Best Games of 2019 · 8:29pm Dec 11th, 2019
I'll be blunt, once again this is less of a "best games of 2019" and more of a "2019 games I bought". Here we go.
5. Need For Speed Heat
For over a decade now, the NFS community has touted Most Wanted 2005 as the absolute best NFS game in the franchise, and once again, a developer has tried to recapture that magic with a series that has largely been spinning its wheels for years. Heat comes closer than most other modern titles, but it ends up being 'no cigar' for the most part. MW05's story was cheesy and campy in the best ways, and this game's story was just the opposite. Car handling was pretty decent, and it felt good upgrading your ride.
But a note to any future NFS developer: You are not going to come anywhere close to MW05 until you remove the goddamned damage system. Pursuits were never about getting t-boned three times for a bust; it was about being slippery enough that the only way they were going to get you was to pit you and dogpile you with 20 federal corvettes. You have the blueprint, you're just not following the design.
4. Tom Clancy's The Division 2
After The Division 1 received its 1.8 Title Update, community hopes were high for the anticipated sequel. But while the game's leveling experience is more or less solid, Massive's statement of "we took 1.8 and went from there" to Division 2 has consistently turned out to be a load of bullshit.
It's not just a case of a lot of small things holding it back, the post-launch support has absolutely paled in comparison to the first game. This time around last game, we had two immensely replayable DLCs on offer, Underground and Survival. Here, we've got a very small handful of additional missions that advance the story and little else. Here, instead of one huge Dark Zone in the middle of Manhattan, we've got three smaller ones that not too many seem to be happy with.
Some are still optimistic about what Year Two has in store, but I'm starting to not hold my breath anymore.
3. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
Respawn Entertainment has been on my radar ever since they announced Titanfall back in 2014, and since have made three absolutely amazing games, while making some questionable decisions when it comes to release windows.
Jedi Fallen Order is the first real single player Star Wars experience fans have gotten in over a decade, with The Force Unleashed II being the last one, and boy was it a long time coming. Taking place between the prequels and original trilogy, Respawn gives us a cast of characters never seen before and takes us in some surprising directions.
The combat is certainly "Souls Lite" and is the best melee combat we've gotten since the days of Jedi Outcast. The story is also leagues better than what we got with Battlefront II, and I am very much looking forward to where they take these characters in the future, proving that there is absolutely the potential for riveting narratives in Disney's era of that galaxy far, far away.
2. Tetris 99
It turns out when you take one of the world's most well known puzzle games and put a battle royale twist on it, the result is more or less astounding.
The frantic, fast-paced action of throwing down with 98 other players got my heart going the way no other bed-shitting battle royale game did. Out of the dozens and dozens of matches that I've played, I have won only twice, and it never stopped being fun. Even when I got ganged up on 20 seconds in. Another match was never more than a minute away.
Game of the Year 2019:
Resident Evil 2
Having been continuously demanded since 2002 and highly anticipated since its reveal in August 2015, the "REmake" of one of the most iconic titles in this survival horror franchise hits almost every single note along the way, only stumbling with some missteps on how the 'A' and 'B' scenarios were handled, entirely inferior to the way its '98 predecessor did it.
Aside from that, this pulse-pounding horror experience improves upon the original in every way, with "Mr. X" being the surprising and terrifying highlight of the experience.
I'm pretty sure Capcom knew what they had on their hands with how long we had been demanding it, because just this week, they formally revealed Resident Evil 3, and the launch is only a few months away.
Just today, it was revealed that Resident Evil 2 had surpassed the sales figures of the 1998 original. Congrats, Capcom. You absolutely deserve it.
And yes, before you all say it (you do every year), I'm aware of some very high-profile releases that I did not play this year. Either because I had no interest in them, or I was not going to patronize extremely questionable developer behavior.
So agree or disagree, let me know what you think in the comments below! Thanks for reading.
Ah yes, RE2 Remake is up there with one of my fave games of this year
Resident Evil 2 is my GOTY, but there are some honorable mentions that I also enjoyed:
Control has very fun combat and powers coupled with an interesting setting inspired by the SCP Foundation.
Sekiro is difficult yet rewarding with tight controls and great boss battles.
The Outer Worlds is an awesome RPG and the sequel to New Vegas we've been waiting for. Very funny writing and deep character development and role playing mechanics make up for shoddy visuals and frustrating controls.
There are still some other games released this year I want to play, like Modern Warfare, Fallen Order and DMC5. I've heard nothing but good things about them.