The Top Eleven Video Games I Played in 2018

Always one with the times, in 2018 I wrapped up most of the major titles I was interested in from the PS3/X360 era, though of course there’s still several I intend to get to eventually.  So late in the year I took the plunge and added a PS4 to my armory, so I expect that system will dominate my lists for the next few years.  However, my 3DS is still going strong, as evidenced by this list, and should be for quite a while.  I love that little guy.

10. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (3DS)

The Mario and Luigi handheld RPGs have been mostly good, though none have topped Bowser’s Inside Story on the DS and I was a little disappointed with the newest entry, Paper Jam.  Curious, this year I went back and played Dream Team, the first 3DS entry.  I remember this game being criticized for Nintendo’s recent trend of overly tutorializing everything.  That’s certainly present here, but I actually didn’t mind it too much.  Diving into Luigi’s dreams for some 2D puzzle platforming was preferable to other kinds of puzzle solving in other games (let alone the Toad pixel hunts in Paper Jam, groan), the active-time battles were engaging (highlight: fighting Dr. Mario virii that you can kill by lining up three of the same color), and I appreciated the return of giant-size battles with giant Luigi subbing in for Bowser.  Nothing mind blowing, but almost always enjoyable.

9. Puzzle and Dragons: Super Mario Bros Edition (3DS)

I tried P&D on my phone before but never really got into it, thanks to the “gacha” style cash grab and that I never got how it was different than Bejeweled.  Since this version eliminates the nastiness of in-app purchases, though, I decided to give it a try.  I mean, can’t resist getting all your favorite Mario characters and enemies on your team.  And lo and behold, after some practice, it totally clicked.  As in other match 3 games, you line up colored blocks and then those matched colors trigger attacks by characters of the same color.  The trick is learning how to move one block around for several seconds to line up as many matches as possible to rack up the combos – and it feels great when you get it.  Fun character progression, which is needed cuz this game gets hard in later levels – I wish you could just forfeit if you enter a stage with just one life but oh well.  Bonus – while most of the music comes from the “New” line of Mario games, I really appreciated the appearance of a few jazzy tracks from Super Mario 3D World (the best Mario game since Mario 64, don’t @ me).

8. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse (3DS)

It wouldn’t be my list if it didn’t have one SMT-related game on it.  I played base SMT IV in 2017 and enjoyed it a lot but it came up just short of my top 10.  Apocalypse is the direct sequel that wraps up the story of (what else) dealing with demon- and angel-infested Tokyo in the post-apocalypse.  This entry is an essence an homage to both games, though this one improves the map and adds a fun helper system so it’s not just you and your demons all the time.  It’s just a great all-around JRPG with modern conveniences.  My one complaint is that the final dungeon is absurdly too long and convoluted, and even takes away your ability to recruit new demons, which is half the reason you’re fighting in the first place.  Some JRPGs just don’t know when to end.

7. 9 Persons, 9 Hours, 9 Doors (DS) and Virtue’s Last Reward (3DS)

Although VLR is the superior game on a technical level, I’m awarding this slot to both of the first two titles in the Zero Escape series as they are pretty similar and VLR continues the story.  These games are part visual novel (get ready to read) and part escape-room puzzle game (to their credit, this series started before escape rooms conquered every empty mall space near you).  Honestly the escape room bits are very clever but my least favorite part of the games – I ended up looking up a lot of answers just to get to the next part of the story.  And let me tell you, the story goes places.  Conspiracy theories, the multiverse, telepathy, the apocalypse, it’s all here.  You get to make a lot of decisions that will lead to people dying, including you, but then you go back and make other decisions to eventually find the “true” ending.  This is a chore in 999, but VLR thankfully adds a node network that lets you zip to any decision point and take the other route.  Better yet, the main decisions in VLR involve playing the Prisoner’s Dilemma, very appreciated by a game theory nerd like me.  I look forward to wrapping iup the story in Zero Time Dilemma soon.

