TRY: As the sun sets on 2018, it's time for us to once again reflect on what we played
throughout the year.
In 2018 we played everything from the NES, PC Engine, and Sega Genesis on up to Switch,
Xbox One, and PlayStation VR.
So as always for us, this is not your typical Game of the Year list.
Mostly we'll be focusing on our favorite games that we actually finished in 2018, but
there are also a few others we just had to talk about.
So, let's dig in - these are the games that we enjoyed in 2018.
[MUSIC: 'Principle' by Matt McCheskey]
COURY: I think its safe to say that time really got away from me this year.
The number of games that I was able to put a significant amount of time into was way
down this year.
That said, I did play some incredible games - some brand new...and others where it was
about time that I got around to them.
Although I rarely get into any first person shooters these days, I'd heard a lot of
praise for one of last year's biggest flops, TitanFall 2.
[GAME AUDIO: "Standby for TitanFall"]
COURY: I don't have a lot of interest in online competitive deathmatch so hearing that
the single player was exceptionally great convinced me to grab it for around 10 dollars.
Wow, what an experience!
This is perhaps the smoothest first person shooter I've ever played.
From wall running to double jumping you feel like you can do just about anything.
The Titans themselves feel like lumbering beasts but are none the less agile.
This certainly makes all other FPSs feel sluggish in comparison.
A relatively breezy 6 hour campaign is all killer with no filler.
From time travel to bounding from spaceship to spaceship, you're doing something different
on every single level.
TitanFall 2 was super fun to play, and exactly the kind of single player experience I look
for these days.
Mega Man 11 was a must play from the second it was announced and it certainly didn't
let me down.
At first I was a little nervous about the addition of the gear system which allow you
to slow down time or power up your attacks because they seemed to deviate from the tried
and true Mega Man formula.
Thankfully these injected some much needed spice into the mix after the back to basics
of 9 and 10, and felt right at home.
There were also some other liberties taken that help bring the original series into the
modern era like longer levels, quality of life improvements and multi tiered boss battles.
Mega Man 11 servies as a base that will hopefully be expanded upon with an eventual Mega Man
12, leading to a Mega Man 1 to Mega Man 2 style evolution of excellence.
Here's to another 30 years of Mega Man games!
Without a doubt the most egregious example of "its about time I played that" was
Sonic Mania.
When it released in August of 2017, I decided to hold off buying it for a little bit because
I simply didn't have an time to play it.
While the game drew rave reviews from everyone who tried it, once the initial release hype
passed and I still hadn't bought it… well, I decided play it cool and see if a physical
release was announced.
Nearly a year later, that physical release arrived in the form of Sonic Mania Plus, which
included new DLC on the cart along with tweaks and refinements to the original game.
In anyone else's hands, this probably would have been yet another ride on the Sonic Cycle
merry-go-round, but the amount of passion poured into this game is truly inspiring.
Although this is a love letter to the original Sonic games, it was the the little touches
that celebrate Sega's overall history that really made me smile.
Even the package's reversible Sega Genesis style cover was designed with care to accuracy…
although it would have been best if it was a Saturn cover.
The remixed music tracks are simply fantastic, but the new tracks stand shoulder to shoulder
with them picking up right where Sonic and Knuckles left off.
And I really need to mention the perfect looking CRT filter, which is likely the best interpretation
I've ever seen in a game, taking the crown from last year's Wild Guns Reloaded.
Of course, its not perfect - I felt that the levels got a bit too long towards the end.
So much so that I even ran out of time in a few instances, which something that never
killed me in a previous Sonic game.
And I still really, really dislike Blue Sphere.
After how amazing and fresh Sonic Mania felt after over 2 decades of build up, I'm not
sure if a perfect storm can ever come together like this again.
Regardless, Sega should let these guys revive absolutely any dormant franchise in their
library, because they've pulled off a miracle.
This is the best Sonic game ever made and deserves all of the praise it received.
