Great games of the last year

Carl Kendrick Gray, Writer

Fall is upon us and you know what that means: colder weather, football, Halloween, and newly released video games. Fall is for many gamers the main event of the year since highly anticipated games are finally released to the public. Before we can talk about how good this season’s games are, I figured I would talk about five games from last year that you may have overlooked but should definitely try.

5) Sonic Mania: For quite a few years now, Sega has really put their iconic mascot Sonic the Hedgehog in the purgatory of mediocre to just plain terrible games. The more recent nightmare people remember for Sega’s mascot was Sonic Boom back in 2014. Since then, Sega talked about bringing the series back to its roots and delivered a few months ago. Sonic Mania is a true masterpiece with the classic 2-D left to right style of gameplay. If you loved the classic Sega Genesis games like I did, you are truly in for a wonderful, nostalgic experience.  Play as Sonic, Tails or Knuckles as you go through levels of old and new. Whether you’re new to Sonic or just a fan of the classics, Sonic Mania will be sure to be a great game to play.

4) Doom: If you’re a gamer of any sort, I’m sure you have heard of the classic game Doom from the 1990s. This true classic is known as one of the great early shooters of gaming. A couple years ago the news came out that Doom was getting a new game in the series with the same simple name. Last year it turned out to be one of the best games of that year. Whether you’re playing the single or multiplayer experience you’re in for a fun action-packed shooter. With up-to-date graphics, great music, diverse enemies and a slew of ridiculous weapons and ways to take out your enemies, you’ll have quite the blast.

3) Pokemon Sun and Moon: Believe it or not the Pokemon Series (shows, games etc) was out for two decades. , The series started out with 151 diverse monsters with different typing and attacks. Now look at the series twenty years later and there are now a whopping 802 Pokemon. You’d think after twenty years the developer of Game Freak would be running out of ideas for their beloved series, but last year generation seven of Pokemon came out with Pokemon Sun and Moon. If you’re an old fan of the series or have played all of the games up to this point, you will love this game. The starter Pokemon are all really cool in their own ways and each final evolution has a certain creative theme to them. Sun and Moon bring a different approach to playing through the story. Instead of having the traditional gyms and gym leaders, they have island challenges with Kahunas as bosses. With new and old Pokemon in the game, this is sure to keep fans of the series excited.

2) Resident Evil 7 Biohazard: Capcom’s iconic horror franchise found itself in troubled waters after the lackluster release of Resident Evil 6. Fans of the series were fearing that the franchise was well past its prime and on the chopping block. This all changed once Resident Evil 7 Biohazard was released. With Halloween right around the corner, this is THE game you need to be playing for your horror game fix. With an interesting and great idea of changing the camera from its typical third person to a first-person view, this gives the game a truly scary experience all around. If you have played any Resident Evil game, expect a truly dark and disturbing story. The gameplay is beautiful with its first-person view and expects more than enough moments of being truly creeped out. The bosses in the game are challenging and even more disturbing than the regular enemies. Resident Evil 7 Biohazard is a truly horrifying experience that you should into if you’re into the survival horror genre.

1) Overwatch: Where do I start this game? From the company Blizzard that has given us franchises like World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Starcraft, Diablo and Heroes of the Storm, comes yet another classic for the ages. Overwatch is a strategic shooter that has a huge cast of quirky and cool characters. From a cybernetic ninja to a knight with a jet-propelled hammer, anyone who plays this game will find a character they will truly love.  As I said before, this game is a strategic shooter with many ways to play the game. Whether you like playing the healer and keeping your team alive,  being the tank character to the main attacker cleaning up kills you can play this game any way you want. My personal advice for anyone who plays this awesome game is that team composition is important. You should work towards a well-rounded team. Of all the games I have played in the last year, Overwatch was the one I keep coming back to play. This game continues to update and get even better.