DJ’s Favorite Games of 2018: Honorable Mentions
2018 was a…trying year. It was, in the world of gaming, also an interesting one. The Switch, riding the high of its launch and amazing 1 -2 punch of amazing games from both of its premier franchises, was coming into its second year into a predictable sophomore slump. The PS4 continued its dominance with its own shockingly good first party line-up, and the X-Box One seemed to be working towards future goals rather then anything for the present. Gamers, whether they wanted to or not, became increasingly more aware of the true gritty details of what it takes to create this hobby as issues of labor practices continued to make themselves known, louder then ever, with the various corporations and heads responding to them in varying degrees – or not. E-Sports continued to make in-roads in becoming a thing whether you like it or not, and what was once a giant celebration of what new things were coming out to be excited by continued its long slump into nothingness. Long awaited sequels finally arrived, and new ports of years old games found new life in a rush to perhaps too quickly fill hardware libraries.
So, we return to this. Like always, these are my favorite games from this past year, and as a result, if I didn’t play it, it’s not here. God of War is a notable omission, for example, because I just didn’t feel the need to play it until recently, and even then, I have yet to crack open the shrink wrap because there have been so many other games this year, like all years, that I’ve opted to save it for the new year. Anyway, in order to spare everyone from having to deal with an enormous wall of text again, this year I’m splitting this up into three parts, and I’m going to start with the random other games I liked but didn’t quite make it into my Favorite Ten list.
Starlink: Battle for Atlas from Ubisoft was a game I surprisingly spent a long while engaging with and enjoying. As a toys-to-life game released in late 2018 it seems like someone didn’t get the memo, but in actuality, they did, with the helpful option to use the toys digitally and not be shackled by physical requirement to play the game. While the ships are pretty nice looking, the toys themselves are probably the least interesting part of the game, as the gameplay loop of landing on a planet, surveying the world, and lending a hand out to the locals in various missions is weirdly satisfying. The main characters are mostly un-annoying and maybe even likeable (Razor’s cool! Levi can die in a fire.) and it’s almost a No Man’s Sky lite in terms of charting the planet and exploring, albeit in a much more limited and curated way. Of course, I’d be remiss to not mention the Switch version coming with the Star Fox crew as characters, which admittedly elevates the game even if only a small amount. The use of Fox McCloud and crew is much more substantial than most would have guessed, and while there’s definitely a few moments where it seems like no one ever seems to acknowledge anything the say, they’re also integrated into the cutscenes and plot in a way that not having them there would leave a sense of something missing. It’s also a weakness of the game that the Wolf O’Donnell side quest is significantly more interesting then the actual main Atlas story, and makes you want an actual new Star Fox game. The other, more glaring issue that ultimately knocked it out of the top ten for me is that the game gets extremely repetitive after the first dozen hours or so. It’s the same loop repeated ad nauseum without much variety, and while I’m okay with it, it’s not enough and it suffers for it. Still, I had a great deal of fun and there’s just enough threads hanging that if the series continues (which, given how far the price has plummeted on the starter pack, it probably won’t) I’d like to check it out – provided Team Star Fox is along for the ride.
Speaking of repetition, Mario Tennis Aces is another game that I absolutely loved this year and more then makes up for the lackluster Ultra Smash on the Wii U, but ultimately just didn’t have enough meat on it to sustain my interest beyond an admittedly disappointing story mode and more then a few on-line and local matches. I certainly appreciate Nintendo’s commitment to support their games post launch with new content, as they’ve added quite a few more characters to the roster in the months since launch, and the tennis itself is solid and fun and quite possibly has the only instant replay in a sports game I’ve seen where the officials can in fact change their calls. It’s bright, it’s colorful, and it’s genuinely fun, but in the end, it’s not the strange sports/RPG hybrid that some of the Mario sports single player modes have been in the past that I was looking for. As for other multiplayer games, both Dragonball FighterZ and, to a lesser extent, SoulCalibur VI were great surprises to me this year as fighting games. The former being a genuinely rock-solid fighting game based on the popular franchise turning into a hit appreciated by both fans of the anime and the FGC in general bucked the usual norm of licensed anime games being only good for people who like the show and gaining traction almost immediately in the tourney scene. While that really shouldn’t have been a surprise since it’s from ARC System Works, the amount of care that went into the cutscenes and voice acting of the special little character interactions in both matches and story mode was a boon for fans. SCVI, meanwhile, is a return to form for that fighting game franchise, resetting itself back from the increasingly wobbly nature of the plot and re-focusing on the fundamentals while still taking steps forward in the tales of souls and swords eternally retold. The single player content is also impressive, being a nice throwback of sorts to the Weapon Master Modes of old as well as story content for nerds like me who actually like SC lore. In the end, I’m not good enough at fighting games despite being a fan of Soul and my somewhat re-emerging appreciation of Dragonball, and I just haven’t put enough time into them to comfortably put them into the list proper.