While Sonic Mania relished in the past, it was a little game by the name of Astro Bot
Rescue Mission that took the platformer boldly into the future with the use of the PlayStation
VR.
As someone that had little to no interest in VR previously, this is as much of a surprise
to me as it is to you.
I was told that this game was a VR's "Mario 64" moment, and once you try it, this becomes
a very apt description.
It's very hard for me to describe and show you what it's like.
You simply need to play it and experience it for yourself.
TRY: Coury's excitement over Astro Bot was a big part of what made me feel like it was
finally time to buy into PlayStation VR.
And wow… it really does feel like a very new way to experience a game world.
[GAME AUDIO: Wooo!]
TRY: Whereas Super Mario 64 introduced many of us to what 3D platforming could be within
the confines of a 2 dimensional viewing surface, Astro Bot immediately feels like something
beyond the 3D that we already know.
As you view the world in 360 degrees around you, you move your body and shift your head
to discover secrets and reveal side paths in a way that simply could not be intuitively
done with a conventional camera system.
Astro Bot revels in hiding things in places that just make you smile because these things
simply couldn't be done outside of VR.
People typically think of VR as being for first person experiences, but Astro Bot has
me wondering whether third person VR might actually be better.
COURY: What is that?
What is… (laughs)
Oh jeez! (laughs)
TRY: One of my personal top gaming experiences for 2018… well, you can't exactly call
it a game unto itself, but in a lot of ways it felt like one.
Following the flubbed release of Final Fantasy XIV 2010 and its shockingly successful rebirth
in 2013, the first proper expansion released in 2015.
I had heard it was good, but having finally played it…
Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward blew me away.
Of course, there are some barriers of entry - aside from being part of an MMO, actually
playing Heavensward requires the completion of A Realm Reborn's main quest, plus an
interim storyline that leads up the the events of the expansion.
This summer, I thought I'd finally just finish those last missions leading up to Heavensward,
but as soon as the events unfolded… whew.
Wow.
Coury and I often talk about "Final Fantasy" moments.
This is among the best.
[GAME AUDIO: Tis hardly the first time, and I'll be damned if its the last!]
TRY: Crazy stuff happens and I could not just leave it at that!
Up to this point, the story of Final Fantasy XIV had been… fine.
Nothing too special, but it was enjoyable enough.
This is one heck of a turning point and it hardly lets up from there.
Heavensward opens up the way to the city of Ishgard, which was visible in the distance
all those years ago in the game's 1.0 version, and at last, 8 years later, my character enters…
but under circumstances that I very much did not expect.
The expansion also adds the lands north of Ishgard, along with flying mounts, such as
the classic black chocobo.
In terms of combat, with the level cap going from 50 to 60, I was very impressed with the
progression, with my character's Summoner job receiving some fun abilities along the
way that improve the flow of combat without my hotbar getting too complicated.
But I really mean it when I say that Heavensward is the best Final Fantasy story I've experienced
since the late 90s.
While a few things happened along the way that I think could've been handled differently,
the story pacing gave me a feeling that not many modern RPGs provide - I just binged it,
I had to see what was going to happen next at every turn.
[GAME AUDIO: He has fixed his attention on Ishargard itself, though he knows full well
the eye does not reside there.]
TRY: Aside from a few dungeons and boss fights along the way, a majority of the story is
best tackled solo, traveling along with an engaging cast of NPCs that feels very much
like a party that could've formed in an SNES or PS1 RPG.
It makes me sad to think that most Final Fantasy fans will never experience Heavenward just
because it's part of an MMO, but if you're not completely opposed to trying a relatively
fast-moving MMO and miss that old school Final Fantasy story feel, I think it's worth investing
in.
TRY: 2018 was a bit of a Dragon Quest year for me - obviously, there's Dragon Quest
XI, the long-awaited single player console successor to Dragon Quest VIII, which was
the game that got me so heavily into the series in the first place.
I'm pretty far into into XI, but I just didn't have enough time this past fall to
finish it yet.
It's very good though, and I've recently hit quite a turning point, so this is a top
priority for finishing as soon as possible.
