Game of the Year – Part 1

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e begin our Game of the Year countdown with one of the best games of the year that wins our Best Sports Game as well as perhaps one of the worst. It’s so plagued with bugs and glitches that it gets an award all of it’s own. Stay tuned in for the rest of our countdown over the coming days!

Best Sports Game: Rocket League

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]lthough it doesn’t have the massive budget, or big name sponsors of EA’s blockbuster Madden or FIFA franchises, Rocket League is one of the best games of 2015 as whole, and is far and away the year’s best ‘sport’ game, a feat it pulls off despite offering only the faintest of nods to anything resembling actual sport. This game is the dream for people everywhere who have ever imagined playing football in their cars (or watched with envy when they did it on Top Gear).

The game’s premise is simple: take a game of football, add cars, give those cars huge tanks of nitrous, and see who comes out on top.

The game’s premise is simple: take a game of football, add cars, give those cars huge tanks of nitrous, and see who comes out on top. While other, more mainstream sports games offer hyper-realism to a more and more extreme extent every year, Rocket League throws all that completely out the window, with brilliant results. With great physics and a huge amount of creative freedom, Rocket League often feels limitless, turning the simple task of getting a ball from A to B into one of the most satisfying and addictive sporting experiences gaming has to offer.

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The Kafka Award for Buggiest Game: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5

[dropcap]P[/dropcap]oor Tony, he can’t seem to catch a break with his games. After the staggering failures of Ride and Shred – the latter selling only 3000 copies worldwide – many were hoping Pro Skater 5 would mark a return to form and quality for the series. Sadly this has not been the case. Rather than as part of any genuine attempt to restore the series to its former greatness, publisher Activison instead produced title simply as a way to retain licencing rights to a property they were about to lose. As such the game feels both rushed and incomplete, with simplistic missions and bland levels. However, most glaring are the game’s bugs. A dysfunctional collision detection engine results in sometimes hilarious, but mostly frustrating, moments of calamity as the player is launched across the map upon making contact with a ramp or rail at an awkward angle. More grievously, the floor will at times simply cease to exist, causing the player to fall through the world and into an endless void for no evident reason.  If this were not enough, on the odd occasion that the player is able to execute a jump or ollie, the board will take on a life of its own, flying away from the player’s feet and causing them to instantly wipe out. For a game dedicated entirely to flow and movement, these bugs render the game essentially unplayable, earning it the undisputed title of the buggiest game award.

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What are your Games of the Year? Tweet us @boargames