While some of mobile gaming’s less appealing aspects have been carried over to console and PC games — we’re looking at you, loot boxes — one that hasn’t that often, but should, is the idea that it’s okay to have a game you only play in short, quick bursts.
But that’s exactly where we find Mullet MadJack (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC), an over-the-top, cyberpunk sci-fi arcade first-person shooter on a timer that can be a bit much if played for too long, but is ridiculous fun in small bits.
I don’t know if they still do it, but back in the 1800s, when I took the SATs, there were these analogy questions along the lines of “Broccoli is to green what carrot is to _______.” And if you had to deal with that crap, too, you probably remember thinking, “When am I ever going to have to do this nonsense in real life?”
Right now. You have to deal with it right now.
Because the best way to describe the action-packed, epic fantasy, role-playing adventure game Avowed (Xbox Series X|S, PC) is by saying “Avowed is to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as The Outer Worlds is to Starfield.”
Or you could say it’s really good; that works, too.
When Capcom and Konami released their respective remakes of their classic survival horror games Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill 2, they not only updated the graphics, but the movement and camera controls as well, replacing the fixed position cameras and tank controls for a third-person, player-controlled approach. Which seemed to work out, given how some people — myself included — really appreciated these updated versions.
So it was rather surprising when, last week, I got the opportunity to play the upcoming survival horror game Post Trauma, and was told by producer Paul Wilson that it has controls and cameras similar to the original Resident Evil and Silent Hill games, not the remakes. And that it was done intentionally.
What follows are my impressions of my time with this game… and its controls.
Violence is never the answer, even when you inflict it on someone terrible. Y’know, like Nazis.
But virtual violence? Like in, say, a video game? That’s okay. And, if done well, can be as cathartic as it is fun.
It’s why I’d never punch a Nazi in real life, but absolutely love playing the Sniper Elite games, a series of fun third-person stealth action shooters set during World War II in which you undermine the German military by, well, shooting, stabbing, and blowing up Nazis. And German soldiers. And their stuff.
I enjoy them so much, in fact, that I don’t even mind that the newest installment, Sniper Elite: Resistance (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC), is basically just the previous one, 2022’s Sniper Elite 5, but with new locations and one new mode.
While 2024 wasn’t as good a year for video games as 2023, it also wasn’t as bad a year as 2023. Hence why my “Worst Games Of 2023” list had 8 games, and this list just has 3.
Though this may say more about me than the year in question.
Here’s my “list” (so to speak) of the worst games I played this year.
Just as 2022 wasn’t as good a year for video games as 2023, so too was 2024 not as good a year for them as 2023.
Which isn’t to say there wasn’t anything worth playing this year.
Here, in the order I played them, are my favorite games of 2024.
When the good people at Zen Studios make their original pinball tables for Pinball FX (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, PC), they always pair realistic physics with unrealistic mechanics by, say, having the ball move like it would in real life, but on a table that has Mechagodzilla firing laser beam warning shots or K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider doing donuts.
But when it comes to their versions of classic pinball tables originally made by the iconic pinball company Williams, they have typically been faithful to the originals, both mechanically and aesthetically.
The operative word there being “typically.” That’s because for the three tables Zen have remade for Williams Pinball Volume 8— Banzai Run, Black Knight 2000, and Earthshaker! — they’ve added some unrealistic (but optional) mechanics to these classics…and not everyone will be happy with the results.
Much like with Star Trek, The Lord Of The Rings, and The Matrix, there have been way more video games influenced by the Indiana Jones movies than there have been games where you get to be Indiana Jones.
But while Indiana Jones And The Great Circle (Xbox Series X|S, PC) somewhat balances the scales, fans of the adventurous archeologist are forewarned: While this is faithful to Indy’s early films, it’s actually more like Indiana Jones And Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull and Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny in that it may not be what fans are expecting, or hoping for, but it is still a fun adventure.
As an old fool, I sometimes kick it old school.
And not just by making dated references. I listen to music on CDs, watch TV shows on a TV, and eat food that wasn’t grown in a lab and sold under a name that would make Charlton Heston fans nervous.
It’s also why I was curious about Sprawl (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC), a cyberpunk sci-fi first-person shooter very much in the vein of Doom, Quake, and other old school shooters.
Though as old and foolish as I may be, I was happy to find that Sprawl wasn’t completely vintage.