Top Five: Video Games of 2024

• When I wrote about how 2023 was an interesting year, I didn't realize that I was cursing 2024. At least there were some very good games to enjoy.


• Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Any new release from RGG Studios is a contender for this list, and this game was no exception. The follow-up to Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Infinite Wealth is both a continuation of the story of Ichiban Kasuga, the Hero of Yokohama, but also a(nother) sendoff for the original protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu. Like the prequel game, this is again a turn-based RPG. The four years since the prior installment have meant a number of improvements to its systems. Where is lacks is in the story's heart. Much like the different in Judgment and Lost Judgement, we have received a better game with a story that does not hit the same. Serialized fiction is just like that, I guess. Nonetheless, everything about this game plastered it to this list from the jump and I enjoyed every madcap minute of it.


• Elden Ring - Just when you think you're out, they pull you back in. The "they" in this case is my daughter who likes to hang out with me while I play video games. I had banged my head on Elden Ring before, giving up on my sorceror in frustration even though the received wisdom is that sorcery builds were the good kind of broken. Instead I felt constantly annoyed by FromSoftware's particular brand of systematic petulance. But she wanted to see me adventure (and struggle) in that fantasy world and so I answered the call. Favoring a greatsword build this time (a favorite choice of the likes of Vinny Caravella and Patrick Klepek), I found myself having a much more satisfying time of it. So much so, in fact, that I promised that if I beat the prerequiste boss, I would purchase the DLC expansion. And so I did. Much like prior FromSoft games, I love everything about them except the bosses. But I was able to persevere and became Elden Lord. I just had to promise my daughter that if I finish the game with my sorcerer, I show her the Ranni ending.


• UFO 50 - I've had my eye on this game for some time. The concept is fascinating: a collection of games hailing from a bygone time for a fictional console. As with any collection, not every game is going to hit. But it was fascinating to play through the history of this fantasy developer and see how ideas and themes would expand over time. My absolute favorites of the collection were Warptank and Chameleon, both more thinky games than action. There are some that I haven't devoted enough time to, like the strategy and RPGs. But the shear audacity of UFO 50 has me entralled for days, earning its rightful place on this list.


• Hitman: World of Assassination - In many ways, Hitman is an intimidating game. As it exists now, there are the three primary campaigns, several DLC missions, as well as the live-service missions. It is almost overwhelming to come to the game to be faced with all of that. Though I've tried a time or two before, I still haven't completed all three campaigns. Instead what brought me back to the game was addition of the run based mode, Freelancer, from back in 2023. Of course, I'm slow at discovering these things so I picked it up this year and had a blast. Now make no mistake: I am very bad at the Freelancer mode, but I love getting dropped into a mission where the target(s) could be anyone, anywhere. Adding an endless mode like this is a stroke of genius on IO Interactive's part.


• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - One of the benefits of writing this list so late is allowing end-of-the-year releases like this a proper chance to be noticed. And notice I did. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle get so many things right. On one hand, it could very well be a lost film in the franchise, slotted between Raiders and Last Crusade. On another, it is an amazing adventure around the globe. Each environment, though built around the precepts required of the game, feels unique, such as the claustrophobic warrens of the Vatican or the open desert of Egypt. Finally, it is an effective Indiana Jones simulation, letting you inhabit the well-known character so thoroughly. It is hard to be effusive enough about the decisions MachineGames made in bringing this game to life. I'm going to be thinking about my time with Great Circle for some time. And I can't wait for the forthcoming DLC to give me an excuse to put on the leather jacket and fedora again.


• Honorable Mentions: Marvel's Midnight Suns, XDefiant, Cyberpunk 2077 - I spent quite a lot of time with and each held a spot on this list until they were finally forced off. But being able to list so many almost games says a lot about how this year went.


• And that's it for 2024. I think I'll actually get this out at a resonable time. I guess 2025 is looking up already, right? Right?


• Oh, shit.

Top Five: Anime of 2022

• 2022 was the year that I returned to anime in a big way. I had intended to tell you about it, but blogging isn't as easy for me as it once was. Thus, here at the end of 2024, are my top five anime for 2022. At last.

• Call of the Night - I can't remember having a series written specifically for my tastes, but that seems to be what has happened here. So thank you to Lidenfilms for this gift. Call of the Night is the story of a teenage boy who has become so unmoored from the his day-to-day life that he can only find solace after dark. Yes, it heavily trades on the ol' vampire trope, but it embraces the subtext of why that trope is so seductive. As an inveterate night owl myself, it was amazing to watch an anime that really understood the beauty of solitude in the night time.

• My Dress-Up Darling - It really was a close thing, deciding which anime would top this list. For as much as I love Call of the Night, it's My Dress-Up Darling that I can gush over endlessly. A tale of two high school kids, unable to share the things they love with anyone else, finding a way to bond over cosplay. For everything that people will tell you this show is about (like romance, cosplay, or lewdness), the thing that really draws me in is how the main characters are kids on the verge of adulthood, struggling to deal with situations that they are not quite mature enough to handle, yet find their way through together. All that and they do it with joy and a laugh. See, I could go on, but let's see what else is on the list.

• Spy x Family - This Shonen Jump megastar came with all of the fanfare one would expect of their next big hit. The shock to me was how well that was deserved. Spy x Family is so many things: an espionage story, a wacky comedy, a somber drama, and more. It shouldn't all work together, but the characters are so likeable that I would watch them do just about anything. And I'm sure they will.

• Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story - There is no reason for a golf anime to go this hard. The dichotomous main characters could not be more different except in their passion for the sport. This show has some wild swings (goddammit), but I found myself grinning from the audacity of the show from start to finish. I don't even know how to decribe it without sounding ludicrous. Just watch an episode and take in the madness of peak golf anime.

• Kaguya-sama: Love is War - Ultra Romantic - Aka Akasaka's tale of the battle of the sexes reaches its climax here in the third season of Kaguya-sama: Love is War. The comedy is still peak, the character work is on point, and the romance is at its height. All of the laudets for this series are well earned. If you find yourself inclined to see a fun take on the romance genre, well, don't start here. But do watch that first season because you will find yourself here before you know it.


• Let's see when I get around to my 2023 list.

Top Five: Video Games of 2023

• 2023 was certainly an interesting year, with all of that connotes. It would be weird to write about all of the great video games I got to play without mentioning the thousands of people laid off by the games industry due to terribly short sighted corporations as they try to extract every last dollar of profit, even at the expense of the people who count on them. Games don't spontaneously emerge, they are the hard work of people who genuinely love them and those people deserve to be treated better. By celebrating these games, I celebrate the people behind them and hope everyone can find stability in the new year.


• Monster Hunter World - Some five years after its release, I finally saw the ending of Monster Hunter World. That it took a foray into Monster Hunter Rise to remind me that I never completed the earlier game feels a little silly, but I'm glad my appetite for fighting those gargantuan beasts brought me back. MHW let you explore the world, learn how to navigate it, and discover how the monsters act there. It was neat to get to know those environments and really explore those fantastic ecosytems.


• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - It feels a little strange to put a game on this list that I played thrugh to completion previously, but BOTW really earned its return trip to the top five. And the reason for that is that I played through the game for my daughter. It wasn't hard to convince me since I wanted to warm up for the impending Tears of the Kingdom. In a way, it reminded me of my childhood when my brother and I would game together, with one of us at the controls and the other navigating. We had a great time, laughing our way through the game. I'll never be able to say the words "spirit orb" without a funny voice again.


• The Making of Karateka - I received the Criterion Collection DVD of >Citizen Kane as a gift one year and was immediately taken with all of the extras included that help explain why the film is held in such high esteem. Without all of the work, the film might have come off as terribly boring because decades of movies have learned so heavily from it. I suspect the same would have occured if I attempted to play Karateka outside of this amazing package. More documentary and archive than game, The Making of Karateka walks you through its creation and the discusses the advances Jordan Mechnar made in bringing his vision to the computer. It is an exciting start to Digital Extreme's Gold Master Series, and I'm fascinated to see when they go in the future.


• Vampire Survivors - When Vampire Survivors first came out, I was perplexed as to why anyone find it fun. "You just run around and try not to die?" I asked myself. Thanks to Game Pass, I was able to try it for myself and discovered that there is a lot more to it. The "trying-not-to-die" part is greatly assisted by the upgrades you choose and your thoughtful positioning to get the most use out of them. It is a very strightforward game, but the simplicity of execution allows for an easy on-ramp to the layers that it adds. For a while there, it became a ritual to run a level before work every day. I don't know if there is any way to finish the game, but I quite enjoyed my time with it.


• Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name - When this game was first announced, I had trouble understanding why it was necessary. Having finished it, I still have the same thought. But it doesn't have to be necessary to have been a joyful addition to the Like A Dragon series. Just running around Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios' Sotenbori again was enough to remind me how much it is to just exist in this world. Of the two combat styles, I far preferred the Yakuza style to the new Agent style, but the game did not suffer due to that preference. If anything, the game was very welcoming to just going out and having a great time. So much so in fact that it was the first AAA game that I ever completed all Xbox achievements on. For it to grab ahold of me that thoroughly is quite the compliment.


• Honorable Mentions: Hi-Fi Rush, Saints Row, Starfield, and Borderlands all flirted with space on this list, but didn't end up making the cut. I still liked them all for various reasons.


• Um, I'd better get started on the 2024 list if I want any chance of releasing it before the end of 2025.

Top Five: Video Games of 2022

• 2022 was an interesting year for video games. I found myself with less time and less drive to play games. But also found that Xbox Cloud Gaming works really well, so I played more than I expected. Here are the five games that ended up occupying my time and headspace the most in 2022.


• Elden Ring - An understandable game of the year. It really deserves all of the rewards it received. That said, I mostly ended up playing this for my daughter. If I were writing this from a 2023 perspective, I'd have pulled it from the running because I'm kinda exhausted with it. (Look forward to my forthcoming post on why I need to stop hatefucking Fromsoft games.) As it stands in 2022, I can't deny that this game started out fun and gave me something to do with my daughter.


• Conan Exiles - One of the themes of my gaming this year was finding world live in rather than conquer. Conan Exiles, for all of its hardcore tendencies, is also a game that you can just nest in. I made a nice little house, outgrew it and started a bigger house, made some "friends", and generally had a good time. I eventually drifted away, but there was a lot to just enjoy about being in a world that was only as savage as you wanted it to be.


• Arcade Paradise - I love a good "out of nowhere" game, the kind that blindsides you and reminds you that you don't need follow every marketing post for a year just to enjoy a game. Arcade Paradise's tale of a teenage parental disappointment who slowly transforms a laundromat into an '80s arcade is both sad and heartwarming. But under the story is just a fun collection of throwback arcade games and the compulsion to just put in one more quarter. Not every machine is a hit, much like at any arcade. But I was a lot of fun to play and work and see the arcade slowly grow.


• Disney Dreamlight Valley - Heh, this is like Disney's Anti-Conan. In many ways, this game scratched the same itch as Conan Exiles. There is the same exploration, playing dress up, and homemaking, but with a lot (A LOT) less bloodshed. If you have a fondness for Disney characters and just want to hang out with them, this is a fun way to do it.


• Cyberpunk 2077 - The launch of Patch 1.5 did a lot to revitalize interest in Cyberpunk, with many taking the opportunity to finally venture into Night City, myself included. The game, well, is still the game. Many of the roughest edges have been filed down, and there is great fun to be had. In many ways, it feels like a much prettier Borderlands to me. But I'm not sure if I'll ever finish the game. And that's okay. I had a good run with it.


• One game that I wish I could have placed on this list is Tunic. Tunic's entire Zelda-like, meta-examination of the joys of discovering a new game hit me right in the nostalgia center of the brain. But then the all-to-frequent difficuly spikes pushed me further and further from that joy until I could not bring myself to even try to headbash my way through the next brick wall in front of me. /sigh


• What's this? We're halfway through 2023 already? I can't wait to see what ends up on this year's list. (Or when I'll actually post it.)

Top Five: Video Games of 2021

• Thought I would get this out in January. It's like I don't even know me. Anyway, here are my top five games of 2021, in roughly the order I encountered them. They're all even video games this time!


• Tokimeki Memorial - Is it weird to name a game that I have never played as a top five game of the year? Absolutely yes, but it is the right choice. On January 1st, Tim Rogers released his review of Tokimeki Memorial, the game the jump started the dating sim genre in Japan, and then streamed the game to fans eager to see more of the game. To say that I've become enamored by the game might be an understatement, considering I went out of the way to import a copy for my collection. Tokimeki Memorial is simply a game about attending high school, juggling the attention of multiple girl, and, hopefully, finding the love of your life. It's not just a visual novel with a few routes to persue. Instead, Tokimeki Memorial is positively stuffed with possibilities. I've never followed through on my plan to learn Japanese to watch anime or read manga untranslated, but discovering this game got me closer than ever before.


• Yakuza: Like A Dragon - Anyone who has read more than one of these Top Five lists must have noticed a pattern by now: there is going to be a Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios game on it. As long as they keep putting out games this good, I'll be happy to reserve the space for them. Yakuza: Like A Dragon is a departure for the series, leaving behind the traditional brawler combat for an RPG system. In all other ways, this is every bit the Yakuza game, if not even better than before. Moving from a solo brawler to a party-based RPG also has story ramifications, ensuring there is a reason to have friends around wherever you go. That, I think, is what make this game so special. Instead of playing as a lone hero against the world, Like A Dragon puts you in a community and makes you care for it. When the game was over, I was excited for the future of the series. Not because I wanted to see what the next fight or next challenge would be, but because I am looking forward to hanging out with my friends again.


