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2020 Year In Review

It's time once again for my year end review. I can't believe I'm doing this again, or that I've been doing this for two years. Not going to lie, I didn't anticipate this going longer than a few posts. What started as a new years resolution two years ago has become something I look forward to doing each week (and also my de facto excuse to play more video games). 

But enough about that, it's time for the year end review. As I did last year, I will be calling out best game, worst game, most surprising and most disappointing. It goes without saying, but 10's games are ineligible and will not be factored into the scores. I will also not be counting my review of the "High Score" series, since comparing a video game to a documentary makes zero sense. Speaking of scores, here's a reminder of what I gave each game:

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - 9.75/10

F-Zero GX - 9.75/10

Final Fantasy VII Remake - 9.5/10

Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millennium - 9.5/10

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire 9.5/10

Anodyne - 9/10

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game - 9/10

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighter - 9/10

Kagero: Deception 2 - 9/10

Streets of Rage 2 - 8.5/10

Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring - 8.5/10

Diablo III - 8.25

Spelunky - 8.25/10

Shining Force - 8/10

Magic the Gathering: Shandalar - 8/10

Gain Ground - 8/10

Grandia II - 7.5/10

Mega Man 8 - 7.5/10 

Fighter's History - 7.5/10

Mario Kart Double Dash - 7/10

Tekken 2 - 7/10

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - 7/10

Dirge of Cerberus - 6.75/10

Power Instinct - 6.5/10

Street Fighter: The Movie 6.5/10

Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels - 6/10

Justice League Task Force - 6/10

E-Swat: City Under Siege - 6/10

Fatal Labrynth - 5/10

Goat Simulator - 5.5/10

Nano Breaker - 5.25/10

The Golden Compass - 5/10 

Tech Romancer - 4/10

Toy Story - 4/10

Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls - 4/10

Ecco The Dolphin - 3.5/10

Battle Arena Toshinden 3 - 3/10

Antz Extreme Racing - 3/10

Super Thunder Blade - 2/10

First, some score adjustments. I think Dirge of Cerberus needs to be bumped up to an even 7. Diablo III also needs a bump up to 8.5. The only other adjustment I would make would be for the Final Fantasy VII Remake. After letting its impact sink in for a bit, I think it needs to be bumped to a 9.75. I wanted to make sure my positive reaction wasn't pure fanboy-ism, and I think at this point I can comfortably say that wasn't the case.

Which leads us to the three way tie at the top of the scores. I think it's pretty clear that this year's crop of games was far stronger overall than last year's. Our highest score last year was a 9.25, which we bested three times this year. But which of those games came out on top? The Final Fantasy VII Remake was mind blowing, it's beautiful, engrossing and absolutely awesome. But it's an incomplete story. As a huge fan of the original, it was great to see Midgar in all its glory. But I really wish they had included more. That leaves us with F-Zero GX and Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. It was a tight race between the three, but I would have to give the edge to SMT. It was a gaming experience that was completely unlike anything I had ever played before. But at the same time, it was so familiar from an actual gameplay perspective. I really, really miss RPGs like this. Still, I think all three of these are must plays.

Worst game may seem clear cut, but lets look beyond the numbers. First, improved quality of the games is visible here. The games at the bottom of this list are still bad, but none of them are scraping the bottom of the barrel like Rise of the Robots or Rocky and Bullwinkle. Super Thunder Blade got the lowest score, but that was largely on the back of its graphics making me physically ill. In terms of actual fun, I would have put this well ahead of Antz Extreme Racing, Battle Arena Toshinden 3 or even Ecco the Dolphin. But again, it did make me physically ill. I really can't overlook that, even if the 10 minutes it I could play were better than any of the time I spent with those other games. It's way better than some of the dreck I played last year, but STB is the winner (or loser) in 2020.

Most surprising came down to two games, Anodyne and the FF7 Remake. Not going to lie, I thought Square was going to massively disappoint with this game. That said, I kind of always knew it would be good, I just thought it would be a 7 or 8/10 instead of a new classic. I literally bought Anodyne by accident tapping the X button too fast while I was looking around on the PlayStation Store. I probably would have thrown a fit about it if it didn't cost $1. For the price of a doughnut, I got a beautiful, bizarre, impactful Zelda clone that's biggest flaw was that it ended too soon. It gets the nod for most surprising.

Most disappointing was easy. I waited a long time to give Ecco the Dolphin a shot. It was an absolutely miserable experience, probably the least fun I have had with a game that's actually functional in a long time. There really isn't much to be said about it, Ecco is just bad.

So that's a wrap there, but here's a quick update on the 10s project. Games with a strikethrough are complete.

Borderlands 2

Breath of Fire 2

Civilization 2

Deus Ex: The Conspiracy

Doom

Earthbound

Final Fantasy 6

Final Fantasy 7

Final Fantasy 8

Goldeneye: 007

Half Life 2

Heroes of Might and Magic 3

The Last of Us

Legend of Legia

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Lunar II: Eternal Blue

Madden 04, 08, 09

Mega Man 3

Mega Man X

Metal Gear Solid

Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven

Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow

Resident Evil (REmake)

Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil: Code: Veronica

Soul Caliber

Star Ocean: The Second Story   

Street Fighter II Turbo/Champion Edition

Super Mario 64

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the 7 Stars

Super Mario World

Twisted Metal 2

Valkyria Chronicles

WCW Vs. NWO: World Tour

aaaaand I barely made a dent in the list. I might have to pick it up a bit with these this year, but I don't want to rush either. A lot of these are long games, so I don't know if I'll even finish it this year, but I'm looking forward to trying.

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