As the year winds down to a close, it is important to remember those who are close to us. Jeremy and his son, Dylan, man the podcast this week to discuss the deep things in life, like which video games are best and how Daniel really is a monster for not allowing Dylan to eat marshmallows that one time.
This episode and next week's episode are a bit out of the norm for what this podcast usually tackles, but hopefully that makes them no less enjoyable than usual. We will be back the second week of 2017 with our episode on the best games of 2016, so bear with us while we take a bit of a break from our normal shows.
Outro music: Pokémon Diamond Version 'Bullet for My Piloswine' by halc, PROTO·DOME, and WillRock (http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02192)
You can follow the show on Twitter: @BestGamesPeriod
Or download the podcast from Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/thebestgamesperiod
Ubisoft created a hit with the original Assassin's Creed, but its successor, Assassin's Creed II, managed to establish a franchise that has practically become serialized with yearly releases. Set in Renaissance-era Italy, the history-rich action-adventure game places players into the role of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a fiery nobleman whose family is betrayed and killed. Ezio dedicates his life to uncovering why and obtaining vengeance as a member of the shadowy Assassin Order. The sprawling city-scapes filled with realistic NPCs captivated audiences in 2009, but does the experience hold up as technology and game design have moved ahead?
Outro music: Hitman: Codename 47 'Chained to a Barcode' by Rayagon (http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01075)
You can follow the show on Twitter: @BestGamesPeriod
Or download the podcast from Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/thebestgamesperiod
Back in 2008, developer DICE took a major risk on a game called Mirror's Edge. It tackled one of the most difficult genres, the first-person platformer. At the time, many in the gaming community considered platforming from a first-person perspective to be the bane of many games and the idea of constructing an entire game around that concept seemed ridiculous. Despite that, DICE pushed ahead and made their game a reality. It starred Faith Connors, a female protagonist of color, as a Runner, one of the few people able to travel outside of an oppressive government's near omni-present surveillance. Using Faith's parkour skills, players had to traverse environments that made use of a shocking, gorgeously clean aesthetic. It was at times clumsy and disorienting, but functional and it gained a major following.
Does Mirror's Edge hold up eight years later?
Outro music: Mirror's Edge 'Clear Reflections' by Sir_NutS (http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR03003)
You can follow the show on Twitter: @BestGamesPeriod
Or download the podcast from Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/thebestgamesperiod
Recorded on the one year anniversary of The Best Games Period and a handful of days away from the release of The Last Guardian - we present a lengthy, in-depth look at Team ICO's Shadow of the Colossus. The 2005 PlayStation 2 title carried the spirit of ICO into a large open-world full of magic, danger, and beauty. Though not glowingly received by critics at the time, regard for the third-person adventure game seems to have grown over the years in an odd case of a game becoming better over time. Is this a case of collectively wearing rose-colored glasses or have people been slowly coming around on the tale of a man meddling with forces beyond his understanding?
Outro music: 'The Sunlit Earth' by Kow Otani
You can follow the show on Twitter: @BestGamesPeriod
Or download the podcast from Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/thebestgamesperiod