The trusty Hauler brought in the money for a Cobra Mk. III. Then I sold it.
[Elite Dangerous © 1984 – 2016 Frontier Developments Plc]
Elite Dangerous: Hauler
Tag: video games
Game of the Year: Destiny
Destiny has been around a while but it was still my most played game of the year. It received negative of critique but has improved significantly over the years. I do not have too much time to play games and Destiny is enjoyable as bite-sized chunks: a couple of crucible matches, a strike, a mission, or half an hour of patrolling is easy to fit in the schedule. I even went through the trouble of getting the maximum rank Iron Banner after the Rise of Iron release.
[Destiny © Bungie, Inc.]
Runner Up of the Year: Elite Dangerous
I first tried Elite Dangerous when it was still in the game preview on Xbox One. I did a bit of exploring and tried combat missions and hauling but did not find it interesting enough to continue. Recently I got back to the game and even bought the Horizons expansion.
I have not played a space sim since Independence War II: Edge of Chaos. Elite requires a lot of time to get into and grinding for credits can be tedious. The combat mechanics and exploration are fun enough and flying around in super cruise on kind of a soothing experience.
The real depth of Elite appears to originate from the community. For example, there are subreddits for coordinating the powerplay, which is fairly dull as a game mechanic, and community events like the Christmas carriers convoy. And of course, the game has superb opportunities for taking pretty screenshots.
I definitely want to invest more time to Elite Dangerous. Most likely it will not be my most played game for the next year, but I am looking forward to getting some material for screenshot posts.
[Elite Dangerous © 1984 – 2016 Frontier Developments Plc]
Disappointment of the Year: Tom Clancy’s The Division
I was looking forward to Tom Clancy’s The Division, and the game felt good at first. Unfortunately, the gameplay soon became tedious with bullet sponge and a significant amount of grind required to play effectively, so I quit playing after finishing all the story missions. I returned to the game briefly to check the DLC, and the 1.4 update but despite the improvements was I not motivated enough keep playing. Despite its shortcomings, The Division is one of the best-looking games on Xbox One, and I am planning to do a couple of screenshot posts in the future.
[Tom Clancy’s The Division © Ubisoft Entertainment]
Find of the Year: Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition
Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition was already released for Xbox One last year. I had not played Divinity series before and dismissed the game as an another Diablo clone. The game was on sale before Christmas, and my brother recommended it, so I decided to give it at try.
The setting of the game is generic fantasy with quite a bit of humour, which reminds me a bit of Quest for Glory. So far the plot has not been too exciting, but I like the turn based combat and the classless character system. I have always disliked class based systems and combining different elemental effects is fun. There is also a co-op mode, but I have not tried it yet.
Spaceswamp Indie Games
My brother is setting up Spaceswamp Indie Games site to showcase some game projects we have planned. Currently we are working on a Star Control SuperMelee clone Project Spacemelee. Project Spacemelee is made with Torque X and I started developing it to test the engine and development for Xbox 360. We also have plans for other games featuring an improved version of the retro shooter Rex and a platformer based on myths about Ishtar.