Welcome to the final Isometrics Awards article, looking at the various amazing (or amazingly awful) games that did not make either of the shortlists this year. Last year I planned to do a whole set of awards but due to factors beyond my control I simply didn't have the time to, but this time we're just going to look at the games that didn't quite make either list.
First of all, we'll
look at the games not quite putrid enough to make my worst of list.
There are probably worse games out there but I'm limiting it to games
I'm at least aware of for the purpose of the list.
F1 2015 –
Mentioned in the list itself, had Batman Arkham Knight actually
improved after being recalled from Steam this hot mess of a racing
game would have easily been 10th.
Godzilla – This
atrocious, ugly, short mess of a PS4 exclusive was a shoe in early on
this year but increasingly disastrous games eventually took the
lustre away from this horror.
Steel Rivals – A
monstrous fighting game that would have been laughed at by Tattoo
Assassins and it's Mortal Kombat cash-in ilk. Sloppy, inconsistent
control sets, generic poser models and awful optimisation sink the
game before it really had a chance. Alas, other games either were
much worse or much bigger disasters so it got lost in the shuffle.
Chariot Wars – A
game that escaped the list purely by being so moronically expensive I
wasn't going to stump up the cash to see if it was truly worse than
some of Digital Homicide's fare. Footage I saw looked alarmingly bad
though, with negligible frame rates and controls that seemed to have
been soaked in concrete, as well as obvious missing textures and
terrible gameplay.
Alone In the Dark:
Illumination – So, a light-based co-operative third person shooter.
So much for Alone in the Dark eh? It didn't help that the game is
appalling tosh as well, and yet another example of Atari sinking
further into irrelevance.
Raven's Cry – A
game so bad it was re-released in the same year (As Vengeance of
Raven's Cry, the epitome of truth in advertising) and somehow got
worse, Raven's Cry escaped the clutches of the list by being too
expensive to be worth bothering with once again.
Rollercoaster Tycoon
World – Has this game even released yet? Being delayed weeks before
release after a beta release showed a complete lack of content and
issues with the building system, throwing the amazing Rollercoaster
Tycoon name under a bus two years in a row. Can they make it a
hat-trick in 2016?
Cities XXL –
Advertising made it look like the phenomenal Cities Skylines. Playing
the game showed it to be Cities XL but somehow bizarrely taking
backwards leap.
Dead or Alive 5:
Last Round – I actually like this game quite a bit (Ironically for
the story, but it has a legitimately good fighting engine), but the
PC port is appalling, but what put this over the edge was an
embarrassing £55 DLC pack containing all manner of embarrassing
costume types, which ended up completely undermining what I liked
about the series. Not the most embarassing thing Tecmo Koei did this
year though...
Coffin Dodgers –
Was on the list at one point but ultimately this appallingly
ill-conceived Mario Kart knock off, while completely unfun and
lacking any form of wit, humour or interesting design, wasn't bad
enough to make it on the list
Ultimately there
were far more good games on my radar than bad, and so the honourable
mentions are much much longer, which means I'll try to be as brief as
I can with each game:
The Witcher 3: Wild
Hunt – Ultimately an incredible game that deserved a better player,
it was on the list for the longest time before being shunted off in
favour of Fallout 4. The sheer technical and literary achievement of
CD Projekt Red's magnum opus cannot be understated though.
D4: Dark Dreams
Don't Die – An amazingly quirky game from Swery65 that would have
been on the list again had it not been so stacked. A far better
realised effort than Deadly Premonition, but both are a must play for
fans of games designed to throw you for a loop.
Chroma Squad –
(Disclosure: I was a Kickstarter Backer) A fantastic turn based SRPG
in a year filled with brilliant ones, this Power Rangers-em up was
very much on the list for all of the year before being a victim of
the influx of games so good they could not be ignored.
Oddworld New n Tasty
– A marvellous reimagining of one of the most original games ever
made, Oddworld New n Tasty has the amazing atmosphere and quirky
possession-based puzzles without the clunky Another World style
platforming of the original.
Hotline Miami 2 –
A shoe in for the list, as were almost half a dozen other Devolver
games but ultimately ended up missing out at the last minute.
Massive Chalice –
Seemingly not to everyone's taste but I adored this procedurally
generated Double Fine generational RPG, and yet another SRPG that was
to be on this list.
Armikrog – The
spiritual successor to the Neverhood isn't quite everything I wanted,
but it is an astonishingly quirky game, irrespective of all the
external baggage concerning its creator.
Titan Souls – Devolver's streamlined take on Shadow of the Colossus was a game that like many other Devolver names was ended up being bumped from this list.
Tales of Zestiria –
The latest Tales game, and the first for PC is a fantastic action RPG
in a year of great RPG
Invisible Inc –
The former Incognita was the last SRPG that was a victim of being in
a year stocked to the gills with brilliant games.
Final Fantasy Type-O
HD – Technically updated enough to count for this list and by far
the best and most interesting game to come out of the Final Fantasy
XIII experiment. Sadly no FFXV demo for PC owners.
The Escapists – A
return to form for Team 17, with a great little sandbox stealth game
evoking all the fun I had watching Prison Break.
Kerbal Space
Program(me) – Amazingly enough despite its long early access period
the quirky space-em-up actually released in 2015. Unfortunately had
it released last year it may have actually made the top ten.
Broken Age –
Despite the controversy surrounding Double Fine and the nature of how
some of the games ended up, this is a gorgeous and eternally charming
adventure game.
Hand of Fate –
Almost made it on the list by virtue of being a fantastically
original concept, ultimately the individual elements just weren't as
sharp as they needed to be in a year as stacked as this one.
Broforce – Oh hell
yes, Broforce actually released this year as well. Sadly there was
ultimately only room for one retro Devolver shooter, and Downwell
proved more addictive.
Big Pharma –
Almost made it on the list purely for evoking Theme Hospital, one of
my most favourite games in history, this management puzzler managed to keep that quirky style although it lacked the sophistication and amazing sense of humour of the Bullfrog great.
Prison Architect –
Possibly the best use of early access ever, Prison Architect finally
released to deserved accolades and it's a shame that like Kerbal
Space Programme it didn't release in a year so stacked with brilliant
games.
The Talos Principle
– Technically applies for both 2014 and 2015, given it's December
2014 release date and was in the top 10 for a long time until Dirt
Rally was rude enough to leave Early Access last month.
SOMA – A gorgeous,
unique concept for a horror game, and another example of a game of
the year candidate that somehow missed the list. Did I mention 2015
was a brilliant year?
Read Only Memories –
(Disclaimer: I backed this on kickstarter too) Interesting cyberpunk
adventure with a positive attitude to gender and diversity that makes
it a landmark for video games.
Android Android
Cactus – Another game that so easily could have ended up on the
list had it not been such a brilliant year. A fantastic, beautiful
endlessly quirky twin stick shooter.
Volume – Thomas
Was Alone creators making a VR stealth game? Hell yes!
Just Cause 3 – A
game that could have been game of the year had the PC port not been
quite as disasterous. Unlike F1 2015 and Batman Arkham Knight, they
at least fixed the major issues, but the first few days before the
major patches were enough in this most brilliant of years to bump it
out of the running.
And there we have
it. What a 2015! Thanks for reading and hopefully 2016 will be just
as exciting.
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