Insomniac's Ted Price Shares His Top Games Of 2015

On the lead up to Game Informer's Game of the Year awards of 2015, we've invited a number of the video game industry's influential figures to share their favorite games of the year.

Ted Price is the president and CEO of Insomniac Games. After releasing the little-known PlayStation title Disruptor in 1996, Insomniac went on to release a number of hits including Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, Resistance, and Sunset Overdrive. The studio is currently working on a Ratchet & Clank reboot for PlayStation 4 and Edge of Nowhere for Oculus Rift.

Here's Price with his picks for the Top 5 Games of 2015:

5. Rocket League
I picked this as #5 because I’m a sucker for simple co-op or competitive games I can play with my kids. I use “simple” as a compliment because making a game simple but fun and addictive is brutally hard. It’s one of those games that’s easy to pick up and hard to master. Yet even if I never will be able to compete at a high level, every time I jump into an arena, it’s sheer fun. That keeps me coming back again and again.

4. Undertale
This one really caught me by surprise. I loved the fact that it dared to turn old school conventions upside down. I had read plenty of critique on both sides before playing and was prepared to be disappointed. However I was caught up by the game’s quirky charm and its willingness to change the rules.

3. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
I will admit I’ve never finished a previous MGS. Yes, blasphemy. Something has always thrown me off a few hours in. MGSV is the first MGS that has grabbed me and hasn’t let go. To me, everything about it is unexpected. It’s as if Hideo Kojima is using a play book that no one else has seen (okay, so maybe that’s not entirely true when it comes to combat.) But I found myself thinking again and again “wait, I can’t believe they did that!” I reveled in the depth, the scope, the weird story and the fact that you can sprint forever.

2. Ori and the Blind Forest
When it comes to Metroidvania games, Ori set a new bar. Its visuals are extraordinary. It also tells an impactful story with few words but with great depth. (Two of my kids were moved to tears by its first scene). And its gameplay, while occasionally maddening, was a masterclass in how to take relatively few building blocks and create seemingly unending variety. In fact, when I think back I can’t remember any two setups that were alike. That’s an amazing accomplishment for any game.

1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
I’ve never played an open world game with such a consistently well executed story for both the main quests and side quests. I was continually surprised by the twists and turns that the narrative took. I was also surprised by some of the risks the story took in broaching mature, borderline uncomfortable topics. This made the game come alive for me. As a result, I’ve spent more time in the Witcher’s world than any other game I played this year.