Best of 2017

The end of 2017 is upon us, and what a great year for games it has been. Nintendo released the Switch and two of the best reviewed games of all time in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. Sony came out swinging with amazing exclusives in Horizon: Zero Dawn, NieR: Automata, Persona 5, and Nioh. Microsoft in turn gave us the Xbox One X, and, uh, Forza? Yeah, Forza 7. There has been a lot of greatness this year, which is why we started our Podcast to try and balance it all out with something you should force your friends to listen to so that they may suffer. Anyways, let’s get to our picks, shall we?

Chris’ Picks:

#1: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Ninja Theory set out to make a single player AAA game in a bite size package that they could accomplish. What you ended up with was a gorgeous game that could be beat in 7 hours, all for $30. More than that though, it tackled mental illness in a viking setting like no other game ever has, and is truly a must play game.

#2: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

An open world Zelda you can play anywhere on the Nintendo Switch? An open world game where you didn’t level up from killing monsters, but from solving puzzles in dungeons? A massive world just waiting to explore, and that you actually wanted to explore. The latest Zelda title is one of the best reviewed games of all time, and for good reason. Open world games will be taking notes from Breath of the Wild for years to come.

#3: Assassin’s Creed: Origins

I told myself I was done with Assassin’s Creed games, but Origins slowly broke me down until I bought it. Once I started playing it, I realized that the soft reboot that is Origins is just what the franchise needed. The combat changed for the better, and was no longer counter attack the game. All the bullshit you seemed to hate from previous games has been stripped away, and the side quests are actually meaningful.

#4: LawBreakers

LawBreakers may be most note worthy for having a small install base, but the combat itself is fast paced and extremely fun. The low gravity areas add an element to the arena shooter genre that differentiates it in a meaningful way, and I always walk away from this game with my heart beating a little faster and a smile on my face.

#5: Project CARS 2

This game impressed me in ways that Forza 7 and GT Sport just didn’t. The most difficult thing about Project CARS 2 is getting the controller settings right, which lucky for you I have my setup posted for you to try out and get you turning laps. The most standout feature of Project CARS 2 to me is the dynamic weather. Start a race with the sun shining, and then watch as a storm slowly rolls in as the rain picks up. Watch out for puddles and aim for any dry spots. Oh, and while sometimes an entire track will be hit with rain, others might only have the rain storm hit parts of the track, making you have to go from dry to wet conditions in a single lap. On large tracks like the Nurburgring, this is very much a real possibility and earns it a spot on my list this year.

Eric’s Picks:

#1: Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Chris’ #2 pick lands as my #1. I dumped more time into this game more than any other. The side missions were great for me, and I that was a big thing for me, and while it gets a higher place on the list than Super Mario.

#2:Super Mario Odyessy

The game is fantastic. It handles well, which is really hard for a platformer. The inclusion of 2d sections was a nice nod to the game’s roots.

#3: Persona 5

They fixed the minor issues that were in Persona 4 and made a great cinematic game. The story was great and the art style was fantastic.

#4: Horizon: Zero Dawn

I originally had Cuphead as my #4 game until Jason reminded me of Horizon, which is such a fantastic game. I tried to break the game at E3 and couldn’t do it. There was no floating through the ground that you experience with Assassin’s Creed games.

#5 Metriod: Samus Returns

Mertroid played so buttery smooth. It was a great homage to the classic Metroid games done in 3d.

Jason’s Pick:

#1: Horizon: Zero Dawn

This game was so amazing, and a huge risk for Guerilla Games to go with a new IP in a new genre. I enjoyed every bit of this game. The gameplay, the story, the environment, it all works so well. I had to make this my number 1 pick.

#2: Persona 5

Persona 5 improved on the gameplay from 4, although it didn’t quite have the character development that was in 4. More than just a game, Persona is a fantastic experience. I spent well over 100 hours playing this game, and enjoyed it all.

#3: Prey

Level design, art style, story, everything was really well done. They put you in a lot of positions where you have to ask yourself what would you actually do in this situation. The reason it’s not higher is that the load times were so long. This is what I refer to as a imgur game, as I would go through imgur during the load screens.

#4: Resident Evil 7

The VR aspect of it put me over. I got caught up into the game so much so that I got actually caught up in the cords. The game itself was easy, and without the VR sucking me into it, it wouldn’t have the list.

#5: That’s You

Such a blast to play while drunk. When my entire family was over and everyone was entertained by it. Everyone just sits by the TV and plays with their phone.

Now that you made it through all that, give our last podcast a listen to hear us discuss these games further, and bonus, you get Shawn from COGConnected.com’s picks as well!