Episode 33 – G.I. Jake

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It’s been a long long time Bookend Friends. Not only did we have eight episodes of sonic high school madness, but we had Peter being an absolute useless piece of shit when it came to editing for most of November and December, but here we are, just in time for new years, back in the ITF Tranquillity where we belong with Jack Hunter, Tona, Hollister and all the rest of the gang.

After a critical look, we’ve come to realise that nothing important happens this chapter at all, it’s all a big shaggy dog story where Jack tries to save the Alien version of Tona, and fails, then they decide they need to escape back into the present. There are insane military manoeuvres, sexual violence and more, but the only thing that actually matters is when we find out the Rokarii think Jack is the perfect human specimen and wants to harvest his DNA. I shit you not. This is where the plot is now.

Your Bookends have a mixture of relief to be back in the familiar after months of sonic high school, and abject bafflement at how the plot is developing. It’s not every story where you can discuss Alien Cuckoldry, Arrested Development and 60’s Batman and Robin without going off topic, but god bless The Way the Stars Fall for existing. The marines being unwilling to retreat from certain death does almost give Peter an aneurysm though, so swings and roundabouts.

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Bookend Game Awards: Game of the Year

You made it this far, you mad bastards. I’ve ordered every game I played this year like some kind of absolute psychopath. Feel free to join me as we count down to my game of the year.

But first, let me award the GAME OF THE YEAR, EVERY YEAR award to the following games, which I play all the time, and it would be unfair to rank with the rest. Nobody wants to see me give Dark Souls game of the year for an entire decade after all.

Dark Souls – The Legend never dies! My favourite soulsbourne game changes all the time, but it’s always between Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls and Bloodborne, sequels need not apply. And I have spent far too much time running around Lordran the last few years.

Medieval Total War 2 – Again, a vote for the mods more than the game, though the base game is pretty damn fun. Europa Barborum my friends, it is my fetish.

Naploeon Total war – It’s in warsape engine, the scope is much limited after empire, and the AI is as retarded as ever, but dammit do I love kicking the tail of that uppity Corsican. Much mechanically improved from Empire, and actually optimised to run on computers that humans can actually own.

Rome Total War – It’s super old, and there are historical inaccuracies that give me kittens. But it’s some good arcade fun painting the map your colour and tearing armies apart with your legions.

Spyro the dragon – I maintain the best made in the series, though not my favourite. If you like 3D platformers but haven’t played this game I have to question what is wrong with you.

Total War: Shogun 2 –The best total war game in vanilla (without Mods) that Creative Assembly has ever made. I have lots and lots of complaints, like with all total war games, but it’s a bloody good time, and I’ve lost hundreds of hours into it both solo and online.

And now for the list proper!

