Edcel Cintron-Gonzalez's 2021 Games of the Year

Edcel J. Cintron-Gonzalez, Contributing Editor

Keeping up with the latest console games has proven to be more challenging than I thought. Scrolling through the digital store and adding hundreds of titles to your wishlist is an easy task. Playing them? Well, that’s another story. Lately I’ve found myself excited to watch the launch trailers of awesome titles such as Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Game trailers and reading the latest in upcoming games has kept my inner child wanting more from the game industry. To be honest, I’ve been missing games that encouraged me to play for hours like they did when I was a kid. I still have vivid memories of me as a child waiting to see what Santa would place under my Christmas palm tree, as he visited the island of enchantment. I remember having a blast with a lot of the Mario Party franchise and spending hours mastering all the unique mini games and trying to outsmart the bots on hard difficulty. The recent release of Mario Party Superstars has really been the kind of excitement I was craving for. What I found great about this game is how it shows both the original design of the game boards from previous games and then the updated version of them before you embark on a play session.

However, 2021 was not a year where I could sit down and enjoy games like I used to. I wanted to find games that would take me out of the harsh reality of COVID-19 and put me on a journey where I can vent in a safe space. A space where I did not think about my own financial insecurities and challenges, I face as a graduate worker.

Within all the chaos in the world, I found myself playing a lot of mobile games from the iOS store. The Steven Universe RPGs games helped to distract my mind as I was helping the crystal gems defend earth from enemies from Homeworld. I also returned to some battle defense, turn-based, and other kinds of mobile games I used to play. To my surprise, a lot of games I used to play years ago had become popular again on the App Store. Some of my buddies were even playing a lot of these and hyping me up to get back to them. While my list may not be the morning cup of coffee that still brings you joy in this life, it is definitely one I have a lot to talk about. 
 

The Battle Cats (iOS and Android)

Before I get into this, I want to clarify that I’m not a cat dad, but I love to take care of my peeps’ cats. I got into this tower defense game when it first released back in 2012. The Battle Cats developed by PONOS is a side-scroller tower defense game where you lead your army of cats to take over the world, in the very real sense of that phrase. You start off with basic units, challenge aliens, zombies, and other creatures who are defending their home country, all while you do a lot of different activities to power up your cat army. What I love and find hilarious about the game is all of the different cat units you can unlock. These range from basic units such as muscle cat, whale cat, UFO cat, dragon cat and so on, to Ultra Super Rare units such as the courageous Cat Guild Heroes and the Wargod Masamune who throws his Cat blade shields at incoming enemies. I’m not gonna lie, I am currently stuck in a chapter where I have to grind previous levels to gain more experience to level up my cat army, and log in everyday to make sure I get my ticket bonuses to unlock more powerful cat units. Through multiple cans of cat food, and power ups, I hope to take my cat army to the next chapter this game has to offer.

Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! (Google Play Store and iOS)

A few weeks ago I was thinking about how much fun Temple Run was back in 2011. I kept thinking about games that featured an endless journey, where the game mechanics were just avoiding numerous obstacles as you collect coins and wondered if that explorer ever made it out alive from that temple. Those thoughts aside, I kept searching for a game that featured mechanics similar to Temple Run. While I was procrastinating on Facebook, the algorithm recommended that I play Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! As a big fan of Crash, how can I say no to this? I downloaded it and started playing it on my iPad. What I appreciate about this game is how close the overall aesthetic is to the Crash games. Instead of an endless journey, the game is divided by levels, where you have to complete a specific mission to keep progressing through the game. This almost makes me feel like I’m actually playing with a purpose, not just burning time while I wait for my Doordash order. The game itself is pretty straight forward: you have three lanes where you can slide left and right to collect mangos and avoid enemies and obstacles. You can tap on Crash to do his iconic spin attack to take care of incoming enemies. Crash can also do his slide attack and pick up items that will help him defeat familiar bosses such as Dingodile, Dr. Neo Cortex, Uka Uka, and other not so friendly fiends you’ll find on your run. With daily missions and lots of collectibles to get, this is definitely a mobile game that has kept me busy for a good while now.

