Mo’s Games of 2020
So, it’s finally that time of year. It’s the last realistic day I can post on in 2020 because Christmas is later this week and there’s no way anyone is gonna read this on that day. So I figured I can use this as the perfect opportunity to post up on my favorite games that came out in 2020. I know! Games came out this year and it was hard to tell, what with, you know a global pandemic and what not. I had a lot of personal plans that sort of fell through because of that and other things that went on behind the scene. But It allowed me to start writing this series again and I appreciate that.
Here’s a list of some of the games that I’d consider to be my personal favorites of 2020. These are the goddamn standouts in an otherwise packed year that both wiggled into my thoughts and refused to leave and kept me engaged until the credits rolled. As criteria, however, I’m limiting these to games that were released this year, or else I’d be here all day. Now that the pomp and circumstance, let’s get this underway, shall we?
6: Granblue Fantasy Versus
The more I play this game, the more I go “Man, between the pandemic and EVO getting canceled by all sorts of nonsense, I can’t help but feel like this game got fucking shafted”. Because even though I have no experience with the mobile game that it’s based on, Granblue Fantasy Versus is a damn fine fighting game that I feel like an asshole for not checking it out sooner.
It’s developed by Arc System Works, who’ve since the release of Dragon Ball FighterZ, have become the “Patron Saints of Adding Deep Cuts References To What They’re Adapting”. I’m not familiar with the source material at all, but I can tell a lot of love went into animating and bringing these characters to life. And these characters have the personality to spare. Gran and Djeeta have big protagonist energy, Perceval is a lovably arrogant dick, Lowain is a wonderful, if slightly outdated meme, Cagliostro is the embodiment of “Looks like a Cinnamon Roll, but will straight-up murder you”, and Ladiva is…just the best. And those are just some of the characters I’ve seen and played with so far.
What I can tell you is that the basic moment-to-moment gameplay pans out like a more Anime Street Fighter, mainly in the sense of it being slower and more ground-based punctuated with moments of big explosive nonsense. It operates on a 5 button setup: your standard light, medium, and heavy, accompanied by a block button, a special action button that lets you block or use special moves (you can still block and perform specials and supers through normal inputs), and a character-specific Unique Action button. It’s an interesting means of teaching basic special input to newer players and it’s balanced well (specials done in this manner have a cooldown timer fixed to them while doing them normally makes them a normal special move). It just…feels nice to play a Street Fighter-style fighting game where normals aren’t deceptively shorty, fireballs that don’t suck ass, and playing a Shoto-style character with an invincible non-EX reversal move feels satisfying. Please excuse me, my salt over Street Fighter 5 is showing. As I was saying, Granblue Versus is probably the most “current” fighting game I’ve played this year since my forays into the genre in 2020 has been mostly going back to older games, so it was nice to see something current; especially since it makes my prospective dreams of either a Persona 5 Arena, My Hero Academia or Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Fighting Game by Arc closer to reality. Hell, I’m thinking about playing more after I post this… Also the Soundtrack Slaps.
5: Tetris Effect Connected
It’s technically a Series X/S Launch Title that was released this year and it’s Tetris. It makes the list regardless. But seriously this is probably my favorite take on Tetris since I was first introduced to it. I’ve always had a soft spot for Tetris because it’s realistically my third favorite game of all time behind Mass Effect 2 and the original Mega Man X. I’ve played it a shit ton and I’ve always wondered what could be done to spice it up. Turns out the answer is to give it a metric butt-ton of incredibly psychedelic visuals and an incredible soundtrack that changes the more lines you clear (a favorite trick of mine for incentivizing better mechanical play).
The new features for Tetris Effect are Decahexatris, Perfectris, and more notable Zone Mode. The former two are tied to the latter and the meter can be filled by playing well through clearing lines, getting combo clears, and even through sick looking T-Spins. Activating Zone Mode stops the board from rising and gives you time to clear as much of it as possible. The two new lines clear, Decahextris and Perfectris are variations on the Tetris line clear and can be used to wrack up huge amounts of points and I love this because you only have a few seconds to do it and it’s a rush to get a Perfectris with like 5 seconds left on that clock. It also has quite possibly the best soundtrack in a Tetris game I’ve possibly ever heard. It’s Dance/Electronic Music and I’m shocked that it works so goddamn well with Tetris that I’m shocked that it hasn’t been done sooner.
4: Spider-Man Miles Morales
Remember who I said that if the game kept up being as good as it was when I wrote my first impressions of it at release, it’d make my game of the year list? It did and then some. The main reason that I don’t have it higher on the list is that while I do love what this game does with Miles and the stories it tells with the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-App, gameplay-wise it’s largely the same as the previous Spider-Man game.