6. Infamous 2 (PS3)

I played through the first Infamous in 2017 when I needed a break from Breath of the Wild, and had a good time.  I feel like the second one really improved on the formula for this electric-fueled open world action game.  You play as Cole, an ordinary messenger guy who got some electric super powers and then has to decide to be good or evil (mow down pedestrians) with them.  The sequel improves the traversal/parkour, combat, and open world exploration with a fun setting (a take on New Orleans) and less getting shot at everywhere you go.  The story is fun and pulpy, told through motion comics and your hapless bud Zeke.  There’s not too much more to say, just a fun open world game where you get to zap the shit out of bad guys and monsters, very satisfying.

5. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (PS3)

My top rated JRPG of the year, this entry in the Legend of Heroes series continues its tradition of establishing a really fleshed-out world.  It does this through lots of dialogue and cut scenes, so be prepared, but if you give it time you really come to appreciate all the details and minutiae the game bothers to establish about its world to make it believable.  Taking a page from the Persona games, you play as a class in a military academy going on various field excursions and of course getting into all sorts of trouble.  I really came to like almost all the characters, even if they’re fairly tropey, but the localization and constant attention to detail make them memorable and likable.  The combat is fine, just enough variety to keep you pushing forward, and the climactic scenes where shit really hits the fan leaves you anticipating playing through Trails of Cold Steel II, which I plan to in 2019.

4. Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)

Having finally played through Super Metroid in 2017, I looked forward to playing through this most recent iteration in the series.  And hey guess what, it’s great.  Developer MercurySteam did an admirable job of moving the formula into the present, giving you a huge world to explore and tons of stuff to discover.  Samus has some great new abilities including a melee counter, and the grim atmosphere, especially conveyed through the soundtrack, is top-notch.  Some of the bosses are fairly infuriating – though I was motivated to keep after them – and there is the backtracking inherent to the Metroidvania style, but this is a great adventure that’s not as groundbreaking as Super Metroid but continues in its spirit in a great way.

3. Rise of the Tomb Raider (X360)

It’s fairly weird that in the year of our Lord 2018 I became a Tomb Raider fan, but here we are.  I never played any of the old ones (I think the controls turned me off) but in early 2018 I took a chance on the 2013 remake (I think it was on sale for $3) and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Fun action, cool gadgets and a good story (probably better than Rise, to be honest).  I didn’t like all the quick time events, though, and felt it was pretty linear – you COULD explore a bit, but I hardly did and finished with 68% completion.  It whet my appetite to get the sequel, though, so I tracked it down on the 360 and liked it a whole lot more.  Much more exploration and openness, still great combat, better controls (something about Lara’s movement always felt weird to me in the 2013 game), fun gadgets and traversal.  I’m not burned out (yet) on the crafting and upgrade systems in this game so I found them enjoyable and engaging.  It’s a fun take on the Lara Croft character (although I have no real loyalty to her original incarnation), and I look forward to checking out her continuing adventures in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

2. Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4)

The first complete game I played through on the PS4, this one mechanically actually has quite a bit in common with Rise of the Tomb Raider (hunting, crafting, skill upgrades, arrows), but throws in a big open world and rich lore and backstory.  In Earth’s far future, humans are bronze-age tribes, with the notable exception that they salvage materials and equipment from the robotic animals – from those resembling docile buffalo up to insane dinosaurs – that prowl the landscape.  You play as Aloy, a young huntress who sets off into the wilderness to discover the secrets of ancient Earth.  Yes, you are basically The One, but despite this trope the game does a great job gradually dripping more and more story to you as you discover just how everything went to shit and now you’re shooting robot dinosaurs with arrows.  The combat is great, almost Monster Hunter-ish with the bigger beasts, though you’re always using various types of bows, grenades, traps, and – when all else fails – your trusty spear.  It has my favorite voice performance of the year, performed by Lance Reddick, who is of course his usual no-nonsense hard ass self.  What actually put this game above Tomb Raider, though, was the Frozen Wilds DLC.  I had grown a bit tired of the main game because it seemed like I maxed out my cool weapons and armor early on, and only occasionally got a slightly better attachment.  The Frozen Wilds, though, gets you new weapons, armor, and upgrades, told through a good side story (taking place in the former Yellowstone National Park) that also provides a lot of background for the main game.  Here’s hoping we get to experience the continuing adventures of Aloy soon.

