I've been playing the Pikmin games since the GameCube days and the fourth mainline entry is perhaps the best one yet. The scope has been greatly expanded from the short-but-sweet original game that can be knocked out in just a few hours. While this game is still very much rooted (no pun intended) in the same gameplay of its predecessors, Nintendo has bolted on so many new components that it manages to stay fresh. I sunk nearly 40 hours doing everything I could find in the game and I walked away extremely satisfied.

The levels are huge and encourage exploration and backtracking. You have a new partner in Oatchi, a space dog that will help you zip through levels, attack enemies, and haul back items to your base. There's an upgrade system so you can improve your character and Oatchi and become even more efficient in the field. There are "Dandori" challenges that you can tackle when taking a break from the main story. The game is loaded with content and took me longer to complete than any of the previous games...by 10+ hours.

I had been waiting on this game for years and I thought for sure it would buckle under my own sky-high expectations, but Pikmin 4 delivers the goods and then some. Although nostalgia may prevent it from ever being my favorite Pikmin game ever, this is perhaps the best Pikmin game to date and an excellent starting point for anyone looking to jump into the series.

If you're like me, there are certain games in your backlog that for whatever reason, you just can't seem to finish. I like to call those my "white whales". Icewind Dale had been one of those for over two decades, but I finally managed to catch it.

I can't tell you how many times I've started this game before and while I always enjoyed the first few hours, I could never seem to stick with it. I decided to try once again and this time, I played the console version on my Xbox Series X. Using a controller for this one took some getting used to, but it wasn't too bad really. Sure, it's not as nice as a mouse and keyboard setup, but I was able to lean back in my recliner and play on a huge screen...and that more than made up for the control quibbles.

For those that aren't familiar with this game, it's sort of like a more action-heavy Baldur's Gate. It runs on the same Infinity Engine and is decked out with the AD&D 2nd edition rules. The emphasis here is more on dungeon crawling than it is solving the worlds problems. I mean, I guess you do that too, but you kill A LOT of enemies in this game. There are lots of places to explore, but they're mostly combat areas. You can still find interesting characters to talk to and there are side quests to find, but there isn't much in the way of town exploration.

The combat here is the star of the show and since I've always enjoyed the way it works in the Infinity Engine, I was a big fan. It felt so satisfying to slay legions of D&D monsters without having to constantly break for dialogue and whatnot. Don't get me wrong, I love Baldur's Gate and in fact, was inspired to play it again after finishing Icewind Dale...but sometimes I just want to plow through walls of enemies. Icewind Dale satisfies that urge perfectly.

I enjoyed the game so much that I ended up playing both expansions (Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster) while I was at it. I ended up getting about 42 hours out of the entire collection and enjoyed every minute of it. I highly recommend it for any RPG fans out there.

The first game I owned was Super Mario Bros. on NES. I guess technically it was a tie with Duck Hunt, but you know what I mean. Who would've thought that nearly 40 years later, I'd still be playing Super Mario games? Wow, has it really been that long? Dang, I'm old...

Anyways, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a rock-solid 2D platformer from Nintendo. The name is pulled from the various "Wonder" powers that you can find in the levels that dramatically alter the gameplay mechanics...if only for a brief time. It's a pretty cool idea that helps keep things fresh even after blasting through level after level.

There are some new power-ups, of course and the badge system allows you to equip some sort of ability to help (or hurt, I suppose!) There's a fair amount of content too if you're trying to complete everything and I managed to gear almost 20 hours out of it. The only thing I didn't do was the final secret level because it was just awful! I tried for multiple hours, but I just couldn't get past the final section and I decided to tap out. Aside from that, this is a great modern Mario game that anyone can enjoy!

Much like Pikmin, I've been playing the Diablo games pretty much since their inception and the latest one is yet another great addition to the series. Although I enjoyed Diablo III and played through it multiple times, I felt something had been lost in the transition from the second game. The tone and art style seemed to be a bit "softer" and I wasn't sold on the way you upgraded your character.

For this outing, Blizzard has returned the series to a much darker tone that aligns it with the first two games. There's a sense of desperation abound as you explore the world and everything is painted in a murky black and gray mix. It fits the perception I have of what a Diablo game should be and I'm glad to see they went back to this style.

Characters are built in a similar manner to the third game, but it felt a lot more open compared to the more "on rails" approach that I felt the third one suffered from. There's a bit of option paralysis here, but that's not necessarily a bad thing since you can customize your character in so many ways to encourage you to keep playing.

As always, the combat feels great and I loved slicing and dicing the hellish monsters that were roaming the many, many maps in this game. My biggest issue is that the game utilizes some awful level scaling to try and keep everything around your level. I'm sorry, but this is one of my LEAST FAVORITE things a game can do. Why oh why would you have the very first enemy you face in the game stay at your character's level the entire game!?! I will never understand that design decision. Yes, I know it's because they want you to be able to gain experience no matter where you are and keep you playing, but it's so, so silly. If you're going to scale enemies, why not put a cap on them? Like, okay, this weak blue slime starts at level 1 (like you) and will go up with you...until level 8 and then you can SQUASH IT LIKE YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO!!!

Ugh, sorry for the rant. On top of level scaling is the fact that enemies respawn way, WAY too fast. There's a certain satisfaction for clearing out a map and being able to walk through it without enemies chasing you around. I'm not saying enemies should stay dead forever and I get that it's an online game even if you're playing solo like I did, but still...find a balance. (And maybe they did, but I played right around launch and it sucked.)

