The Top 5 Games Of 2018

As 2017 coasts to an end, we ExtremeTech writers have spent a good chunk of our time this month looking back at what we enjoyed most. We all have our own specialties and tech predilections, but pretty much everybody here enjoys video games. Some of us focus on new releases to stay on the cutting edge, others are still working their way through their back logs, but we can all use this opportunity to commiserate about our time spent exploring virtual worlds.
In today’s roundup, you’ll hear from David Cardinal, Ryan Whitwam, Joel Hruska, and Grant Brunner on the games they personally loved playing. Here’s the thing: Many of the titles on these lists didn’t come out in 2017. But we’d rather give you an honest showcase of what we enjoyed, instead of constraining our lists solely to new releases. And since massive seasonal discounts, DLC, and games-as-a-service have become vital aspects of the industry at large, we feel this method more accurately reflects how most people play games in 2017.
With that said, there’s no accounting for taste, and the five-slot limit means we had to leave out some of our favorites. So if you feel strongly about a game you played this year, feel free to give it the praise it deserves in the comment section below.

1. Forza Motorsports 7

I’m a sucker for the Motorsports franchise because it combines excellent visuals, an amazing selection of cars, and just enough realism that I can kind-of pretend that I’m driving a car without having to find out how mediocre I am by doing something like iRacing. Motorsports 7 is more of everything than previous versions. Better graphics (especially on my 32-inch 4K monitor), more options, and more cars. You can simply race your favorite car, or enter various longer-term contests against AIs or other racers. Speaking of which, the AIs seem better in 7, and act a little more reasonably on average. Version 7 has lots of new weather options as well. There is a pay to play aspect, as you can buy cars, although you can also earn them. As to the reality coefficient, I divide racing sims into ones with and without Rewind. This one has rewind. If Motorsports is too sane for you, there’s always Horizon 3. (Buy on Amazon)


 
2. F1 2017

I’m not going to claim this game is one that everyone should get or play. Like many licensed games, it is tied closely to the sport it follows. But if you’re a fan of F1, this is a great way to drive the same tracks and in kind-of-the-same cars as your particular hero. For 2017, you can drive the new, super-grippy-until-you-lose-it cars, or race historic versions. I wish it could magically appear before the season, but at least it shipped mid-season, so it’s possible to race the last few tracks in the week leading up to the actual race. For the record, I play this and other racing games with a force feedback wheel and peddles. I’m not much on trying to use a controller for steering. (Buy on Amazon)




3. Dirt Rally
One reason I got this game is that it was one of the first to support VR. That was the good news. The bad news is that on a mountain course, it is pseudo-real enough that I can’t play very long in VR without having to take a break. On that front, it is one reason I was happy that I bought various VR-capable games from Steam — so that I could use them with and without my Rift — instead of from Oculus directly, which (at least at the time) only allowed use with the Rift. Dirt Rally was one of the first to do a great job of modeling road surfaces, which is especially important in this type of game. (Buy on Amazon)


4. Civilization V

My biggest problem with Steam is that it unhelpfully reminds me of how much time I have spent (wasted?) playing each of my games. No game racks hours up for me faster than Civ. It’s so easy to get started on a game and become attached to your imaginary kingdom that you just have to see how it turns out. Plus, I love watching the little characters wander around and do battle. Civ is far from the only game that adds that level of detail, but it was the first one I used that did. From an educational point of view, I’d like to think that each game is a potential for learning something about how civilizations rise and fall. But that may be wishful thinking. Since my favorite part of the game is battle strategies, I’ve just added Ultimate General: Civil War to my Library, and look forward to playing it
 over the holidays.



5. Everest VR

I can hear the complaining already. No, Everest VR is not a game you’ll play every day. You may only play it once. But it is a game that really opens your eyes to the potential of both a VR headset and touch controllers in an easy-to-grasp (pun intended) way. It’s also one you can fire up for your friends who are curious about VR and amaze them in just a few minutes — even if they aren’t gamers. The millions that went into creating it show in the incredible detail of the photogrammetry-generated scenery and the realistic physics of everything down to the snowflakes. (Buy on Steam)