Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Best games of 2014

Top Games of 2014
            The time is finally upon us, the time to reveal my picks for the best games of 2014. 2014 was a pretty bad year for gaming over all, from games being delayed, more and more DLC being shoved down peoples throat (Destiny Cough Cough) or games being released and being full of problems like The Master Chief Collection and Assassins Creed Unity. The only thing we can do is try to learn from the mistakes and make 2015 an amazing year for gaming. IM TALKING TO YOU DEVELOPERS! GET YOUR CRAP TOGETHER!! Anyway, I didn’t get a chance to play a ton of games that came out in 2014 but the few (8) that did were all amazing. Most of the games that I played were older games that I finally had time to play.

In this list I’m not including games that have been remastered of games that are from 2013 that are being released on the new consoles because I don’t think it is fair and I have already talked about most of those games last year.
           
Best Action Adventure - Shadows of Mordor Xbox One, PS4,PC Xbox 360 and PS3

There are not enough great things to say about this game, from the Assassins Creed like free running elements, to the Batman Arkam series style of combat this game truly is an amazing game. The game centers on the main character Talion who along with his wife and son are killed and sacrificed to try to summon the wraith of Lord Celebrimbor. Rather than be summoned Celebrimbor is merged with Talion. Since Talion is merged with Celebrimbor he does not die.  Talion and Celebrimbor set out to avenge Talion’s family and try to uncover the past of Celebrimbor along the way.

This game is just a work of art, the graphics are great for a next gen game and the gameplay never gets old. I found myself having a lot of fun with the “Nemesis” system of the game. The Nemesis system is a new and great system that allows you to track down and kill enemies that kill you and get your revenge on them. Once an enemy in the game kills you they are promoted in the nemesis system to captain and so on, the higher their rank and the more times they kill you, the more their power raises and the harder they are to kill. This is a great new system that Shadow of Mordor has and it makes hunting down and killing that piece of crap that killed you even more satisfying.

All in all shadow of Mordor is a great game with great graphics, an interesting story and great gameplay. If you saw The Hobbit this year and want to play a great Lord of The Rings game, this is the game for you.

            Shadow of Mordor gets a 8 out of 10 (Highly Recommend)


Best Multiplayer – Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS

            Its Super Smash Bros. There is not really much to say about why this game got best multiplayer, But for those of you who would like to know I’ll explain why this game is getting the award it is.. Super Smash Bros. is a game that pits your favorite Nintendo characters against each other in fights, Think street fighter but Nintendo characters.

The game has old classic characters like Mario, Link and Donkey Kong but with the new game there are some new faces to the Smash franchise. Sonic, Pac-Man, Duck Hunt Dog, Wii Fit Trainer, Rosalina, Bowser Jr., Little Mac, Greninja, Palutena, Dark Pit, Lucina and Robin Mega Man and Your Mii all joing the fight this time around. You can customize your mii fighter to 3 main classes, Fighting (Think Mario), Swordsman (Think Marth) and gunner (Think Samus).

You may be thinking to yourself “But DWA its just smash, what could they do with it that’s new and exciting”? Well you lack of excitement about smash does disturb me, I have three words for your friend “8 Played Smash”! yes that’s right, 8 frickin player smash. This game gets even more fun and way more intense with 7 friends or 7 computers and I have to say it’s amazing.

This game as a whole is great and if all the new characters isn’t enough to get you to buy it, 8 player smash is all the reason it needs.

            Super Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS gets a 9 out of 10 (A must buy of the year)



Best Horror game of 2014 – 5 Nights at Freddys

            This game has got to be one of the scariest games I have ever played in my life; it puts games like Outlast and Amnesia to shame. Rather than strike fear into your heart by making the person coming after you look scary as all hell and knowing that they could be around any corner and chase you at any moment, 5 nights at Freddys does something very different. 5 nights of Freddys or 5NAF takes robot stuffed animals essentially and puts your all alone in a room and unable to move, not because you have been given some drug that makes you unable to move but because you are a security guard for a children restaurant (Like Chuck E. Cheese). If your looking for a horror games that not only messes with your bladder control but also with your mind then look somewhere else. This game challenges your to check cameras and lock the doors to your office so that the stuffed animals can’t get to you and all you need to do is make it until 6 AM.

            5NAF gets a -10 out of 10. Did you really thing I would give an award to this piece of crap game? It’s nothing but jump scares. I have seen scarier things in the toilet.


           
The True Best Horror Game of 2014 – Among the Sleep PC

            Now, a truly good horror game of 2014 was Among the Sleep. From the first moment I heard what the concept of this game was I was sold right away. The concept of the game is that you play a baby, that’s right a BABY! Rather than sprint and run to get away from the monsters you must crawl and walk as fast as you little legs will carry you to try and hide from the monsters that haunt you.