1. Windward – A cheap indie game I’m pretty sure I got as part of a humble bundle. I played it for an evening, had fun, but never plan to touch it again. Might be worth a look if you like the idea of an abstracted version of empire era naval combat, but don’t expect it to be deep or anything.
2. ICEY – A take on the Stanley Parable and the Beginner’s Guide meets an okay action game by a Chinese studio. It plays with the 4^th wall stuff pretty well, but I never really clicked with the combat system, the narrator is annoying (I mean, he’s supposed to be, but I was getting sick of him) and it makes the cardinal sin of making me sit through an unskippable scene before retrying a boss. I mean, it was fun, but I found it a bit of a trial to finish in the end.
3. Dust: An Elysium Tale – A side scrolling indie action game with lots of furries. Looks nice, and was a fun time, but there’s no part of it I would score much higher than ‘Competent’ really, which makes it hard to put too high up the list.
4. Transformers: Devastation – A below average game from Platinum is still usually a pretty good game. Unless it’s Ninja turtles. Fun platinum action, but you can tell this was one just made to pay the bills.
5. Endless Space – A fun 4X strategy, but not too deep in what you can do once you scratch the surface. I blasted through like two solid days of playing this, and conquering the galaxy back to front, but as soon as I finished my last campaign I never wanted to play it again. Hopefully the impending sequel will be better, but this one is good for a fun few evenings if you can pick it up cheap.
6. Puppeteer – An incredibly creative game let down with pretty basic gameplay, more impressive to watch than actually play, which is never a good thing, but a fun family platformer nonetheless.
7. Dragon Ball Xenoverse – Make hot Saiyan girl. Punch aliens. Profit. Oh Saiyan girls, why are you so kakar-HOT? 
8. Warhammer: Total War – It’s fun, and better than Rome 2, but they are stripping out so much of the tactical depth while focusing on flashy visuals. While I enjoyed playing it for like 2 days, I’m glad I never bought it, because fuck supporting Creative Assembly after what they’ve done to Total War.
9. Steamworld Heist – Fun little turn based strategy game with manual shooting. Glad to see the Steamworld guys wanted to try something different after Dig. Though as they’ve just released Dig 2, I’m not sure if this game actually did well... which is a shame.
10. Patrician 3 – I don’t know why I love carting goods around the Baltic in this Hanseatic league simulator so much, but I really do. I feel like this game is only going to entertain like 0.00001% of people though.
11. Mordheim: City of the Damned – Welcome to RNG hell. This recreation of games workshop’s skirmish game is lots of fun, but has lots of problems. The whole warpstone gathering things can just make it anti fun, and you’ll be forced to give up good tactical positions to make a beeline for the best warpstone deposits in a truly stupid gamey turn, especially when you rout the army from the battlefield but leave behind the warpstone THAT IS LYING RIGHT THERE! AAARGH. I actually love this game. I just really wish it was better. Also, Necromunda video game when?
12. Lone Survivor – Jasper Byrne’s 2D silent hill. But really I’m doing it a disservice by giving it such title, because it’s very much its own thing, and quite a trip. Keep your mind and body healthy in this twisted world.
13. Metal Gear Rising: Revengence – Platinum were on good form in this crazy action romp as Metal Gear’s own Cyborg Ninja Raiden. I’m kind of sad we never got the stealth game initially promised. But if the fail state is a Platinum action game, we’re in a pretty good place.
14. Killing Floor 2 – It’s a whole lot of fun shooting up Z’s with friends or randommers. Strap yourself into killing floor two for an evening and have yourself a blast.
15. Inside – Takes the work they did on Limbo and improved on it in nearly every way. But for some reason they still never quite managed to top that spider chase from Limbo... Regardless, great puzzle platformer, and far more consistent than Limbo as a package.
16. N++ - Minimalist beauty and no mistake. Take your ninja, dodge traps and get gold. It’s perfect in a way only a game this simple can ever hope to be.
17. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker – It was clearly meant to be played on a handheld console, but even hooked up to a TV this shines through as fantastic metal gear action. The story would be totally incomprehensible to anyone who hadn't played MGS3 though. 
18. Slime Rancher – That’s right, pen up those poor slime, you monster. Wholesome, nature exploiting fun. Don’t tread in the Tar.
19. Hyper Light Drifter – Cut your way through this Pixel masterpiece and vomit neon blood. Very tight combat and fun exploration in this beautiful game.
20. Superhot – T H E M O S T I N N O V A T I V E S H O O T E R O F 2 0 1 6.
21. Overwatch – There’s a character for everyone in this skill shooter, and it’s no surprise it’s still this big so long after release given the support it gets from the Blizzard.
22. Hegemony: Gold – Pick the city state of your choice and war over ancient Greece. Logistics has never been so much fun. Prepare to spend weeks just staring at the Peloponnese planning your next move, before immediately getting fucked by an Athenian naval invasion.
23. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past –The final Legend of Zelda game (outside of handhelds) made in 2D is still held up as a classic for a good reason, take Link across Hyrule, and time itself to rescue the Princess Zelda and save the world.
    
    And now for my top 10:
24. OneShot – Great adventure game that breaks the forth wall and really makes you care about the little blighters in the game. Get Niko home for pancakes you monster. Anything else would be a spoiler, but I stand by my story of the year award. However, 4^th wall breaking aside, the rest of the game is fairly standard, albeit good, adventure game fare.
    
