Before we start, I want to let you guys know that I am in the process of coming up with some special end-of-the-year articles for the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, family obligations have me kind of rushed to put something out, and, after last week, I do want to talk about video games a little bit more. So, we'll be taking another short break from strictly comic book discussion for this week.
I love video games, like most people my age. They have been a big part of my life. I think they are art and can tell stories as beautiful and affecting as books, movies, comic books, theater, television, etc. I play them a lot. Lately, I've been getting back into the most recent Star Wars: Battlefront and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. So, I want to talk a little about my favorite video games of all time. I'm not saying these are the objective best. I probably have some weird choices. My catalog of played video games is missing some big entries, like Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 3. These are just the games I've played to completion and have affected me the most. A lot of older game genres don't really do it for me. For example, I'm not the biggest fan of platformers as a whole, though I do see their merit. Also, unlike my last list, I will only allow one entry from each franchise onto this list to keep things from being redundant.
On with the show!
10. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
It’s funny that I should talk about the elegance of storytelling in good video games and then start my list off with a game with a really underwhelming story. However, the gameplay in Shadow of Mordor is just. So. Good. It’s gory, brutal, fast-paced and entertaining to no end. I can get behind trashy and grungy B-Movies, and this game is a reincarnation of the best of those. The means through which you can maim and rend Orcs is morbidly fantastic. Like I said though, the story and characters are really underwhelming. Celebrimbor and Ratbag are frankly the only engaging characters in the story, and the second of those two is only in a quarter of the game. I do thoroughly hate Torvin, and the final boss battle against the Black Hand/Sauron is an insulting bait-and-switch. However, I feel that if the gameplay is good enough, it can make up for a bad story. I feel that Shadow of Mordor does that. Also, the Orcs have really good and lively personalities in this game, and the Nemesis System allows for you to get to know some of them and even advance their station in life.
9. Bioshock: Infinite
I know this game has experienced something of a push-back from fans in recent years, but, to me, this is the best game of the Bioshock franchise. Its fast-paced, high-flying action is the combat pinnacle of the series. I love Booker and Elizabeth. I love her inquisitive nature set aside his bitter grunginess. I think Father Comstock is an awesome villain. I think the crazy twists and turns of the second half of the game are fascinating. I like the overt criticism of American exceptionalism and the deification of the Founding Fathers. The powers are more satisfying here than in the original game. The executions you can perform with the skyhook are brutal fun. I also love the juxtaposition of the horrific violence to the shine and elegance of Columbia. This game just does everything right for me, and it was a perfect note for the series to end on.
8. The Last of Us
Yeah, I dig the "older, bitter" man set aside "innocent young girl" formula that the video game industry used a lot in 2013. Everything I said about Booker and Elizabeth is done even better with Joel and Ellie. Where Bioshock: Infinite sort of ditches its characters for its elaborate plot midway through the game, The Last of Us makes the relationship between Joel and Ellie the center of the story while keeping the plot a simple background to the proceedings. The game even goes as far as allowing the relationship to determine the ending to the main plot, but I won't go into that for spoilers sake. The combat is desperate and clumsy to fit the tone, but it's satisfying enough to be fun. This game was critically acclaimed for good reason. It's a fantastic character study on violence and how it can change people.
7. Dark Souls
What can I say about Dark Souls that hasn’t already been said by people far smarter than I? It is a masterclass in atmosphere, organic storytelling and making a game tough but fair. With boundless creativity and a frighteningly unforgiving world, this action RPG has grabbed hours upon hours of my time. Its straightforward yet intelligent combat system is incredibly fun and satisfying. It sets up a mythos that is perplexing, but it leaves enough puzzle pieces to indicate what is going on and to allow the player to come up with their own interpretation. My favorite boss battles from the game have to be the Gaping Dragon, the Four Kings and Ornstein and Smough.
6. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Yes, I just admitted to liking Skyrim more than Dark Souls. Take away my hardcore gamer cred, I don't care. Is this game as smart as Dark Souls? No. Is the story as good? Nope. However, this is a game that one can get lost in more than any other. You can make your own adventure. You can choose who your character is. It's a streamlined RPG, which is fine by me. I'm not much into pen-and-paper RPGs, so it's perfect for me. That's why I also like Fallout 4 more than Fallout 3 (*gasp*). This way, you can get lost in the gameplay without obsessing over every little stat change when you level up. Plus, you get to fight dragons, werewolves and all those awesome things that come with fantasy games. I adore this game. I know it's gotten a bit of a backlash by gamers in recent years, but I don't care. They can all fight me. Also, something, something, arrow in the knee, Fus Ro Dah.
5. Bloodborne
Yes, this also means I like Bloodborne more than Dark Souls. This is my favorite FromSoftware game by far. I love the gore, the macabre monstrosities that assault you, the faster-paced combat and the Lovecraft-esque narrative that takes place in the background of the Night of the Hunt. This games marriage of Gothic horror to Lovecraftian horror is beautiful. The trick weapons are so cool. The polish given to this game is ridiculous. The little side details and background notes help create a terrifying atmosphere that makes the game a true survival horror. The game is overall beautiful in its morbid way. Also, my favorite boss battles are Ludwig, Elbrietas and Amygdala.
4. Red Dead Redemption
I'm just going to go ahead and say that John Marston is my favorite video game character of all time. He wants so badly to be done with killing. He wants to be a good man. But the world doesn't care, and we get to see his attempts to be done with the West as the West itself is dying in the early twentieth century. This game tells a beautiful story of violence with unique characters, outright monsters and one man just trying to see his family again. The New Austin landscape is gorgeous, the combat is fun and the man is intriguing. I love Westerns, and Red Dead Redemption captures their spirit perfectly.
3. Batman: Arkham City
I talked about how good this game was last week, so I will keep this section brief. You know one thing that this game does right that so much Batman-centric media doesn't anymore: It treats him like a man. He's fallible, he can be killed, and he was once outside of selfless heroism. There's a moment in this game where Gotham is going to hell, and Bruce Wayne actually has to be told to save his city instead of just saving Talia al Ghul, his lover. That's a small detail, but it keeps him human and relatable. Also, Mark Hamill's Joker is fantastic, and Harley Quinn actually isn't insufferable. The open-world exploration through gliding is actually pretty relaxing. Rocksteady captures the atmosphere of Gotham City very well.
2. Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
Frankly, I could count the entirety of the Pokemon franchise in this slot, but I'll just settle for the most recent entries which I have played. I haven't gotten around to Sun and Moon yet, but I will very soon. Every Pokemon game has, for me, been a step up from the previous entry, with the exception of Black and White, which were very underwhelming. I've been playing these games for most of my life since Blue all the way until now. The creativity of the monster designs has never gone away despite what many people have said. The stories have gotten deeper and more interesting. The characters have gotten more unique. The addition of Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves were a smart way to keep things fresh. I love the turn-based battling. These games have never gotten old for me, and I look forward to many more years, games and generations.
1. Star Wars: Battlefront II
This is it. The big one. My favorite game of all time. This game had so much love and devotion put into it. From the emotional "war is hell" story narrated by Temuera Morrison to the marriage of third-person shooting, dogfighting, hack-and-slash and tank combat, this game was a jack-of-all trades and a master of all of them. I replayed the game recently on my Xbox 360, and it holds up completely. This was a game that wanted to be the ultimate Star Wars game, and it succeeded. The new Battlefront is...good. It's actually really polished, and the main dilemma with it is that there isn't enough of it. If they had put all of the DLC on the main game or kicked the price down $20 or $30, it would have been better received and just a better game. Battlefront II still beats it out by leaps and strides with vastly more content and personality.
