Round Up: Push Square's Favourite PS4 Games of 2017

And as good a list as that is, it's still only a snapshot of a fantastic year in gaming. 2017 may have been great in many respects but at least we had some great games to escape to.

Incredible list of games, one or two ommissions in my opinion. I think Nioh and Gravity Rush 2 have been criminally under appreciated and under played, people really are missing out!

I also just wanted to take the opportunity to thank all at Pushsquare for providing so much great content throughout 2017, I really like the generally upbeat attitude of the site.

I feel a lot of smaller sites could learn a lot from you guys instead of relying on peddling negativity and contrarian opinions to get traffic. You have proven there is a right way to stimulate interest in a games website, congratulations, I wish you every success for 2018.

@Neolit I Nioh right? Unforgivable!

I can’t believe nier automata wasn’t on this list. It was better than uncharted LL

I played What Remains Of Edith Finch last night and can now see why it is praised so highly. The stories played are absolutely magical. As a pure gaming experience, I'd say it was my game of the year 2017 even though I played it this year.

@ApostateMage Yeah, I did the exact same thing, played WRoEF yesterday all in one sitting and really loved it. Very deserving of a spot in the top ten. It didn’t supplant NieR for my #1 overall game this year though. That game is just awesome.

I’ve not played it, but how has the biggest selling game on PS4, not made it onto that list? Everyone slags CoD off but clearly the some/all of the writers have/bought/played/reviewed it as well as a high percentage of readers of this site have bought it, otherwise how could it be the biggest selling game???

Or is this a case of everyone plays CoD but you’re not allowed to admit it?? Haha.

@kyleforrester87 But it did end up as #5 in their reader vote, so at least it got some appreciation! Eurogamer's staff list was very weird overall though, Persona 5 and Horizon were both shockingly low as well, both below Mass Effect: Andromeda, so I took their entire list with a pinch of salt...

@KingSandyRavage Sales don't really equate to quality. If you enjoy CoD, you'll enjoy whatever the latest CoD is. Activision has been releasing essentially the same game over and over. Many people are just exhausted with it. I would bet if they only released a new CoD every few years, the reaction to the brand would be very VERY different. The people buying CoD over and over are usually just the people who love CoD. Same goes for the 2K/Madden/FIFA series.. I know plenty of gamers who ONLY buy and play the 2k/Madden/FIFA series. This doesn't mean they are the best games though... just the best for that market.

In terms of raw sales (multiplatform, not sure where you got the data for CoD on PS4), Horizon Zero Dawn is the only game listed as both a top 10 game and a top 10 seller of 2017.

I was more questioning it not even featuring in the top ten.

Suppose it depends on the definition on what somebody is looking for in a “GOTY”. While resident evil had elements that showed quality well and above WWII, the replay value and longevity of WWII will vastly overshadow that of resident evil; which managed to place 6.

I’d have thought a full assessment of THE best games of the year would involve a Matrix including all major scoring categories and then systematically producing a list, as opposed to trying to select a stand out date-to-be-different-for-the-sake-of-being different.

Personally I have never rated CoD as it’s just not my sort of game, but my opinion is clearly in the minority of the gaming world as literally millions of more people have gone for that game over what I would stake in the top ten.

@NathanUC I’m not saying it is a quality game, I’m saying millions more than me say it is a quality game, so how can it not make a top ten for the year?

Data was taken from two news posts down stating CoDWWII had been the MVP AGAIN for the final week in 2017.

@KingSandyRavage It's possible you value title length more than title quality in that situation. I would much rather have a very engaging 10-20 hours of game-play than 50-100 of mediocre gameplay. That Resident Evil analogy is perfect. I will forever remember my experience playing RE7 in VR, but I can't remember a single experience from any of the CoD games I play.

In terms of sales, those posts you are referring to are multiplatform and the UK only.

I really like @kyleforrester87 's McDonald's analogy.