25. Rocket League – Despite my complete lack of ability, this is a damn fun game to play with friends or randommers.
    
26. Cuphead – The gameplay is strong, but not especially remarkable, but the art style is unique and sublimely executed. Have fun playing this cartoon that feels like a timewarp to the 50s.
    
27. Killer7- Absolute madness that from anyone other than SUDA51 would be considered the worst game ever made, but somehow, despite all the ingredients being wrong, it just works. A cult classic, for sure, but a classic nevertheless. I didn't plan for this to end up as number 7, but goddam if that isn't serendipity?
    
28. Red Dead Redemption – It’s just a shame I waited so long to play this, because it is visibly old and creaking now, but it’s still a damn fine game, and I can see why it took the world by storm when it was new. The best Cowboy game in town, and don't let the fact that it's the ONLY cowboy game in town make that seem like damning it with faint praise (unless you want to dust off your PS2 and find a copy of GUN, but aside from nostalgia this is clearly still better).
    
29. Uncharted: A Thief's End – Hopefully Nathan Drakes swansong (I hate sequels that overstay their welcome, and I’m thought they were pushing it a little with this one), very well made all round. Naughty Dog knows what they’re doing by now, and if you like Uncharted, I doubt this will disappoint. Has aspects of an idiot plot, and thinks it's far more emotional than it is, but overall the story is a lark and the gameplay tight. It has a lot of money behind it, and it shows.
    
30. Banjo-Kazooie – Absolute classic from Rare, one of the foundational entries into the 3D platformer genre, and despite its venerable age, still one of the greats.
    
31. Sunless Sea – Going mad at sea has never been more fun than in this mix of RPG, naval combat, trading sim, resource management game and choose your own adventure. May not be to everyone’s tastes, but I was sucked into the world of the Unterzee for weeks trying to make my name as a Zee Captain.
    
32. DOOM – I don’t know what to say, I have had more fun with DOOM than I have had with an FPS game in years, and it’s frenetic, bloody, over the top fun. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I can appreciate a cover based shooter, but I'd gotten pretty sick of having ONLY cover based shooters for most of the 2010’s
    
33. Hollow Knight – You know, I made this list in an attempt to try and find a game OTHER than Hollow Knight that I played this year that I would put at the top of the list, because, you know, it ain’t perfect, I could nitpick and complain about hollow Knight plenty. But as I went down the list I just realised that, for me at least, it was the full package. Cuphead may have better art, but Hollow Knight is still beautiful. OneShot may have had the most affecting story, but I was still drawn in to Hollow Knight’s lore. Something like N++ may have tighter mechanics, but hollow Knight still felt like a joy to control (at least after I got the first few movement upgrades, dang metroidvanias). Maybe there’s a little too much back tracking, and there are some bosses I take umbrage with, but any niggles are far outweighed by the classy package that is Hollow Knight. Do yourself a favour and join the insect inhabitants of Hollownest as you try to piece together what left the world in such a sorry state.

So there you have it, my games of 2017, ordered like some kind of serial killer. I feel like the list looks bad on some games, but I try to make an effort to only play good things, so don't think that just because it's low down on the list it isn't worth playing, I just played some pretty good shit this year.

And with that, I'll get back to editing the podcast, sorry I'm so slow. Please don't yell at me.

Bookend Awards Interlude: Best Songs

Yea, I listen to weird music. I haven't asked him, but you can take it as a given that this list is 100% NOT approved of by Louis.

Aozora no Rhapsody by fhána – Fuck off. This song makes me happy. Leave me alone.

Bow Down by CHVRCHES – I like CVURCHES album ‘Every Open Eye’, and this is my favourite song from the album. Not really much more to it than that.

Circles by Machineheart – Listening back, I don’t know why, the weird breakdown is weird, and the other half feels like pop bs voice, but it works for me.

Komm Süsser Todd (Come Sweet Death) – Heard it in the End of Evangelion, and damn, it’s such a glorious celebration of your impending death. I recommend as a song to commit suicide to. Not from personal experience though, obviously.

Ghost by Mystery Skulls – i quite like this whole album by mystery skull, and I don’t know if this is just because it’s the first song by them that I heard, but Ghost is the one that’s stuck with me.

