It's that time again as we reflect on the best games we played this year. In all it's kind of a weird one. I know of a few games to come out this year which I really enjoyed playing but on closer reflection I realise that the big games to come out this year only really seemed to come out in the past few months. I felt that this year, had a huge stretch of time where there were few new games to come out at all, for a longer period of time than usual. Particularly around the summer months. But, as I said, there were some fantastic games to come out nonetheless, so let's talk about them now!
For each game, give a summary of why it's made it onto your list. You can really sell your love of the game by sharing key moments or talking about what the game does really well. It can be as short or as detailed as you want it to be.
5. Luftrausers
This is a pretty straightforward game to explain. An indie 2D shoot em up that plays like a faster, more intense version of Asteroids. Only your enemies aren't minor planets but enemies ranging from planes and boats to battleships, jets, submarines and blimps, depending on how well you do and how long you can survive in a game. There's no story, purely an arcade score attack experience based on how long you can survive. It's just a lot of fun to play, your movement can see you soaring and bombing down with great speed, twisting and turning to shoot at enemies and keep yourself alive which only gets more difficult as you continue to play in a single game. In between games, you can customise your ship with new parts you found. I was keen on a continuous laser equipped ship with the ability to dive underwater and not take damage for a time until I switched to a plane that can fire a single shot weapon which takes great accuracy but can cause massive damage if it hits an enemy, along with the body of a plane to be equipped with a nuke, killing everything on screen should I die, sending my score skyrocketing. The best compliment I can give is that whatever customisation you can create is always fun to play and almost feels like a game can be built around each one in itself. Simple but highly addictive, Luftrausers was the biggest surprise for me this year and is always a blast to play.
4. Metal Gear Solid V : Ground Zeroes
Yes I completed the main story mission in about 1 hr 30 mins. But I've read accounts from so many people who considered themselves finished after that point. What these people don't realise is that Ground Zeroes is so finely crafted, that it merits repeated playthroughs. I found it to be a worthwhile experience where the game practically encourages you to play around with the game mechanics that are offered to you in this well formed sandbox, which is only further encouraged in the multiple side missions that are unlocked after completing the main story. They're a playful bunch, revelling in emergent action that unravels in often unpredictable ways, which comes as close to creating cinematic action which Hideo Kojima has always strived for. Spend eight hours dabbling with Ground Zeros' playground and it will still find so many ways to surprise you. It's also, even on the PS3, an incredible looking game. If Ground Zeroes is a taste of what's to come with Phantom Pain due out next year, then it promises to be something very special indeed and worthy of attention.
3. Pro Evolution Soccer 2015
Not much to say here to those who don't like football games to begin with!
For those who follow me on Twitter then you already know that I think it's the best playing football game in years. I play it every day and every match feels like a new experience. Playing with my newly created Master League team is so much fun, as you play through a season, building up the strength of your team, changing formations, experimenting on the pitch, finding new players to love and appreciate. I love this game, perhaps my favourite football game of all time. Also, I love that man Minandinho. What a man.
2. Assassins Creed IV : Black Flag
After the disappointing AC3, my optimism going into Black Flag could not be any lower. Little was I to know, that it would be my favourite game of the series to date. The core gameplay hasn't changed much, you go around killing dudes with ease and picking up collectibles and side missions along the way. But the setting and the core focus around sailing really does, if you'll excuse the pun, give it a breath of fresh air. There are fairly large cities to explore in Havana and Kingston but the main game is truly out at sea. Standing at the wheel of the Jackdaw, your crew singing some amazing sounding shanties, the Caribbean sea is open for you to explore with islands to visit, schooners and frigates to pillage, underwater caverns and shipwrecks to navigate for treasure, British strongholds to sneak into and raid. What really sells the game is that travel between islands is non existant. You pull up aboard, set anchor, dive overboard and swim to the beach. And you will want to do it as the environments are absolutely stunning to look at. As in, they really are jaw dropping at times. The Carribean brings in new palettes not seen in the series before like crystal blue oceans underneath a sun kissed sky at dusk. I also really liked Edward the protagonist, a man not affiliated with the Assassins to begin with, but slowly decides to ally with them, as he comes to term with his growing unease at his place in the world while his quest of grand delusion sees his family and friends placed in danger. There are some things I didn't like, what with the game locking content behind story progression, but it is the most enjoyable in the series to date. A real treasure of a game.
