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AggroCraig

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Game of The Year 2014 Users Choice

2014, while somewhat of a total horrorshow when it comes to the people associated with playing video games, the actual games that were released were, at least for me, a tremendous pleasure. If it didn't feel like such a cop-out, this list would be a series of number 1 games. It's been very difficult to actually put these in order, but here we go.

HONORABLE MENTIONS THAT I FEEL REALLY BAD LEAVING OFF OF THE LIST:

Transistor, Super Time Force, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Lethal League, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Dark Souls 2, Tales of Hearts R, Tomodachi Life

ACTUAL GAME OF THE YEAR IF I'M BEING HONEST WITH MYSELF

League of Legends

List items

  • I would be lying to myself if I named any game but Guilty Gear Xrd as my favorite. This is easily my favorite fighting game series of all time, and Xrd feels like it has managed to bring GG into a new era with astounding visuals while maintaining the frenetic, flashy combat that I fell in love with years ago feeling as good as ever. It took the developers a bit of time to get the netcode into working order and the story mode isn't quite as involved from a gameplay perspective as other Arcsys games like BlazBlue and Persona 4 Arena, but the core fighting is as close to perfect as I've ever played and every match is a spectacle to behold because of how goddamn beautiful this game is. Welcome back, Guilty Gear. I missed you so much.

  • Despite the best efforts of some great games from last year like DmC and Metal Gear Rising, the original Bayonetta reigned long as my favorite character action game. I suppose it's fitting that the only game that could ever unseat the queen is, well, the followup to that original masterpiece. Bayonetta's second adventure takes both the tightly-tuned gameplay and the lunacy-ridden story of the original and turns the intensity up beyond the legal limit. The business deals that led to this game's existence as a Nintendo-published title also allowed for an injection of weird Nintendo references and nostalgia into the already-crazy game experience, which I found myself messing with at every opportunity because it made for an even more fun twist. To go into specifics would spoil far too much, but the situations that Bayonetta finds herself in throughout this adventure only get more and more ludicrous as the game goes on, and I couldn't help but wonder where it would go next. Regardless of where I ended up, however, I made sure to track down every hidden weapon I could to add more and more options to the already-deep combat. The culmination of all of this was an experience in which I could switch up my crazy Nintendo costume and my weapon set each chapter to avoid falling into a rote pattern and keep things fresh. I really hope this isn't Bayonetta's last hurrah, because it'd be a terrible shame for this series to not stick around.

  • As it turns out, apparently my favorite games of 2014 amount to a trip down a rabbit hole of Japanese madness. It's a refreshing return to form, given how I've felt like Japanese game making had perhaps lost a step in recent years, with that old-fashioned quirky stuff taking a backseat to relatively safe experiences and fuckin' Monster Hunter. After I was introduced to the general concept of visual novels by 999 and Virtue's Last Reward a few years ago, I've been keeping an eye out for somewhere else that I might be able to find that kind of experience again. My search led me to both of the Danganronpa games released for the Vita in the US this year. Essentially combining the serial-killer-captive situation of the aforementioned Zero Escape games with criminal investigation and courtroom gameplay a la Phoenix Wright, the Danganronpa games get a ton of mileage out of story and characters. While I really enjoyed the first, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is where I truly feel like the series clicked for me just right. TAdding more variety to the gameplay mechanics than the original offered, making the trials a more active and interesting experience, makes the game more than just something to be tolerated in order to see where the story is going. All things considered, however, the story is still the star of the show, blending memorable characters that the game does a great job of making you love (or hate) and a situation that is tense, often emotional, and increasingly insane to make my favorite game story of the year. Also, Chiaki is adorable. So there's that.

