PixlBit

2016 sucked for me. Not because a bunch of celebrities bit the dust or our politics got even more polarized, though that didn't help, but for extremely personal reasons I won't go into. 

You remember Lion King, when Scar took over and all of a sudden everything became dark, deforested and hopeless looking? That was my 2016. 2013 & 2016 are pretty close in terms of how much they sucked for me, which made me even more superstitious about the number 3 (it's everywhere, man! EVERYWHERE!), but 2016 takes the bullshit cake. 

Whatever, let's get this shitshow over with. Also, I know that's a really dumb superstition, yet I can't stop having it. Weird. 

Oh and I played a LOT of this in 2017 rather than its release year, but we're in full on eff it mode today because I don't appreciate being reminded of 2016's existence. I was rooting for the Chicago Cubs to win that year, but I wasn't aware I was cheering on the tearing of the universe's fabric, so fuck you, Cubs!

Street Fighter V was a gigantic letdown of a Red Box rental. I hear they've added more content since, but I still can't get the "this is a demo" taste out of my mouth from that initial rental.

Need for Speed is one I think I forgot to mention from 2015, but I probably bought it at year's end 2015 or this year anyway. It's an addicting arcade racer, though I really wish they'd bring the cops back. I honestly kinda liked the cheeseball live action story stuff. It reminded me of the original PlayStation. 

Ratchet & Clank is one I bought to support Insomniac and was left impressed by the PIxar-level visuals and fun weapons. Too bad the movie supposedly sucked. 

Mirror's Edge Catalyst is another game I really like that got a lot of hate for some reason. I bought it on sale around Christmas 2016 and I thought it had some cool first-person platforming and didn't think the cutscenes were anywhere near as bad as reviews made me anticipate. I actually quite liked it overall. 

Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration is Rise of the Tomb Raider, but with all of the DLC included and you get to play as PS1 Lara. I thought it was more of the same from the 2013 title, but with even better graphics and more tombs to explore, so I'm a fan. 

Gravity Rush Remastered is one I didn't play until late last year, but it is a fun title for sure once you get used to the controls. I still think the environments should be more open than they are to avoid certain awkward things like clinging to a wall without meaning to, but it's a fun experience and unique idea for a game.

Firewatch is one I think is fairly overrated, honestly. I really would have liked to actually see the main character and his boss physically on-screen together at some point and I wasn't that taken in by what the story wound up being. BUT there's this really cool "audio tour" mode that acts as a BTS of sorts I really wish more games would incorporate. Sometimes I'm more interested in hearing how a game got made than the game itself. 

Stardew Valley was a GameFly rental I didn't have the patience for, because your stamina is so low when you start out you can barely get started before having to rest up. The Zelda reference I found was a nice, promising thing, but I could tell this just wasn't my kind of game.

Pokken Tournament is not a game I played, but basically what I always wished I was getting out of Pokemon Stadium. It's too bad I didn't have the hardware to realize that dream.

Hyrule Warriors is one I played back in 2014 or so at my friend Robbie's place, but forgot to mention in previous blogs ... it's actually not a 2016 release at all, I just thought it was a decent skin for the endless hack-and-slash series.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is another I didn't get to until 2017, but it's probably my second favorite in the series. The action set pieces aren't quite as fun the fourth time, but they're still great and I personally loved the slower and more character-driven story this time around.

Doom is a game I've played the demo of a couple times, said "this is good; I see why people like this" and left alone completely otherwise. Just not a huge FPS guy. 

Pokemon Go is not a game I ever played, but I distinctly remember pretty much everyone I worked the inventory job in summer with playing. I've been told our van driver at the time would gas up the van and go looking for hot Pokemon spots in Dallas. Man, everyone was happy those two weeks. That was nice. It's too bad 2016 was such a dark sinkhole it destroyed all of the joy emanating from the game and murdered the souls of all the children born that year.

Star Fox Zero was Nintendo's chance to get me to spring for a Wii U ... until everyone said they hated the control scheme and I decided I didn't need to play it. 2016 killed Star Fox too. 

Abzu is underwater Journey. 

Batman: The Telltale Series is a game I only recently finished THIS year, but while I liked the darker and more mature take on Batman, even compared to the movies, I thought they played a bit too fast and loose with established characters. I was a little annoyed by how much they veered away from canon in that sense. 

No Man's Sky was a game I knew was going to be a letdown, because no one seemed to be able to explain exactly what was on those planets. They even showed the game off on Stephen Colbert and I said, "that looks like it would get old fast. What is the point?" Apparently, they've updated the game significantly, but I still have no interest. It belongs in the 2016 shithole. 

Inside is LIMBO with what I presume are Nazis or a metaphor for Nazis. In fairness, I only played the demo. 

Resident Evil 4 is on everything every year; it was released on PS4 this year. My experience with it is having to lower the frame rate on Steam for it to be playable on my laptop. The sound design is effectively spooky though. 

Bioshock The Collection is one I have yet to finish a single game in. I've barely started Bioshock and keep getting killed by Big Daddies and only ever rented Infinite.

Virginia is a stupid game, with a plot that means nothing. Look up Julian Titus's review or my blog about it on here for more details. It was released in 2016 and it sucks. 

Rocksmith 2014 Edition Remastered is the version of this game I actually own. Apologies for having said otherwise.

PSVR was starting to become a thing this year ... so 2016 put a stop to that and said, "no future technology for you, you chucklehuggers!" and ran off into the night.

Titanfall 2 is actually a really fun FPS/platformer that I couldn't put down until I finished the story and even got into a couple online matches. The mech battles always felt a bit more random to me, but this game is still better than 2016 deserves. 2016 made it sell poorly, despite its having improved on everything in the original. 2016 is an asshole. 

Dishonored 2 was another disappointing rental for me. Sorry, I just don't see what other games see in this series. 

Watch Dogs 2 was a three-hour demo that I didn't really get. It had great reviews, but to me it was a less-funny GTA with uninteresting characters and un-fun mechanics. 

Final Fantasy XV is actually pretty decent from what I played of my GameFly rental. I'm honestly happy the combat doesn't have to be turn-based, even if it does get repetitive at times. If I ever play a Final Fantasy all the way through, this will likely be it. That's a big maybe though, especially now I remember it's from 2016.

The Last Guardian is a touching art game that really moved me without me entirely understanding why. It's absolutely gorgeous and I felt good figuring out a lot of the puzzles, but 2016 did mess with the mechanics a bit. 

No pictures or video for 2016. It doesn't deserve it.