Anchorsam_9

@tabris95 Night In The Woods was in last year's list so I decided not to put it in again when I heard of the delay. Can't wait though!

@ThroughTheIris56 I very, very nearly included Vane in this list, but it just missed out

@get2sammyb Distance is still in Early Access on PC, but the game is still regularly updated on Steam and its website. Hopefully it comes out on PS4 this year

Nice to see a lot of love for Snake Pass in the comments, I hadn't heard of it before writing this but I'm really interested in it now.

Also, a quick side note: 6 of the games from last year's list have been pushed into 2017 - What Remains of Edith Finch, Distance, Wattam, Night In The Woods, Manifold Garden, and RIME. Last year's list might be worth a look if you're interested in any of those games

That's insane. Apparently Uncharted 4's reached 8+ million sales too

The bell definitely gives the setting away, I reckon this'll be set in WW2. I can imagine Sledgehammer going for alternate history though

@Xaessya

@themcnoisy Table Top Racing! To be honest I was surprised that Broforce was my GOTY, but to be honest there weren't any games that I actually enjoyed more than Broforce.

@Speedy67 Technically it did, but it released on PS4 this year so I guess it's valid! Good to see someone else likes it

@Hego Last year Broforce would've been nowhere near my GOTY list, but this year's been kinda poor in comparison. Still, it's great!

@LieutenantFatman To be honest, I forgot about it too up until December! I replayed it and it still holds up as one of Double Find's best so I'd still thoroughly recommend it.

I really couldn't get into Dishonored 2 and I'm really not sure why considering I loved the first game. I may just be really bad at it, but it seems like every approach I take to the game is the "wrong" one and I always seem to get spotted by something I haven't noticed. Maybe I'll try it again next year.

Still haven't picked up this or Hearts of Stone yet. I really should get on to it but I don't want to ever be finished with The Witcher

@Quintumply @Tasuki Someone's gotta do it!

Seriously though, I'm a fan of music games in general, but the quality has severely deteriorated this year. The Voice almost feels like shovelware compared to last year's Rock Band 4 and Guitar Hero Live.

Also I'm glad everyone liked the tagline - it probably took me longer to think up than the time it took to write this!

Actually quite excited for this, the LEGO games have become really stale recently and - although this is quite an old game - it looks more interesting and different.

Great review, completely agree with you. Although it's one of the best shooters of all time, it's crazy how a 9 year old game still puts Infinite Warfare to shame

@mrobinson91 Thanks! This game was so hard to score - on the one hand the campaign was excellent and the Zombies mode fun, but then there's the microtransactions, the lack of innovation etc.

@Mergatro1d Finally my English Language GCSE paid off!

@SkanetWasTaken As I said above, this game was really hard to score, and the addition of microtransactions factored into the decision. It's downright unacceptable the way they've been implemented, though. It's a big shame about Titanfall 2's sales - I'm not a fan of its multiplayer but its campaign was great - but EA are partially to blame for launching it right between Battlefield and COD.

@banacheck Seeing as COD is made by three separate developers, change and innovation should be expected - a sequel shouldn't be like the original, and should innovate. For example, after Ghosts, Sledgehammer added jump packs in Advanced Warfare, then Treyarch added Specialists in Black Ops 3 - Infinity Ward have added nothing game-changing other than more microtransactions.

@Kyroki Thanks! If Infinite Warfare singleplayer was a standalone buy, I'd recommend it, but the multiplayer ties it down. Hopefully MW Remastered will release separately soon, though.

@wittypixel Fair enough, Treyarch tend to be the most experimental COD developers (if you could call them that) in my opinion.

@Galvatron While admittedly I haven't played the first two games, I've played Contracts onwards and I have to say that Hitman 2016 is a much easier game than previous installments. However, this release reminds me a lot of Blood Money in terms of gameplay and replayability, so I'm pretty happy with it - we all have different opinions though. I do agree on your point that 6 episodrs is a little meagre, however, and the story is very weak.

@themcnoisy Pretty sure there's a boxed release coming out on 31st January I believe

@gingerfrog My favourite would probably be either SSX Tricky or Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, but I can see why California Games is up there.

@SonuvLiberty I forgot about Steep actually! Pretty sure there's a closed beta coming up so I'll probably sign up for that. You might want to look at Snow too, it's an upcoming free-to-play winter sports game that's been on beta on PC for a while now.

@thedevilsjester @johncalmc I would take both

@PostmanPatinator It really depends if you're fine with spending £30 for the sake of convenience or not. If so, then go ahead, but honestly I'd recommend just playing them on your 360 if you already own them.

Right opposite a Starbucks and just down the road from the best burger place in Brighton. Not a bad location

@themcnoisy Easily this collection. It's hard to fault either Asylum or City - they're both far better than Knight - and you'll also get much more value from Return to Arkham than Knight. However, if you've played Aslyum and City to death and haven't played Knight, then you should probably get Knight if you're looking for something new.

