (and an incredible interface!) to make their own Mario levels. Honestly the UI is something dreams are made of and the ability to share your levels online and download other means you will never run out of Mario levels to try. 

Best Co-op: I love to play games co-op but this year, this gen even, I don't think there have been enough co-op games. Ark: Survival Evolved has changed that, finally. Ark is a great survival game, but it gets infinitely better when played alongside friends. Find it in Early Access now and grab it (if you're not one of 1,000,000+ who has already).

Best Multiplayer: I'm using multiplayer as online and against others to shoehorn this one in here really. And you can play the winner of this co-op in what is actually my favourite mode but anyway Star Wars: Battlefront is my multiplayer game of the year. Which is a good job seeing as the majority of the game is in the Online section. Fast and slick (when you're not suffering from lag anyway) Star Wars Battlefront is the most fun I've had in an online shooter for ages. 

Most Graphically Impressive: There have been many games this year that have been pretty damn beautiful. Hell seeing an AT-AT go down in Star Wars Battlefront is an amazing experience. But I have to say I find myself most blown away by Rise of the Tomb Raider. Even now when I have played a fair bit of it, I still find myself loading it up and being surprised at just how gorgeous it is. 

Shooter of the Year: As much as I have enjoyed the aforementioned Star Wars Battlefront it isn't my shooter of the year. Splatoon on the Wii U is. Just like Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare  did when that was released Splatoon brings the fun back into an over-saturated market, and it is family-friendly which will always win out in this house. But even if you don't have kids to play it with Splatoon is well worth picking up.

Best Character: The last time I did a gaming award thing was a few years ago and Kenny from Telltale's The Walking Dead won it. This award is just a little nod to a fun or well-written character. This year I found it quite hard really, as even though we've had many a brilliant game I don't think there has been much in the way of great characters. It was going to go to Chumbucket from Mad Max because he really did make me laugh, but I felt like this would be to cheapen the award. Life is Strange offered us some great characters but the dialogue was sometimes a bit jarring, which initially put me off giving this award to a character from that. But after much deliberation the only character this award could have gone to is Chloe. She is a really well-written character; she is flawed, scared and angry with a myriad of issues but she's also loyal and fierce. It was great fun getting to know her and I hope to see more of her again.

Best Telltale Game: Ok maybe I'm cheating here, giving Telltale their very own category but bear with me. This year saw the release of three (!) episodic Telltale games: Tales from the Borderlands, Minecraft: Story Mode and Game of Thrones: A Telltale Series. I have been lucky enough to play all three so I'm going to tell you which one you should buy if, for some crazy reason you have limited yourself to just one. And the answer is...Game of Thrones: A Telltale Series every time. This game was the perfect foray into the world of Westeros, featuring plenty of betrayal and nastiness from some of our favourite characters from the show (honestly Cersei's smirk translates just as well to a game world). This game truly pulls the rug out from under you multiple times throughout, and it is all the better for it. 

Honourable Mentions: There are a lot of games that I have had a LOT of fun with this year, so I'm going to give them a mention because I want to spread the love. 

The Escapists - One of the first games I streamed on Twitch when I began earlier this year, it is a great little sandbox game where you have to escape from different prisons. DLC is cheap for those looking for more places to escape from and there has even been FREE DLC! 

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture - I know this game got a lot of stick for being a "walking-sim" but when you really delve into it, was you get is a great story that is beautifully realised. Honestly I was flicking through my Twitter pics the other day and screens of this game were sandwiched between pictures I had taken at Lyme Park. I had to do a double take. It is THAT beautiful.

Sparkle Unleashed - I love me a good ball-busting puzzle game and this has filled the Zuma shaped hole in my XB1. And even though Zuma is now available through backwards compatibility I still find myself down "just one more level" on this. 

Plague Inc. Evolved - A late entry because I only picked it up in the sale but this iOS game has made a great transition to the home console. Well worth picking up!

King's Quest - Another episodic game, but this is releasing much further apart than anything Telltale does and has 1000G per episode! It's a great little game that serves as a decent nostalgia kick for any 90's point and click fans out there. 

