GOTY 2014
A personal list of my favorite video games I played this year.
List items
-
I purchased a PlayStation Vita so I could play Danganronpa 2. I regret nothing.
The first Danganronpa had a unique presentation and atmosphere but there were only a few characters in the game's huge cast that I actually cared about. The second installment has everything that made the original game great only with a much better cast. Almost every character was likable in some way, which made the murders even more devastating and helped me get more invested in the class trials. The great cast combined with the total head trip of an ending made Danganronpa 2 my favorite game of 2014.
-
There has been no shortage of retro-styled platformers since Braid hit Xbox Live in 2008. However while many of those games may be fun, I never felt they even came close to competing with the great classics of the genre. Then Shovel Knight comes around. The platforming is well designed, the graphics are incredibly charming, and there is a huge amount of verity. But what really struck me were the short story vignettes that were sprinkled throughout the game. They reminded me of similar sequences in Sonic & Knuckles and really brought the game from being great to one of the best games I played this year.
-
The Ace Attorney series has been in a slump since the series creator, Shu Takumi, left the franchise after the third installment. While Apollo Justice and Duel Destinies were decent fun they never reached the highs of the original trilogy.
Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney may not strictly be an "Ace Attorney" title but it does mark the return of Takumi to writing and designing a game with series' lead characters. While the Layton sections of the game seem to be standard fair for that series, the Court Trials have had several interesting additions. The ability to examine multiple witnesses is used to great effect and seems like an evolution of the gameplay from the first three games instead of a gimmick, like the Mood Matrix from DD. Also while the game has a rushed ending and a slow opening the middle of the story features some of the best court room battles I’ve seen in a long time.
There are glimmers of a master piece here and it seems that Takumi will continue to polish many of the ideas introduced in PL vs PW in 2015’s Dai Gyakuten Saiban. Can't wait to see what that will be like, but in the mean time Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney will be my personal favorite Ace Attorney game from the past decade.
-
-
Perhaps the greatest Kirby game I've played since Super Star.
-
(Part One)
-
I have been wishing I could play Steins;Gate in English since I originally heard about the title in 2010. Thanks to Jast USA that wish has finally come true. While my experience with the game was lessened by the fact that I had already seen some of the anime before playing Steins;Gate (which I actually liked a bit more) I still really enjoyed my time with this title.
-
Finished the game on the PS3 near the beginning of January. On the list because the PC version came out this year and I can put anything I want on my list.
-
Another JRPG I completed that was also released on the PC this year.
Trails in the Sky has great characters and a unique atmosphere that feels like you're on a vacation while you play it. But the best part of Trails in the Sky is... the NPCs. Sounds stupid but it's true. Every person has a name, life, and story arc that progresses throughout the time you spend in each town. Every time I finished a main story point I would walk around town to get an update on everyone's stories. Will the rich fishing enthusiast ever find out what happened to his wife? Is the scientist at the Orbal Factory finally going to get that promotion? The amount of detail that was put into the NPCs can be seem in almost every aspect of the game and it is plain to see that Falcom put a lot of care into creating Trails in the Sky. It's like wearing a warm sweater with love sewn in every stitch.
-
Bravely Default is a really solid RPG with a strong core gameplay idea, the whole Braving and Defaulting thing. The first four chapters are pretty entertaining and the story even has some interesting elements. However the last five chapters are some of the most monotonous boring crap I've played in a long time. If you thought gathering the Triforce pieces at the end of Wind Waker slowed down the pace of that game wait till you play the second half of Bravely Default.
I could feel every wasted hour draining from my body as I played through those chapters. The only reason I got through it was because I was determined to finish the game. Unfortunately, after all that suffering, I was reward with a fairly boring conclusion.
My feelings on Bravely Default are very mixed. In the end I decided that I "liked" the game but I would never recommend the title to anyone. I can even see the title being forgotten over time if Bravely Second, and any future sequels, fix the problems of the original. But... those first four chapters were pretty fun.
-
(Runner-Up)
-
(Runner-Up)
Load Comments