Greuxx by ロードス(Rhodes) – Mmm, I just love the sick vibrations as Greuxx progresses. Those dirty dirty techno riffs take me to my happy place.

Lay Down by Caravan Palace – It’s pretty weird, with an insistent beat. I like it.

Motteke! Sailor Fuku! by Aya Hirano, Emiri Katō, Kaori Fukuhara, and Aya Endō – It’s some anime bullshit, and the lyrics are hilariously raunchy for such a vanilla slice of life if you translate them. But man, this makes me want to order a second bowl of tonkatsu and bemoan my dull winter school uniform. Then become a cheer leader.

Point Of View by DB Boulevard –The nineties are calling and they want this song back. But it’s good shit that I somehow haven’t heard before. I mean, I’m sure I have, but I never knew the song’s name before, so I’m keeping it.

Lift Off by Suken – Sick beats my friends. Dare I say, the sickest? Suken know what the fuck they’re doing, and no mistake.

Sweet Blue Flag from the Killer7 OST – I Couldn’t give them the best gaming score and not have a track from them here. It’s a toss up between this and Rave On that I linked in that award, but I think Sweet Blue Flag just has that insistent pulse that get’s you super pumped. But, let’s be honest, the entire OST is gold.

Underground Gem by Windmills – I still need to catch up with their newest album, but Windmills are a class act and some good rappers. It was either this, or Bring Out The Sun, but I thought it was just too easy to pick the song that sampled music from Demon’s Souls.

Vintage by Allie X – What can I say, loving that vintage chintz.

Youkoso! Hitori Bocchi – This song is depression incarnate that plays at various points in Welcome to the N.H.K.  and a strong contender with Komm Süsser Todd for best song to commit suicide to.

And the winner is...

                Komm Süsser Todd

Yea, I feel dirty for picking a song I heard in an anime, even if it was a feature film one, but what can I say, I think it’s the song I’ve listened to the most this year since I heard it. And, god damn, it’s just so glorious and sad. If anyone heard me play it I’d half expect them to think I was depressed or suicidal, but that’s just missing the point. This isn’t a song about ending it all, it’s a song for when things are already ending, and while mistakes have been made and it may be sad, you may have regrets, you may want a do over, but it doesn’t matter – it all returns to nothing. Then you turn into Tang.

Bookend Awards Interlude: Best Other TV

Now, I haven’t been watching too much this year, mostly because I’m slowly working my way through old Doctor Who and Star Trek, which is an insanely long proposition. But there you go, this is what I scraped together. Making this list made me realise I watch FAR too many cartoons for someone my age.

60s Star Trek – Gene Roddenbury’s classic. You have to have your camp meter set to maximum to enjoy this. I love watching old shows like this and I was amazed at how many references to this show I’d seen and not even realised were references. But yea, prepare yourself for some hilarious sets, effects, fights and acting.

Aeon Flux – Peter Chung’s avant-garde science fiction series. It’s bloody weird, and I’m still not sure if I preferred it before or after they stopped having no dialogue, but it’s like nothing else.

Big Mouth – Gross out heart-warming cartoon about kids going through puberty. It has a pretty, uh, divisive art style, but I enjoyed it.

Bojack Horseman Series 4 – Yep, Bojack is still a piece of shit, and yes, you still feel sorry for him. If you liked the older series, you should like this one.

Inside Number 9 – Comedy from the people who brought you the league of gentlemen and Psychoville. If you liked either of those series I think you’ll like this, and they really do use the framing device of each plot just taking place in a different house that is a number 9 to full effect, giving all sorts of different genres and characters. I do however think that sometimes they tried too hard to fit a big twist into the episodes, and because they are so varied some may just be misses to you based on your preferences.

John Pertwee Era Doctor Who – If you can’t hack the black and white, then Pertwee is the best place to start classic Who, and he’s one of the best Doctors in my opinion. The Unit family and earthbound nature of the first few seasons gives this a very different feel, especially with the introduction of the Master, but the vast majority of Pertwee’s run is very strong. Of course, as is par for the course with classic who, you have to be able to accept some hilariously bad special effects as part of the package.

