Arbitrary Awards 2018

It's the end of the year once again, and what a better time than now to look back at all of the great games that released this year... Except I didn't play every single great game that came out this year as I don't make money off of my reviews, nor am I prestigious enough to be sent review copies. Regardless, I'd like to acknowledge five games that I think deserve to be remembered as the most remarkable games of the year, in no particular order. Though, I will be awarding the title of "Game of the Year" to my personal favorite of these five. Since I'm such a powerless reviewer, obviously these awards are meaningless, hence the title of "Arbitrary Awards." If a game you really enjoyed this year isn't on this list, it doesn't mean I think it's bad or unworthy; I probably just didn't play it. Besides, like I already said, these awards are meaningless.

5. Brawlhalla.

While Brawlhalla has been available since 2017, I'm going to count it for this year since it was ported to the Switch and Xbox One on November 6th, 2018. Brawlhalla is a free-to-play platform fighting game, and quite the fun one at that. It mixes two button beat 'em up combat with smooth and satisfyingly floaty platforming to create a fight game that feels good whether you're playing competitively or just for fun. I originally had another game in this spot but I hadn't written about it yet, and I kept putting it off because I hadn't played enough of the game to gather my thoughts on it, which was because I kept playing Brawlhalla instead.

Each fighter has two weapons that they can swap between during a fight that changes their attacks. While weapons are shared across the roster, each fighter has their own heavy attacks for each weapon and no two fighters share the same pairing of weapons. Unfortunately, if you're playing for free, you'll be sticking to the weekly fighter rotation for quite a while. You can unlock everyone using a free in-game currency, but it takes a while to build up enough for even one fighter. However, there is an option to pay $20 to unlock ever current fighter and all future ones immediately, which is perfectly worth it in my opinion - that's about what I'd expect the game to cost if it weren't free-to-play. I plan to do so myself once I have the money and maybe even buy a couple of fighter skins too; I enjoy the game so much that I'd be glad to give it the support.

If you're worried about the quality of Brawlhalla's online, don't be. It doesn't take long for the game to find a match, and I've never been dropped from a match. My opponents, however, frequently do, but since it's never a player who's winning, I have a feeling that it's not the game's fault. In either case, though, disconnected players get replaced with bots, so the momentum of the match is never lost.

Brawlhalla wins Best Free-to-Play Game and Best Platform Fighting Game - and yes, I realize a Super Smash Bros. game released this year too.

4. Spider-Man.

The new Spider-Man game that released this year, simply titled "Spider-Man," is basically the Spider-Man equivalent of the Batman: Arkham series; it's an absolutely fantastic video game adaptation of the beloved Marvel super hero. If you love Spider-Man (the hero), there's no doubt you'll love Spider-Man (the game). Tons of other people have already talked about this game, so I'll keep this short: Web-swinging feels great. Combat is great. The stealth options are great. The collectibles actually matter. The random crime encounters are super rad.

There's only two flaws I've heard people mention about this game: there aren't a whole lot of iconic Spider-Man villain appearances, and the ones that do show up aren't given a lot of screen time, which I can't confirm for myself since I haven't finished the game yet; and there are segments where you're forced to play as someone other than Spider-Man that aren't very fun, which I have experienced and can see how people might take issue with them. However, I wouldn't say that either of these problems detract from the main experience much at all.

Spider-Man wins Best Open World and Best Superhero Game (did any other superhero games come out this year...?).

3. Iconoclasts.

Oh man, where to begin with Iconoclasts? How about at the beginning? I was expecting the game to have a slow start given how it's not light on story, so I was delightfully surprised that it began with a brief cutscene and went straight into gameplay, allowing me to run around as I pleased. The tutorial was also delightfully paced, since it was a kind of "learn as you go" kind of tutorial with nothing forcing you to do anything, with signs that give instructions being completely optional to read.

Gameplay consists of some pretty standard 2D mechanics - jumping, crawling, shooting, hanging on to ledges, et cetera - but certainly isn't without its own unique gameplay mechanics. I won't spoil all of them, but suffice to say the game gives you plenty to work with right away and gives you some pretty cool new abilities later on too. The level design takes full advantage of everything, too, so nothing is ever left sitting untouched in your inventory one area later.

