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MadBootsy

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My Top Ten Games of 2018

Here we are, again! I'll be honest with you, 2018... was the absolute worst year for me. I unexpectedly lost my brother this year and also had a host of other less bad things happen to me and my family. Yeah.

Unsurprisingly, I dug in deep with my favorite hobby to avoid thinking about all of these horrible things and I ended up beating a large amount of games - some new and some old. I definitely made a big dent in my backlog, which was admittedly nice! I've actually become a big fan of Insomniac Games after beating the Ratchet and Clank remake along with their Spider-Man game AND the Ratchet and Clank Future trilogy (oh and Spyro Reignited, wow!). What a fun developer.

First, honorable mentions for the games that didn't make the cut and my favorite "non-2018" games that I beat this year (again, there were a lot! Wahoo).

Honorable Mentions:

Far Cry 5 - Terrible story and execution of said story really dragged this one off the list for me. Fun co-op though - "OH.. NOOOOOOOO! AAAAHHHH-" Stuff like that.

Two Point Hospital - A fun, new rendition of Theme Hospital. 3 starred a couple hospitals, but then I fell off of it. This one didn't quite have the legs that I was hoping it would have.

Dark Souls Remastered - A great game, but this is a lackluster "remaster". Oh well, still Dark Souls! Still cool!

Favorite Non-2018 games: The Evil Within 2

Ratchet and Clank (2016)

Ratchet and Clank Future Trilogy (A Crack in Time was especially awesome - really well done on all fronts.)

Uncharted 4/Lost Legacy

Uncharted 3 (best of the PS3 ones!)

God of War 2 (best of the PS2 ones!)

And here are the actual 2018 games that I really loved this year, along with my personal thoughts on them. Enjoy??

List items

  • BOY. God of War is just amazing. Take the gameplay of GoW 2/3 and combine it with the narrative styles of a Last of Us and you get something really special. Atreus and Kratos' journey through Norse mythology is one that hooked me from beginning to end. I honestly am struggling to think of elements that actually bothered me about this game... the Valkyrie fights are HARD as hell... but that's not really a complaint and I loved the actual challenge of them. There's a lot to do, a lot of cool battles to fight and a lot to take in... and it's all pretty sweet. Also, Mimir... 2nd best character of the year. What a "guy". Great job, Cory Barlog + the God of War team! I very much look forward to whatever you guys do next... because you guys are totally reading this list right now... right?! Hello??

  • "That's my girrrrrrlllll..." - Arthur Morgan

    Red Dead 2 is an awesome game... until Chapter 5, and then you realize that Rockstar desperately needs an editor of some sort to come in and be like "Nah man, don't do that". For the most part, Arthur's narrative and the world are incredibly well realized... but the pacing issues and open world annoyances (random bounty for bumping into someone in town, really??) started to grate on me after a while. I love Arthur Morgan as a character and he's easily my favorite one of the year, but holy shit, the pacing! Chapter 5 is largely unnecessary and they also introduce plot elements that drag the endgame to a halt during Chapter 6. Not only that, but there's an epilogue that feels overly long and like it could've been 3-4 missions and a couple cutscenes. Damn it, Red Dead 2... you achieved so much and fell short of true greatness. I loved this game and the moments I had with it, but man, it had too many weird issues for it to be my number one!

  • Oh hey, Insomniac! Again! These guys made a helluva Spider-Man game that stands as the character's big "Arkham Asylum" moment in video games. The story is well-told (but also largely predictable if you know anything about the character) and the gameplay is a lot of fun. This year has taught me that Insomniac are good at making that games that are just plain "fun" to play and Spider-Man is no different. It suffers from a combat system that can't quite accommodate the 14-16 hour length, but it's a minor quibble of what is a fantastic superhero game.

    (Oh and those Mary Jane sections suuuuucked. Bad stealth gameplay sections that were super unnecessary and not fun at all. They should've been cut out and replaced with cutscenes. It's Marvel's Spider-Man, not Marvel's Mary Jane! WOW!)

  • David Cage: Become Human already! While Mr. Cage gets a lot of grief from some people, I've honestly enjoyed most of his games. Omikron, Heavy Rain and Indigo Prophecy all hold a particular place in my heart in terms of their unique atmosphere/stories. With Detroit: Become Human, I feel like David Cage has nailed down his most solid game yet in terms of story and characters. Hank and Connor steal the show (Buddy cop with a robot human? Sign me up!), but I was also pretty engaged with what Kara and Markus went through in their own stories. By the end of the game, I was on the edge of my seat, which probably means I liked this one a whole lot.

  • Hitman 2 is more Hitman 2016 and that is a good thing! The improvements to the overall system feel kinda minor and inconsequential (Crowd blending! Uhhh, sure, why not? Working mirrors... uhhh... hmm.), but the levels are just as entertaing as ever. I personally really enjoyed Miami, Vermont (feels like a Blood Money level) and the final level... oh man, that final level! It ended pretty quickly and I felt a little bummed about the cheap feeling of the cutscenes, but whatever, this longtime Hitman fan is pleased. Thanks IO!

  • Dead Cells is out! Tell your friends! This game seriously had it's hooks in me for a couple weeks and it wouldn't let go! Great run-style game that feels pretty rewarding in that regard. So much to collect!

  • Well this game represents a fun month or two of playing/laughing with various friends! A solid improvement on the original (which was also very good). AW RATS!

  • What a joyous collection of old-school games. Beautiful remaster that brings Spyro (a series I never played before) into the current generation. I've only 100%ed the first one at this point, but I look forward to diving into the other two games in the near future. For $40 (I got it for way less), this Trilogy feels like a good deal. Welcome back Mr. Purple Dragon!

  • They did it! Not since uh... Budokai 2 has the world seen such a fun DBZ fighting game! I dunno, man. This game is ridiculous and cool and it's honestly a no-brainer if you love fighting games and Dragon Ball. I still get my ass kicked online and I just don't have it in me to power through the lackluster story mode, hence why it's 9th place! I LIKE MY GOKU BLACK, ALRIGHT?

  • Insomniac Insomniac Insomniac. Beating out the lackluster but still fun Far Cry 5 for the 10th spot is the PC port for Sunset Overdrive. I played a decent amount of this game on Xbox One and always regretted not finishing it. I was pretty happy when they randomly put out this game on a platform that I actually care about (sorry Xbone). This game is just a lot of fun to play around in! It basically takes the core gameplay of Ratchet and Clank and turns it loose into an open world. It suffers from the standard open world problems like lackluster side quests and a feeling that there could've been more to do with the actual world. It also has some admittedly "dumb" humor, like almost Borderlands level of writing. Some people will like that part, but I wasn't crazy about it. Overall though, a solid open world game with a lot of cool weapons to play around with. I still prefer Ratchet and Clank though.... OOPS
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