1. Hollow Knight (PS4)

I’m not quite done with Hollow Knight, but I’m over 30 hours in and close to finishing the main story so I feel pretty safe in awarding it my game of the year.  It moved up the list in my mind as I played it and in the end I can’t deny it has been my favorite pure gameplay experience.  Hollow Knight is another Metroidvania style game, but bigger in scope even than Samus Returns, and also takes some inspiration from Dark Souls – in that the game is tough but fair, and when you die you lose all your money and you have to track down and kill your “shadow” to get it back.  The dark, gloomy atmosphere of a lost bug kingdom is also top-notch, with my favorite overall soundtrack this year.  There could not be a better game to play at night in the dead of winter, as I am now.  Every upgrade you get, from strengthening your sword to wall jumping to double jumping makes you feel like a total badass.  Also, the world is structured in perhaps the purest Metroidvania sense I’ve seen, in that you almost always have several options of where to go, so if you run into a hard boss just go to another area for a few hours and come back later.  It rewards patience and persistence, but of course also has backtracking and some bosses, while fair, will make you want to scream.  Still, this game came the closest this year to mimicking Breath of the Wild in recapturing pure gaming experiences of my youth.  If you appreciate old-school combat and exploration finely tuned to modern sensibilities, I can’t recommend it enough.

The Top 11 Video Games I Played in 2017

Two notes before I get started with this year’s list. First, in what I believe is an unprecedented number, four games on my list actually came out in 2017 – an affirmation of the common consensus that, despite many, um, issues with the world at large, this was a fantastic year for video games, so much so that it actually prompted me to open my wallet to buy some new ones (well, one was a gift). Second, the dominance of the 3DS on this list is impressive, and reflective of not only my total of 3 hours every workday spent commuting or on lunch break, but also the emergence of what I honestly believe has become my favorite gaming system since the Super Nintendo. To me the 3DS provides a window into an alternate reality – a universe where the obsessive rush to 3D polygonal everything in the mid to late ‘90s never happened and instead games evolved more slowly and naturally from those 16-bit classics. It’s probably a sign of my age, but it’s little surprise that I can find so many callbacks to my golden era of gaming, though stuffed with modern conveniences, on that portable gem of a game machine.



Honorable Mention, Sequel of the Year: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Wii U)
This is something I’ve considered doing in prior years but finally decided it was time in 2017. It’s hard for sequels that are pretty similar to their predecessors to make my annual lists as I like to highlight new and different experiences. However, sometimes they’re just really good games despite their close relationship to their forebears, and thus this year I decided to highlight DKC Tropical Freeze, the follow-up to the Wii game Donkey Kong Country Returns, which hit #7 on my 2016 list. It’s a Donkey Kong platformer that plays in much as the same way as Returns, while crafting dozens of vibrant new levels with an awesome soundtrack and tight gameplay. Despite its challenge it’s arguably more fair than DCKR, as it removes the Super Kong cheat but I was able to get through the game nonetheless. I played through the original Donkey Kong Country on my SNES Classic this year, and while I do like that game despite its flaws, I really came to appreciate how Retro Studios took the core of those old DKC games and built two truly great modern platformers out of it. They’re both recommended for any fan of classic Nintendo platformers.



