Worst Game of 2015: Chibi-Robo Zip Lash (3DS)
Chibi-Robo Zip Lash is a game that should have been great. The titular character is simplistic, but has enough cutesy charm to make anyone go “Aww…” Unfortunately, that charm wasn’t enough to get me to power through the game. The level design is plain and boring, enemies don’t put up much of a fight, and the Destination Wheel to determine the next level is quite possibly one of the worst executions of an idea I’ve ever seen in a game. All in all, the game just falls short of being something great at every possible moment, and that’s a shame because I really wanted to like it for something other than the figure that was included with the game.
#10: Dragon Quest Heroes (PS4)
Dragon Quest Heroes takes a lot of its inspiration from the Dynasty Warriors franchise, a series that has seen its own share of hits and misses. When I first heard this, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of a Warriors/RPG mashup, but after hearing the positive uproar from Hyrule Warriors, I decided to give this a shot. It’s light on RPG elements, but what’s there is a charming crossover title that changes up the formula for the better. Instead of menus to scour through, you’re given direct control, and this can lead to some intense fights as you charge up your special meter to unleash a devastating blow. Combining tower defense, Warriors combat, and the Dragon Quest license makes for a highly enjoyable game that kept me coming back to fight my way through hordes of slimes and skeletons.
#9: Rocket League (PS4)
Though technically a sequel to a game from the early PS3 era, Rocket League makes itself stand out from the crowd by allowing players to fling their rocket powered car straight into a soccer ball and score a goal. With a simple, yet ridiculous concept, Rocket League kept impressing me with the amount of fun it allowed for. The modifiers added months after release breathed new life into the game, allowing for time-shifted matches, low gravity, and even infinite boost. This game quickly became the one I wanted to play whenever friends came over, because of its sheer absurdity and level of competitive fun.
#8: Splatoon (Wii U)
This year, Nintendo decided to do something that was very much outside the standard Nintendo fare. Previously the company has struggled with understanding online infrastructures and the concept of a third-person shooter seemed so far removed from their design philosophy. But surprisingly, Nintendo made it all come together in one of the most charming and purely fun multiplayer experiences I’ve had in years. In Splatoon, mowing down your foes with a gun isn’t the prime objective. The main mode has players paint surfaces for control of turf which is then tallied up at the end of a match. Instead of submachine guns, players are given paintball guns and the ability to turn into a squid to swim through their own ink to cover ground faster. These simple changes make Splatoon stand out, and it’s a breath of fresh air after the grim outlook of the standard shooter.
#7: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (3DS)
I will never fully complete Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, and I’m perfectly fine with that. Though that statement makes the game sound incredibly daunting and untouchable, the game is actually the most accessible the series has seen thus far, adding in new ways to fight, a lengthy story designed to help teach players, and a myriad of differing landscapes to seek out and destroy hulking behemoths on. Each fight teaches you new strategies, and each fallen monster helps improve your stats, though in a non-traditional sense. Monster Hunter has no experience system, instead opting for a crafting system to gate progress. You want to be stronger? Fight that monster until you’ve got it down, and use its scales to strengthen your armor. It’s this sense of progression that makes the series so compelling, and 4 Ultimate brings so much to the table that it’s impressive.
#6: Bloodborne (PS4)
Though I’ve played games in the Souls series, none have quite drawn me in the way Bloodborne has. Maybe its due in part to the faster-paced combat, or the Lovecraftian design of the streets of Yharnam. Whatever it was, Bloodborne kept drawing me in, and while I took the journey with a friend, playing alone brought on a sense of looming dread, telling me that I wasn’t safe in this freakish nightmare. Bosses are huge, fast, and terrifying and the sense of tension the game gives you when fighting one was nearly unmatched this year. Bloodborne took its predecessor’s core concepts and made them feel better to me, and I enjoyed my time living in a nightmare.
