2018

The Video Game Awards Post is back! Best, Worst, Disappointing, Surprisng and DLC awards all return for another year. Like always, these aren’t just games released in 2018, they’re games I completed for the first time in 2018. Who will follow Sunset Overdrive (2016) and Uncharted 4 (2017) in claiming the award  for 2018?

2017 for me wasn’t a great year for games, there were very few that I thought were great. Nintendo had a good year, but I’m not a Nintendo guy and I never will be. This year however, was very strong! There were three games in particular that could have won game of the year across outlets, unfortunately I have yet to play God of War, but Spider-Man and Red Dead Redemption 2 were spectacular. 2018 was a huge improvement and I hope 2019 can follow it, but that may be asking too much.

Without further ado, the awards!

Best Game I Played in 2018 - Red Dead Redemption 2

Runners Up - Firewatch, Dishonored 2, A Way Out, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Little Nightmares and Spyro the Dragon Remaster

As you can see, I struggled to narrow down a list of runners up, there were just so many potential winners this year. But once I played Red Dead Redemption 2, there was only one real winner. I’ve played a lot of good games, I’ve played a lot of great games, but I haven’t played a lot of amazing games. Red Dead Redemption 2 is amazing. In fact the last games I remember being this good were The Last of Us (2013) and Uncharted 4 (2016) not many games reach this level for me. I won’t spoil the story, but it’s one of the best stories ever. The voice acting is exceptional, Arthur and Dutch are two of the best acted characters I’ve seen. So many small details, fun gameplay, great side characters and lots more.

It took me a whole month to complete, and that was mainly the story and side missions. Even though it took so long, it never dragged, it was never dull. There were plenty of heists and every single one was fun, I couldn’t wait to see what the gang was going to rob next. I will say I was yet again left unimpressed with the multiplayer, but that doesn’t matter because the single player clearly didn’t suffer or get less effort put in. I’m sure there’s plenty who do enjoy it, but you can only steal so many horse carriages before it gets boring.

Arthur Morgan may just be the best acted, developed character of all time. He may be the best video game character of all time! He’s certainly one of mine. Now can we have Undead Nightmare 2 please?

This wasn’t even game of the year at the VGAs which I thought was nailed on, I really need to play God of War if it bested RDR2.

Worst Game I Played in 2018 - Zombi

Runners Up - Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City, Asemblance

This was originally a Wii U game, somehow it got ported to Xbox. Why? Why would anyone think this deserves to be played? It’s terrible. The melee attack is the same every swing, every zombie takes three hits to kill, and they just queue up in a line waiting for your bashing.  The one voice actor is a pain in the ass, he helps guide you through, but why he even cares about you I don’t know. Every time you die, you come back as a different person and start with no gear. The guy who’s guiding you talks to you like you’re the same person, even if you’ve died multiple times and are on your 29th character.

I really can’t say anything good about this game. I hated everything about it. Not only is this the worst game I played in 2018, it’s one of the worst games I’ve ever played. I can’t believe I had the stomach to finish it, I can’t believe I paid for it! I’m absolutely baffled as to why they ported it to Xbox.... BAFFLED.


Biggest Surprise of 2018 - Hotline Miami

Runners Up - The Banner Saga, Superhot

I wasn’t expecting much for Hotline Miami, and that only made it better. The soundtrack is one of the best ever, months after finishing it I still find my self playing the soundtrack. I love the retro graphics, most of the time I hate when games use the old style because we’re past it now, but it works here. The whole game just makes you think of 1980s, and I’m a huge fan of that. A huge arsenal of weapons, enemy types and well made levels. Most importantly, it’s fun as fuck. The kills and executions are soooo satisfying. Some levels can give you some trouble, but when you finally succeed you feel awesome. Play this game, please! Then we could get a Hotline Miami 3 right after I finish the sequel.


