2016 in Review-Gaming.

It's not been an easy year, but 2016 has thankfully ended. Last year was quite the roller coaster, with plenty of highs and lows. Let's review them, shall we? Here are five Highs and Lows of 2016 in Gaming.

HIGH-The release of Overwatch can easily be considered one of 2016's finest moments in gaming. It's one thing to release a game that becomes memetic for a while; it's quite another to release a game that is certain to become a mainstay in gaming culture for years to come. I predict that Overwatch will become the new League of Legends, and become one of the most widely played games in the world.

LOW-On the opposite spectrum, Battleborn's colossal failure will forever be marked as one of gaming's biggest tragedies. Battleborn was simply released at an awful time, when Overwatch was being hyped to hell and back. The game had no chance; it was considered an Overwatch ripoff from day one of release. A few months later, the game's being sold at a bargain while Overwatch still sells like hot cakes, barely having a TENTH of the later's player base.

HIGH-It is no exaggeration to say that a Pokemon release is never small. With the release of Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon, the franchise is looking to stay for at least two decades more. Said games have shaken up the status quo of the games, removing such mainstays as Bikes, Gyms, and even HM moves in favor of using Ride Pokemon, as well as using Challenges. Did this hurt the game's reception? Nope! Further, the introduction of "regional forms" that alter a Pokemon's typing ensures that Nintendo and Gamefreak will NOT be running out of material for new Pokemon for at least, I predict, three more generations. You can quote me on this: we'll still be seeing new Pokemon  games released by 2030, and they will sell like hot cakes.

LOW-Pokemon, in the style of an MMO, played out in the real world. How do you fuck THAT up? Well, Niantic found a way with Pokemon Go. I considered this game the Second Coming of Pokemania, but a month and a half later, I was wrong. So, so wrong. The major problem with Pokemon Go was that it simply didn't bring enough to the table to stay alive. You caught Pokemon...and that was it. No battling except for the Gyms, no trading between players, NOTHING. Niantic had a cool idea, but they didn't take it far enough. Pokemon Go could have been fantastic, but as it was, it turned out to be a flash in the pan. Niantic can still pull a win and implement battling and trading, but the question is: will it be too little, too late? Time will tell...

HIGH-Final Fantasy 15's recent release has proven that the series is far from stale or irrelevant. The fastest selling game in the franchise' history, selling a cool 5 million copies since release, LESS THAN A MONTH AGO (as of this writing)? Yeah, I think we'll be seeing a lot more of Final Fantasy in the future.

LOW-Mighty Number 9, AKA the little game that could (have been great). Two years behind scheduled release, a trailer that pissed off what few defenders the game could have had, myriad of controversies from accusations of crony-ism to money mismanagement, topped with piss poor sales, it's safe to say that this is one stillborn franchise.

HIGH-Stardew Valley is one of those games that you simply can't believe how good they are, in spite of their simple nature. Pixel graphics? Repetitive gameplay? Little action? The game's success is a stunning demonstration of just how varied gamer's taste can be. Who would have thought that a simple game about farming could end up so charming? Well, that's only surprising for people who've never heard of Harvest Moon. I for one wish to see Stardew Valley turn into a franchise!

LOW-Whereas Stardew Valley was a quiet little game that got released to little fanfare and still sold well, No Man's Sky was the direct opposite: hyped for YEARS, only to disappoint. Badly. Perhaps this is a case of the hype being too much; expectations were too high for the game, so when the game was released, disappointment was all but guaranteed. BUT, there's a video that sums up the game's failure better than words can:

(edit January 2: I forgot to add these two!)

HIGH-Though it had its flaws, Naughty Dog capped off Uncharted 4 in 2016, closing the book on Nathan Drake and giving him what he deserved most: happiness. It was a wild ride, sure to bring a smile to anyone who had become attached to the series, especially those who grew up with it.

LOW-Now this is more Meta than anything, but the controversy regarding Palmer Luckey's donations to Trump has got to be one of the lowest points of the previous year in gaming. For those not in the know, a brief summary: Luckey gave some money to an organization that wanted to help Trump, and some game developers pulled their support for the Occulus Rift, Luckey's project. because of it. On the one hand, they had every right to decry a political move, as well as to sell their product to another market, such as the Playstation VR. On the other hand, could this have been seen as an overreaction? As a violation of Luckey's right to donate to whomever he pleases? A punishment for politics? It's a can of worms; no right answer at all. That's why it's a low point for gaming in 2016.