Got here eventually. I seem to think this at the end of every year, but 2020 wasn't a great year in terms of top draw games (nor indeed, the world in general), though the industry did see a boom period for obvious reasons (lockdown), so hopefully with more interest, this will lead to more high quality games, though I fear it will more likely lead to more live service or party games that I do not care about at all.
Honourable mentions then, and I'll start with the 2 PlayStation sized elephants in the room that sucked up less prestigious awards than this like a Henry. Firstly, The last of us part 2. I really liked the first couple of hours, including Joel's death which lead Ellie to her revenge quest with nice flashbacks to their time together interspersed to fill in the time we missed throughout the game. Almost immediately after Joel's death the revenge plot is de railed though as Ellie and Dina decide to look around an area of downtown Seattle, playing guitars and etc, thus totally killing the blood thirsty revenge missions plot as it all just seems like a bit of a lark, a feeling that went on way past my motivation to avenge Joel's death had passed. Then the game went on forever, both Ellie's section and Abby's, the latter of which didn't need to be in at all, and if it did at best should have lasted an hour. the gameplay was also really outdated, just because the AI is good is not a reason to claim a game plays amazingly (also, the enemies calling out for their friends after they had been slain, as if anyone would care about killing a random NPC). Did love the gore though.
Then Ghosts of Tsushima, I can't think of an historical setting that I care less about than futile Japan, it just doesn't connect with me, but this game was raising eyebrows, so I figured I must try it, turns out I should've listened to my gut that I wouldn't be interested and I wasn't. Additionally, I've been playing games for 30+ years now, I don't need you to add in wind effects to point me in the direction to go thanks, totally unnecessary .
Actual honourable mentions now, Crash Bandicoot 4, looked absolutely fantastic and played well although very hard. It was good but for me, too many gimmicks and some levels were far too long. Katana Zero was a great little 2D platformer that had a series of quick, small assassinating levels with a drug crazy storyline, might well have made the final list, but although this game became viable to me in 2020 on Xbox, it actually came out on Switch in 2019, so by my own self imposed rules it doesn't count. Speaking of Platformers, Ori and the Will of the wisps came out, the second game in a great series of beautiful metroid-vanias, it plays and looks great, this is one of just a handful of must play Xbox One games.
And finally Doom Eternal and Resident Evil 3 remake. The sequels to 2 previous winners that are not even final nominees in my list. These games are both good yet not on the same level. Firstly Doom Eternal, I get that it is intentionally more thoughtful and takes planning, and it took me a long time in to the game to understand the game properly before I actually figured how to play it properly and got good, and I enjoyed it then, this seemed completely contrarian to the reason I enjoyed the first rebooted game with it's classic run and gun gameplay that I missed from my early teens. Also, the platforming in Eternal, much like any first person platforming, was absolutely garbage. Resi 3 remake then, another good game of course, but took away the scary setting to a more run around mucking about style, repetitive bosses and a far less interesting story. On the plus side no infuriating Mr. X.
Those are not all the games I enjoyed from the year but I am not going to be making a big list that goes on forever. Now, the main list
STREEETS OF RAGE 4
Ah, Brawlers, my current favourite (Shredders' Revenge looks amazing) and it's a throwback for me too. As a Mega Drive lover (and now owner once again), I spent many a day unleashing rage on the streets, though back then, I didn't appreciate it to the correct level and preferred the likes of Alien Storm and Might Morphin' Power Rangers the movie. Over time though, I have been able to see past sci fi and TV show attachments to appreciate the real classic series. This is a fantastic addition to the series, some 25 years after the previous release, this game looks fantastic and plays fantastic, somewhat reminiscent of Doom 2016 in that it ignores the way the genre has gone over time and plays like a classic brawler, but turned out better than they ever were.
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MANEATER
When I became aware of this Shark-PG a year or so before it came out, I was excited, sharks are cool everyone knows that. While I was thinking this will be a step up from previous sea creature games like Ecco or Dolphin Olympics, a friend of mine told me about Jaws Unleashed, a PS2 shark game, which left me a little disappointing that this game was not as fresh a subject as I first thought, nevertheless I got it anyway. It may be on the simple side of games, but the collectathon nature of this game really got to me, travelling from one area to the next, fighting bigger animals, killing shark hunters, eating people on a beach, find a pop culture reference, leaping in to the air to collect a number plate, fighting an even bigger animal, turning your shark in to a robotic Megalodon type creature and so on. The open world is nice and varied, considering you're under the water, but most importantly it's just a fun game, with a fun story and fun moments. Edit, I just found out there was an Ecco game somewhat like this on Dreamcast, how interesting (also bought it).
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CYBERPUNK 2077
And the award for the most bug filled game I've ever liked goes to...
I loved the Witcher 3, as well as 2 when I played it years later. This game was of course one of the most hyped games of all time, and much like No mans sky it had no chance of matching it, but if you can ignore that and all the bugs, then there is a really good game here. A futuristic yet gritty RPG, where knife arms run wild. Cyberpunk is a big RPG, with a really interesting setting, great story and great characters with loads to see and do, again full of pop culture references and satire of real life in a way few games outside of Grand theft Auto manage succesfully. The game feels great to play and the story stays interesting throughout. The only gripe I have (other than all the ones listed above) is that with so many side missions to do, they can get samey at times.
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ASTRO'S PLAYROOM
Nostalgia, is there any better word in the English language (certainly not based on my prebvious goty awards). A journey in to Playstations' past, through robots acting out classic games (with the added 'guess that game' self imposed challenge), collecting classic Playsation items such as multitaps and UMD's all the way through to battling the PS1 tech demo T-rex as the final boss (kind of). There are no game of the year awards given just for this though, not by me. This is one of only 2 games really made to show the power of the PS5 so far and as a result looks absolutely beautiful, sounds fantastic and makes great use of the dual sense in a way that, much like with Uncharted golden abyss on Vita, is unlikely to ever be done to this level again. Gameplay wise, it's a solid 3D platformer, not a pure gameplay powerhouse but as a total package it deserves a bus of it's own. As a bonus, it's a free pack in game, and much like the very first game I ever played (I think), Alex Kidd in Miracle world on the Master System this sets a great sign of what is to come from this system. PS. both of those games are better than 360 pack in game Hexic HD.
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So, what will join the mighty list of my blogs' games of the year? As mentioned earlier I often say years aren't great for gaming then upon reflection later realise I was wrong (see 2015 when at the time I said it was bad, but was so wrong), and yet right now, this seems like another one, many solid games but likely nothing that will go down in my mind as a possible all time great, though I imagine praise of TLOU2 and Ghosts will go on forever, like Breath of the wild and Mario Odyssey as 2 of the greatest games ever. None of these 4 are anywhere near (that's my opinion anyway (especially Mario Odyssey which I do not think is even a good game)).
And watch out for the winner because here she comes...
2013: The last of us
2014: South Park the stick of truth
2015: Rocket League
2016: Doom
2017: A hat in time
2018: God of war
2019: Resident Evil 2 remake
2020: Maneater
Maneater is just a really fun game with a great hook which I really enjoyed, so much so I even got the platinum trophy which is a rare feat for me outside of games i specifcally buy for £1 to get one.
2021 looks to be a good year (for gaming obviously, the real world is still shit) but everything seems to be piled in to the latter half of the year, so much cool looking new stuff, sequels and retro games, let's see how many of these get delayed.
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