Funny To A Point – Jeff M's Big Picks For 2018

We're just a few days into the new year, which means most gaming outlets are busy doling out their final year-end awards to all of 2017's greatest titles. However, being the extremely efficient and professional editor that I am, I already did that, and am ready to stop living in the past and focus on the year ahead of us.

And what a year it's going to be! Full of triple-A sequels and plucky indies and probably more lootboxes than you can shake a pitchfork and/or torch at. But don't worry about that crap for a minute and instead read this list of my most anticipated games of 2018. Some of the entries are guaranteed to surprise you! (But not in legally binding way. Seriously, I will not be held responsible if you walk away from this list unsurprised.)

Note: The following entries are listed in no particular order. Except for the last one, which is my most anticipated game. But everything else is totally random.

Monster Hunter: World
I never really paid much attention to Monster Hunter; to me it was always just a weird and super-confusing JRPG series that Capcom relegated to handheld systems I didn't own. It also didn't help that most Monster Hunter fans seemed insane, sinking hundreds of hours into farming dragon tails and romancing anthropomorphic cats – like I said, I never played the games, so I honestly don't know what you do in them. I can only assume it involves cat sex.

However, there is one thing I know for certain about the series: You hunt monsters (I mean duh, it's in the title), and that part always sounded awesome. That's why I'm so excited for Monster Hunter: World; not only is it on a system I actually care about this time, but Capcom is going all out to update the formula and make it more enticing to open-world fans. I can't wait to dive into Monster Hunter: World – particularly the co-op, so I can have the Monster Hunter fans in the office explain how the hell everything works and take me to the best hunting spots like I'm some rich jackass on safari.

Far Cry 5
The Far Cry series has always been about battling for survival in exotic open-world locations, and Far Cry 5 takes you to the sandy beaches of...Montana? Isn't Montana landlocked? Well, whatever. At least you'll still be contending with rare animal species such as bears and...elk, maybe? Surely we can count on the small-town cult you're infiltrating to deliver perceptive and thought-provoking political commentary!

I'll be honest: There's only one reason why Far Cry 5 is on this list, and that's the radio towers new, full-fledged co-op. At it's heart, Far Cry has always been about running around a giant open world and causing mayhem, and that's always more fun with a friend. Plus, Cork and I can never have enough games to claim we're going to play together, then never follow through on.

State of Decay 2
I'm a huge zombie fan, and regardless of how cliche an enemy they've become, my hunger has remained because no game has perfectly scratched the zombie itch – which in this case would be decaying zombie flesh. Or brains maybe. Yeah, definitely brains.

Disastrous metaphors aside, the first State of Decay is as close to my dream zombie game as any title has gotten, thanks to its smart mix of strategy, permadeath, exploration, and survival. And tons of zombies. Unfortunately, the game came with more bugs than you could ragdoll a corpse at (I really need to give up on the metaphors), so hopefully the sequel can deliver a more polished experience. Brrrraaaaiiiiinnnnssss!

Spider-Man
Sony has only released one highly scripted gameplay video for Spider-Man so far, and the amount of QTEs it contained had my spidey-sense tingling. Not to mention the years-long bombardment of Marvel shows and movies we've all endured, which has made it hard for me to muster up any kind of enthusiasm for super-hero shenanigans. But come on: Insomniac making a Spider-Man game? How awesome is that! I still have fond memories of the old Xbox Spider-Man games, and I can't wait to continually swing face-first into the sides of buildings in glorious HD.

Call of Duty Whatever
I thought it was great that Call of Duty was going back to World War II, in a time-is-a-flat-circle kind of way. However, as I mentioned in last month's year's column, I can't believe how rote the campaign felt. That's why I'm excited for literally whatever the next Call of Duty does: space, prehistoric cavemen, alien sex vampires – as long as I don't have to show a dying squadmate a picture of my sweetheart back home, no idea is too outlandish.

Coming Up Next: More big games that everyone is looking forward to in 2018. And by "everyone," I mean "me."

from www.GameInformer.com - The Feed http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2018/01/05/funny-to-a-point-jeff-m-s-big-picks-for-2018.aspx