2019 was another great year for gaming and I was grateful to play some magnificent games. While I played a lot of games in 2019, I narrowed my choices down to five games in totality. Here are my favorites from last year.
5) Gears 5
Gears of War is one of my favorite shooters of all-time and 5 was a pretty fun package overall but it did not top the fourth iteration of the series. While Gears 5 has arguably my favorite gameplay in the series, I have some gripes with both the single player and multiplayer experience. For starters, there are many decisions that are story-related that I did not agree with in the single player campaign. While 4 played it super safe at times, I feel like 4 had me more engaged whereas 5 had me dozing off in sections of the game. I also did not enjoy the open-world aspects of the game; they were unnecessary. The second half of the story falls on its face and it left a sour taste in my mouth as a big Gears fan.
As far as the multiplayer goes, Gears 5 still has a lot of issues that can be fixed in the future but as of now, it’s a gigantic mess. It is almost impossible to earn character skins or weapon skins unless I pay for them; I also do not find pleasure in how the only way to earn iron is via the Tour of Duty (which is a mess in itself) or by paying for it. Even if I wanted to buy weapon skins or characters, I do not earn enough iron to do so. For me, Gears 5 is still a good game and worthy of my fifth spot but it’s not the best.
4) The Outer Worlds
The Outer Worlds was easily one of my favorite games of last year because the gameplay is engaging, the characters are awesome, and it’s just a fun experience overall. The game is basically a Fallout game but in a space setting, so it hooked me from the time it was announced a few years back. One of the strongest things The Outer Worlds has going for it is the characters and the quests in general. It was a rarity that a side quest in The Outer Worlds felt like busy work to me personally. The main storyline itself was great as well and it gives the player the freedom to be “good” or “bad” much like other RPGs before it. As I stated before, the characters in this game are strong and are the most important reason to play this game. Parvati, who is voiced by Ashly Burch, was a fan favorite and it makes sense because she turned in another great performance. The great thing about this game is that everyone I have talked to has a different favorite character in the game. I feel like every character is given their chance to shine.
For all of these reasons, I think The Outer Worlds is worthy of making my list. There’s so much to talk about but that’s my little summary of the game and why I loved it. Fallout fans and fans of shooters in general will most likely love The Outer Worlds, it’s just awesome.
3) Death Stranding
The living legend, Hideo Kojima, has done it again with his newest game in Death Stranding. Part of the reason I took so long to write up my list for 2019 is because I was actually in the process of finishing this game and it was a major time dump. The strengths of Death Stranding are similar to other games Hideo Kojima has made in the past. These strengths as follows are: great characters, great world building, an engaging storyline, and gameplay that is at least innovative in its design at times. One of my favorite sequences in the game is towards the end; Sam, the lead character played by Norman Reedus, engages in a fist fight with one of the main antagonists of the game. The sequence reminded me of an old Fight Night game and it was something I did not expect to see in a game like Death Stranding.
Death Stranding relies heavily on the performances of the characters in the game and they stuck with me post-completion. Similar to The Outer Worlds, I feel like most people who play this game will have a different favorite character. It goes without saying that without the performances of Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Margaret Qualley, Lea Seydoux, and so on are some of the best of 2019. Death Stranding was a very polarizing game in 2019 and I feel like that’s a common theme when it comes to Hideo Kojima’s games in general. Most of his work gets criticism because it dives into “movie-game” territory but I think Death Stranding is definitely worth at least a try. I did not think it would resonate with me as much as it did but I loved the game and highly recommend it.
2) Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Maybe the most recent Star Wars movies are a reason why this game is so high on my list but I genuinely had so much fun playing Fallen Order and it’s my second favorite game of 2019. This game has it all for Star Wars fans; a great storyline, awesome characters, fun gameplay, a good use of the universe as a whole, and the graphics are top notch.
The gameplay is reminiscent of a Dark Souls game but mix that together with the use of force powers and Fallen Order is what the game delivers. The amount of force abilities that one has access to makes this game very enjoyable and more Star Wars games need to do this for the future. The lightsaber gameplay is obviously the big draw with Fallen Order though and it’s very engaging. Every slice and swing of the saber has to be precise as well as calculated. I feel like Fallen Order does a great job overall with the saber combat and the usage of the parry system can be life or death in Fallen Order.
I feel like the characters in this game are all pretty awesome and do a great job of playing off of one another. My one gripe with the game is that my favorite member of the crew does not join the crew until the last hour and a half of the game. Another gripe I have, which is more of a marketing problem, is that they revealed my favorite moment in the game via marketing. I am not going to talk about it to be respectful to anyone reading this but it’s all anyone talked about for about a month when this game dropped. I highly recommend Fallen Order to not only Star Wars fans but to people who game regularly.
1) Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 2 holds a special place in my heart as someone who has played games for over 20 years. When I heard a remake of the original was happening a few years back, I knew that I was going to buy it for sure but I didn’t realize how much love and care was put into this reboot/remake of the second game. From the great story arc of Leon Kennedy and Claire to the grotesque creatures we see in the sewers later on, this game had just about everything a Resident Evil fanatic would love about the series. Both characters, Claire and Leon, have separate stories but both are so well done and the game is just about perfection.
Capcom combined everything that RE4 did well with elements of the original 3 games that kickstarted one of the greatest survival horror franchises of all time. In RE2, the game is very much about conserving items and ammo; unlike 5 and 6, blowing through ammo the player receives is sometimes not a viable option and the game encourages the player to pick his/her fights. One of the games highlights is obviously Mr. X; he is just as menacing in the remake as he was in the original game and he makes the player feel uneasy even when they are just wandering around the Raccoon City Police Department. The tension this game brings via sound is unmatched in any game from 2019; I constantly had to pay attention whenever I went around a corner because I never knew what the game had in store for me.
It goes without saying that this game is equal parts beautiful and disgusting because of creatures like the lickers. The character models of Leon and Claire are so well done and their performances carry this game to the finish. The motion capture work Capcom came up with for RE2 is translating to the next game in RE3, which looks fantastic.
Overall, I’ve played through Resident Evil 2 about six times and I rarely get bored when playing it. That is why it is my favorite game from 2019.
It goes without saying that I am very excited for RE3.
And those are my favorite games of 2019. Do you agree or disagree? What were your favorite games from last year? If you have anything to add, comment on my post and I will be sure to read it! Thank you very much for taking the time to read my thoughts and have a good day!
Always Going Turbo! 