Pansy Castiglione

While the whole editorial staff contributed to our 2015 awards, we wanted to allow everybody the opportunity to publicly name their personal top 10 games of the year. While many did play the majority of releases in 2015, please remember that unlike our main awards, the editors are not naming the best games, but their personal favorites out of the selection they played. While Legend of Solgard is filled to the brim with in-game goodies, there's something to be said about the organic way in which the game handles all of its in-game chests, currencies, and gems. Even though Legend of Solgard contains its fair-share of microtransactions, none of them feel particularly predatory, or for that matter, mandatory. During the time I spent with the game (which was notably pre-launch and possibly tested before the final pricing model has been established), I never once felt compelled to insert my credit card number nor did I ever feel like the game was designed explicitly to elicit money from its gameplay loop. The initial dread of looming microtransactions that loomed over me while I was enjoying Pokemon Quest was noticeably absent during my tenure with Legend of Solgard , and that comfort made the game all the more enjoya Many free-to-play games have in-game currency that can be purchased with real money, giving those who are willing to shell out actual money a reward. That's all well and good, but many gamers feel it sets the stage for unbalanced play, as people willing to spend real cash may get better weapons or more play time to level On a slightly cheerier note, Galactic Cafe's funny and cerebral indie title The Stanley Parable also scored four nominations, as did the dystopian bureaucracy simulator Papers, Please , which is up for a Best moba Game Tips award. Other nominees for Best Game include Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Super Mario 3D World . Tomb Raider has three nominations, as does mobile title BADLAND and Beyond: Two SouAgain, Pokémon is my favorite series and without any title in 2015, I found Yo-Kai Watch to be an excellent substitute. Comparing the two is definitely easy but after playing Yo-Kai Watch and watching the cartoon, it’s worth noting Yo-Kai Watch can stand on its own. The mix of kooky characters is great and each one having its own personality makes the game a unique experience. Yo-Kai Watch is a wonderful RPG for those in search of something that’s just plain fun. I would consider this game as my best 3DS title of the year. Of course, it's also possible that The CW's "Crisis on Earth-X" is a little fatigued by viewers tired by either superhero content on the whole, or comic book media that feels too similar to something else. This year's event couldn't top the ratings of the 2016 Arrowverse crossover , and according to TVLine , only averaged 2.7 million viewers/0.9 rating compared to last year's 3.7 million/1.3 rating - though those numbers could change as fans tune into the shows on streaming services in the coming week. Undoubtedly, though, more people went to theaters to see Justice League than tuned into The CW to watch Crisis on Eart The second runner-up in the BAFTA nominations race is Tearaway , which is impressive considering for a game only available on a mobile platform. Released on the PlayStation Vita and developed by Media Molecule, the studio behind the LittleBigPlanet games, Tearaway is set in a paper world that definitely seemed to charm the Academy, based on the eight nominations it received in categories such as Game Innovation, Game Design and Best GAs someone who plays Dota 2, I thought "'worth'? What do you mean 'worth'?" It hit me pretty quickly that they meant worth money. The concept of paying real money for a hero eludes me, as a Dota 2 player, with a game that has more than 100 heroes available to everyone, free of charge. While League of Legends is technically free to play, players can get a better experience by buying access to better champions - champions that have "worth." Dota 2, not so. There's not a single item in the game that can be purchased in any way to give players an advantage. This got me thinking how Dota 2 really is the only game that does Free to Play right, that is, in a way that benefits the player as much or more than the company.Now, let's not get carried away. Making money is a company's goal, and there's nothing wrong with that. The issue is, this benefits the company at the expense of the player. Consider this: what's to stop Plants vs. Zombies 2 from perpetually releasing new plants while balancing the zombies and expansions in a way that necessitates their purchase, as they already have? This turns the game into an infinite cash-cow that will likely make more money than if they charged a $60 flat fee by grinding it out of players who want a full gaming experience. That being said, in its own unique way, Legend of Solgard' s mid-core style of game design is considerably more palatable than other mobile games. The gameplay loop is repeatedly made satisfying by its own rich complexity; the kind of casual challenge that could only come from a mobile title. The more I play Legend of Solgard and ponder the strengths and weakness of my characters, the different varieties of enemies, and different combinations I have at my disposal, the more I get sucked into it. Despite appearing to an outsider as a simple match-three puzzle game, Legend of Solgard contains the ripe intricacy of a four-dimensional game of chess. Not only do players have to strategically maneuver their factions to attack and defend against their enemy counterparts, they constantly have to focus on the metagame. As each character has its own distinct special ability, the game forces you to contemplate which characters you should utilize during each turn and (later on) which characters you should bring into each fight in gene