Well, 2014 is over, and so of course it's that time of the year where we all put up our annual game of the year lists. At first, like a lot of people this year wasn't that great for video games. There were a lot of disappointing games, Watch Dogs being the big one for me, and there were even more broken games this year. But why dwell on the negative where the is so much positive. Without further Ado, I now commence my yearly game of the year list
10. Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Kevin spacey, guns, droneds, jumpsuits. What more can I say?
I really debated between this game or Titanfall on my list, and although I spent some time figuring out how to set up a Korean vpn to play Titanfall a few days early, it just didn't have the lasting power of Call of Duty this year for me.
Plus Kevin Spacey...am I right?!
9. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
I picked up the first The Binding of Isaac because it was the next game made by one of the guys who made Super Meat Boy, and although I really liked his previous games, there was just something about this experience that didn't really gel with me.
I'm so glad I decided to give this game another try, and had it not been free I don't think I ever would have given it a second try. I'm so glad I decided to give it a second chance because I've really fallen in love with this game that I originally didn't really like that much of.
8. Nidhogg
If you have never played Nidhogg than you really owe it to yourself to go out there and pick this one up. Nidhogg was by far one of the most rewarding games that I played this year. I've had matches that lasted a couple of minutes, and I've had matches that wound up lasting close to a half an hour. These long form matches are definitely some of the most stressful, yet most rewarding multiplayer experiences I have had all year. I almost punched my friend over this game, but that's a different story for a different day.
I promise I'm not a Nintendo fanboy, but you'll probably notice a trend from this moment forward on my list, and that is, that this year was a great year for Nintendo games. It all started with the release of this game in May. Mario Golf was released during my finals week at college, and during my downtime all I could do was play Mario Golf. It wasn't just that week that I played a ton of Mario Golf, but it lasted pretty much the entire summer. All those days I could have been out really golfing...I spent playing Mario Golf.
6. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
Like a lot of people, I was completely surprised with Captain Toad. I fully had expected to not get a lot of enjoyment out of a game that was originally a few mini games in Super Mario 3D World, but when the early buzz was extremely positive about this game, I figured I had to check it out. Boy am I glad I did! I'm only about half way done with the main game, but I can already tell I'm probably going to go back and get all the secret unlockables, which, to my knowledge I've never really done in a game before, but with this one I just might.
5. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Growing up in the early 90's I should have been a huge fan of Pokemon, but I wasn't. That was always my little brother's thing, and I didn't want to be a part of anything that little twerp was into. I was three years his senior, and far to mature to collect those silly little Pokemon cards.
Crap...I just realized, Hearthstone is my Pokémon Trading Card Game. The things I always made fun of my brother for liking in Pokemon, is the exact same stuff I like about Hearthstone. Blizzard did the impossible. Not only did they make it easy to learn their collectible card game, but they made it incredibly hard to put down. With that said, I'm going to go play a round of Hearthstone right now!
My dad once told me he'd kick me out of the house if I played Dungeons and Dragons in his house. Growing up in the 70's the only thing he knew about that game was that he heard from somebody that it was satanic, and therefore It was not to be played in our house. I think my dad is stupid...oh, and I really love Dragon Age Inquisition.
3. Mario Kart 8
There's an old adage that says, "your first Mario Kart is your favorite." Although I don't completely agree with this, Mario Kart 8 perfected everything that made Mario Kart fun, so much so, that I almost forgot that I ever played another Mario Kart game before. Mario Kart 8 may not be my first Mario Kart game, but it definitely is the best one.
I bought an Ouya for the emulators and stayed for TowerFall. Every sunday for months we would go to lunch after church, and then go back to somebody's house to play Towerfall. Towerfall was our drug and I was the dealer. Then Ascension came out, and everybody had to come to my house because I wasn't going to lug my PC around to play the perfected version of an already perfect game.
The only game that could possibly overthrow my love for TowerFall is a Smash Bros game. The thing I love about this game, and every Smash Bros game is one of the exact same things that Towerfall gives me is that it's extremely easy to pick up, and incredibly hard to master. Just take a moment to look up pro tips on youtube, and you'll see what I mean.
I always expected to like Super Smash Bros, but the thing I didn't expect was how much I would like the 8 player smash mode. It reminds me a lot of the fun I had in high school getting 16 player Lan parties of Halo together every Friday. There's just something fun and chaotic about picking small fights in a game while a larger battle is going on around you, and that's the type of thing that the 8 player smash really provides.
Although I may not always be able to get 8 people together to play, I am positive that Super Smash Bros will be a staple of game nights with my friends for years to come. See you tomorrow Smash Crew!
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