Quest of Dungeons - A great little game that you put on for ten minutes and end up forgetting to feed the dog (or children) because of. Buy it.

Ori and the Blind Forest -  This game doesn't need me to give it an honourable mention, I'm yet to speak to someone who didn't love it. But it was a beauty of a game and if you haven't already you should play it. Now. 

Anyone who follows HonestGameReviews will have already read what is below, but if you haven't please read on to find out what my Top Three Picks of 2015 were. I think 2015 has been a damn good year for gaming and I'm excited to see what 2016 can bring us. I hope everyone has a fantastic New Year and I'll see you all in 2016! 

3. The Swindle

The Swindle is easily my favourite indie game of the year and is the perfect example of a simple premise that has been perfectly executed. The graphics are good but the controls and handling are where this game really shines, it is just so slick and responsive. The aim of the game is to complete a number of heists in the hope of doing the big one within 100 days. Each heist is different as they're all randomly generated so no two players games will be the same. Your character can die (mine does a LOT which I'm sure anyone who watches my Twitch streams is surprised to hear) but you can respawn with a new one minus all of the upgrades you had purchased. The Swindle is the perfect game to have pinned for whenever you have a spare ten minutes, but be warned ten minutes is never enough on The Swindle.

2. Life is Strange

Life is Strange is an episodic game that, to date, I have only played through once so it obviously hasn't had that many hours put into it. But this game makes it onto the top three list anyway because it is just that good. Yeah the dialogue is sometimes pretty cringe-y but Life is Strange deals with ideas that are rarely touched upon in this medium and it does it really well. In a year that saw a huge slew of episodic games Life is Strange is the standout title for sure. The graphical style is beautiful and whimsical making Arcadia Bay one of my favourite game locations of the year. For the most part the characters are engaging and well-written, but the best thing about this game is the way in which it explores "The Butterfly Effect". As always I'm spoiler free so I won't go into much more detail, but I see this being in a sale in the not so distant future and if you haven't already bought it then you should definitely pick it up then. Life is Strange is a brave idea of a game that actually worked and I can't wait to play it through again.

1. Fallout 4

Anyone who knows me knows I am a HUGE fan of the Fallout franchise, and well, Bethesda in general. Bethesda can do no wrong for me and Fallout 4 has just cemented that for me. Fallout 4 has offered a vast improvement on all previous Fallout games and given us yet another amazing open world to explore. Graphics aren't quite as shiny as some of the other offerings this year, but it's a new Fallout game so most of us can forgive it for that. And for the first time your character has an actual voice - something I never realised I missed in previous Fallout games until this one. You don't need me to go into a ton of detail about a game as huge as Fallout 4, unless you've lived in a bunker you know of it and what it offers to gamers. Fallout 3 had always been the game I'd take to a desert island but Fallout 4 has hopped, skipped and jumped right over it. I have sunk many an hour into it already and barely scratched it's surface. But the time I've spent in the Commonwealth isn't nearly enough, and I fear that I could spend a year of my life on it and still miss some of it's offerings. If you're looking for a game that offers MASSIVE value for money look no further. Buy it. Now.

Worst Game of 2015: Toro

I mean, seriously, if this isn't on everyones worst games list it'll be a miracle. Everything about it is terrible and it had the honour of being the first game I ever deleted from my XB1 and gave a 0 star rating when forced to review it. To be fair on RecoTech they seemed to take all of the stick I sent their way quite well, even sending me multiple copies of their next release for review and giveaways. I'm still trying to decide whether that was meant as more of a punishment though...

One to Watch in 2016: Gears 4

I found this really tough to narrow down, and I was hoping I'd pick a little known indie or something less mainstream. But I'm a MASSIVE Gears fan and I am thoroughly invested in the universe so the opportunity to play another Gears game on the new hardware is hugely exciting for me. With the release of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition earlier this year my excitement for another Gears instalment only grew and I can't wait! Sorry to anyone reading this who was hoping to see something they had missed for next year!

The Dannie Kitten Gaming Awards!

So I've been thinking long and hard about this. It's been another good year for us gamers and I wanted to acknowledge the best with the Dannie Kitten Gaming Awards!

