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taylorwmartin

Replaying Crisis Core Before Remake https://t.co/UNCoDAkyjZ

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2021 GOTY

2021 was another shitty year for me to be honest. Just personal stuff mixed with the state of the world. With that being said I did still do some really cool shit this year. I got to return to going to live wrestling events. Ended up seeing 5 wrestling shows in 4 days(All Out weekend). Got to hang out in person with my friends more and that's always a great thing. Finally made twitch affiliate after being featured during Giant Bomb's Extra Life. Lastly I played a ton of games. I don't really understand the mindset that it was a weak year for games. Anyway here is my 2021 GOTY list!

Big games I played this year that I didn't enjoy enough to make the list: Deathloop, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond, New Pokemon Snap, Monster Hunter Rise, and Retromania Wrestling.

Great games that I don't count for GOTY: Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Monster Rancher 1+2, and Final Fantasy XIV.

List items

  • I’m a longtime fan of the Yakuza series. I’ve played every mainline entry and enjoyed basically all of them except Yakuza 3. Lost Judgment is the sequel to Judgment which is basically a Yakuza game. Lost Judgment has a very compelling main storyline about bullying in schools. You are hired for a case but find out that it was all just a cover story for something even more sinister. The story’s setting also gives you the opportunity to help out a bunch of the school clubs with their problems with various mini games including Boxing, Dancing, Robot fights, etc. The combat, story, side quests, and characters are just amazing. I had a blast the entire time playing the game. It’s a shame that this will probably be the final entry in the Judgment series due to disputes with the Yagami actor Takuya Kimura’s agency. Let’s hope things get worked out and we continue to get these games!

  • A lot of people will probably forget this game came out this year. This will probably be the last Hitman game for awhile seeing as IO Interactive is working on a 007 game now(Perfect fit). It’s the same great Hitman gameplay from the previous two games. They made some minor improvements like a hacking mechanic. The majority of the changes in the game come from the new maps. The majority of the maps this time around have a twist on the hitman formula. Such as you being hunted for a change, a murder mystery, and a map where you're encouraged to kill everyone. The story is also not to be overlooked. I’m so surprised that they actually made a compelling story in the Hitman franchise. Also they brought forward all the old content again if you owned the previous games. It’s so awesome getting to revisit those classic maps with the new improvements. The last thing I will say about this game is that it oozes style like very few games. The designs of everything look awesome in these games.

  • Unlike many I was sold on this game when we first saw it. I’ve been reading Marvel comics since I was a kid and love many of their characters. Like most though I didn’t give a shit about the Guardians until the MCU movies. It’s hard not to compare this game to Square’s other Marvel game The Avengers. Instead of making a half baked multiplayer game, Eidos-Montréal made a linear single player game that is amazing. Also the character designs look great. They took some inspiration from the MCU designs but they put their own twist on them and it completely works. The story is well written and takes you to many unique looking planets and some known locations like Knowhere. You can’t talk about the Guardians these days without discussing great licensed soundtracks. Whoever curated the soundtrack of this game did a perfect job. The only gripe I have with the game is the gameplay. Instead of being able to switch between the guardians on the fly, you only play as Star Lord. You do have the ability to command the others but I think it would have been better to make the other Guardians playable. If you are a fan of the Guardians or games like Mass Effect I suggest you give this game a shot.

  • Resident Evil is my favorite game franchise of all time. That being said I've haven’t dug the new direction VII and VILL have taken. Part of the reason I love Resident Evil so much is the characters. I really dislike the Ethan Winters character and I'm really glad we probably won’t be seeing more of him after this entry. Thankfully Chris Redfield is in this game and has a great moment. The game has a weird fairy tale theme and I just wasn’t a fan of the direction. Another small gripe is I will always prefer 3rd person over first person. Despite my complaints VILLage is a good game and definitely doesn’t fall to the worst mainline game’s(RE5) level. The game looks great and feels amazing to play. I really enjoyed the map layout and that you weren’t stuck in the opening castle the entire game. This game turned out pretty well for originally being the third resident evil revelations game.

