We all have our favourite games.
Some people can confidently and proudly list to you their definitive Top Ten games of all time, even if they have such uninspired choices as Final Fantasy VII or The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on there. Others, like myself, just generally have a sort of pool of games we generally prefer over others and couldn’t possibly give them a ranking. The important thing to remember here is that these are our favourite games.
And a favourite game is not the same as a best game.
When I say best game, I mean in terms of a trillion factors beyond, but also including, personal preference. Impact, legacy, how well it holds up, etc, etc ad infinitum. Not objectively though; it’s impossible to be objective when reviewing a very subjective experience. A favourite game is just one you have a bloody good time with. Take Dead Island: I gave it a 7/10 on here back in 2011 but honestly I had a huge amount of fun with it among friends and would have scored it much higher had I thought it truly deserved it.
So it’s important to keep this in mind when people tell you their game of the year choices over the coming weeks. Really, honestly, having your own personal list of Top Five games of the year or whatever is pretty pointless but we all do it anyway due to the nature of how this time of year naturally leads us to reflect on what happened over the past 12 months.
Honestly, this article isn’t why Star Wars Battlefront is my game of the year. If you’ve been listening to the podcast at all over the past couple of months you’ll have heard me guest star on it before going on 15-minute rants about the game. In short, it was everything I was hoping it would be and all the lush attention to detail in every aspect that only DICE could pull off only made it better. The Fighter Squadron mode is something I’ve wanted for a very long time and I’ve had a massive amount of fun spending hours shooting up TIE Fighters while zooming along in an A-Wing.
If Battlefront isn’t your game of the year, then that’s cool.
People have different experiences with games and the community around them that really shape how they appreciate it. So when someone tells you that Battlefront is their game of the year, or Undertale, or Chroma Squad, or Halo 5, or whatever don’t get indignant that it doesn’t match your own personal choices. After all, that’s what it is—a personal choice.
We’re all passionate about games, after all that’s why we’re here. However, don’t let that passion devolve into a flame war in a comments thread. Instead, maybe try and understand where the person is coming from (without being patronising or rude!) and maybe you’ll learn something about a game you haven’t heard of or didn’t get to play.
Oh, and even if I think they’re boring choices, if Final Fantasy VII and Ocarina of Time are your favourite games, then good for you. Read our review of Star Wars Battlefront.