What are the top 5 games of 2015 so far? - Special guest PAX Prime 2015 edition

[MUSIC] Joining me now on the YouTube stage here at Pax Prime, a very Virtual murderer's row of virtual murderers and video game fans. Hi guys, everyone. We're going to go down the line here. I'm Chris Watters from Gamespot. Why don't you guys just introduce yourselves going down the line, starting with you? I'm Colin Moriarty from [UNKNOWN] Jeff Cannata from DLC, and We Have Concerns. I'm Greg Schistamis from **** Attack. Anthony Carboni, from We Have Concerns I'm Danny O'Dwyer from Game Spot Look at you acting like a gentleman Hey, Hey they got all the lower thirds in the right spot. Yeah! That was good All right Josh Everybody fists up, fists up [LAUGH] [INAUDIBLE] Operation Did you have us announce our own names because you forgot? No Craig I did not forget, I just wanted you to do my work for me [LAUGH] Classic host move That's good All right so you guys are all gathered here with a list Each of you has your top five games of the year so far, been through about eight months of gaming and we're gonna have a little lively chat about what games you, what games are on your list and what games you think are on everyone else's list. What games are on your list alone. Wait, wait, this is top five of two thousand fifteen?>> Yes. oh I thought it was just at pack. Great, it's alright you're fourth in line so you can get thinking real quick. Alright, I can think. Colin, let's start with you, one of your games, what's your number one? [CROSSTALK] Anybody else got Dying Light on there? No. No. Daniel O'Dwyer, you don't have Dying Light on there? No one else has Dying Light. [UNKNOWN] number one, man. I think it's a really impressive game. I'm surprised people are not talking about it more. The parkour's awesome. You think it's the best game of the year so far? Yes. Wow. Yes. Techland stepped up. I didn't know Techland had this in them. And I thought it was very impressive. Parkor is great. I liked the trio of upgrade trees in it. Stories fine I mean zombies are kind of boring now but I think it's a really fantastic game and especially when, this is a year where I played a lot of open world games and I feel like this was the most impressive one. I enjoyed the hell out of this game. A lot of people Give me crap about it. Not only is Dying Light not the best game this year, it's not even the best game out of Poland this year. That's not nice Danny, but I'll laugh. That game of course, Mr. O'Dwyer, being? Yeah, which is pretty well done. Spider number one. Yeah. Yeah, who else has it on their list? Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Incredible. We're the only odd man out. I hate this. I was bored. I was bored all through The Witcher Three. There's things you can do everywhere that are- I was picking a lot of flowers. I was just following a lot of map points. I was checking off all the boxes. Says it was fine. It was fine. Terrible. Game. It's terrible. Gwen is better than Hearthstone as well. [SOUND] Does that one make your list Garboni you seem to be hooting and hollering? The number one on my list this year is Bloodborne. Bloodborne? Oh yeah. Bloodborne. Who else has got Bloodborne? Yep right here. Yep. There we go. I never played a souls game before Love it. Absolutely love it.>>Have you played Souls before, Anthony?>>Oh yeah.>>What did you like about this that distinguishes itself or carries itself through?>>What I loved about it is it kept all of the mysteriousness of the world that you get in Dark Souls. It kept the incredibly technical combat that you have But because it upped sort of the speed of the combat and because it wasn't being as forcefully obtuse as any other Souls games- Were you trying to fit obtuse into your description? [LAUGH] I dare you to describe a sole game without the word obtuse coming on. [LAUGH] I can't. I'm sorry, I can't. You can't. You know it just added a lot of things that really appealed to me personally. I was over the sort of rusty knight in a castle ascetic. That's kind of not really my jam to begin with, so I like this sort of more Victorian plague era. And I love the idea of a gun as a pairing. Yes. Any world where a gun is your parry is a very foreboding world, that's a good mechanic right there. It's also one of the most satisfying feelings when you nail it as well. You've got the timing. It's just like oh oh. You get one of those giant werewolves right between the eyes. [SOUND] it's so good. That'll put it at number one for you. Yes. All right, Craig. What about you my man? Man, okay. Here's the thing. I'm going to say a game that, probably nobody out there has played yet, but I have spent a ton of time with, but I am absolutely in love with, and that is Super Mario Maker. It is the best game of the frigging year. So