The story contrasts the gameplay in that rather than being mostly familiar, it's built on a foundation that game's don't usually use. Without spoiling anything major, Iconoclasts forgoes the typical "bad guys are doing bad things, hero has to stop them," and instead doesn't really have "bad guys." There is an antagonistic force, sure, but no one is painted as outright "bad." Characters can be wrathful, selfish, or apathetic, but never outright evil for the sake of being evil or causing harm. Pretty much every main character is painted like a real person and not just someone who's there for the sake of moving the plot along. This made it hard for me to actively dislike any of the main characters and put some weight behind any deaths that occurred.

Iconoclasts wins the awards for Best Side-Scroller and Best Level Design.

2. Wizard of Legend.

I'm not used to games where the main role is a wizard, so Wizard of Legend is quite refreshing to me. Rather than collecting and swapping between weapons, the protagonist swaps between different sets of spells. Each spell falls into one of four categories: Basics, which have no cooldown and effectively act as a melee attack; Dashes, which add an additional effect to your dash when you use it with a charge available; Standards, which can range from attacks to buffs and debuffs or any combination of the like; and Signatures, which are effectively attacks that can be super charged if you fill up your combo meter (which simply increases when you damage an enemy with a spell and decays over time).

In addition to spells, you also get different robes to equip that grant different passive effects such as reduced spell cooldowns and increased defense, and Relics to equip that grant different sorts of passives such as adding a chance to slow enemies or adding a charge to multi-use spells. Otherwise, there's honestly not a lot to say about Wizard of Legend. You get in, you kill enemies, buy new items and spells, and try not to die. Don't mistake this for a complaint, though. The game is plenty satisfying as it is, and I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a new Roguelike to play.

Wizard of Legend wins Best Roguelike - though, considering how few of those I played this year, this is more like the "Better Than Dead Cells" award.

Once again, before we get to my game of the year, I'd like to talk about a few of honorable mentions.

Honorable Mention: A Way Out.

While I never played A Way Out myself, I did see a full playthrough of the game, and I must say, the game was very entertaining. The game very clearly wanted to be as cinematic as movies, and I really think the game pulled it off. The game did well with it's focus on two player co-op. For example, there's one scene where the player characters are visiting a hospital when they're caught by the police. While escaping, the focus shifts from one player to the other in a way that looks like a well-edited movie.

The game was more than just "it's a game but with two people," and actually took advantage of having two players rather than just having "do this at the same time" and "oops, looks like you have to split up" moments around every corner like other multiplayer games tend to have. Also, did you know that A Way Out has two endings? I won't spoil them, but I will say that the final bit of the game was unexpected and amazing, and the endings are both well done.

A Way Out wins Most Creative Multiplayer Game and Most Like a Movie (But in a Good Way).

Honorable Mention: Detroit: Become Human.

Say what you will about David Cage and the quality of his production; Detroit: Become Human was engaging - and I say that as someone who dislikes story-driven games. Detroid was player choice done right. Your actions could actually have consequences and actually could majorly affect the story. The game had many different branches.

I watched two different playthoughs of the game on YouTube; in the first playthrough I watched, one notable character died early on, while in the second, that character remained alive and was revisited later on in the story. I figured this character would die no matter what choice was made at the point where he died in that first playthrough I watched since it seemed to drive the plot forward, but no, one option leads to his death while the other does not and the plot will advance regardless. Being so used to story-focused games killing off characters no matter what choice you make, this was rather refreshing to see. Regardless of if Detroit was actually a good game or not, it was enjoyable to see player choice matter for once.

Detroit: Become Human wins Best Choice-Based Game and Most On-The-Nose Metaphor, which I feel obligated to give it considering who made it.

Missed last year: Crawl.

Crawl didn't come to my attention until early this year, but when I finally got to play it for myself, I really enjoyed it. The game is super bloody solid, especially considering that the game was made by just two people. Crawl is effectively a multiplayer roguelike in which one player is a human and the others are ghost who attempt to kill the human via controlling summoned monsters and dungeon traps. The game ends when either the boss has been defeat or when three failing attempts on the boss have been made. The game is really well balanced; players get more "Wrath" to level up their monsters when a human player levels up, meaning the longer they're ghosts, the stronger their summons get. At the same time, the longer a player is a human, the higher their level will be from killing monsters. However, a player gets Gold for buying upgrades much faster by being a ghost than a human, so they have to rely a lot more on their skill if they constantly remain the human.

