Uber's 2024 GAME AWARDS!

Happy new year to everyone. It's been the biggest year for gaming since last year. Video games LITERALLY came out this year. Some were even pretty good. Some were so good that Geoff Keighley himself went on stage and claimed it proudly for everyone to see. But Geoff doesn't know anything. In fact, he's a FRAUD. I didn't see ONE person on stage talk about the greatest game the year (You already know).

So I'm taking matters into my own hands. Let me start off my year with a list of some of my favorite games and notable events from this past year. I also hope to whip myself into a writing mood and actually use my blog for once. I made the damn website, I should be using it. Anyways…

Favorite Waste of Time: Helldivers 2

Over the course of the year I occasionally dove (get it) into Helldivers 2 for a few days to a week just to burn some time away. I haven't been completely captured by this game but I know it's captured a wide gaming community this year. I know it's been through a lot of different controversies… some silly, some justified, but overall the game as it stands while I'm writing this is in an enjoyable enough spot for me to keep playing.

An unfortunate thing about trying to return to this game is trying to grind out one of the 7 battle passes the game has released in your absence. If you haven't been playing you gotta cough up some cash for the OPPORTUNITY to unlock more weapons and armor, or run boring easy missions to earn that currency manually.

So yes, while I find the game repetitive, I do have a lot of fun playing this game on occasion. It's fun to try out all the different weapons and equipment that I have. Ultimately that is what you play games for, for fun! When I want to burn a few hours and I got nothing else to play, I can assuredly log on to Helldivers 2, bang out a few missions and complete my daily orders and just have fun.

Worst Waste of Time: Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League

I have no idea what we were thinking with this one. When I checked out the trial for Suicide Squad I actually had a fair bit of fun playing with the game’s shooting and movement mechanics. I am a sucker for this kind of slop-type game, with gear score/damage numbers/large mob fights/wacky abilities… so it seemed at least like a game I would enjoy, regardless of what the gaming community was saying. Unfortunately, in that initial tutorial, Suicide Squad showed me everything it had to offer. There’s not even an “and then some”. In 30 minutes, Suicide Squad showed its hand. And its hand SUCKS… it's not even like a One Pair.

For the next 12 hours, my friend and I flew around the lifeless city, completing perhaps 5 different variations of mission to finish the game. Variants include: 1) Hold X on a crystal and fight enemies 2) Hold X on a crystal to deliver to another crystal 3) Hold X on a civilian to deliver to a bus surrounded by enemies, and 4) Escort a really (really) slow car to a crystal to hold X on. By hour 5 I was done, but sunk cost sets in at that point and you just want to finish the game.

The gear you find throughout the campaign is useless, the game gives you the best weapons for just completing missions, the skill tree is boring, the boss fights are really bad, and there is not a single fight in the game where enemies didn’t die in 2-3 shots. Once you finish the game it does that thing where the “real game begins” and expects you to pick it up and play for 50 more hours. Unfortunately, that means playing the fucking game for another minute. No chance. FLUSHED.

Saddest Waste of Time: Concord

If Concord has a million fans, I am one of them. If Concord has ten fans, I am one of them. If Concord has only one fan, then that is me. If Concord has no fans, that means I am no longer on this Earth. If the world is against Concord, I am against the world. I love #Concord until my last breath.

I played Concord till its last breath. I shed a single tear that day, and not a single tear more, so Concord could die knowing how strong I was for it. It was all for nothing. I may be one of the few Concord fans, and I will not stand for Concord slander. Putting this game on “Worst of 2024” lists is an insane crime. Putting the GOAT Concord on a list of worst games, next to Suicide Squad makes me gag. Unbelievable. Geoff Keighley is a fraud.

I won’t forget you, Concord.

Biggest Fall Off (For me): Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Every year, I buy and play the latest COD because I really enjoy playing it. Casual, simple gameplay that I can just play for a few hours at a time. Yet the past 3 years, I’ve been getting closer and closer to the edge of not caring about COD anymore. A lot of people have already gone through this, but I am still stuck in the COD mud. Black Ops 6 is fun. The movement and gunplay in this game actually feels really good compared to the previous few years’ release. That is enough to carry the game for a few months for me.

