#17

Placement/

Last Year

Write-up

(Box) Art

#20

#19

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Probably the most straightforward 3D Zelda aside from Ocarina of Time (#33) and there’s nothing wrong with that. It doesn’t have you crossing the seas or flying through the skies, but instead offers a pretty familiar but expanded version of Hyrule with some of the best dungeons of the series along the way. The Hidden Skills you learn along the way are a very welcome addition and I really liked the new items such as the Spinner and Ball and Chain which are just plain fun to use. It’s probably also tied with Majora’s Mask for my favorite story of the series, so there’s certainly a lot to love. I think the biggest weakness of the game ironically is one of its main characteristics: Wolf Link. Your “moveset” as a wolf is just too limited for it to be super interesting or for them to do much with the wolf-only sections, which is a bit of a shame, but in pretty much every other way Twilight Princess is up there among the best game experiences I’ve had.

#19

#18

Astral Chain

Of the three PlatinumGames games on my list Astral Chain lands itself highest and that’s not really because it’s their most flawless game, as I do have several small complaints about it, however, they do end up feeling like nitpicking when the gameplay itself is quite simply some of the best of any game out there. Akira Howard might not be able to pull off as fancy moves as Bayonetta or Raiden by themselves, but that’s where your second controllable characters, the Legions, come in and add complexity and an incredibly rich moveset, resulting in some unique and exquisite combat. I also love that the game has more of a quest structure compared to most hack and slash games, with a bunch of side-quests for you to tackle along the way. A few of the mini-game ones can be frustrating for various reasons, but generally I think they add a lot to the experience. There’s not much more to say other than it’s an amazing title and I’m still hoping for a sequel someday.

#18

#15

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I might not have visited the world of Skryim in a while but what a world it is. In some ways I think it’s still the best open-world out there or at least in the top 2 or 3, there’s something to do everywhere and just going exploring can be a blast. It’s a game that gives you so much freedom but in terms of where you go and what you do and how you shape your character, the skill tree is kind of ingenious in just giving every aspect its own little segment and letting you level up damn near all of them if you want to and put in the time. Whatever Skyrim might lack in terms of its combat or its main story (which are both actually pretty good just not amazing) it makes up for by simply being the best fantasy playground you could ask for.

#17

#13

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Brawl is certainly still my most played Smash Bros. game all in all and I even played a decent amount of it this year after setting up my old Wii. It’s Smash so the gameplay is obviously a blast and personally I’m not really bothered by it being somewhat slower here. In my eyes, Brawl also has the best roster comparatively to its size (except maybe for 64), meaning that nearly every fighter here is one that I like. Then there’s Subspace which definitely has some annoying sections and enemies in there but which I love nevertheless. And while it might not be the peak of video game storytelling, it goes above and beyond for a Nintendo crossover and has dozens upon dozens of great little moments in there. There’s also a bunch of minor things that I love about Brawl like its particular versions of recurring modes like Classic, Target Smash and Stage Builder and also the little coin shooter game mini-game. So yea while there are some little things that annoy me about Brawl, from the flaws of Subspace to tripping of course, it also does so, so many things right that even far in the future I can’t imagine listing my favorite games without Brawl in there.

#16

#20

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft moved up a bit on my list this year despite the fact that I haven’t played it in years but I think it deserves some acknowledgement for being the game that has sucked up the second most hours of my life, and I loved it. There are so many elements that make up WoW like raiding, PvP, the lore, clans, etc. etc. and it all adds to the experience, but I think my favorite part of the game was starting up as a new character. Getting to experience new starting areas and quest lines and starting from scratch as a new class was always awesome to me. My Warrior was always my main, but I think I leveled up most classes fairly high and they were all pretty fun to play is in their own way. Like I said it’s been a long time since I’ve played the game by now but I hope Classic is still there when I one day get the time and the will to revisit the game.