TEN BEST VIDEO GAMES OF 2018
IN 2018, the global video-game industry continued to expand, leading analysts to predict that by the end of the year it will have generated well over $130 billion (R1.8 trillion) in revenue. But while much of this growth is driven by well-known titles like Fortnite, whose iOS version raked in over $300 million since its release in March, some are worried that the market has become saturated.
RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 (PlayStation 4, Xbox One)
The new standard-bearer for open-world game design is a lavishly detailed Western set at the tail end of the 19th century. Red Dead Redemption 2 tells the story of a gang who finds its outlaw lifestyle increasingly difficult to maintain, as representatives of government and private industry consolidate their power from coast to coast. At the centre of the events is Arthur Morgan, a pillar of the gang who begins to question his values. This is one of the finest games ever made.
GOD OF WAR (PlayStation 4)
Even for a god, the old cliché holds: becoming a parent changes everything. No longer the brash, psychopath he once was, Kratos, aka The Ghost of Sparta, has mellowed since he exterminated the gods of Olympus. Having left his native Greece for the land of the Norse, Kratos embarks on a quest with his young son to scatter the ashes of the child’s mother from the highest peak in the realm. They meet the World Serpent, and slay many monsters.
GOROGOA (Android, iPhone, PC, PlayStation 4, Mac, Xbox One)
This beautifully constructed point-and-click puzzle game was released just outside of the window for consideration of 2017’s best games. Gorogoa secures its place on this year’s list, because few games before or since have offered such a fascinating meditation on the subject of spiritual growth. Gorogoa unfolds across a four-tiled grid over which players rearrange illustrated panels alongside or over the top of each other. If you’re interested in video games as art, Gorogoa is superb.
TETRIS EFFECT (PlayStation VR)
Here is a game that should come with multiple warning labels such as: “May cause hours to slip away in solipsistic bliss”. Designed by the visionary creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi (whose Rez Infinite made the Post’s 2016 list), Tetris Effect takes Alexey Pajitnov’s classic puzzle game and wraps an audiovisual experience around it that’s psychedelic enough to put you in touch with your inner shaman. Once you start you may find it hard to stop.
DEAD CELLS (Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)
The premise of Dead Cells is as hackneyed as any in video games – guide a faceless dude through dungeons and other inhospitable places, where murderous creatures lie in wait. But if you have a fondness for the side-scrolling, hack ’n slash games of the 1990s, then Dead Cells may feel like a natural endpoint. A range of randomised equipment encourages a number of play- styles.
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN (PlayStation 4)
Excelsior! It’s your friendly, neighbourhood Spider-Man, loftier and fancier than you’ve seen him in 37 other games from the past 36 years. Sure, Insomniac’s often-thin narrative foreshadows way too much, but there’s some of the world’s finest, movie-like action in this Marvel-inspired New York City. If co-creator Stan Lee were around today sitting atop the Empire State Building next to Spider-Man to observe the thriving mecca below, he just might utter the mellifluous words, “Make Mine Insomniac!”
WHERE THE WATER TASTES LIKE WINE (PC, Mac)
The excellent indie Where The Water Tastes Like Wine isn’t full of tricky, new methods of gameplay. Rather, it’s a compelling road trip on US soil circa the Depression era. The events encountered during this hardscrabble life on foot feels like they could well have happened. The musician Sting is here to do voice-over for a devil-like, philosophising protagonist who wants to control your life.
MOSS (PlayStation VR; Oculus Rift; HTC Vive; Windows Mixed Reality)
Moss the mouse. It doesn’t seem like much. Just three stark words. But when you add a fighting personality to a female, swordwielding rodent and inject some of the best virtual reality we’ve seen on Sony’s PSVR system, the result is a puzzle-oriented platformer that nears the level of masterpiece. Graphically, too, Moss shines with verdant, bucolic forests and mysterious dungeons. And when Moss looks to you for help, you happily become this female warrior.
FLORENCE (Android, Mac, iOS)
This short, emotion-filled experience made for mobile phones presents the ideal picture of a young relationship circa 2018. The mundane nature of the everyday (the crowded train ride to work, the toiling over spreadsheets) gives way to the floating feeling of attraction when Florence first hears the cello played by what will become the object of her affections.
MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD (PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)
This is for the core gamer. If you haven’t logged at least 100 hours in Monster Hunter:
World, you haven’t really played this lush, action-oriented RPG. Yes, you kill or trap dragons of various species. Yes, you’re on a mission to save everyone’s existence by vanquishing the awe-inspiring dragon Zorah Magdaros.