Most Disappointing Game of 2018 - Sea of Thieves/Horizon Zero Dawn

Runners Up - Watch Dogs 2

I honestly couldn’t pick this year, so it’s a draw. Sea of Thieves, oh Sea of Thieves. This should have been game of the year. This should have kept me playing for years. It didn’t. Why? Because there was absolutely fuck all to do. Oh wait, no, there’s lots to do! How about fight the same skeletons over and over for bounties, with the WORST combat in years. (It’s the same as Zombi) How about catch and deliver chickens? No? Neither sound fun? Wait, wait! This will get you, treasure maps! Read a map, travel to the right island and dig at the X to reveal treasure! Great, now you have some treasure what next? Well, all there is to do after that is buy very expensive customizable gear. That’s right spend hours and hours doing the same old shit, just to get some coins to customise your character IN A FUCKING FIRST PERSON GAME WERE YOU WONT EVEN FUCKING SEE THEM.

WHAT IS THE POINT? Seriously, why? Well done Rare, well fucking done. You fooled us all into thinking you made one of the best games ever and disappointed us. They actually turned achievements off so soon after the release it was so fucked. I’ve never ever seen that before. It’s so devastating to say this, the beta was amazing to play with friends, I had so much fun just with all the small details you’d expect in a pirate game, playing sea shanties together, guiding the ship with the map, reading the treasure maps to find treasure (before it got repetitive). It made sense the beta was empty though, but the full game was the same! I’d never have bothered if I’d known the beta was the full game. What was even the point in the beta? They didn’t change anything, they couldn’t handle the number of players, it was a colossal fuck up. Oh, but it’s okay! They’ve now started adding content months after release! Rare killed my buzz for this game so quick, there’s nothing they could add to bring me back. I’m not even go on a huge rant about all the bullshit that happened to me playing this fuck up of a game.

Now, I know Horizon Zero Dawn is a good game, but I don’t like it at all. That may sound strange, but to me it makes sense. The graphics are amazing, the world looks great, huge variety of weapon effects and skill points, lots of enemy variations, but I never got into it. I forced myself to play this every single time I played it. I hate robot enemies and I hate games with elemental effects, enemies resistant to certain effects and can only be damaged by specific ones, I absolutely despise that. If you took out the elemental effects and changed the robots to DINOSAURS, now this could’ve been a special game for me. If you liked it, that’s great and I understand why some would, but I hate to say it just wasn’t for me.



Best DLC I Played in 2018 - Spider-Man: The Heist

I didn’t play much DLC this year, there wasn’t really anything specially. The highlights would definitely be all three from Little Nightmares that added more story, but the best for me would be Spider-Man’s first DLC. The Heist wasn’t anything special really, but it was just great to be playing Spider-Man again, and introducing more characters to the game like Black Cat. Honestly, the best DLC for me really was adding the Sam Raimi suit to the game. Feeling like I was Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man was VERY special.



Worst DLC I Played in 2018 - Watch Dogs 2: No Compromise

Now, this DLC wasn’t really bad, it was just one mission. ONE MISSION. The DLC was pretty pricey too, and to only add one mission is laughable. Like the original, Watch Dogs 2 disappointed, pretty much no missions were memorable l but I enjoyed it more than the first. But one mission? C’maaan.


Games I played in 2018 which I never reviewed, but I’ll give a mini overview of each one here.

Wolfenstein 3D - Just like Doom it's fun. Retro games at their best. I literally just ran through it, so no point in reviewing it.

The Witness - It's definitely overrated, I saw this getting 10s. I mean the puzzles are well made and the graphics are stunning, but it's not a 10! I'm yet to do the final puzzle as it's a doozy, but it's a game that makes you feel clever, as you get no help at all.

EA Sports UFC 3 - I'm a huge UFC fan and have a lot of fun with the games, even if it's just to play as the updated roster. I hate the scaling in difficulty though and every UFC game has done it, even back in their THQ days.

Well that's it for another year. 2018 was a huge improvement for gaming, some of the best games ever were released this year. Let's hope 2019 can follow it. I even played a host of great games released earlier than 2018, and I'm sure that will be the case in 2019. The Last of Us remains king, but Red Dead Redemption 2 gave it a run for its money this year.

Days Gone is one to watch of games with a confirmed release date. Of course Death Stranding, Ghosts of Tsushima and Last of Us 2 but no confirmed dates for those yet. I'll certainly have to play the latest God of War in 2019, but I'll need to start from the beginning, so expect a bunch of GoW reviews in 2019.

Happy gaming and happy New year for 2019!