2017 was a pretty huge year for gaming, with most top games of the year lists needing to stretch past the usual ten to twenty or more just to begin to highlight the genre re-defining games that were released throughout the year. The release of the PS4 Pro in late 2016 followed by the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One X in 2017 have pushed games both at home and on the go to extremes that would have been laughably impossible even a mere half decade ago. Nintendo really outdid itself with multiple huge exclusive titles from its biggest IPs and while The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey are both excellent games, not to mention some of the year’s other big hitters like Horizon Zero Dawn, Cuphead, Resident Evil VII, Night in the Woods, Sonic Mania, Hollow Knight and Metroid: Samus Returns, there was one game that stood out to us above them all in one way or another — and that game is our 2017 Game of the Year: SteamWorld Dig 2 (SWD2).
Archive for the ‘Features’ Category
Game of the Year 2017 – SteamWorld Dig 2
Thursday, January 25th, 2018Farewell to the Wii U – Top 5 Exclusive Games
Tuesday, February 21st, 2017With the Nintendo Switch launching next Friday and games like Horizon Zero Dawn for PS4 which many are predicting will be one of the year’s top sellers releasing next week, the stalwart Wii U that was home to some legitimately engaging games in spite of largely lacklustre sales will be sailing off into the distance to be remembered as an odd step in Nintendo’s unique console history. In honour of our comrade of the last few years, Game Usagi presents a list of our top 5 exclusive Wii U titles that deserve to be played and remembered not for their sales, but for the joy they can still bring even as other fancier Nintendo hardware is shortly set to take the stage.
My Favourite CoD: Black Ops II for Wii U
Thursday, September 3rd, 2015With Black Ops III due out in November and the public betas just recently finished, I was looking for something to scratch the Call of Duty itch I was left with. Advanced Warfare‘s hype got me to buy in on day one for PC because I was looking for something more dynamic than Ghosts, but the gimmicks that permeate that game and inability to avoid the hoards of gamers that are much, much better than me left me far shy of the dozens of hours I normally invest in CoD multiplayer modes to begin with, so I didn’t really feel like going back there. This led me down the path of CoD self discovery over the next couple of days bringing me to an interesting conclusion: in spite of its shortcomings my favourite CoD since MW2 is Black Ops II for Wii U.
Dying Light (PC) Impressions
Saturday, February 14th, 2015Techland was kind enough to supply us with a pair of review codes for Dying Light on its release day. Since then we’ve been playing hours each day and the end of the game isn’t in sight, so I figured I would do am impressions article to keep you until our more comprehensive review goes live. Read on to discover our impressions roughly halfway through Dying Light.
Game of the Year 2014 – South Park Stick of Truth
Friday, December 19th, 20142014 ended up being a kicking year in gaming, but as in any year one game kicked harder than the rest. Our expectations were astronomical for the often delayed, thoroughly pedigreed RPG from the evil genius minds of Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Obsidian Entertainment but South Park: The Stick of Truth managed to bust past all of them to easily become the funniest, most charming, and most entertaining game of 2014 for the Game Usagi crew.
In an interview with CVG before the game’s release, Trey Parker said “I just hope we don’t get an f-ing 4 from GameSpot.”, and he did indeed receive his wish as The Stick of Truth garnered a well deserved 85 on Metacritic. While most people deemed it impossible, the humour and spirit of South Park translated perfectly into interactive form making a game where anyone (of appropriate age) could make themselves the “new kid” in South Park and go on a far-reaching adventure with every great character that graced the series over the years.
The Stick of Truth was one of 2014’s few games that was immediately worth every penny of its launch price — the care and attention to detail that went into every aspect is apparent throughout the game. If you didn’t have the chance yet to experience this masterful RPG, be sure to check it out soon. If you hurry, you could even take advantage of Steam’s holiday sale and enjoy it all the more for your savings.
Nintendo of America HQ Visit 2014
Saturday, September 6th, 2014Our other stop on our 1200+ kilometre trip to Redmond, WA was of course Nintendo of America HQ. Unlike Microsoft, Nintendo doesn’t except casual visitors of any kind on their property. We were able to catch a few rare pictures when we showed up and no one was home on Labor Day, but when we went back to try to talk our way into the company store to buy some rare swag we were (fairly politely) told to get the crap out of there because they have a “closed campus”. All we managed to snag was one of the business cards they have at their reception desk. We can only hope that Nintendo rethinks their current PR policy at their headquarters some day and once again lets people in to buy cool rare Nintendo stuff.
Microsoft HQ Visit 2014
Saturday, September 6th, 2014We made a little 1200+ kilometre trip to Redmond, WA at the beginning of the week to pay a visit to Microsoft and Nintendo headquarters (which are literally a stone’s throw apart). Here are the pictures we got from Microsoft’s “Building 92” Visitor Center/Gift Shop. We first went on Labor Day and they were closed up tight, so we went back the next day and the Visitor’s Center was still closed up (but this time for new employee orientation), so we checked out the gift shop and bought a bunch of neat things — we even got a small “peek behind the curtains” by watching whoever controlled the video monitors pick out the video to play that morning. Also worthy of note: there were a bunch of Kinect stickers in the bargain bin where most gamers would agree that they belong. Check after the jump for the full gallery!