  • This year featured what I consider to be the apex of an outstanding crescendo of local multiplayer games returning to the fore over the last handful of years. For me, the standard bearer for local multiplayer awesomeness lies in the many-pronged attack of Sportsfriends. Whether it's an intense one-on-one Super Pole Riders match or pulling as many people in for an afternoon of Johann Sebastian Joust as Bluetooth standards will allow, the multiplayer experiences offered by this package are second to none. Hokra and Barabariball are games that feel like they reward skill and practice in a big way, despite being seemingly relatively simple in mechanics. Throw in a couple of hilarious diversions in the hidden games (that bendy Pong thing and Get on Top) and there's something for pretty much anyone who's even a little interested in games with friends. Finally, I really can't put a fine enough point on the following fact: Johann Sebastian Joust is easily a top-three gaming experience of all time for me, video or otherwise. I've taken to bringing a suitcase full of Joust supplies along to any convention I attend, just for the chance of getting more people to experience the wonder.

  • Earlier this year I was convinced that no multiplayer experience could even come close to rivaling the fun that my friends and I have had with Sportsfriends. Leave it to the hilarious degenerates behind You Don't Know Jack to come as close as possible to proving me wrong. When Fibbage was released in August, I was already hooked. The concept of using smartphones as game controllers in a party game is genius, opening the door of accessibility to anyone whose phone isn't stuck in the Stone Age. Once the concept was extended beyond Fibbage to this entire Party Pack, it became pretty close to the perfect party game. Combining trivia, bullshitting with your friends, and doing your best to crudely draw random nonsense on your phone, these games distill a great night of laughs with good company as much as any video game could. My personal highlight is definitely Drawful, which has confirmed my status as a god-awful artist for all time. Of course, there's also another bushel of episodes of You Don't Know Jack that keep up the level of quality that made the 2011 version so memorable. Jackbox Party Pack has become a staple at gatherings for my group of friends, and I couldn't be happier about it.

  • I was one of the apparent few people who genuinely enjoyed Diablo III, but I wasn't about to claim that there was nothing missing, nothing that could have been improved. After the content that Reaper of Souls has added to the game, I feel like even the haters of the base game have to bite their tongues now. The content in Act V is visually interesting and fun to play, embracing the one-off events that added some flavor to the rest of the game and loading the city of Westmarch with randomly-placed little houses containing mini-stories to be found and, of course, monsters to be clicked to death. The game's flair for bombast gets a nice exclamation point with a sequence involving a colossal battering ram near the end of the act, one of my favorite moments of the year. Beyond all this content, the game's added Adventure Mode serves as the perfect way to get near-infinite content and enjoyment out of the game. Giving an easy way to have repeatable content that doesn't just involve playing the game's story quests over and over again is brilliant, and I appreciated a way to keep leveling my characters and getting sweet loot long after I beat the game. The Nephilim Rifts go even further in this direction, mashing up background tilesets and groups of enemies to provide randomly-generated dungeons to explore. The first time you run into hellish tunnels full of pink ponies and teddy bears, it's pretty hard to argue with the appeal. The addition of the Crusader class is another huge part of my enjoyment, as it's probably my favorite class in the game now. This year also saw the release of the PS4 and Xbox One Ultimate Evil Edition of Diablo III, which I have also spent a great deal of time with and enjoyed. You know, worth mentioning.

  • Everybody has that one game in their Steam library that they've played more than any other. For me, it's the original Binding of Isaac, which has more time played than any other game in my Steam list by an order of magnitude or two. The same love of endlessly repeatable and challenging action games that brought me to Spelunky is also to blame for my affection for Isaac. It stands to reason, then, that this updated version of the game with a neat new aesthetic and a ton more secrets to be found and crazy items and upgrades to be explored would be among my favorites. The move to the Vita lets me take the game everywhere, and it lends itself well to a portable experience. The cross-save with the PS4 version was a bit bumpy at first, but once it was ironed out, moving a run-in-progress between versions was a neat option to have depending on where I was playing. It's a testament to my affection for the game that I see myself playing Isaac well into 2015, seeing if I can finish all of the challenges and even beat all the bosses. That's right, Mega Satan. I'm coming for you.