when we were said, come up with your list, I set a side list that was, it's unfair because all of these things are not out yet. And Mario Maker is at the top of that list. [CROSSTALK] So far. So far, but I think the original subject line did not have so far in it and I got very, I got like nervous. I had an anxiety attack. Take some deep breaths while Craig tells us about Mario Maker. What have you got? Well no, like seriously, I've been cheating the system because you have, we've had the game for a week or so, right? And the idea is that it unlocks different things as you play more, right? So, I figured out I can game the system but setting my Wii U to further dates ahead, and unlocking more things to play with. [CROSSTALK] [UNKNOWN] game of the year so far? Have you enjoyed creating or playing? Both. So here's the thing, right. Not only am I having an amazing time creating things, and just like I'm just throwing crap on the wall, and it's fun. I didn't even know I was good at making Mario levels, but I am. But not only that, every time I log on, I'm playing a new Mario game that I've never played before. And I love the idea of getting from point A to point B, and having a bunch of crap in the way, and trying to figure out how to do that. And I got that every single time, and it's totally different. It's the best. If you're a fan of Mario, it's the only game you'll need. Well, there's something wonderful about the Mario series is the most universally loved and universally acceptable video game series there is in history. And the fact that you can, like you said, always sit down and never run out of Mario. it's amazing and the thing about it is that you can play the game. People make levels that are really hard, some people make game levels that are super easy, some people make levels where you don't even have to touch the controller and it goes through and you feel like you accomplished something like you didn't even touch the controller and you feel like you are the best mario player in the world. That sounds like sorcery to me and I can't condone it. Your number one? Heroes of the Storm. Heroes of the Storm? Yeah. Working that Moba game? Yes, I have. I think Blizzard fixed Mobas. 28 million people playing the wrong Moba this whole time. [LAUGH] It is. Two days ago I think I played my 1,000th match of Heroes of the Storm. I am loving. I have fallen love in compulsive. It is sure perfect key work to be as equivalent of playing a game of pick a basket ball. The level of skill and the amount of keyboard usable that is Prevents all the things that made me not want to play MOBOs, it got rid of all that stuff. The matches are shorter, they're streamlined, they're lean, the heros play wildly differently from one another, and it uses all that lore that I love from playing the other Blizzard games that I'm addicted to as well. Fantastic. Yeah. Well my number ones aren't even mentioned, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, fantastic. Although Recently, I've been sitting down to try to play the Witcher 3, and what do I end up playing but Rocket League? Yes. Yay. That game is fantastic. Anyone else put that one on their list? Yes. That was a late entry onto mine because I had been traveling during the release window of Rocket League. And I was so scared that I was gonna log on and be the worst player in the world at Rocket League. And I am. But I love it so much. But even if you're not that great at it and you're getting hosed, you still have so much fun. It's a fantastic game. I can't believe what they did with this game. When I saw this at PSX, I was like, this is going to be Special. Yeah it's going to be a special game. The VP of the studio is Jeremy Dunham who used to work with me at IGN when I was still there. And he's doing his thing over there. And the game, they just announced yesterday the game sold a million copies on Steam. Steam, Yeah. In addition to the millions they put out on PS+ in about a month. It's pretty amazing. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for Rocket League to be a gimmicky game, right? Like a silly over the top gimmicky game. But it is all that stuff, but it's also good. But in the right way, yeah. It could've been the Metroid soccer game that's the add-on on 3DS. Oh, god. [LAUGH] it could've been that, but it's not. Yeah. That thing was in development for so long. I was talking to Cliff Bleszinski earlier. Like the guy who made it, David [UNKNOWN] he made the vehicles for [UNKNOWN] Tournament 2003. That's how long ago they were thinking about this game mode. And it's just like, as somebody who we played soccer together, right, pickup games. Like I've played football my whole life in the UK and Ireland. This is the most like playing football than any, FIFA, Pro Revolution, We're playing as