It's that time again! Time for voting!
And what a year 2020 was. Both in video games and otherwise. But enough about that, time for what really matters, ranking video games!
1. Star Wars: Squadrons
I said very early on that there was only ONE game that would turn VR into a must-have for me. And that game would never be made because EA doesn't make starfighter sims anymore. So anyway here's THAT game: X-Wing in VR. Well played, EA. So now I'm on Team VR.
I could drone on about how the launch was botched a bit, how the PC VR was broken until two months later, and all of that, but I think this is a job for my inner child to reason why no other game could be number one this year: "I GOT TO SIT IN AN X-WING AND FLY AROUND AND IT GOES PEW PEW AND THERE'S TIE FIGHTERS AND WOW THAT STAR DESTROYER IS HUUUGE!"
And who am I to argue with that? Star Wars: Squadrons is my Game of the Year.
2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
It was my first Animal Crossing game, and I had a good time with it. It's nice, slow, cozy, cute... and basically the perfect game to deal with the nonsense that was 2020. I kind of drifted away from it over time, but the time I had with the game was great. I understand the allure of Animal Crossing now.
3. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
I like musou games, and Age of Calamity is an interesting one. It plays much closer to Breath of the Wild than you'd expect it to, and while there's still the one versus many fights, it is surprising how much of the environment interaction the game manages to do. The playable cast is also interesting going from people you'd expect to play to people you'd decidedly NOT expect to play. Which is great as the game keeps you guessing.
4. The Wonderful 101 Remastered
What do you get when you tell Platinum Games to just make a game? You get something like The Wonderful 101 which is a strange game that really shouldn't work as well as it does. Playing as a blob of super-heroes, you turn into giant objects to fight evil alien invaders. The game takes spectacle to absurd levels, and it really is a game you have to play to understand.
5. Super Mario 3D All-Stars
Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy in one package is an absurd amount of 3D platformer goodness. Sunshine and Galaxy are a little held back by them being so tied to their controllers that the collection had to fudge it a bit, but overall it's still three of the best 3D platformers.
6. Command & Conquer Remastered Collection
I'll be honest, when the game started up with an HD version of the original Command & Conquer installer, I knew these people just got it. The games are mostly the same as the classic originals, the cutscenes still wonderfully cheesy, and overall it's just a great package as you get both the original Command & conquer and Red Alert here. Red Alert is probably the better of the two, but also the campier one.
7. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
Honestly this game should be Dragon Ball Z: Gohan as you play a surprising amount of Gohan and a surprising little amount of Goku. It's a fun action RPG telling the story of Goku from Raditz to Buu (and beyond with DLC). The boss fights are the highlights here, with them getting to use their big attacks and you having to deal with it, but also the many, many sidequests you can do in the world of Dragon Ball. And yes, the drivers license exam is one of them.
8. XCOM: Chimera Squad
Normally an XCOM game would be higher on my list, and mechanically this game is fun, but... For some reason it feels wrong to play the alien super-police fighting various minorities in a big city now. Especially since some of them are clearly trying to just mind their own business when you kick in the door and start shooting.
9. 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel
Read the name of the game. Five dimensional Chess with multiverse based time travel. I won a game by promoting a pawn to a queen so it could attack the opponent's king two turns in the past, two timelines up. And that's a simple move in this game, don't get me started on bishops.
10. Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time
So imagine Ninja Gaiden, but Samurai Jack. That's this game. It brings back the voice talent of the cartoon, and tries as best it can to keep to the style. It also gets rather difficult, but that's just how these games go. Amusingly, Jack does lose more of his clothes the lower his HP gets, just like in the cartoon.
And what a year 2020 was. Both in video games and otherwise. But enough about that, time for what really matters, ranking video games!
1. Star Wars: Squadrons
I said very early on that there was only ONE game that would turn VR into a must-have for me. And that game would never be made because EA doesn't make starfighter sims anymore. So anyway here's THAT game: X-Wing in VR. Well played, EA. So now I'm on Team VR.
