I didn't play many games released this year, mostly been going through some of my backlog. Still, out of the ones I did play here's my GOTY:
If you are not a fan of VC already, this one won't do much to sway you, that being said, if you do enjoy the series then there's some cool stuff here. The grenadier class specially brings some interesting possibilities with them, also there's some new orders, including some that you get after reaching a certain part of the story that are really fun to use.
The command feature is pretty cool too, allowing one of your units to "command" up to two others moving together on the field, this is great for when you want to set up support fire or escort weaker units to their target.
Tanks using only one CP this time around is great, the Cactus APC is cool, though kinda weak, and seeing how if it gets taken out all units inside will also be retired, it's kind of a gamble to use it, that being said, it was super helpful in a couple of missions.
Scout rushing is considerably less prominent, grenadiers being everywhere and being able to slow down any soldiers they hit means you're less likely to succeed if you just attempt to rush everything, it is still possible in certain missions, but much less OP than before.
Story wise, it's been pretty much like VC1 in terms of tone, though I haven't made it far enough to fully comment on it and how it compares to previous entries in the series, so far it's been a pretty cool experience, outside of that one annoying character that doesn't seem to learn their lesson.