a team cuz it's all about where you're supposed to be on the pitch, distributing the ball, and then actually how your foot connects with the ball, how your car connects with it. Well, I- It feels more like soccer than FIFA does. I'm not a huge A sports game fan, historically, but I always love a good video game version of soccer. Yeah. It translates so well. Especially when they add an arcadey element, something like Super Mario Strikers. Yes. Sega Soccer Slam! NBA Jam, and NFL Blitz. For sure. I think you make a good point, Danny, that. It feels almost like you're inside the foot of a player. Yeah. It's not, where FIFA tries to model the entire body and all the movements are so realistic, this is like just the foot part. And it's like magic, that you're right inside that moment. Yeah. Of connecting with the ball. And you know that moment when you're like playing with a buddy, and the ball comes over and it's an open goal. The goalie's over there, and you swing. And it just **** goes. Yeah. Hits the post. The same thing that happened to Nick. Yeah. 90% of my shots. Yeah. Yep. [INAUDIBLE] There's no dying light, but it's a fantastic [LAUGH] Can I tell you, one of my favorite things about it is also something that's in another one of my favorite games that we'll talk about later. But the levelling system and the stick and carrot of keeping you interested. It's so good in Rocket League, because it's purely aesthetic. Yeah. I dont' have to worry about coming on and playing Rocket League for the first time with somebody who has the most insanely tricked out car, because it doesn't matter. And at the same time, it's really good about giving you the experience points that you deserve for little things like assists, and participation, and all the things. It's almost like a good shooter in the way it levels you up. Anybody have any good shooters on their lists.>>Shooters.>>Anthony?>>Splatoon! [LAUGH] Best shooter!>>Yeah that is an incredible game. [LAUGH] Look how excited he is.>>Very excited.>>I feel like when he does this though I feel like it fills everyone who plays it with joy.>>It's so much Splatoon causeway here. yeah, so much. Okay, I'm gonna say something, platoon is not that good. It's not that fun, I'm sorry. What don't you like about it? It's just. Did you not see? Do you want him to dance or something? You'll see I don't know it just doesn't gravitate to me, I just. What do you like about it, Anthony? So what I love about it is number one like I was talking about, there is this feeling of cooperation and also you always get a little something every time you play. You know and it's not as directly competitive as other shooters are so if somebody is just starting out, you can help your team as much Just by like hanging out in a corner and trying to do [CROSSTALK] Around, yeah. There are different spots that are great for different people. I think the different weapon classes are much deeper than people initially think they are. And. And the amount of strategy that you can put into the different classes. You do have one person with a roller that can make a pathway for you through a bottleneck so you can take over part of it with your Gatling gun. I mean, there's a lot going on that is That is really wonderful. Plus I just love the aesthetic. I love buying shoes. I like getting hot. Best fashion in a game. Best fashion in games ever. Amazing. I see a theme in the games he likes. Yeah! Just shoes and hats, shoes and hats. Well, the recent addition on my list is Galak-Z. Oh yeah. Galak-Z, yeah. Talk about some fast-paced shooting action. That is a game that is fast-paced, that is not a game that'll make you feel good about yourself very often. [LAUGH] But when it does, it really does. It's a game where, many times I've had to set the controller down and take a minute to just recover from the fact that I died on the fourth episode, right at the end, whenever But it's sublime. The systems work so well with one another. The shooting with the upgrade system, with how the enemies behave, with how the maps are laid out. The risk reward of constantly wanting to keep fighting things, get an extra bit of scrap, salvage stuff, because you might wanna upgrade something but risking that and that you lose everything It's an incredible mixture of that roguelike with that shooter, and I think it's one of the best games of the year for sure. My shooter on the list, I'd be surprised if any of you guys have this one on there, cuz it kinda fell off pretty fast. Evolve. Oh yea, yea Anybody know, you got You guys are giving me the like, the like [INAUDIBLE] It's a great example of, if you could build that community quick enough Yea game that's entirely online, it's going to die. Yea reminds me of Titan Fall in that kind of in that Yea Yea Which was another game I