OK K.O. – After years of Pushing, Ian Jones Quarterly finally got Cartoon Network to back his cartoon, and you know, it’s pretty good. In some recent episodes we have had some whisperings of plot, but for the most part it’s been happy just being a slice of life with K.O., Enid and Rad at Mr Gar’s Bodega at Lakewood Plaza Turbo. Can be patchy, and there’s no tricking yourself that you’re not watching a children’s cartoon, but I had a fun time! Also, they manage to get some really unexpected people turning up as voice actors!

Rick and Morty Series 3 – Like a lot of people I thought this was the weakest season yet, but I still found it pretty funny overall. It seems like Dan harmon is having a mental breakdown and is getting super bitter over his divorce, and it might be affecting the show, but let’s see what next series holds before I write the show off. It might just be because it’s broken through to the normies and I hate to share.

South Park – After the complete abortion that was the last series, Matt and Trey have pulled back on the season long arcs and betting on far from guaranteed political results to make their episodes work. I still need to finish it but this season was a definite step in the right direction.

Steven Universe – Yea yea, I know this is a show for cucks and autists historically (so I'll fit right in), but what can I say, it has its claws into me now. The bomb format was a very bad idea, and it feels like very few episodes aired this year, which has lead to the towny episodes, that I’m usually fine with, really start to feel more like padding when the actual plot should be getting resolved. I could make a lot of complaints about how various plots and characters have been handled the last season or so, but I just have to remind myself it’s a cartoon for little kids, and stop being so autistic. I still think it’s a fun series overall.

Xavier Renegade Angel  - Frutata! I watched this as people were for some reason bringing it up as the anti-Rick and Morty. I’m not sure if I’d say that, but it was bloody entertaining insanity, and I’m glad it’s getting seen more, even if it’s about a decade after it first aired.

Yes, Minister – I’m slowly working my way through this old political comedy, and it’s both still surprisingly funny and horrifically relevant to today’s politics. Why does nothing ever change? If you enjoyed The Thick of It you should do yourself a favour and check this one out.

And the winner is...

                Inside Number 9

Now, Louis will be mad at me, because I’m a useless sack of shit and haven’t even started season 3 yet, and as comedy is so subjective you may just hate this, but picking this up reminded me how much I love some of the weird shit the UK pumps out when it comes to comedy outside of the god awful sitcoms. Plus I really didn’t want to pick a cartoon and look like even more of a man child than I already do.

Bookend Awards Interlude: Best Comic

Or ‘Graphic novel’ if you want to be a pretentious piece of shit, but let’s not put on airs and graces here. Even though i use the terms interchangeably because I am myself a pretentious piece of shit.

Beserk – Kentaro Miura’s dark fantasy is of often put in the running for best manga ever, and I can see why. I’ve only read until the end of the golden age arc, which is the one everyone knows about because that’s usually as far as any anime adaption gets, and it is a damn fine read with some fantastic art. It’s been made famous for the gore and violence, which certainly is there, but Guts and Griffith are a fantastically well realised set of characters, along with the rest of the band of the Hawk.

Devlin Waugh – Some fucking insanity from the world of Judge Dredd. Devlin Waugh is a homosexual, foppish Vampire who works for the Vatican as a supernatural investigator. It feels like reading a Constantine book, but with everything turned up to 11 on the insanity charts.

Fables – In particular books 6-14 this year. To be honest, I think fables has kind of let it’s starting concept of the fables from legend living in the real world run away from it. What started as a framing device of the nameless Adversary pushing them to hide in the mundane world has now become the plot, which was the somewhat inevitable conclusion of having the story run so long, but I think it was to the detriment of the series. Regardless, they are very well put together, and for all my complaints I’m going to keep reading to see where it all goes, because even at it's worst, fables is pretty great.

