Parris Fosteer is a Community Developer for Finji, a believer in pizza bargains, and a quality follow on TikTok.
Hi, I’m Harris Foster. Normally I’m doing community work for games like Night in the Woods, Zelda Like a Fox, and Chicory: A Colorful Tale. Around the Giant Bomb world, you might know me as that guy who constantly gets his name spelled wrong. This happened once during Giant Bomb @ Nite 2018, and then many, *many* times after that. It even somehow came up during the Ghost Recon Breakpoint Quick Look. I still don’t know how this happens. It’s not even that hard of a name.
My constant misidentification on Giant Bomb Dot Com has wreaked havoc on my personal brand. Starbucks baristas hesitate when writing my name on the cup. I have to present two forms of ID when buying liquor now. I took a flight recently and the guy at the TSA stand took one look at me and called me a “fuckin’ dumbass.” This is all thanks to what I have been told was a “production mishap” at GB studios, but what I truly know to be nothing short of character assassination.
As an apology, Jeff Gerstmann offered me a lifetime subscription to Giant Bomb Premium, 300 dollars cash, and a five-minute Toys-R-Us-style “keep anything you can grab” run through his garage. I said “Jeff, I just want my life back.” He said “How about a Giant Bomb Top 10 list?” I said “OK.”
Welcome to the first ever Giant Bomb top 10 list created out of a mutual desire for reconciliation. A quick note: I’m leaving Chicory: A Colorful Tale off this list because of the whole “I worked on it” thing. I really love this game, and it would definitely fit in here, but I want to focus on games from other talented folks. OK! On to my favorite stuff.
10. Knockout City
Applying the expectations of an arena shooter to dodge ball has previously been attempted (much love to Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball), but Knockout City is the game that nails it with Nintendo Sports-like precision. I say “Nintendo-Sports,” because Knockout City feels like a return to the long lost genre of “larger-than-life” sports games that we were all about in the 2000s. Knockout City is not quite funky enough to be an EA Sports BIG title, and not quite “older sibling who teaches you cusses” enough to be a late-stage Midway sports game. Velan Studios has created a game that feels like a cousin to Super Mario Strikers or Mario Superstar Baseball, and they should be proud of that. Check out Knockout City - it’s wacky, it’s arcade-y, and it’s on basically everything.
9. Splitgate
I’m a big Halo guy. Spoiler alert: Halo Infinite is my #1 pick at the bottom of this list. Splitgate’s burst in popularity earlier this year was exactly what I needed, and acted as an appetizer to Halo Infinite.
This intro isn’t fair to Splitgate. It’s a terrific game. But you can’t talk about Splitgate without mentioning both Halo and Portal by name. Splitgate’s gameplay being a combination of two of my all-time favorite games made it feel like I had been training my whole life for its release. I was zippin’ all over the place. I was staring dudes straight in the face while shooting them square in the back. In my time playing Splitgate, no one ever figured out that Oddball becomes trivial with portals. Place a return portal, grab the ball, open an escape portal, close it behind you, and you’re gone without a trace. I was a little stinker when I played Splitgate, and I love any game that allows me that privilege.
8. Rat Battler II @ Meow Wolf Denver
The only spoiler warning I’ll give in this whole review is not for a game, but for a real-life experience. If you have any desire to visit a Meow Wolf exhibit, in this case Meow Wolf Denver, skip this entry. Meow Wolf is a thing that you should remain in the dark about up until the moment you’re inside.
Buried deep within the non-euclidian twists and turns of this incredible Disney Imagineer nightmare is a wholly unique arcade experience known as Rat Battler II. Essentially a Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots clone, Rat Battler II isn’t about the moment-to-moment gameplay. In fact, the machine didn’t even seem to work correctly when my girlfriend and I tried to play. BUT - what Rat Battler II is REALLY about, much like everything inside Meow Wolf, is that there’s nothing else quite like it.
The Rat Battler II arcade cabinet acts as a centerpiece for a slice of the museum devoted to being a gross little punk who wants to get loaded and have a good time. The cabinet is a 360-degree plexiglass enclosure spanning all the way to the ceiling, with your physical rat characters at the bottom duking it out. As the cabinet expands towards the ceiling, a complex diorama plays out inside, with miniature grimy bikers hanging off the fire escapes of nearby buildings and cops coming in to break up the fight. Pull yourself away from the cabinet and you’ll find Graffiti covering the walls while screeching guitar bombards your eardrums. Busted Game Boys and spent whippit containers litter the floor. Rat Battler II is a wholly unique gaming experience that would be physically impossible to have anywhere else. It’s a piece of art that is just as fun to play as it is to be inside.
7. Fortnite