really liked [INAUDIBLE] [LAUGH] Hey there were three weeks of Titan Fall that we were all in love with [LAUGH] and I feel like Four days of Evolve that we were all completely enamored with. Oh man I played monster matches long into the summer time just like that feeling of just tearing apart an entire team of other people. Just, and the lopsidedness of it creates that power fantasy so much greater cuz you're just like. Like when you get the match goes right, and then you're playing it right, you're just like toying with them, and it's so satisfying. [CROSSTALK] Huh? Why do you think it fell off? Why do you think it didn't? I feel like the immediate experience of playing it and a lot of the hunter experience You run around a lot and don't shoot a lot. That pursuit game, if you have an invasive monster, that can vitiate some of the game where like, the tension just falls out. Yeah. You're not really engaged because you feel like you're running through the darkness trying to find a monster that you're never going to catch up with because you need your team to work in tandem and use their abilities the right way. And if they're not You can just be like the daisy chain of rats following the pied piper and never catching up. I think it was above and beyond the gameplay though. I think this is a great example of how you market a game and how you give things like pre-orders and retailer specific things. I felt like there was a chart of all the different ways to buy Evolve and I couldn't follow it. It was the most. It was hard to follow. [CROSSTALK] That I'd ever seen in my life and I think what that did is instead of making feel like they were buying the version of Evolve that was tailored to them, it made them feel like they were always buying a version of Evolve that was missing something. Not quite the whole thing. Totally. All right, well we're coming down to it so we haven't like hit all of our top fives. Let's just go down. I want you guys to round out your list as best as you can. And maybe hit one highlight. So Colin you start off with Blood Vibe. I'm sorry you start off with Dying Light. The best game of the year yes. The best game of the year. Tell us what you've got. Yeah. I've got Rocket League. Craig and I were talking about it. Mega Man Legacy collection is awesome. Mega Man 3 is my favorite game of all time. So I really Enjoyed playing that and going through the challenges, I think that's really special. I gotta give a shout out to Until Dawn, Until Dawn is awesome and I was really, really shocked by how supermassive [UNKNOWN] dreams want to dream with this game. Ways that can fork and like your decisions impact your actions and the possibilities is just staggering. It's awesome I really think that I was really surprised that Sony hasn't gotten more behind this, because I think Supermassive has. a series on their hands here, not in terms that they can't use these same kids again, but every two years releasing a new interactive movie basically, it's really cool. And I think Quantum Dream really needs to pay attention to how they made this game playable. So, if not for Dying Light Right, Until Dawn might be my biggest surprise of the year so far. And I don't know, I would probably put Witcher 3 on that list, so I think that would be my five. That's a solid five, Jeff. You got Galaxy on there. Yeah, I got Galaxy, I got Witcher 3. Heroes of the Storm. I got Heroes of the Storm. I'd love the Shout out some smaller games like Hand of Fate, which I thought was fantastic. First Story, which I thought was fantastic. First Story, yeah. But I think the highlight that I, it's on your list? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's great. That game is [UNKNOWN]. It's totally unique and different. It's like investigation in a game. So many games hate investigation, but this one makes you feel like you're actually pursuing mysteries. And like coming up with your own way to do it, not just choosing one of the paths to do it on. Yeah. Completely agree with that, but the big highlight that I wanted to hit was the Pillars of Eternity. Pillars of Eternity. Oh yeah. Incredible, fantastic, wonderful throwback to those old Boulder's Gate games that I loved when I was younger. It's an excellent game that does not feel out of time. It doesn't feel outdated. It's It's still as vibrant and fun to play now as those games were in their day, so yeah. Which is a pretty stunning accomplishment, to create something that feels like so much a relic of the past but still feels so vital and accessible and totally worth playing. Great story telling, you know, it has excellent story telling. cool systems and it's a great game. Solid list. All right, Craig, [UNKNOWN] communications earlier. Can you give me one more? Checking his phone. No. [LAUGH] He's googling like