Game of the Year is one of the hardest decisions because so many games are created every year. But to come out on top the game must be excellent in its genre (usually re-define it) and have great production values, and not feel repetitive, and usually, it changes the way we think about games.
What sets Red Dead apart from all of these other excellent games is how authentic its world is. It feels so real and feels just like the wild west. With excellent voice acting, a huge open world to explore, lots of missions, and it’s just the subtle details that make it a winner. Hunting, gambling, horseback riding, even down to the drinks, attitudes of the people, clothing, accents, it just all adds up to something spectacular and really shows what a game can do. It’s Red Dead’s subtle details that truly make this game shine over the others.
A good strategy game consists of balanced gameplay, lots of units to use, a good story, and great ways to execute strategy on the enemy. A lot of strategy games fail on this part, and tend to be overly complicated, and is mostly stuck on the PC due to complicated control schemes.
What sets StarCraft apart? It’s the epic story? Perfectly balanced units? Competitive Multiplayer? It’s everything about the game from the well-crafted missions, excellent and diverse factions, and the fact that it keeps strategy simple. It may not be fair to pit other strategy games against an icon like StarCraft, but it happens every few years. StarCraft II is an instant classic and should be loved by strategy goers everywhere.
Multiplayer really defines most genres these days and is usually what keeps people coming back to games. A good multiplayer game usually consists of leaderboards, stat tracking, a reward system, and lots of maps, customization options, and just super fun addictive gameplay.
Modern Warfare redefined the FPS multiplayer scene and Black Ops perfects it with Wager matches, tons of customization options, perks, ranks, and well-made maps. Nothing can really hold a light to Black Ops, and to me is probably one of the best FPS multiplayer games of the decade.
RTS games of old were just all about building units and killing the enemy, and thankfully StarCraft II keeps this in mind and lets RTS fans of the 90s get another taste. Liberty has you playing as James Raynor, who is an outlaw to the Dominion Republic and must stop the alien Zerg, the Dominion forces, the Queen of Blades (Sarah Kerrigan), and the Protoss all at once. The story is pretty riveting, especially for an RTS, thanks to excellent voice acting, dialog, and plot twists.
I’m not going to explain how an RTS is played, and if you played the original game, you know what you’re getting here. The game is very simple, with the premise of just building your army and completing objectives. There are only two resources in the game: Vespian gas and minerals. If you don’t like it, then go back to Company of Heroes or Dawn of War (I’m not saying those are bad games). You gather these with SCVs, and you build your main buildings, such as factories, starports, barracks, and anything else that other units require and have at their disposal. Yes, it’s that simple, but there are many changes and enhancements from the first game.
Firstly, there are a ton of different units, and you really have to think and strategize how to beat each mission. Each building has several units, but the game focuses on air and ground units. There are weaker units such as marines, reapers, and firebats, but marauders are the strongest. The factory holds goliaths, different vehicle units, or the strongest one, a Thor, which is a giant mech. The starport has several different types of ship units, with the biggest being the battlecruiser.
There are also defensive units that SCVs can build, such as missile turrets, detectors, and mind control units for the Zerg. There are so many units; you have something for every situation, and you end up using every single one quite often since they are perfectly balanced. Some units have special attacks that do extra damage but use up the unit’s energy supply. Some units can transform from ground to air or turn into defensive units. There is so much when it comes to this that it would take forever to describe it all.
The missions are great and varied, and you will never get bored. They offered a fair challenge, and even the later missions were fairly balanced. The game is just full of so much variety, but it’s so simple and easy to play and understand that it really pulls you in. Throughout the 26 missions, you will slowly earn more units to build and be able to build larger, stronger armies. The literal goal is to just build dozens upon hundreds of units, attack or defend, and complete the objectives.
The game’s only real flaw is that building units takes forever, but this also balances the game out, so you really think about what units you need and use them wisely. There are small band-aids for this, such as the mercenary compound. You can instantly call down highly skilled units for a large price, but there’s cool downtime. You can also build multiple buildings or build a different lab to build two units simultaneously, but you can’t build more advanced units without the tech lab.
You can upgrade most units with credits earned during missions, but you won’t ever be able to buy them all, so choose wisely. You can also use research points to pick one of two upgrades on a ladder. One side helps your army, and the other is research against the Zerg. Choose wisely since you can’t pick the other or go back. This upgrading system is great and adds lots of strategies, even off the battlefield.
Aside from all this, you can click around and listen to dialog from key characters, and this adds to the story and interactivity of the game, which is excellent. There are no extras, however, such as behind-the-scenes footage or anything else that would have been great. The game just has so much variety and content and is so perfectly balanced that it really feels like those 12 years were put to good use.
The multiplayer is what will keep you coming back. I’m not a huge fan of RTS multiplayer, but Liberty really shines in this area with Battle.net. With human opponents and four different factions to play, you will surely pour dozens of hours into this part of the game.
The game also looks amazing. If you have the rig to play the game with all settings set to their highest, you will be treated to beautiful visuals, excellent lighting, and well-done animations and effects. Everything looks amazing, and the game just plays brilliantly. I highly recommend this for StarCraft vets, but people who like their RTS complicated and with a lot of depth will be disappointed. But there is something here for everyone.
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Yep! The fact that I forgot about this game until you made a comment proves that.