I also got a few hours into the first Dragon Quest Heroes, which I hope to chip away at
over the early months of 2019… seems very fun so far.
The one Dragon Quest game I did finish in 2018 though, is Dragon Quest Builders.
I decided to wait on the Nintendo Switch version, which actually plays very nicely, and was
handy for playing away from home.
In fact, I was actually viewing the game's ending minutes before landing at Narita airport
on my first-ever trip to Japan, which feels very appropriate.
I've never been too huge of a Minecraft guy, but Dragon Quest Builders really gives
me the mission structure that I need to sink my teeth into a game like this.
To beat the game, you complete the quests for four towns that you build one at a time
in their own chapters, each with its own simple Dragon Quest-type story that unfolds as you
save the people from the ills that plague them in this dark version of Alefgard that
the Dragonlord now rules.
The Minecraftesque world aesthetic meshes surprisingly seamlessly with Dragon Quest's
higher polygon characters and monsters.
This is certainly no throwaway spin-off, and it does an excellent job of capturing the
sense of adventure that the classic RPGs are known for.
2018 was a year in which I really got back into falling block puzzlers.
Puyo Puyo Tetris is a clever concept and the different modes that mix the two games together
certainly makes for a lot of fun.
It had been so long since I'd played through the single player adventure or story mode
in a game like this, and I honestly just had a great time doing that.
Before Puyo Puyo Tetris, the only Puyo Puyo variant that I owned was Kirby's Avalanche,
which has always been a favorite of mine.
But boy… go to Japan, and you're just about tripping over all the Puyos, and they're
mostly all like 5 bucks or less.
My curiosity got the better of me and I grabbed several different versions.
In particular I did finish the single player story in Puyo Puyo Sun on PS1, but I sure
wish I knew Japanese so I could play this cool-looking RPG mode in Puyo Puyo Box.
[MUSIC: TETRIS EFFECT]
Tetris Effect on PlayStation 4 completely renewed my respect for the most iconic falling
blocks puzzler of all time.
As a game from Tetsuya Mizuguchi of Lumines and Rez fame, I wasn't sure if the audio-visual
aspect would draw me in.
But Tetris Effect lets me feel connected to the music in a way that other music just games
can't do for me.
The game blends graphics, music, and even perfectly tuned DualShock force feedback to
create an experience that literally feels intoxicating.
Your eyes are laser-focused on the play field, while everything else that occurs around you
- whether in VR mode or simply on a large television - sings and dances in your peripheral
vision.
Tetris Effect is perfectly designed around the idea of a game that stays in your head
hours after you stop playing, and it is indeed hard to stop.
The coolest game that Coury and I were able to co-op together this year was A Way Out.
This game is the result of an indie studio being given the opportunity to make a polished
3D game with heavy support and funding from Electronic Arts.
[GAME AUDIO: You Guys Seem Familiar.
Have I seen you before?
Nah, I don't think so.
Hmm, OK.
Whatever.]
TRY: The catch, as you may know, is that this is a co-op only experience, no single player
mode at all.
I really wasn't really too sure what to expect at first - early on the story and puzzles
seemed pretty standard fare, and overall the game felt pretty restrictive.
But as it continues on it becomes clear that A Way Out's strength is the sheer variety
it throws your way… you just never quite know what kind of situation you'll be in
next, and there were lots of gameplay scenarios in the second half of the game that I was
totally not expecting.
And these two characters who I didn't know if I would care about, turned out to have
far more interesting stories than I had initially realized.
[GAME AUDIO: Alright, here we go!
Here they come.]
COURY: Talk about a surprise!
I went into A Way Out with very little knowledge of what to expect.
Up to release, there was a clear focus on the prison break sequence out that would lead
you to believe that almost the entire game is based around that.
But in fact, this is only a tiny portion of the overall narrative.
A Way Out does include an option for online co-op, but I highly recommend playing this
couch co-op style.
