I have finished more games in 2014 than I think I have in any other single year since... well, ever, maybe, at least when counted individually. I thought I'd list them here, with a 1-5 rating denoting what I thought of them and maybe a paragraph or two about them. I'll also note whether or not I've finished the game in years past.
3/5
I thought it was the least that a Ratchet game could be while still qualifying as "good". And it is good, it just feels like a lesser game than the other Ratchets that I liked. I wrote a review on it right after finishing it, too.
4/5
My opinion on this game wavered a bit. I remember thinking that some parts of its story didn't work, but looking back I can't tell you which ones. It still does this thing where the game feels like it should be more atmospheric, but it's not because someone is there to talk to you. Still, you're left alone far more often than you were in 2033, or at least from what I played of 2033, and the actual gameplay can be fun this time. I'm either forgetting the parts I didn't like or the good parts made a better impression on me than I thought, because I feel pretty good about this game when looking back.
4/5
One of my favorite games of 2013, but man I wish enemies didn't spawn in as much. It would be great if Codename STEAM found other ways to throw a wrench in my strategies, without deciding to spawn in new guys halfway through the match. There's something extremely satisfying about clearing a map that you obviously can't get from maps that send new dudes for you to fight every turn. Regardless of this one complaint, I had a ton of fun with Fire Emblem Awakening.
5/5
Yep. Dumb? Yes. Sometimes too dumb for its own good? Yes. Still tons of fun to play? Absolutely. This game also has the honor of being the only game I have ever played where stealthily killing dudes with a bow is just as satisfying as re-enacting the last twenty minutes of Commando.
4/5
I beat this game almost as soon as I got it, something that doesn't happen often these days. I only have one real complaint - the proper ending of the game can be completely missed if you don't know what to do/didn't grind for souls/didn't happen to equip something you got at the beginning of the game when entering a room in the center of the castle. It's not quite a "guide, dang it" situation, as you could figure it out on your own, but it was still pretty annoying to stumble on the worst ending in a game where multiple endings just sucks and doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
4/5 (PSP Version)
One of the better FF's. It's a simple, cliche-filled story, but it paces itself excellently and takes you to the bloody moon. There needs to be a save point before the final boss in the next re-release, instead of in front of one of the most difficult rooms to get through in the game, but that only affects one little part of the game.
5/5
I doubt a better first person shooter will come out this year. Destiny might be more ambitious, No Man's Sky might be more expansive, but for sheer story-driven traditional shootery - the kind of thing that will exist as long as 3D video games do - you can't get much better. Will likely be on whatever GOTY list I come up with at the end of this year. Play it, no doubt about that.
5/5
Much like Persona 3 FES, I ended this game at just the right level and I was pretty satisfied with the level of challenge that the final boss gave. As someone who enjoyed the sometimes masochistic difficulty of Nocturne, that's saying quite a bit. I can't name many other JRPG's that do difficulty pacing as well as this one does. Mechanically, this game is pretty great and the battles just do not get old - that's another thing that I can't say about many JRPG's. The story is a bit wonky and the dialogue repeats itself a little too much but the characters are pretty great and... well, you guys get the picture. Marie, the new character, actually kind of sucks and I REALLY (I can't italicize!?) hope that is not representative of Persona 5, but it doesn't hurt this game too much.
5/5 PS1 Version
I felt like I had to do a little too much grinding there towards the end, and a fair bit of the endgame stuff is just a little too obtusely hidden and random for my tastes, but few games have a story as well-done as this one and none save Mass Effect 2 and Persona 4 balance out their ensemble casts quite so well. And even with P4 and ME2, you don't shift perspectives so often that there is no clear main character. Terra is the best candidate, but I don't really want to call her the main character when you spend a large part of the last half of the game controlling Celes.
Speaking of Mass Effect 2...
5/5 PC
I also finished Mass Effect 2 this year. I have finished this game twice on the 360, but this is my first PC playthrough. Tali died, unfortunately. I'll have to go back in and save her.
4/5
The first time I finished Doom 2 was on Ultra Violence. Ha. Yeah, not doing that again.
This time, I played it with the Brutal Doom mod, complete with jumping. Cheating? Maybe, but I got to the end and I beat the Icon of Sin legitimately. Well, as legitimate as you might consider jumping on the top floor and shooting at John Romero's head without raising that stupid platform.
Anyway, Doom 2 has some pretty bad level design but mostly well-done encounters and enemy placements. I would say that the shooting itself is a little more fun that Doom 1's but the level design brings it down so much. If you know where to go, or you just enable jumping, it's a much better game.
5/5
Best first person shooter ever made. I think that Half-Life 1 and Halo 1 are both pretty great and give it a run for its money, but this one edges both out by having some pretty great level design (mostly) and some of the best shooting mechanics, enemy design, encounter placement, map design... everything, ever. It's one of those games that no aspiring developer or self-proclaimed gamer should go without.
And unlike Doom 2, play it legitimately the first time. The level design is, for the most part, too good to cheat through. A handful aren't so great, but only a handful.
Also, I did play this with the Brutal Doom mod and I have beaten it before. A few times.
5/5 360
I don't think this game has aged quite as perfectly as some people would like to believe. The latter parts of Salazar's Castle just drag on for too long and they feel far too "game-y", which is a super weird thing to say for this game. The Castle breaks the illusion of a real place when it just throws puzzle after puzzle at you, none of which would make sense outside of the context of a game. Sure, the village in the beginning and the military base at the end have puzzles like that, but they have a more refined feel to them. Those areas flow better and are more, I hate this word, "immersive".
That said, it's never bad. I gave this game a 5/5 for good reason - because it's still good. It's still excellent at drawing you in and making you learn how to play, its difficulty is still very well-paced, it still balances horror and action better than pretty much anything not named Dead Space 2. And its writing is still equal parts hilarious and pain inducing.
4/5
I don't like how the Mantra grid works - they took skills and a battle system designed for gathering and fusing demons and tried to apply that to a more traditional grind-y JRPG, and that doesn't work when you need one of those skills and it's down a part of the Mantra Grid that you didn't get to. It doesn't always work as well as it should and kinda punishes those who don't make the right decisions by asking them to go grind more. But that's mostly the only complaint I really have.
Oh, yeah, and someone needs to take a class on or learn about more engaging dialogue. What's here is fine, but it really could use some more oomph.
5/5
Easily the best game on the 3DS so far. There is no fat on this game - all of it feels like it belongs, all of it feels like it's in place, and nothing feels superfluous or unnecessary while still giving players tons to do. Seriously, play it if you have a 3DS. And if you don't have a 3DS, buy one and buy this. Nintendo might not always make the best decisions, but there's no doubt that when they put forth their best, we get absolute gaming gold.
Also the first Zelda game I've ever finished! I'll have to go play the others, I have Ocarina of Time but it's kinda boring so maybe I should stick to the 2D ones.
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