Category: Gaming

2017 in gaming Nintendo Switch

Nintendo Switch 2017

List of games played in 2017

  • Splatoon 2
  • Mario + Rabbids
  • Zelda – Breath of the wild
  • Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
  • Mario Galaxy
  • Golf Story

 

Picked up the Switch halfway around the year, when Splatoon 2 was released. That game is a lot of fun, sort of a casual shooter you can always pick up and play for an hour. It has a nice feel of progression with new weapons and gear. And it’s getting regular big updates.

The game of the year on the Switch for me though was Mario Rabbids. I streamed quite a bit of it on Twitch and posted some highlights on my youtube channel. It’s a very interesting take on turn based combat Xcom style, with Mario characters and environment. I just found the final fight a little frustrating. One mistake and you have to do the whole thing over again. Also replayability isn’t very high, once you’ve seen the whole thing you’ve seen enough, at least for me. In any case, it’s well worth picking up this title if you care for  this type of tactical gameplay.

I guess we all know Mario Kart. The Switch version isn’t that much different, but it works wonderfully and it’s still great fun to play. Enough has been said about the much acclaimed Mario Galaxy. Overall a great fun game, even if you’re like me and usually don’t play these type of games. You can go as far as 100% it or just try to complete the game and the story.

Golf Story is a fun little game you can get off the Nintendo Game Store. It’s a little hard to explain but it’s an RPGish type story inside a golf game.

Last but certainly not least is of course Breath of the Wild. Picked by many as GOTY of 2017. And rightly so, its vast, lots to do and explore. Only drawback is the idiotic weapon degradation. I usually try to mod these things out, I don’t think they add anything to gameplay. Of course you can’t do that here unfortunately.  I played this on the WiiU and only got this last month for the Switch. The switch version is a little crisper and smoother. The WiiU struggled a bit with some scenes. Gameplay is the same though.

And that’s it, the list for 2017. All in all an excellent for the Switch, it’s a pretty awesome console, a great combo with the PC since there is so little overlap in games.

2017 in gaming PS4

This blogpost has been long in the making and seen a few revisions ever since I was planning to do this. Even though most of the revisions were just in my head. I now decided to split the articles by consoles / PC. It’s more a games I played in 2017 type of list, than a GOTY 2017 one. And yes I know it’s almost febuary 2018 when I post this :p.

Anyway, 2017 was an amazing year for gaming. If you just look at the list of titles on Metacritic it’s quite impressive. Let’s kick off with the consoles, here’s my ps4 list of 2017 games I played  :

PS4

  • Nier : Automation
  • Horizon Zero Dawn
  • Everybody’s Golf
  • Sports games, NHL 18, MLB the show 17
  • Grand Turismo Sports

Didn’t quite finish Nier, wasn’t really my thing in the end. Still need to play Horizon Zero Dawn, it’s high up on my TO DO list ! I only did the starting area and quite loved it. I have seen a few play throughs on Twitch though, so I know a bit about the rest of the game. Very impressive graphics. There is also DLC out now, that I might get if I ever get close to finishing the game ;). I still play a round of golf every now and then in Everybody’s golf. It’s surprisingly fun.

 

 

MLB the show remains one the of the best sports franchises in gaming. Wonderful graphics, presentation and great options to play one guy going through the leagues in his career, or manage a team, play online or whatever you fancy. Whether it’s worth it to keep buying the new installment every year is up to you. I dont think it hurts to skip a version every other year or so. NHL 18 wasn’t that much different from last year’s. I played the show more this year, whereas in 2016, it was the other way around.

Grand Turismo Sports was an odd release. Online racing only at first. Apparently that didn’t appeal to a whole lot of people because less than 2 months after release, the price was drastically reduced. I did pick up then, at 29,99 I believe. The driving is fine, and there is a single player mode (of sorts) now added. I prefer this one over Forza 7, which is a little too arcady for my taste.

The big game from 2017 missing from the list is of course persona 5. I played it for a few evenings, then when I heard how long it was, got very discouraged and haven’t touched it since :). I really dont have the time or patience to complete a 100hrs (or longer) game. 

That’s it the list for PS4 for 2017. Next will be the Nintendo Smash. Not sure what I am going to do with PC games, probably split them up in genres or something, or make a long article ? We’ll see !

