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thdemn

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GOTY 2014: Or, Can Gary Put a Mobile Game as his GOTY?!

In the opening days of 2014, I worked on a website and had all the free time in the world to give to gaming. Then, things changed. The site went away due to events out of my control, my free time vanished like Ethan Carter, and personal life (and paying rent) got in the way of giving as much time to games as I wanted to. It was the year where the industry lost many people and attempted to eat itself alive. And more than that, it was a year where Triple A games were broken as hell, and smaller games fully took over. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy some AAA games (here's looking at you, Wolfenstein) but for the most part, it is now the Indie Age.

Keeping that in mind, what does that mean for my gaming habits moving forward? Well, I am happy to say I will be working on a new project, starting in the first few months of the new year. Its been a long time coming, and I have been able to recharge my batteries following the end of Bonus Pretzel. More information will be out in the next few weeks, but I cannot wait to start producing more editorial and video content.

That being said, let's look at 2014.

List items

  • I would be remiss if I did not mention Threes! It is my actual Game of the Year, if I am being fully honest with myself.I have probably put in somewhere around 300 to 400 hours of Threes! this year. Its the game I keep coming back to, the game that I continue to challenge myself by playing. All of my friends may have fallen off, but I remain strong. It's clever, it's engaging, and most importantly, simple with complexity hidden underneath. I love Threes! and will continue to play it into eternity. It’s just that good.

  • Oh Dark Souls. You evil son of a bitch. I should have stopped playing you when I died 20 times on the Taurus Demon. I should have quit when I threw my controller to the ground hard enough to break it while fighting the Bell Gargoyles. You’re an unfair, glitchy, frightening mess of a game. And I love you. Your flaws make you unique in a way I can never fully articulate. Each success was a rush of pride and celebration. Even killing regular enemies filled me with satisfaction. At times, playing you felt more like Stockholm Syndrome than enjoyment. But when I finally finished you, it was like finishing a marathon. A rush of pure love.

    I played Dark Souls for the first time this year. It took me about 60 hours to complete, and after putting it down all I wanted to do was start a new character and rush back into the world. I wanted to know more about the world. I wanted to try new ways of finishing the game. I just wanted more. Instead, I waited for Dark Souls 2 to launch on PC at the end of April. When it came out, I dived in, face-first, ready to getting completely stabbed to pieces and lit on fire.

    And boy did that happen. But with it came the same sense of love and exhilaration as playing the original Dark Souls. Due to the month or two gap between them, the two games became a blend in my mind, one long narrative of Testy McTest and her granddaughter, Testy McTest the 3rd, as they struggled through this unfair but well designed world. Dark Souls 2 may not be as fresh or as compelling as the original Dark Souls, sure. But when you play them both in the space of a few months for the first time, and find yourself training yourself to be better, to survive and defeat this motherfucker of a game, the games become one. And as one, it created my favorite gaming experiences of the year.

  • I loved the original Bayonetta, even if it was slightly porny. The combat was incredible, the characters were likeable. More than that IT WAS BALLS TO THE WALL INSANE. Bayonetta 2 somehow took BALLS TO THE WALL INSANE and transformed it into MY BRAIN IS NOW SPLATTER, WHAT IS GOING ON. Sure, Bayonetta 2 is still a little weird to play around people. Yes, when Bayonetta decides to open a portal by pole-dancing the lever, I may go “This is a little much.” But fuck, Bayonetta 2 is just too much fun. Even the challenge rooms are little pockets of enjoyment. I did not have as much raw fun with a game this year as I did with Bayonetta 2. (I have to say here, I have heard all of the arguments for what the hair-stripping fighting does to the character. It made me uncomfortable a number of times. It is definitely really, really, really unsubtle. If you can get past this, the game is amazing).

  • Shovel Knight is a joyous little indie game from Yacht Club Studies. Shovel Knight is proof that retro-style games can still be amazing. The game itself is not that complex; a Mega-Man 2 style boss attack with a Ducktales-esque pogo bounce, and Castlevania inspired wall-chickens. The gameplay is sharp, the music engaging, but most of all the character designs are incredible. King Knight. Plague Knight, Treasure Knight. Who came up with these names? And they only get crazier from there. I cannot wait to see what these guys do next. (Modern retro Metroid anybody?)

  • 97 hours is my total amount of time played on the original Binding of Isaac. Over the past 3 years since it’s release, I have played a total of ninety-seven hours.