By the end of 2011 I had had a pretty good year...I had a difficult pregnancy which meant plenty of bed rest and time with my Xbox just as Skyrim hit the shelves. Then my life as I knew it ended. I wanted to spend all my time as Thalia, my Redguard adventurer.

This year couldn't possibly have topped that....or so I thought. But it turns out this year had some goodies in store for us. So here it is, The Dannie Kitten Gaming Awards 2012:

Game of the Year: The Walking Dead

This was by far the easiest decision I've made. This game is perfect! The first episode was amazing when I first played it, but TRUST ME it gets so much better. I know a few people who didn't buy the game based on the first episode and all I can say is PERSEVERE. I enjoyed it anyway, but when my save miraculously disappeared most of the way through Ep.4 I had to go back and replay and yes I did think it felt pretty slow and drawn out. But by then I knew the awesomeness that was coming next so it was easy to go through it again. The game is game-as-storyteller at it's very best and should be way up there on everyones lists of favourite games. To cut a long story short...GO BUY THIS GAME NOW!

XBLIG of the Year: Smooth Operators

Now I know I have already given out my award for Game of the Year but I feel this game deserved a special mention. So I created an award for the Indie games and this is the winner! God this game is good! I have long since been a fan of sim games such as these and when one came to the XBLIG market I had to have it. And it really didn't disappoint. Giving this game this award was such an easy choice to make. It is easy pick-up-and-play fun, but trust me it isn't so hard to put it down! I have sunk many many hours into this game and I still find it fun. Pick it up guys!




Character of the Year: Kenny (The Walking Dead)

This is probably the toughest decision I have made in this post. We have been treated to so many convincing characters this year. But Kenny had to win it. Kenny has been one of my favourite characters from a game EVER let alone this year. This guy is amazing. A family man from Florida who just wants to protect his family from the Zombie infested world. He goes through a lot, and comes out the other side pretty broken. The emotion that went into animating this character and voicing him is truly experienced as you play alongside him. I love Kenny. That guy deserves a medal.



Biggest Surprise of the Year: Shark Attack Deathmatch

Let's be honest here, when an Indie game attempts to do something different, it almost always falls flat on its backside. This game really doesn't. I don't know why I was expecting this game to be bad, I just was and it was actually REALLY GREAT. The single-player Survivor mode is fun enough, but this game has fully-fledged online multiplayer mode which always seems to have plenty of people ready to play. For 80MSP this game is a real steal and again, should feature on everyones game list.




Multiplayer of the Year: Mass Effect 3

This game carried with it A LOT of controversy when it was released way back in March. I'm gonna hold my hands up and say this...I don't know what all the fuss was about. I think the game was great. For me Mass Effect was about the journey, I wasn't too fussed by the 'three choice ending' because I actually thought it tied up all the stories pretty well.

So now I've got that out of they way, let's get on with explaining why this game wins this award. For me it's simple....it's bloody good. But for those of you wanting a little more explanation than that (can't say I blame you!) here goes. This is the first time Multiplayer has been included in a Mass Effect title. So it could have been shocking. It isn't though, and in the first few weeks of owning this game I sunk as much time into multiplayer as I did the campaign. I think it ties in nicely with the campaign too, increasing your 'readiness' for the grand finale. And it works well. There isn't really anything I found annoying with Mass Effect multiplayer, which is pretty rare. And they gave us TONNES of new content for free so it didn't get old. You can play as so many different races and classes that you can make the experience different every time. There are varying difficulty levels, and trust me they get hard! But it's all part of the fun with this game, it doesn't get as annoying as other online shooters and added bonus for me and my fella...the game has two discs, and BOTH of them include the multiplayer, so we can play together without forking out so much! Yay!

