We’re coming to the end of the year and we’re getting a little nostalgic, clearing the decks and looking back at the year that was. It was a big year in hardware with some of the best phones, tablets, watches and heck, gadgets ever released showing up this year. Driving all these gadgets however is software, Google impressed with Marshmallow, but it’s the apps that make the phones these days and games are a massive part.
We’ve seen a bunch of great new titles released this year and as such, some of us couldn’t pick just one, but we’ve asked each of our team to come up with their pick for 2015. So, here’s our list of the best Games of 2015:
Daniel
You Must Build A Boat (YMBAB), is a match-three RPG, it’s almost a completely new genre unto itself, but that aside, what it is, is damn addictive.
The game is a sequel to the very well received 10000000 from Developer 88 Games, with a uniquely styled 8-bit visuals. Like 10000000, the premise is simple, simply match 3 or more tiles to achieve a goal in this side-scrolling RPG adventure. Match 3 key tiles to unlock a chest, match swords or staff tiles to defeat an enemy and so on; if you’re not sure, the game has an excellent onboarding process for newbies.
Across multiple different types of dungeons, you’ll collect the pieces of your boat, defeat and gather monsters to be your crew and collect all the gold, treasure, spells and weapons you could want.
At $4.49, YMBAB is an expensive choice, but with daily play I’ve certainly got my money’s worth.
And
Shooty Skies
As a followup to their smash hit Crossy Road, Mighty Games has gone from Frogger to 1942 as their inspiration for this awesome game which only landed on Android last month.
Shooty Skies sees you in control of a plane that’s shooting enemies as they scroll down the screen, pick up credits to spend on in-game upgrades for weapons and pilots, or pick up weapon upgrades on the fly as they appear.
Using the freemium model, Shooty Skies is free to play, but you can spend some real dollars to upgrade your pilot or your plane with better weapons if you so desire. You can also use in-game credits to continue your game if you feel you got out a little prematurely.
Shooty Skies is a heck of a lot of fun to play and well worth a look if you want to while away a few minutes of time.
Chris
Ghosts of Memories is a really cool little game. Reminiscent of Monument Valley, it’s my kind of puzzle game. I don’t have a lot of time for gaming, and apart from a stint addicted to GTA V, I really haven’t played many in the last few years.
Sometimes the gameplay can become frustrating; some levels do not make it clear what should be happening, but all in all, it’s a healthy puzzler which should take a few hours to complete if you’re adept at thinking a bit laterally. The graphics are beautiful (they caught my eye initially) and the gameplay fun enough to make the purchase price of $3.99 worthwhile.
Many will compare it to Monument Valley — I sure did — and it isn’t quite in the same league, but it comes very, very close.
Jason
A great attempt at modernising Pac Man and turning it into an endless game, this take on Pac Man from the makers of Crossy Road & Shooty Skies delights and surprises in the way it blends old school Pac Man with modern graphics while still remaining faithful to the game’s heritage.
Rather than a single screen maze with 4 ghosts, Pac Man 256 constantly pushes you forward past lots of ghosts as the maze is eaten from behind you by Pac Man’s own famous glitch.
And
TRANSFORMERS: Battle Tactics
Assemble a team of Transformers and take them into turn-based battles against other teams for rewards, level advancements or just to complete your collection.
You can send in a team purely consisting of Autobots or Deceptions, out you can mix it up and put the strongest bots from each faction into your team.
Some bots carry useful advantages you’ll want to exploit in battle, such as first strike or dodge – how you use them is up to you.
The art style is pretty endearing and the battles rely as much on your tactical planning as they do a roll of the dice. Transformers Battle Tactics keeps you coming back with daily missions and freebies, although the likelihood of getting rare or powerful items or bots from the freebies is pretty low – the game does want you to spend real money, so you might want to be careful.
Scott
Crazy basketball shooting game based on the guys who make all the crazy trick shots on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/corycotton . It’s a game of skill, physics and a hell of a lot of luck. You need to overcome obstacles such as ice sheets, bears, cranes to make the baskets (usually multiple baskets per level) in the minimum number of shots. Addictive. Free with IAPs although it gives you the opportunity to watch an ad to “power up”. My 6yo and I played it heaps and I managed to get a long way through before being over it without a single purchase or watching of an ad. My boy watched a lot of ads.
Addictive game that is something that can be played in a short amount of time and returned to at a later date without missing out on anything. ie. got 5min free? Pull out your phone and complete a level or 2.
Phil
Become the ultimate assassin with over 150 missions to complete; take out contract targets, security guards and escorts silently. But be wary, the guards who watch over high profile targets like these ones are a little edgy and easily alerted to the presence of a sniper. Lose the target and you’ve lost the contract.
Duncan
Fall Out Shelter.
Have you ever wanted to be in control of a high tech underground vault following a mass nuclear detonation? If you answered ‘yes’, odds are you are a fan of the popular gaming franchise Fallout, and is yo uare the likelihood is you already know about this game. For those who don’t Fallout Shelter is a ‘base management’ game set in a post apocalyptic wasteland.
As the overseer of the shelter it is your job to produce enough food, power and water to keep your vault dwellers happy, safe and alive whilst you continue to grow your vault, so as to need to produce more food, power and water and so it goes until you reach the enviable population cap – after many more hours of gameplay than you’d be willing to admit.
On top of the basics of resource management you can train your dwellers to increase their SPECIAL abilities, pair you dwellers up to “produce” even more dwellers, send dwellers out on missions of exploration (and loot collection) and defend the vault against all manner of hostile attacks.
If you’re a fan of the Fallout franchise, base management games or are even just looking for a fun to pick up and play mobile game Fallout Shelter from Bethesda is worth a look
Alex
Sim City – Build It
If you have ever been a fan of the Sim City game franchise then I would highly recommend you have a look at Sim City Build It.
This new app is pretty much the same as the PC game, where you would build your city from the ground up ensuring you keep your citizens happy whilst also trading exports with neighbouring cities to ensure you have a productive and truly vibrant liveable city.
There are a few quirks to this mobile app version and I have found some challenges may require you to purchase items within the app but you can at times work around this.
If you’re a Sim City Fan then I would highly recommend you download and give Sim City Build It a go.
That’s our picks for 2015, there are of course a heap of runners up, games like Stick Cricket 2, Walking Dead: Road to Survival and a bunch more listed by Google in their Best Games of 2015 list – but those are ours.
Now, the question is, what’s your Game of 2015?
Shadow Fight 2 gets my vote!