Joemotycki's top 10 games of 2014

Hello, I'm Joemotycki. That's my name on here and also my gamertag on consoles if you're interested. I'm 24, I live in Canada and I watched a lot of Twitch Plays Pokemon this year. I bought an Xbox one in February (just before it started coming bundled with games =/) and I bought a PS4 in September for the white PS4 Destiny bundle(we will talk about Destiny later -.-). I also love playing games on the PC and I use a mouse and keyboard for most games even though I have an Xbone controller with a USB cable. Although I've been playing video games for a while I really didn't get way into them until 2012. Most the games I played this year did not come out in 2014 and if you want to see my GOTY list that includes all the games I played this year you can go here.

Games I didn't get around to but I will certainly play next year: Bayonetta 2(This game looks REALLY good), Super Smash Bros for Wii U (So excited, I'm a huge smash fan), Far cry 4, COD:Advanced Warfare.

Also, special shout to FTL: Advanced Edition, which came out this year but wasn't quite eligible for any of my lists. The stuff they added to that game make an great game even better. All told I have 250 hours of FTL played which probably makes that game one of my favourites of recent years.

10. Sunset Overdrive

So I played sunset overdrive when they were doing that 'play it for 24 hours' promotion. I was able to get most of the way through it and although I'm not quite able to have a fully formed opinion on it, I liked it from what I played of it. Even though I'm not a huge fan of open world games, getting around in Sunset Overdrive was a ton of fun. Although the humour in the game doesn't always hit, there were some laugh inducing moments as well some good gameplay to go alone with it. Seems like a solid game to me.

9. Super Time Force

Super Time Force is just ridiculous from top to bottom. From the way the characters speak to the setup for the story, I enjoyed how the game doesn't take itself seriously at all. The premise for one of the chapters is just "Hey, lets travel into the future and download all the updates for my phone because screw it". It doesn't make any sense and I love it. It also doesn't hurt that this game plays really well too. Being able to rewind time, save your clones and also play with your alternate selves was a cool mechanic that I enjoyed messing around with. I always enjoyed watching the final replay and how a hundred copies of myself were able to power through the level. And although I have a deep hatred for puns, I couldn't help but laugh at the end of the game and the way it uses 'time' puns.

8. Dark Souls 2

Here's the part where I'll be totally honest with you guys. I'm one those people who doesn't like Dark souls 2 nearly as much as the first one. However, that doesn't mean that Dark souls 2 isn't a fun game. For the most part, they changes they made were for the better and the moment to moment gameplay is still some of the most satisfying stuff in video games. Its just a shame that I there were parts of this game that were a step down from the previous game. I didn't enjoy the boss fights as much and I found myself getting stuck and not knowing where the next area was a lot of the time. In addition, there were way too many areas that I just blazed through without much difficulty. Having areas where the first section of it is way easier than the second kind of puts a damper on the 'you always need to be at your best' mantra that the souls series is known for. That stuff was a major bummer but I really did enjoy the game.

7. Olliolli

Olliolli is actually a really cool skateboarding game. The control style definitely is something that takes a while to get used to, but the games' combo system is the thing that really makes that game shine. Once you start to get into the rhythm, stringing together huge combos is really fun. There really isn't a whole lot to say about this game, other than I like it a lot.

6. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

I've never played an Etrian Odyssey game before. It suprised me a little to see that Persona Q is around 2/3 Etrian Odyssey and 1/3 Persona. However, there was just enough persona stuff in there to get me hooked. Changing to the Etrian Odyssey style battle system was a nice change and I had an absolute blast watching the persona characters interact with each other. Persona Q isn't quite a game that will get me into the Etrian Odyssey series, but I throughly enjoyed that style of battling, with ridiculous Persona moments mixed in. If you enjoyed both the story and characters of persona 3 & 4, I highly recommend you check out Persona Q. Final thing to say about that game: That battle theme might be my favourite "regular" battle theme of any of the persona games. So good.

5. Alien: Isolation

Alien: Isolation probably had some of the best moments in any game I've played this year. That game does a great job of setting up really tense moments that scared the hell out of me. Boy, I spent a whole lot of time staring at a wall, both in game and out of the game because I especially didn't want the alien to notice me. That chapter 5... really makes the alien seem terrifying and something you want to avoid. The few chapters after you get the flamethrower are a little easy and boring and the game runs a little long but I still enjoyed that game overall. Also, I don't recommend trying to outrun the Alien, no matter how close to the exit you are... It rarely ever works out.