@JaxonH @PorllM While I agree that both games are 8/9s out of 10, I gave this a 7 because for a remaster, it's quite lacking in the graphical and technical department. I understand that both of these games are excellent, but the main selling point (and actual point) of remasters is that they're supposed to graphically update older games, and Return to Arkham pretty much failed on that. Still, like I said, both are excellent games!

@wiggleronacid Pretty much. As I said above, these are two excellent games that have barely been remastered at all, so it's pretty much only for people who haven't played the games before or just really want to play them on PS4.

@Fight_Teza_Fight I imagine they didn't include Origins because it's technically not a Rocksteady game, but it's quite disappointing that it isn't present. Maybe in a few years they'll make a complete collection, but I wouldn't count on that.

@ShogunRok They've probably survived so well because they're the only high street games shop in the UK. Ever since gamestation went bust, GAME has been pretty much the only place to buy video games (except for Cex, though they only really sell pre-owned games) and while a lot of people prefer to buy from Amazon and other online stores, parents buying games for their kids will usually go to GAME - the sales from that probably keeps it afloat alone

@Churchy Thanks! I get it, it's always a safer bet to wait for the full game anyway just in case

@themcnoisy It's coming out as a full retail release on 31st January next year

@Churchy It really all depends on whether my reviews have convinced you that it's worth buying Hitman now or not. My instincts say that the game in its current state is excellent (and there's only one mission left to be released) so it'd be worth buying it now if you believe what I say, but then again if you're into physical media I would wait until January. It's all about personal preference - can you wait to play it, or do you think that the game is too good to wait for?

Also, I imagine the full game should be around 40-50GB - each episode is under 10GB each, varying in size.

@ztpayne7 The devs have expressed an interest in releasing two more seasons of content but they're waiting to see how the first season is received overall. I'd wouldn't bet against them making more seasons though

Is it me or is it kind of ridiculous how short The Journey is? I was expecting a full career sort of thing like NBA's MyCareer, but the Journey only lasts a season!

Frankly I've never really enjoyed the gunfights in Uncharted games, I've always preferred the exploring and CQC

@Frank90 I haven't played the full FIFA 17 game so I can't say for sure (though I have played the demo) but it really all depends on what you like. If you want a pick-up-and-play football game then FIFA might be your best bet, but if you care a bit about gameplay, customisation, managing your team, and other aspects of football, then get PES. If I were you, I'd wait until FIFA 17 releases at the end of the month and then look at our review for that and see which one takes your fancy

@john_c As Sammy said, it'd probably be commercial suicide to prevent players from loading kits and badges into the game, since that would lose a lot of players to FIFA.

@Boerewors I agree with you on everything - not just the FIFA vs PES comparison, but also that games get given 10s way too much. But that's another question for another time.

@Bhattiboy Thanks!

@Drawfull I used that guide myself to import kits since I haven't tried it before, it works well!

Review's all done now - ask me any questions if you need to!

@fabisputza00 @KAPADO No word on if there's a PS4 Pro patch coming but I would assume not, though Konami could prove me wrong.

@fabisputza Since you can import kits and badges in one big bulk, it shouldn't take long at all

@morrisseymuse Each to their own I guess, but I've been getting progressively less happy with FIFA over the years. FIFA 16 frustrated me a lot because it seemed that pace didn't matter - however fast your player was, the lumbering centre back would always catch up.

@get2sammyb @MaccaMUFC Yeah, the only licenced premier league clubs are Arsenal and Liverpool (though it's easy to import badges and kits) Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are licenced, as is Serie A (except for Juventus) Ligue 1, Ligue 2, the Portuguese Primeira Liga (except for two teams) the Eredevisie, the AFC Champions League teams, as well as a few other European teams and the Argentine and Brazilian leagues.

@Bhattiboy Oops, I'll fix that as soon as I can.

@themcnoisy Fair enough, I'd quite like to see another old football franchise like Sensible Soccer or This Is Football coming back

@Elodin Thanks! I've always found Madden to be easy to pick up because of this.

@VenomSnake08 Shame that they stopped doing NCAA Football ages ao, pretty sure they weren't paying the college athletes though so I get it.

@hadlee73 In a way you're right, but if you're a big Franchise player I'd really recommend picking this up since it has Play The Moments. It's improved a lot, but I guess play the demo and see what you think.

@JaxonH I remember Backbreaker being a pretty fun NFL game that wasn't licensed, although it wasn't an american football game per se since you only played as offense. I'd look into it though.

@Grawlog Thanks! Like Tasuki said, it's on the rise here - they put on a few games per season in London, and I remember hearing about the possibility of a London franchise being made. I have quite a few friends that are into the sport, but I'm not as big of a fan as watching it compared to playing Madden.

@themcnoisy Admittedly I haven't played it yet - reviewing another game at the moment. I'm a disappointment, I know.

Great review, I'll definitely be getting this. Shame about the technical problems though

Really? I enjoyed it a lot and heard nothing but praise about it on Twitter. I'll probably pick it up.