Despite all of my grumblings for things that seem to stem from this being an online game, it's still a lot of fun. If you enjoy a good action RPG, Diablo is still at the top of the heap.

This was the first game I played in 2023 and it was still able to comfortably land a spot on this list. If you want to hear more of my thoughts on this one, check out my blog post on it.

In a nutshell though, this is a terrific 2D platformer that has aged very well. The graphics are gorgeous for a SNES game and the level design is very creative. It's very different from Super Mario World, but that's okay...it's still a must play for 16-bit platformer fans.

Turok 3 has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the handful of N64 games that I had to stop playing back in the day due to its absolutely horrendous framerate. I loved the first two games and was pumped for the third one, but I found it very difficult to play for technical reasons.

I had long assumed I'd never actually play through it, but every since Nightdive Studios started remastering the Turok games, I've held out hope. And finally, in 2023, the third game arrived on modern platforms with an excellent remaster that makes it a must play for retro shooter fans! I snagged this one on day 1 and it didn't take me long to put in the 4.5 hours it took to blast through the story.

Turok 3 is a bit different from the first two games and actually kinda reminds me of Half-Life in the way it stitches levels together and puts a heavier emphasis on story. The game has a more futuristic setting this time, but a lot of the same weapons and mechanics return from earlier titles, such as the Tek bow, life force collectibles, and yes, the cerebral bore!

Nightdive did an incredible job with this one, but make no mistake about it...this is a nearly 25 year old FPS. It wasn't exactly groundbreaking when it was released and it's incredibly short now that it runs at a decent speed. But it's still a lot of fun and easily the best way to play the game.

Huh, I didn't realize it until just now, but this list is filled with games that I had tried to play through multiple times...unsuccessfully. I played this on Final Fantasy Anthology back in my college days and got really far...but never managed to finish it. I remember being stuck in a spot where I desperately needed Float and I didn't have it, so I gave up.

After several unsuccessful attempts at starting over, I finally got some traction this year with the Pixel Remaster version of the game. It's easy to dismiss these old Final Fantasy games for their simplistic stories and mechanics, but they still have an undeniable charm, almost like nostalgia even though I don't have much for them (I grew up with Dragon Warrior / Quest).

I played this game shortly after finishing the brand spankin' new Final Fantasy XVI and there's a reason for that...I wanted to play a classic game in the series. Final Fantasy XVI is a fine game and all, but the series has drifted so far from its roots that it may have outgrown me once and for good. Final Fantasy V is often overlooked since it's sandwiched between the (seemingly?) more popular IV and VI, but it's a great slab of old school turn-based RPG goodness. This probably says more about me than it does the games, but...spoiler alert...Final Fantasy V is on my list and XVI is not.

I missed out on Call of Duty when it was first released and I've mostly ignored the series over the years since it tends to favor the multiplayer side of things (or at least that's what it seems like to me.) Until this one, the only game in the series I had actually finished was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I tried this out on a whim and was pleasantly surprised by how well it had held up.

Make no mistake about it, this game is a little clunky compared to modern standards, but I thought it was still a very solid FPS to play in 2023. It's non-stop action and I could see why it was so well received back in 2003. There are tons of World War II themed games out there, but Call of Duty is probably one of the best ones I've ever played.

I contemplated leaving this one off my list solely because I played it A LOT back in the '90s. I thought for sure I had finished it back then, but now I'm not so sure. In any case, I finished it in 2023 right after I played through the original game. Carmageddon 2 is mostly more of the same from the first game, but this time it's running on 3D engine that just oozes late '90s 3dfx style.

Aside from the graphical upgrade, the biggest change is perhaps the way the single player mode progresses. You have to go through a series of 10 groups, each of which has three "normal" levels and one "mission". The normal levels are classic Carmageddon action. Either race around the track or do what I do and just wreck the rest of the competition. The missions are where things get a little...clunky. These levels have you trying to complete certain objectives, most of which require some almost "plaformer-y" type maneuvers. It was an interesting idea, but not one I care for much, especially with the time limits be so aggressive.

Missions aside, Carmageddon 2 is still an awesome game some 25 years later. One of these days I'm going to wrap up the trilogy by playing the third game!

Let me preface this by saying The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a GREAT game. It's a huge, highly enjoyable game with tons of freedom and expands upon its predecessor in meaningful ways. Yet, I found it a chore to play through at times. Even though Nintendo did a great job of building upon the foundation laid out in Breath of the Wild, this game is still very similar to it.

To some degree, I think I'm just burnt out on games gigantic games like this. There are lots of things to discover and places to explore, but it's just...too...much and ultimately I don't care about any of it. Still, I can acknowledge when a game is well made and this game is absolutely top notch quality.

The other thing that bugs me about this game (and Breath of the Wild) is how far it's drifted from the roots of the series...much like I complained about Final Fantasy XVI earlier. I'm not saying Nintendo should just put out a cookie cutter Zelda game every few years, but this game is just soooo different from titles like A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. I'm not trying to cast judgment here and I think it shows a lot of confidence on Nintendo's part to push the series in new directions, but I still prefer the "old" style. I like moving from dungeon to dungeon and gaining a new ability. I like having a semi-open world to explore, but I'm still sort of a linear path and being pushed in a certain direction.

I'm still very much interested to see where the series goes from here, but in the meantime I'm going to keep holding out hope for a Wind Waker HD port to the Switch (or its successor)...