Editorial

Dec 30, 2018

Abdul Ahmad’s Top 8 Games of 2018

Abdul is our Editor-at-Large, and while his reviews were minimal, it didn’t stop him from playing this year’s biggest and brightest hits. If it weren’t for this year’s games, he’d be playing something retro like a classic Mortal Kombat release. Now he has Mortal Kombat 11 to look forward to next year.

 

8. God of War

I applaud Sony Santa Monica for having the guts to take the bold step to re-imagine this series. I thought the gameplay didn’t get good until you started to level up. It’s gorgeous and a technical achievement.

 

7. Celeste

Absolutely charming game. It gives me Fez feels. I wish the difficulty ramp up was more gradual but I’m thankful for the accessibility mode.

 

6. Marvel’s Spider-Man

Amazing story which I would’ve said is the best Spider-Man story before I saw Into the Spider-verse. The combat is a little loose and again doesn’t feel good until you level up like with God of War. One of the best endings in a game that I experienced in the past decade.

 

5. The Messenger

Perfect callback to the 8-bit era in terms of visuals, gameplay and music, but with the quality of life improvements you’d expect from a modern game. It gives you all the warm and fuzzies of your childhood without having to bash your head against a wall for hours on end.

 

4. Forza Horizon 4

Just a really quality racing game with a great map. Seasons add a lot of replayability.

 

3. Burnout Paradise Remastered

As much fun as I had with Forza, Burnout Paradise was the racing game of the year for me. Great soundtrack, really fun events, and even when you messed up it was fun to see your car get crushed into a wall. A great example of a remaster.

 

2. Shadow of the Colossus

This might be THE greatest remake ever made. It looks so good. Even in the 1080p/60 performance mode, you aren’t losing that much image quality due to the Temporal Anti-aliasing solution the developers are using. I can’t understate how amazing this game looks. And it plays just as well if not better than the original. This takes one of the greatest games of the PS2 era and makes it one of the greatest games ever.

 

1. Red Dead Redemption 2

This game is a technical marvel. It’s easily the best looking game ever made (at least the Xbox One X version). The story is well told, and the character motivations are fleshed out better than any previous Rockstar game, and perhaps even better than any open world game since Assassin’s Creed II. I liked the dedication to simulation. It’s a bold choice and it worked for me.