The Best Game of July 2016

Honorable Mention #1: Headlander

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Associate Edtior Chris Jecks: Headlander isn’t your ordinary side-scroller. It’s not an overly lengthy affair, nor does it have an abundance of different abilities to utilize on your journey through its 1970s-styled sci-fi world. What it does have, however, is charm, humor, and compelling gameplay by the bucket load

Headlander sees the player assume the role of one of three disembodied heads that awaken on the Starcophagus ship and try to put a stop to the evil AI, Methuselah. Tasked with freeing humanity from the enslaving reign of said artificial intelligence, you’ll have to pull the heads off a variety of different robots and assume control of their bodies in order to progress through increasing levels of ‘color security’ guarding Methuselah.

Though the side-scrolling action largely has you navigating a sprawling maze of corridors and battling these Shepherd robot enemies, it’s the moments away from these familiar walls that are the most enjoyable. Disengaging a number of different lift locks, and battling it out in a weird robot spin on the game of chess were highlights which married the rich character of the world with the gameplay perfectly.

If you’re seeking a game that is fun, challenging and oozing with charm and that classic Double Fine humor, then look no further.

Honorable Mention #2: Monster Hunter Generations

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Staff Writer Chaz Miller: Monster Hunter Generations deserves a nod if only for doing exactly what it set out to. Capcom’s aim was to expand on the existing formula and add new features that would appeal to those who weren’t already fans. With the addition of Hunter Styles and Hunter Arts, they pulled this off without skewing the game’s careful balance or disappointing the series’ existing players. By adding in these flashy new pieces, they also expanded on the game’s focus on finding your own play style.

More to the point, by tossing in a ton of previous locations and monsters, the series has given a great way for newcomers to see some of what drew others to the games in past releases. It may not be packed with all-new content, but some tweaks have been made to keep things fresh.

Monster Hunter has always been a game about players finding for themselves the best approach. The new Hunter Styles and Arts build on this, and the fine-tuning of existing content helps make sure that the game hasn’t drifted from its purpose. If you’re in the mood to hunt down huge, dangerous creatures, there’s no better game to accomplish this than the skill-focused Monster Hunter. For fans new and old, Generations fires on all cylinders.

June 2016’s Game of the Month: I Am Setsuna

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Managing Editor Ed McGlone: Ironically, despite being a very traditional JRPG, I Am Setsuna is a breath of fresh in the genre dominated by action-RPGS and massive choice-driven open world games. It has all the elements you remember from the golden age of JRPGs back in the late 90s, early 2000s. Airships, traversable world maps, turn-based action, towns loaded with NPCs, the occasional side quests, and more are all in play in I Am Setsuna.

The game’s success isn’t just fueled by nostalgia either. I Am Setsuna modernizes the genre too. Visually, the game looks like a proper 2016 console JRPG with an old-school touch. Tokyo RPG Factory didn’t settle for using a dated graphical style. It channels that aesthetic, but has a modern polish which looks beautiful. The game’s momentum system (which you can learn about here) takes the monotony out of frequent battles by giving you the opportunity to overwhelm weaker enemies in a way that never gets old and it also adds a layer of strategy in tougher boss battles. The grinding in I Am Setsuna is rare, but even when I needed to, it was actually kind of fun just slaughtering packs of enemies so easily by taking advantage of momentum.

I Am Setsuna is a prime example of how you can still teach an old-genre some new tricks instead of completely overhauling everything that people remember for the sake of being “modern.” Will it go down as an all-time great JRPG? No. However, this month, in an era devoid of solid JRPG games, helping Setsuna reach the Last Lands is definitely a journey we enjoyed embarking on, which makes I Am Setsuna more than worthy of our July 2016 Game of the Month honors.

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That does it for our July 2016 Game of the Month. Congratulations to I Am Setsuna! What were your favorite games this month? Let us know in the comments!