Injustice: Gods among us – A tie in to the games of the same name made by DC. It’s pretty engaging, but very stupid, and very bloated. You could easily cut out two books and nothing would be different other than some minor characters being dead. The best part was plastic man rescuing his son from Superman’s underwater prison. It’s a case where they when so far to make Superman Evil and ruined any moral ambiguity on which side was in the right. It ends up being just laughable ANYONE is with Superman, so it’s pretty much an idiot plot since the end of the first year. But what can I say, for the most part it was entertaining.

Preacher – Trade paperback 1. I picked this up out of curiosity after I found out they were making a series of it, and now I can’t watch the series because they changed so much. Que sera sera. Nothing amazing from the first book, but a fun idea with engaging characters, and some pretty visceral scenes. I plan to pick up more to see where it goes at some point.

Providence – Books 1 and 2. Alan Moore gets a lot of leeway from me, even when his books aren’t good, they are certainly interesting. And Providence is good. Robert Black, a gay writer, decides to take a leave of absence from his job at a newspaper to get over a break up and chase a story he things could help give him material for his book, but as he starts digging shit gets weird, fast. There’s lots of Lovecraftian goodness in this yarn and I’m hoping to get the third volume soon to find out how on earth this all comes together, but just based on what I've read this comes recommended from this bookend. Special note of the format of having no on page thought bubbles, but the main characters journal at the end of each chapter. It can be quite interesting seeing how what he says and thinks can differ across the story and how he attempts to rationalise the madness he encounters after the fact.

Swamp Thing – Volume 6. The final part of Alan Moore’s run on the series. Gives swampy an ending he deserves after a trippy journey through space. Moore's run on the comic is famous for a reason.

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers – A strip full of stoner humour first printed in the 70’s, and still pretty funny in my opinion. It’s always depressing when decades old satire from before I was born can feel just as relevant today.

Top 10 – Jee, I wonder if I have a thing for Alan Moore’s work... I wasn’t too fond of Top 10 when I started it, I thought it was just too by the numbers - a police procedural, but everyone has super powers, how lolrandom! But I guess that was all necessary set up, because by the end I was hooked on this weird and wonderful world where everyone is a superhero.

And the winner is...

                Providence

I love me some Alan Moore, and this demented trip across America hooked me from the start, and if it wasn’t so close to Christmas I would have already bought volume 3 for myself. It was a close one between this and Beserk, but I can't bring myself to give that much support to a manga that is never going to be finished by the author. 

Bookend Awards Interlude: Best Anime

To keep you hanging on the game of the year for a little longer, let’s look at some other media other than games I consumed in 2017, and let’s get the weebshit out of the way with the best Anime I watched this year:

Attack on Titan Series 2 – I mean, if you watched the first series, you'll probably want to watch this. I have no idea why they waited so long to make the second series, and I feel they let the hype die on the branch. But if you are still interested there are some big twists and a larger focus on the secondary characters this season. And we're still not even halfway through the available Manga... Pull your finger out and get season 3 done before people really stop caring guys, don't give another 3 year wait!

Bakamonogatari – The first series of the now stupidly long Monogatari series was a bit of a slow start for me, but now I’ve finished it I really want to watch the next one. I don’t usually like Harems, where the main character is just inexplicably surrounded by hot girls, but they’re all such compelling characters in the end I stopped caring. Join half vampire Araragi, Senjougahara the weightless girl with an arsenal of lethal stationary and the rest of the equally fucked up gang in this strikingly directed and pretty damn weird monster story that works well as a standalone series without watching the 100’s of episodes that follow.

Black lagoon: Roberta's blood trial – A follow up six episode OVA to the fantastic Black Lagoon. The former mercenary now Maid Roberta has her mind break when her master is killed in a political assassination and arrives in Roanpur to kill the people responsible, while the black Lagoon crew end up entangled in the mess due to the myriad players trying to make use of the situation. Not the strongest story in Black lagoon, but an entertaining time.

Higurashi no koru ni Kai – After the first series of Higurashi you will have no idea what is really going on. For better or worse, by the end of this one you will. If you watched the first series, you owe it to yourself to watch this one to tie up the loose ends, but the series as a whole is too weird and inconsistent to really recommend, starting with a good idea that it overplays by the end.