• Control - I've never spent much time with Remedy's games. A couple hours in Alan Wake aside, I just haven't been interested. That was at least until the folks at Giant Bomb got me very interested in trying it out. Control's Oldest House is a fascinating environment to explore, though it was easy to get confused as to how everything fit together. I suspect some of that is by design, but confusion is a wily target to hit. I did eventually fall off the game, but I had enjoyed my time with it quite a bit.


• Lost Judgment - After playing Judgment, easily a top three Ryu Ga Gotoku Extended Universe game, my anticipation for a sequel shot through the roof. Lost Judgment did not disappoint. As with the earlier game, Lost Judgment tackles an important issue, this time the horrors of childhood bullying. This main story was a great driver for the game, with newer and greater stakes appearing over time. Some of the leaps felt a little disjointed, as though there was some uncertainty as to how to mess the escalating mysteries together. What save the overall game, though, is the School Stories. This massive overarching mystery encompasses nearly all of the sidestories and new minigames in a wonderfully satisfying second plot to follow throughout the game. All this might be for naught if the gameplay did not hold up, but Lost Judgment's brawler combat is the pinnacle of their Dragon Engine games. Where in prior games I avoided combat once if because too tedious, here I sought out street fights just to test my fighting prowess. Once again, this side series faces an uncertain future, but I'm am eager to follow Yagami and his companions on their further adventures.


• Cyberpunk 2077 - I waited nearly a year after launch to finally try Cyberpunk 2077, a game that I received as a Christmas gift in 2020. Patch 1.31 seemed like a significant enough number to dive in, and I'm glad I waited. Cyberpunk protrays a fascinating world to explore, its Night City a bleak projection of unrestrained capitalism and structural inequality writ large on the alluring and offputting sites of the future. Combat-wise, the game reminded me of Borderlands shoot-and-loot style. (I actually like that game, so the comparison is positive.) Unfortunately, I got distracted and moved on to other games, but I absolutely will be back to try again.


• And that was my 2021. There are already a couple games that are sure to make my 2022 list, so I'm better get that started.

Top Five: Video Games of 2020

• Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has owned my gaming time for the last few years and will own 2021 as well when I finally get to play Yakuza: Like A Dragon. (I'll have an Xbox Series X someday. Hopefully.) So I'm not surprised to find them on this year's list. But that's not all I played. What a year.


• Judgment - After playing through a number of Yakuza games over the last few years, Judgment was both familiar and a breath of fresh air. The game leans more toward a dramatic tone where Yakuza can weave wildly between extremes, but that focus gives Judgment enough distiction to stand apart from its predecessor. The main chararacter, lawyer-turned-hard-boiled-detective Takayuki Yagami, and his companions are much more grounded, but the story is as big as ever. I loved playing this game from start to finish and I hope RGG Studio keeps making side games like this.


• The Yakuza Remastered Collection - Yes, I'm cheating by combining three games into one slot so that they don't dominate the entire list. I have been infatuated with the Yakuza series since Zero. I knew that, once I finished that game, I would have to play all the rest. Since 3-5 were all Playstation 3 exclusive, I knew that might be difficult, but Sega seems to have anticipated my needs. I have now played to 3, 4, and I'm working on 5 as the year draws to an end. The series continues to be a delight in drama and creativity.


• Fantasy Life - There is a good chance that I bought this game on the recommendation of Austin Walker (formerly of Giant Bomb and Waypoint). There is so much to it, though, that I quickly ran into a "too-much-to-do" mental block and dropped the game. It wasn't until the pandemic hit that I had the time and desire to lose myself in a fantasy world. Fantasy Life's simple gameplay, colorful characters, and inviting world was a welcome escape in the early days of the lockdown.


• Hades - I've never done the whole "follow a game through early access" thing before, but Hades was the exact right game to try it on. A lot of credit has to go to the team at Supergiant who had the game nailed from the start. All of the time after I started playing was just adding more and polishing the gem-like core that was already there. It was fun to watch the game grow over time, and it was amazing to play from day one.


• Kingdoms Of Amalur - Reckoning - It certainly is big game, which is why previous attempts at the game eventually faltered. (The studio name Big Huge Games should have been a giveaway here.) It is easy to fall into the completionism trap when the quests are so diverse and the stories so interesting. But there is so much of it and there is enough sameyness to the dungeons it can feel monotonous. But it's hard not to be drawn to the combat and, maybe, see a glimpse of the MMO that might have come.


• Since this is going up in April, I'll totally admit that I have a Series X now. Also, I've already beat Like A Dragon. I really need to try harder on these posts.

Top Five: Video Games of 2019

• It may have been a slow gaming year again, but some big titles found a way to overcome my inertia. Here are the games that refused to let me ignore them.


• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - When I first received my Nintendo Switch as a Christmas present, Breath of the Wild was the game I was most looking forward to playing. And... I didn't like it very much. I ran around a bit, followed the story line, but it just wasn't clicking for me. I thought it would go back on the shelf, unfinished.

  But then my brother played and finished the game himself and encouraged me to try again. I don't know what changed. Whether I was in the right headspace or I just figured out what the game wanted of me, it finally clicked in a big way. Breath of the Wild is an explorer's dream. The world encourages you to wander around and check everything to see what is hidden there. In a way, this is the closest a Zelda game has come to replicating the feeling of the NES The Legend of Zelda.



• Hades - I have been a fan of Supergiant Games since their inception. Their first game, Bastion captivated me entirely with its riff on the action-RPG and the studio's now-signature narrative and musical excellence. Unfortunately, although their next two games didn't hit me the same way, Hades has hit me just right. Its combat feels right out of Bastion, but with a run-based, Rogue-lite underpinning that has me always eager for "one more run." Even though Hades is in early access, it is stuffed with systems and content that, bar an ending they haven't completed, would be a release game for any other developer. It seems that Supergiant is not satisfied with "good enough" and Hades is all the better for it.


• Zen of Sudoku - I purchased Zen of Sudoku in 2007 and have played it for over 279 hours. When I need to unwind and let my brain take a rest, this is my go to game. It comes up on my list this year because 2019 just demanded it. (In looking up these stats, I see that I also purchased Bookworm Adventures around that time for three times the price and only played for four hours. Woof.)


• Marvel's Spider-Man - I'm a little surprised that I've never played a Spider-Man game before. Spidey is hands-down my favorite superhero. But a combination of platform issues and reticence to try something different has always kept me away. Thankfully, the praise for Marvel's Spider-Man overcame all of that and I was treated to a distillation of everything I love about the character. And although I am awful at the combat (even on the lowest difficulty), the joy of swinging through the city is enough to earn a spot on the list.


