The gaming world is full of buzzwords, and 2016 was no exception. VR, HDR, and 4K dominated the gaming news. Along with that, there was, of course, a bevy of games released. Simon Bishop and Hayden Meikle hand out their annual awards.
BEST SHOOTER
Simon: My winner this year is Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Superb single player, stunning graphics and that's not even beginning to mention the value for money when you include the zombies mode and the multiplayer. This game is the complete package.
Hayden: Call of Duty? Pfft, showing your youth there, lad. CoD is for kids. The best shooter this year was clearly Battlefield 1. More on that below. Honourable mention goes to Tom Clancy's The Division, which had some issues but was a hugely fun co-op experience.
BEST SPORTS
Simon: I'm going to go with F1 2016. It's finally the realisation of what a Formula 1 game can be, and brilliantly replicates the sport - although in a fashion more exciting than most of the actual races today. Honourable mentions go to both FIFA 17 and Madden 17, two excellent (but flawed) video games that come so close to greatness but fall just short.
Hayden: For me, this was a good year but not a great one, though to be fair I did not play NBA 2K17, which was apparently wonderful. Forza 3 (we'll lump driving in as a sport) was impressive, and Madden 17 was very good. As is often the case, it boils down to which football game did it better. Fifa 17's Journey mode was magnificent, and it still offers a more satisfying career mode. But its gameplay took a step back, so I'm going with Pro Evo 2017 for its sensational on-field action.
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Simon: The Ratchet and Clank reboot wins this for me. A series that had well and truly overstayed its welcome as far as I was concerned, reinvented and completely rejuvenated to become one of the best games of the year.
Hayden: Plants v Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. It's all a bit manic and weird, but it has a certain charm.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
Simon: Trials of the Blood Dragon. The Trials series infuriates and entertains me for hours on end, trying to master the bike physics and make those impossibly precise jumps on the extreme tracks. With Trials of the Blood Dragon, however, we got a weird bike riding/shooter hybrid that was neither a very good shooter nor a very good Trials experience.
Hayden: I loved the first three games in the Dirt series, and I really enjoyed Mirror's Edge, but neither sequel released this year was up to much. Dirt Rally was just impossibly difficult, to the point it really wasn't any fun. And Mirror's Edge Catalyst was a strangely boring experience.
BEST REMASTER
Simon: Plenty of good remasters again this year. For me, it comes down to two: the Batman Return to Arkham collection, and the BioShock Collection. Batman Return to Arkham had me playing until 3am (rare these days), although wasn't particularly well made in parts. The BioShock Collection remasters three of my favourite games of all time and retains all the character of those games, while running like a dream. BioShock wins.
Hayden: I second that. The Bioshock Collection was a wonderful revisit of the series.
GAME OF THE YEAR
Simon: No doubt this year for me. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. The culmination of the series is an unbelievably good game, characterised by the best graphics on consoles, incredible storytelling, and buttery smooth gameplay. For fans of the series (like me), the story and the way developer Naughty Dog went about it is everything I had hoped it'd be and more. Not just the best game this year, but the best game available on PS4 as a whole. The true definition of a 10/10.
Hayden: Sounds like I really need to borrow UC4 from you. My choice for game of the year boils down to Battlefield 1 or No Man's Sky. No, NMS did not live up to the hype. And, er, I haven't touched it for a couple of months because it got so darn repetitive. But new content has just landed, and there can be no doubting the game's ambition or its unique attributes. But let's go with BF1. A stunning recreation of World War 1 combat, and the most fun you can have in console multiplayer.
