Best Console Video Games of 2017

It’s that time of year again, where all the magazines and websites go through all of their games and figure out which games are the top games of the year for 2017.  For the first time, I’m going to do this on this website as well.  I play a ton of games (and have for 30+ years) and like games from about every genre except horror.  So without wasting to much more time here, here are the Best Console Video Games of 2017.  Only games that I personally played will be on here, so if you’re favorite game isn’t on here, I probably didn’t get a chance to play it.

1.  Horizon Zero Dawn.  Without a doubt, this is the best game I played this year.  The story, the gameplay, the huge robot dinosaurs, etc were all amazing.  One of the few PS4 games I played this year, but it was unquestionably the best game I played.  I highly recommend this game, probably the best game I’ve played since the Witcher 3.
2. Shadow of War.  When this initially came out, I thought ‘eh’.  I liked the first one, but would I really get into the second one?  It took about 10 minutes and I was hooked on this game, played it nonstop till I beat it.  It just has a ton of character and is just flat out fun.  There are a wide variety of missions that don’t seem too repetitive, and tons of collectibles to get.  Online missions are featured too.

   

3. Persona 5.  I played this game a ton.  It’s LONG.  So long that I still haven’t beaten it yet.  Probably put 60 hours into it and still have a ton of stuff to go in order to get to the end.  It’s definitely a weird game, not for everyone.  It has the horrible save system from the 90’s era PS1 games, and has a ton of weird things happening all the time.  The combat is pretty fun, and overall the game isn’t too difficult or otherwise the save system would be maddening.
4. Halo Wars 2.  This game kind of fell under the radar after it released in February and was followed by all those blockbusters in March.  It’s the best real time strategy game on the console pretty easily.  The whole game is really fun, makes me remember playing Command and Conquer back in 1995 for the first time.  Good videos, fun action, etc.

   

5. Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition.  This game came out on the PC a couple years ago and I actually bought it there but never got into it.  Once I saw it was on the Xbox I rebought it as I knew I would be a lot more likely to finish it there (and I was right).  I played this game for a long time before I finally beat it.  Still never beat some of those ridiculous dragons in certain places, they were just too hard.  If you liked the Baldur’s Game series on the PC, you’ll love Pillars of Eternity.  I also played through the expansion I liked it so much.

Honorable Mention

These are games I played but didn’t make my Top 5.

Cuphead.  Fun, very hard, not my cup of tea.

NBA2k18.  I actually played this game a lot but it really doesn’t do that much more than NBA2k17.  If you like basketball it’s a must have.

Super Mario Odyssey.  Everyone says this is 97% rated game, it’s ok but honestly it’s not that much different than any of the other Mario’s of the past 15 years.  Super annoying to beat a boss and then not move to the next level because you’re out of moon gas, lol.

Legend Of Zelda:  Breath of the Wild.  Another game everyone thinks is 97%.  I think if you haven’t played many games in the past 10 years, you’d probably think it was amazing.  I thought it kind of paled compared to Horizon Zero Dawn and the Witcher 3.  Do my weapons have to break every time I look at them wrong?  And it’s 2017, it’s story and production values are very low compared to most Triple A titles.

ARMS:  I actually really like this game.  However, Nintendo’s network doesn’t work with my internet provider (PS network and Xbox Live work fine) so I can’t play it online unless I use my hotspot on my phone.  Great 2 player game.

Splatoon 2:  A game that’s pretty good but not great compared to other games in the genre.  Not as good as Overwatch online, single player is pretty limited, but it’s still probably your best online game on the Switch currently (along with Mario Kart).

Star Wars Battlefront II:  I really liked the campaign, the multiplayer though is ‘eh’.  I feel like I’m at a disadvantage every time I play because I don’t have some power up card that people who have been playing a lot have.

These are the games I wasn’t that impressed with

Assassin’s Creed Origins.  People were saying how they thought this game was so I had a lot of anticipation.  After playing it 10 hours, I actually prefer the one before it, AC: Syndicate by a large margin.  AC: Origins is just kind of boring with no really motivating characters or quests.

South Park:  The Fractured But Whole.  Loved the first game, played all the way through it and beat it.  This one though I just can’t get into, it’s a little boring.  I may get back to it later to play if I have time.

COD: WWII:  Probably the worst campaign in the past several years.  I don’t play multiplayer in this game anymore, but that aspect seemed fine in the few games I played.  The campaign was just really boring and not really that exciting.  Part of it may have been that I previous played all the COD’s that were WWII back 10 years.  This just felt like a rehash of that.

These are the games that released last year but I still played this year

Overwatch.  Still the best multiplayer shooter game on the console.  Endless fun.

Rocksmith 2014.  If you want to learn how to play the real guitar, this game is phenomenal.  I think I’ve spent like $500 on DLC for this game, and I don’t buy DLC for any game normally (only other game I’ve bought DLC for in the past few years is the Witcher 3)

Ori and the Blind Forest.  I didn’t play this when it first came out, but it’s actually a great game.  I was about 1/2 way through when I got stuck in one place and couldn’t get out.  Eventually I need to get back and finish this game.

Conclusion

Hopefully you enjoyed my Best Console Video Games of 2017.  Obviously everyone’s tastes are different, but if there’s one game you should play it should be Horizon Zero Dawn.  I also think the Switch games are overrated IF you’ve been playing games continuously the past few years (blasphemy I know).  They’re good games but only great if you don’t have perspective on how good everything else has gotten.