• alphacross - My affinity for crossword puzzles assuredly can be traced to my grandmother. She did the crossword every day, in pen as is proper. Just recently, I was looking for something to keep me occupied and discovered alphacross on the Google Play Store. It is everything I need from a crossword puzzler without a bunch of the crap you usually get from one of these apps. It's just a subscription to as many puzzles as you can manage and the tools to complete them. I have been rediscovering the special language of crosswords that comes from seeing certain clues repeat over time. I have also been cursing the puzzle designers who are always too clever by half. But from time to time when I work on another puzzle, I remember what it was like to sit at the kitchen counter and do the crossword with my grandma.


• An honorary mention goes to the board game The 7th Continent which would have taken a spot had I need to fill out the top five. A survival adventure game about ridding yourself of a terrible curse, I spent countless evenings with my daughter learning the continent and dying horribly again and again. We're sure to win one day.

Top Five: Video Games of 2018

• Whenever I fall away from gaming, it's because I have become entranced with some other form of media. Whether it's comics or books or web forums, I usually have an excuse to not fire up a new game. This year is was streaming video, namely YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu. Ironically, my addiction to streaming happened soon after we finally decided to cord cut and go internet only. Nonetheless, I found the time to play a few games.


• Yakuza 6: The Song of Life - After my enthusiasm for last year's pair of games, I was ready to jump into another Yakuza game. Of course, the next available is the final Kazuma Kiryu story, but I did not find jumping so far ahead to be such a detriment. Kamurocho looks better than ever before. And with their Dragon engine allowing you to enter locations without load screens, it is more seamless and alive than before. Once again, Ryo Ga Gotoku Studio finds the right balance of drama, action, and comedy that fits my tastes to a tee.


• West of Loathing - I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud at a video game. West of Loathing is a genuinely funny game. Its light RPG and adventure mechanics are just the catalyst for its absurd take on the Old West. Players of the online Kingdom of Loathing will find a lot of similarities here. But as much as I enjoyed the game, what I will remember is its humor.


• Monster Hunter World - I never once imagined that I would enjoy a Monster Hunter. All of the preparation, the grinding, the arcane systems... None of it sounded like actual fun. Then Capcom filed off (most of) the jagged edges and left a game that was downright inviting. I'll never pick up a mainline game in the series. But World let me have a glimpse of what all the diehard fans love.


• Diablo III: Eternal Collection - All I remember of Diablo III on the PC was Error 37. The zeitgeist was enthralling, but I haven't enjoyed an Diablo-like ARPG since Torchlight. Then they put it out on Switch and it was finally the right place, right time game for me. I much prefer the Dark Alliance style controls for these games that PC versions don't offer for some reason. So eight years (and two purchases later), I finally saw the game to its end and I had a blast doing it.


• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Having another person in the house who is interested in video games has been a change for me. My daughter will likely never be a "gamer" like myself, but she enjoys watching me play from time to time and has a few she likes to play herself. One of those that we overlap on is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Purchased in the waning days of 2018, I thought it might be the kind of thing she would enjoy, and oh she did. We often play split-screen together, me charging ahead while she fights in the mid-field. It might not have been the game for me, but it is the perfect game for us. And those few days at the end of December playing together was enough to propel it onto my Top Five for the year.


• This is usually the part where I list honorable mentions, but it really was that slow of a gaming year. Here's to a more fruitful 2019. (Spoilers: it's pretty good so far.)

Top Five: Video Games of 2017

• As we come upon the end of the year, we take time to reflect on what made the year meaningful for us. And for gamers, that often means taking stock of the games we played throughout the year, preferably in some form of list. So without further ado... Wait, did I not put up a list for 2017. Uh oh.


• Yakuza 0 & Yazuka Kiwami - My absolute favorite games of 2017. If I had any lingering doubts about choosing to go Playstation this generation, the new revitalized Yakuza series has affirmed I made the right call. The games' combination of crime melodrama, action brawler, and a densely packed explorable world are a perfect combination to keep me playing. And one of the neatest outcomes from setting each game in the fictional Kamurocho district is seeing out the neighborhood changes while maintaining its underlying familiarity. Yakuza 0 is the decidedly better of the two, with Kiwami feeling more like an expansion pack. But I was excited to play both, and look forward to more in 2018.


• Titan Quest Anniversary Edition - Late in the year, I found myself returning to Titan Quest, this time the Anniversary Edition. The game is one of the few Diablo-style ARPGs that I actually enjoy. I didn't end up finishing it, but it was a nice respite in an otherwise odd gaming year.


• Heroes of the Storm - If you asked me at the beginning of 2017 what the chances were of me including a MOBA on my top I would have laughed. And yet, I found myself logging in to beat up on bots with some regularity throughout the year. I never wanted to play against other players, but I enjoyed the old comp-stomp a lot more than I ever expected.


• Destiny 2 - The sequel to Destiny make it on to this list almost by default. It both is and isn't like the first game, which made my Top Five list in both 2014 and 2015. What it did wrong was its lack of stickiness. But I can't knock if for not being my new forever game. I was happy to have played it even if I may never play it again. (Spoilers: I didn't.)


• Honorable Mentions: Horizon: Zero Dawn, Persona 5, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Each failed to connect with me in vary different ways.


• I guess this means my blogging hiatus is officially over. Maybe I'll even get 2018's list up on time. Maybe.

Top Five: Video Games of 2016

• It's way too late for this, but let's do it anyway.


• 2016 has gone and it is once again time to look back on the games I enjoyed last year. In truth, I played very few. Time and priority shifted such that I couldn't dedicate many hours to gaming. But what I did play were some of my favorite of all time.


• Persona 4 The Golden - As a fan of Giant Bomb, Persona 4 looms large as one of the defining games of the site. When the chance game up for me to get a PlayStation Vita and the game, I knew I had to experience it for myself. It is without any hyperbole that I say P4G is the best JRPG I have even played. It's funny that the actual dungeons, the mechanical RPG sections themselves, were my least favorite parts of the game. They never felt as grindy as I was led to believe. And the battle system with its use of weakness exploits was a lot of fun to manage. But the best part was clearly the visual novel side, where making friends and learning more about them turned the experience from a good dungeon crawler to a truly great game. Persona 4 The Golden lives up to its hype.


• Firewatch - I don't go out of my way to try "walking simulator" games. 2013's Gone Home, while amazing, was not some gateway to a new style of game for me. However, when the team at Campo Santo announced their first game, I was immediately interested. Firewatch is very much a first person adventure game, combining the best of environmental storytelling techniques with point-and-click adventure structure. It may not stick the landing on the big mystery, but the emotional arc is perfect. This is easily a game I would share with non-gamers to show what video games can do.


• Pathfinder Adventures - I'm a sucker for all kinds of tabletop games: board, card, RPGs. Even if I may never play them, I like reading about them. Occasionally, against my better judgment, I'll even buy one. I got lucky, then, with the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords. I could play solo, with my brother, and even convinced my family to try it. So when the game made the transition to a mobile app, I jumped on it. Pathfinder Adventures does everything I want out of an video game port: making it easier to play the physical game while also taking advantage of the electronic medium. I have now played more on the app than I've ever played of the card game. And I got to play with my daughter which made it even better.


