Best of 2018
1/3 of the year gone, so far feels like an average year, was hoping it would start hot like last year.
Ended up being an old traditional year with majority of the bigger games coming out the last quarter of the year.
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Love this card game. Plenty of randomness and yet great strategy generally will net you a win. Though not always, which keeps things exciting as you don't know if you'll get a win or not. The daily challenges with their randomness and changing of rules are a blast I look forward to each day. The multiple character classes with distinct cards add to the longevity.
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Enjoyed Origins but after leaving it for a stretch was unable to get back into it. Decided to pick up Odyssey on sale because of that, wanted to start fresh with similar systems. Had no problems with game feeling been there done that which I was worried about, game was fun and felt different enough. The key I think is the mission structures, so many different little interesting stories strung across the land. Also appreciate that so many of the mission types seem optional, for instance I don't care much for naval combat and so far I've not felt penalized skipping those missions. Occasionally I still face Naval combat, but it's a rare thing and as such doesn't feel like game gets bogged down doing things I don't enjoy. I was worried about needing to purchase Helix for XP booster, but after reading many reviews saying that was not necessary and actually detrimental after a stretch (due to overleveling), I can confirm it's not necessary game feels well paced without xp boost.
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Didn't imagine this game making it so high on my list, it's credited due to it's stellar controls. After playing a good amount other games controls don't feel quite right, they lack the polish this game has. The continual growing of skills keep the runs worthwhile.
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I find the game enjoyable, wish it was more so though. I suppose if this was my first Ubisoft game I would enjoy it much more. Since I've played Ubi games since Assasin's Creed 1, it feels like a well done Ubi game, doing more of the same in fun expected ways.
The Arcade is an interesting addition, that adds some hours of gameplay if you get bored with the main content or are just looking for more hours to dump into the game. The fact that many perks work across both is very nice as that way it feels a bit more connected with the game, along with seeing the arcades and npcs commenting throughout the main game campaign.
The open world is well done, doesn't feel too repetitive across zones/mission types.
The core NPCs are fun with loud personalities.
I always enjoy games where I can progress gaining abilities, this game does that well, but I'm disappointed it doesn't goo too over the top with upgrades like Saint's Row as I'd like to become godlike after spending so many perk points at some level, like having unlimited ammo, huge roster of companions, little to no companion down time, etc.
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Recently heard this game referred to as Paper Diablo and that's a perfect brief description. This is an enjoyable game if you are looking for a twist on arpg. It's very much like Diablo as you venture down a dungeon ever deeper with evolving loot, enemies, and difficulty.
The loot is in the form of cards versus equippable gear. There are several strategies available, some gear recharges with found dungeon drops (potions), some permanently (while equipped) take away a set amount of mana, some use mana. Each level up you can chose to point a point into either health or mana and then the not chosen point goes into a pot you can later purchase and are encouraged to wait for as the price goes up each time and the longer you wait without dying the increased free loot you'll get from doing so. You can buy extra card slots, refill potions, power up cards, and a bit more longer term.
The variety of character classes and cards really extend the gameplay. Additionally the game has a decent variety of monsters and mini bosses keeping it fresh, not to mention on the strategies you can implement related to above game mechanics and how you chose to run each level utilizing resources (healing fountains), whether to charge or retreat, the order you take down enemies, etc. It's easy to sink countless hours into the game. You are even able to customize the time each run will take, in a novel concept, letting you set run length and as such setting reward pool size.
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I need to sync more time into this release. What bit I have played I have very much enjoyed. This is a great turn based tactics game with an enjoyable progressions system and various gear you can equip. You choose from a list of missions and that drives the tech advancements on your gear, so you can shape the game to your style of play.
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I tried my first God of War game (God of War 3) earlier this year and I HATED it (wanted to quit after 3 minutes, made myself go 30 or so to make sure), felt like I was going to blow my wrist pumping square button fast enough for qte, the combat was ridiculously basic. Chests felt cumbersome to open. I was at a huge loss to understanding the love for the franchise. I was very confused as the new game looked totally different. After reading reviews and seeing more gameplay videos I decided the new game was indeed different and looked like something I'd enjoy.
Fortunately my investment wasn't wasted and I very much enjoy the game. The combat no longer feels extremely basic, it now feels on par with other ARPG games though with more limited choices.
I'm a bit below average on my combat skills, yet the game feels doable (so far anyhow). I'm surprised often I feel like I have no chance after 2 deaths then go nearly unscathed on the 3rd try. Feels perhaps a bit random on how quickly the enemies target and run to you.
I really enjoy the ability/perk/skill system trees and feel like they give players the choices to fight many battles the way they want (some battles are more forced to play out hand to hand tight quarters with/without axe/shield/son etc.). Not being great at action combat games I've poured my trust into my son to help with my weaknesses and so far that's paid off well. I expected to prefer axe hand combat as it seemed the strongest, but after my son getting buffed enough I find now I'm much better off focusing on ranged axe gameplay (which I wasn't a fan of initially) and it's making the encounters much smoother for me.
For the open world there is certainly autonomy in your path choices, but I've been surprised how little. The game feels much more linear than I expected after reading info about certain alternate quests/rewards. Don't expect the full freedom you find in a game like Far Cry 5.
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Developed solely by David Brevik creator of Diablo 1 and 2. His Diablo past shows here with random loot and the enemies you'll encounter. It's a pixel graphic game which aren't my favorites, but it makes up for that with it's top tier random loot system and variety of classes.
There is a survival system in Standard mode, but it can be bypassed by playing in Creative mode pending on your tastes towards farming/hunger management vs. only core loot dungeon crawling. Both modes are enjoyable pending on your desire at the moment, however the Survival mode does cause clashes in Heavy Dungeon Crawling sessions having to stop for minutes at a time to tend to the crops, hunger, and need of sleep, to offset that the mode does include more loot options as you'll find better crops and skills to increase food longevity etc.
The game is currently in Early Access, expected to release before the end of the year. It certainly has obvious omissions currently (as expected), the game is great now, it will be even better next week. Community feedback is actively being taken in and the game is in very active development.
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I didn't care for the original, except in concept. This sequel is great, the environments, and combat are very enjoyable. You're constantly making progress leveling up gear and characters gaining stats and skills.
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Exploration and discovery are still enjoyable. Very disappointing entry in the Franchise though, as it's by far the worst in the series. Very much feels half thought out and implemented.
Feels like a lazy port to online. Seems like they were determined to take Fallout 4 code and hack it for online play, versus starting from ground up with online in mind. So many of the systems weren't reworked well for online, such as 1 person at a time can only access workbenches, VATS is completely different in online play and should've been replaced with a better system or just dropped, hundreds of item types is limiting storage space due to online required db needing to store stash of all the users, and so on the list goes..
What's fresh and somewhat interesting twist is the reworking of perks as random card drops and SPECIAL points going towards how many cards can be active a time. Now special points don't drive what perks you can have, instead it's how many or what levels of each you can have active at once (and you can swap in/out perk cards at any time).
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