Year In Review: 2019

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A helpful tradition of mine continues, wherein I take note of loose thoughts and impressions on games as I play them, and then record them here for my future reference.

This year, my "Game of the Year" is unquestionably the Resident Evil 2 remake. Previously, the old Resident Evil remake for Gamecube was my gold standard for remaking a game, and RE2 - somehow - surpassed it.

  • Resident Evil 2 – [10]

    • This remake is damn near perfect. It changes what it needs to in order to modernize the game, but stays true to the original series, all the while delivering a gorgeously creepy environment to explore. The aiming system is so smart, for example; the accuracy of most weapons – needing to stand still in order to aim well, and having to reorient after each shot – feels perfectly modern while still matching the deliberate pacing of the original game's (now outdated) “tank control” based combat. When combined with a sizable amount of content at launch, I can't really find myself giving this anything below a 10. If I had to levy some form of criticism, it would be that the Sherry segment still isn't all that great, and the last third of the “B” route is too similar to the “A” route.

  • Devil May Cry – [8]

    • First DMC game for me. A fantastic arcade style hack-n-slash with a high skill ceiling (way above where I was by the end!). The main boss repeats a few too many times, and the load screens are too cumbersome for a mission/stage-based game, but overall a really thrilling experience. V gave me carpal tunnel on my first playthrough. Cool visual metaphors with the whole “fruit” thing, though. Love it.

  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – [6]

    • A solid entry into the Souls series with a couple of really limiting hangups. The rhythm-based rock-paper-scissors gameplay was super engaging to me – kinda a riff on Punchout in a way? Like, each new enemy was its own puzzle to figure out, and the parry system felt very rewarding (even if blindly spamming parry was a little too effective). Stealth and platforming/verticality isn't perfect, but is a very commendable attempt. I also love the world design; Ashina Castle and the surrounding mountains were a ton of fun to explore, even if the game retreaded the same areas a few times. However, speaking of retreads, bosses repeated too much for my liking – I know it's called “Shadows Die Twice,” but fighting the majority of bosses more than once is a tad much. In addition, a couple bits of dialogue and item descriptions felt... mistranslated... but it's hard to say without knowing Japanese myself. Finally, replayability compared to previous Souls games is somewhat of an issue, considering you're limited to one primary weapon.

  • A Plague Tale: Innocense – [6]

    • In terms of environment art, this game is simply beautiful; the outdoor segments have a genuine, rustic “countryside” feel, and the battlefield set piece was stunning. The story and characters are fine if somewhat unexciting, and the gameplay teeters between frustratingly restrictive and boring at its worst moments. Still, a neatly crafted world, with an interesting paranormal streak to boot.

  • Metal Wolf Chaos XD – [6]

    • I love this trashy game.

  • Sea of Solitude – [6]

    • An utterly gorgeous world with some fun and cute monster designs. However, I was really struggling to find interest in the game as I played it. A lot of its messaging is just so blatantly on-the-nose; there's nothing subtle or challenging about the overall story when literally every character explains exactly what is happening, as it happens. I found it to be a mostly forgettable tale, but for what it's worth, my spouse connected to the story much more than I did.

  • Astral Chain – [6]

    • Wanted to like this more than I did. Good first impression, but wears out its welcome quickly. Tedious side quests, a finicky camera (manually moving your second character can cause a lot of issues), and awful platforming segments mar an otherwise decent action game. It also tries to do too much at once, leaving a lot of the special abilities you gain either underexplored or just feeling like a gimmick. Chain borrows heavily from core mechanical hooks of other action games – Bayonetta Witch Time, Dante's stance swapping, Revengence's aimed sword slash, some of Nier's upgrade systems, etc; nothing wrong with this per se, but Chain seems like it's trying to do everything at once, and executes all of it with much less finesse than the original games. Topped off with a shallow story and dull character (even for action game standards!), and it's kinda a mess. Fun, but sloppy, shallow, and exhausting.

  • Monster Hunter World: Iceborne – [9]

    • Excellent expansion. Good quality of life improvements, and a ton of new monsters. Of course, you still have to fight all the pre-expansion ones too - but they have some new tricks this time around to keep old fights fresh. It's an addictive grind through to the end.

  • Death Stranding – [7]

    • Well, this definitely feels like a Kojima game. Some maddeningly tedious tasks and laughable dialogue punctuated by genuinely serene moments of introspection, where I was left alone with my own thoughts, my character, a haunting landscape, and some frankly perfect musical accompaniment. It's weirdly simple – get from point A to point B – with a lot of little, interesting mechanics gradually doled out to make it a weird... minimalist deliveryman simulator. I liked it.

  • Control – [6]

    • Uncharted for people that like creepypastas. I liked it more than Uncharted, if for no other reason than the supernatural window dressing.

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Campaign) – [4]

    • The Call of Duty campaigns are always a guilty pleasure of mine. This one isn't as egregiously stupid as the previous few entries, but it is – don't get me wrong – extremely stupid. The unabashedly over-the-top nightvision SWAT segments were worth the price of admission for me, but I couldn't recommend this to anyone else. Like most of the previous campaigns, it's all spectacle, and often very tone deaf to the message it's trying to convey.

  • Pokemon: Shield – [7]

    • All controversies aside, a decent enough entry. A lot of “two steps forward, one step back” moves, in classic Game Freak fashion. The improvements to breeding and battle tower are welcome, and the Wild Zone is great. A bunch of weird UX issues – item sorting is underdeveloped and forgets what you “favorite” after an item changes location, for example. Personally, I think the core gimmick this gen, Dynamaxing, is very lackluster. Also, lame story, but at least not as constantly intrusive as SuMo. Banging soundtrack, if nothing else.

  • The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – [7]

    • Solid remake of a classic that I never got a chance to play. Don't know how true it is to the original, but it feels like an earnest enough attempt.