• Hitman - I never imagined myself playing a Hitman. They always seemed like too much work for too grisly a topic. Sure, there was fun stories to come out of the games (hat tip to Rebel FM for piquing my curiosity about the series years ago. But I never actually tried one. That was until videos of the new game started coming out, showing off just how crazy things could go. Hitman lives up to the hype. If you want to see just how good it can be, check out this video.


• Let It Die - I did not expect to find myself enjoying a free-to-play game. Too often, the monetization strategy leads to degenerate design. And although it is said to be worse in the end game, I didn't see any free-to-play shenanigans in Let It Die. Instead I found an alternately morose or farcical dungeon crawler, resembling the Souls and Rogue games. It was simple fun to explore a ruined world, collect gear, and fight various psychos. I didn't make it all that far up the tower, but I enjoyed learning my way through new encounters and doing my best to survive just a bit longer. Also, Uncle Death is a great character, underused in the game.


• Ironically, I've already started 2017's Top Five list with a great game I just finished. Hopefully you won't have to wait quite so long to read about it.

Top Five: Video Games of 2015

• 2015 has been a year of highs and lows for me. One of the highs was definitely all of the great games that came out this year. Without wasting any more time, let's get to the list:


• The Witcher III: Wild Hunt - Probably the best game I played all year. I found the Witcher books to be engrossing and I'm glad I had that background going into this game. Although I had some frustration with the combat, the world of the Witcher was so beautiful to explore. Everything from the countrysides and cities to lonely hovels and corpse strewn battlefields were amazing. Best of all were the quests and the well-written characters that drove them. As the game intends, I spent a lot of time in the first act taking on contracts and completing side missions while I investigated Ciri's whereabouts. Eventually though, I mainlined the main quest, if only because I had to see it through to the end. I was very happy after the ending to find that I could return to the world and resume taking on side quests and the DLC after the main quest was done. Also, I though Gwent was an amazing addition to the game. I spent many a night avoiding monsters and bandits so that I could find the next gwent player.


• Destiny: The Taken King - I was one of those weirdos who actually liked Destiny when it was initially released. The Taken King has made it even better. The original content has been reorganized into a much more coherent series of quests. And the new content to so much more exciting. I am so happy that Bungie learned from their early mistakes and was able to reforge the game into something that I don't have to feel embarrassed to admit enjoying.


• Shadowrun Returns - I'm not sure why it took me a couple of years to finally try Shadowrun Returns, but I'm glad I did. Returns is the tactical RPG I've been waiting for since the Gold Box games and Fallout games. Once again, great stories and great characters carry a straightforward tale of investigation and revenge into and exciting challenge. That there are two more games in the series available gives me such joy. If you miss tactical combat in your role-playing games, you have to try Shadowrun. They got it right.


• Bloodborne - From Software played a key role in my decision to purchase a PS4. I was infatuated with Dark Souls and, to a lesser extent, Dark Souls II. Bloodborne may deviate from the Souls games, but the lineage is clear. The quick, aggressive combat was an interesting change of pace. But although it did not achieve the same high as with Dark Souls, Bloodborne was a memorable experience that had me on edge through the end of the game. It was a worthy successor to the series.


• 80 Days - I feel a little more comfortable including 80 Days because it didn't release on Android until early 2015. I'm not sure I've seen a more impressive model of interactive fiction. Modeled after Jules Verne's Around the World In Eighty Days, this steampunk infused adventure gives the player freedom to travel all over the world, meeting people and visiting strange places. As the valet Passepartout, you must care for your master, Philias Fogg, and direct the journey. But you are given absolute freedom to explore and make connections that may or may not advance your goal. I love how the game evokes Verne's science fiction worldview while also keeping a modern eye toward those around the world who might not take kindly to the eurocentric point of view of the original work. I've been around the world a couple times now and I was much more satisfied when we lost the wager than when we won. But I could not stop there. Adventure awaits.


• Honorable mentions go to Rocket League for its fast, fun, and completely infuriating gameplay and Tales of the Borderlands which might have breached this list if I had only finished it in time.


• I can't wait to hear what you think are the best games of the year. Here is to a great new year!

Top Five: Video Games of 2014

• It's not too late for a best of 2014 post, is it? It is? Goddamnit. Oh well, as long as I'm clearing the queue...


• Do you remember when the Nintendo 3DS was first released back in 2011? The launch line up was lousy. The next year was a gaming wasteland with few titles to remind us why we wanted the systems in the first place. Now when I look at the 3DS library, I see more great games than I could ever play. But it did not always seem this way. For a long time, I regretting impulse buying that little device. That is the same feeling I have as a PlayStation 4 owner. Sure, there is a game here or there that I greatly enjoy. But it is still in the process of becoming a console worth owning. As such, most of my favorite games were played on PC, Xbox 360, or the afore mentioned 3DS.


• Tomb Raider (2013) - When I picked up my PS4 last year, I looked forward to playing an updated Tomb Raider on the new console. Only I discovered that past me picked up the game during a Steam sale. I thanked past me and started playing. Tomb Raider was a great experience. It was just broad enough to allow for exploring, even though the main path through the game was entirely linear. The story was really good, even though it pushed Lara into cold-blooded killer mode much too quickly. It's the most fun I've had with a Tomb Raider since Legend and I'm looking forward to the sequel, assuming it comes out on a platform that I can play it on.


• Dark Souls II - It is strange to say that Dark Souls II was a disappointment and then put it on my list of top games of the year. It was the hollow to Dark Souls' humanity. Nonetheless, I played from start to finish and keep my attention the entire time. It was a game that I wanted to fall in love with. Like its predecessor, the combat was measured and brutally punishing. Overcoming its obstacles felt like a genuine triumph. It may not have been everything I wanted it to be, but it was still worthy of the Dark Souls name.


• Destiny - Another best game of the year that pales only in comparison to what could have been. Destiny should have been the game of the year. All the pieces were there, but it didn't come together. But even though it wasn't the game many of us wanted it to be, I find myself going back to it time and again. I compare it to the first Assassin's Creed. That was a flawed game that taught Ubisoft how to make an amazing sequel. I strongly suspect that Destiny 2 will be the game we all hoped for. But in the meantime, I have patrols to complete and bad guys to punch.


• World of Warcraft (Private Server) - So, I reached level 60 on my home WoW server and took my character into Outland. From one point of view, that means I am absolutely crazy for playing a massively multiplayer game in a way that defies the genre. On the other hand, it is gratifying that I can bend the game to my will. It may not be more than a curiosity, but it has been one that kept me entertained time and again all year.