[STREAM AUDIO: My thumb is like…]
COURY: With so many games being added to my backlog, I still think it's important to
revisit games that I've already beaten from time to time.
With the prevalence of remasters this generation, its easier than ever to mix the new and the
old while enjoying some good old fashioned gaming comfort food.
I had no idea that Katamari Damacy REROLL, an HD remaster of the original PS2 game for
the Nintendo Switch was so close to release.
But the first game was my favorite in the series and combined with a GameStop exclusive
physical edition, I bought it sooner rather than later.
I hadn't revisited the game in more than 10 years, and man is this just as fun the
first time I played it.
There's no significant changes to the overall game, but that's fine.
I love the simplicity here and I felt that at least the second game got bogged down in
the gimmicky level objectives.
Of course, the HD coat of paint is nice, but it's not particularly revelatory due to
the graphics being fairly basic in the first place.
I didn't notice any framerate dips as your Katamari grew larger, but I'd hope the Switch
would be able to handle this.
My 6 year old daughter got a real kick out of it, too.
It's such a weird game, she wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
[ARIA: Ah!
Alligator!
Oh!]
COURY: It's a funny game, too - more so that I remembered it being.
But, for some reason, this version removed the english VO and I'm not quite sure why.
Still, if you've never played a Katamari game, this is a perfect place to start.
And if you're like me, you might just get your fill of the series with this one game.
[GAME AUDIO: Speaking Japanese]
COURY: Although I'm too good at it these days, I do love me some Street Fighter - especially
Championship Edition.
When Capcom announced that Street Fighter Anniversary Collection was on the way, which
included all of arcade revisions of Street Fighter 1 through Third Strike for a total
of 12 games, it was a must buy for me.
[GAME AUDIO: Round One.
Fight!]
COURY: Outside of an actual arcade PCB, this would be the be all, end all compilation for
fans of the series.
This collection was developed by Digital Eclipse, who has seen a bit of a rebirth in recent
years after the success of the Mega Man Anniversary collection.
They really took things to the next level with this collection, with tons of different
scaling options, scanlines, training modes and online play for select games making this
one of the most lavish compilations I've seen in a long time.
But it's the museum section that elevates this beyond the scope of the usual multi-game
compilation.
There is a ton of extra material here that is worth the price entry all by itself.
A timeline takes you through each of the series 30 year history, with material like artwork,
factoids and complete soundtracks.
Although some may be disappointed that this only includes the arcade versions of each
game - I mean, home ports would have been amazing, especially for games like Alpha 3
which had a ton of additional characters - but I can't really imagine a SF collection being
better.
[COMMERCIAL AUDIO: Whoa!]
COURY: A few years ago, near the start of the channel we had an opportunity to make
a trailer for an upcoming PC game from Secret Base called Devil's Dare.
This multiplayer beat em up was a fun homage to arcade quarter munchers.
In early 2018, Devil's Dare game was ported to the PS4 and Switch under a new name: Streets
of Red.
This new version included a number of tweaks and changes from the original game, in addition
to some new characters.
From Final Fantasy VI, to Zelda there's some really fun nods to games and pop culture
throughout.
You never know who might show up - including Try and I in the background of the survival
mode.
I was NOT expecting that.
Streets of Red was super fun to play multiplayer, and I enjoyed revisiting it with my friend
Chris on a whim this past summer.
[GAME AUDIO: K.O.!]
COURY: February saw the release of the Secret of Mana remake for the PS4.
This version was largely scorned because of its bare bones look that many felt didn't
recreate the aesthetic of the original game very accurately.
I dunno, maybe these people were right, but there's something about its jank and simplicity
that that I found endearing...and just flat out fun to play.
I guess that's a testament to the core mechanics of the original.
I've really made it a point to take the game in for what it is, such as listening
to arranged soundtrack, without dismissing it outright.
And you know what, maybe it's not as good as the original, but its not that bad either.
Some even surpass the original composition.
The original sprites are incredible, but there is an appeal to crisp, simple graphics that
make up this new version.