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life would probably be on the list except I didn’t play it, due to me getting the thought into my head that I was going to play the entire series in order, what with both 0 and Kiwami coming out last year. So my PS3 remains plugged in with the Yakuza 3 disc sitting in it, and digital copies of 4 and 5 (and Lost Souls) on the hard drive, awaiting me. That’s not to say that we won’t be seeing the franchise later, of course, but we can save that for next time. Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is something I’ll mention here as an alternative telling of that anime in game form by the Yakuza team itself, complete with everyone being voiced by Yakuza voice acting alums. I really wanted to like this game more, and it has some of the same sensibilities as the gangster series proper used to great effect, but the fights, especially the big important boss battles feel incredibly padded with characters having multiple health bars even beyond how beefy your typical Yakuza end boss is. What’s more, as entertaining as the Hokuto no Ken is to use and watch, for those bosses it feels like you’re barely doing any damage at all while they can completely just destroy your health like it’s nothing – again, past the point of how it was in the Yakuza games. Sorta makes it a bummer, since you don’t feel like a badass as Kenshiro as you should, and it doesn’t mean it has to be a Dynasty Warriors game to do so either. I’ll probably still finish it, but I’m disappointed – hopefully, next year’s Judgement from the same team is less like this and more “Ace Attorney as done by the Yakuza team” as I want.
It was an oddly bountiful year for Pokémon, as despite being an off year with no core game being released, we got a couple. Detective Pikachu is actually pretty clever beyond the bizarre and amusing premise – but only just. It’s fine, and honestly, I like the detective voice more here then in the upcoming film (not that Ryan Reynolds’ take is anything less then so far spot on) but it’s a pretty basic game, though in that I can actually understand why they opted to make this the basis of the movie than an adaptation of a starting trainer story. Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee, on the other hand are surprisingly pretty good, poignant remakes of Yellow that strike hard at anyone who has any sort of nostalgia to that first generation of games. The nice, simple but bright and colorful re-imaginings of Kanto are full of warm and fuzzy feelings, and the updated cutscenes showcasing your trainer and either Pikachu or Eevee are all sorts of adorable. What hurt this for me is that I just don’t like the Pokémon Go inspired catching mechanics and replacing the bulk of wild Pokémon battles with just capturing them turned me off a little. Not so much that I didn’t enjoy the game – I am, so far – but it’s just not my style and along with them being remakes of an older game is enough to drop it off the list. Also, the annoying played thus far – you can only play with a single Joy-con is frustratingly limiting in that Nintendo way. Oh well, if you can get over those quibbles, it’s a great way to have a nostalgia fueled, fun trip through a game.
Speaking of remakes, I’ll mention Lumines Remastered and The World Ends With You: Remix here. Both are great, both are amazing, and I’ve sunk plenty of nights into especially the first one in a similar way I’ve spent with another game I’ll talk about later, but it’s is just an updated port of the old PSP game, so I’m not okay putting it on the list. Same with TWEWY, it’s a game I loved but never finished back on the DS, and now I’m having a blast re-visiting and making an oath to actually see through to the end this time. WarioWare Gold is another game that is technically a new game with a shocking amount of story and voice acting, but the games included are all ultimately from previous games in the series, though it should be noted they were re-built from the ground up rather than be merely ported up. If anything, I just want a new WarioWare on the Switch proper. All three are games well worth your time, and if you don’t have the hang-ups I do, shoot, maybe they would be your list too, but for me, they’re not.