• Disney Magical World - I didn't expect to fall for Disney Magical World the way that I did. It looked like a Harvest Moon game with Disney characters. But it turns out to have a lengthy quest system and a surprising fun combat system. Also, I had a lot of fun playing dress up for Cinderella's various balls. I haven't finished it yet because there is so much to do. But I was happy to find a far deeper game than I expected.


• It has been a strange year for gaming, and a terrible one for the gaming community. I hope 2015 will be brighter for all.

Random Shots: In Memoriam - 2014

• Once again, it is time to look back at those we lost in 2014, the people who made our lives a little brighter
• Justin Carmical, 42, aka JewWario, YouTube instructor on playing Japanese games on western consoles


• Greg Martin, box cover artist for several Sega, Hudson, Capcom and Namco games


• Kenneth Melville, 65, co-founder of Digital Pictures, developer of several FMV games including: It Came from the Desert, Sewer Shark, Make My Video: INXS, Make My Video: Kris Kross, and Corpse Killer, as well as developing Total Annihilation: Kingdoms.


• Joel Green, 5, the inspiration for Ryan Green's game, That Dragon, Cancer.


• Matthew Crump, 40, game developer, coordinator of the SXSW Gaming Expo


• Masato Masuda, 48, game developer, creator of Pro Wrestling (NES) and the Fire Pro Wrestling series


• Python Anghelo, 60, artist, game and pinball designer, best known for Joust, Bubbles, Pin*Bot, Cyclone and Taxi


• Douglas E. Smith, 53, creator of Lode Runner


• Ralph Baer, 92, developer of the first video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey
• Farewell. You will be missed.

---

© 2015 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

Top Five: Video Games of 2013

• Ninety-nine percent of my gaming this year has taken place when I should been in bed. But that didn't stop me, even when it should have. These five games did the most to keep me from getting enough sleep this year. As always, this is a list of games were are important to me this year, not some kind of authoritative, objective list of the best games of the year.


• Dark Souls - I've owned Dark Souls for close to two years now and I never beat it. The difference between this game and every other one in my collection is that I'm still trying to beat Dark Souls. I don't know that a game has ever gotten under skin the same way. No, I'm not playing it the "right way". I've read every wiki, forum, and guide I could find. I watched so many videos. But that doesn't mean anything when you have a controller in hand and have to execute everything you've learned. Dark Souls is an unforgiving teacher. And I love it dearly because of that.


• Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan - When I played D&D, I was always the DM. I didn't mind. I liked getting friends together to play. But the part I didn't tell anyone about was that I really liked to make maps. EO4 is a gift to my map-marker heart. An old-school, Wizardry-style dungeon crawler, I haven't played a game like this since Might & Magic II and The Bard's Tale. Funny that a genre you might think long dead could be alive, well, and just as good as you remember from thirty years ago.


• Gone Home - From the moment of heard about the Fullbright Company, I knew that I wanted to follow them. Gone Home was exactly what I hoped it would be. It seemed to be a direct response to everything I wanted out of Bioshock Infinite. I enjoyed wandering through the house, finding out what happened to my (Katie's) family over the last year, and hoping that I would find them okay. I can't wait to see what the team does in the future.


• Saints Row IV - Considering how much I loved Saints Row The Third, there was no chance I would pass up SR4. Although in some ways it felt like an add-on to SR3, it ended up surpassing the older game in many ways. I would have trouble returning to Steelport without having access to superpowers any more. The game was pure joy from beginning to end.


• World Of Warcraft (Private Server) - I make the distinction here because playing an MMO in a world with only one player is a very strange experience. The economy is non-functional and the several quests and characters are all kinds of buggy. But turning the nobs on the server to suit my needs, whether it is weakening elite mobs or turning up reputation gain (because screw reputation grinds), is really gratifying. No, it is not the same. But exploring an Azeroth that no longer exists (the server is set to patch 3.3.5a) is a different kind of treasure.


• Honorabe mentions Super Hexagon and Bioshock Infinite came pretty close to making the list. It has been a very strange year for gaming, but I'm super happy to have such variety.


• So, what were your favorite games this year?

Random Shots: The Year That Was 2013

• If there is anything to take away from this year, it's that 2013 was complete and utter bullshit. I feel like I've gone twelve rounds with a heavyweight boxer and I'm ready for the punches to stop. That I'm still standing at the end of all this says something, if only that I survived.


• Predictions
• South Park: The Stick of Truth - "Prediction: I will forget to buy this until it's been out a week, but I'll finish it (because it's short) and like the story and humor quite a bit. Also, I'll play a female character just because I can. If I can."

  Hmm. So, same for 2014, I guess? After having watched actual footage of the game, I am anticipating it more.



• Grand Theft Auto V - "Prediction: GTA V will be a week one purchase, though I'll look long and hard at the special edition before passing on it. I will play it a lot, but I fear I'll hang it up before finishing. Again."

  This one was pretty close. I actually picked GTA V up on day one. And although I stared longingly at the special edition, I was never in any jeopardy of buying it. Special editions are way outside of my price range now. And I did hang it up, though a lot earlier than I expected. Dark Souls drew all of my attention and didn't let go for weeks.



• Tomb Raider - "Prediction: After reading reviews and hearing about it on the Bombcast, I won't even pick it up."

  This one is one hundred percent accurate. I even played my brother's copy for a couple hours and that wasn't enough to get me to buy it. Square announced a next-gen edition for PS4 that has me tempted, but don't hold me to anything.



• BioShock Infinite - "Prediction: I won't pick up Infinite until there is a price drop. I'll play it for a little while before getting bored and moving on to the next shiny thing."

  Boy, I blew this prediction. Infinite ended up as a late minute preorder so that I could preload it through Steam. I played it all the way through to the end. And although I will loudly and profusely proclaim that I don't like shooters, I did enjoy it.



• Gone Home - "Prediction: Will preorder and play for a few nights before beating it. Expect one blog post and a place in my Top Five this year."

  Gone Home ended up short enough to finish in one night, but everything else was right on. Top Five spoilers, I guess.



• Next Xbox - Prediction: I'm currently planning to preorder and pick it up at launch. I'll probably only get a single game at first, but then own three or four by the end of the first month. My launch date predication: November 14, 2013!"

  Wow, did I really write that? I was off on the launch date by eight days, but I don't feel too bad about that. The funny thing is that, if you were to substitute "Next Xbox" with "PS4", this prediction would have been a lot more accurate. And there is no why that, twelve months ago, I would have seen myself buying a PlayStation at launch. What a difference a year makes!



• The blog sure took a hit, especially since October. There was a lot of pain and a lot of loss this year. But there was also good times. Thank you all for being here for me, cheering me when I was down. I couldn't do it without you.

---

© 2013 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

Random Shots: In Memoriam - 2013

• Once again, it is time reflect on those we lost during 2013. And let us hope that 2014 is less ruthless.