@KingSandyRavage The MackyD analogy above is spot on. There's a distinction between 'successful' and 'quality' which applies to almost everything in this world. Not just games, but films, books, music, theatre, clothes, etc etc etc. Generally speaking, the things we can unequivocally agree are successful (i.e. the money they earn is there for all to see in sales charts, company profit returns, etc) rarely overlap with those the 'critical community' consider representative of a high standard. Put together a top ten of the 2017 games that sold most and I'm sure CoD would be on there (not my kind of game so wouldn't have a clue), but this site produces critical responses to games so has a different criteria when putting together these lists. One of those things will be originality, which, however solid a game it might be, CoD quite obviously lacks. Getting prettier and prettier with each release doesn't count.

@PaperyWhiteBoy @NathanUC

Is that despite resident evil only scoring 1 point higher than CoD WWII in the first place.

A game overall needs rating on all its merits: originality, design, controls, visuals, sound, execution, longevity (retention - not just pure hours to finish it),

Every game will have strengths and weakness across that matrix to turkey discern which had the most on offer. If the result leans more to one category then the other, then you have a bias result, unless each category is fairly weighted with the relative impact on the final game. While resident evil 7 gives you an on/off amazing experience for 20 hours tops, games such has CoD have millions of gamers around the world enjoying 100+ hours of gameplay. (Not me, don’t confuse my question as a fanboy Defense of CoD, as I ain’t)

While McDonalds burgers may not be the highest quality beef, I would bet everyone in the world that consumes burgers would be guilty of admitting they have consumed more McDonalds burgers than any other, and would gladly do so again, because it is far cooler to be seen sinking £10 at a Five Guys for premium burger than it is to £1 at a McDonald’s, even though you genuinely like both.

Analogy only stands to a point, as on reflection, the production value going into a Five Guys over McDonalds over CoD is not the same difference as that expended at Capcom and Activision, infact I’d suspect maybe more production went into CoD than Res Evil.

My main bugbear is that res evil is deemed so high in everything on offer last year, but I found it totally disappointing by the end and it let itself down massively after being so awesome up to a certain point.

@KingSandyRavage Yes, I've had (and enjoyed) a McDonalds burger in the last year. I've also played (and enjoyed) CoD in the last year. Were either memorable experiences? No way.

You may not have liked RE7, that is perfectly fair. I didn't enjoy Horizon Zero Dawn all that much, but that doesn't change the opinions of the Push Square staff who created this list.

I think I put in around 200 hours into CoD BO3, but I certainly didn't enjoy 200 hours of CoD. I mostly played it to socialize with friends. I enjoyed that time playing with my friends, but I didn't enjoy a lot of that time playing CoD.

Now that I'm older and always busy with work or other projects, I certainly won't waste my time on a game like CoD. I only have a few precious hours of gaming a week... I'll use them on great experiences like Persona 5 or (imo) RE7. I value my time more than my $

Ed Sheeran is to music what CoD/FIFA are to gaming.

@NathanUC again. I’m not saying CoD is amazing.

I’m saying it seems odd to report how successful one game is, and then not recognise that success in some form in the top ten games of the year that game came out.

@KingSandyRavage Again, this isn't a list of the top 10 successful or top 10 selling games of 2017. This is a list of Push Square's top 10 favorite games. I understand your point of view, but I don't agree with it. I'll leave it at that.

@NathanUC Fair do's, as all it was is a point for discussion. Everyone will have a slightly different personal top ten. I'd just have thought a reviewing website would aim to cover the whole format fairly and objectively, with a less personal opinion.

After all, I imagine quite a lot of people on here will try games recommended on here by the seasoned few that write for our entertainment.

I personally rubbished CoD off for years and lumped it in with FIFA/Need for Speed etc. But returning to it out of curiosity I found it quite a breath of fresh air and far more even when compared to how annoying and frustrating Battlefield 4 has gotten. It surprised me. Then again, it suffers the EA rape-o-thon in that if you buy every iteration of CoD, it is highly unlikely you'll see any change from game to game.