Something went wrong. Try again later

SquigHerd

This user has not updated recently.

87 17 25 9
Forum Posts Wiki Points Following Followers

Best of 2014

This was a year that....sort of stunk. I could make a top ten most disappointing games this year, and it would be filled with games that angered me greatly. I'm not a professional game reviewer either, so I bought these on my own, and still got burned. These are the best of what I played from this year, and while I believe they are ALL worthy of your money, I truly believe the top 3 are the cream of the crop. Enjoy the list, and I hope this helps making some buying decisions for Christmas!

List items

  • This game caught me by surprise. I assumed "Assassin's Creed: Unity" and "Halo: The Master Chief Collection" were both going to absolutely dominate my fall, and then my friend Kristen convinced me to get dragon age.

    That was a good move.

    The emotional resonance that some of the characters have is astounding. Watching a character go bonkers when you find her favorite book really warms the heart, along with some of the best written characters in video games.

    I also have to note how proud I am that this game included a transgender character, and if you try to press about it, one of the biggest badasses in the game makes it a complete non-issue. "He's damn good with an axe, I don't care who he is, it's what he brings to the table that counts". It's well done, and I was very pleased with that.

    In fact, this game is great at dealing with larger issues. It even includes a small story that retells "Othello" with different characters, but still gives the overall idea of what the classic Shakespearean play was about without telling the story. It's so sly!

    Is it without bugs? No. It's got funkiness that is inherent with all open world games of this magnitude. However, it breaks through the barrier of making the small glitches endearing, and well worth the love that is created for this game. I can't tell you how much I really, truly enjoyed this game. It was a delight.

    As large or larger than Skyrim, Dragon Age offers a fantastic story, excellent character development and building, a fairly good combat system and it even includes multiplayer to boot. If I had to compare this to any game I've played in the past decade, it feels like Mass Effect 2, set in a LOTR-esque universe, with a better ending. Top notch game, and one I...well, I sunk 200 hours into it. What more can I say.

  • I've been out of the console "Mario Karts" since the Nintendo 64. I never liked the Double Dash mechanics, I never really got into the Wii, and while I played the mobile ones(Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart 7), I hadn't seen a fully fledged MK in almost 2 decades.

    It was so worth the wait, that I bought the DLC, and to this day believe this is the most fun you can have on the Wii U, including Super Smash Bros. It boasts some of the most original ideas for tracks I've ever seen in a racer(including racing on a synthesizer, the best rainbow road ever made(the one for 64)), almost too much kart customization(to the point where you can race as things from other Nintendo games with the DLC) and tons of replay-ability.

    It has almost too many characters, a ton of remixed older tracks, and feels absolutely fantastic. It's such a nebulous term, feel, but man does Nintendo know how to nail it. It's just an absolute joy to play

    I really can't say enough about this game, as it single-handedly consumed my summer. In a weak year for games, this absolutely stands out. This game alone makes my Wii U purchase worth it.

  • Horror games have always had a bad rap. Until "Condemned: Criminal Origins" came out for the Xbox 360, I never really fully enjoyed any of them, including Resident Evil.

    From the moment you boot up the game and it looks like an old tv-display with image warping, you'll fall in love. This game is such a love letter to the first "Alien" movie, it's almost surreal. They recreated every piece of technology from that film(while ignoring most things from the rest of the franchise),and the atmosphere that builds with the Xenomorph itself is astounding.

    Chills will settle in as you progress through the narrative that has you dealing with unsettling robots, an actual Xenomorph, and lots of other baddies on board a space station. It's a direct sequel of sorts to the original Alien, and I can't tell you how much I enjoy this game. It's the best horror game to come out this year, and my favorite since the fantastic "Slender: The Arrival", not to mention it's among the best single player experiences you can find.

    In space, no one can...well, you know.

  • If you want the perfect way to be introduced to a pillar of excellence in comic book writing, look no further than "The Wolf Among Us", a game based on "Fables".

    It is based on many characters disney has cribbed over the years(Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, etc), and you play as "Bigby", formerly known as "The Big Bad Wolf". I'm a sucker for story driven games, and this is up there with the best of them as far as interesting single player experiences.

    If you can play "The Wolf Among Us", I'm pretty sure it'll grab hold and won't let go. The reason it's not higher is it doesn't reach the emotional highs that "The Walking Dead" did, though it has good game-play and a pretty darn good story regardless.

  • I don't often put sports games on top tens, and even more seldom do I put madden on here, but holy crap did they do a good job. The first true madden on next gen(I don't count madden 25), it's the first game I looked at and said "Ah, that 400$ I spent on my console last fall was worth it". I never really thought I was getting my moneys worth out of my new Xbox One until I bought this game, but wow, they make use of the hardware.

    You've got to understand: This is still Madden. It's still football, it's just an incredibly good one of those. I sunk dozens of hours into the dynasty mode, trying to make the browns a halfway decent team worthy of a superbowl. I can't begin to say how much fun that was.

