1) The Evil Within: I have never played a game which so well represents the struggle of having a debilitating mental illness. In presentation, it can fill the player's head with images which make their skin crawl with horror, yet upon further reflection can be seen as ordinary events. The player is forced to see ordinary things through the eyes of a madman. Some, legitimately terrifying. Such as electroshock therapy. Some, as ordinary as a new person or looking in a mirror. I play this game to indulge my inner perfectionist. Each presented sequence will receive hours upon hours of my upmost personal attention and my physiological responses coordinated down to point of excitation and predicted breathing patterns. From the creator of Resident Evil; this game will scare you in innovative new ways.
2) Sunset Overdrive: My bottom bitch. My video game thunder buddy. My shameless addiction. This game made learning rudimentary binary thrilling and rewarding. Like a cracked out Tony Hawk game. Boundless freedom, airtight awesomeness. Enemies can be trained, as in Dead Rising 3. (Only I haven't seen quite as shocking results as I had in Dead Rising.)
3) Rocksmith: I've been in two bands, and I have no idea how to play an instrument. This take on Guitar Hero by Ubisoft is made to be used with any electric guitar or bass. It has all the bells and whistles you could ever dream up, and a bunch you probably wouldn't have. The learning curve is pretty extreme, but worth it because I'm learning a skill. And learning quite well. If you follow its suggestions and play regularly; you'll feel like a pro in a couple months.
4) Fallout Shelter: reminds me of Sim Tower. A very happy childhood memory.
5) The Crew: What can I say? Ubisoft is a very versatile company. I had Driver: San Francisco on 360 and %100ed it. Such a gas, as is The Crew. Forza is a little over my head, but this game has its own technical rewards like seeing any given engine chopped up into moving cross sections, or seeing a vehicle in a different light while realizing what kind of driver you really are. It's fun to work the count(baseball term) on vehicles/upgrades, a massive open world full of surprises and a veritable sea of gems. Sightseeing might be my favorite aspect. And ya know the story mechanics are pretty darn good. You could power through the story mode as a man on a mission, or do like I do and focus on reaching max level and having a full deck of cars for anything you might want to do. The soundtrack is fantastic. I am partial to the classical station. The only thing lacking is the online community is sparsely populated by fun people. Most just want to focus on their own thing, but I usually want to play freeze tag or some cat & mouse variation.
