My Games of the Year | 2018

I've always played video games, me and my sisters had a PlayStation 1 and 2 as our primary consoles growing up and it was very much a family affair, we'd play competitive multiplayer games more than anything else. When I was a bit older I got my very own Xbox 360 which was my main console for the next four years or so, during this time I played games like Call of Duty (primarily for the zombies mode), 007 Quantum of Solace and Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, so nothing too noteworthy. I then moved onto the Xbox One, which at first I absolutely loved, one of my favourite games of all time is Sunset Overdrive which is and probably always will be an Xbox console exclusive. There were lots of other games that the Xbox had to offer like Song of the Deep and Doom (2016) that I consider to be some of my favourite games ever made but both of these are also available on the PlayStation 4, so after a good few years being convinced that Xbox was inferior to PlayStation I did eventually see the light and bought myself a PS4 and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. One of the main differences between the two consoles is the interface and how much cleaner and user friendly the PS4's design is in comparison to the Xbox One. Not to mention the amount of PS4 exclusives I'd have been missing out on if I hadn't have made the switch.

I've not played 'that' many games from start to finish, not as many as some of you reading this might have, but over the last three years or so I've gradually been playing more and more games as well as getting better at playing games. I wanted to write this list because I feel as though I've played quite a lot of games this year and I wanted to talk about which ones stood out to me and were the most enjoyable to play.

Marvel's Spider-Man | Insomniac Games | PS4

When Spider-Man was announced I was very excited for it's release, it has a very similar play style to Infamous: Second Son, one of my favourite PS4 games. I love action/adventure games that have an open world with lots of collectables to find and interact with. This game is so mindbogglingly good that if you've not played it yet, you really need to. It's actually my favourite version of the Spider-Man story, which I never thought I would say, as I love the Sam Raimi films so much.

Not only is Marvel's Spider-Man my favourite game of 2018, I would actually say that it's my favourite game of all time. It didn't take long for me to fall in love with this game, it's beautifully designed and has the best storyline in a game that I've ever played. Growing up I never had much patience, I could never stand it when a cutscene would 'interrupt' my gameplay, I use to just skip through them all so I could get back to the action. I don't do that now, but, I do have to admit that I do still sometimes get a little bit frustrated when there are so many subtitles to read or too much dialogue to listen to, but with Spider-Man the story had me so gripped from beginning to end that it didn't give me the a chance to get bored or fed up with it's cutscenes, so much so that when I'd finished the game I found myself wishing that I could go back to the start to watch all of the cutscenes again (like a film) because I wanted to relive the story and experience its twists and turns all over again.

One of the best things about Marvel's Spider-Man is how smooth and easy it is to control, once you learn the controls (which won't take you long) you feel increasingly powerful as the game goes on as well as looking incredibly cool. The combat feels incredible and extremely rewarding, you can pull off some seriously breathtaking combos and you can even perform tricks as you swing and zip through the city. I have completed the main game, new game+ and all three parts of the DLC and I can say with absolute confidence that the standard and quality of gameplay never dips and never feels rushed or unloved throughout. It truly is an amazing game.

Overcooked 2 | Ghost Town Games | Switch

I bought my boyfriend a Nintendo Switch for his birthday this year and we both love it to pieces, it's been on two trips abroad with us and has entertained us on long journeys when the boredom would usually kick in. One of the games we absolutely adore is Overcooked 2 and I couldn't be writing this list at a better time as we've just been playing through the free Christmas DLC (Kevin's Christmas Cracker). This game and it's first counterpart are so incredibly adorable and charming to say the least. They have you running around working as a team to create dishes of food, the level designs and dishes you're asked to create aren't short on imagination either, each level provides a new gimmick or hurdle to overcome in order to learn the best way to chop, boil, fry, blend or steam your food to achieve the best score.

You'll find yourselves making dishes that range from salads to sushi as well as being asked to use conveyor belts to transport items of food to your teammates or to use a water pistol to clean the dishes. As well as this game providing a massive amount of variety in terms of level deign and food it also has some unlockable content in the form of new chefs/characters to use as you progress through the game. There are over 30 playable characters in the game so no matter who you find yourself playing this game with, there's a character for everyone. Some of my personal favourites are the green alien, the robot, the mouse and the black cat.

Knowledge Is Power: Decades | Wish Studios | PS4

Knowledge is Power: Decades is a 2-6 player competitive quiz game where everyone uses their own phone as their controller. You download an app and use it to answer the questions within the game. If anyone has ever played Buzz! for the PS2 it's pretty much exactly like that, except you use your phone instead of the buzzers. Knowledge is Power: Decades is the second instalment within the series so far and if I'm being honest it's the better of the two, the first Knowledge is Power is brilliant but the second one has added slightly more content and fixed a few issues that the first game had. It runs a lot quicker and has more power plays and game modes to choose from.