Hunter X Hunter – Probably the best shonen series ever made, now finished because Higashi is crippled by his bad back and they caught up with the Manga, but if HxH never gets another anime series, this one ends on a damn strong note. Great characters, villains, stories, interesting power dynamics and every arc feels totally different. If you like anime at all you should at least check it out, even if the episode count seems a little daunting at first, I blasted few it in a few weeks after I started. It’s just that good.

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – A really silly anime about fighting weird lava zombies on an armoured train. Good for some mindless action, but not much else.

Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon – Started watching as a joke, loved it by the end. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is the gayest thing ever and I love it. After having her life saved by Miss Kobayashi, the Dragon Tohru falls in love with her and decides to become her live in Maid. And they basically end up adopting a young dragon to complete the family, and slowly more kooky dragons end up interfering with their reality. Funny and heart-warming, though may have too much, sometimes a little bizarre, fan service for some people. I didn’t know that tricking people into eating your tail was a fetish until watching this show.

Konosuba – Series 2 to be precise, but the whole series is gold. Transported to a fantasy world after dying of a heart attack when trying to save a girl from a slow moving tractor (she was in no danger), the NEET Kazuma find this fantasy world sucks just as much as the real one when he finds the only people he can get to party up with him is a low IQ goddess, a mage who can only cast one spell that leaves her catatonic for a day after a single cast and a sadomasochistic Knight who’s unable to hit anything with her sword. May not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s the funniest Anime I watched this year.

Little Witch Academia – Harry potter in an all girls school basically. A full series based off of studio Trigger’s OVA’s released a few years back, which live in a different continuity to this full series, and in my opinion Trigger nailed it yet again. Our protagonist is Akko, a dumb but well meaning girl from a normal, not witch, family who wanted to become a witch after watching the performer Shiny Chariot as a child. There’s a colourful cast of supporting characters, which frankly probably don’t get enough screen time when the plot kicks into gear in the second half, and it becomes all about Akko, her sort of rival Diana and their professors Ursula and Croix. While I think it was at its strongest as a magical high school slice of life in the first half, I still had a good time from start to finish.

Lucky Star – Unless you already care about anime, otaku culture and Japanese culture in general, this show will probably be pretty much incomprehensible to you, but I loved this slice of life as Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa and Miyuki make the most banal seeming day to day things interesting due to the personality quirks they each have. Probably most normal people would hate or not get it, but if this is your thing, you’ll love it.

Space patrol Luluco – Absolute madness and a love letter to their past made by Studio Trigger. They had me with the OP and didn’t let me go until the miniseries was finished.

Welcome to the NHK – Equal parts crushingly depressing and hilarious. The hikikomori Tatsuhiro Satou has been stuck in his apartment for four years after having a breakdown on the way to his first day at college has his life turned upside down by the girl Misaki who takes it upon herself to fix him, for not wholly altruistic reasons. On the way Satou gets dragged into making an erotic visual novel (a galge or ‘Gal Game’), a pyramid scheme, a suicide pact and more, all of which he blames on the shadowy Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai (roughly 'Japan Hikkikomori Conspiracy'), the eponymous N.H.K of the title. In my opinion, it takes too long to get going, with Satou refusing to get involved in Misaki’s plans for too long, when it’s clear that’s where the story is going, but by the end I ended up caring about all these characters, despite how awful they all are, all for their own entirely believable reasons. And Satou-kun’s life is just hilariously fucked up.

And the winner is...

                Hunter X Hunter

Man, I watched some other damn good Anime this year, but there’s just no topping HxH, it’s not just one of the best Shonen Anime ever, it’s one of the best Anime of any genre. It took a lot of pushing by friends to actually sit down and watch it, because I hate long series as a rule, but it does live up to the hype.

Bookend Game Awards: Best Game Direction

So, how is game direction different from just being the best game? Like, could a game be game of the year with poor direction? Could the game that wins best direction not be in at least the top 5? Why would the game with the best direction not be the game of the year? Whatever, I’ve taken it to mean a game that does something truly noteworthy in the way it’s been presented or put together, even if it may be lacking too much in other areas to by “Game of the Year” by normal metrics, so this list may be a little out there.