    Did I mention it's gorgeous? They recreate the stadiums nearly perfectly, the commentary is every bit as boring as real football commentary, dynasty is excellent, the online component works well, and it's just a really well made package. It does everything you want out of a Madden game, and does it with one of the prettiest looking games to come out this year. Now, if they could just get that crappy Cornerback off the cover...

  • What a surprise! I seriously didn't think much of this game until one of my best friends bought it for me on a whim. Imagine if you played the shopkeeper to the "Dungeons and Dragons" main questing party, and you sell goods to them to make a living. In many ways, that's "Fantasy Life"!

    Now, while I like this game, that description for this isn't exactly accurate. You end up focusing on getting gear and killing bad guys in dungeons, as well as the job you take. It sort of balances that traditional and a new twist. It was pretty unique.

    I took the role of a woodcutter, to harvest wood to give to carpenters to make furniture and other things. It's such a great little game that really sort of came out of nowhere for me, It's a great palate cleanser as far as games go. Think of Animal Crossing mixed with Final Fantasy 4 or 5

  • Pokemon has, for many people, been a "Take it or leave it" franchise. I know lots who think there's a stigma attached to it, and I had the same opinion between the ages of 10 and 14.

    I gave in, because all my friends were playing "Pokemon: Pearl", and gave it a shot, and found the gameplay to still be great. If you ignore the whole anime, if you ignore the sort of creepy attachment some kids have to pikachu, it's really, on it's own, a very enjoyable game. It's a fantastic RPG, that does great things to the traditional formula laid down almost two decades ago.

    You can customize your character to look close to who you are(haircut, clothing, etc), catch pokemon from every part of the series, and it gives you tons of gametime trying to fill up that friggin' pokedex. I really loved this!

  • I never really played a full Kirby game, but I always loved the Kirby character. He's pink, he's huggable, he's always happy, he looks squishy, I mean, he's great. If he's so great, however, how are his games, and why have I never engaged with one?

    Well, let me tell you, this game is fantastic!

    It's a tad on the easy side, but as far as 2d platformers go(like "Super Mario Bros 3" or the original "Super Mario Bros"), this game is amazing. It plays with the 3d view on the 3ds by creating different planes for the stages to play off of, and it makes such an enjoyable, happy experience It made the sting of how burned I felt by "Yoshi's New Island" feel a bit better. That says quite a bit, because my #1 hated game this year is "Yoshi's New Island", but regardless, this is a great game. Really fun, excellent sidescroller, and very fun!!

  • The gameplay and Nemesis system is great, but to be honest, I was absolutely furious when I found out the main character and story is based around the Silmarillion, and no one friggin' told me. It wasn't hinted at in the game, and I felt like throughout the game I was missing some crucial piece of the story. The only reason I include it in my top 10 is because the "Nemesis" system is really awesome, but buyer beware. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME FOR XBOX 360 OR PLAYSTATION 3. THE NEMESIS SYSTEM IS NEXT GEN ONLY!

    The Nemesis system builds enemies that are customized to you. An example: I fight an orc, and get a little sloppy and I die. The nature of my character is that he's a ghost, he can't die, and thus I respawn.

    That orc? That orc rises through the ranks. He gets a couple of followers, becomes a bit tougher, maybe gets some wargs(or the equivalent) and starts to get some traction in the Mordor Heirarchy.

    You can go back, find him, and he'll have scars from your fight with him, in addition to remembering what you did last time and how you fought. He might even mention it!

    It's a great system, but there's a bit around the game that sort of hurt this game in my eyes. The gameplay itself never really clicked with me because it's the EXACT same as the Batman games. Give batman a sword and take away the no killing, and whala. You have "LOTR: Shadow of Mordor".

    It's good, but if you take it at face value, the characters and story are pretty lackluster. While I really enjoyed that same combat for the first 80% of the game, I just wish I had known about the story, or had some indication that I needed to look at some backstory. If I had, this might be GOTY, or at least in my top 5.

  • I'm sort of including this game as a sneer vote. Most of my other GOTY considerations that I bought this year...were actually from last year, so I couldn't include them. The only other game I might include would be the "Jackbox Games Party Pack", but that's technically 5 games in one, and none of them were fully released this year(or maybe 1 of them were, I can't quite recall).

    It's Smash Bros. It's a good Smash Bros, but it didn't stick with me like Mario Kart did. Maybe it's because I didn't feel like it changed enough, maybe I wasn't huge into particular parts of the game, maybe "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" killed the franchise for me. Regardless, I liked it, I appreciated it objectively as a great playing game, but it's sort of the same stuff you've played before.

    "Well Jake, why the hell did you include it in your top 10?"

    It's great to play with friends. It's fun to unlock characters, and the Amiibo system is pretty addictive. You can buy plastic figures from the store, bring them home, and it'll create a character that plays in a particular play-style that will travel around on that little plastic figure, inside of a chip. It's ingenious, and it really makes me think this game opened up a whole new world to the Nintendo family of games.

    It's probably the best Smash Bros game to ever be released, I'll give it that. If that gets you excited, jump in!
Load Comments