It's that time of the year again where you take stock of what's left a good impression and what's... well, a smouldering pile of forgettable nonsense. Not to be reductive or ignorant of the positives, but 2015's gaming slate hasn't been the most fruitful of endeavours so far. Instead, although the Best Of 2015 list is packed full of incredible titles, for anyone who's looking for wall-to-wall blockbusters there's only really The Witcher 3, Batman: Arkham Knight and Bloodborne at a push, if you feel a sadomasochistic urge coming on. As for the rest we've seen an overall push into siphoning off content to sell back to customers over increasingly long periods (although Arkham Knight is guilty of that, too), more micro-transactions and paid-for extras in major releases (Driveclub's PS Plus edition finally released as a glorified demo without them, and even Metal Gear Solid V has optional boosts you can buy), and an overall sense that gamers' passionate loyalty towards their beloved medium is being taken advantage of more than ever. It's certainly not all doom and gloom - and E3's wall-to-wall showcase of upcoming titles, resurrected fan-favourites and hotly anticipated sequels is all very promising), but either way you slice it the first half of 2015 has had quite the amount of colossal stinkers propped up next to anything worth writing home about.
