The Forza series has never been my cup of tea, at least not until Forza Horizon. Driving through the beautiful scenery of Colorado in a semi-open world environment really made me appreciate the mechanics behind the series, while at the same time had me lightly touching upon the more hardcore tuning aspects. Turn10 Studios and Playground Games were able to expand upon this, bringing us to the luscious and visually breathtaking Southern Europe. It’s the interconnected world that ties into Xbox Live’s social features that really brings the world to life, as driving through the vast open world will never make you feel alone. If there’s one racing game you need to play, it’s Forza Horizon 2; it’s certainly the closest we’ll get to another Burnout Paradise.
Whether you’re a grown adult or a child, who doesn’t love Pokémon? The release of the Gameboy Advance began arguably the best era for handheld games, and leading the march was Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. These twelve year old games brought us the third generation of Pokémon we love today, so it seemed only fit for Nintendo to remake the duo. With their new 3D engine, Nostalgia hits hard for those who grew up in the late 90s and early 00s, as Game Freak was able to recreate everything you’ve come to love, while at the same time adding on top of it. While it would still be great to see new Pokémon adventures, this is one of the few cases a remake was warranted. Now all we need a second remake of Red and Blue.
Who would have ever thought a mobile game would end up on my list? As a big fan of the Hitman franchise since its second iteration, when it was announced that Square Enix Montreal would be working on a mobile game in the same universe, I was no doubt concerned. To my surprise, it ended up being one of the best games of the year. It takes the scenarios we’ve come to love in the full-fledged stealth games and creates bite-sized puzzles. There’s no game on my Nexus 5 that I played more of this year, trying to master each mission, while doing so with the least amount of turns or picking up the optional briefcase. While it’s not what I hope the series will move towards in the future, it is a nice side activity that will distract you for a couple minutes at a time.
The first thing to strike (no pun) in the Destiny 2 Beta was how well-worn it felt. Like wrapping up in a comfy blanket that is always waiting when returning to the family home…while it crumbles and burns to ash. The one thing that’s been on the brain is how Destiny would need to pull a Halo maneuver if it hoped to pull itself up from the original launch, and so far, so good. Destiny 2’s beta does exactly what Bungie’s previous title Halo did before it, taking everything it learned from the first game and improving on that at every turn. The gun play is tighter, the environments more stunning (not just visually) and the state of Destiny in a better place than when it started. It’s a shame then that the beta doesn’t offer more, because the sparseness of it all itches at the back of the mind. Why only show the opening mission, a strike, and two crucible maps/modes?
Which brings this full circle back to the Strike. With only one Strike to tackle, any Guardian checking out the beta will probably play this a few times. It was with my second group that more problems started to crop up. The beta is a stress test on Destiny 2’s system, so having such sparse…everything…became more noticeable. There is a limited arsenal in Destiny 2 at the moment, and when the party hit the boss, we started to wipe. After the third wipe I began switching out weapons in every combination imaginable, but we just couldn’t land it. Having played Destiny since vanilla, I’d say the skills are there. But here is Destiny 2 presenting itself as challenging, but there is always that inkling that it’s a façade. Again, every Destiny expansion has done this. New encounters, arc Subclass changes new mechanics, new gear. It makes it all seem like the game has changed, but level up enough, equip the right stuff and that boss that was causing so much grief becomes laughable. One can only hope that this beta is not tricking players into a false experience, but that won’t be revealed until September. So, for now it’s the waiting game.
In the same year we got great expansions like The Frozen Wilds for Horizon Zero Dawn , Defiant Honor for Nioh and In The Name of the Tsar for Battlefield 1 , it’s amazing how dull Destiny 2 – Expansion I: Curse of Osiris is. Filled with half-baked ideas, repetitive mission design and the smallest explorable area yet, Curse of Osiris feels as empty and meaningless as The Dark Below. The expansion’s campaign fails to push the overall narrative forward and does little with its interesting setup, the Crucible is a mess until Bungie patches it, and the Infinite Forest feels like it needed more time in the oven. Add in some extremely-questionable business practices and you have the most disappointing expansion to hit the Destiny franchise. Though the expansion is as beautiful as ever, and the gunplay as solid as before, Curse of Osiris fails to provide Destiny 2 or Bungie with a new lease on life.