by bigevil1987
Well, here we go, another year done, another list of games making me disappointed I didn't play more games this past year. Each time I start thinking about a GOTY list I push the writing of it further back into January to give myself a chance to finish those couple of games I've been meaning to for months. At this rate by 2030 I'll be writing my GOTY lists in early summer.
2019 was a bit of a recovery year for me. Those who know me are aware of how hard and exhausting my 2018 had been and it was nice to have things relatively back to normal in 2019, and to have a bit more time to do the things I enjoy. One of those things is playing video games, and there were some pretty solid ones in 2019, some of which took me by surprise. So, without too much further typing, here's a list of 18 games that I enjoyed from this past year. It won't be in any particular order, but it does generally have a best to most-best of the year order as you scroll down. And I do definitely have a GAME OF THE YEAR that I will make clear. (Not only is it GOTY, but it might be one of the GOTE [Games Of The Ever])
Showing 1-10 of 18 items
I really wasn't sure about this one at first. I don't play competitive shooters much anymore, I mostly only enjoy battle royale games from afar, and I was REALLY bummed they weren't working on Titanfall 3. Apex still grabbed me though and definitely dominated a decent chunk of my 2019. The shooting in Respawn games just feels so damn good, and the pinging system they built made playing a team-based game with strangers a viable option. A friend of mine and I embarked on a quest to win at least one game, and basically stopped playing after we finally did, but I still had a hell of time with Apex. Seriously though Respawn, where's my Titanfall 3? (Note: That drop music is so good, I'm listening to it as I write this and it's making me want to fire the game up again.)
Two years in a row where Tetris games have made it to my top games lists, and they couldn't be more different from each other. Last year's Tetris Effect was a beautiful, almost spiritual experience with Tetris at its core. Tetris 99 is a frantic nightmare battle to the death where only one Tetrisman will crawl out of the Thundertrisdome alive. I haven't played the game much since I won a few battles, but there were an intense couple of weeks I was obsessed with it. Winning my first 99-player Tetris battle was definitely one of the best gaming moments I had in 2019. So satisfying. Keep being weird Nintendo.
Luigi is my favourite Nintendo character but I've mostly been kind of "meh" on the Mansion series. The first game was pretty solid, I loved the setting and all the Nintendo charm but the gameplay was a little rough. Same goes for Dark Moon, which I finally played in 2019 before the third game came out. The core of it was great, but it was way too repetitive. LM3 however immediately grabbed me, despite it still rocking the fiddly controls from previous entries. The environments and animation and just general charm are all Nintendo at its best. And it has been really fun to play in co-op with my wife, well, for me it's fun, can't speak for her. It's hard to believe they didn't focus more on the co-op in the marketing for the game, it's one of the best implementations of co-op Nintendo has put in a big first-party release.
I'm only about halfway through it, but it's good, and almost exactly what you think it is. It's more Gears, which is not a bad thing. I continue to enjoy the gameplay and setting in Gears and have had a good time playing the campaign in co-op with a friend. The more open, sandbox style chapters are a neat addition even though there isn't that much to do in those areas. It's something I'd like to see them expand on in future entries. In short, it's gorgeous and those guns shoot real good.
Again 2019 proved itself to be a good year for co-op games in our household. It took some convincing to get my wife to play the game with me, especially after we both struggled with the rhythm mechanics early on. Though once we fell into the...hang of it we had a very good time. The world is colourful and fun, and the remixes of classic Zelda music are excellent. (Is there an official release of the soundtrack yet? Get on that Nintendo) It's short and sweet, and leaves you wanting more. PLEASE Nintendo, let developers do more fun, weird things like this with your properties.
This is more of an HONOURABLE MENTION than a top game award. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't immediately love this game. I played a lot of the first RG, way more than most people. The custom soundtrack options were great and had me spending hours pouring over my mp3 collection, agonizing over whether a track belonged in the "Ambient" or "Idle" folders. Outlaw is an objectively better game than the first was, but it just didn't grab me in the same way. For all its improvements, the basic structure of the game is VERY similar to RG1. Do jobs, buy better ship parts, do more jobs. BUT, if you didn't play RG1, this is a great place to hop into some fun space combat. Definitely one of the best modern entries in a space sim genre that doesn't get a lot of love these days.
Another HONOURABLE MENTION. I wanted to love this game more than I did. So badly. I love this new Wolfenstein series and was very excited for Youngblood. And I did still have a good time playing it in co-op (another win for 2019 co-op games), but I didn't love it. The open areas and mission structure at first were fun, but quickly grew repetitive. And there was a severe lack of that special Machine Games Wolfenstein weirdness. What was there was great, I enjoyed the new characters and story, but there was very little of it. Still, I'm glad I played it, and very glad I played it in co-op because from what I've heard the game is a slog by yourself. At least I had someone to talk to during the slower parts.
I really need to go back to this game. Dicey Dungeons is probably one of the most cleverly-designed puzzle games I've played. And with each new character you unlock, you're forced to think of a completely new way to play the game. It's remarkable how the tools remain essentially the same but the gameplay feels different. Go check it out if a Rogue-like deck-building dice game sounds appealing to you, it's charming and challenging. (I hope it comes out on phones so I can easily take it with me.)
You're an asshole goose, you get to mess with people in a small town and set up Hitman-like scenarios. Except instead of murdering people, you're just taking their stuff. What's not to love about this game? It's silly and fun, and made for a very enjoyable evening on the couch with my wife taking turns at the controls.
MUA3 definitely doesn't hit the same highs the first 2 games hit, but the fact that someone picked up this series and made a new one so many years later makes me happy. Building a team of our favourite Marvel characters and beating up thousands of baddies is still fun and playing in co-op with my wife has made the game's shortcomings more tolerable. Aside from the camera, seriously, I can't with the camera sometimes. When in co-op the game takes camera control away from you and will WAY TOO OFTEN place the camera behind a wall or at such an angle that you actually can't see the guys you're supposed to punch. BUT, they put some of my favourite characters in it, including Punisher who was inexplicably left out of Lego Marvel 2, so it gets a pass. If you play this game, do yourself a favour and turn the difficulty down to easy. It makes taking down the larger enemies feel like less of a chore and the boss fights less frustrating. Especially if you're playing in co-op with someone that doesn't play a lot of games.