2014: A Year in Reviews

2014 at a glance.

2014 was certainly a year. I don't know what else can be said about the ups and downs at this point, but before we wave goodbye and/or give the finger to 2014, I've compiled some data based on the staff reviews once again. If you've been around for a few years, you know I used to do this kind of thing with achievement data and site traffic as well, but unfortunately those features are long gone. Will they return one day? We can only hope. So, despite the decline of the importance of reviews, I went ahead and put this together for the fourth year in a row. I already have the spreadsheet built, so I might as well use it for something, right?

Once again, I've paired this data with some of the best community artwork from throughout the year (plus one old one). The total number of reviews is less than before, but we did have the debut of two new reviewers on the site. But, first, credit where credit is due.

Art Credits

@humanity's "The Royal Rumble"
@spacedongle's "Persona 5 Poster"
@sanj's "Master Tracksuit"
@dorkymohr's "Scoopslunking"
@supernormalstep's "Golden Duder (Rorie)"
@fobwashed's "Dirty Dan"
@graboids's "Sons of Drewberty"
@dorkymohr's "Hey Small Business Man!"
@sanj's "Revolver Oestricelot"
@metalliccookies's "Bombjammers"
@monkeyman04's "GB New York (Knicks Logo)"
@aurahack's "EARS!"

Previous "Year in Reviews"

And, now, let's...do...thiiiiiiiis!

Alex

The reigning, defending, undisputed world heavyweight champion once again reviewed more games than anyone for the third year in a row. Despite having a reputation for reviewing terrible games, Alex did not dish out a single 1-star review this year. Alex's two 5-stars were early releases this year (Jazzpunk and South Park).

Brad

Brad took a page out of Jeff Cannata's book this year; he loves loving things. His two 5-star reviews were The Last of Us: Left Behind and Shadow of Mordor.

Jeff

Jeff seemingly liked a lot of games, but it was the first year that he didn't dole out a single 5-star review. Being the advocate for Dr. Tracksuit may have taken a toll on him this year.

Patrick

Patrick reviewed more games this year than ever before. It's not the first time that he was unable to find a worthy 5-star game, but honestly it's been a pretty rough year. It had to hurt a lot to give Yoshi's New Island a 3.

Rorie

Matt Rorie made his review debut this year with Dragon Age: Inquisition. I'm using this image from a couple years ago because I didn't have a chance to before. It's too good not to utilize it.

Dan

Despite just joining the Giant Bomb crew midway through this year, he quickly became the de facto Nintendo review man. His first-ever 5-star review was Bayonetta 2.

Staff

Drew can see into your soul. Even with half a face.

Stars

This is the first year in Giant Bomb history that we did not have a single 1-star review. That's pretty hard to believe considering all the broken-ass games we had this year, but it's true. It's damn true. Aside from that, the percentages worked out quite similar to previous years.

Platform (Pie)

We went from 11 different platforms last year to 7 this year. Out with the old, in with the new.

Platform (Bar)

This chart is for the crazy people who yell at me for the way I do pie charts. By the way, if you're doing the math, the total here adds up to more than how many reviews were done. That's because some reviews cover multiple platforms.

Monthly

Will we ever break out of the Christmas, Second Christmas (March), Summer Drought cycle? I dunno. But, if we ever do, 2014 certainly was not the start.

Publisher

The stark contrast between the hot mess of Ubisoft this year and the stellar lineup from Nintendo is pretty interesting. Both of those companies only had 3 reviewed games last year.

Peace Out, 2014

P.S. - It's 174 days til E3 2015.