1. Dark Souls 2
Let me say this straight off the bat, I think Dark Souls 2 is my least favourite in the series. Perhaps it's the more linear environments, enemies starting to disappear after multiple attempts at reloading from a bonfire or some ridiculously easy bosses, it just felt that the game was missing something that made the first one so special. Yet despite that, it's still my favourite game this year for the simple fact that few games out there are as challenging and rewarding as a good Souls game is. Because despite there being some easy bosses, there were a few that absolutely wrecked me. Yes there were linear environments, but it doesn't seem as offensive when its gloomy crypts, haunted forests and burning fortresses are plumbed into the foundations of the world with the same carefully appointed detail as anything else in the Souls canon, sparingly direct about their history and intentions so that you piece what story you can together from scraps. It's full of startling and confounding moments, enigmatic systems and items that will only make sense over multiple playthroughs, and it is certainly a game with enough content and depth to play for a very long time. Worth noting is that the vanilla game by itself was worthy enough to be my no.1, but the DLC just strengthens it's position. The DLC areas are the best areas to play in, in what is already a very worthy game. The open ended environments are reminiscent of Dark Souls 1 design, they're all aesthetically stunning to look at, with fascinating lore and with easily some of the best bosses in not just Dark Souls 2, but in any Souls game period. Overall, Dark Souls 2 probably isn't quite the same masterpiece Dark Souls is, but then neither is anything else. Nor is it as intense, but very few games are as intense as your first Souls game experience. The fact it comes so close to matching both is remarkable and makes it very easy to make it my favourite game of 2014.
Some honorable mentions here:
2014's 2006 Game of the Year - God Hand (Released at the end of the PS2 era, God Hand is a unique beat em up that's tough as nails difficult, where you fight a range of enemies from thugs to dominatrixes to wrestling gorillas to a fat Mexican demon called Elvis to a dwarf version of the Power Rangers. It's a wonderfully weird game)
Best Story - The Walking Dead Season 2 (From the first 5 minutes of the game, Season 2 tells a very dark story of survival that never lets up which makes the few moments of optimism that much more impactful. Seems a lot would disagree with me, but I felt that overall it was certainly on par if not more consistent than Season 1. I cried on two separate occasions in the last episode, so I consider it a triumph)
Biggest Disappointment - Destiny (For the record, the actual gameplay behind Destiny is very good. Shooting feels really nice and the multiplayer PvP is the most solid I've seen in an online shooter. But everything else is just a disappointment. The story is the worst I've seen in any game for a long time, the loot system is completely random which doesn't reward good behaviour and the entire end game is built around replaying the same 20 story missions over and over and over in the hope you'll find better loot. For all the money that went into the game's development, you would have expected the game to offer more than it does. And with DLC consisting of 3 multiplayer maps and some new loot for £20, seems like an outrageous sum of money for all it is. There's a solid game in Destiny, but it's let down by just about every other design decision around it.)
Fuck Off Forever Award - Releasing Broken Games/GamerGate (You would have thought the whole industry would have learned a lesson after the fiasco that was the launch of Battlefield 4 and SimCity, but instead more games than ever either came out either a technical mess from the get go like AC:Unity, games that are practically unplayable off the disc without the day one patch like The Evil Within or core features in the game just don't work at any point at all like the multiplayer in Driveclub and Halo Master Chief Collection. Even patches for existing games have broken games. Tetris on the PS4 is an unplayable mess. A patch for COD:Advanced Warfare literally made my PS3 lock up until they fixed it. I think, at least I hope, people now vote with their wallets and don't pre order games so heavily any more as it's created a culture where publishers will happily release broken games whilst taking your money.
As for GamerGate, well, the less said the better. Here's to a resounding fuck you.)
The 'I should really buy a Wii U' Award - Bayonetta 2/Mario Kart 8/Wonderful 101/Super Smash Bros/Captain Toad/Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze....and looking ahead there's Zelda, Star Fox, Xenoblade....
Topic: Best Games of 2014 (Read 2637 times)