AWARDS SEASON: BEST GAME OF THE YEAR 2017

Overall winner

Horizon Zero Dawn

I went into this game knowing little more than the fact it had robot dinosaurs in, something that would surely sell most people on a game. Surprise surprise, with such as premise it was fun to play but it wasn't just a fun game to play as it had an excellent world built upon many technical feats as well as a compelling, engaging story with nice world building and a great soundtrack. It may not have been the most original game in many aspects but everything it did it did so very well.

Full review: https://theunorthodoxnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/horizon-zero-dawn-review.html

Honourable mentions

Ōkami HD

In my opinion Ōkami is the greatest game of all time. It just does everything so brilliantly well from the really fun gameplay to the beautiful art style and the masterfully done soundtrack. Playing the game in HD at higher resolutions was amazing, it's incredible how fantastically the game still holds up and might just be one of those games that is timeless. However I still wouldn't call it the definitive version because the credits song "Reset" was missing. Regardless seeing this game on the Playstation 4, Xbox One and especially the PC was a dream come true.

This game would be my game of the year for 2017 but I don't give remasters the award. I did however give the original top marks and my game of the year for 2006, as well as it being my favourite game ever made. Now we just need to hope that PlatinumGames can make a sequel one day with Hideki Kamiya directing again.

Full review: https://theunorthodoxnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/okami-hd-review.html

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Full review: https://theunorthodoxnetwork.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-wild.html

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Whilst the gameplay was pretty basic and even at times too repetitive I admire the effort to shed light on psychosis, a topic rarely covered at all by TV or movies, let alone games. The story was good and Senua was a really great character because whilst she was determined she clearly wasn't unstoppable and reacted to things when they went wrong, rather than just shrugging it off. The way the game made you suffer with her was pretty distressing and challenging as well which is exactly what it was aiming for. She actually felt human, something many games fail to capture.

Full review: https://theunorthodoxnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice-review.html

ŌKAMI HD REVIEW

Reincarnated.

PC version reviewed.

Ōkami HD is an action adventure game published by Capcom, developed by Clover Studios and remastered by HexaDrive for the Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Original reviewed here: https://theunorthodoxnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2006/04/okami-2006-review.html

DIFFERENCES FROM ORIGINAL

HD, 4K support, higher resolutions and cleaner visuals. Surely better than the Wii or PS3 port in terms of gameplay as I didn't come across the supposed crashes of the Wii version and the loading screen mini-games have been added again after being removed from the PS3 version. I'm not really sure why they were removed but they're a welcome return as they make it feel even closer to the original.

End credits song "Reset" removed. Credits extended to include remaster staff and the Clover Studios staff have also been reintegrated into the credits after being absent from the PS3 version. What Capcom were thinking when they removed them is a mystery but it's nice to have them back.

OVERALL

There are no major drawbacks with this remaster although the removal of the fantastic end credits song is a shame. The visual improvements are nice and it's fantastically priced at less than half of what most AAA games release at these days. If you've never played this game before I would absolutely recommend it and if you have then now is a great time to pick it up again and experience this masterpiece once more with it looking better than ever before.