• ICEY – Doing the Stanley parable meets the beginners guide with an action game is a pretty interesting idea, one that I don’t always think works, but it’s an interesting take from a Chinese studio.
• Inside – Really well presented second game from the limbo devs, some unexpected turns in this puzzler for sure.
• Killer7 – Madness incarnate, nobody has ever made a shooter quite like this before, and for good reason. If this was anyone other than SUDA51 this game would be a bizarre footnote of how not to make a game, but they manage to make it all come together. Hard to get into, but once you do, it’s an experience you won’t soon forget.
• OneShot – It does some interesting things, not unique by any means, but it works damn well in the package presented. Can’t really elaborate without spoilers unfortunately.
• Superhot – If it isn’t the most innovative shooter of 2016... But let’s be honest, the whole thing with the bullets moving when you do is still pretty genius.

And the winner is...

                Superhot

A unique concept, sublimely executed. I’m late on the train, but the game deserves some recognition in these lists.

Now we’ve just left with the actual game of the year to announce, but first, and interlude I think...

Bookend Game Awards: Best Narrative

Hmm, a tough one, because I am not easily impressed when it comes to narratives, in Games, books or films. I’m very good at enjoying things, then ripping the shit out of everything I perceive to be wrong with them when I’m done. Plus, not a great deal of games I played this year have been particularly story driven, but let’s see.

• DOOM – Kinda cheeky this one, the story itself is fairly generic doom fare, but I love how the doom marine can pretty much just opt out of it and keep fucking up demons with no context if he wants to, in a more active way than just the player skipping cutscenes.
• Hollow Knight – A little cheeky here too, this is more a matter of interesting lore coming together than the narrative itself, per se. But wanting to understand what happened to Hollownest and how the Knight fits into it all was definitely a further motivator to keep playing.
• OneShot – Super interesting story about restoring the sun of the dying world, being a sort of god, breaking your programming and more that would be a spoiler to mention here.
• Red Dead Redemption – You know, it’s about revenge, atonement, family and stuff. Mostly well done but I’ll be honest, the ending that everyone else loves I found horribly contrived.
• Uncharted: A Thief's End – A competent tale of Nathan Drake being left somewhat unfulfilled living a life without adventure, finding out his presumed dead brother is alive and getting dragged into a mad story of racing a British rich boy with an inferiority complex and a south African Mercenary Lady to find the lost treasure of Pirate Captain Avery. It was fun in an Indiana Jones kind of way, as Uncharted generally is. But it kinda loses me when it starts taking itself too seriously.

And the winner is...

                OneShot

You know, until I wrote out their nomination texts, I was thinking this was going to Red Dead or uncharted by default, but after I actually stopped to think about it I realised that OneShot was the only one that actually made me think or feel an iota of emotion. It’s one of the few games I’ve played twice this year, because... let’s just say the second time round is a very different experience. It’s hard to say much more without spoiling it, but I do recommend OneShot very highly.

Join me next time for Best Game Direction!

Bookend Game Awards: Best Art Direction

Got some strong contenders this year, but I feel like this may be one category where I actually agree with the proper Games Awards...

• Cuphead – I mean, just look at it. The game is well made and fun, but it’s the art style that’s made it big news this year.
• Hollow Knight – I feel  like Hollow Knight has gotten shamefully overlooked, art wise, due to Cuphead coming out, the hand drawn animation in this game is also achingly beautiful.
• Hyper Light Drifter – VOMITING. NEON. PIXEL. BLOOD. Some breathtaking pixel work by the people who worked on this.
• N++ - A minimalist heaven, it’s clean, and allows you to customise the look, but that look is ALWAYS good.
• Puppeteer – A genius idea to present a game like a play, framed with puppets and a stage. It commits to the bit and is truly a unique sight in gaming.

And the winner is...

                Cuphead

Like I mentioned above, basically nobody would care about this game if it wasn’t for the art style, but WHAT an art style. It really is like playing a cartoon and it undoubtedly deserved to win this category in the game awards proper.

Join me next time for Best Narrative!