Our march through the greatest games of the past 10 years continues this week, as Greg Moore rejoins us to run through five of Chris’ personal picks ahead of next week’s top 10. Then it’s on to a look at Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, Horizon: Zero Dawn PC rumors, and what E3 still means to you.
Question of the Week: What is your personal favorite game of the past decade (or game that best defines the decade for you), from 2010-2019?
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Man I am still mad I never got to play Scott Pilgrim. I brushed it off for years then poof it’s gone because of licensing. One of the biggest regrets ever
QOTW: Mine has to be Binding of Isaac. I’ve purchased this game on multiple platforms and have easily put in more than 600 hours into it. I have this on VITA, WII U, PC, PS4 and now Switch.
It’s the only game that if my save data corrupted I’d be ok with it.
really hope the creator’s words aren’t hollow and we’ll see the game again, sooner than later…shit I’d settle for something like Limited Games doing something…they did some stuff w/ Star Wars last year…Universal can’t be that shiesty to not want basically free money to relicense it out.
QOTW: my boring answer, it’s Dark Souls! While I might slightly prefer Bloodborne there’s no doubt that FromSoft have built an empire of greatness with everything they’ve produced since Demon’s Souls. The first Dark Souls was my first venture into these dead and decaying worlds of fantasy horror. The lonely wandering before stumbling onto the next ass-blasting challenge really spoke to me. I’ve beaten all of these games at least twice (except Sekiro, fuck you, why so hard!?!), and I’m sure I’ll keep replaying them until my thumbs fall off.
My game of the decade TECHNICALLY misses the deadline by about 2 months, but since I played it nightly for a year straight if not longer, to me it is. Uncharted 2 perfectly cribbed the best aspects from the best action adventure games that came before it, while adding mechanics and gameplay facets that influenced gaming for years after. Its cinematic writing, storytelling and voice acting were streets ahead of other games at the time and became the dragon that gaming continues to chase to this day.
Side note: I didn’t get a chance to listen to last week’s show until Tuesday and by then it was too late to answer the QOTW. I just wanted to say I used to get very excited around E3. I live around the area and back in the TDAR days, tried to attend. The last one I wanted to go to I specifically remember because you guys were doing a meetup at a nearby bar or comic book shop and Lizzie Cuevas’s band “The Glowing Stars” was going to perform there. I had plans to attend, however my wife was very pregnant at the time and having a related illness and I just couldn’t rationalize going knowing she was at home feeling unwell, despite her telling me repeatedly to go “have fun! Meet those guys you like!” Sadly, shortly thereafter most of you left Future and were never there together again. After that, I pretty much cared progressively less every year. It’s still fun to hear about new stuff coming out all at once, but it’s just not the same now that that time in my life has passed.
*played the online horde mode for a year, I mean. I enjoyed the verticality of it waaaay more than the more popular at the time Gears horde mode.
QOTW: I think we can all agree that this was the decade of remakes, and re-releases, and I can’t think of a better game that did that, than Resident Evil 2. It did what no other was able to, and recreated how it felt to play the original back in the 90’s, while also feeling new, fresh, yet also very distinctly RE2.
It’s not my favorite game of the past decade, but what it was able to accomplish, in a time where the idea of another remake was just tiring to me, makes it worth of my best of the decade.
QOTW: My personal game of the decade would have to be a toss-up between Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Bloodborne became my favorite game of all time after it was released, but I feel like Dark Souls deserves the credit for putting the “genre” on the radar and spawning countless clones and imitators (Yes I know Demon’s Souls came first, but that was 2009, and was in many ways “Dark Souls Alpha”). Time and time again, I can go back to Dark Souls and the journey is always just as fun and exhilarating as it was the very first time.
I’ve made a video response to the question (What game best defines the decade for you?) of the week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZMU0oyGitY
QOTW:
Everybody toss a coin to your plumber, because my favorite game of the decade is Super Mario Odyssey! Now I love Sunshine, both Galaxy games, and 3D World, but Odyssey is the first game that seems like a true successor to Super Mario 64. And I loved every minute of it! Let me break it down for you.
Gameplay: Mario is back with all of his moves from 64 along with the addition of Cappy. Cappy is the game’s new power up that essentially becomes 52 new power ups given all of the things he can capture. And yes, Nintendo made it clear that he is “capturing” things, not “possessing” them. The last thing we need is a Satanic Panic centered around Mario. It was bad enough this decade finding out that Toad looks like Trump’s dick. Anyway, aside from all the awesome things you can capture, Cappy also adds extra layers to combat and platforming. Most games these days only require the player to tilt the analogue stick forward and watch their character “auto-parkour” all over the map, so seeing the return of precision platforming is a welcome addition that makes moving through the world fun and interesting again.
Levels: While the bite sized worlds of Galaxy and 3D World gave those games a nice forward momentum, I really do enjoy being able to just take my time and explore the vast kingdoms present in Odyssey. Searching for power moons is a joy and I love the variety. While some moons are rewarded after challenging tasks or boss fights, getting others is as simple as sitting down next to a lonely guy on a bench. As far as Kingdoms go, New Donk City is the standout, but I love all of them. The Wooded Kingdom, with its swinging 60’s soundtrack, is a fun homage to the 1972 sci-fi movie Silent Running. Seriously, look it up. Bowser’s Kingdom get’s an awesome samurai makeover that makes it look more ominous than ever before. And call me a sucker for nostalgia, but The Mushroom Kingdom level is brilliant and I love the nice touch of changing the moons into Mario 64 power stars along with the accompanying classic jingle.
Music: Speaking of jingles, this soundtrack is amazing. The orchestral tracks in each level are great, but the most memorable songs are the ones with vocals, like “Jump Up, Super Star!” and that anime as fuck song that plays at the end of the final level.
Extras: This game is filled with content. There are a ton of great costumes, including the classic costume where Mario wears red overalls AS GOD INTENDED. Also, I love finding the secret paintings that teleport Mario through what looks like the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey to other worlds. But my favorite part has to be that little dog that follows you around the world. HE IS A VERY GOOD BOY! He will sniff out moons for you, play catch with Mario’s hat, AND… if you put down the controller and wait for Mario to fall asleep, the little guy will curl up and sleep next to you! Somebody call Wilford Brimley, because this game is so sweet it’s giving me the ‘beetus!
p.s. Mario fights a fucking dragon. Not a fun, cartoony Mario dragon. A scary Dark Souls-ass dragon.
QotW: https://youtu.be/2DVdcwDBxLw
Cheers