The MMNTech GOTY Awards 2020: Best of the Best

Deck the halls with great games. We’ve faced a great many challenges this year. Despite a pair of colossal stinkers, 2020 actually ended up being a curiously strong year for gaming overall. It took a long time to really nail down which games met our best of the best. There’s just so many to chose from. So sit back with a hot cup of cocoa and see if your favourites made our cut.

Honorable Mentions go too…

We do have a few honourable mentions this year. It’d be remiss to not mention Animal Crossing: New Horizon. The game really didn’t do much to reinvent the formula, but it did prove to be the right game at the right time. Allowing people to build their own little islands, and visit others when they couldn’t in real life. It continues to be a smash hit for Nintendo, and deservedly so.

We also have Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The first game in the long standing crime melodrama franchise which dared mix up its core gameplay. While we can’t say we prefer the RPG mechanics to the beat-em-up style, they still offer a fun gameplay experience. It’s also well supported by its cast of loveable characters. It’s just as wacky and weird as other entries into the series, so if you’re a fan, definitely check it out.

The Bronze Medal Award goes to…

Half-life: Alyx (Valve)

Every couple of generations, we get a game that completely redefines gaming. Whether it pushes forward things from a narrative perspective, gives us a completely new way to play, or blows the doors of what the medium is capable from a technical perspective. Half-life: Alyx does all those things.

I think it’s fair to say that VR has never really gotten a fair shake. There’s always been a lot of buzz about it, but the high cost and lack of compelling games has always made it a difficult proposition for most gamers.

It seems nobody wanted to take the plunge, until Valve came along. The company, who’s more known as a store nowadays than a game developer, has been pushing VR hard to the point of putting out their own headset. So it seemed natural that they would be the first company that would make a AAA game specifically designed from the ground up for the medium. Well, what they ended up creating is nothing short of mind blowing.

From the very first time you take control of Alyx, it hooks you. Pick up a bottle and the liquid flows inside it just as it would in real life. You feel like you’re literally inside the game. Which is a phrase that gets brought up a lot when talking about VR, but has only now been made true. The level of player immersion is unlike anything that’s ever come before it. On top of that, we get an excellent prequel to legendary Half-Life 2, with a great story and solid gameplay. It may not be Half-Life 3, but we’ll settle for completely redefining what games can be.

The silver medal goes to…

Ghosts of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/Sony)

Every console has that one game that takes it out with a bang. For the PS2 it was God of War, for the PS3 it was the original Last of Us, and for the PS4, it’s Ghosts of Tsushima.

Set across the backdrop of the Mongol invasion of Japan in the 13th century, Jin, the last surviving member of his clan, vows to protect his people no matter what the cost.

It’s a bit odd that a Western studio would come up with one of the best Samurai epics we’ve ever witnessed in gaming. Then again, Sucker Punch is a studio that’s never really stuck to conventions. This may very well be the PlayStation’s own Witcher 3, with its grand open world and bloody hand-to-hand combat. Combined with a truly grand story, this is quite possibly the best exclusive Sony has put out in a very long time. Not to mention the fact that’s it’s absolutely gorgeous. Perhaps even outdoing RDR2 on sheer visual spectacle. Showing that the now 7 year old console still has the power to wow.

And the Gold Medal award for best game of 2020 goes to…

Doom Eternal (id Software/Bethesda)

Doom Eternal is absolutely nuts. What else can you really say about it? Where as Doom 2016 sought to modernize the classics, Eternal takes the entire concept completely off the rails. It’s one beautiful, brutal, gory, fast paced masterpiece that may possibly be one of the best first person shooters ever made. As someone who’s been playing the franchise since the very beginning, this is exactly what a Doom game should be.

Eternal immediately picks up after the events of 2016. The minions of Hell are invading Earth. Doom Guy is once again on visceral clean up duty, and none too pleased about it. But there’s a prophesy to fulfill, so once more into the breech. Rip and tear, until it is done.

Gameplay is faster, more frantic, more violent, and more metal than I could have ever hoped it could be. While the 2016 game as more a straight shooter, Eternal includes a lot more kinetic gameplay into the mix. Battles are pure chaos, yet also have a more tactical side to them as well thanks to your greater freedom of movement. You also have limited access to ammo and armour laying about. This encourages you to use your chainsaw and other special attacks more often, as these will net critical items. Thankfully, they’ve become cool down powers, so you won’t need to find things like fuel canisters to utilize them.

Eternal shifts from incredibly intense battles to quieter moments that involve puzzles and platforming. The game is absolutely gorgeous, and runs butter smooth on the new id Tech 7 engine.

It takes a lot to raise the bar from Doom 2016. That game reinvigorated the FPS genre after it had sunk into a malaise of drab military sims and aggressively monetized looter shooters. Yet Doom Eternal did it. It raised the bar, then threw it aside. It’s hellishly good fun and an easy winner for out best game of 2020.