My Ten Favorite Games of 2014 (And Ten More That Didn't Make The Cut But Are Still Pretty Good)
Here are my top ten games of the year, with ten more "honorable mentions". And yes I realize that just makes this a Top 20 list. Shut up.
List items
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No one does western RPGs quite like Bioware. The world, the characters, and everything in-between always clicks with me, and Dragon Age: Inquisition has been no different. I enjoyed the combat in DA:I more than I have in either of the previous DA games and the cast of characters are far more memorable than some of the cardboard cutouts that we saw in DA2. Perhaps more importantly, the size and scale of this game continues to impress. I'm closing in on 100 hours of playing time and I'm pretty sure I'm not even close to completing the main story.
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I am sick of pixel art. It's become the go-to for indie studios looking to give their game a "retro" look in the hopes it'll mask failings in the actual gameplay. Shovel Knight is not that game. Shovel Knight is a love letter Mega Man and the NES era as a whole, not just with it's visuals or phenomenal soundtrack, but in every second of it's gameplay. If you have any reverence at all for the 8-bit era, you need to play Shovel Knight.
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I want this game to be my #1. It SHOULD be my number one. My favorite game developer who created my favorite shooter creating a loot-based FPS with MMO elements? Sign me up!
From a purely gameplay standpoint, I'm not sure anything else this year can touch Destiny. It is just so damn fun to PLAY. But then you get to the end and... you just do all of that same shit you just did again. Yeah the mission is a little harder and maybe the enemies will do extra melee damage or will be weak to Arc damage instead of Solar but... it's still the same stuff. Couple that with the barren storytelling, and you've got a product that should've and could've been so, so much more.
So I suppose it's a testament to the insane quality of the gameplay that Destiny is a game I'm still playing and enjoying every week. I love Destiny. I love the way it plays. I love the grind (although maybe that's some form of video game Stockholm Syndrome). It could've been more, but I'm also happy with what we got.
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Its first episode may have debuted in 2013, but the bulk of Telltale's Fables-based adventure game came out in the 2014 calendar year. TWAU's noir style setting actually affords it a bit more flexibility with the it's storytelling and I found myself enjoying it more than either season of Telltale's The Walking Dead.
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To me, Titanfall feels like that next step in multiplayer first-person shooters. It was a game I couldn't stop playing at launch. The fluidity of the movement, calling in a Titan, mounting enemy Titans - it all added up to an exhilarating and unique experience that I continue to enjoy.
Now let's just hope Respawn finds time to build a real campaign for Titanfall 2.
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I'm no Smash Bros. pro. I'm not going to shout about wave dashing or tripping or frame counts or any of that stuff because I'm just not that hardcore about it. What I will say is that Super Smash Bros. For Wii U is the most enjoyable game in the series. Tons of modes, tons of characters, and an absolutely blast to play with friends. The 8-player modes is insanely chaotic but immensely enjoyable. I'm lugging my Wii U to the office daily just to play this game with coworkers. Plus, Amiibos are pretty rad and I can't stop collecting them and oh god I'm importing rare ones from Europe and Japan someone please call for help...
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Did you like Far Cry 3? Good. Because Far Cry 4 is basically more of that. Even so, I actually found myself enjoying Far Cry 4 more than it's predecessor due to a more compelling story and a new grappling mechanic design to helped user tackle Kyrat's cliffs and mountains.
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Assassin's Creed + Rocksteady's Batman combat system + Lord of the Rings = a ridiculously fun game. I didn't care much for the story, and hardcore LOTR fans will probably loathe it, especially the ending, but if you can put that out of your mind, it's still a damn fine experience.
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Genuinely one of the funniest games I've ever played and arguably the best game based on a television show ever. Not that it has much to compete with. But beneath the sharp humor is a truly enjoyable RPG that's just as much a love letter to video games as it is a send up.
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I have no fucking clue what is happening in Bayonetta 2's story but I don't care. You're trying to get into Hell or Inferno or whatever and there's a boy who might be a god but also is a squirrel sometimes and he hides in your cleavage all the while you're killing jerkass angels with your hair and fighting on top of jets and underwater and in space.
And it's pretty fucking cool.
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Broken Age Act I is fantastic and I was legitimately surprised by the cliffhanger ending. I enjoy the episodic format... to a point. But when you take over a year between episodes when I've paid for the whole game upfront, you're really just asking me to pay for your sequel ahead of time. I eagerly await the second - and final - act.
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Humor is games is hard, but Jazzpunk gets it very very right. It's not the best "game" you'll ever play, but it is a great experience. Each level has a ton of charm, jokes, hidden gags, and dumb puns to keep you entertained. To say more would to be to give away the surprises.
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Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition for Xbox One and PS4 is the best version of Diablo III. That might catch the ire of the PC Master Race crowd, but I don't particularly care. Diablo III is a game best played with friends, and unique features like Apprentice Mode, Player Gifts, and the Nemesis system make the next-gen console versions the best versions of the game. Period.
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A friend of mine once described The Banner Saga as "Fire Emblem meets Oregon Trail", and that's about as apt a one sentence description as you can give this game. Beautiful art, fantastic music, compelling characters, and a sprawling, bleak story. A prime example of Kickstarter gone right. I just hope the sequel is able to give the combat more depth.
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Great season, not as good as the first and not as good as the other Telltale series that saw it's conclusion in 2014 (The Wolf Among Us). Some nice twists and turns and great character development for Clementine. Interested to see where things go in season 3.
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I'm not sure a mobile game has ever hooked me as much as 80 Days has hooked me. Part visual novel and part choose your own adventure, 80 Days is based on (as it name implies) Around the World in 80 Days. It stars the same characters (Phileas Fogg and Jean Passepartout) as they journey around the world on a wager. Unlike the novel however, you are free to choose the route the duo takes as they circle the globe. Seemingly trivial choices, such as what you chose to pack for the trip, can have a profound impact on the journey. It is surprisingly deep and compelling and just begging to be played again and again.
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In a climate If MachineGames had managed to sneak some Enemy Territory-style multiplayer into this package, it may have made it further up my list. Still, Wolfenstein: The New Order was a wonderful surprise after the disappointment that was 2009's Wolfenstein outing and a refreshing change of pace in a shooter market dominated Call of Duty and Halo. Plus a better story than you'd expect from a game in this series.
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I mentioned above about how much Smash Bros. was being played in the office, but no game got fired up at lunch more often in 2014 than Towerfall Ascension. The multiplayer formula is addictive and with tons of variants, there's always a new way to create fun and chaos. I just wish I enjoyed the single player quests more. And yes technically this game got it's first release in 2013 on the Ouya, but it hit platforms people actually own (Steam and PS4) in 2014.
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Charming, bleak, funny, heartbreaking. This describes Valiant Hearts: The Great War to a T. The puzzles aren't the most challenging thing you'll ever encounter, but Valiant Hearts switches up the gameplay often enough by placing you in the shoes of multiple characters throughout the game. Perhaps my favorite thing about Valiant Hearts are the archive entries you unlock through the game that tell a larger tale about the events and atrocities of the first world war.
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The first part of a trilogy, The Fall is a short but compelling puzzle-platformer with a phenomenal story and one hell of a cliffhanger. The combat is rather basic but enjoyable and I kind of wish there was more of it.
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