I especially love the way that the area map is represented by the original game's graphics.
[GAME AUDIO]
COURY: The voice acting is probably the worst part, although I can dig the greater focus
on each of the three main character's personalities and their interactions.
I'm still working my way through it, but this is a game that I'll pop in when I have
a little bit of downtime.
Don't let the word of mouth distract you too much from this - you might find yourself
pleasantly surprised.
TRY: I also finished an assortment of games for much older consoles in 2018.
The nice thing about a lot of these is that even if they are indeed challenging, they
are nonetheless short enough to beat in an evening of streaming.
In fact, it was during a January stream that I marked my first beat of 2018 - Super Mario
Bros. 2 - the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Famicom Disk System, that is.
Unlike the "Lost Levels" version on SNES, which I'd finished a very long time ago,
the FDS original does not have the luxury of being able to save and continue from the
start of every level, so I was always afraid to play by the original rules, which has you
continue from the start of each world instead.
But you know what?
Even if it's more vindictive than the other Mario games, I think it's possible to get
through it with much less effort than plenty of other infamously difficult NES games, and
any fan of classic Mario should make a serious go at it.
But without a doubt, the best game I played on my Famicom in 2018 was Seirei Densetsu
Lickle - the Japanese version of the infamously expensive Little Samson... which I found in
Akihabara for less than 10% of the price of the American version.
Little Samson may not be worth $1500 or whatever it's going for these days - what game really
could be - but it IS extraordinarily good.
Four playable characters equipped with their own unique abilities and great animations
are just the beginning.
This really is a top-shelf NES platformer.
No matter what method you have to use, I strongly encourage all fans of 8-bit platformers play
through it.
One of the best NES cartridges I played this year was the widely celebrated classic…
Karnov.
[GAME AUDIO]
TRY: OK, in all seriousness, Karnov hardly beloved, and the character has become something
of a joke for us here on My Life in Gaming.
The game itself is not exactly great, but you know what?
It's really not that bad.
It plays like a mess, but there is a certain charm to its clumsiness and with infinite
continues at your disposal, it's not even that time-consuming to beat.
And hey, who could hate a game whose label art features a dude breathing fire at a T-Rex?
Looking back, I'd say that I probably had the most fun with the PC Engine in 2018 than
any other retro console.
The first PC Engine / TurboGrafx game that I beat in 2018 was Legendary Axe - and what
a game this is.
With great gameplay and a great soundtrack, Legendary Axe deserves far more attention
than it gets.
Over the course of the game, you pick up items to increase your axe's maximum damage, but
similar to games like Secret of Mana, you have to let your weapon meter fill back up
to do the most damage.
This creates an interesting pace for a platformer, making it a somewhat slower and more methodical
action game, where rushing forward too quickly is almost always a bad idea.
However, there are also situations where it's helpful just hold the attack button and let
the turbo function do the work for you.
It's tough, but very satisfying, and one of my favorite games on the system thus far.
Another great one was Valkyrie no Densetsu - Namco's Legend of the Valkyrie.
It may not have co-op like the arcade release, but this version is plenty of fun nonetheless
- a charming overhead action game similar to the likes of Pocky and Rocky, littered
with hidden magic and plenty of other secrets.
The PC Engine CD version of Valis: The Legend of a Fantasm Soldier is the second game in
the series that I've played, after the Genesis version of Valis III.
This one far exceeded my expectations.
While Yuko is a very slow-moving character, the game has an excellent set of projectile
weapons that can power up to three times each and are just a lot of fun to use.
Yuko also has a quick slide that plays well in many of the game's boss fights.
The final boss in particular was extremely intense and beating him on stream was definitely
one of my personal favorite gaming moments of the year.
[STREAM AUDIO: My heart is like pounding so hard.]
COURY: Of course I spent time with some classics this year, although not nearly as many as
last.
Most of the older games I started on our Sunday livestream, I never ended up returning to.
Guess I should get better at that, huh?
I finally got around to Rocket Knight Adventures this year, which...I know, I know...I should
have played this a long time ago.
