BEST GAMES OF 2017 JIM STERLINT FULL

I knew next to nothing about them, but I had only ever heard good things, so I figured I’d give the visual novels a shot. Over the summer, I downloaded and played through the first two Danganronpa games when they went on sale.

By the end, you’ll finally be able to see the whole picture. As soon as you finish the game for the first time, you’re going to want to dive right back in to see the second ending.

Nier: Automata is not only one of the best action combat games of 2017, but it’s also one of the most thoughtful and engrossing. And the gray area between “right” and “wrong.” And eating deadly fish. Nier: Automata is an action-adventure game about a group of androids who have been tasked with ridding the planet of the robot scourge that has forced humanity to relocate to the moon. But when I finally did finish the game, I began to see why so much was written about it in the weeks after it released. I was intrigued by it at the time, but other obligations got in the way and it fell by the wayside. I only recently returned to Nier: Automata after speeding through the first half of the game back when it launched. If Bungie can provide the quality of life adjustments that the game so desperately needs in a timely manner, I could see myself playing well into 2018. But as it stands, Destiny 2 is still the most fun I had with a first-person shooter this year. Had Destiny 2 been able to maintain this momentum, it might be even further up on my list. I logged on every day to complete every task I could, desperate for a better weapon or piece of gear. Whether it was the (slightly) more cohesive story, the subtle (and not so subtle) improvements to the game’s core systems or just my evolving taste, I couldn’t stop playing Destiny 2 in the weeks after it launched. I’d jump back in for a week or so after every expansion, then inevitably lose interest.ĭestiny 2 was different. Those improvements eventually arrived, and thousands of players appreciated them, but it was mostly too little, too late for me. In my review of the first game, I said that Destiny was “full of wasted potential,” but left the proverbial door open for improvements in the weeks and months to come. It’s no secret that I wasn’t a very big fan of the original Destiny.

BEST GAMES OF 2017 JIM STERLINT FULL

Nintendo long ago came as close to perfecting the art of moving a 3D character through an open world full of enemies and obstacles, but despite being developed by such a small team, A Hat in Time often feels just as responsive as the best Mario games. What impressed me most about A Hat in Time was how well it controlled. The voice acting is hilarious, the worlds are odd and inventive, and the moves and powers that the young girl accumulates along the way turn her (and her inexplicably magic hat) into a force to be reckoned with.

A Hat in Time is a classic 3D platformer in which a young girl has to find enough fuel to power her ship in order to get home. While Yooka-Laylee failed to grab me like I hoped it would, I fell for A Hat in Time instantly. The age of the mascot platformer has long since ended… but there is a small renaissance happening in the indie community right now that gives me hope. I thought Super Mario Odyssey would quench my thirst for platformers, but all it did was remind me how few quality 3D platformers we see on consoles nowadays. Plus, it managed to keep me engaged from start to finish, which is more than I can say for some of the games that didn’t make this list. This is a legitimate single-player campaign that rivals the size and scope of some other popular FPS games. More than anything though, I was shocked that Farpoint lasted as long as it did. After spending a few hours aiming down the sights of my fake gun in the PS VR headset, it felt a bit underwhelming to go back to a standard first-person shooter. Immersing myself in this world for a few hours, I felt a deeper connection to the characters of Farpoint than I did with those of many other games (even several on this list), just because I was in the room with them.Īnd while I’m not much for being asked to use plastic accessories to play games in 2017, the Aim Controller made battling waves of aliens feel all the more real. But Farpoint was probably the first VR game I ever played that utilized the strengths of the medium both for storytelling and for gameplay. I didn’t expect a VR game to make my top 10 list, much less a VR first-person shooter.

Best games of 2017 jim sterlint