#Best games of 2017 xbox one. software
#Best games of 2017 xbox one. series

It’s a triumph that we at Polygon are happy to declare our game of the year for 2019. Games have long fixated on humanity’s quest to play colonist, conqueror, or anthropologist, learning about and usually seeking to control everything beyond our own horizons.īut Outer Wilds delivers one of the most ambitious tales of discovery I’ve ever seen in gaming, without a focus on violence or domination. Thing is, the magic in Outer Wilds is as much philosophical as it is mechanical, which is why Chelsea Stark began our game of the year essay like this: It’s an important, incomplete part of the description. That’s the stone-cold truth of Outer Wilds, from a helpfully mechanical point of view. Its secrets are scattered among a whirling orrery of planets, which I probe and investigate. Outer Wilds is a nonviolent, first-person exploration-puzzle game set in a solar system that’s sprinkled with delightful mysteries. Here’s how Colin Campbell began Polygon’s Outer Wilds review: Get it here: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop | Microsoft Store | Walmart I’ve just got to murder some robots and raiders, meet the locals down on some of the nearby planets, and try to figure out whether I’m down with Welles’ vision of eating the rich.Īnd I gotta admit, I’m a little hungry. So I’m emerging into a space-capitalist nightmare, and Welles is asking me for help. The Hope was lost in space, I’ve been frozen for 70 years, and the entire system went straight to hell while I was on ice. The game begins with Phineas Welles - a guy who’s a little like a nicer Rick, sans Morty - waking me from cryosleep aboard the colonist vessel the Hope. This was my first real introduction to the weird, corporate dystopia of the Halcyon system, where giant, sprawling conglomerates have the final word on just about everything, and everyone is simply trying to get by.īut maybe I can help with this whole mess, if I decide to try. Was I using Spacer’s Choice health care products? His contract clearly states that he can’t use a competing product. I knew I’d love The Outer Worlds as soon as I stumbled into a cave and met a bleeding, dying gentleman. Image: Obsidian Entertainment/Private Division Get it here: Microsoft Store Ori and the Will of the Wisps But the new feature that ties everything together and elevates Super Mega Baseball 3 into a complete package is a proper franchise mode, the centerpiece of any long-lasting sports title. That’s partly because Metalhead further refined its simulation of baseball this time around. Super Mega Baseball 3 is a capstone for the acclaimed series, the fulfillment of a mission that the studio embarked upon almost a decade ago, when it began working on the first game. Now, Metalhead has upped its game once again. There’s nothing quite like it on the market these days.

#Best games of 2017 xbox one. series

But it was the combination of the action on the field and the humor infused into everything else that turned Super Mega Baseball from a novelty series into one of the best success stories in sports video games. Of course, the Super Mega Baseball games wouldn’t have succeeded without a foundation of rock-solid baseball mechanics beneath the surface.

Where else can you play as a team called the Sirloins, and mash home runs with a mutton-chopped slugger named Hammer Longballo? But rather than reviving the exaggerated power-ups of NBA Jam and NFL Blitz, this series blends the cartoony essence of Backyard Baseball and Power Pros with a sound baseball simulation.

#Best games of 2017 xbox one. software

With the original Super Mega Baseball in 2014, and its 2018 follow-up, Canadian indie studio Metalhead Software brilliantly captured the spirit of the simple, fun sports games that many of us remember from our childhoods.

I never expected that Super Mega Baseball 3 would weaponize those emotional ties in the best way, turning my attachments to my favorite teams and players against me in its excellent, demanding franchise mode. The series drew me in with its silly fictional athletes and ballclubs, a world of lovable chuckleheads that I got to know over the course of two terrific video games. The Super Mega Baseball games have always been bursting with charm, delivering the trappings of semipro sports with a goofy sandlot spin.