I could drone on about how the launch was botched a bit, how the PC VR was broken until two months later, and all of that, but I think this is a job for my inner child to reason why no other game could be number one this year: "I GOT TO SIT IN AN X-WING AND FLY AROUND AND IT GOES PEW PEW AND THERE'S TIE FIGHTERS AND WOW THAT STAR DESTROYER IS HUUUGE!"
And who am I to argue with that? Star Wars: Squadrons is my Game of the Year.
2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
It was my first Animal Crossing game, and I had a good time with it. It's nice, slow, cozy, cute... and basically the perfect game to deal with the nonsense that was 2020. I kind of drifted away from it over time, but the time I had with the game was great. I understand the allure of Animal Crossing now.
3. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
I like musou games, and Age of Calamity is an interesting one. It plays much closer to Breath of the Wild than you'd expect it to, and while there's still the one versus many fights, it is surprising how much of the environment interaction the game manages to do. The playable cast is also interesting going from people you'd expect to play to people you'd decidedly NOT expect to play. Which is great as the game keeps you guessing.
4. The Wonderful 101 Remastered
What do you get when you tell Platinum Games to just make a game? You get something like The Wonderful 101 which is a strange game that really shouldn't work as well as it does. Playing as a blob of super-heroes, you turn into giant objects to fight evil alien invaders. The game takes spectacle to absurd levels, and it really is a game you have to play to understand.
5. Super Mario 3D All-Stars
Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy in one package is an absurd amount of 3D platformer goodness. Sunshine and Galaxy are a little held back by them being so tied to their controllers that the collection had to fudge it a bit, but overall it's still three of the best 3D platformers.
6. Command & Conquer Remastered Collection
I'll be honest, when the game started up with an HD version of the original Command & Conquer installer, I knew these people just got it. The games are mostly the same as the classic originals, the cutscenes still wonderfully cheesy, and overall it's just a great package as you get both the original Command & conquer and Red Alert here. Red Alert is probably the better of the two, but also the campier one.
7. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
Honestly this game should be Dragon Ball Z: Gohan as you play a surprising amount of Gohan and a surprising little amount of Goku. It's a fun action RPG telling the story of Goku from Raditz to Buu (and beyond with DLC). The boss fights are the highlights here, with them getting to use their big attacks and you having to deal with it, but also the many, many sidequests you can do in the world of Dragon Ball. And yes, the drivers license exam is one of them.
8. XCOM: Chimera Squad
Normally an XCOM game would be higher on my list, and mechanically this game is fun, but... For some reason it feels wrong to play the alien super-police fighting various minorities in a big city now. Especially since some of them are clearly trying to just mind their own business when you kick in the door and start shooting.
9. 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel
Read the name of the game. Five dimensional Chess with multiverse based time travel. I won a game by promoting a pawn to a queen so it could attack the opponent's king two turns in the past, two timelines up. And that's a simple move in this game, don't get me started on bishops.
10. Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time
So imagine Ninja Gaiden, but Samurai Jack. That's this game. It brings back the voice talent of the cartoon, and tries as best it can to keep to the style. It also gets rather difficult, but that's just how these games go. Amusingly, Jack does lose more of his clothes the lower his HP gets, just like in the cartoon.
- [PC] [Space combat] [Motive Studios] Star Wars: Squadrons
- [Switch] [Simulation] [Nintendo] Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- [Switch] [Hack and slash] [Omega Force] Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
- [PC] [Action Adventure] [PlatinumGames] The Wonderful 101: Remastered
- [Switch] [Platformer] [Nintendo] Super Mario 3D All-Stars
- [PC] [RTS] [Petroglyph Games] Command & Conquer Remastered Collection
- [PC] [Action RPG] [CyberConnect2] Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
- [PC] [Turn-based strategy] [Firaxis Games] XCOM: Chimera Squad
- [PC] [Turn-based strategy] [Thunkspace, LLC] 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel
- [PC] [Action] [Soleil] Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time