But I’m still adding it to the list because it’s a Spider-Man game made by Insomniac that lets my play as my favorite take on the Spider-Man character archetype in 2020. The fact that the main thrust of the main side content is based on Miles going through and living up to the “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” moniker only bolsters that for me. You’re going around and helping the people in the city, getting to know them in these small bits and pieces and it eventually pays off in a sweet side mission and I don’t want to spoil it because it’s that good. Also, the music slaps.
3: Streets of Rage 4
This. This shit is how you bring back a series that’s been dormant for years. Streets of Rage 4 is a game with a simple mission statement: Be a sick beat ‘em up with fire soundtrack. And to the shock of absolutely no one, it succeeds spectacularly at this. The basic setup of the game is this: The Late Asshole Mob Boss Mr. X’s kids, the similarly asshole-ish Y Twins, more or less buy out the cops and amass all of Wood Oak City’s various gangs under their banner. To fight off these crooked cops and their gangs, Blaze Fielding calls up Axel Stone to help her knock some sense and both are joined by Cyborg Grappler and Apprentice to Dr. Zan: Floyd Iraia and Teen Rocker Cherry Hunter, and later Adam Hunter from Streets of Rage 1 (who’s also Cherry’s Dad). Together they take out The Y Twins’ army of street gangs, martial artists, corrupt cops, and personal security across the city in 12 stages.
Not only does beating up enemies feel incredibly good mechanically (the combo game is strong in this one, bolstered by a new juggle system), and while Axel, Blaze, and Adam all largely play like modernized versions of themselves from the original Streets of Rage, Cherry and Floyd are the standouts here because of the new dimensions the add to their gameplay. The former has more mobility than the rest of the cast to offset what feels like her lower health pool (she can straight up run and grab out of a run last I checked) and the latter can just straight up pick dudes up and keep comboing them to death while he still has them grappled. Both are neat additions and they play great because of that extra variety they have.
Most importantly, perhaps more so than all the other entries of this list, the soundtrack to this game fucking slaps. IT FUCKING SLAPS. When the game was being developed, Lizard Cube and Sega both came to the agreement that not only would they bring back OG Composer Yuzo Koshiro, they’d get several other artists alongside him to make the soundtrack and the with that they, collectively known as Mutant Ninja Records has come up with is in my mind, one of the best game soundtracks of 2020, right on up there with Doom Eternal and Hades. It's that fucking good.
Now if only we could get a new Final Fight game…
2: Hades
What more can I say that hasn’t already been said in my initial writings from the game’s release? I love this game to death (pun not intended). It’s probably the only game outside of a live service game/MMO that I’ve played the most in 2020 if I’m being realistic (part of the reason I’m not adding Destiny 2 to this list despite loving Beyond Light at the moment, it’s just always there). A lot of that is because it feels into this mentality of “just one more run before bed” that ends up with me wasting more and more of my time until I look at the clock, notice it’s 3 in the morning and go “well dang it, might as well go to bed”. The cast of characters is interesting and the way it uses roguelike mechanics to help bolster the game’s narrative is a stroke of fucking genius and I’m mad I didn’t think of it first. If you like Roguelikes at all, hell, if you like video games, period; Play Hades. It’s the best game of 2020 and that fucking good.
- Doom Eternal
I have something to say: after thinking it over the last few weeks, I’ve concluded that while Hades may be the best game of the year, Doom Eternal is hands down my favorite game of the year. That’s the reason I have it at #1 because while I’ve played Hades way more than Doom Eternal and still think it’s the best game of the year, the latter just hit differently. A lot of it comes down to the fact that it’s still possibly the slickest and most intricate first-person shooting experience I’ve played this year that isn’t a throwback. It’s uncompromising, refuses to move an inch on what needs to be done when playing it and above all else, it shows you the true meaning of Rip and Tear. It also helps that it also has a toolkit where every piece of it has a purpose and can be maximized to the most effective version of said toolkit, but that’s neither here nor there. The levels, enemies, the way collectibles are done, the music, THE FUCKING MUSIC. It all ties together to make the perfect package for me. It’s just…so good. Just play it if you want to see what Doom 2016 taken to both its logical conclusion and extreme looks like.
And that’s the list. I just want to take the opportunity to say thanks for sticking to the end and that y’all have a happy holiday and a happy new year and thanks for the support. Be it sharing, or even just reading, it means a lot. See y’all in 2021.
