My bank account really suffered from this year's amazing game line up. Everything from exploring a post nuclear wasteland to diving into ancient folklore and battling dragons, here are my top 11 games of the year for 2015.
1. Fallout 4's apocalyptic wasteland exploration.
Fallout 4 thrives on having customization in every aspect of the game. Everything from weapons to armor to cooking food and trading with vendors in a post nuclear world called the Commonwealth (Boston). The ability to make every decision and have difficult outcomes also makes the game stand out, with your character being affected by relationships and people based on the decisions you make and the eventual consequences. Not only can you play the game over and over again because of the different choices you can make in each scenario, but it has a main story that has twists and turns and moments that you won't see coming making it one of the best games of the year.
2. The Witcher 3 and its world of fantasy and sorcery.
Not only does this game have an expansive and beautiful world with dynamic weather, but also a full day/night cycle that makes the world worth exploring for a countless amount of hours. The characters that inhabit this world make a significant impact on the main character, Geralt's, journey with unexpected deaths and betrayals. If you have played Witcher 2, the predecessor, the decisions you made impact you in Witcher 3 with familiar characters returning and remembering the decisions you made in the prior installment. This game does not require you to have played the previous installments, so it can be picked up by anyone that is a fan of RPG, combat, exploration and adventure.
3. Batman: Arkham Knight and his final showdown in Gotham.
Anything regarding Batman is usually a hit, especially when it was first announced that Batman Vs. Superman would be coming out in 2016. In the meantime, while we all wait for what will probably be an amazing movie, Batman: Arkham Knight marks the end to Rocksteady's installment of amazing Batman games. Along with Batman's biggest challenge yet, many iconic villains make an appearance and new foes are added to the battle. This is also the first game that lets you drive the Batmobile, one of the most iconic vehicles of all time. The game is stunning, regardless of what console you play it on. This is definitely a game worth playing to appreciate the effort and homage Rocksteady has made to the Batman series.
4. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which continues the story of Snake and his companions.
Metal Gear has been mostly a stealth approach game where you have to make sure you are extremely quiet and take out enemies one at a time. This gave it a sort of a linear gameplay, but none the less enjoyable when it came to the huge and loud boss battles. Years after Metal Gear Solid 4, which came out back in 2008, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain really builds upon this formula, and rather than only focusing on the stealth aspects, it delves deeper into the realistic aspects of the open world that it takes place in. It makes the game unique with the amount of interaction and destruction a player can choose to make within this great open sandbox. I am still playing this game and trying to get 100% completion, which will probably take a while, but overall it is worth playing with the amount of weapons, combat and unlockables within this game.
5. Star Wars Battlefront: A new era for Star Wars.
Star Wars Battlefront builds upon its predecessors by making it the best looking game in the series. It creates iconic battles that give the player control of not only vehicles, but also heroes and villains, such as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. It also focuses on team gameplay, with objective based gameplay, such as Walker Assault (my favorite game mode), where the Rebels must defend against the superior Empire with their AT-ATs in the air and on the ground. The game also features fighter squadron, which takes the battle to the skies and where players can experience flying in X-Wings, A-Wings, Tie Fighters or Tie Interceptors. They can even pick up hero vehicles such as the Slave 1 and Millennium Falcon. This game is probably the best installment in terms of realism and really feeling the true essence of a Star Wars battle for a player.
6. Super Mario Maker, which allows you to design your own levels.
Super Mario Maker is the first official Mario simulation maker that lets you design levels from the original Mario brothers format all the way to the new super Mario Brothers. Not only can you share them and post them on the Wii U database, but you can play, rate and comment on other people's courses as well, making this a game with great replay value. Also, my favorite character of all time in the Nintendo Universe, Yoshi, makes this game the complete package and a great buy for anyone with a Wii U.
7. Rocket League and car/soccer action.
Rocket League is all about using very fast and volatile cars to get a ball into a goal. It's pretty much soccer with cars and though it sounds ridiculous, it's in fact very fun and exhilarating when you work together as a team to get the ball away from your net and into your opponents'. Not only is attacking fun, but so is defending. If you're looking for a different kind of sports game to play with friends, make sure you check this one out.
8. Dying Light, a world filled with zombies and adventure.
Dying Light is a first person, action/adventure, and zombie killing game that focuses more on the survival aspects of a fictional zombie apocalypse and gives the player a unique shock factor when the zombies are twice as powerful at night. The player has to run for their life at night and seek shelter when zombies' strength, agility and speed are increased. It makes this zombie game unique because of the parkour techniques and the limited supply of ammo. The player will have to be smart in order to effectively get rid of the most zombies and survive.
9. Mortal Kombat X, the brutality and beauty of fighting.
If you are looking for a great fighting game that feels different compared to other fighting games along with intense action and blood/gore then Mortal Kombat X is the game for you. Not only does it excel on being brutal and feeling fluid with great controls and movement, it also has stunning graphics and unique fighting styles for every character. Characters from the prior installments are also in the game, with fan favorites like Scorpion and Sub-Zero. This game also adds new characters with every DLC pack that comes out for it, making it replayable even more.
10. Mad Max, exploring a ravaged wasteland filled with action and adventure.
Even though Mad Max: Fury Road was a great movie and widely received positively, the game got a lot less hype and was avoided by many gamers. Recently, there has been very bad movie tie-ins and book tie-ins that were worth playing. Thankfully, Mad Max ended this vicious cycle and was a game that had great driving explosive sequences, along with a number of unique weapons, great storytelling and apocalyptic showdowns against enemies with great strength and endurance. This is one of the few great movie tie-in games worth noticing and playing.
11. Call of Duty Black Ops 3, a futuristic shooter that innovates.
Though many gamers did not want to see and play another futuristic shooter since the Call of Duty series has been making them for the past couple of years, Black Ops 3 once again proved why this series is still a great FPS to play. Not only is the campaign actually an overall good co-op experience, but much of the progression in the mutliplayer and zombies modes give it a very good replay value. Along with that, a new feature called Specialists grants unique abilities to players in different combat situations. One is called the Sparrow which is an archery type weapon that shoots explosive arrows at enemies. With a number of great new additions, this game will surely last until the next Call of Duty is released which I hope will be another modern warfare game.
