Top Ten Games of 2018

While 2018 may not have reached the highs of 2017 in video games it was still pretty awesome. New and interesting games are only becoming more common.

As always I will list my top ten games of the year in descending order. These are my opinions based on games I personally completed in 2018.

10. Red Dead Redemption 2

I didn't like the original Red Dead at all. I tried my best to get through it and it could never quite hold my interest. I told myself that I was going to see this one through to the end, and I did. If you've listened to me talk about it at all you know I universally disliked the gameplay.

Despite that the story and characters held me through to the end for what may be one of the greatest stories ever told in a video game. It's just a shame that the video game part put me off so much.

9. Celeste

Celeste is a game about climbing a mountain as a metaphor for mental health issues. As someone who has battled with mental health issues it hit me pretty hard. The main character Madeline is deeply relatable and the whole thing never becomes too overbearing.

On top of that the fast paced platforming is top notch. Everything controls super tightly, so the high level of difficulty never feels insurmountable. Which I guess is another metaphor.

8. Donut County

Ben Esposito toiled away for many years to bring us the charming world of Donut County. You play as a cheeky Raccoon named BK as he controls a literal hole and swallows up most of the town he lives in. Each thing that falls in the hole makes it bigger.

It's almost like reverse Katamari Damacy. The music, dialogue, and art style remind me of Katamari as well. It's a fun game that takes up a few hours. It says a lot that I wish the game had a bit more content, because I wanted to stay in the world.

7. Forza Horizon 4

I hadn't played a racing game in a long time, so I was craving a new one. My issue is that I love the arcade style of Burnout, but don't want the intense simulation of Forza Motorsport. Forza Horizon comes in somewhere in between those two other games making it just what I was looking for.

The world is fun to race around in and is jam packed with so much content it's almost impossible to complete it all.

6. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

I love Super Smash has a franchise, but over the course of the last few releases I became bogged down by the hyper-competitive nature of high-level play. This time I told myself I would play Smash for fun only and I have been loving my time with Ultimate.

It's very similar to Smash 4, but the mechanical changes do just enough to make it feel much different and in my opinion better. It has an almost comically large amount of content and works as an amazing Nintendo museum piece.

5. Spider-Man

As someone who loves Spider-Man it was hard to see game after game come to market and be totally awful. The last time I remember enjoying a game representing the franchise was Spider-Man 2. Thankfully Insomniac as able to finally bring Spider-Man back to video games in a big way.

The web-slinging feels amazing, and It's just fun to travel around the open world. On top of that they tell a great story in a well-tread universe. Spider-man is back and I couldn't be happier.

4. God of War

The previous God of War games didn't do anything for me. In fact, I'd say I actively disliked them. Sony Santa Monica was able to resurrect a dormant franchise and give it new and exciting life. It makes the transition to Norse mythology and completely re-invents the character of Kratos.

It's wild that I now enjoy the combat in God of War, but it's even more crazy to say that it had one of the most compelling stories of the year. Kratos went from being angry to struggling as a father.

3. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

It's no secret that I love JRPGs, so the fact that a Dragon Quest game is so high on my list isn't very surprising. However, I think that Dragon Quest XI is special. It doesn't do a whole lot new for the genre, but it takes something that has already been done before and does it as best as it can be done. Sometimes there is something to be said about something that knows what it is and it's good.

I don't have a lot to say about it other than it's a great JRPG. I loved it.

2. Monster Hunter World

As someone who came to Monster Hunter at its most obtuse it was amazing to see the franchise come to the western market and totally explode. It is now Capcom's highest selling game of all time, which is a testament to the core elements of the franchise. Capcom took a huge risk that could have alienated the core fans of their unbelievably popular franchise in order to elevate it to new heights.

This is the best Monster Hunter game by a country mile! It keeps the best parts of hunting while making it more accessible.

1. DJMax Respect

Rhythm games rarely make their way to the U.S. and if they do they're not very well supported. With DJMax Respect NeoWiz knocked it out of the park. New patches and DLC come to the game every few months to keep interest in the game up.

It's a deeply hard rhythm game, but getting better at it makes me feel awesome. Something about the gameplay and the wide variety of music keeps me coming back for more. I will keep coming back to it well into 2019.

Game Time - March 2018

Note: I have been struggling to think of a new format for the monthly edition of game time, but I have finally settled on something. I'm tired of regurgitating story and gameplay descriptions. With that said the format won't change too much, but the text will be a lot more personal. I'm also going to try and do away with the intros and outros because I never knew what to say anyways. 