Co-op Game of the Year: Minecraft

I doubt there are many of you that haven't at least played Minecraft or one of it's many, cheaper clones. I hadn't played Minecraft until it was released on XBLA this year and my boyfriend begged me to buy it. So I did, and so did our friends and we spent agggggeeess building a world together. This game gets co-op game of the year because it never really gets old. If you read my blog you know I'm always on the look out for co-op games to enjoy with my friends and family, but many of them get old fairly quickly. This one doesn't. Maybe it's because it doesn't really have a main objective so you can set your own depending on what you feel like. I don't know what made this such a favourite for me and my friends but it is and it is a game we keep going back to. It is pretty dear at 1600MSP but it is a game that you will never actually complete...so that seems like pretty good value :p

Most Fun this Year: Rock Band Blitz

This game is another I have reviewed this year and loved. Living with a guitarist means we have every music game ever in our house. It also means that, unfortunately he wasn't ready to even give this game a chance, due to the lack of a plastic guitar (sad I know) I made him try it and he actually likes it. But I LOVE IT. For me it has taken everything that is most fun about a music game and made it even better. Listening to music...yes fun. Playing a game whilst listening to music...yep fun. Doing it without going through the rigmarole of digging out paraphernalia...EVEN BETTER! The tracklist for this game is amazing, and even better all of my DLC moved into there to make for a pretty full roster. The power-ups make this game a must have for me, and it is a game I keep going back to if I want some quick, easy fun. Pick it up guys!


Graphics of the Year: Far Cry 3

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so I don't expect everyone to agree with me. I gave this award on the basis of what game, upon entering the game world, made me say 'wow' and this has to be it. This game is beautiful! The characters are well envisioned and the Island is simply gorgeous. Climbing to the top of a Radio Tower and looking out everything looks amazing. There doesn't seem to be any rendering, like in Skyrim, everything is there in all it's beauty. It is an astonishing world that has so much to offer to us gamers, it's amazing graphics are just the icing on the cake.





Shooter of the Year: Sniper Elite V2

I wasn't originally going to create awards for specific genres of games, but I thought I would make an exception with this one. Almost everyone has got at least a little disheartened by all the carbon-copy shooters coming out year after year. This game offers something a little different. Yes it's still a shooter, and you don't have to play solely as a sniper, you can still run and gun. BUT if you persevere and stick to being a sniper, you are rewarded with some amazing slowed-down close-ups of your victim. The camera follows the bullet THROUGH the body, wherever you hit and goes into X-Ray vision, showing you the shattering bones in all their glory. SO MUCH FUN. My dad even managed a shot straight through the enemies testicles...now that was fun to watch!


Most Frustrating Game of the Year: Spelunky

Now I know frustrating is a negative thing. SO why am I giving an award out to a frustrating game? This game is one of the most frustrating games I have ever played, but it is also one of the best. It features four player coop (yay!) and is easily one of the most annoying games I've ever played. But it has us all hooked. The fun is in the challenge in this game, if it was too easy it would not have sold half as many. This game is just as hard as it needs to be to create a challenging environment in which the right tactics can thrive. A brilliant, yet frustrating game.





And now, simply because I don't feel like I have enough of my favourites of this year on this list I am going to give you a list. This list will contain my top ten picks of the year, after all of the above. It's a kinda 'Best of the Rest' if you will. So here it is:

1. XCOM
A truly great turn-based tactical shooter. I'm not one for turn-based games but this one is brilliant!
2. Dishonored
Reminds me a lot of the old Tenchu game on PS1. Play how you want, sneaky or full scale attack. Amazing game with great graphics.
3. Spec Ops: The Line
A great cover-based third person shooter that actually makes you feel bad for the decisions you make.
4. Deadlight
This 2D platformer features beautiful 3D environments and is SO much fun to play.
5. Game of Thrones

As a massive fan of the show and the book, this had to feature on the list!
6. Real Steel
I have never watched the film and don't even have much interest in Robots or fighting games, but this game had me hooked.
7. Hitman Absolution
Whats not to love about this return to the amazing Hitman games?!
8. Rocksmith
It's strange that I like this so-called 'game' so much, but it does provide some fun whilst teaching you to play your favourite songs on the real guitar.
9. Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse
I know it got slammed pretty much everywhere, but I had a lot of fun gunning down my friends on this game. Take it as a bit of fun (and get it cheap) and this game can provide a lot of laughs.
10. I Am Alive
A game that was originally meant for retail release and instead released on XBLA. The characters are well written and the graphics are beautiful. A great post-apocalyptic game.