Halforums Games of the Year 2015

Last year I collected all of your votes and wrote up a big thing on what we thought were the games of the year last year. This year I was listening to a podcast and liked the way they did things, so I'm going to shamelessly rip off their format. We'll have categories and everyone will just post their games that fit the categories.

So, the categories are:

Mobile/Portable Game of the Year - This is for the oft forgotten little casual games that you enjoyed (be it phone, PSP or DS or even Game.com) that wouldn't end up on your actual best games of the year list because of their nature or whatever. List runners up if you want.

Best Game Not Made in 2015 - This is for that game you tried for the first time or that old ass game you just kept playing all through last year. I noticed a lot of older games were on people's lists last year. So this is the category for those games. List runners up if you want.

Biggest Disappointment of 2015 - This is for that game you were hyped for, had high hopes for, or even just a glimmer of hope for that just shat directly on your expectations. This isn't worst game of 2015 (but it could be) but the one that let you down the most. List runners up if you want, just do it for all categories going forth, I'm getting redundant.

Your Top 5 Games of 2015 - List your favorite/best games of 2015. These are you gems, the games you enjoyed the most. If a game came out of early access in 2015, I consider that a 2015 since that was it's official release (Case in point, Kerbal, which has been out there to play since the early 70's but only now saw official release). Early Access games are fine here too if you suck and gave money to those general trash lords.

There it is friends and enemies, get your lists up!

I have to skidaddle now for a bit, but when I get back I'll post my list.
 
Thank you for specifying casual games on handhelds and not minimizing all games on handhelds as casuals.

Some of these I know, some of them I need to think about. I'll PM soon though.
 
No need for PM, just pop em up here.

And no, if you want a portable game on your best of 2015, have at it. I just meant for the category for the games that are great but have that casual stigma where you wouldn't call it the best of the year.
 
Mobile/Portable Game of the Year

I don't play a lot of mobile games, or portable games, and I haven't played Xenoblade yet, so this is probably going to go to Zelda or Pokemon. Any of them, take your pick... I'm sure one of each came out in 2015.

Best Game Not Made in 2015

Oh god, I have to remember what all I played this year? Uhhhh... uhhh... I'm going to have to say Dragonball Xenoverse. It's not in any way a 'great' game, but it's good, and I never knew before how badly I've always wanted to play as my own super powered saiyan tearing through DBZ characters. I put so much time into this game.

Biggest Disappointment of 2015

We're gonna need a bigger list. Let's hit these one by one.

Fallout 4

If I were ranking these in order, this would be the least disappointing, but it's still a disappointment. It's not in any way a bad -game-, in fact I really like the gameplay and combat, and making new builds to blow people away with. I've put at least 80 hours into this game because of that, and I haven't even completed the main story (which I just don't give any fucks about.) But it's a terrible -Fallout- game, with super shitty dialogue, poor roleplaying opportunities, and overall just makes me wish that Bethesda would just hire Obsidian to make these games instead. I'm so hoping for another Obsidian-made Fallout, New Vegas was amazing. As a side note, if you are one of those people who think Fallout 3 is better than NV, you are factually wrong and may want to rethink everything about your life.

Star Wars Battlefront

I didn't have much hope for this because EA, but the old battlefront games were pretty fun, and it sure does look pretty! Too bad that's all it does, and everything about the gameplay is boring as shit.

Arkham Knight

Ok game that was broken forever on PC. This thing was so broken it forced Steam to create a policy and system for refunds, on a platform that historically had always been near impossible to receive a refund on. That's actually kind of impressive.

Konami

Just Konami, in general. Everything about it, #FucKonami. PT was amazing, but then Silent Hills got canceled and even the amazing PT got pulled never to see the light of day again. Metal Gear Solid V was clearly forced out the door, with the last act of the game just falling apart. But that does lead us to...

Your Top 5 Games of 2015

5. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

I did just say the ending falls apart, but everything else about the game is so good that I can't help but put it here. If this is Kojima's final work, it is a flawed but masterful work. I only regret that every sale of it goes to Konami, and that they're making money on shitty multiplayer DLC for it now.



4. Pillars of Eternity

Even if I wasn't pot committed to this title, it'd still be in my top 5. Amazing old school rpg made by people who show they know why people loved those games (hint: something the makers of Fallout 4 didn't know). Certainly not for everyone, but it was crack for me.


3. Life is Strange

I'd never heard of Don't Nod before, but they came out swinging with this game. It's nice to see the "New TellTale" style of adventure game coming from someone other than TellTale, and this game was very fun and compelling. A nice soundtrack, very stylistic visuals, and it takes the problem that is usually inherent in a game like this, the illusion and lack of choice, and actually rolls it into the gameplay narrative by being about time travel and destiny, and whether you can really change anything.


2. Undertale

This game is impressive. Quirky, flavorful, thoughtful, and really plays with your expectations as a player, breaching the 4th wall in a way few games ever do. I don't want to say anything more about it, you've probably all heard the hype, go play it already.



1. Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

This is just, hands down, the best game made of 2015. A huge, sprawling, impressive RPG. There really isn't anything else to say about it... it's damn good.


