Games of the Last Decade Ranked – (Part 2)
Second verse, same as the first! It’s time to continue with our look back at the games that released in the last decade. As usual, if the game is on this list, it’s because it released sometime between January 1st, 2010 and December 31st, 2019, in addition to being a title that I have actually played. I apologize in advance if your favorite game didn’t make my list… now let’s get to it!
#80 – Back to the Future: The Game
Platform
Steam, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Nintendo Wii, XBOX 360, XBOX One, iOS
Release Date
December 22, 2010
Back to the Future: The Game was an episodic point and click adventure and was one of Tell Tale’s earlier entries, releasing just prior to their popular Walking Dead adaptation. It had a total of 5 parts, and they’re really not that great. The first half I thought was interesting enough but by episode 3, I felt like they were really reaching for believability.
#79 – Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
Platform
Playstation 3
Release Date
October 18, 2011
I really don’t have much to say about this one, I’m a huge fan of the Ratchet & Clank games and this entry failed at capturing what made R&C games great. I do plan on reviewing this game eventually, at which point I will go into more detail as to why I dislike this title so much.
#78 – Nintendo Land
Platform
Wii U
Release Date
November 18, 2012
I didn’t hate the Wii U, it actually had a lot of good games. As far as Nintendo Land is concerned, it’s a mixed bag; I could take it or leave it. There were a few mini-games in this collection that I thought were solid, the Luigi’s Mansion one, in particular, was my favorite. However, the whole experience had much to be desired.
#77 – LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean
Platform
Steam, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, Playstation Portable, XBOX 360
Release Date
May 10, 2011
Anyone who knows me personally could tell you just how much I love LEGO games; they’re simple, fun, and has the kind of fan service I like. In this case, I can’t say I’m a huge fan of LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, despite loving the movies (yes, even 4 & 5). Releasing the same week as Pirates of the Caribbean 4, it featured all the movies that were out at the time. Why did I not enjoy this title as much? It was mostly a lot of little things that just added up over time. For instance, they changed how you unlock characters in this game, and it was the dumbest decision they could have made. Normally you go to a designated section of the game to unlock characters, it’s nice and consistent. In this game, if you want to unlock a character, you have to find them roaming around in the hub area and talk to them. Why this is annoying is because it relies on random number generation, and I’ve expressed before how much I hate random number generation. Some characters are easy to find because they show up in the same spot, but 90% of the other characters have to be unlocked through pure luck. They explore randomly, they spawn randomly, they just never show up when you need them too. It was a tedious grind, to say the least. The game had a lot of fun things from the movies, but my irritations with this title vastly outweighed my enjoyment.
#76 – NES Remix
Platform
Wii U, Nintendo 3DS
Release Date
December 5, 2014
NES Remix was a novel concept that was a little lackluster to me; the whole experience was very much a one and done kind of deal. Your goal in this collection of micro-challenges is to complete a laundry list of tasks in a variety of NES games, both well known and obscure. I think it was a great time experiencing games I’ve never heard before, but easily the highlight of it all was the challenges that actually changed the way you played some of these games. For instance, sometimes you would be playing the original Super Mario Bros. but as Link from The Legend of Zelda, it was such a fun twist at the time! The ideas Nintendo put into this collection felt like something you’d get in a fan-made mod. The problem lied with the fact that these were micro-challenges. I would have loved to see a full game utilize the fun remix concepts seen in this game. Instead, we were left with a game with a lot of great ideas in an experience with the same complexity as your run of the mill Warrior Ware.
#75 – Donut County
Platform
iOS, Steam, Nintendo Switch, XBOX One, Playstation 4
Release Date
August 28, 2018
I’m a sucker for games with wacky gimmicks and Donut County had one that spoke to personally. This is a game the was heavily inspired by the likes of Katamari, a title in which you roll around a sticky ball in order to collect smaller objects in order to grow bigger. Only instead of playing with a ball, in Donut County you play as a hole and grow in size the more items you eat up. However, unlike Katamari, I have no real intention of replaying this title. It had some interesting puzzles but lacked the post-game replayability I crave. Much like NES Remix, this is a one-and-done experience.
#74 – Guitar Hero Live
Platform
Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Wii U, XBOX 360, XBOX One, iOS
Release Date
October 20, 2015
Guitar Hero Live was a weird game. It came out years after the plastic guitar craze had died out. When it was announced, it was met with a mixed reception. Me personally, I was intrigued, to say the least; it was actually one of the first Playstation 4 games I got. So how was the game? Fun, in a lot of ways it felt like an evolution, but in other ways, it was also a step back. I don’t really want to get too much in detail here because I plan on talking about this game more later on. Over, all it was fine but had a few miss-steps that prevented it from reaching the potential it had.
#73 – Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
Platform
iOS, Android
Release Date
November 21, 2017
Oh boy… I don’t I need to say much here, it’s Animal Crossing… on mobile. I will say it’s better than whatever Amiibo Festival was on the Wii U.
#72 – Super Mario Run
Platform
iOS, Android
Release Date
December 15, 2016
Not gonna lie, I actually did have fun with this game. I feel Nintendo did a decent job of translating the classic 2D gameplay into a mobile experience. The problem lies with the fact that there just isn’t much to the whole experience, there’s nothing to really keep the player coming back. In the end, it was a good attempt but became stale way too quickly.
#71 – Mario Kart Tour
Platform
iOS, Android
Release Date
September 25, 2019
Of the Nintendo mobile titles released so far, this one is easily my favorite. While hardcore Mario Kart fans despise the game, for a casual player like myself, it got the job done. The problem I have actually has less to do with this specific game and more just my lack of enthusiasm for Mario Kart as a franchise. I honestly did not care about Mario Kart until 8 got its re-release on the Switch. Even though I say this is my favorite mobile Nintendo title, that still isn’t saying much because I lost interest after a couple of days. But it was a fun couple of days, to say the least.