For baseball fans, it’s spring time. For football, it’s fall.
But for video game enthusiasts, “the season” begins in September and stretches till Black Friday in November.
Most of the best games of the year come out in this three-month window, and awards season follows in December.
It’s easy to overlook stellar titles in this digital deluge, so I’m here to recap some of the best games so far.
God of War released back in April and it’s still too popular to sit on our shelves.
You play as the familiar protagonist, Kratos, as you accompany your young son, Atreus, on a journey through the Norse wilds. Film aficionados take note: the game is presented in one long take, similar to Birdman or the Copa from Goodfellas. This technique delivers with a gorgeous setting for the familiar god-slaying style of previous God of War games.
Mega Man 2 is one of my favorite video games, and I’m delighted to see Mega Man 11 keep to its robot master roots decades later.
A series of quick, stylized lairs set the stage for incredible boss fights and funky power-ups.
If you’re an old-school platformer looking for something new, this is the game for you.
Whether webslinging, baddie bashing, or kissing Mary Jane in the rain, I love my friendly, neighborhood superhero. Spider-man games have hit highs and lows throughout the years, but this one delivers in a big way. There’s an enormous rendering of Manhattan to explore as you zip through the skies. And don’t forget the hyphen!
These are high on my list, what’s on yours?
If you haven’t played many games this year, come to the library and check out or place holds on some other Game of the Year contenders from the list below.
The challenger. The odds-on favorite. The #1 seed. Rockstar's prodigal series returns with an ambitious open-world to explore in a classic western setting.
If Red Dead Redemption or Grand Theft Auto Five are indicators, this is likely to dominate the 2018 Game of the Year awards.