  • Though I think my favorite Final Fantasy from a character and story standpoint is Final Fantasy VI, my favorite in terms of pure gameplay is very easily Final Fantasy V. The job system that the series has an on-off history with was, in my opinion, at its apex in FFV, allowing an awesome amount of customization to the characters in the party, mixing and matching abilities from jobs to create fighters that fit the player's style just right. I've missed having this proper experience in a JRPG for years, though I've managed to catch glimpses of it here and there (it's why I actually liked FFX-2!) However, the release of Bravely Default finally saw that old-fashioned job system come roaring back in all its glory, nested within an RPG that is a classic Final Fantasy in all but name. In fact, I enjoyed it more than I have enjoyed a FF game in years. The story, at least in broad strokes, is pretty well-tread ground, but the particulars of the characters help it to stand out. I'm particularly partial to Edea, whose development over the course of the game is fun to watch. Usability features like a configurable encounter rate made the game feel like it was willing to work with the player rather than make it a fight at every turn to have an enjoyable experience. I found myself hunting down every sidequest to get every optional job in the game, even taking down all the secret bosses just to wring every detail I could out of the game. To top it all off, Bravely Default contains one of my favorite moments of the year, a bold combination of game mechanics, RPG conventions, and a story twist that blew me away with its execution. I dearly hope that this game sends Square Enix the message that classic Japanese RPGs still have a place in this day and age. I can't wait for Bravely Second.

  • Being immersed in a community of pretty damn serious Smash Brothers players through most of college led to me developing a respect for people who take the game serious in a competitive light, but I'll admit that packing in as many players as possible and turning all the items to wacky is still my favorite way to play. However it's played, the Smash series has always been special to me, and I've played hours and hours of the various games with different groups of my friends. Thankfully, the latest entry in the series doesn't miss a step, delivering more of the simple yet outrageously fun fighting while offering awesome new characters (MEGA MAN GOD DAMN IT) and some really inventive and interesting stages to spice up an experience that feels otherwise relatively familiar. Though I've played both versions pretty extensively this year, I feel like the Wii U is where the newest Smash really came into its own. Nintendo's approach to HD graphics is on full display here, with every match a technicolor explosion of madness that is as exciting and often confusing to watch as it can be to play. I have only really been able to play a small amount of multiplayer so far, but even my limited exposure has been a blast and I look forward to running my Wii U ragged with sessions of this game in the coming years. I even bought an Amiibo to mess around with in this game. So yeah, that happened. I'll admit to missing the Subspace Emissary mode, even if I only played it once. Smash Run/Smash Tour aren't really the best replacements. The real draw is the old-fashioned multiplayer Smashin', though, and that can't be missed. If only I could get my hands on that fucking Gamecube controller adapter...

  • It feels like my list this year is dominated by the concept of "everything old is new again," and few games exemplify that quite like Shovel Knight. Following a successful Kickstarter, new developer Yacht Club Games stormed the scene with one of the most faithful recreations of the spirit of NES gaming ever made. Visually and musically, the game calls to mind the best games of that era, with crisp pixel art and outstanding chiptunes forming a coherent aesthetic that aims to bring back memories and nails it. Further, the gameplay evokes some of the greats of the past, from Mega Man to NES Ducktales to Super Mario Bros. 3, with some modern touches thrown in to add excitement and depth. The character designs are top-notch, both of Shovel Knight (and his lost companion Shield Knight) and the rogue's gallery of villains that the player encounters over the course of the game. My favorite is certainly the King Knight, who attacks with confetti, fercrissakes. That's awesome. A Mario 3-styled world map allows both for some choice to the order of levels tackled and for cameo characters like The Baz from Divekick to drop in and mess with your business here and there. The character upgrades and customization aren't terribly deep, but their presence was welcomed and it made me feel like I could go to a different level if I was stuck on one, get myself that one more heart or magic increase, then go back and take another crack at the part I couldn't handle. The platforming here is damn near perfect, with the Ducktales pogo using the shovel allowing for some fancy jumps and cleverly-hidden secrets in the different levels. The sub-weapons, rather than being purely for combat as is often the case in Mega Man games, were great for adding more traversal options, making a simple jumping section feel a bit more open-ended. Overall, I was hugely impressed by Shovel Knight, and I can't wait to see what these guys are going to make next.
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