11. Picross 3D: Round 2 (3DS)
This could’ve also been Sequel of the Year but there’s just so much to this addictive puzzler it earned its place in the bonus 11 spot. The easiest way to describe the Picross games is “picture Sudoku,” as they fire some similar logic centers in your brain, but for me that’s a disservice because I never really liked Sudoku (“woo hoo, I put numbers in a box.”) You use number clues at the ends of rows and columns to determine which blocks are part of a picture – you mark the ones that are, and break the ones that aren’t. I find the 3D Picross games far superior to the 2D ones, as adding a third dimension (easily navigable with the 3DS stylus) opens up a lot of options and variety to the puzzles and pictures. Round 2 presents two colors of clues to work with, eliminates failure through too many mistakes (except for a few special challenges), and throws well over 250 puzzles at you to crack. It’s the perfect brain-burner on the go.

 

10. Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)
This game got a lot of flak for not being a “traditional” RPG with experience points and a standard inventory. But if you go in with an open mind and are able to appreciate the different things that Sticker Star does to the formula – it’s almost an adventure game with battles – I think there’s a lot to enjoy. I liked its streamlined nature, broken into stages to give you a good sense of progression. Every action you take in battle is sticker-based, including basic jump and hammer attacks, and once you use a sticker, it’s gone – though there are gobs of stickers to find in the world. It’s a unique system that makes you think about what you want to use and when. The charm factor isn’t quite at the level of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, but it’s there, especially in the jazzy soundtrack. Sticker Star deserves credit for daring to be different (if you want a “standard” Mario RPG, there’s plenty of Mario & Luigi games), and I look forward to trying out its successor, Color Splash, on the Wii U.



9. Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)
I never really got into the Resident Evil series, mainly because I couldn’t get a grip on the controls before the first few zombies in the game ripped me to shreds. Somewhat ironic, I suppose, that the 3DS entry is then the version to reel me in. The aiming and shooting controls with the nub on the New 3DS work surprisingly well and feel modern enough while still being tense when multiple abominations are bearing down on you. The claustrophobic quarters of the cruise ship you’re exploring make for a great setting. The crazy story is too steeped in RE lore for me to fully grasp, but it’s fun enough, in a dumb B-movie way. Overall an enjoyable zombie-shooting experience that stands out in the 3DS library.



8. Etrian Mystery Dungeon (3DS)
While I’ve tried several roguelike games in the past, I never got really deep into them as the punishing “lose most/all of your progress when you die (and you will die), then repeat the same areas over and over” mechanic core to most of them can be pretty frustrating. However, Atlus found a way to hook me by mashing up the Mystery Dungeon series of roguelikes with the aesthetic and certain mechanics of the dungeon-crawling Etrian Odyssey games. You take a party of hand-crafted explorers into dungeons filled with myriad randomly-generated floors, items, and turn-based combat that happens directly on the overhead main screen (think Zelda, but on a grid, and when you move or take an action, the monsters get to do the same). Death is far less punishing here (and party wipes easier to avoid), and there are multiple dungeons to explore to keep up the variety. You also get the classes and character growth of Etrian Odyssey to keep driving you forward, while the dungeons and bosses provide a good challenge while mostly avoiding the YASD (Yet Another Stupid Death) cheap pitfalls of many other roguelikes. If you’re roguelike-curious, but afraid of constantly starting over after unavoidable disaster, this is a good one to try.



7. Castlevania Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate HD (PS3)
What a mouthful. The original version of this vampire killer came out on the 3DS, but surprisingly enough I played it on the PS3 as part of the Lords of Shadow collection. Though this game is pretty divisive, I actually ended up enjoying it more than its 3D big brother, the original Lords of Shadow. I found Mirror of Fate to be a great cross between the 2D action of classic Castlevanias (with some more modern God of War-style combat thrown in) and just enough exploration akin to the later Symphony of the Night-derived titles to satisfy that itch. I miss the classic Castlevania tunes but the dark, Gothic graphics and moody orchestral score do a good job of setting the atmosphere. The story takes a unique approach as you control 3 characters over the course of the game, and as someone who’s not attached to the original Castlevania canon, I appreciated developer MercurySteam’s different take on it. I look forward to playing their remake of Metroid 2 probably in the coming year.