2016 The year of the turn based game

In an attempt to blog / write more, I figured I’d start with a ‘best games of 2016’ or more like ‘my fav games of 2016’. Since I don’t want to pretend I can decide for every one what’s the best game, nonetheless on a blog only a few people might read. As I was making the list, one thing struck me: there were an aweful lot of strategy games on it, which isn’t that surprising since I like the genre, but a lot of them are turn based. So let’s take look at that list :

– Xcom 2
– Darkest Dungeon
– Halcyon 6
– Steamworld Heist
– Civ 6
– Stellaris
– Master of Orion
– Mordheim: City of the damned
– Hearts of Iron IV
– Total war: WARHAMMER
Now I could be wrong and every year a whole bunch of turn based game come out, and I might have not noticed. In case I missed any good ones, let me know. Anyway, from that list I’d say XCOM 2 is my favorite. I even finished one game (which is rare for me ;)), loved most of the improvements from Xcom 1.
My number 2 would be darkest dungeon. Love the artstyle and the narrator. Unfortunately this one got a little spoiled for me, due to early access. Played it quite a lot when it just came out. Only just recently started a new run and a lot has been added since ! Halcyon 6 and Steamworld Heist, both indy games were surprisingly good. SW Heist has nice humor and a nice artstyle, the campaign lasts about 15 – 20 hrs, the game is / will be on sale often, so keep your eye out for this on. Halcyon 6 still gets great reviews on Steam, it’s a mix of FTL and Xcom with a 16bit like (pixel) art style. Fun game to play for sure.
Wish I played more of Civ 6, stellaris, HOI IV and total war(hammer). All good games that will only get better with DLC / expansions !  I have seen a lot of Mordheim on twitch by tornis (http://www.twitch.tv/tornis). Very extensive game with a long campaign with several faction, the strategy seems to be top notch. I only played the tutorials and that already took several hours ;). Something to keep in mind when you’re interested in this one.

Youtube Trucking

Due to some unfortunate family circumstances I haven’t been able to record more Youtube videos. With the upcoming release of American Truck Simulator, I hope to pick up where I left off. Funny enough the Two Part video that featured ProMods 1.98 ‘From Scotland to Iceland‘ trucking video is one of the best watched videos on the channel.

Defense Grid 2

Lately I am enjoying playing Defense Grid 2. The follow up to the excellent first Defense Grid from 2008. I have been recording my efforts on my Zimmy910 youtube channel. It’s not a blind play through though, I have been playing the missions at least once before. Some even more (like mission 7, the hardest so far IMHO). Makes it a bit more interesting I think, since I can come up with a better solution for the Tower Defense puzzle than on my first playthrough.

FTL – Faster than light

Have been playing quite a bit of this game again, ever since I started watching Lethalfrag on Twitch ! The advanced edition, released in April, added quite a bit to the game. I learned a lot from his stream, the game is not as impossible as I thought it was back in 2012 when I tried it first.

I made a video of my second victory, this time the Zoltan A ship. Since it’s rather boring to just watch it, I recorded some commentary. For the very first time. It’s rather weird to hear your own voice back and there are some odd pauses in between words, where I try to come up with something.  Ah  well it’s not too bad I hope ;).

SQUAD: To the mun and back

A very interesting article appeared on polygon.com about Kerbal Space Program. It’s not your regular article about the game, but more about how it came to be, and a history of Squad, the company that has created this masterpiece. And how one man’s dream came to be. Originally it wasn’t even supposed to make any money, it started as just a side project. I didn’t even know Squad is originally a marketing company (and apparently still is !).

You can find it at http://www.polygon.com/features/2014/1/27/5338438/kerbal-space-program

Kerbal space program pt. 1

Lately I have been playing quite a bit of this ‘game’. And I say that in quotes as it is also very educational. It even peeked my interest in astronomy, I bough the astronomy for dummies book as well :).

A while back I finally managed to put a rover on the Mun in career mode. It only functions once it’s in the sunlight as it is electrical powered. The pics show a Kerbal (Bill I think) driving it, but it also drives on it’s own). It’s still sitting on the Mun ;).

I’ll try to post more as I get further and further into career mode !