First of all, the game I spent many years being hyped for, Biomutant, a game where you play as an adorable fluffy lad in a world of many fluffy lads. Turned out to be fine, it certainly had an interesting world, fantastic art style and good story, but unfortunately the gameplay was pretty average and the idea to do a David Attenborough style voice over was just awful. While on Fluff and hype, Ratchet and Clank rift apart. This game also looks fantastic, and unlike Biomutant it plays very well, it's really fun and there's no escaping that. The issue here is it just like every other Ratchet and Clank game, a few years ago I wrote on here about catching up on R&C as I had skipped it for years, but now I see through the formula, and sure, I enjoy it, but it is what it is, fun but empty, like what I imagine is the appeal of reality TV.
Let's move on to FPS's. Splitgate, pretty damn good. A cross between Halo (or insert your preferred arena shooter here) and Portal. Not only does it play well, but the thoughtful tactics the portal gun (or whatever they call it) can open up add an extra dimension to the gameplay. I certainly had more fun playing this than Halo infinite, but as it's multiplayer only and not still 2008 when I had friends, I now have none. Of course the other shooter is Deathloop, I don't have anything to add that many haven't said before, it's good, but it isn't as good as any of the Dishonoured games which also came from Arkane.
And finally a trio of little indie platformers. Sheepo, a Metroidvania where you get no weapons, which makes a fun change to what is normally expected from the sub genre. Mighty Goose is another, along the lines of Metal slug, many enemies, many guns, lots of fun. And finally Spectacular Sparky. I saw it advertised as to Sega what Shovel knight is to Nintendo. That was one hell of an ambitious statement, but it convinced me to buy it. Even though that turned out to not be true, it was a fun run and gun platformer with lovely short levels, just how I like them. Additionally it had voices from some guys I listen to podcasts by, so that's fun. Anyway, time for the proper games now
FORZA HORIZON 5
Forza returns to the list with perhaps the best game in the series yet, or certainly the best list of cars and events. You wanna live out that Gran Turismo/ childhood 90's interest in Japanese super cars, you can. You wanna find cars made famous by TV shows that someone somewhere has made a brilliant job of recreating the paint job, it's in there. Wanna go speeds that are especially uncontrollable, you can. For me, this has, by far, the best selection of cars from any racing game, ever. Then there's great gameplay as well with varied game moads (including a shockingly good battle roayle) and a varied open world to explore. My only minor gripe is I don't think the open world is as good as the last 2, but in terms of what's available, this is the best game in this series, by far.
RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE
My not actually long standing love of Resident Evil continues. Like 7 before it, another first person game that is more focused around horror and sneaking whilst the remakes focused more on action from a third person perspective. I really like how they have separated these 2 simulations RE series this way. Anyway, a continuation of forgettable protagonist Ethan Winters' adventures in RE7 as he tries to rescue his daughter from a village full of crazies. The classic videogame set up of a main big bad to get to while going through all their underlings areas first, including the likes of the internets favourite giant lady Dimitrescu, and that crazy good doll maker section. Great game, great story, silly ending.
THE ASCENT
It's a top down shooter, a genre I hadn't ever been a big fan of until just a few years ago. Geometry wars 2 always seemed like an outlier, but then Assault android cactus came along and a whole new world was opened up to me. Roll on X amount of years, and here comes a dystopian top down shooter, gritty RPG. The gameplay here is just so good, albeit very hard at times, with a great selection of weapons and abilities.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
The guys that made Shadow of the Tomb Raider (the worst one of the three) have clearly learned a lot from that experience to bring in to this game. It has many of the hallmarks of Tomb Raider (or that other, lesser series some morons prefer) but with more people. The team fighting works well as you can call in team mates for special attacks and the 'bantz' is really good. The story is great, full of twists and turns and with choices to make that can lead to advantages or disadvantages further on in the game. There are some fun collectables and it is nice to learn about some of the gotg lore outside of the films. And of course the music is great and is heavily involved in the game. Until you have fought fin fang foom while having Rick Astley play, you haven't lived. Graphics aren't great though.
So, which of these will join the illustrious list of annual victors, Gods amongst games never to be forgotten for their achievement (by which I mean winning this). Who will be declared champion of 2021?
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
2021: Guardians of the Galaxy
The music pushed it over, that and me thinking maybe RE7 was better than 8 yet didn't even get a nomination.
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