by Christian Paraguya
As 2016 comes to a close, I hope that you had an overall amazing year as we kick off SmashPad’s Best of 2016. There were a lot of hits and a lot of duds. We got past franchises making their way to next-gen, the continued dominance of mobile gaming, and a peek as to what the future may hold.
VR and 4K gaming seem to be the direction the industry of console gaming is heading in and it’s had a lukewarm reception. The price point and lack of support seem to have a stranglehold on it taking off but hopefully in 2017 the price will drop. Project Scorpio and Switch are on my watch list of things to look forward to next year.
Aside from that, 2016 proved to be a great year of gaming. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get my hands on everything I wanted to but got enough gaming in to give you what were some of the hits of the year for me.
5. Overcooked (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Probably not going to make anyone else’s list but this game is beyond fun. It got me back to enjoying local play even though I’m very critical of it not having an online option. Something about the game’s mechanics and art style just really called out to me. It’s done very well in most aspects, but not having an online component knocks it down.
4. Pokémon Sun & Moon (3DS)
A franchise that recycles their games over and over finally has a new approach (not really) to a familiar game. For whatever reason this game revitalized my interest in the Pokémon franchise on the mobile platform. I could not even get through X & Y but was very surprised how much I was into this game. They need to release games that continue to push the franchise like this one.
3. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (PS4)
When a game comes out that is exclusive to a console makes you buy that console, how can it not be on a top 10 list? Nathan Drake is back at it again, and the series continues to be a must-have on PS4. Naughty Dog continues to build on their already established system but it’s the story and adventure that really draws me to this franchise.
2. Pokémon GO (Mobile)
Quite possibly the biggest surprise and eventual flop in mobile gaming ever? Pokémon GO‘s release caught the whole world by storm and had a lot of non-gamers picking up and GOing. It did what no other game has done in the past, and that’s get people out of the house and moving (sorry, Ingress). It’s just unfortunate they were unequipped to handle what the game really needed in order to be successful.
1. Overwatch (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Blizzard plays their card in the FPS world and it’s a damn good one (I actually purchased this game on all outlets, if you can believe that). The game was pretty amazing to begin with but the constant support, even to this day (if you’re not playing Mei’s Snowball Offensive and you own the game… what are you doing with your life?), Blizzard continues to bring new content (FREE, might I add) and updates. Every time something else comes out, I play it for a couple days but always find myself returning to Overwatch.
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And there we have it! A little bit of variety kept me gaming all year around regardless of where I was. A lot of unexpected things made the list and it’s what continues to amaze me with video games. We can get hyped and a game comes out and it’s just terrible, whereas something you just randomly pick up ends up being your favorite game.
I hope next year we can continue to see more versatility. 2016 ended off pretty strong with the recent NES Classic release, really working on that nostalgic factor (if you can get your hands on one), and Nintendo finally arriving on mobile gaming with Super Mario Run.
Will we continue to see a trend here at SmashPad with these games? Or will others dominate the standings? Continue to tune in tomorrow as Brandon goes over his list and we give you our Best of 2016.