• Normand Corbeil, 56, composer for Quantic Dream, credits include Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls


• Robin Sachs, 61, voice actor, credits include Mass Effect and Dragon Age


• Kenji Eno, 42, game designer and musician, credits include D, Sega Rally 2, Newtonica, and Kimi to Boku to Rittai


• Seung Hyun Park, 25, aka "Go)Space", professional Warcraft III player


• Andrew Reisse, 33, co-founder of Oculus VR


• Doug Engelbart, 88, inventor of the computer mouse, helped develop hypertext, computer networks, and graphical user interfaces


• Hiro Isono, 68, artist and illustrator for Square, credits include Secret of Mana, Heroes of Mana, and Final Fantasy Adventure


• Ryan Davis, 34, co-founder of Giant Bomb


• Hiroshi Yamauchi, 85, president of Nintendo from 1949 until 2002, lead company in transition from a trading card company into a video game empire


• Steve Morgenstern, journalist, founding editor of Atari Age


• Mark Valentine, aka "h2orat", video artist for Cryptic Studios/Perfect World Entertainment, credits include Champions Online and Star Trek Online


• Tom Clancy, 66, author of The Hunt For Red October and late Jack Ryan novels, co-founder of Red Storm Entertainment which produced the Rainbow Six series, lent his name to other Ubisoft series, such as Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon


• Aaron Larry Hilden, 37, co-host of Drunken Gamers Radio podcast


• Charles Bellfield, vice president of Sega of America, shepherded Dreamcast from launch and helped transition Sega to out of the hardware business
• Be good to one another, because life is too short to spend it angry.

---

© 2013 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

Random Shots: The MMOs of 2013

• One would think that, due to the poor performance of new MMOs over the last five years, MMO launches would be in decline. Not so, says PC Gamer. Their list of the Best PC Games of 2013 includes twenty-three (TWENTY THREE!!!!) games that either are MMOs or are only tangentially related. Some sounds interesting, some sound terrible, and some I could not care less about.


• The Elder Scrolls: Online - The biggest game on the list is obviously TESO. It looks an awful lot like a bog-standard reaction to The One True Game. All signs point toward it crashing and burning just like SWTOR, but we'll have to wait and see. It'll probably be really good for 30 days.


• Shadowrun Online - I know that, as a card-carrying nerd, I'm supposed to like Shadowrun. But the cyber-fantasy setting never did anything for me. I hope it's all everyone wants out of a game, but I'm not sure it is for me.
  
  UPDATE: Blue Kae reminds us that Shadowrun was just Kickstarted in 2012 and so is nowhere near release. So cross another one off the 2013 list.


• Neverwinter - Finally, the MMO-like RPG becomes and MMORPG-like game. I'm reserving judgment, but Cryptic has a decent track record for their previous releases. Note that I said decent.


• Firefall - The first time I wrote this, I was actually writing about WildStar, because damn these names are dumb. When I looked up what Firefall really is, it seems to fit the name. I hope you like shooting dudes a lot!


• Everquest Next - Here is a big question mark. I like what SOE is saying about it. Hopefully they really are rethinking the MMO in a serious way.
  
  UPDATE: The Ancient Gaming Noob reminds us that EQ Next is nowhere near release. So this is a topic for a different year.


• Marvel Heroes - No one really believes that this will be any good, right?It's probably not even an MMO. I'm sure it will linger in free-to-play hell for some time.


• Survarium - STALKER the MMO? Okay. Releasing this year? Not in a playable state if it does.


• Age Of Wulin/Wushu - A Chinese MMO coming to the west. I can't see how that could ever go wrong. (Um, can someone remind me the correct HTML code to sarcasm tag something?)


• Project V13 - LOL


• WildStar - This is the one game that I'm most curious about. WildStar seems to want to be all things to all people. About this I am skeptical. But it looks like a lot of fun and I'm really interested to see if they pull it off.


• Wizardry Online - Tipa and Wilhelm have already said everything that needs to be said. Next...


• World Of Darkness - Is anyone else curious if CCP can pull it off again? If the players can take control of the game the same way they have with EVE Online, it will be a thing to behold. I'm not convinced it released in 2013, though.


• Otherland - Won't release ever. Don't even worry about it.


• Infinity - Won't launch in 2013. Not worth thinking about.


• City Of Steam - I know people are very positive about this game. But if it does Darkfall numbers, I'll be impressed.


• World Of Warplanes - NOT AN MMO!


• Heroes And Generals - Oh, for eff's sake.


• The Castle Doctrine - Look, Jason Rohrer is a singular game developer. But, come on. This is barely an MMO. Good luck to him, though.


• Transformers Universe - HA HA HA HA HA!
  
  HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
  
  UPDATE: For Vagabond, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! HA!


• Defiance - Closed in six months. At it will outlast the show at that.


• The Missing Ink - I didn't play this back when it was called Metaplace. Why would I play it now?


• Cartoon Universe - Closed in six months because even kids aren't that dumb.


• World Of Warships - See World Of Warplanes.


• And that's it. What MMOs are you looking forward to this year?

---

© 2013 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

Random Shots: Things To Look Forward To In 2013

• Kotaku and PC Gamer have released lists of all of the games we are expecting in 2013. Let's look at a few that I'm curious about and predict how I'll react to them. (I'm saving MMOs for a separate post since this is ostensibly an MMO blog.)


• South Park: The Stick of Truth - I really don't know what to expect from this game. I know that I like South Park. I like RPGs. And I like Obsidian from an intellectual point of view. The problem is that this will probably be a huge failure and I will be super sad about the whole thing. But maybe it will be good.
  
  Prediction: I will forget to buy this until it's been out a week, but I'll finish it (because it's short) and like the story and humor quite a bit. Also, I'll play a female character just because I can. If I can.


• Grand Theft Auto V - I have a weird relationship with the GTA games. I like them up to a point, then I run aground on some terrible mission and can finish. I'm hoping someone at Rockstar saw what Volition did with Saints Row The Third because that game was amazing.
  
  Prediction: GTA V will be a week one purchase, though I'll look long and hard at the special edition before passing on it. I will play it a lot, but I fear I'll hang it up before finishing. Again.


• Tomb Raider - I don't even know what to think about this! I like Tomb Raider. At least, I've liked a couple of Tomb Raiders. This looks like it could be really good. And it looks like it could be completely gross. How am I supposed to know? Oh right, this is the Internet. Nevermind.
  
  Prediction: After reading reviews and hearing about it on the Bombcast, I won't even pick it up.


• BioShock Infinite - I've started to come around on this game for one reason only: Elizabeth. I actually interested to see whether this AI character is as impressive as they want us to believe. If she is, I think I could be hooked.
  
  Prediction: I won't pick up Infinite until there is a price drop. I'll play it for a little while before getting bored and moving on to the next shiny thing.


• Gone Home - Not sure what Gone Home is? Look. LOOK! I'm super excited to see how this game ends up. An indie suburban exploration game? Sign me up.
  