Honorable Mention: Bloodborne

The only reason this game isn't on my list is because I haven't actually played it yet. But it looks amazing, and I have a feeling it will hit my "best games not from this year" category next year.
 
No need for PM, just pop em up here.
But what about being shamed in public?

Mobile/Portable Game of the Year - For being casual AKA popped in to play between things, screwed around with when I only had a few minutes to spare ... Yo-Kai Watch. It really doesn't demand out of you what most RPGs do and it kind of plays itself if your ghosts are strong enough, but it was fun to pass the time.

Best Game Not Made in 2015 - Easily in my top three "put most hours into" games but was actually a 2011 release was Dark Souls. Played it through twice and was in the middle of a third when the year ended. Love it; one of my favorite games now.

Biggest Disappointment of 2015 - This is a toughie, because neither of my big disappointments of the year were bad games, just not as fun and engrossing as I wanted. I want to give this to Evolve, but I still had fun with it for that month before it got old, and then before they ruined it later in the year, so my big disappointment would have to go to Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker. I loved the first Devil Survivor, played through it several times to see all the endings. It had colorful characters, a tight plot, interesting lore, and fun combat. The sequel has the good combat--in fact, it's identical. There's really nothing to distinguish it from the original for the 20+ hours I put in. Which would've been fine, but it lacked the quality characters and story of the first game. I thought I'd be playing this all summer, but I was wrong.

Your Top 5 Games of 2015 - heeeeeere we go! I'll make these short and sweet.

5. Splatoon: More fun than I anticipated it would be. In fact, this is the most I've been into a multi-player shooter in a long time, but it's also friendly to people who aren't great at those. It's still fun to play now and then.
4. Undertale: Play this once and it's a fun, inventive RPG with memorable characters and a solid if brief plot with much Earthbound weirdness. But dammit, play it a couple more times, because this gets crazy in ways that shouldn't be spoiled.
3. Xenoblade Chronicles X: In the week and change I've had this, I've already put more time into it than most other games I played this year. Breathtaking, gorgeous world ... the characters and story are decent, but this world is something else. It's fun to play and explore.
2. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate: I poured over 400 hours into this. I could pick it up today, right now, and still have fun.
1. And my number 1 game of the year: Godzilla Bloodborne. I wish this was on PC. I don't say that patronizing or pitying anyone--I really wish you didn't need a PS4 to play this, because it is a fucking beauty of a game and everyone should be able to get their hands on it. I don't give a shit about console exclusivity bragging bullshit. This game needs to be played by more people. Hopefully it gets ported soon. The combat is fantastic, the places you explore are grand, and the story isn't explained much, but piecing it together is a hugely rewarding experience. The whole thing is a rewarding experience, and I haven't even touched the DLC yet.
 
I feel me and Poe are going to have similar lists.

Mobile Game of the Year



I've played Hitman Go and it wasn't bad, this expands on that style of gameplay almost to another power. It's also really, really beautiful, not just for a mobile game, but for a game in general. It's great, it costs a dollar and it has no freemium bullshit tacked on.

Best game not made in 2015



Like Zero, I played a lot of this this year. Unlike Zero, I only played it for the first time this year. I'm now a devotee (still don't own a PS4 though, so no Bloodborne for me yet) and am waiting with baited breath for Dark Souls 3. I went on such a journey with this game, from hating invasions, to enjoying them, the becoming a theme invader, from struggling through a few hollow soldiers, to blindly being able to handle them, to doing a low SL run in order to get my theme invader his gear. I get it. Dark Souls is great.

Biggest Disappointment of 2015



I've been steeling myself for this one was going to turn out since, well, Fallout 3, but even I couldn't guess just how ass backwards Bethesda would get the roleplaying part of this open world FPS ROLEPLAYING game. The world really doesn't make any sense, even for a Bethesda game. For every one townsperson, there's at least 12000 raiders and gunners. There's a podcast I listen to called Watch Out for Fireballs where two guys do extensive playthroughs of old games and their last episode is on Fallout 3. They nail every hit on how Bethesda really didn't understand the source material they were making a game out of and Fallout 4 is no exception. Fallout 3 and 4 are the Star Wars Prequels of Fallout games.

Best of 2015, Frank Style

NUMBAH FIVE!



It's a rad space cowboy truckin' game. It has a wonderful soundtrack, fun gameplay, randomized universe and did I mention the soundtrack, because the soooooundtrack. It was also developed by TWO PEOPLE. Fuck. Great game.

NUMBAH FOUR!



I love Obsidian, I love old school CRPGS, I love Pillars of Eternity. I backed this bitch. It's great. It's for people like me.

NUMBAH THREE!



It's already been said that chapter two sucks and is rushed. That's true. Also, the game has all been but been ruined by Konami's trashy greed since it's release. Luckily I played my fill before that happened, or else I might have been just the most furious ball of fury. Chapter one is fucking awesome and the gameplay is fucking sublime. This, even without the Metal Gear trappings, is THE GOD DAMN BEST stealth action game. YOU CAN LIE ON THE GROUND AND MAKE YOUR HORSE SHIT ON YOU! Number three game of the year. Fuckonami.