Game: DJMax Respect
Developer: Neowiz MUCA
Platform: PS4

The DJMax franchise has been around for quite a while, but only a handful have been released in the U.S. DJMax Respect is the first one to be released here since 2012 if you exclude mobile releases. What's cool about Respect is that it pays homage to all of the previous games in the franchise. The opening to the game is a spectacular animated scene that depicts all the previous DJMax games as grave stones that are being revived. Then to enter the game you need to press X to pay respect. It shows a love for the previous games in a way that I would never have expected.

This franchise can be notoriously difficult. Much to my dismay they even marketed it as "the Dark Souls of rhythm games." While I don't think it's impossibly hard it definitely has been giving me a hard time. Each song can be played with 4, 5, 6, or 8 buttons. As you'd imagine the songs get harder with more buttons, but I'm finding it fun to learn. I can do pretty well with 4 buttons, but 6 buttons is kicking my butt. Normally the repeated failures would make me frustrated, but I've persevered and am actually getting better. This game has given me skills that I can take over to other rhythm games too. I never really understood why people cranked up the speed of the notes in game, but it actually helps to space them out so you can see what's coming next. It's incredibly helpful, so now I try to play everything at 2X speed. At first it's really jarring, but now I can actually tell what buttons to push in super fast paced sections. 

It's really cool to see a developer make a product that shows a love for all the previous games in a franchise. At first I thought that Respect was just another one of their random subtitles like fever or Technica, but it's actually all about paying respect to the franchise. I am having an absolute blast with this game and will probably keep trying to get better at it. It's going to help when four DLC packs come out next Friday.

Videos: DJMax Respect - The Lowest Level Play
              DJMax Respect - Let's Get Good


Game: Ni No Kuni 2
Developer: Level-5
Platform: PS4

I absolutely loved the original Ni No Kuni. It came out at a time in my life when I could properly enjoy it because I was fresh out of college and didn't have a job. It left a lasting impression on me, so when the sequel was announced I got super excited. I'm currently playing through it right now and I think it's fun, but it's not blowing my mind like the original was.

Instead of the semi turn based combat of the original the sequel employs a much more action oriented system. It's more engaging in theory, but it ends up being too easy. I've seen people recommending to not use all of the tools at your disposal to make it more challenging, which is a ridiculous notion to me. I like being powerful, but at a certain point I'm just massacring enemies with reckless abandon. The part I'm digging the most is the kingdom building portion. The main character Evan was overthrown in the beginning so the entire crux of the story is that he's building a new kingdom called Evermore. You go around the game and recruit citizens to come and live with you. They have special abilities that take effect depending on what buildings you put them in. It's a cool system that gets a little bogged down by real time counters. Luckily the longest counter I've seen so far is 50 minutes, which flies by because there is so much to do.

What gets me about it so far is that I come to RPGs looking for an engaging story and well developed characters and so far Ni No Kuni 2 is not delivering that at all. So far it's moving at a lighting pace and none of the characters are really receiving any development. I love level-5 as a developer, but they have a real jack of all trades, master of none thing going on. They build huge games with tons of content, but no one thing stands out above the rest. They make such colorful and and fun games so it bums me out that they try to cram so many things into each one. I'm all for more content in games, but if it takes away from the quality of other content is it really worth it? Who knows, maybe I'll get to the end of this and feel differently, but right now I'm just having mindless fun.


Game: A Way Out
Developer: Hazelight Studios
Platform: PS4

The first game from Hazelight was Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons, which received critical acclaim. I never ended up playing it, but heard nothing but positive things about it. It was trying to tell an emotional story, which isn't always the easiest thing to do in video games. I first became aware of the studio's second game A Way Out at EA's E3 press conference this past year. However, I think most people became aware of it  during the game awards when the director Josef Fares got a little rowdy and started yelling "fuck the Oscars." I just finished A Way Out a few hours ago and it definitely wouldn't have won any Oscars.

I am still trying to fully process my feelings on this game. It's ambitious as hell, but it just doesn't work as intended. The entire game has to be played in co-op, so the game takes place entirely spit-screen. During certain scenes the screen real estate will change depending on which player has the more important thing going on. It's a cool effect, but it makes the actions of the other player seem meaningless. In fact, most of the actions feel kind of lifeless and meaningless. It starts out as a simple adventure game with the most basic button prompts, but by the end it's a poorly controller third person shooter.

It was a fun experience, but a lot of the game seemed to miss the mark. You can't have a super emotional game that's supposed to leave a lasting impact on the player with the quality of voice acting in the game. A lot of the line deliveries fall flat, and it's a huge bummer. It also doesn't help that it has a lot of goofy video game stuff in it. Janky looking walk animations are enough to take you right out of an "emotional" scene. It was around a six hour experience that I enjoyed while sitting next to a friend. I don't really know that it left a lasting impression, but I think that the kind of cinematic approach it was taking is admirable. It's cool, but don't playing it expecting some kind of life changing story.