  Prediction: Will preorder and play for a few nights before beating it. Expect one blog post and a place in my Top Five this year.


• Next Xbox - This is the big one. And a bit of a cheat since it's not really a game. But if I want to make a prediction, this is the place. There is no way that Microsoft holds off for another year before releasing their next console. The signs and portents are there. The stars are aligned. It has been several years since the last generation kicked off and I'm excited that there will be something to be excited about again. One way or the other, it will be fun to talk about.
  
  Prediction: I'm currently planning to preorder and pick it up at launch. I'll probably only get a single game at first, but then own three or four by the end of the first month. My launch date predication: November 14, 2013!


• What games are you looking forward to in the new year?

---

© 2013 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

Top Five: Video Games of 2012

• Here they are, the five games that defined the year for me. As always, keep in mind that I'm only picking games that I've actually played. So if there is some awesome game that I'm missing, it's likely that I never played it. Or maybe you have really poor taste. Whichever excuse works for you.


• Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer - Although it came out in 2011, I didn't get a chance to play it until I got my iPhone this year. For all of the talk about how Apple's App Store is better than the various Android offerings, Ascension is the only game that makes me glad I switched. A simple deckbuilding game in the vein of Dominion, I have lost hours to building a card engine and watching it go. Whether I focus on Lifebound heroes to build up victory points or Void heroes to slim my deck to a perfect killing machine, I'm always excited to draw new cards and see how they will interact. With all of the apps available on the phone, this is the one I come back to time and again.


• Fallen London - I think it was Tom Chick who convinced me to finally try out Echo Bazaar, the game that would eventually become Fallen London. You would think that after reading all of the tweets and blog posts, I would have been tempted sooner. But as soon as I did, I was sucked in to a fascinating world. The writing is excellently flavorful, giving me a reason to come back to the stories again and again. My exploits were amazingly varied and always exciting. I ended up playing for several months (partly because I could play in a browser at work) right up until I hit a grind that could be measured in astronomical units. So I may be done, but I sure had fun. You can try it out yourself right here.


• Guild Wars 2 - Everything leading up to the reason of this game turned into anti-hype for me. Nonetheless, I could not miss the launch, buying my account just hours before the game opened. I'm glad I did. Guild Wars 2, while not the MMO messiah many were hoping for, is a smart, lovingly crafted attempt to answer the problems with the genre. I played it hard for a couple weeks, then went back less and less often. But it was glorious while it lasted.


• Mass Effect 3 - My troubles with the ending notwithstanding, Mass Effect 3 is an amazing culmination to the best series this console generation. I could go back to that galaxy time and again and always be excited to see something new. If the conversation about the game has scared you away, put that aside. Mass Effect 3 is as good as we expect from the series. And, hey, the ending isn't quite so bad any more.


• 10000000 - If there was one game that pulled be away from Ascension for a couple of months, it was 10000000. It is a simple match three where, instead of matching gems, you match melee and spell attacks, keys, items, and crafting ingrediants. Along the top of the screen, your character runs through a dungeon. The matches you make determines your progress, whether you unlock a chest or defeat the monster. With crafting and leveling mechanics, I was hooked on yet another Bejeweled clone. Once I hit the titular ten million points and won the game, I only have gone back occasionally to best my high score. But it was an absorbing run for such a simple premise.


• Now that you've seen my list, varied and eclectic as it is, what were your favorite games of the year?

Random Shots: The Year That Was 2012

• Looking back at 2012, I find that gaming has not been a priority. I've spent more time reading, listening, or watching games than I have played. Between work and parenthood, finding the time and will to start a game has been difficult. But those games that have essentially forced me to play have be extra satisfying. It's time to look back at my prediction from the beginning of the year and see which came true.
• SSX - Prediction: SSX will announce another delay, but it will be a day one purchase no matter when it is released. I will enjoy the game quite a bit and make one trip through the campaign until I reach some event that my aging hands just can't get me past. It will a serious contender for my Top Five list anyway.
  
  Result: There were no additional delays announced, but I did purchase it on day one. Unfortunately, SSX didn't click with me. The tracks were unforgiving and not a lot of fun. The campaign was annoying and the customization was a laugh. I probably could have spent more time learning the game, but life it too short.
• Diablo III & Torchlight II - Prediction: Ready for the crazy? D3 will be released before TL2! Even so, I will finish Torchlight 2 first and it will end up on my Top Five next year.
  
  Result: Even crazier, I was right! D3 did launch before TL2. But I have never finished either game. And, spoilers, neither made the Top Five.
• Mass Effect 3 - Prediction: First day purchase of the standard edition. I will play and enjoy ME3 but I won't play any of the side games, like the multiplayer, even if some one were to ask me to. And at the back of my mind, I'll wonder if I got screwed out of enjoying the end of the trilogy because I didn't buy into their expanded vision of the game.
  
  Result: I wasn't going to, but the pull was too strong. Day one purchase, standard edition. I did play and enjoy the single player game without partaking of the multiplayer or the apps. And it turns out that my enjoyment of the ending was not effected by the expanded gaming options at all. Amazing that.
• Guild Wars 2 - Prediction: GW2 will be a special edition preorder and first day purchase for me. I will play as much as I can, but will have difficulty finding the time to do so, straight through the end of the year. But even then, it will be a Top Five game for me.
  
  Result: After facing a mountain of hype, I almost didn't even buy the game. I did end up with the digital deluxe edition on day one, played for a couple weeks, and then slacked off. Tune in tomorrow for the Top Five.
• Bioshock Infinite - Prediction: Bioshock Infinite will be a later purchase, either on sale or used. I will play for a few levels, but eventually get frustrated with some bit of shooting that I can't get past.
  
  Result: Um, failure to launch this year. Will return for 2013 predictions.
• Grand Theft Auto V - Prediction: I'll end up buying GTA V at a discount due to a gift card or rewards certificate. And I will play as far as the main campaign will let me, so long as I don't run into that one mission that I can't beat. But I won't play nearly as much of the side content as I did in SR3.
  
  Result: Again, failed to launch this year. I'm a lot more interested in this game than I was twelve months ago.
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - Prediction: When Reckoning comes out, I suspect that I'll have other games on my mind. But I will eventually pick it up once word of mouth spreads about how good the game is, despite its poor sales. And I will enjoy the parts of it I play before moving on to the next big thing.
  
  Result: Well, I did wait before buying it. But since it was so recent, I can't tell if I'm already done with it or not.
• XCOM - Prediction: I won't buy this game, and it will be a poor performer, sales wise. Expect to read a lot of "I told you so" posts this year.
  
  Result: This one is amusing. The prediction was about the FPS version which failed to come out and may no longer exist. But then there was the new turn-based strategy game and it seems amazing. I just got it for Christmas and I'm looking forward to playing it as soon as I get near an Xbox.
• Of my predictions, the ones about my purchasing decisions were most likely to be right. At least for games that actually released. How was your 2012?

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© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.