I heard for a long time that it was a pretty tough game, and that had me procrastinating
on it.
Turns out it was the absolute perfect difficulty I even almost finished it on the hardest difficulty
immediately after finishing it the first time.
You've really got to learn how each encounter of the numerous boss encounters progress...but
once you do, its extremely fulfilling.
Mastering each of the moves in your repertoire is important and knowing when to use them
is key.
I think people get caught up on using the dash move that they failed to realize that
basic sword slashes are actually much more powerful and versatile.
It's a reasonably long game but each level offers a completely different experience,
which makes it move pretty quick and never gets old.
This is 16-bit era Konami at its most refined and it is incredible that its never gotten
any kind of re-release on download services.
Gate of Thunder is a TurboGrafx-16 CD game that I've talked about in the past, but
I finished it this year made me settle on it being my favorite shooter of all time.
There's not a whole lot of frills to it - weapon power-ups are fairly straight forward
- but its such a pure shooter experience that I find myself being able to come back to it
repeatedly.
A big allure is the hard rocking' soundtrack, which is a nearly perfect mix of wailing guitars
and synths.
If only the sound balance was a little better...
[GAME AUDIO]
COURY: But there are hacked versions out there that fix this up.
I love that it's not insanely difficult too, which can scare a lot of people off from
the playing shooters in the first place.
The basic difficulty level is beatable after enough attempts by anyone with a passing interest
in shooters.
But if want more of a challenge, you'll meet your match by switching to hard mode.
While we're on the subject of the Turbografx CD-ROM, we gotta talk about FX-UNIT YUKI:
The Henshin Engine.
This successful kickstarter game is a tribute to the PC-Engine with levels inspired by Rondo
of Blood, Adventure Island and even Magical Chase.
Despite being a backer, I didn't follow the development of this too closely, so when
it showed up in this past summer, I was pleasantly surprised.
Yuki's top notch soundtrack roped me, and combined with its basic, yet fun platforming
action
There's a couple of weird graphical glitches here and there, but it seems to be pushing
the hardware in ways that not a lot of games for the system did.
But these should be cleared up in the eventual Dreamcast port thats on the way.
Last year I was exposed to the brilliance of spanish developer Locomalito with the incredible
Ghous 'n Ghosts-like Cursed Castilla.
This year, I had the pleasure to play his tribute to classic shooting games like Gradius
in Super Hydorah thanks to a physical release by Limited Run Games.
[GAME AUDIO]
COURY: Like Castilla, Hydorah takes the basic look and premise of its inspiration and streamlines
the heck out of it.
While dying in Gradius mean it might be impossible to finish, Hydorah gives you additional weapons
to add to your load out after each level, allowing you to pick the best gun, bombs and
a super weapon for each area.
It may be tough as nails, but the level variety makes for a very fulfilling ride.
I really fell in love with Hydorah when I hit the space armada level, which are usually
among my favorite type of level.
One of the first games I finished this year was McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure,
which shouldn't be confused with the other McDonalds game, Global Gladiators.
Treasure Land Adventure stars creepy old Ronald McDonald was one of the very first games from
Treasure, who had this in development simultaneously with Gunstar Heroes.
Yes, a McDonalds game was one of my favorites this year, which sounds absolutely crazy to
say out loud.
But what can I say, the combination of interesting boss battles, tried and true platorming and
Ronald's bizarre jumping animation was extremely memorable.
TRY: Perhaps the defining characteristic of the current generation of gaming for me has
been physical releases of smaller titles that in the previous generation would have most
likely only been available as digital downloads.
And you know, it certainly doesn't hurt that a lot of these games don't take that
long to beat, so that's always nice when I'm lacking for playtime.
One of the most unique games I played through in the past year was Severed by Drinkbox Studios
- the developer behind the excellent Guacamelee, which I also played this year via the physical
release from Vblank Entertainment.
Severed was originally released in 2016, I played the 2018 physical Vita release by Play-Asia.
