2018 was a tough year to follow for video games (just as 2017 was difficult to follow, thank you Nintendo Switch!) – especially when you think about the fantastic first-party Sony games released on the Playstation 4. Not all games listed here were released in 2019, this is purely my experience in an opportunity to play them, which happened to fall in 2019.
Mortal Kombat 11
Mortal Kombat has been a great series with many ups and downs. I still remember fondly the original game, playing at age 10 by carefully negotiating with my parents that in reality, I would not become a serial murderer because I rip out the spine of my opponent in this great fighting video game. There was a lot of silliness in the media around video games in the ’90s and Mortal Kombat was among their rallying cry that video games were evil and corrupting the youth of the nation. Ironically, the key group that created this video game which later formed under the banner of NetherRealm Studios, leaned into this shocking level of violence as controversy which has been the key staple the game series is known for. Nearly 30 years later, the graphic nature (yeah… pun intended) of these games is in such high fidelity it’s been known to sicken or disgust those who once championed the violence in years prior. Personally, I don’t have any issue with it. The level of creativity and ‘fun’ that counter-balances the intense level of violence I feel is done well, though absolutely understand how it’s not in everyone’s personal taste.
The violence commentary aside, this is frankly the best entry in the series up to this point. I wasn’t sure how the team would handle the reboot entry (aka Mortal Kombat 9) and keep up the incredibly difficult balance between high-quality story-telling and excellent balance in the core combat – though they have shown they can pull this off with aplomb. The recent entries in Mortal Kombat have, frankly, raised the bar in expectations of fighting games making storytelling a priority whereas the more recent versions of highly respected franchises like Street Fighter 5 get fan backlash due to lackluster storytelling efforts causing the studios to rework or add net new content as a response.
The online features the studio has been refining continue to build and be excellent, whether we’re talking about the protocols used to connect to friends online and battle them, or the ‘endless mode’ features being added to keep people engaged with the game. Admittedly both with this game and its predecessor, they did not launch well but were eventually updated to a point I do not find them offensive. On the contrary, I find myself jumping on here and there to play to get new skins or challenge ladders for my characters of choice to get new skins/looks while constantly trying to perfect my skills.
The training mode on this game is better than any I’ve honestly seen in a fighting game. If you decide to pick it up to give it a try, check it out and you won’t be sorry for doing so.
The guest characters are another area that, while completely nonsensical, is very fun. The most recent kombat pack entry of Rambo is something that makes the 90’s action movie fan kid inside me VERY happy. Also the level of respect they provide, Sylvester Stallone actually recorded audio for this (as did Arnold Schwarzenegger for his work as the Terminator character in another MK11 Kombat Pack).
The only negative I have to say about the game is the crypt, while a great initial idea I struggle with their execution. On the positive side, there’s a lot of nostalgia and respect for the history of the franchise. It creates a nice sense of wonder and drives to discover more by rewarding the player with new fatalities and other fun items. On the other hand, it generally feels clunky and at its worst feels like a cash grab. The fact you can use time manipulation from the primary story to reset the entire crypt back to the beginning and wiping out your accomplishments feels bad as well.
All in all, definitely worth picking up if you enjoy fighting games, aren’t easily offended by violence, and enjoy campy horror movie-esque type violence.
Control
Control was a great 20-hour experience, from the incredibly odd engaging story to the great empowering gameplay to the beautiful graphics. The game is a must-play.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
I’ve followed the Assassins Creed games since the first e3 trailer back in 2006. 14 years later I’ve enjoyed and completed most of the entries in the entire series. Starting with Assassins Creed Origins in 2017, the more action RPG heavily laden aspects of gameplay with a Destiny-type weapons leveling system was an interesting change. A lot of punditry makes fun of the long-running nature of the series as well as how far the series has come from the stealth assassination-based gameplay it started out with. While I do agree with the criticism that the game has changed significantly since its first entry, I don’t think it’s a bad thing.
Odyssey is a fantasy historical journey that puts you in the driver’s seat to explore a breathtakingly beautiful ancient Greece. The game has its problems – namely in the region-based fighting system. The other big problem with the game is the ever-reaching balance between freedom to explore against a game that seems to just… go… on… forever. The game is phenomenal but at times it just feels like you are meant to wander a bit aimless and brush up against wasting time. It’s an incredible challenge to give freedom to explore in a HUGE area with the promise of interesting things to do all the time is impossible though I do appreciate how Ubisoft is trying to solve the challenge. The last thing I’ll say is that they continue to improve, Valhalla (to me) is the best balance they’ve done yet – but that’s for a different post.
Tom Clancy’s Division 2
The most multiplayer fun I had in 2019 was Division 2’s co-op mode. I could criticize the paper-thin story and overly repetitive gameplay, though there is not a better game I can think of to play with a friend and catch up while shooting bad guys.
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night
The backstory behind the development of this game is interesting, started out as a Kickstarter – had rough public reception due to lackluster graphical fidelity which led to a push of the game and artistic/graphical rework until its eventual release in June 2019. While it did release to some bugs, I thoroughly enjoyed it and was inspired to go back and play some Castlevania Symphony of the Night on which the game is based. While the graphics of SotN is rough to go back to in 2019, it makes me respect Bloodstained even more to pull in the best of SotN as well as other Iga-based Castlevania games. If you played and enjoyed SotN, or are curious what made Symphony of the Night the classic it is without wanting to go back and revisit the dated graphics, check this out.
Dragon Quest 11
Dragon Quest 11 is a fascinating glance back at all of the classic RPG elements of a game from over 20 years ago (the first Dragon Quest was released in 1986 on the NES/Famicom) brought forward graphically into today. The story elements and gameplay loop transport me back to the early days of Final Fantasy and while I was never deep into the Dragon Quest series, I feel very fortunate for the opportunity to play this game. If anyone is curious what a Dragon’s Quest game is and just can’t go back to the legacy titles because of quality of life or can’t handle the graphical fidelity – check this one out!
Dragon Quest Builders 2
What do you get when you take the concepts of Minecraft, wrap a story and objectives within the ‘world’ of Dragon Quest? Dragon Quest Builders. The first one was good but not quite enough to hit the mark for me, the second is even better. Any Minecraft or Minecraft adjacent fans should check this out! Great family game to spend time with your kiddo too.
Dead by Daylight
If Division 2 was my favorite multiplayer experience, Dead by Daylight is my second favorite. I had a lot of fun with friends, the game (especially in 2019) felt somewhat unfinished or indie in nature but contrasts that with a feeling of a ton of potential and the core gameplay of survivors running away from an incredibly overpowered killer is a lot of fun. The base game on steam as of this writing is $8 and well worth the price of admission.