Unfortunately, the game has barely any good maps. Slowly drip-feeding in old maps, that are also bad because they don't work with the new movement. Nobody wants to play on the new maps because everyone would rather play on the smallest maps with the quickest modes averaging 10 seconds a life. That’s just what the game is now I suppose. I assume COD just isn’t for me anymore. I log in and play for like 30 minutes and just do daily challenges. I don’t ACTUALLY want to play anymore than that. That’s gotta be a sign. It does not help that Activision keeps bogging the game down with even more expensive microtransactions that lag the game to an unbearable level, and an extreme file size that just clogs my hard drive. Maybe this is my last COD. I’ll think that until they announce the next one and I play it for 90 hours.

Favorite Game that is Actually From Last Year: Hi-Fi Rush

Hi-Fi rush released as an Xbox and PC exclusive in 2023, and I heard nothing but good things about it. This year, they released the game on the PS5 which is where I got a chance to play it. After finishing it I kinda regret not getting to it sooner on the PC.

This is a seriously inventive action game with a fantastic soundtrack and was a fun challenge. I know a game is super entertaining when all I wanted to do with it after I finished was to just play it more. Not only play it more, but try to understand the mechanics, optimize the fights and challenge myself to go damageless through each stage. The game was a perfect length too, kept me engaged and wanting more.

The only issues I have is the early stages can be a slog on repeat playthroughs, but otherwise this game is awesome and I wished I got to it sooner. I hope we can see more from these devs, now that they’ve reformed their studio recently.

Most Pathetic Blog: Uber’s Game Blog

Okay, I have not written for this blog in so long, and I am a little bit embarrassed about that. I know the blog is for myself and generally for my friends but I need to be on top of things and try a little. I sort of fell off with gaming towards the end of this year and that isn’t something I can control easily.

I started the blog in hopes of discussing topics surrounding gaming, and talk about recent games I’ve played. I wrote 2 articles about games. Damn. I am hoping for the new year to really LOCK IN and not only play a ton of games that I want to play and write out some thoughts about them.

End game for me was to make a Youtube channel for video game essays and discussion, and this blog was a way to lazily circumvent having to actually make a video and learn how to edit and narrate. If I can’t even write some simple 5-minute reads on a Google doc, then I can’t expect to make fully fledged videos, even if its for myself. So for the new year, I’ll shoot for a bit more writing and a bit more gaming. It’s the year of the gamer after all.

Game of the Year Runner-Up: Dragon’s Dogma 2

I had anticipated Dragon’s Dogma 2 for quite some time, and it was something that I was really excited for this year. Obviously I started writing on this blog with a review for this game so my thoughts are more articulated in the blog post here. Dragon’s Dogma 2 (and the first game) is a game I think a lot of people won’t gel with, but its a game that I fuck with super hard. It is my most played game this year that wasn’t some kind of multiplayer or live service game. I even went back and started another playthrough to clean up the remaining trophies. I haven’t finished that- I will at some point…

When I started that playthrough and started looking at all the stuff I missed, I was actually surprised by how much stuff I hadn’t seen. There’s so many different dungeons I haven’t even touched. There’s also a ton of different abilities and spells that I hadn’t used. I only wish the game had more save files so I can start a new experience without overwriting my New Game+ save. Luckily I can just do whatever I want and swap classes freely so i just roll with the same file. No other game this year has gotten me to keep pushing through and play more and more, and It’s something I would like to play through again.

Game of the Year: Astro Bot

Astro Bot is a fantastic game. Every second i spent playing it, i was smiling, having a ton of fun just seeing all the fun little gimmicks that every level had. The fun thing about Astro Bot is that every level is unique in their own way. Every level finds a way to utilize their own gimmicks in ways that don’t feel overplayed. Even if I think the game was a little short personally, I think it ends up being by design; the game doesn’t overstay its welcome that way.

The fun little cameo bots to collect around the levels are a treat for me specifically as a fan of Playstation for so long. You think you won’t see a certain character and they’ll show up 2 levels later. The biggest surprise was the Playstation themed LEVELS. Those were crazy to have shown up. I really wish there were more of those in the game. Take that for a complaint: I wish there was more game. When that is about the only complaint I can muster up, I know I got a good game in my hands.

I am not going to clamor for Sony to greenlight more games like this. I would like for the industry to take good notes from the game’s success and I hope the game industry moves in a direction for strong full games rather than just strong foundations. Cheers to more Astro Bot, and cheers to more simple, fun, and cute games like it.

Anyway, happy new year to everyone and here's to another eventful year. As a great man once said, "Dreams don't die!" Cheers.