In Severed, you play as a girl trying to save her family from an extremely twisted alternate
dimension.
Navigating through an old school first person dungeon crawler perspective, RPG battles play
out with a unique touch-based battle system where you slash enemies and sever monster
parts to collect and spend on character upgrades.
While I feel gameplay would be more comfortable with Wii Remote style pointer controls instead
of a touch screen, the battle system is unconventional in a good way and it works better than you
might expect.
Severed builds a truly creepy world with such a simple art style, and the haunting soundtrack
becomes more oppressive as the game progresses.
So, if you have any room in your heart for touch input, give it a try on Vita, Wii U,
3DS, Switch, or iOS.
Earlier in the year, Limited Run Games did a PS4 release of Kero Blaster - by the creator
of Cave Story, but it's a very different, more linear sort of action game.
It plays great, sounds great, and of course has a very charming style, though I don't
think it ever took hold in the collective gaming consciousness to the extent that Cave
Story did.
The long-awaited Owlboy came to Nintendo Switch
in 2018, and I thought it was a perfect fit for the portable screen.
This is a surprisingly story-driven little adventure, less Metroidy than I expected,
but full of fun action and great moments.
Easily one of the best games I beat in 2018 was Cuphead… but that sadly, was not on
a physical copy.
Hopefully Microsoft does the right thing in 2019 and gives us a fully patched Xbox One
physical disc with the DLC included.
In 2018 I tried to start a tradition that I only about half lived up to - to pick a
game that I love, play through it once every month of the year, and in doing so I would
learn it well enough over the course of a year's worth of runs to add it to my stable
of games that I could in the future pick up for a casual replay anytime.
For 2018, I chose the original Castlevania for NES… while I only ended up actually
playing through it 5 or 6 times instead of the intended 12, I did manage to get good
enough to finish in under 30 minutes without using any continues.
We'll see if I can retain those skills over the coming years!
The most interesting thing I learned along the way was that while Dracula is stun locked
by holy water, you can just walk straight through him…
thanks to Cephi for dropping the hot tips in the stream chat!
Of course, I played a number of other games in 2018, but there's just no way to talk
about all of them here… and some, like Kirby Star Allies, maybe I'll get a chance to
go more in-depth with that in a future episode.
There were some disappointments…
Life is Strange: Before the Storm told a thoroughly unexciting prequel story that absolutely did
not need to be told…
Danganronpa V3 had its moments but sort of drove the series into the ground by the end…
and well, I've already talked plenty about Perfect Dark Zero in its own episode.
But on the bright side, Perfect Dark Zero lead me to rediscover the greatness of TimeSplitters
2.
Wow, what a game!
So good!
COURY: Of course this year was met with its fair share of disappointments, and probably
the biggest for me was Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
I was a huge fan of the first game in this reboot of the series, playing through it a
number of times on both the PS3 and the PS4.
I had fun with Rise but ultimately came away feeling a bit ambivalent about it.
Regardless, I was excited for Shadow, starting it fairly close its release.
It was also the first game I played fully in 4K and with HDR.
It starts out pretty great - the atmosphere and graphics are fantastic in the early parts
of the Cozumel section.
But then a story beat happens and absolutely killed my opinion of Lara's character, which
made it tough to really get into the rest of the narrative.
By the end, I didn't feel any kind of attachment to the world.
I could barely understand what the lead villains motivation was, but I kinda felt that Lara
was just as bad.
[GAME AUDIO]
COURY: Believe me, this isn't the kind of thing that usually bothers me, but she just
came across as supremely unlikeable in this game.
[GAME AUDIO]
COURY: Shadow takes more of an open world approach, which is usually a negative for
me.
The same thing happened with the transition from Batman Arkham Asylum to Arkham City.
But, It didn't help that the power progression of equipment and Lara's skills felt almost
entirely useless this time around.
It was still a great looking game, with the HDR stunning.
But what a way to fizzle out with the finale of this reboot series.