This is to not even mention the well done pixel graphics, sound design, and music that all blends together wonderfully to pull off a glitchy old-school arcade game aesthetic. The graphics aren't the same typical simplistic style you might see done often by other games; no, Crawl uses a style that makes every pixel used matter. The sound design makes everything sound appropriately retro without also sounding like they're stock sound effects or ones ripped from other games, and the soundtrack is similarly appropriately retro-sounding while also making use of more realistic-sounding instrumentation.

Crawl wins the award for Coolest Game I Didn't Known About Last Year.

Still Playing: Has-Been Heroes.

While I still return to ARMS and Splatoon 2 regularly, which were also released last year, I mostly just revisit them for their in-game events - Party Crashes and Splatfests respectively. Has-Been Heroes, however, I revisit equally as often as - if not more often than - ARMS and Splatoon 2 despite not having any in-game events that warrants it. I revisit Has-Been Heroes simply because I love playing it and I want to reach 100% completion (which is no small task). That's not to say that I don't love ARMS or that I don't enjoy Splatoon 2, but I love Has-Been Heroes more, and I predict that I'll be playing it for a long while still.

Has-Been Heroes wins the award for Most Replayable Game of 2017... in 2018... eh, I'm sure it makes sense to someone...

1. Monster Hunter World.

Little known fact: I'm a Monster Hunter fan. Admittedly, though, I wasn't excited for Monster Hunter World until I watched ProJared's review, which made it clear why this game was worth buying. Monster Hunter World takes everything I enjoy about the series and streamlines it: there's no longer animations for collecting from most gathering spots; you can set your bag to auto-craft certain items once you've collected enough materials to make it; you can return to camp to manage your items and equipment load-outs, which previously required players to quit out of the mission; there's no more loading screens between each segment of the areas; you no longer use paintballs to track monsters and instead just track them, like a real-life hunter; Skills no longer require you to build up to ten points before the Skill activates and instead a piece of armor will outright give you the Skill; you can move while consuming items, and there's no "flexing" animation either (which probably sounds weird if you've never played a Monster Hunter game before, but trust me, this is great). I could probably go on, but I think you get it.

All of the weapons are fun to use - which is something I wouldn't say about past games. Even weapons I wasn't fond of before were satisfying to use. I used to main the Hunting Horn but I'm now a Switch Axe main because my one complaint with the weapon type was fixed; I used to dislike the Switch Axe for how slowly my Hunter would move while walking with the weapon out, but that's not an issue anymore. I also used to dislike the Light and Heavy Bowguns for not feeling as satisfying as melee weapons, but again, this is no longer the case. The best example I can give is that both types of Bowguns now have special attacks that charge over time. My personal favorite is the Heavy Bowgun's Wyvernheart ability, which temporarily turns the Bowgun into a Gatling gun.

Honestly, my biggest complaint with Monster Hunter World is that it isn't on the Switch. Otherwise, most of my issues with the series as a whole are ironed out and the only other issue I have that's cropped up with this new entry itself is that maps can be rather convoluted and tedious to navigate. Monster Hunter World is an absolutely fantastic addition to the series and is now my favorite game of the franchise. Whether you're a returning player or new to the series, Monster Hunter World is definitely worth a serious look.

As I already mentioned, Monster Hunter World wins my Game of the Year award. It also wins the award for Most User-Friendly Gameplay and Being Like Dark Souls but a Version That Doesn't Suck and Actually Respects Its Players.

Image Sources:

Brawlhalla, via unofficial Brawlhalla wiki: https://brawlhalla.gamepedia.com/Brawlhalla

Spider-Man, via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man_(2018_video_game)

Iconoclasts, via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iconoclasts_(video_game)

Wizard of Legend, via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizard_of_Legend

A Way Out, via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Way_Out_(video_game)

Detroit: Become Human, via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit:_Become_Human

Crawl, via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawl_(video_game)

Monster Hunter World, via unofficial Monster Hunter Wiki: https://monsterhunter.fandom.com/wiki/Monster_Hunter:_World