by freedo
It wasn't a very good year for games. Not only was E3 a bummer and GamerGate an even bigger bummer for larger reasons, the games themselves weren't great. But there were still some surprising nuggets of shiny goodness that I probably would've overlooked in a better release year. Most of the games on this list feel like cult classics to me; games that don't break too many molds but hot damn were they a good time. Some of them, like my #1 game, actually moved the medium forward in a way I didn't even know was possible. So I guess what I'm saying is 2014 wasn't the complete mess of flaming garbage I thought it was until about five minutes ago. But Video Games... be better next year, ok?
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Excellent game. I'll just get that out of the way right now, because I'm about to go off on it for a bit. Here's the thing: I'm a big LOTR fan. Like, huge LOTR fan. Like, "fuck STAR WARS, this is what it's about" kind of fan. As such, I should probably despise this game. The story and action of this game is what most LOTR fans accuse the movies of being. It completely misses the point of Tolkien's story and the main character is not only completely overpowered within the lore, he's probably a bigger asshole than Sauron himself. I could go on and on about the story, but this is starting to get harsh. The point is that even though the story was almost offensive, I still adore this game. The Nemesis System is astoundingly fun and fascinating. It feels almost like the cover system from GEARS OF WAR. It's something that not only will be copied over and over, I want it to be copied. I want it in every open world game. I want to get sick of it because right now I just can't image that being possible.
I was a backer even though I've never been into adventure games. Not because I didn't like them, they just preceded my tenure as an enthusiast. I wanted to see what the fuss was about and I adore the fine folks at Double Fine. It's such a wonderful game with a perfect cliffhanger. Both of those things are rare these days. Usually cliffhangers in any medium feel cheap; they exist because they have to be. Duh, sequel. But somehow, even though it wasn't planned, Tim Schafer and company made it feel organic. And that fucking art...
Big lapsed CALL OF DUTY fan over here. Really didn't care for BLACK OPS and just fell off after that. None the proceeding games caught my attention or convinced me I should dive back in. For most of it's marketing campaign, AW was no different. Once reviews came out and I watched the Quick Look I decided, "fuck it, there's nothing else out anyway." And wow, am I glad I did. This was almost my top game of the year until I actually sat down and thought about what I played this year. I've been playing it here and there since I bought it (week after release). It's amazing what some jump jets can add to a game.