Life Is Strange 2 has started strong and isn’t shy saying what it wants to say so far. But it’s also only one episode out of five, and such I can’t possibly rank it yet. Maybe it stays strong, or maybe it drops the ball completely, but the first game was easily one of my favorite games in 2015, and so far this is on the right track. Shadow of the Tomb Raider I haven’t played yet, so what can I say, other then I’m intrigued by hearing about how they seem to be tackling head-on that Lara’s adventurer status might actually be a bad, bad thing and not gloss over it. But at the same time, I’ve heard enough non-spoilery negative things about how they deal with it that I’m thinking they don’t stick the landing. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two parts of the new Tomb Raider series, but I’m also in the minority in preferring the first game overall, so who knows where I’ll land on it.
Dragon Quest XI is this year’s “Long 80+ Hour RPG that I like, but haven’t played enough of due to time but would probably make the list if I did” recipient. Make Witcher III and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 proud. However, a couple RPG’s released earlier in the year DID make it on, so maybe these gigantic games just need to come out earlier instead of near the end?
I had some fun with some rhythm games this year – Taiko No Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun! for the Switch was released here, and while not having the taiko drums sold domestically took some wind out of the sales, it’s still a pretty engaging rhythm game with some catchy songs. Still, if you’re not into songs you’ve never heard of and need more familiar music in this sort of game, it might not do much for you. I also spent time with the Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight double pack, which are just like the previously released Persona 4 Rhythm game, except a little worse? While they both have the same set of catchy music and remixes from both fantastic soundtracks, P4D was elevated by having an actual story mode that not only tied into the characters and plot of the main game and the other spin-offs, but took the whole thing 100% seriously in-universe and took a pretty harsh shot on the nature of pop-idols in Japan in a game where you dance battle against the personifications of characters’ insecurities and vices. I was amused by how P3D’s justification is essentially Elizabeth noticing that Margaret got to dance with the Investigation Crew and she wanted to as well, but not having any sort of story just drops them both back to being just competent rhythm games. It’s nice to see everyone again, and the interactions are meaningful for the casts, but it’s not what I wanted. Needless to say, spoilers from right out the gate if you haven’t finished either game, which is a little odd considering that certain characters are still around in Persona 3’s case.
And here’s where I get ruffled at things. Dissidia Final Fantasy NT is insulting. Everything about it basically disassembles and breaks down everything I enjoyed about the first two PSP games, and I cannot understand who thought it was a good idea. Every meaningful battle is 3 v 3, with 1 v 1 fights relegated to AI sparring matches, and even then it feels bad since the game’s been tuned to 3 v 3 that even 2 v 2 feels a little off. The story mode, which is where the ridiculous character meet ups and plot takes place that I love/hate is completely inane in that you have to play other modes to unlock it bit by bit. There’s so much missing here that were in the handheld games that you have to wonder if they took a page of out EA Sports’ playbook when they jump to a brand new console. I like their choices for characters in terms of DLC, but the whole game is such a mess that I want nothing to do with it. Even WWE 2K19, where you can look at everything I said last year about 2K18 and apply here, has been more enticing. It’s still a bad wrestling game with one of the best customization suites in any game today, but I have to give it props this year. My Player mode is still a little hinky and unbalanced, but the story mode they included this year has been shockingly entertaining in a winking at the camera way. A lot of it depends on whether or not you like wrestling, but the story of an Indie darling working in high school gyms and shoddy rings set up in the middle of an open-air market making his way to the WWE in a corny, 80’s sports movie way is completely spot on in its earnestness and cheesiness that I kinda love it. From the other nerds working with him in the small time “BCW” fed to the characters pondering their gimmicks and trying to get the attention of big shots, it’s all painfully over-the-top but has shades of truth in them. They all but say wrestling is choreographed in the early levels, winking and nodding enough without completely breaking kayfabe. There is also just enough shenanigans going on like breaking into the developmental territory, NXT, disguised as Macho Man and assaulting workers to get a contract that it’s just dumb and amusing. As an unintended side effect, it ends up coming across like, yeah, the indies are all set and planned, but the lunatics who work in the WWE really are just psychopaths and insane. It’s just wild, and I for one am amused enough to ignore how it all still feels bad to a point.
So all these games, and none of them are in my Top Ten list. Next time, we’ll start from the bottom, and go through Numbers 10 through 6 – what makes it in? What’s undeserving, and what’s criminally low? I guess we’ll see in a couple days.