best games and I'm like what? You can have Splitoon off my list. You can take splitoon. No, no splitoon. No list rating. Zero. Let's see You know, honestly the one thing I had when I was putting up my list of top five games got paced. All right. Sure. [LAUGH] l Okay. Here's another hot opinion, right. That oculus over there Yeah You're just picking things you can see I look gigantic...I like YouTube Gaming That kid right there You're the real hero This kid right here No, [INAUDIBLE]. I think Oculus is a really, really cool tech that everybody should experience. Yes! But I think it's going to fail miserably. No! Boo! [CROSSTALK] It's not allowed. We're not letting you do that. Facebooking for a platform. [LAUGH] You know what is really underrated? What? Platoon. Thank you! There. Now, yeah, you've won the Carboni. Back him into a corner. [CROSSTALK] Anthony [CROSSTALK] Platoon, Galaxy, Blood Born, Rocket League, and I think my fifth one was I was reluctant to put this on, actually. And when I put it on I felt like, I can't believe I'm doing this. I put Arkham Knight on there. Aww! I put Arkham Knight on there. [CROSSTALK] And here's why. A lot of the stuff I was playing this year, [LAUGH] is still in early access. [LAUGH] It's still in beta. It's still not come out yet. [CROSSTALK] Just like Batman! [LAUGH] Yeah! Ohl! [SOUND] [UNKNOWN] Because, like, Jeff and I were talking a lot about Darkest Dungeon. I played so much Darkest Dungeon. Darkest Dungeon's awesome. But, technically, Darkest Dungeon is an early release. Technically that also gave me indigestion. So I didn't know if I could put something on that isn't technically finished yet. But then again- [CROSSTALK] But I think the Oculus Yeah. Yeah. [LAUGH] You know, nobody's going to want to wear a freaking headset in the living room. [LAUGH] [CROSSTALK] Nobody. He showed up at the wrong cabin. I would go- What do you got? I agree at Bloodbourne, I got a list. I can't remember them. [CROSSTALK] That's adorable. Rocket League we talked about. My other two are Project Cars Any love for Budget Cars? I did not get to play enough of it. It's a really good car driving game. Okay. That's why I like that game. Is that the one you were playing at your desk with the paddles and the shifters. Yeah. I've got a wheel at my desk. I can go and do the Hockenheim Ring in an F1 car or a go-kart, and it's just perfect. It's the best driving game I've ever played. That and didn't City Skylabs come out this year? Yes. It did. City Skylabs. That game was awesome. That was a great game. It came out the weak after Maxis folded. It's just horrible, but it shows you how that audience for SimCity was just not serviced for such a long time. Yeah. And those guys were making Weird games about simulating public services forever, coming out of Finland. And then they released this game and it's just killing it on Steam. It's doing incredibly well, and the mod support for it's fascinating. And the stories of people, the way their cities have like Gone wrong or weird social experiments they've tried are just wonderful coming out of that. Yeah, my cemeteries kept getting full. Wow. So I emptied them. [LAUGH] Not a great life expectancy. That's just the darkest thing I've ever heard, and I don't want any details. [UNKNOWN] That last one on my list we haven't mentioned yet is Ori and the Blind Forest. Oh, yeah. Yes. That was on my shortlist. That was newer one. That's like way earlier in the year but this was actually like the first Metroidvania that I'd ever played that I was compelled to 100 percent. Just because the thrill of moving, the mechanics of just doing that backtracking that's necessary because of that type of game design was fun. It felt like like triple jumping and long jumping in Mario sixty-four. Like, I just did it because I liked it and it got me to where I could help with other stuff. It was a beautiful mix to that, like, speed and precision based platforming especially in those escape levels with that exploration of a metroid mania that I just absolutely. Plus, like, The aesthetics Yeah. Pixel's heart in the first ten minutes of that game, too Gorgeous. Definitely. Four right out of the chest. The feels. All right gentlemen. We did a pretty good job getting through some great games. All right. Yeah Way to go. You did a wonderful job with your list. Craig Can we do this again tomorrow so I can come prepared? You guys want to follow Craig on twitter. He'll have a list. He'll be tweeting out tomorrow. He'll have his 24 hours my [UNKNOWN] will come back here. All right guys, thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of your PAX. Much appreciated for coming on stage. Folks, exciting year so far. Awesome games and more games to come here on the live stage here at PAX Prime. We'll be right back. [MUSIC]