It’s the end of the last day of January 2019, so I suppose I’d better get around to a retrospective on my favorite video game experiences of 2018, if I’m ever going to do it. Coming up with my five favorite games in 2018 proved difficult. You’ll notice it’s not five favorite games of 2018, which would have substantially limited the playing field. Rather, it’s the games that I played in 2018, which was still rather difficult. Looking over the reviews I posted over the year, I found that (a) I really hadn’t played all that many games in 2018, and (b) many of my video game experiences were downright mediocre. In fact, because I didn’t do a list like this for 2017, I’m bringing in Super Mario Odyssey to round things out, even though I wrapped up my experience with that game in December of the year prior.
So, in order of preference, more or less, here it goes…
5. Star Wars: Battlefront II
No, not that one. The 2005 one, of course. I still have a lot of fun playing this game, and I’m beginning to suspect that I may never fully tire of it. I don’t care that it’s getting older. I still load this up when I just want to have fun. And believe it or not, this title, released over a decade ago, had relevance once more in the past year, as it received new patches for renewed online multiplayer in late 2017 and early 2018. So all in all, it’s just as good a time to hop into the game again (or for the first time) now as ever.
4. Super Mario Odyssey
It’s cute. It’s fun. It’s sprawling, and it can be challenging. There are lots of collectibles–many of those collectibles, like outfits and hats, are rather fun to collect. It’s colorful, quirky, and weird. It’s a damn good Mario game and a damn good platformer. It was the first game that I played for the Switch, and it instantly made the console worthwhile.
3. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
If you’ve ever played and enjoyed a Super Smash Bros. game, you should like this. A huge roster of fighters, a variety of game modes, and a colossal pile of stages give any gamer more than enough content to work through, and there’s more to come. It’s flashy and addictive in single-player. It’s brutal (for a horrible player like me) but still fun in online multiplayer. And local multiplayer matches are still a blast.
2. 7 Grand Steps: What Ancients Begat
This was a game I encountered by accident, and it was a deceptively simple and surprisingly rewarding game to play with a rich narrative spun out of chance and my own efforts at cross-generational success. This was a beautiful game, and I’m only disappointed that the planned series to follow seems unlikely to ever manifest. And this is also a really cheap indie title, so you really have no reason not to give it a try!
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
I’m not a Zelda fan. I loved this game. It’s not only my favorite game that I played in 2018, it might be my favorite game ever. As I’ve said before, BOTW is a “massive game, and densely populated with secrets and surprise encounters. Experimentation and exploration are always rewarded. Most of the time, if you think to combine game systems to try something new, the game seems willing to let you do so. Add the characteristic quirkiness and clever puzzle-solving of a Zelda game, and it’s easy to see how this became an instant classic (and a new favorite of mine).”
And so concludes my list. What were your favorite gaming experiences in 2018? And what video games are you looking forward to playing in 2019?