6. Torment: Tides of Numenera (PC)
The first 2017 release to appear, Torment is the spiritual successor to the classic PC RPG Planescape: Torment, though it abandons the Dungeons & Dragons license of Planescape in favor of another tabletop RPG setting that takes place on Earth a billion years in the future, where countless civilizations have risen and fallen and left behind technologies that may as well be magic. Your character emerges into this world as the Last Castoff, one of numerous discarded bodies of the Changing God mysteriously granted new consciousness. You set off to explore the world, define yourself as a being, discover the motives of your sire, and ultimately decide what to do about them. True to its predecessor, there is a lot of reading in Torment – a majority of the game is spent talking to characters, asking them questions, and utilizing various skill checks to make progress. Fortunately the writing is great – though I will admit to skimming over some of it – and there are lots of interesting locations to explore and lore to uncover. Combat occasionally occurs in the form of Crises, which can play out as pretty straightforward battles but there may another way out of it through talking to characters or manipulating the environment. Combat is fairly clunky (again, like its predecessor) but also the least interesting path to take in a game that gives you a lot of options. Torment 2 probably doesn’t have as high of highs as Torment 1, but also not as low of lows, and if you complete it you can feel good about having read a novel to boot.



5. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (3DS)
Because Japan can never get enough of a good thing, here’s a mashup of a spinoff (Persona) from a main series (Shin Megami Tensei) mixed with another series with several entries (Etrian Odyssey). Persona Q takes the characters from Personas 3 and 4, throws them together in the same universe for Reasons, and sets them off crawling through several Etrian Odyssey-style dungeon mazes, complete with your own map drawing on the 3DS touchscreen. You might think a mix of my favorite JRPGs of the past decade and my 2015 Game of the Year (Etrian Odyssey IV) might easily score higher on this list, but while I enjoyed it immensely it didn’t quite leave as strong of an impression on me as either of its inspirations. The dungeon crawling is great, with more varied designs than the average EO game, and the battles tough but fair. It was also fun to see the memorable casts of two awesome games come together and banter with each other, and the J-rock Persona-infused music is preferable to the airy, fantasy EO fare. In the end, though, the story wasn’t as good as a Persona game and I prefer the class-based growth of an EO game rather than fusing demons for the umpteenth time. Still, as a fan service game it’s top-notch and I hope that its announced follow-up, featuring characters from a certain other game on this list, makes its way to America.



4. Super Metroid (SNES)
Finally. Yes, I could’ve played this via emulation any time – and have messed around with it a bit before 2017 – but procuring a SNES Classic prompted me to at last complete probably the only landmark SNES title I had never really got into. I think I avoided it back in the 90s because, for whatever reason, I thought it was too hard or complex, and I was waaayyyyyy into RPGs and only RPGs in 1994. I have to say, I think it was a much better experience on a big TV with a Super Nintendo controller in my hand than on a computer monitor with a knockoff gamepad. I’ve dallied with other Metroid games, and love Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but playing through Super Metroid illuminated where all that Metroidvania gameplay came from and why this is still considered the best of the best. Awesome atmosphere established by the music and visuals, tight action with a fair challenge, and addicting exploration and growth where you very rarely feel stymied (the couple of instances where you get past one barrier with a new item only to immediately run into another barrier requiring something you don’t have were frustrating). There are a couple slight control issues that I don’t think would be very acceptable in a modern game (space jumping sucks), but other than that Super Metroid really does stand the test of time and I’m glad to finally have it under my belt.



3. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (3DS)
While I enjoyed Fire Emblem Awakening, the 3DS’ first entry in Nintendo’s venerable strategy RPG franchise, it felt a little too similar to previous Fire Emblems to leave a lasting impression on me, and I really didn’t care about the romance minigames that much of the gaming internet went bananas over. Therefore I skipped the next entry, Fire Emblem Fates, but enough sounded different with Echoes, a remake of the Japan-only NES game Fire Emblem Gaiden, that I thought I’d give it a try. I’m certainly glad I did, as it now stands as my favorite Fire Emblem. The first big change is the structure. There are two main characters, Alm and Celica, and after an intro chapter with each, you get to move both around on the overworld map as you please, though they are on separate paths. However, every move you make with a character may cause enemies to spawn on one of the two paths, which may either move forward to attack or strengthen an entrenched enemy’s numbers. This adds a slight layer of high-level turn-based strategy which contributes so much to the experience – for the first time in FE you really feel like you are waging war against an encroaching army rather than moving from point to point, fighting enemies that just sit there and don’t really care what you do. Echoes also adds dungeons to the mix, which are fairly simple but a great diversion from the large scale battles, providing opportunity for third-person exploration and quick fights. There aren’t as many classes, and there’s no romance, but for me these omissions just streamline the experience to craft a truly remarkable campaign.



2. Persona 5 (PS3)
Persona fans waited 9 long years for this, but it was worth it. It’s a massive JRPG that fixes the main issue with Personas 3 and 4 – the boring, repetitive dungeons. In P5 you lead a gang of Phantom Thieves who fix the corruption in people’s hearts by diving into their psyche – crafted as elaborate dungeons each with a unique theme and mechanics – and literally battling their inner demons. And of course in the real world you’re attending school in an impressive model of real life Tokyo, making friends, answering quizzes, and working part-time jobs. The aesthetic steals the show, with stylish graphic design and funky music by series composer Shoji Meguro that easily wins Soundtrack of the Year. The cast is endearing, and the scenes where each of them awaken to their Persona powers are truly memorable. The story’s framing device of “recollecting” most of the game while being interrogated does a great job of teasing, but not quite giving away the ghost. It gets a little long in the tooth toward the end – this is a 100 hour game after all – and it’s not for everyone, but if it’s your style of game, it can’t be beat.



1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U)
Probably no surprise here. But let’s be clear: for me the crowning achievement of this game is that it brought together two types of games that I’ve never been completely sold on and made me fall in love with it. I’ve enjoyed 3D Zelda games, but get frustrated with the slow pace and some dungeons that are just too damn big and complex (looking at you, Twilight Princess). I’ve enjoyed open-world games, but get overwhelmed by a map filled with icons of relatively meaningless things to do, while the world manages to simultaneously feel empty. Breath of the Wild surpasses all of this to create the most memorable gaming experience I’ve had in years. It gives you all the tools and tutorials you need in the first hour of a mammoth adventure. You will explore a massive world at whatever pace you choose, and you will die, and die again – but learn from your mistakes. You’ll build your own map by spotting interesting locales from the top of a tower, than discovering them yourself. You’ll feel a constant sense of progression and reward as you come upon beautiful vistas, battle foes for new weapons and other loot, devise your own ways to solve problems that the myriad systems at work under the hood let you do, complete each of the 120 shrines that serve as the perfect bite-size mini-dungeons, and uncover the secrets of this post-apocalyptic version of Hyrule as you work your way towards the final confrontation with Calamity Ganon. The sound design, from the nostalgic theme of the shrines to the light piano riffs of overworld exploration, strikes the perfect balance between bombastic music playing everywhere in an open world game, sometimes inappropriately, and no music at all, which gets boring. From the original Legend of Zelda, to Skyrim, to Assassin’s Creed, to Dark Souls, to Monster Hunter, this game takes all of its influences and crafts them into something truly unique that is not to be missed by any gamer. I’m so satisfied knowing that Nintendo, the most important company from my childhood, can still bring its A game and give me an experience that really does make me feel like a video game-obsessed kid again.