This article originally ran under a different banner/website in December of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!! I come to you fattened by sweets and eggnog. I come bringing good tidings and cheer in between my drunken sugar-rush haze. Although I long for a weary and tired nap, I must stand before you and shout about video games. With the year coming to a close, what better way to wind the year down with a top-five games list? Yes, a top-five list would provide an excellent break from my spiked eggnog. First, we must establish a couple of rules:
1. Thou it shall be a game that has come out in the year 2019.
2. These games are sorted by release date, not my personal enjoyment.
3. Thou shall be a game that I reviewed this year and I personally enjoyed.
With that said, I want to give an honorable mention to Marvel’s Spider-Man. Surely, this is no surprise, if you glance through my work this year. Marvel’s Spider-Man has redefined how I view sandbox titles. My patience with merely walking around sandboxes, large and small, has waned. If you want to impress me with your sandbox title, you better give me an exhilarating way to traverse the map. I AM DONE WITH THE MINDLESS TREKS. However, Marvel’s Spider-Man does stand on its own within the sea of solitary soporific sandboxes. Through 2019, I frequently found myself swinging through New York in an attempt to take my mind off all the rotten vegetables hurled my way while shouting at Activision’s corporate offices. Marvel’s Spider-Man sold me on a PS4, and I won’t be surprised if Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 sells me on a PS5.
Resident Evil 2
I truly wish Capcom didn’t release Resident Evil 2 Remake so early in the year. Not because I didn’t want to play it in January, but because every other big-budget title quivers in comparison. Resident Evil 2 feels like a game specifically created for me. The dark claustrophobic halls where hellish monsters lurk in the shadows. A compact twisting maze within the Raccoon City Police Department as compared to some of the bleak uninspired sandboxes. The split-second decisions are required to decide whether to shoot a zombie once to stagger him or unload the clip to finish him off. From beginning to end, Resident Evil 2 refuses to allow you to get comfortable. Once you feel like you know the police department, the game flips the script into a game of cat and mouse with the imposing abominable brute known as Mr. X. Hesitate for a second and Mr. X will have you in his grasp. Resident Evil 2 shows that survival horror is alive and well. All I can say is Capcom, give me that Resident Evil 3 Remake, like right now.
Katana Zero
I believe the moment I was sold on Katana Zero was the first time I deflected a bullet. As I entered the room, the mobster instantly saw me and pulled the trigger. The bullet zoomed towards me only to have me reactively slash at it. The ping of the bullet hitting the steel of my blade echo through my headphones. The bullet had left a trail of neon blue and purple as it raced into the mobster’s chest. Splashes of red contrasted against a neon purple wall as my foe falls to the ground. Before I can reflect on my exhilarating counter-attack, I was dodging the shot from the next guy. To say Katana Zero is merely side-scrolling Hotline Miami does an incredible disservice to Katana Zero. While the psychedelic haze is here, there is a style and flair that captures a masterful assassin rather than the lucid berserker rage found in Hotline Miami. With a pumping synth-wave soundtrack, Katana Zero is a rollercoaster ride from start to finish and a game you definitely don’t want to sleep on.
My Friend Pedro
Can your Game of the Year allow you to jump off a massive building, ricochet gunshots off a frying pan to hit enemies chasing after you? NO? Well, while you struggle to find a satisfying game of the year, I’ll be over here playing My Friend Pedro. The most efficient way I can describe My Friend Pedro is John Wick on acid. The game throws an obscene amount of toys your way and encourages you to come up with the most stylish and ridiculous way forward. Multiple guns, bullet time, stylish dodge, and an abundance of environmental hazards create an adrenaline-pumping ballet that leaves you grinning from ear to ear. My Friend Pedro also records your most stylish moments allowing you to convince everyone that you excel at video games. My Friend Pedro is a reminder that in a world full of dreary and grim games taking themselves too seriously, it is great to be a funny little game about blood, bullets, and bananas.
River City Girls
I want to make this clear: I am not a fan of anime. I have nothing against it, but I don’t have the palate for it. I want to make this clear to highlight why I enjoy a colorful beat’em up game revolving around two anime girls looking for their boyfriends. In a year with boring and moppy protagonists, Kyoko and Misako are teeming with personality. The heart-endearing friendship and the meaty beat’em up combat blend together to create a game that I fought my way through despite the steep single-player experience. One minute you will be experiencing a flashback of a young Misako rescuing a young Kyoko that sparks their friendship and the next you will be pumping your fist as you knock a boss who had put you down twenty times. If you were to ask me, at the beginning of the year, if River City Girls would make my top five, I probably would have shouted down at you from my soapbox. I, however, can’t deny, that River City Girls has the style and substance to great an exciting beat’em. It will always be a reminder to me, that stepping out of one’s comfort zone might lead you to something special.
Jedi: Fallen Order
Oh, Electronic Arts. You spent years saying single-player games don’t sell. You swore nobody wanted a single-player Star Wars game. You claimed we only wanted Star Wars-themed Battlefield clones containing the same “surprise mechanics” you shovel into your sports title. I would smack you across the back of your head, however, I am a tad busy playing Jedi: Fallen Order. While Jedi: Fallen Order doesn’t have an original bone in its body, I can’t deny how tightly I grip my controller during lightsaber duels. How I clench my breath as I barely dodge my opponent’s strikes. How I rapidly tap the buttons in an attempt to overpower my opponent. The iconic John Willaim horns blaring behind the hum of lightsabers clashing. While it might be the most unpolished game on the list, I haven’t been this excited to be back in the Star Wars universe since Rogue One. See, EA, if you give us the Star Wars game we want, we will all be too busy to keep hitting you. Now, please let Bioware make another Knights of the Old Republic RPG.
Twenty nineteen also broke me as a critic. It wasn’t the horribly awful games, but merely, just bland, safe, and uninspired games that had me question the direction the industry was taking. As I recall games for this list, I can’t help but feel hopeful. Hopeful for new games in 2020. Excitement to slay more demons. Joy for another old Resident Evil being remade. Thrilled but terrified for the massive life-consuming world of Cyberpunk 2077. A wave of hope rushes over me of the thought of games that I hope to live up to the hype. A new day is rising, and nothing will be better than starting off the year with Duke Nukem Forever. Wait? What did I just agree to?
