By The Numbers: PSLS's 2016 Best Games

PlayStation LifeStyle has been around for nearly 10 years, and I figured a fun way to kickoff our new statistical-driven feature By the Numbers would be to take a look at some of the lowest scores we’ve handed out to games over the years. Some readers asked to see the highest reviewed games, and there ended up being a lot more games that got awarded a 10 than a 1. Due to that, I’m separating this feature into a few parts (if you missed them, make sure to read the first and second parts).

In the third of three parts, we’re taking a look at the games that received the prestigious 10/10 score in 2015 through the present day. The past two and a half years have been filled with great games, but only seven titles were able to grab our top score.

With that said, check out the seven games in those two and a half years that were able to capture the reviewers’ hearts and have PlayStation LifeStyle give them a 10/10 rating below:

I’ve included the reviews for each game in the slideshow above. So, if you want to learn why each game earned their 10/10 rating then read the full text. As the great Dave Meltzer often says, “reading is your friend.”

Let us know in the comments what titles you thought were 2016 best games!

By the Numbers is a new weekly recurring feature that’ll look at gaming from a numbers-oriented view. Next week we’ll be back with a look at Sony’s first-party studios.

Essential Reading:

by the numbers best reviewed games pt 3

Highest Scored Games Part Three
Journey

Chandler Wood wrote in his review:

"Journey is minimalist to allow you to fill in those gaps with your own emotion and experience — to apply your personal situation and make the story your own. It’s a simple beauty, but one that shines brightly and now has the opportunity to be played by millions more thanks to its stunning upgrade to PS4, with beautiful lighting and environments that impress. Whether you’ve played Journey before, or never had the opportunity, do yourself a favor and make your way to the top of the mountain on PS4. You may find more on the way to the peak than you expected at the outset."
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Paulmichael Contreras wrote in his review:

"Incredibly, unbelievably, what we have here is a nearly perfect finale to the Metal Gear franchise. I truly believe that The Phantom Pain is where Kojima always envisioned he would take the franchise. This is personalized, open-world infiltration at its finest. You have so many options at your disposal with which to complete your missions, it truly is mind-boggling. Whether you sneak in, secure your objective, and sneak out without alerting a single enemy combatant, or run in guns blazing with air support at your back, how you plan and execute your attack is key, and it’s amazingly rewarding to see a well-thought out assault come to fruition. On that same token, recovering from a mistake such as not accounting for an enemy or circumstance that the game throws at you can be its own form of exhilaration as you race to find a secure spot from which to reset. If this is truly the last game in the series with Kojima’s name on it, then there is no better way to exit the stage gracefully."
Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection

Chandler Wood wrote in his review:

"That ten down there is wrong. It should be a 30 but our site won’t go that high. Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection is not one or two, but three of the best PS3 games, remastered with precision, love, and care for the current generation. Bluepoint has taken three of Naughty Dog’s gems from the PS3, polished them up more than we imagined they could be, and put them back out into the world. Whether you’re new to the PlayStation family and want to catch up on the adventures of one of their titular characters, or your looking to relive Uncharted again before the release of A Thief’s End, there’s little reason not to own this phenomenally remastered collection of beloved PS3 classics and rediscover the treasures on PS4."
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Chandler Wood wrote in his review:

"A good series should end on a high note. Naughty Dog could beat the series into perpetuity, but they chose to close this chapter of their story at a high point and allow themselves and players to move on. In some ways it feels like I’m playing Uncharted for the first time again, living that sense of incredulity and adventure as we join Nathan Drake and his charming half-tuck for one final adventure rooted in love and sacrifice. It’s a bittersweet feeling, but they’ve gone all in to make sure that A Thief’s End is the Uncharted finale that the fans deserve."
Overwatch

Jowi Girard-Meli wrote in his review:

"With accessibility to spare, a real commitment to diversity and an infectious sense of innocent fun, Overwatch feels like an important game — the sort that can bridge boundaries in the oft-segmented gaming community. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that this may just be the project to revitalize lapsed or disheartened gamers’ interest in the medium, or the one to bring new players onboard the FPS wagon. So many big games unintentionally put up a wall, implying through their communities, marketing or even gameplay, that they are only for one kind of player or another. Overwatch, on the other hand, makes no mistake in identifying its audience: anyone and everyone that wants to take a shot. It’s ironic to imagine a title about a fragmented team fighting amongst itself serving as a big unifier, but that might just be what we need. At a time when the division between our hobby’s constituents seems more visible than ever, Overwatch reminds us that we’re more alike than different — if we let them, games can bring us together. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s something well worth fighting for."
The Last Guardian

Anthony Severino wrote in his review:

"In an industry where every developer packs in as many new features, as many modes, options, and configurations, The Last Guardian has no upgrades, no leveling, no add-on map packs, no RPG elements – it is an almost solitary experience, between nothing more than a boy, a beast, and the big world around them, yet it outshines nearly everything else. Video games as a market might demand the Call of Duty’s of the world to move units and put a spotlight on the industry through hype and marketing buzz, but video games as a medium deserves The Last Guardian.

Beautiful. In every way."
Horizon Zero Dawn

Paulmichael Contreras wrote in his review:

"Horizon Zero Dawn is an early contender for game of the year. Guerrilla Games has outdone themselves, in astounding fashion. This is a glorious game, the result of a team of masterful artisans who not only had a story that they wished to tell, but a world that was living inside of them which they wanted to share with us all. Now, we get to play inside their creation, and it is a breathtaking experience to behold. A massive, open world filled with equally massive, terrifying robots, juxtaposed against the beauty of the Earth, nature fighting back the darkness as it tends to do. Horizon Zero Dawn is the kind of game you play to get lost in, and can be enjoyed by players of all types. This could be the beginning of a stellar franchise, and there is something for everyone here. If you own a PS4, you owe it to yourself to give Horizon Zero Dawn a go."