#5:Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (3DS)
Never have I felt so much pure happiness playing a game. As a stark contrast from Bloodborne, Happy Home Designer felt like living in a sweet animal-filled dream world. In this game, you work under Tom Nook, the greedy racoon from the past games, as an employee of Nook’s Homes. Throughout your time as an up-and-coming real estate agent, you design, you guessed it, happy homes. These homes range anywhere from a cozy cabin in the woods to a home made to look like NASA’s next spaceship-launching site. On top of that, your helpful guide from New Leaf, Isabelle, will ask for help designing key features of the town from a school to a concert hall. Every building feels unique, and its because the game doesn’t set any real boundaries on the player, letting them freely design the way they feel is best. Happy Home Designer felt like it didn’t have an end to the joy it brought me, and while it didn’t have the standard Animal Crossing features, its own concept was enough to make a highly enjoyable spin-off.
#4: Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U)
Xenoblade Chronicles X feels just like a mech-focused anime, with crazy twists and explosive action. After the earth’s destruction, X sees the player stranded on a new planet called Mira, filled with all sorts of dangerous and incredible new life. The game is massive, with some players claiming hundreds of hours of exploration to see everything the game has to offer. While X may suffer from the problems of being a large JRPG, it shines in ways that I never thought a JRPG could. The combat, while feeling like an online game, is unique and dictated by your partners. During the battle, partners yell out commands, known as “Soul Voices”, and these commands can help turn the tide of battle in your favor. Xenoblade Chronicles X also introduces the player to their very own robot, known as a Skell. Skells open up the gameplay in surprising new ways, allowing for greater exploration and a new way to take down large foes. The game offers so much to do, and often, it felt like too much, but it kept me wanting to see what the game would throw at me next.
#3: Super Mario Maker (Wii U)
On paper, Super Mario Maker sounds like Nintendo ran out of ideas for the next Mario game and wanted players to simply give them something to go off of, but Super Mario Maker shines in ways I didn’t think the Mario franchise could. It offers the player millions of levels to play, with more coming every minute, and a robust set of tools to craft some of the most devious designs I’ve ever seen Mario face. From a clown car filled with Boos, to a pipe shooting Goombas, Super Mario Maker has a ton of variability, and it was incredible seeing all the ways players could make some of the craziest designs possible. I unfortunately fell off creating levels, but it was still a thrill to get inspirations from other creators and see Mario solve puzzles, put on 8-bit costumes, and making harrowing jumps into the unknown. Super Mario Maker had a ton of charm and it didn’t disappoint.
#2: Fallout 4 (PS4)
I’ve always appreciated what the Fallout games did in terms of story-telling, but I could never get invested in playing one for an extended length of time. Something about the overarching gloom and doom just wore me out, and I never played more than a few hours before burning out. This all changed when Fallout 4 was released. The game takes a few steps back from the larger RPG elements that became so ingrained in the DNA of the series, which became frustrating as I wanted more say over what actions I was taking, instead of blindly choosing something and praying the outcome was positive. Though through its flaws shined a game that opened up a lot of possibilities. I could build settlements, explore the wasteland of Boston, or continue the search for my son. The game offered up a lot of choice, and it was one I had to set huge chunks of time to play lest I get sucked into the characters and well-realized world of the game. It drew me in, in a way I never thought the series would, and I was pleased with my time wandering the wasteland.
#1: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4)
Metal Gear Solid V does almost everything right. Its combat is unparalleled and brand new to the previously steath-oriented series, and while its story is more segmented than the previous entries, the game shines as a worthy entry into the series. MGSV allows players to take on a situation in any way they see fit, be it messy and loud or silent and graceful. Its set-piece moments are incredible, pitting you against formidable foes in dangerous situations. Where the game slightly falls apart is its sense of progression. The game can be awfully convoluted in showing you the correct path to take to unlock the next set of missions. This made the game slightly more frustrating than it needed to be, and while I’m not saying the game needed to hold my hand, I felt like it needed to spell out a few things with more clarity instead of blindly throwing you in and forcing you to check forums to find the answer. Overall, the game is fantastic thrill-ride of an action game, one that I wanted to just play around with in my down time between missions, which lent itself well to the massive scale of the world and its assortment of activities.