  • Persona is one of my favorite video game franchises, but Dynasty Warriors has never been my thing. The only entries I ever put any time into were the DW: Gundam games. I went in expecting a copy and paste Dynasty Warriors experience but I was pleasantly surprised! Strikers is more of a Persona game than a Dynasty Warriors game. You go on a summer road trip with the great cast of characters from Persona 5(At least I think they are great). The Phantom Thieves vacation plans get changed when mystery jails start popping up and changing people's hearts. Basically you take an RV to all the major cities of Japan and explore dungeons in the Metaverse while also taking the time to experience the cities and bond with your friends. Like most Persona games the style and soundtrack are off the chart. The Dynasty Warriors gameplay is here but has bits of the persona battle system in there to mix it up. Every enemy has strengths and weakness that you can exploit. You can use spells, guns, and even use the all out mechanic. If you were a fan of Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal you owe it to yourself to play this game.

  • How does Insomniac do it? They seem like they are the most productive game studio out there right now. The latest Ratchet & Clank entry might be my favorite. Rift Apart is Ratchet & Clank’s take on the multiverse. They introduce the female alternate versions of our heroes Rivet & Kit. I usually hate when they do this kind of stuff with established characters but I thought they were both excellent additions to the franchise. The gameplay is more of the same except the addition of being able to pull yourself through rifts (showing off that SSD). This game was a blast all the way through. The only thing I think they missed out on was having Ratchet & Clank going through rifts to other PlayStation 3d platformer worlds. How cool would it have been to see Sly or Jak & Daxter in the game. We get some stuff like that but not enough.

  • Housemarque has made a lot of great games(Super Stardust, Resogun), but after bad sales of their games they declared the arcade genre dead. What did we get next? A badass triple a 3rd person arcade shooter rouge-lite. I honestly think of another arcade shooter that looks like this. The story follows space explorer Selene who crash lands on the planet Atropos. Every time Selene dies in the game she awakens during the crash and finds out she is stuck in a loop. As you make your way through the game you repeatedly encounter your childhood home from earth, an unknown astronaut, and even the dead bodies of your previous self. This game didn’t rank higher for me because sometimes I'd go an entire run and not get one gun I enjoyed using and that just made me feel like I wasted a ton of my time.

  • Super Robot Wars is a long running franchise that has rarely been available to the western audience. I’ve played the games before but it’s great not having to use an English patch. This is their 30th anniversary game. Basically the games are tactical strategy games that combine a bunch of manga/anime mecha franchises. This game is basically 100% fan service. It’s not particularly hard but there is a lot of game here. The story is told as a visual novel. They have a good balance between gameplay and visual novel but there are times that you just want to spam through the dialog to play. I’m surprised how much I’m enjoying the story. Instead of doing the multiverse colliding story, they try to act as if all these properties exist on the same earth. There is no multiplayer but there are side missions that will keep you busy after you finish the campaign. I think the gameplay looks awesome. They use 2D sprites and every attack is a recreation of a big moment from the units Manga/Anime. This game is a ton of fun, give it a try!

  • Just so everyone knows, despite being a JRPG fan I've never liked any of the Tales games. I’m more of a turn based fan rather than action like the tales series. I decided to try Arise after seeing how many good reviews it was getting. I’m glad I gave it a shot. The game looks great and the battles are very fast paced and stylish. The story and characters are very anime so if you are not into that you probably won’t enjoy it. Another little gripe I have about it is the first two biomes the game puts you in. You start in a desert and then move to a snow biome. I just think those are the two least visually interesting biomes. I’m still currently playing the game(about 30 hours in) but what I've played is still enough for it to earn a place on my top 10 list.

  • By far the best entry in the Dark Pictures Anthology, but Supermassive still hasn’t hit that Until Dawn high again. The game takes place in Iraq during the Iraq war. You play as a group of marines looking for weapons of mass destruction and one opposing Iraqi soldier who is forced against his will to fight. I think these are some of the best characters they’ve come up with except for Ashley Tisdale’s character who is downright unlikeable. They could have easily made the Iraqi soldier the stereotypical villain but he is genuinely the most likeable character. I don’t want to spoil the story but let’s just say eventually you are forced to face a supernatural threat. The gameplay hasn’t changed much in this series and that honestly is the only reason this game doesn’t rank higher on my list. If you are looking for a scary game to play with your friends or significant other I definitely recommend House of Ashes.
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