Doom
Doom’s 2016 revival is everything I wanted and more. The original may have been released nearly two decades ago, but the slick and polished shooter of yesteryear lives on in 2016’s version of the seminal gorefest.
As you scurry throughout secret-laden corridors, walkways, secret areas, and high ground seeking cover, it becomes evident that this isn’t a game for anyone looking to slither around in silence. Great. Because that’s definitely not what I was looking to do when I finally tore into it.
It’s more than just an update — it’s a modernization of one of the greatest shooters of all time, and something that should signal a renaissance for fans, as it did for me. It may not conjure the exact same feelings as the original did when I was sitting with Dad at home watching him barrel down monster-infested hallways, but it nearly feels just as cathartic, and that’s exactly what I’ve needed this year.
Amplitude
“Calm your nervous system. Calm your nervous system.”
If only I could. But an excellent soundtrack isn’t the reason I’m so into Amplitude. It’s a reboot of a game I wanted a sequel to for the better part of my adolescence, but it’s also a game I can shut my mind off and just feel. Sure, I’ve completed the paltry amount of levels more times than I care to recount. It’s not about how many songs there are, though. It’s about letting go and letting my reflexes go to work. It’s about losing myself to “Dalatecht.”
Mainly, it’s about accepting that things can mature in the same way I have and learning to like them even when they’re packaged differently. Amplitude isn’t perfect in its old age, and neither am I. But we’re both good for having a little fun.
Day of the Tentacle Remastered
Okay, technically this isn’t a 2016 game. But the remastered version of the LucasArts classic did release this year, so I can absolutely count it, can’t I?
I’ve sung the game’s praises ten times over, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to properly articulate why it is that it strikes such a chord with me. Perhaps it’s megalomaniacal Purple and his insistence upon being an absolute heel at all times. Or maybe I’m attracted to that special kind of insanity Laverne possesses. There’s one thing that’s for certain: It has the honor of being one of the only games I find genuinely funny.
Forget Monkey Island. This should have happened years ago. But now that it finally has, I can’t stop going back to it. I doubt I ever will.
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