League of Legends: Wild Rift (iOS and Android)

I gave up playing League of Legends a long time ago. Mostly because I grew tired of the negative energy I received from random players online. I also didn’t enjoy playing it because I never owned a PC or laptop powerful enough to enjoy the game’s graphics. Don’t get me wrong, League of Legends can be real fun if you have a group of buddies to play with. Especially if you all talk on the same voice channel. That’s how I got started playing the game in the first place; my most fun memories were just playing together with my buddies for a few hours. While I don’t get the same social energy in Wild Rift, it has been great re-entering the League of Legends franchise with their mobile version of the game. Although the map and scale of the game is slightly smaller than the original game, I’ve had fun just playing it anywhere in the world… as long as my local wifi doesn’t fail me. And the funny thing is more people got into the game after the release of Arcane: League of Legends. I’ve enjoyed watching all the memes where players get hyped up because of the series and then find out that it’s not the same as the game itself. Wild Rift has really got me to like playing League of Legends again. There are still haters and toxic comments in the chat, but with the smaller screen it is a lot easier to ignore people trying to bash your best noob fantasy. It is also hard to type and play on a tablet, so it all works out by the end.

Pokémon Unite (NS, Android, iOS)

Pokémon has played a major role in my childhood, adolescence, and adult life. My first Pokémon game was Pokemon Blue for GameBoy! I still remember when mom gave me a light adapter so I can continue my journey to be a Pokémon master at night, since you know, screens didn’t have their own light back then. When I saw the trailer for Pokémon Unite, I was excited to play Pokémon in a different game genre. I started playing this using my iPad just to enjoy the different game modes and mechanics on a bigger screen. While Pokemon Unite is a 5-on-5 strategic team battle game where you play as your favorite Pokémon to find out which team collects and scores the most Aeos energy, this game also offers fun seasonal game modes. For the holiday season, I spent most of my time playing a 4 vs. 4 game mode at the Shivre City stage, where you can use exclusive items for the stage like turning yourself into a snowball to bash your opponents. The funny thing about this game mode is that when you’re defeated, you temporarily turn into a snowman and you’re stuck cheering your team until you are able to move again. With incredible pokemon such as Pikachu, Alolan Ninetales, Greninja, Cinderrace, and the newly added Dragonite and Trevenant, I’m really looking forward to spending more of my free time playing this game.

Brawl Stars (iOS and Android)

Let’s go! To end my list, I’m going to talk about Brawl Stars, a multiplayer online 3 vs. 3 battle arena and 3rd person shooter game by Supercell. I’ve been playing this game since it’s release in 2018 for iOS and Android, and it does not disappoint. When I originally played it, you got a set of brawlers and played a variety of 3 vs. 3 game modes where your objective was to beat the other team and win a bunch of trophies and medals. There’s no real storyline in this game; you collect items in order to upgrade your brawlers, gain new brawlers, and prepare your favorite characters to use them in competitive play. I love using all the brawlers, since each of them offer their own unique play style. For example, even though this game is technically a 3rd-person shooter, a lot of the brawlers don’t even use guns. There’s a brawler that tosses ice cream cones to freeze your opponents and another one who uses a snowblower to push enemies aside. With this in mind, lots of the brawlers do specialize in different roles in the games, such as ones who focus on dealing heavy damage, support, or mobility. Some of my favorite brawlers include 8-BIT, a cute little robot who uses a video game blaster, which looks similar to the one I used to use when I played Duck Hunt, and Squeak, a damage dealer who throws squeaky bombs at enemies. And finally, Crow, who is a super cool crow with a leather jacket that throws poison feathers. I like Crow a lot because one of his in-game skins turns him into a mecha robot ready firing lasers at everyone in sight. With game modes that range from destroying the enemy safe to collecting gems, as well as special events that involve working together to defeat giant dinosaurs, Brawl Stars made it to the top of my list.