I have a feeling they'll need to retool everything from the ground up for whatever
direction Lara heads in next.
Firmly in the "what the heck, this is a mess" column is Arc System's Double Dragon
IV.
On paper and in screenshots this is the kind of throwback I can get behind - taking inspiration
from the NES version of Double Dragon 2.
In action though, I have no idea what happened here.
The screen tearing here absolutely out of control and completely destroys whatever potential
there was for this being a retro revival on the same scale of Mega Man 9.
I'd heard that the game was rushed out with no real testing, but it's insane that this
has never been fixed via patch even today!
Talk about being sent to die, but also betraying consumer's trust...
This was such a colossal waste.
This next one might ruffle some feathers, but I didn't have a lot of fun with Axiom
Verge.
To be clear, I'm not saying that it's a bad game, but it just didn't resonate
with me at all which was disappointing because I expected to like it a lot more than I did.
It has a really interesting plot that goes in directions I wasn't expecting, along
with some unique power-ups and gameplay mechanics...but...
I felt like by the end, every button the controller did something different and felt over complicated
making it especially difficult to play on the Switch in portable mode.
The music and world had atmosphere so thick, but I dunno, maybe I'm just bored of Metroidvanias
now-a-days?
But maybe not, because The Messenger was freaking awesome.
What starts out as a homage to Ninja Gaiden and some of the intense platforming of Super
Meat Boy eventually expands into a time traveling metroidvania with a mix of 8 and 16 bit graphics.
I was unsure of the writing at first because it felt a bit too jokey but the story of the
game evolved in such a way that I got really into it.
This is a pretty lengthy adventure too, ending up being far longer than I ever expected.
There's such a fluidity to the gameplay in The Messenger that truly makes you feel
like you can do anything...and by the end of the game, you basically can.
It doesn't over complicate things - you have your entire moveset about a quarter into
the game… a stark contrast to Axiom Verge.
Now, to see the metroidvania formula perfected you need only look at what was my most anticipated
release of the year.
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom..
… an incredible new entry in the Wonder Boy series which ended up being both of our
favorite game of the year.
You know a game is special when you really start arranging your schedule around playing
the game - if a game is good enough, you FIND time to play it...sometimes at the expense
of other things you should be doing.
[GAME AUDIO]
TRY: What impresses me most about Monster Boy is that the game is not afraid to challenge
you in ways that other games shy away from.
The action is perfectly tuned, often demanding a lot of precision, while still being forgiving
enough to let you try and try again.
I'm not talking like Meat Boy levels of ridiculousness or anything, but it's just
the right level of difficulty for fans of old school platforming.
Much more platforming challenge than you might normally expect to see in Metroidvania style
games.
COURY: Exactly!
And not just that, I felt that Monster Boy really makes you think in a way that feels
all but lost in modern gaming.
Puzzle solutions, especially those that lead to enticing optional upgrades, are typically
not at all obvious at a glance.
It seems like most games these days don't want the player to feel confused for too long,
but Monster Boy's puzzles are such that you might often have to walk away and come
back later, but in the end, the solutions are very satisfying and make perfect sense.
There is something to discover on basically every single screen and between the two of
us, we were able to solve nearly every mystery in the game before any FAQs or other information
was available, which made for a super fulfilling experience.
TRY: Not only is Monster Boy Game of the Year for both of us, the soundtrack has to easily
be the best of the year too.
With an all-star music team including Yuzo Koshiro, Michiru Yamane, and others, the most
surprising thing is that even with its excellent remixes of past Monster World series themes,
these are debatably overshadowed by the incredible original compositions.
Is this the best grassy field theme of all time?
------------
COURY: As 2018 closes, I regret that I haven't had time to play some of the year's biggest
titles.
No, I still haven't played Spider-Man, God of War and perhaps most unfortunately, Dragon's
Quest XI.
But these games aren't going anywhere and won't be less good when I undoubtedly make
time for them in 2019.
An important takeaway is that a good game is a good game, no matter when you play it.
And I hope to find many more in the coming year.
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