If you had told me at the beginning of this year I'd play so many great games--so many great Switch games, especially--I would've responded by dramatically rolling my eyes.
As I've said a number of times in the last few months, I didn't expect to buy a Switch so early in its life--and certainly not before sometime in 2018.
Now I've got an actual "slew" of Switch games--so many, in fact, that I'm having a hard time keeping up with them. (On a related note, look for me to publish a bunch of "
a few thoughts on" posts in the new year.)
Amazingly, I'm having a similarly hard time keeping up with all the Vita games I've bought since 2017 started. Who would've thought that'd be the case given the system's worldwide nosedive over the last 12 months? Certainly not me.
A couple of those recently acquired Vita games made a big enough impression on me that I'm including them among my favorite games of this year. They're joined by handful of Switch games, a trio of 3DS carts, and a PC title, too.
Golf Story (Switch)--In a year of surprising games, this probably was the most surprising of all for me. That's kind of funny when you consider
Golf Story is just what its name implies: a digital Switch title that's one part golf, and one part story (or RPG). You're just as likely to be sent on a fetch quest or be asked to solve a mystery as you are to shoot a round of Scotland's national sport against an NPC. OK, so
I personally don't think its writing is good enough to be compared to EarthBound, but that doesn't mean I think it's drivel. In fact, I'd say it's just fun--and weird--enough to bring a smile to your face more regularly than your average RPG. Even if that weren't the case, though, I'd call myself a
Golf Story fan anyway thanks to how all of its components combine to create a unique experience that intrigues throughout its 15-plus-hour running time.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)--I've made no secret of the fact that I'm generally not a fan of three-dimensional
Zelda games. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of them, but despite that they usually have a hard time holding my interest past the first few hours. Well,
Breath of the Wild bucks that trend--or at least it has so far. I regularly get lost while wandering around its lush landscapes, I've got to admit, but it's yet to bring my progress to a screeching halt. Does this mean me finishing
Breath of the Wild is a done deal? Unfortunately, it doesn't. Still, I think that result is far more likely than it was when I attempted to play through
Majora's Mask,
The Wind Waker, and
Twilight Princess thanks to the intriguingly open-ended nature of this particular
Zelda adventure.
Miitopia (3DS)--I was sure I'd get a kick out of
Miitopia the second I laid eyes on it. Still, I was shocked when I enjoyed its demo as much as I did. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I put more than three hours into it before giving it a rest. I've now put more than twice that into the full game, and yet it continues to make me chuckle and otherwise turn me into a grinning idiot. There's no question this RPG is an odd duck, not to mention quite a bit more "casual" than what is typical of the genre, but for me, both of those qualities conspire to make
Miitopia far more entertaining than it would be if it leaned toward the traditional. I do suspect
Miitopia's schtick may wear thin sooner rather than later, but that's OK; I already feel like I got my money's worth out of it.
Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS)--I'm one of those grumps that like to grouse about how
Yoshi's Island is the only good
Yoshi game. I regularly grumble in this way even though I didn't exactly hate
Yoshi's New Island. Well, this portable port of
Woolly World is miles more impressive than that 2014 release, as well as pretty much every other
Yoshi title I've played since the first. One reason for that is it's gorgeous--even on the low-res 3DS screen. Another is it provides a good amount of fun. Also, it eventually offers up a good challenge for people (like me) who don't necessarily possess top-notch platforming skills--something that can't exactly be said of every
Yoshi title that's followed in
Island's wake.
Project Octopath Traveler demo (Switch)--Yes, this is a demo. But like
the Bravely Default demo Square Enix made available well in advance of that 3DS game's release, this one is both meaty and interesting enough to prompt someone like me to declare it "game of the year"--or at least one of my favorite gaming experiences of the year. The aspect of the
Project Octopath Traveler demo that most stood out at me while playing through it recently (read my impressions
here) was the battle system, which feels like a zippier version of the one featured in
Bravely Default and
Second. Really, though, every component of this teaser blew me away--even its much maligned "vignette" filter. I guess what I'm saying here is, barring some sort of disaster popping up between now and whenever it's released, expect to see the full game discussed in next year's version of this write-up.
