by yelix
These are the games I liked the most in 2014. It is incomplete and in no particular order.
Showing 1-10 of 15 items
The worst thing about Transistor for me was that there wasn't more of it. I wish the world had been expanded upon a bit more and the narration wasn't as good as Bastion, but the world, visuals, combat, and music all worked together to make a game that I felt was pretty special.
I love Mario Kart, but only enough to play every third game or so in the series. MK8 doesn't do anything extraordinarily new, but the new tracks are fantastic, it looks incredible, and the 12-player online races are virtually flawless. With the addition of Zelda, Excitebike, and F-Zero themed tracks and characters in the first DLC pack, it got even better. As far as I'm concerned, it's the best game in the series.
The Wii U version, to be specific. Like Mario Kart 8, it's just another iteration on a formula that's worked for a long time, but it's exceptionally well-produced and still so damn fun. The Final Destination versions of each stage are brilliant and Little Mac rules. Plus, the online play works more often than not.
I have a complicated relationship with Destiny. I played several dozen hours of it and fully immersed myself in its confusing, grindy endgame, often enjoying myself despite all of its problems. However, at the time of this writing, I sort of never want to play Destiny again, even with the DLC. I can still see the great potential in Destiny, but it'll be a while before it's fully realized.
Child of Light isn't an especially deep turn-based RPG, but it has an amazing look and I hope Ubisoft continues to experiment with smaller games like this. Just as long as they don't have dialogue written entirely in awkward rhyme.
Another one of Ubisoft's small-team efforts, Valiant Hearts tells the story of World War I using a gorgeous and charming cartoon style. Its depiction of certain people and events could be better, and the nurse's quick-time event minigame is awful, but Valiant Hearts ended up being a pleasant surprise for me. The ending, in particular, was a high note.
I actually haven't played very much of Hohokum yet, and I don't really know what's going on when I do, but it's whimsical, colorful, and lowkey enough to be really enjoyable.
The side content was disappointingly bare, but it was another Infamous game and those are pretty fun. It's also nice for a AAA game to have a non-stereotypical Native American protagonist, though the merits of other aspects of his depiction (such as belonging to a fictional tribe) are debatable.
Not actually a 2014 release but I didn't play it until this year. This game is flat-out awesome and smartly combines roguelike elements with RPG persistence. I put in 30+ hours and unlocked everything, which I rarely do.
I've spent more hours than I'm willing to admit speedrunning Mega Man games and watching Mega Man speedruns. Those games hold up so much better than most from that era and the good ones are among the best games ever. Shovel Knight panders to nostalgia without being insufferable about it, has an excellent soundtrack, and modernizes the Mega Man/Ducktales/Castlevania formula in some great ways.