My Games of the generation
The generation is very nearly over, so I'm going to take another stab at my favourite games of the last 7 or so years. If you want to see what I chose last generation round, feel free to read through my list/rationale here
List items
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This is a bit of a cheat, as I had this on my list last time round too. It's a game that's captivated me throughout the last 10 years. The constantly evolving meta, and the high, high level Esports scene. I've been to a couple of IEM Katowice events now, and I love this game as much as I ever have. Last time out, my reasoning for adding this to my list was "The multiplayers ability to dole out winnable games, allows less competent players to still enjoy the experience, but keeps the high end players encapsulated too." This is still absolutely true today. The barrier for entry isn't too high, but the high level play is insane. This game will live on for a long while yet, and I couldn't be happier.
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I remember playing Mario Galaxy for the first time (hear me out) and thinking, wow, how can they keep throwing these new cool mechanics at me each time I go for a new star. It was so inventive.
This is a perfect description of the single player campaign for Titanfall 2. Every level throws new, really inventive mechanics at you and most of these won't be used again. They're designed for one level, and that's it!
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Continuing the well know and played Uncharted franchise, Uncharted 4 is arguably the best in the series. It has some of the same disconnect issues as the previous games (mass murder, followed by emotionally disconnected cutscene), but it's fun. It is one of the outstanding visual experiences of the generation too, especially on the Pro console. It's definitely the antithesis of The Last of us 2, giving you a (largely) fun and colourful Indiana Jones style adventure, without too many traumatic moments.
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This is close to being the perfect game for me. It took a bunch of industry archetypes (Skyrim, Witcher etc) and iterated on those ideas, giving you more freedom than those other games could dream of. Climbing, gliding, surfing down the side of a mountain on your sheild (Shielding?).
Ultimately, you have to judge this game on two levels. When compared to other similar open world fantasy games, you're doing largely the same thing - collecting quests, completing them, getting rewarded and then moving on.
When judging it against other Zelda games, it's in a world of it's own. You can run straight to the final boss and win the game immediately, at great difficulty. You can complete half the stories dungeons and again, finish the game off. There is no pre-defined order in which you have to do anything. It's a breath of fresh air, and will continue to hold a place in my heart as one of the best games of all time.
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I walked away from Red Dead 2 about half way through the game. I'm not sure what it is about Rockstar games that get me that way, but it was an overwhelming experience initially. I did go back in about 6 months later to finish it off, and I was constantly blown away by the attention to detail, the humour, the variety of things to do in the world. It's a Rockstar game through and through, which means many mechanics feel like they're a few years old, but once you get to grips with it, it feels great to play.
If you want a sprawling open world adventure, which is still largely curated and directed, this is the game for you.
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This feels like the successor to Mario 64. Re-read my Titanfall 2 entry, but it could absolutely apply here too. This is 3D Mario, in which you're collecting moons to power your ship, which takes you from level to level. Each moon uses a new gameplay mechanic in a interesting and engaging way, and the game manages to never feel old, even as you find yourself going back to levels over and over again, to find those illusive moons.
It's also a great looking game and a showcase for the Switch as a console. If you're a Nintendo fan, this should not be passing you by.
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Where did this come from? It was sent out to reviewers laaaateee, which usually indicates a publisher doesn't have confidence in the product.
What we ended up with was a stellar shooter, which hearkened back to the old days of classic doom (finding keys to open coloured doors) but also was built around a modern engine, that looked and performed amazingly well across all consoles and PC. It had a soundtrack that packed a punch, filled with metal and industrial craziness that was amazing in its own right.
The game was full of a high level of self awareness, which allowed you to revel in it's silliness. It knows it's a reasonably stupid concept, and it ensures you do to.
Each battle feels like a flowing puzzle, that involved constantly moving, switching weapons, using the glory kill system (quick time kills to finish off weakened enemies) to great affect to replenish health.
If you enjoyed Doom of old, or indeed still crave a brutal, silly shooter that will have you laughing from start to finish, Doom is your game.
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*sigh* a mobile only game in a list of the best games of the generation?
Clash Royale is smart. It gives you enough rope to allow you to get reasonably good at the game. It's a self proclaimed Tower Rush game, in which you drop cards, which spawn units. These units walk along a pre-defined path towards your opponents tower. They will attack any opposition units in their way, with the ultimate goal of destroying your opponents towers.
I've not played a game with such depth on a mobile device in my lifetime, and being able to play such an in-depth competitive experience on the go is a winner in my book.
Sidenote - it does get to a point where it feels like you need to invest, which is a detractor, but I'm still enjoying the hell out of this game
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Two Respawn games on one list! After PUBG and Fortnite, came Apex Legends. Entering into a highly competitive Battle Royale shooter genre, and doing it with a bang.
While it didn't attain these numbers, for a short while, it was outperforming Fortnite, the biggest game on the planet.
The premise is simple, you drop out of a ship with a squad, scavenge whatever guns/armour you can find, and try to ensure you're the last squad standing.
The game incorporated a really smart communication system, allowing you to contextually signal anything you wanted to highlight to your squadmates using nothing more than the RB/R1 button. Look at a gun someone might want, you can ping it. See an open door and think someone might have been there, when you ping it, it will let your squad know. If you see an enemy, you can tap it twice to let everyone know where the danger is.
Add that new feature, to the ability to slide and use each of the characters special abilities to try and help your squad make it to the end of a game, and you have one of the best examples of a Battle Royale out there.
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