Thanks for all the comments! Due to the sheer volume of them, it's doubtful I can respond to them all, but I'll try:

@hadlee73 I get that this article won't likely change anything, but I just wanted to get this idea out there and promote discussion about it.

@jayclayx I doubt retail prices will ever get slashed by Sony, this just seems to be an industry-wide problem that won't change due to competition. Hopefully refunds soon become a thing though!

@themcnoisy @Ralizah @Neolit @wiiware These are all really good ideas for a refund policy. Not only are they fair to the consumer, but it still gets Sony money (so they're more likely to implement it) and developers won't be open to exploitation.

@Tasuki @Ewflex That's fair enough - I do that too, and I only really buy smaller games from the digital store. But don't you think that all games should be refundable, regardless where you buy them from?

@NoCode23 These are points I've made in the past, but another point I'm making is just how hard it is to judge how much you like a game before release. Demos are becoming less and less common now, and I don't know about anywhere else, but the UK doesn't have many shops that offer game rentals.

@johncalmc @sketchturner Exactly. Apart from sheer convenience, there's pretty much no reason to buy digital games that are available as physical copies because it's more expensive and you don't have any way of getting your money back if something goes wrong or the game is bad quality.

@BAMozzy I agree that people need to be more responsible with money, and I'm not saying it's Sony's fault that broken or low quality games are released. All I'm saying is that a better refund policy seems like a basic consumer right, and to avoid exploitation of the policy there should be a one- or two-hour cap, like Steam's system. I still feel that Sony should implement some form of quality control though - PayDay 2, for instance, hasn't been updated once since release despite being horribly broken, so I feel that either a) people who've bought it should get refunds or b) it should be taken off of the store.

@Quintumply Thanks! I get that these cases of abuse and exploitation do happen, but I like to think it's a minority thing - after Steam's refund policy was implemented, a lot of people thought that sales would drop for many indie games and many indie developers would shut down. That hasn't happened, so I feel a similar policy would work on PS4.

Phew!

@ApostateMage It's a lot for a worms game, but it has a lot of replayability

@Quintumply It's definitely up there with them, but nothing can beat Armageddon. I'd say it's a little better than World Party.

@JoeBlogs Definitely. If you have some friends who are Worms fans, it's definitely worth the price.

@MarcelRguez Agreed. This is enormous fun with friends.

@LieutenantFatman I'm sure it will be. £20 isn't a bad price though

Glad to here this turned out good, I almost forgot about it!

Right, I'm actually serious about switching to PES now

I wouldn't say it's surviving. More ungracefully dying, I think.

@get2sammyb I really should've expected that article picture

Awesome article idea man. Can't wait to read them!

Gutted that Headlander didn't make the cut. I genuinely love that game

Roll on PS VITA 2!

Surely they're just on different servers? I don't see what the fuss is about this

Would you say Overcooked is fun exclusively as a multiplayer game, or is the singleplayer good too? This sounds a blast with friends, but I feel like I'd need good solo gameplay to justify buying it

@themcnoisy I can't compare it to Axiom Verge as I've never played it, but I'd say it's a tad inferior to Fez. It's easily a Double Fine classic, I'll say

@kyleforrester87 I didn't know about this game until a few weeks ago, and now I'm glad I do! I wasn't excited for it either, but Double Fine knocked it out of the park with this one.

@LieutenantFatman Thanks! It's £15, and the campaign took me about 10 hours to complete, so relatively good value.

@fabisputza00 £15, so not a bad price for a GOTY contender

@hi_drnick You're right, what I said was a knee-jerk reaction. Like I've said in the review, if you have friends to play multiplayer with, then the game is fun, but don't download it if you plan on playing singleplayer.

@Quintumply I imagine it'll be fun for a few hours or more with friends. There is always online matchmaking too!

@UVUVYCTXUHIV I wouldn't say it's crap. The fact that you can play with friends since it's a PS Plus game might make it last longer, but it's still no Rocket League. Far from it.

I'll be checking and replying to comments intermittently - and for the record, I knew this was going to be a Plus game from the moment it started.

Such a shame. I love this game to bits but technically it's always lagged behind, which is annoying because it's so much fun. It got my GOTY last year anyway though, I just wish Avalanche fixed the bugs before release

@Kyroki I think it's just the chaotic atmosphere that makes it so great. Robots and dragons fighting and flying around, Original Nikolai shouting at you and asking for more vodka, and all of the new secrets and easter eggs have made this probably one of my favourite zombies maps ever.

@Tasuki There's definitely a noticeable difference between Empire and the other maps in the DLC. It plays a lot more like the old CODs and seems to be less focussed on wall running and parkour, which is a nice change

This looks awesome. I always loved COD 4's campaign for how grounded it was - sure, you did end up saving the world, but it all felt possible, not like the modern COD games in which you seem to be superhuman. It's a shame it's locked behind Infinite Warfare to be honest.

I've got to say, I'm not really a fan of this either. That being said, I'll probably just turn it off and never look at it again.