The story of the game is simple, your crib is flipped over in the middle of the night and you venture into the basement of your home but not without grapping your favorite teddy bear first. The bear acts at your guide and a safety blanket because when you hug him he acts as a flashlight. As you travel around the world of the basement you come across pictures that you have drawn, most of a woman yelling and screaming as a sad looking man with a baby crying. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the pictures are about your life. As you go around you also find your favorite memories of your mother, like her singing you a song and her giving you a new toy. That’s about as much as I can say without spoiling it but I will talk about it at the end of this review here, so if you want spoilers skip to the bottom of this award/review.

The art style is great as well; they didn’t go for a realistic approach but rather a very simple and very nice looking game. The game has you wondering the whole time about whether or not these things are really happening to the child or if it’s just the way the child perceives the dark and scary basement. Rather than have scares every 15-20 minutes or so like most games, Among the Sleep is more of a physiological horror game and I really liked that aspect of the game. 

           SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!
             MAJOR SPOILER!!!!!! Now for my favorite part of the game, the ending and the meaning of the game. As you finish the game it is revealed that the monster in your life is your mother. Your parents have gone through a divorce (hence the pictures I mentioned above) and she has turned to drinking to try and numb the pain. The teddy bear in the game represents your father and how he wants nothing more than to keep you safe. The game ends you’re you crawling up to your mother who has ripped the arm of your teddy bear and as you go to take the arm from her hand she shoves you away and a liquor bottle is shown. At that moment there it a knock at the front door and when you go over and pull the door open the screen goes white and a man’s voice can be heard (either your father or Child Protection Services) and your carried away from your mother. I really liked ho this game talked about the horrors of divorce and how it affects the children.

            Among the Sleep gets a 9 out of 10 (A Must Buy of The Year)


                                       
Best Racing Game of 2014 – Mario Kart 8 Wii U
            Personally I don’t play a ton of racing games but I always pick up a new Mario Kart when they come out. There isn’t really a lot to say about Mario Kart 8 other than, its frickin Mario Kart so you know it’s gonna be good right off the bat.  Mario Kart is one of those games that when your friends or family come over you can all play together and just have fun yelling at each other and screaming “Who just threw that damn blue shell”! This game is so much fun and it’s easy to spend hours playing the game. For a game on the Wii U the graphic are absolutely amazing. Racing through the levels is so much fun but I wish I could just sit and admire how great everything looks. The game has added some new things this time around too; Nintendo has added parts of levels that go upside down and the ability to race on a bike rather than in a kart. Nintendo has also released some new characters for the racing game, my personal favorite being Lemmy. Another notable character is Link (Through DLC) after years of rumors that Link was in the original Mario Kart he is finally in a game.
           
Mario Kart 8 gets an 8 out of 10.



Best next Gen and my Game of The Year – Sunset Overdrive Xbox One
          
             I cannot say enough good things about this game, from the art style to the gameplay to the over the top weapons and the funny writing this game hits the nail on the head for what a good game truly is.

The basic idea of the game is that an energy drink turns people into mutants who want to kill you and it’s up to you and the friends you meet along the way to let the rest of the world know what is happening in your city. The company that made the energy drink that caused all this is called FizzCo and they will stop at nothing to keep what is going on in your city from leaking to the press and getting bad publicity.

One of my favorite parts of the game has got to be the gameplay, The game has players grinding and bounce their away around sunset city rather than run around on foot like most games. The game feels like Tony Hawk and Ratchet and Clank got together and this game is their child. The game is also in my opinion pretty funny, mentioning Reddit, peoples love for cat photos and even has a Game of Thrones reference thrown in there which I loved because im a huge Game of Thrones fan. The game is great from start to finish and it is a must have if you are an Xbox One owner.

Sunset Overdrive gets a 10 out of 10 (A Must Have) a perfect game and it is my choice for Game of The Year.
           

           
Not for a few lists and notable mentions.

             Best Company Overkill Studios
             The studio behind Payday 2 (My most played game of the year) put out some amazing DLC for Payday 2 this year. From a Hotline Miami Payday 2 mash up to breaking Hoxton out of jail the DLC for Payday 2 this year was great. You may think “But I though you hated DLC DWA” most times I do, but Overkill literally gave out free DLC for 12 frickin days. Every day they gave out more and more free guns, masks and new jobs to do. It was the best 12 days of this bank robber’s life.

Best movie of 2014 - Guardians of The Galaxy

My most played game of 2014 – Payday 2

My top 5 games of the year (This includes remasters and games that just started this year)
5. Game of Thrones By Telltale
4. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS
3. Shadow of Mordor
2. Halo The Master Chief Collection
1. Sunset Overdrive

Top 5 worst games of 2014
5. Call of Duty Advanced Warfare (More of the same crap as the last 37 games)
4. Assassins Creed Unity (Buggy as all hell)
3. Rambo The Game ( On Rails and just painful to play)
2. Destiny (Story of the game available for only 39.99 in DLC)

1. 5 Nights at Freddys 1 and 2 (Not Scary and just plain bad)