Well, my friends, it’s been a pretty damn good year for entertainment. We’ve had great movies, great music, great television, and one of the greatest video games ever made! So, it’s time again for me to break down the best of everything that I experienced this year and why you should give it the time of day this holiday season. Since everybody is likely looking for gifts right now, I thought I’d start of with the best video games of the year. There were a number of fantastic franchises that gave us some decent entries. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Battlefield V, Hitman 2, and Just Cause 4 are just a few of the decent sequels that will keep you or your loved ones entertained if you should choose to purchase them this Christmas. And Destiny 2: The Forsaken might be really high on this list if I had been able to spend more time with it. As for now, these are the Top Ten Games that are worth your money this holiday season (and Fortnite is not one of them)!
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
This game could have been been in the top five of the year if I had more time to play with, but after playing the demo, there is no game I’m more excited about playing at Christmas. With the addition of every character to ever grace the Smash Bros. world and updated game mechanics that make the fighting endless fun, there is no other Nintendo Switch game to get before this one.
- Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
This game takes the gameplay of the revamped origins title that came out last year, along with a few goodies from throughout the long running series, and gives it one of its best stories. Whether you play as a male or female lead, you will get a strikingly dark story, with a charismatic hero, some charmingly memorable side characters, and game mechanics that make it fun to play.
- Far Cry 5
The latest game in the Far Cry series brought the action to America and delivered some of the most memorable villains and gunplay of any game this year. It also has the most shocking ending of any game I’ve played in years. Well worth sitting through it’s 30+ hour running time.
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider
The new Lara Croft series has been giving Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series a run for its money over the last few years and this dark closing chapter to the trilogy is even better than the last. I may have wished for a little more incentive to do the side missions, but the main story is action packed, horrifying, emotional, and filled with memorable set pieces. If you are a fan of Lara Croft than this is a must play!
- No Man’s Sky Next
A couple of years ago, this game was the most anticipated thing around. Then it’s release played like nothing more than a proof of concept. Now, that concept showed us you can create endless galaxies with millions of planets and explore them just by taking off through the atmosphere, but it was still just repetitive mining around the stars. Now, you can create vehicles, build Armadas, build worlds, expand weaponry, and you can do it all with your buddies online. It often feels to good to be true, until it all glitches up. That was the promise of this world and they are finally living up to it.
- Detroit: Become Human
This brilliant game rewards every little decision you make with deviations to the storyline that can completely change the narrative. The developers says it’s best to play straight through, but I went back on each chapter to get all the different outcomes and it was so rewarding. Add to that a brilliant story about inequality and you have a recipe for something special.
- Monster Hunter World
This game was the biggest surprise of the year for me. Monster Hunter has always been an annoying series for me because finding the monsters was such a chore, but this game streamlined that and added the ability to work with others online to complete the tasks. While the story could be improved, there is nothing like the satisfaction of taking down some of these monsters, and that is what puts this game so high on this list.
- Spider-Man
There was a lot of hype going into this game and it delivered with the best Spider-Man game ever made! The game mechanics are improved. The city is breathlessly recreated. The storytelling is better than most of the movies. And there is just nothing quite like webbing your way through New York. If you are a Spider-Man fan than you would be out of your mind to miss this.
- God of War
Earlier this year, it was hard for me to believe that there would be a better game than this. Bringing the character of Kratos down to earth with real depth of emotion and a son to build his story on always sounded inspired, but making the whole game one continuous shot was brilliant. When you couple that style with some of the most epic fights ever created, you get one of the most intense experiences a game can give you. When you finish this game you will feel like a god who is living in mans world and you will care. That’s an achievement.
- Red Dead Redemption ll
This game is not just the best game of the year, but one of the greatest games of all time. If a games job is to transport you to a time and place, then this job is the epitome of gaming. If a games job is to give you freedom to do whatever your mind can think of, then this game is the perfect representation of gaming. If a games job is to give you so much to do that you can never do everything there is to offer, than this is the gold standard of gaming. And if a games job is to a novels worth of story and let you truly live, breath, and care for it, then this game is one of the best ever! There is no amount of praise that I could give this game and do it justice. This is the do not miss game of the year!
- 12 Best of Christmas: The Best Heroes/Villains of 2024! - December 12, 2024
- 12 Best of Christmas: The Best Stunts/Choreography of 2024! - December 11, 2024
- 12 Best of Christmas: The Best Albums of 2024! - December 10, 2024