4. Velocity 2X

I feel like Velocity 2X is a game made especially for me. From the get go, I fell in love with the pace in which Velocity 2x moves. Everything in that game is centered on going fast, whether you're in a ship or on foot. The game has a great feel to it, so that when you're going fast, boosting and teleporting, amazing things are constantly happening. I enjoyed the mechanic of the long-form teleport, where you play through the left side of the level, teleport back to the beginning and then move through the right side. They really made some of the levels quite devious in how often you're teleporting around the map, its really cool. I also love how all of the levels place an emphasis on replayability. I had a intense impulse to play all the levels again and again in order to master them, find the perfect route and get all the perfect medals... Which i eventually did. Mix in an absolutely incredible soundtrack and nice visuals and sound effects, and you've got a great game.

3. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

I really enjoyed how Shadow of Mordor takes the Assassins Creed framework and tweaks it in a way that makes it way more interesting. Instead of intensely focusing on stealth, they give you more tools to let you play the game the way you want. Giving Tallion a bow allows you some much needed range to take out your targets with. One of my favourite things in this game is the fact you can stealth-run right up to a dude and stealth kill him even if hes looking right at you. As a person who isn't a huge fan of stealth its always hilarious and makes me glad that they don't take stealth especially seriously. Add in some great Batman combat instead of the middling AC combat, cool upgrade, the super well done nemesis system, and the awesome branding mechanic, and you have a game that's a winner on all fronts. Well, except the end...

2. Crypt of the Necrodancer

I originally expected Crypt of the Necrodancer to be sort of gimmicky. Boy was I sure wrong about that. Even though this game is in early access, it really does feel like a fully fledged game, minus the final area. The thing about moving along to the beat is you never really have enough time to think about what your next move is going to be. This creates a great pace for the game to move along, adding a level of difficulty that increases as the levels slowly increase the tempo of the music as you get further along in the game. I really thought the bosses in the game were definitely well put together. Each of the three bosses have their own unique tricks and mechanics, making you think differently on how to approach each of them. And also the unlockable characters are just straight up insane. A character that makes you and the enemies move at double time when the game already moves at fast pace? Sure, why not! This is the kind of stuff that makes it an excellent "roguelike" instead of a mediocre one.

1. Titanfall

I like first person shooters way too much. Over the course of 2014, I sunk 200+ hours into Titanfall and had a ton of fun with it. I loved the movement aspect of Titanfall. Being able to scale buildings with relative ease and shooting people while running on walls was super cool. Throw in some giant-ass titans into the mix and it changes how FPS's usually work. Being in a titan allows you just mess people up without worrying about dying, because your titan is totally expendable. It mixes things up in a really fresh way. So, we all know that the campaign was super disappointing, it didn't quite feel like a fully fledged product at launch and its totally fair to view Titanfall as disappointing. But with all the extra stuff they added in addition to the core gameplay, Titanfall is my favourite game of 2014.

Special addendum about Destiny: I figured I may as well chime in about Destiny since everyone seems to have an opinion about that game. I have about 150 hours played and while there were parts I really enjoyed, such as the shooting and the raid, overall I don't quite know what happened with that game. I experienced all the content there was to experience, and although I was super on board with the concept of "Daily Heroics" in something other than WoW, I just felt like that game was missing something major. So I'd say I'm pretty much done with Destiny for the time being, its alright, but there's parts of it that needed work. Maaaybe I'll buy destiny 2, we'll see. Lastly, I would like to brag and tell you I managed to do the Destiny raid with Chris Watters and Shaun Mcinnis from Gamespot. That was probably the highlight of my destiny experience.

Sorry, I had to :)

Super glad to see some more love for Titranfall and Velocity. I wish I liked Super Time Force more. I was excited for that game for so long. I never even finished the last stage. I found that I was using the exact same tactic on every boss. It just seemed like all you do is stack damage with very little strategy.

I keep meaning to check out Crypt of The Necrodancer. I thought it seemed gimmicky too so it's good to hear that there is enough to it.

I really want to check out Velocity 2X as well, hopefully it comes to PC.

Good list.

@ulquiokani: I'd assume Velocity 2x is coming to other platforms after the 'timed exclusivity' thing ends on playstation. When it comes out, you should totally get it.

@gunstarred: I'm still not sure just how many people out there like Titanfall. All I know is that I really enjoyed my time with it.