Games is the one list where I can't restrict myself to one year of release. With indie games so often coming out a year or so late on consoles and me having no way to play them on PC, it seems unfair to disqualify so many games that I may end up loving from my lists. The fact console release dates vary just further complicates the issue. I've therefore opted for an approach of listing the top 10 games that I played that year, regardless of when they were released. This year five of the games in the list were released in 2017, largely due to the very strong year Nintendo has had! Before I start I'd like to give an honourable mention to another Nintendo game, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, which I've fallen in love with again this year with it's release on the Switch. I loved it on the Wii U and it is testament to its brilliance that I ended up putting 30-40 more hours into it on the Switch despite having put a ton of time into it on the Wii U only a few years ago. It was a highlight of my Christmas break with the family due to the improved four-player split-screen racing and just generally brought a lot of joy to my year. It hasn't made the list simply because it is basically a port of Mario Kart 8, which I'd already played extensively on Wii U and which made my top five games in 2014 when it was first released. Without further ado, here's my favourite games I played in 2017, what a fun year it's been!

As a huge fan of F-Zero, I was excited to hear this was being moved to the Switch from the Wii U, where I enjoyed but didn't play enough of FAST Racing Neo. I really enjoyed FAST RMX's sense of speed, the hugely improved look since the Wii U entry and the wealth of tracks available. The game is fun to play but lacks a little personality when compared to F-Zero and also allows much fewer racers on the track at one time, which means races are somewhat less intense.

9. Everybody's Gone To The Rapture

**(Playstation 4)**

One of those experiences that stick with you. A peaceful game about exploring an abandoned town trying to decipher what has happened there. The story takes some unexpected twists and turns and required me to read up about it on finishing to discover a variety of different interpretations, but I like that in a story. It looks gorgeous too.

This one crept on here thanks to the amazing fun I had with it over Christmas with my family. Up to 4 players work collaboratively to keep up with restaurant guests' orders in the kitchen. A game that is really quick to teach people and an amazing time when you hit the 3-4 player sweet-spot. You end up hilariously shouting at each other before you decide a more sensible plan of action is required. This one had pretty much every one of my brothers and sisters in stitches at some point. Highly recommended, and now running as smooth as butter on the Switch.

On the show I probably often sound down about first-person shooters but I actually love the genre when it brings something new to the battlefield and has a strong single-player campaign. This one does both. The campaign kept me hooked, largely due to the great relationship between the player and his mech 'BT'. The way you can wall-run and battle other mechs one-on-one really gave the combat a fresh feel too. A really tight shooter and well worth the discounted price you can get it for now.

MarioRabbids — 6. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

**(Nintendo Switch)**

I was sceptical as soon as this was rumoured, but on actually seeing some gameplay I was sold. The turn-based combat is much like a simplified X-Com yet much deeper than I expected. The Rabbids fit into the Mario universe surprisingly well and there are some really hilarious moments in the story (such as the opera boss). I didn't think that walking around the worlds outside of the battles really felt engaging enough but the great combat scenarios and fun progression more than made up for that. Probably my surprise of the year. An absolute stunner to look at too.

Two first-person shooters on the list? See, I told you I can like them! This one is just so fun and visceral. The replacement of that silly 'hide and re-heal' mechanic present in pretty much every FPS nowadays with the way more fun 'kill stuff and get health from it' mechanic really makes Doom stand out among other first-person shooters, rewarding a more gung-ho style. Probably the most fun I've had with a shooter campaign since Goldeneye on the N64, it really is that special. The way the stunning visuals and pounding soundtrack go together really gets the adrenaline pumping. It's silly cheap now so if you haven't played it yet you really need to.

Probably the weirdest entry on my list. This one went some really strange and interesting places and had me completely hooked throughout. Satisfying environmental puzzles, a gorgeous yet bleak look, and a story that stuck with me long after the game was finished made for one of the most affecting video experiences of the year.

I loved Splatoon on the Wii U but ended up loving Splatoon 2 even more on the Switch. The ability to play handheld meant I got in way more hours than on the Wii U and meant this ended up being my second most played game of the year behind only the huge Zelda: BOTW. They improved on the original in pretty much every way. There's more weapons, the specials are much more balanced and the single player was much more varied thanks to not being limited to one weapon. I think the 'it's too similar to the original argument' doesn't hold too much water when the whole idea itself is so unique, fun and packed with its own style. There's still a few niggles here and there but that doesn't hold this back from being easily my favourite online-multiplayer experience of the year. I'm not sure there's anything in gaming quite as satisfying as splatting another inkling with a bucket full of paint. So. Much. Fun.

3D Marios are historically my favourite type of game and so when Odyssey was announced at the start of the year my level of excitement was hard to contain. Thankfully, it didn't disappoint. A return to a less platforming heavy and more explorational style was welcome and the game just oozes joy. There's an unbelievable amount of things to do and although I don't particularly like the overworld map (I'd have liked something more like the castle in Mario 64) the worlds are so diverse you just never know what will happen next. The cap mechanic is brilliant, the fact everything wears caps is an utter joy, and some of the inventive things the game has you doing re just pure genius. Time will tell if it's my favourite 3D Mario (Galaxy and Mario 64 are tough to beat) but it's definitely up there.

BOTW — 1. Zelda: Breath of the Wild

**(Nintendo Switch)**

I'm usually more of a Mario man than a Zelda man, although I love both, but I just can't have Breath of the Wild anywhere but at number one. Nintendo completely changed things up and made me love an open world game more than I thought I ever could. You know why? Because it felt like a genuine adventure, not just a game that has a huge open world that has you essentially following a bunch of waypoints to markings on a map for its entire duration. In this game you put the marks on the map. In this game, adventures vary so hugely from one player to the next that it really feels like you're having your own adventure. In this game, you actually can go anywhere, which I feel is the first time this has actually been true. The feeling of climbing a tall mountain and looking out at the vastness of the world you can explore sprawling out beneath you is one of the best feelings I've had in any video game. The game definitely has some problems. The story is nothing special and a lot of the inventory management is clunky but the world is so fantastic that it barely matters. A genuine contender for my favourite game of all time, and I've got so much more left to explore. I'm not sure I'll ever completely stop playing it, and when I do, I sure as hell will never forget it.

Thanks for reading, and let's hope my 2018 list is just as strong!

Clive :)