 Hey guys, Jeremy here, a different kind of video here today. If you haven't seen some of my previous videos, I've been talking about Victor Lucas and the Electronic Playground, sponsoring and supporting them. Anyways, Vic just sent on a message just a few days ago talking about the Rocket and Raygun Awards and he's letting sponsors do videos talking about certain best categories games for 2017 and they might be featured in the Rocket and Raygun section when he does it later this year. So I'm going to do a few categories myself, whether you guys agree with them or not. It's just up to you guys. This is my opinion. Admittedly, I did not play a lot of games in 2017, but this is what I thought were the best in the categories that I'm talking about. I'm only talking about a few, so let's start it off. My favorite RPG of 2017 was Shadow of War. The sequel to the critically acclaimed Shadow of Mordor, Shadow of War exceeded my expectations and gave me a bloody good time. The game took the nemesis system in a direction I never thought possible and expanded on the whole aspect of encountering orcs, not only to what they use, but what their strengths were, what their weaknesses were, what they wore, what they did, their aspects, whether they sung or not. There were so many different interactions in the game, I lost count of all the different varieties of orcs that you could encounter. And then there's the loot that came with them that was so intriguing, so cool to mix and match what kind of armor and weapons you could use that admittedly there was a lot of hard decisions of whether I should dominate an orc or kill him. The gameplay in Shadow of War has improved on Shadow of Mordor in every aspect, and the game still kicks your ass. It's addictive, it's got great timing, it has so many nail-biting moments. The sieges alone are so fun. I never really thought I would take advantage of the whole online fortress aspect of the game, but in the end I've probably put as many hours into that aspect of the game as I had with the regular game itself. Just watching so many orcs all on the screen at once and watching your fellow orc captains fight and die alongside you creates amazingly emotionally gripping and heart-wrenching moments that just make you almost want to restart the game because you didn't want to lose them, but the risk versus reward is so intriguing. And sure, the story probably wasn't the most compelling part of the game, but I do applaud Monolith for really going out there with taking the lore and just going balls out crazy with some of the aspects, especially the ending. Now, admittedly, you couldn't invite a bunch of Tolkien fans over and discuss the ideals and everything of this game because they're going to want to slap you in the face because this definitely is not canon, but it's still an entertaining experience nonetheless. In the end, Shadow of War is a great hack and slash RPG game. It has fantastic combat. The gameplay difficulty is on point, always challenging you but never really beating you unless you feel like taking the other difficulties. The siege assault mode in the game is super fun. It's super awesome to see so many orcs fighting each other at once. And also the whole micro transaction issue, I never found an issue with it. I never once thought of buying a box during the entirety of playing the game. And I never bought one with physical money afterwards. I've never put any more money into this game than buying it in the season's past. So that is why my choice for the best RPG of 2017 is Shadow of War. Now moving on to my favorite racer of 2017. My choice for the best racer of 2017 is Dirt 4. Dirt 4 returns the Columna Cray Dirt Rally series to the former Granger that it once had. The game is some of the best driving I've ever seen in a racing game. And this is coming from a guy who absolutely adored Forza Horizon 3. Admittedly, however, this game is no more near as forgiving as other racing series like the Forza Horizon series. And those games you can drive through a tree and pretty much have no repercussions. This game, however, you make the slightest error. And the whole thing goes wrong. But by doing so, it also makes the experience so much more engaging, so much more intense and so much more rewarding when you finish your race. I love Dirt 4 for all aspects of the game from its visual standards to its audio complexities, to its absolutely balls to the wall driving. The game also has great visuals and great audio making the car experience even more lifelike and really putting you in the seat of each car and making each experience challenging as well as visually authentic. The game also features a random map stage generator. So every staged race is different from the last and you'll never go through the same one again. The game is always challenging you. It's always putting you right at the edge of your seat, but it feels so rewarding when you finish a race. Either way, Dirt 4 is a must pick up for fans of racing games as well as rally cross games. And that's why I feel that Dirt 4 should be the best racer of 2017. Finally, I want to talk about the biggest failure of the worst loss of 2017 in gaming. And that is the loss of visceral game studios, primarily known for making the Dead Space series. Those guys were connoisseurs of making single play experiences. Even though three is definitely cast in shadow for EA poking their whole hands in it and just kind of mucking with it. I still really enjoyed Dead Space 3. But what also adds to the loss is that they were responsible for games I never knew that they made as EA read with studios. They were responsible for making a bunch of really awesome games like James Bond, everything or nothing. Lord's of the Rings, the Third Age, our Lord's of the Rings, the Return of the King. These games were so freaking fun to play. I put hundreds of hours into these games as a kid. And the fact that EA has put this studio in particular into the ground is really disturbing and troubling for me. This was a company that I actually really enjoyed. I enjoyed their products. I bought a lot of Dead Space merch. And when I noticed that Dead Space merch had disappeared from EA a few years ago, I had a very disturbing thought that they might go. And in the end, that's what's happened. And I was really looking forward to the uncharted-esque like Star Wars game that they were making. And I salute everyone who worked for Visceral. And I wish the best of luck to those guys as I think that they got the shaft in the worst way possible. And I feel for them. And that's why I feel that the loss of Visceral Game Studios is the worst failure of 2017. Anyways, guys, that ends my video for the Rocket and Ray Gun submissions. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Admittedly, I know this is a little strange for me, but I really thought it was a cool idea that Victor Lucas is letting sponsors try and do this and submit to it. And I'm really excited to see what other people say. I didn't have a Nintendo Switch, so I know I'm missing out on a lot of games and a lot of different experiences for this year. But in the end, I'm very interested to see what other people say about what their favorites were. 2017 was definitely an interesting year for gaming. Not just in terms of what games came out, but the news that came with the game. So if anything, the news about certain games was bigger than the games themselves. In the end, guys, thank you for watching this video. Vic, thank you for doing this. This is such a cool idea. And I look forward to seeing what you choose for the Rocket and Ray Gun Awards. Anyways, guys, I hope you enjoyed this video. See you guys next time.