issue 14 // volume 42

Game of the Year Awards

» The very best of this year’s releases across consoles and genres

Alex Stanton
Staff Writer

A 2015 comes toa close, I'd

ike to award this year’s most
deserving video game releases
by genre. Without further ado,
here are the finest of the finest
of this year’s gaming industry.

Action Game of the Year
Metal Gear Solid V:
The Phantom Pain
Xbox One, PS4, Xbox
360, PS3, PC

The Metal Gear series has
been the golden standard by
which all stealth action games
are measured. For those of
you non-gamers out there,
Metal Gear is an epic espionage
thriller series that tells a story
chronologically beginning in
1964 and concluding in 2014. The
focus of the series is purely on
the plot, but this time around
the gameplay has advanced
greatly. One of the notable moves
that puts The Phantom Pain in
line with more modern action
games is the presence of an
open world. I’m not saying the
story isn’t one of the finest in the
series, but it’s the gameplay that
makes this yet another award-
winning title from Konami.

Role-playing Game of the Year
Fallout 4
Xbox One, PS4, PC

Fallout 3 was the defining
western role-playing experience
of the previous console
generation, and Fallout 4
improves on it in every way. The
Fallout series takes place in an
alternate timeline where the
world’s superpowers ended up
pushing the big red button and
placing the United States in a

: situation of the post-apocalyptic
: variety. Your hero, cryogenically
: frozen from the day the bombs

: fell, wakes up in the late 23rd

: century in a bomb shelter in

: Massachusetts, roughly at about
: the same time that you, the

: player, wake up and get your

: mind blown by the vastness of

: the wasteland and the serious

: advancement from Fallout 3.

: If you’ve ever wondered how

: beautiful a cruel and inhospitable
: wasteland could be, pick this up
: as soon as you can. This time,

: war changes for the better.

Shooter of the Year
: Splatoon
: Nintendo Wii U

Splatoon achieved many

: notable milestones in the gaming
: industry, in addition to being

: the greatest online competitive

: shooting experience in 2015. First,
: the last time Nintendo created

: anew intellectual property was

: Pikmin, which was released in

: 2001 for the Gamecube. Second,
: it’s the very first straight up

: shooting game by the company,
: which has a family friendly

: reputation. Third, and most

: importantly, the gameplay,

: which involves half-squid, half-
: humans spraying ink at each

: other in unique team-based

: game modes, was made ina way
: that is easy to learn and hard to

: master. It’s the most accessible

: online multiplayer game of this

: generation, and easily one of the
: best in Nintendo’s three-decade
: long tenure as a software maker.

: Handheld Game of the Year
: The Legend of Zelda:

: Majora’s Mask 3D

: Nintendo 3DS

Rarely does a video game

: remake end up on a Game of the
: Year list, but this one deserves

: it. It’s the most underrated game
: of the Zelda series and it’s been

: overhauled by a second-party

: developer of Nintendo's from its
: N64 roots, putting the gorgeous
: graphics and stereoscopic 3-D

: more in line with the games

: of today. I reviewed Majora’s

: Mask when it arrived on the

: 3DS this year, and I gave it

: a perfect score. Handheld

: owners, particularly those who

: haven't played this masterpiece

: already, owe it to themselves

: to try out Link’s most surreal,

: scary, and dark adventure.

Console Game of the Year
: Super Mario Maker
: Nintendo Wii U

For the record, I should

: note that I personally got

: slightly more enjoyment from

: the aforementioned games than
: this one, despite Super Mario

: Maker winning the overall Game
: of the Year award. This game is

: just so brilliant and innovative

: that I have to give it credit. It’s a

: game in which you can construct
: your very own levels based on

: the graphics, gameplay, and

: characters of the 30-year-old

: Super Mario series. Youd think

: that this idea is a no-brainer

: and should have been made

: before, but the touchscreen

: gamepad of the Wii U makes

: this a perfect fit for the console.

: Using unique 12-digit codes,

: players can share their levels with :
: other people, either by directly
: sharing the code or by posting

: iton the Miiverse, Nintendo’s

: answer to social media. With

: the ability to switch between

: the art style of all eras of Mario
: platforming, this isa game that

 

: is, quite literally, for everyone.

Another year in gaming,

: another set of great games.

: Everybody has their opinions,
: and some may consider

: mine unorthodox. But the

: nature of art makes it entirely

arts // no. 9

: subjective, no matter what

: the Metacritic aggregate score
: tells you. No matter what

: games you loved best, 2015

: was a great year for gaming.

: Seeing some of the future
releases, I can’t wait for 2016.

 

Chairman of the Board: Those darned kids'!

» ‘Home Alone’ board game review

Ed Appleby
Illustrator

JTNis the season to grab your
holiday board games,
although I find there is a
desperate lack of Christmas
board games out there. They are
quite rare, and when you find
one froma licenced property
then you are in for a treat,
like last year’s fruitcake.

Home Alone is a spin-and-
move game for 2-4 players
published by THQ in 1991. In the
game, players lay out coloured
cardboard squares around the
house with either valuables or
traps, then players take turns

: controlling one of the two thieves :
: exploring the house. Each player
: has a kid token in their colour,

: and once that square is found

: a kid playing piece is added

: to the board. The game ends

: when one of the thieves catches
: one of the kids. The winner

: is the player with the highest

: combination of their traps

: and other players’ valuables.

When revealed, the kid

: moves a lot faster than the

: thieves, and can use various

: secret passages throughout the
: house to move even quicker.

: This makes the endgame more
: drawn out than it should be.

: This can lead to a lot of ties

: because it gives the thieves a

lot of time to explore and by

: the end all of the cardboard
: tokens have been collected.

This game holds a lot of

: nostalgia for me: it was a game

: Tused to play with my brothers

: when I was young, especially

: around Christmas. The game

: itself is far from stellar, with an

: extremely basic gameplay and a

: drawn-out endgame. Also, I hate
: spinners, so ifyou have a four-

: sided dice to use instead, do so!

I would only recommend the

: game for younger players. It offers
: alight and simple introduction

: toa more complex style of

: gameplay. Maybe a quick game

: after watching the holiday classic
: with some younger relatives.

 

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