Me and my family love this game and it's first counterpart and have had so many hours of fun playing it at Christmas and on other special occasions. I'm a big fan of the art style and character design within the two games and I love how quirky and fun it is to play, it brings the family together and creates genuine laughter no matter what your age. Everyone in my family has their own favourite character they like to play as, in the first game I always play as the astronaut and in Knowledge is Power: Decades I like to play as the arcade cabinet character.

I really hope they keep making Knowledge is Power games, they could even have yearly releases and feature new characters and power plays each time, with each game being centred around a new theme. I'm really looking forward to how they're going to continue with the series and would highly recommend both Knowledge is Power and Knowledge is Power: Decades to everyone who owns a PS4.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy | Toys for Bob | PS4

I'd never heard of Spyro growing up and had never played the original trilogy which is probably very unusual as I think it's one of the most popular and iconic PS1 titles. My boyfriend is a huge fan of the originals and bought himself the reignited trilogy on release. After he'd played through all three games, it was my turn, and I instantly fell in love with it.

I've achieved 100% completion on Spyro the Dragon and Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage so far and have yet to complete the third instalment. The reason for this is that I much preferred the first Spyro game to the second, which is probably a very unpopular opinion. I preferred how in the first game I seemed to have a lot more freedom in terms of where I wanted to go and in what order I wanted to do things. I enjoyed the exploration and gem collecting and for me personally the first game was more enjoyable than the second. There were a few things I didn't like about the second game, the first thing I noticed was the amount of unnecessary tutorials it would give me despite having just achieved 100% completion in the first game. I already knew how to dodge, flame attack and charge but it felt the need to tell me over and over again. It felt like my hand was being held for the entirety of the game which broke the flow and pace of Spyro's adventure. But the main thing I didn't enjoy (which is probably another unpopular opinion) is the tasks and challenges within the levels, they made it feel as though I had less control over what I was doing and to be completely honest I did find a few of them particularly difficult. I've been told that Spyro: Year of the Dragon is even more full on with the tasks and challenges which has very slightly put me off and made me take a break between the second and third game.

Overall, I loved the first game, liked the second game and have yet to play the third game but despite not playing the third game yet I felt like I needed to include the Spyro Reignited Trilogy on my games of the year list because despite a few niggly annoyances the first and second Spyro games where incredibly fun to play, the controls and graphics were perfect and Spyro is such a lovable character.

Astro Bot Rescue Mission | SIE Japan Studio | PSVR

I was gifted Astro Bot for Christmas so I haven't completed it yet due to getting it so recently, however, I feel like I've played it enough to know that it's one of my favourite game releases this year. I'm currently on world three out of five and have completely fallen in love with it's charm. The little robot is perhaps the cutest thing I've ever seen and the game is breathtaking in VR.

I purchased a PlayStation VR earlier in the year and am still amazed by how incredible it is, especially with a game like this, the graphics are superb and the controls are faultless, Astro Bot is one of the best looking VR games I own and one of the most unique too. At the beginning of the game your ship gets attacked by an alien and all of the robots except one fall out and get lost in space. It's your job to travel to different worlds to find and rescue them in order to fix your ship and return home.

I was a bit weary as to how a platformer would work in VR but it works amazingly, you are a larger robot who helps and controls Astro Bot to find and rescue the other bots, I am completely addicted to this game already, it's storyline, the platforming and the characters are all equally enticing, I honestly couldn't fault it and would recommend it to anyone who has a PlayStation VR.

There have also been quite a lot of games I've enjoyed playing this year that didn't come out in 2018, for example, another one of my favourite VR games is Rush of Blood, It's a rail shooter developed by Supermassive Games and is based on a horror game called Until Dawn. It's like an arcade/funfair style game that's also quite scary. Although it occasionally references Until Dawn, you don't need to play Until Dawn to play Rush of Blood, but I would advise watching a trailer beforehand as it's not for those who scare easily.

Monster Hunter: World was very close to making it onto this list, it came out in January this year and was developed by Capcom, I loved playing this, my boyfriend and I must have spent hours and hours hunting monsters and progressing through the story when it first came out. We'd set up two monitors and play side by side and online together. The reason it didn't quite make it onto the list is because it feels like so long ago since I last played it and I feel as though it's quite inaccessible to just pick up and play. The only reason I enjoyed this game was because I had my boyfriend there to teach me how to navigate my way through the menus, level up and how to buy new armour and weapons, I would have been clueless if it wasn't for him because I'd never properly played a Monster Hunter game before. I think this would be a game I'd recommend to some people but not everybody as it takes a lot of hours to get properly started with it and to learn even the basics.

So there you have it, my games of the year 2018, I really hope you've enjoyed this list, I've really enjoyed writing it and I hope I've given you some gaming inspiration. I'm currently working my way through Astro Bot Rescue Mission and then I might re-play Doom as I'm very excited for Doom Eternal to come out and on my first play through of Doom one of my trophies actually glitched and I wasn't awarded the 100% trophy completion I well and truly deserved!