Last week I shared some of my picks for best video games of the year. Below are some more titles you'll want to check out, whether you're shopping for yourself or others.
• Friday the 13th: The Game
Fans of campy, cult horror films will scream (hopefully with joy) for Friday the 13th: The Game. This clearly isn't going to be a game for everyone -- it's for mature players, obviously. This is an asymmetrical multiplayer-only game. Eight people register for a match, and one is randomly assigned to be nigh-invincible slasher Jason Voorhees. Everyone else assumes the role of teenagers who must hide, flee, fight and escape from environments and houses re-created (often down to the tiniest details) from the movies. It's not the most polished game, but for fans of the genre it's a must-have. It's available on Windows, PS4 and Xbox One.
• Assassin's Creed: Origins
With an all-new combat system and lush, interactive environment, Assassin's Creed: Origins, set in Ancient Egypt during the time of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, is one of the best games this year. The visuals are stunning; the story is gripping, and you'll probably learn a lot about history, too. This is another mature title, and it's available on Windows, PS4 and Xbox One.
• PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
I reviewed PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in this column earlier this year, and since then it has only grown in popularity and influence. The premise is fairly simple -- it's a 100-man multiplayer battle royale. Everyone parachutes onto an island, scavenges for weapons and then dukes it out on a large, but ever-shrinking playing field. It has sold more than 20 million copies this year, and other games, such as Fortnite, have already started copying its winning formula by adding battle royale modes. Battlegrounds is available on Xbox One and Windows.
• Divinity: Original Sin 2
For high-fantasy role-playing fans, Divinity: Original Sin 2 is the go-to game of the year. It's a top-down, isometric game similar to '90s classics like Baldur's Gate, but with excellent graphics and an original combat system. (In isometric games, the viewpoint is angled to approximate a 3-D effect.) Combat is a tactical, turn-based affair where you control a party of four players. The story is dark and gritty, and rarely is there a moral high ground to take. The world is shades of gray, not black and white. There's also multiplayer support -- with split screen, cooperative and online play. It's for Windows only.
• X-COM 2: War of the Chosen
X-COM 2 came out last year, but with its August expansion, War of the Chosen, the action gets taken up another notch, making one of my favorite turn-based tactical games even better. It's a sequel to 2012's X-COM: Enemy Unknown, which has a War of the Worlds style plot -- aliens have attacked Earth, and the world must unite to fight off the threat.
X-COM 2's plot says that effort failed. The aliens now rule the Earth, and you are part of the resistance, fighting against overwhelming odds as you take back the planet little by little, using the aliens' technology against them. War of the Chosen adds more options, more story, more heroes and more enemies into the mix. It's available on Windows, Mac OS, PS4, Xbox One and Linux.
MOBILE GAMES
It's pretty tough to buy someone a specific mobile game -- they are all downloadable titles, usually bought from the Apple Store for iPads and iPhones, or from Google Play for Android devices.
With tablets and phones becoming ever more powerful, video games have evolved on them, too. It's not just Farmville and Candy Crush anymore. Blizzard's Hearthstone plays well on tablets. Square Enix has re-released a number of its Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest console games for mobile devices. The top-selling game on Google Play has been Minecraft for years now (it has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide).
For mobile gamers, I recommend getting gift cards -- Google Play and Apple Store gift cards can be picked up pretty much anywhere and used for any game.
OTHER GIFT OPTIONS
Sometimes you'll have to buy a gift for someone who seems already to have every game he wants, or maybe the price tag for getting a video game (or several, depending on how many people you're shopping for) is a little high.
Fret not. You could also grab some game-related merchandise, such as T-shirts, mouse pads, coffee cups, artwork and toys. A cornucopia of gift ideas is as close as Amazon.com or ThinkGeek online, or at retail stores such as GameStop, Hot Topic and even Wal-Mart and Target.
This column will be back with another in-depth review next week. Stay tuned and game on!
ActiveStyle on 12/18/2017