My favourite games from 2020.

 

By Sam Coles:

Another year into the void known as human existence, however 2020 felt like a child throwing a temper tantrum dragging its heels with how laborious and never ending it felt but I digress. Anyway this year had some great games to keep up us occupied as we spent our time in doors more than usual, so I want to go over some of my favourites of the year. Now remember these are my personal picks, so if you disagree that is fine but be civil and if you don’t see a certain game on here I either didn’t play it or didn’t gain my interest. Got it? Good, let’s begin.

The Last of Us: Part II

Oh boy talk about starting this list off with a contentious pick as this game was met with the same amount of reception as a McDonalds meal, with painful bowel movements. Horrible analogies aside The Last of Us: Part II is actually a very good game and Naughty Dog tell a great story with lots of twists, visuals that push the PS4 to its limits and gameplay that lets you experiment with each approach. I like how the game doesn’t punish you for going loud, where I felt it did in the original but that doesn’t mean it isn’t more fun to take a stealth approach. Taking the combat in a stealthy manner is a lot of fun as the game gives you a dizzyingly amount of ways of taking down your foes. This can range with the standard switch blade, bow and arrow to the more creative and excessive such as shrapnel trip mines. Coupled with the sheer brutality with the violence and gore, it really makes for a tense scenario.

Resident Evil 3

Oh dear am I trying to get myself killed on the internet? No, but I thought I would get the more contentious picks out the way first to somewhat cushion the blow so you can put your torches and pitchforks down. Anyway after the resounding success that was the remake of Resident Evil 2 in 2019, people speculated if they were going to do the same treatment for RE 3. Then a year later we got a remake of Resident Evil 3 and it was good, I know people took issue with the more action focused direction and certain feature were cut from the original. However if you play the original it always had a more action heavy focus with its gameplay, and in terms of the cut content well remakes are not supposed to be point to point recreation from the original as it is a different interpretation. It took the core gameplay of the RE 2 remake and tightened the controls, with faster and more responsive shooting coupled with a dodge mechanic. The graphics are even better than the RE 2 remake  the RE Engine is a technical marvel where it strives to provide both high fidelity visuals and performance.

Mafia: Definitive Edition

I feel that this list going to be filled with remakes as 2020 was the year for them given current events; anyway Mafia Definitive Edition was a bit of a left field surprise. Originally released in 2002 (my god nearly 20 years) Mafia was always a game that liked but even at the time its high difficulty and archaic design put me off the game. So when they announced a remake I was immediately interested, it basically fixed most of the issues from the original. For one the presentation is something that immediately stands out, the character model in particular look amazing with full body performances making for a convincing scene. Not only that the car models look exquisite with great looking reflections, as well as excellent damage modelling. I played this all on a base Xbox One and it still looked fantastic and it ran well, unlike a certain game from a certain Polish developer who I won’t name but I digress. The combat has been tweaked to fit modern conventions, with a cover system and tight and responsive controls. Overall if you are looking for an engaging crime drama in video game form, then this is the game for you.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

A really pleasant surprise in early 2020 with this game when things were still somewhat normal, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is truly a beautiful game and is another example that cements videos games a legitimate art form. The game has a beautiful visual aesthetic, it’s like a water painting in motion coupled with the emotional musical score which I now listen to on the regular. The game is a Metroid-vania platformer where you start off weak and helpless, but over time build up abilities as you traverse the beautiful yet dangerous world. The game is not easy this game gets rather difficult in places, but the difficulty is fair.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

 It was a bit of a no brainer that you would see this game on my list given my love for the series, but Yakuza Like a Dragon was a great game and fantastic change in direction for the series. The game starts off fairly normal, well as normal as it gets for a Yakuza game where you play as Ichiban who takes the fall for a murder and is put in prison for 20 years. The game starts off dark and grim but then takes a completely different turn into the absurd, as Ichi is a huge fan of Dragon Quest (he never shuts up about it), where he wants to be a hero. This is thematically appropriate as the game is now a turned based RPG instead of a brawler, when I first heard they were going in this direction I did have a bit of trepidation but now I have played it, I found it works really well. Not only that Ichiban’s personality really shines through, he is idiotic buffoonery is hilarious but at the same time he is loyal and kind to those who he loves.

Despite the year being rather oh dear 2020 was a great year for video games (mostly), lots of great titles and rebirths of classic games. Truly a great year for gaming as we had to spend more time in doors, let’s hope that 2021 will fill us with more great experiences.