NUMBAH TWO!



I've only owned this for two weeks and it's already got more hours in it from both me tinkering making level and from me just doing the 100 Mario challenge. I literally play at least an hour a day. This is the reason to own a Wii-U. It's incredible.

NUMBAH ONE!



Uh, yeah, this game was awesome. I can't wait for the next expansion so I can do the whole fucking thing over again. Loved it. Awesome game. This also has made me just moist for Cyberpunk. CDProject Red is my master now.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I didn't play many 2015-released games, as I said in the other thread, but one I think deserves to be in the top 5 games of the year is Vermintide. A worthy spiritual successor to the Left 4 Dead series, in a warhammer fantasy setting. It had some stumbles early in its release, but they got those ironed out now. Best played as co-op with friends.

 
Can the new Zelda game that didn't come out count as my biggest disappointment of the year? Because it is my biggest video game disappointment that I didn't even get a chance to play it. :(
 
Can the new Zelda game that didn't come out count as my biggest disappointment of the year? Because it is my biggest video game disappointment that I didn't even get a chance to play it. :(
I'm not even convinced it'll be out in 2016 either. :(
 
.

NUMBAH TWO!



I've only owned this for two weeks and it's already got more hours in it from both me tinkering making level and from me just doing the 100 Mario challenge. I literally play at least an hour a day. This is the reason to own a Wii-U. It's incredible.
Have you uploaded any levels yet?! I haven't seen you say so! Where are the levels!
 
I feel me and Poe are going to have similar lists.

Mobile Game of the Year



I've played Hitman Go and it wasn't bad, this expands on that style of gameplay almost to another power. It's also really, really beautiful, not just for a mobile game, but for a game in general. It's great, it costs a dollar and it has no freemium bullshit tacked on.

Best game not made in 2015



Like Zero, I played a lot of this this year. Unlike Zero, I only played it for the first time this year. I'm now a devotee (still don't own a PS4 though, so no Bloodborne for me yet) and am waiting with baited breath for Dark Souls 3. I went on such a journey with this game, from hating invasions, to enjoying them, the becoming a theme invader, from struggling through a few hollow soldiers, to blindly being able to handle them, to doing a low SL run in order to get my theme invader his gear. I get it. Dark Souls is great.

Biggest Disappointment of 2015



I've been steeling myself for this one was going to turn out since, well, Fallout 3, but even I couldn't guess just how ass backwards Bethesda would get the roleplaying part of this open world FPS ROLEPLAYING game. The world really doesn't make any sense, even for a Bethesda game. For every one townsperson, there's at least 12000 raiders and gunners. There's a podcast I listen to called Watch Out for Fireballs where two guys do extensive playthroughs of old games and their last episode is on Fallout 3. They nail every hit on how Bethesda really didn't understand the source material they were making a game out of and Fallout 4 is no exception. Fallout 3 and 4 are the Star Wars Prequels of Fallout games.

Best of 2015, Frank Style

NUMBAH FIVE!



It's a rad space cowboy truckin' game. It has a wonderful soundtrack, fun gameplay, randomized universe and did I mention the soundtrack, because the soooooundtrack. It was also developed by TWO PEOPLE. Fuck. Great game.

NUMBAH FOUR!



I love Obsidian, I love old school CRPGS, I love Pillars of Eternity. I backed this bitch. It's great. It's for people like me.

NUMBAH THREE!



It's already been said that chapter two sucks and is rushed. That's true. Also, the game has all been but been ruined by Konami's trashy greed since it's release. Luckily I played my fill before that happened, or else I might have been just the most furious ball of fury. Chapter one is fucking awesome and the gameplay is fucking sublime. This, even without the Metal Gear trappings, is THE GOD DAMN BEST stealth action game. YOU CAN LIE ON THE GROUND AND MAKE YOUR HORSE SHIT ON YOU! Number three game of the year. Fuckonami.

NUMBAH TWO!



I've only owned this for two weeks and it's already got more hours in it from both me tinkering making level and from me just doing the 100 Mario challenge. I literally play at least an hour a day. This is the reason to own a Wii-U. It's incredible.

NUMBAH ONE!



Uh, yeah, this game was awesome. I can't wait for the next expansion so I can do the whole fucking thing over again. Loved it. Awesome game. This also has made me just moist for Cyberpunk. CDProject Red is my master now.
Man, I've been eyeing Rebel Galaxy for so long and you just made me buy it.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Man, I've been eyeing Rebel Galaxy for so long and you just made me buy it.
I was really tempted to buy it, but I really got burned by Starpoint Gemini 2, to which RG looks very similar, and SG2 turned out to be a complete and utter bore. So I didn't pull the trigger when RG was on sale. Maybe I'll give it a try come the summer sale.
 
If you mixed Freelancer with the ship combat from Assassin's Creed 4 with the space cowboy theme of a Cowboy Bebop or Firefly you get Rebel Galaxy.
 
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