    The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, with it’s release 2 months ago, is at 65 hours total playing time. I may have a problem.

  • Assassin’s Creed has become the game that I used to know. This dark shadow of it’s former self, with some of it’s shine still around the edges, but wholly empty in the middle. I thought Unity might continue the trend from Black Flag, that maybe Assassin’s Creed games could be fun again. That maybe things had changed for Assassin’s Creed, maybe it would be different. I was very wrong. Unity is a piece of hot garbage. And it’s striking to think that the best Assassin’s Creed game to come out this year was made by Monolith Studies, does not feature an assassin, or a hidden blade, and involves riding giant war-dogs. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor stunned me with it’s complex and compelling gameplay, based in such a simple math. The Batman-style combat gets more and more refined and tuned as you unlock different skills, allowing you to play any way you want to. Stealthy “death-from-above” style player? You can make that work. Charge in, sword swinging, heads falling style? Definitely can make that work. You feel unstoppable at a point, a feeling that is incredibly hard to replicate.

    The creation of the Nemesis system adds a whole new level to what you can do within the open world. The system allows you to dynamically create your own stories in Mordor. For instance, I can tell the tale of Morogg the Drowned, an evil orc who I had thought I had killed in our first encounter. Two hours later, he reappears, kills me dead, and begins an hours long war of attrition between the two of us. I’d win a fight and he’d run, he’d win a fight and I would run. No one could get the upper hand, till finally I branded him and made him my slave. Then I popped his head with my mind.

    Shadow of Mordor is amazing.

  • This game should have been terrible. South Park has lost some of it's luster in the past few years, with the show retreading old ground more often than not. When Stick of Truth was announced, it was easy to disregard the project as never going to fully exist. Obsidian had a habit of not shipping games, and licensed games are almost always complete pieces of garbage anyway. Little did anyone know that Stick of Truth would end up both existing and being an incredible game. The combat is simple, and can get repetitive (see Costume Quest) but the game is short enough that it never overly taxed my patience. The story is traditional South Park, with knowing references to the show’s history, as well as new jokes and riffs that soar. The whole dynamic somehow worked, even if you have to dodge your father’s balls mid-boss fight.

  • Was there ever a more satisfying feedback loop then "Shoot, Die, Rewind, Shoot, Die, Rewind" into infinity? Super Time Force scratches a very specific itch. It's short, it's silly, and it's satisfying. That's all you can truly ask for when it comes to a game like Super Time Force. It may not be incredibly deep, but man is it fun. Also, for whatever reason, the tone did not turn me off in a way I was expecting. That's a huge plus.

  • Full disclosure: I've played this game for maybe 3 hours. If I played it for more time than that, it would probably end up much higher. Xrd feels like the game Arc System Works has been building up to for years and years. Its still a Guilty Gear game; the combos are insane (to say the least), the soundtrack is driving metal, and the gameplay is crisp. Xrd feels snappy in ways fighting games haven't in a while: Every action has a reward and a risk in ways many games don't have anymore. I never feel safe pressing a button in Xrd, but feel incredibly rewarded when I pull of some incredible rush-down maneuvres with Leo or zone out someone with Ky. And that's saying nothing about the art style. Its captivating and drenched in color, with the huge splashes of light highlighting every kick and slash. The moments when the 3D modelling comes out are some of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful moments in gaming. Full stop, Xrd should be studied in game development classes as to what someone can do with 3D art. Xrd plays gorgeous and looks amazing. It won't be for everybody, but it is definitely for me.

  • You're spinning, and spinning, and spinning, and jumping, and spinning, and OH LOOK DISCO. This was my general feedback loop when playing Roundabout. I’m a person who really respects the style and execution of a game. Roundabout completely fit everything I wanted. The gameplay flowed in a way I never expected, challenging me to think in ways I did not consider about a game involving a revolving limo. Roundabout oozes style, with it's dumb FMV nonsense never wearing thin or feeling exceptionally forced. I played in in mostly one sitting, and loved it from start to finish. Well done, No Goblin.

  • Honorable Mention: League of Legends stole me for a long time this year. I was drawn back in by the "Give it a shot, it was fun last time, could be fun again" mentality and I can happily say League is one of the best games I have played in a long time. I've poured entire weekends into League, experiencing everything that game has to offer (besides competing against high level players). I haven't left Bronze, and I am hooked. Damn you, League of Legends. I have other games to play, League of Legends! I'm not that rich, League of Legends! I LOVE YOU LEAGUE OF LEGENDS.
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