XboxEra Community Game of the Year - Post your lists!

Silky · January 4, 2021, 9:46pm

There’s something particularly great about the Tony Hawk franchise is that you could argue the franchise was perfected with the release of THPS2. (Personally I’m a fan of THPS3). Fans of the franchise argue that the series jumped the shark with the introduction of reverts, spine-transfers, natas-spins, wall bouncing etc. yet I couldn’t possibly imagine playing Tony Hawk without those divisive mechanics included in the experience. That’s exactly what Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 did, and in-turn amplified what is already a perfect video game experience. Like Pac-Man Championship Edition, Ghosts N Goblins Ultimate and Tetris Effect, this is undeniably the greatest skateboarding experience to release.

Everything involved with DOOM Eternal will immediately click and the game refuses to compensate for your displeasure in its mechanics. It’s a bold doubling down of everything that worked properly in it’s previous game back in 2016, standing as one of the deepest single player FPSes of all time. It’s a love letter to DOOM, a love letter to action games like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta. Everything about it, the level design, the enemy design, the fact that the game just decides to be a 3D platformer for a good 20 minutes or so AND that the 3D platforming can be so masterfully tuned that you’re asking for more. The sawed-off has a goddamn grappling hook and you can do hard drifts around Mancubus, how can you NOT like this game.

I’m immersed into the stylish Greek mythos that comes with Hades — from the fact that the sigil of the underworld is Hades’ beard for some reason, the tension you could cut with a knife between main character Zagreus and his underworld adversaries Megaera and Thanatos, to the charming nooks and crannies of the underworld halls. Hades accomplishes what even few AAA experiences can do; introduce life and a breath of fresh air within every individual level you can think of.

Best Ongoing Game: Apex Legends

While the first year of Apex Legends is meant to establish the groundwork of what this game and brand is going to be for the forseeable future, the second year of Apex Legends is a challenge of answering criticisms the game has faced from Titanfall faithful and avid Battle Royale fans. Within the span of several seasons Apex Legends has an incredibly well-thought out narrative that encourages daily players to get immersed in through it’s narrative-focused ‘Quest’ activity pass, that unlocks bits and pieces of a comprehensive storyline that fleshes out it’s already impressive class and character designs. Couple that with a flawless Steam release AND Cross-Play, there’s little question that Apex is the gold standard for a GAAS title and an ongoing experience.

Best Publisher: Activision Blizzard

This is arguably the best year ActiBlizz has undertaken in quite sometime and miraculously it doesn’t involve Call of Duty that much. The release of the record shattering Warzone was just another metal on the notch for the divisive publisher who has effectively revitalized long dormant, tarnished IPs (by their own accord) with the releases of Crash 4 and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2. Despite the blemish of Warcraft III: Reforged, Blizzard has once again delivered a record-breaking WoW expansion in Shadowlands. While other pubs struggled during the epidemic, Activision continues to attest why they’re the best in the business.

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