Barry Burton
Member
1. Alien: Isolation ; I had high hopes for this game since it was first announced and shown, but I was always a little nervous about it; like it was too good to be true. A triple-A survival horror game with little emphasis on combat -- in 2014? Yeah, right. It will end up being all action-y, just wait and see. You'll truly feel like you're fighting for survival, when being stalked by an unstoppable enemy with nothing to defend yourself with? Nah, there's no way they'll pull that off. The creature's AI will undoubtedly suck, you'll be able to predict what happens, it'll end up being really scripted, yada yada yada. Oh, and it's an ALIEN game??? Yup, it's totally gonna suck. But lo and behold, Alien: Isolation is everything it was cracked up to be, and then some. It is survival horror at its finest, emphasizing the need for patience and careful decision-making, and the result is a game that is incredibly tense throughout and, at times, downright terrifying. The persistent threat of the Alien (as well as the not-as-deadly-but-still-really-fucking-creepy Working Joe androids) coupled with a fantastic representation of the original film's sci-fi aesthetic works to create an unbelievably strong atmosphere, taking this relentless cat & mouse game and making it a truly heart-pounding experience. It's the scariest game I've played in quite some time, and it was probably the most challenging game I played all year. But in spite of the sometimes unforgiving difficulty, the game and its enemy AI was absolutely fair, and my ability to survive through to the end really felt largely predicated on the slow and methodical play-style that the game allowed me to carry out. It's not perfect, but Creative Assembly delivered about as well as you could have asked for in making Alien: Isolation feel like a true fight for survival. Of all of the great games I played in 2014, this is the one that made the biggest impression on me, and the experience that I had is one that I expect will continue to resonate with me for a long time. It's the real deal. (Creative Assembly, PS4)
2. Bayonetta 2 ; The original Bayonetta is one of my favorite games of the prior generation, and up until that point was certainly my favorite character-action game. The combat mechanics offered a ton of variety that was all easy and fun to pull off, in turn encouraging you to try just about everything at your disposal. It was amazing, and I didn't think it was possible to perfect it any further. Well, I was wrong. Bayonetta 2 not only plays better than the first game, it actually plays a lot better. There's more variety to the gameplay on top of a foundation that was already quite varied, while combat is faster and smoother and just feels great overall. Each new enemy encounter is a lot of fun, and it never gets old because of how many different abilities you have (all of which are equally awesome), and because of how enjoyable it is to have all of that power while never feeling overwhelmed at the same time. The ease and intuitiveness involved with mixing up your arsenal is very liberating, making it more possible now to dominate as Bayonetta while doing it just as stylishly as she does it in the cinematics. The sequel also trims out a lot of the filler that the first game had, smartly focusing on making the whole experience faster and crazier. Hands down, it's one of the best-paced action games I've ever played. I didn't find the humor to be at the level of the first game, but in every other respect, Bayonetta 2 is a resounding improvement over the original. I've never had more fun kicking ass in a video game. (Platinum Games, Wii U)
3. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor ; There are a number of reasons why I did not expect to like this game nearly as much as I do. I've found open-world games to be largely underwhelming and disappointing over the past couple of years. Ubisoft's open-world games, most notably Assassin's Creed, I have burned out on completely. I do like the Batman combat, but after Arkham Origins I've begun to tire out on that series as well. I have no real interest in the Tolkien universe; I saw the Lord of the Rings trilogy and thought they were fine films, but I'm hardly what you'd consider a fan of the material. On the surface, Shadow of Mordor is all of those things wrapped into one game. Best case scenario, I expected my time with it would be no different from any other recent open-world game: I'd climb a tower or two, see my map get cluttered with an overwhelming amount of icons, feel compelled to do those quests and find those collectibles so that I could look at the map again and be able to think at the same time, lose interest fast after doing a handful of them and realizing that it's straight filler and busy-work, before finally saying "screw it" and start doing only the main story missions, only to find out that the story sucks and the missions are little more than tutorials for the side content that I already lost interest in. The weird part is, that's not an entirely inaccurate description of the game, but a funny thing happened in the end...I completed it 100% and loved just about every second of it. Huh, what?! It just goes to show what can happen when your game is built on super-tight gameplay mechanics and numerous in-game systems constantly interplaying with each other -- the experience can be fun and engaging and addicting and satisfying, even if the content itself isn't interesting on its own. Shadow of Mordor does borrow from Assassin's Creed and Batman and others, but it implements everything the right way, making sure that it's fun to play first and foremost. Its one big new feature, the Nemesis system, is what puts it over the top for me. For the first time in a while, it was nice to have an open game world where my actions could make a tangible influence on it, whenever and as often as I wanted to. Whether it's the main missions, the side missions or any of the in-between traversal, there's always an element of spontaneity and fluidity in play that makes even the mundane into something compelling and fresh. It's not the most ground-breaking game of 2014, but damned if it isn't a well-made one. (Monolith, PS4)
4. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze ; When describing Rayman Legends' placement on my Best of 2013 list, I mentioned how with platforming games, the phrase "more of the same" is often much more of a compliment from me than a pejorative, especially when you're following up a great experience that I want more of. That same adage applies to Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and once again, it's a good thing. A very good thing. Like Bayonetta, Donkey Kong Country Returns was also one of my favorite games from the previous generation (as well as one of my absolute favorite 2D platforming games ever) and getting a sequel to that on the Wii U is undeniably great, but saying it's just more DKC Returns is selling it a bit short. Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way: You've got the visual overhaul, with Retro's always-top-notch art now looking better than ever in high definition. The controls have been improved over the Wii game. There's more variety, with new playable characters and new types of stages -- underwater and ice (and get this, they're just as good as the other stuff!) -- that each make a substantial impact on the traditional gameplay. And let's make no mistake about it: David Wise's soundtrack is an unequivocal highlight, and is without question the best collection of music I've heard in a game all year. But it's the little things that make this game great too. Like how each level is filled with all sorts of calamity taking place in the background, and how each world tells its story through the sequencing of these stages and everything that's going on within them. Or how the game progresses in such a way that it consistently gets better and better until the very end. And while I found Tropical Freeze to be a little bit easier than Returns, the flipside is that I had a more enjoyable time 100%-ing this one. It's challenging and on rare occasions it even gets frustratingly hard, but going for completion was always a "fun challenge" through and through. Ultimately, it's not as impressive of a game now as Donkey Kong Country Returns was back on the Wii, but that doesn't mean it can't still be one of the very best games I played all year. And through the first three-fourths of the year, it was the best. (Retro Studios, Wii U)
5. Wolfenstein: The New Order ; This is, without a doubt, the surprise of the year. I had absolutely zero hype for this game, didn't give it much of a look when it came out, and only picked it up after hearing a lot of positive word of mouth regarding it. Well, "word of mouth" was certainly correct this time, because Wolfenstein: The New Order is a really good game. Developed by former Starbreeze employees that worked on Escape From Butcher Bay, Wolfenstein is a throwback of sorts to games of that era, of pre-Modern Warfare FPS games that wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice ultra-realism in the interest of fun. The shooting feels great, as do the stealth mechanics, and each mission practically can be played with either approach or a mix of both styles interchangeably. Each level is designed smartly with multiple routes that you can take and oftentimes allowing you to be as stealthy as you'd like, but the game doesn't miss a beat once everything degenerates into a shootout. With tight mechanics, a satisfying and rewarding perk system and pretty good pacing (it's far from being non-stop shooting), The New Order easily does enough to be an enjoyable gameplay experience. But on top of all of that, it has an unexpectedly well-written narrative that includes a number of characters that I actually cared about, elevating B.J. Blazkowicz's latest exploits to the point where I felt like I was fighting for a lot more than simply killing Nazis and saving the world. It's the best first-person shooter I've played in several years. (MachineGames, PS4)
6. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U ; Back and better than ever, the latest Smash Bros. for the Wii U checks off nearly every box that a 2014 Smash Bros. has to. Multiplayer has been a blast, both online and locally, and the sheer volume of modes and customization options available in both realms is staggering and very much welcome. Whether I'm looking for complete and utter chaos or a more purist-route at any given time, it's all there at my fingertips and has been a ton of fun in the short time I've spent with it so far. And let's not forget about the single-player, which is filled to the brim with content and sports dozens of challenges that I suspect will keep me busy for many months and years to come. With the newest entry into the franchise, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U maintains the series standing as one of the most fun multiplayer experiences and a celebration of all things Nintendo. (Namco/Sora, Wii U)
7. Shovel Knight ; Much more than just a trip down memory lane, Shovel Knight is what you'd expect from a NES Mega Man or Castlevania-inspired game made in 2014. It hits all of the sensibilities of that era, nailing the retro visuals and sound in such a way that brings back fond childhood memories, highlighted by a delightfully addicting soundtrack. While respecting the games of that era, Shovel Knight also takes into account all of the lessons learned in the 20-some-odd years since, settling for gameplay that manages to strike that delicate balance between being too simple and being too challenging. It's an unabashed love letter to old-school video games, true, but above and beyond the nostalgia factor Shovel Knight brings more than enough to the table to stand tall among its modern peers. (Yacht Club Games, Wii U)
8. The Evil Within ; What to make of The Evil Within? This latest journey through Shinji Mikami's nightmare world is not perfect by any stretch. But it's still a very satisfying survival horror game that hits most of the right notes, and is excellently-paced from beginning to end. You're never doing the same thing over and over for any significant length of time, as the game is always shaking up the gameplay and locales in such a way that is consistently interesting and rewarding. It's a double-edged sword, because while the game never feels repetitive at any point, the roller-coaster ride it takes you on doesn't really allow for much suspense building, which is paramount for a horror experience. I also found the inclusion of automatic checkpoints to be a disservice to the game, working against the survival/stealth gameplay by discouraging player creativity and greatly reducing the overall tension. Flaws aside, The Evil Within still brings a lot to the table in the gameplay department. It's remarkably well-balanced, where you have barely enough ammo and/or health to get by if you play perfectly, and at no point did I feel overpowered like I did in Resident Evil 4. But in those instances where you don't make the most of your resources, there are plenty of other avenues that the game allows you to take, including stealth, utilizing environmental traps, crafting a wide variety of crossbow bolts, or evading enemies altogether. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the boss fights, some of which were among the most frantic and terrifying enemy encounters I've come across in a long time. In the end, it doesn't re-invent the wheel and a lot of what this game does great has been done before. But if you liked something like The Last of Us, and wouldn't mind playing a darker, scarier version of that (with some REmake and RE4 sprinkled in), you could do far worse than The Evil Within. It's a really good survival horror game, if still falling short of being another "Mikami masterpiece". (Tango Gameworks, PS4)
9. Sunset Overdrive ; Give credit where credit is due: following the soulless and generic Fuse, Insomniac really goes for it all here. If this were "Silliest Games of the Year 2014", it would probably take the top spot. They're swinging for the fences, and well...there are quite a few whiffs, but they knock it out of the park when it matters most. Sunset Overdrive fully acknowledges that it's a video game, and this sort of breaking-the-4th-wall humor permeates throughout the whole game. Is it always funny? No, plenty of the jokes fall flat, but enough of them do work that it justifies their total commitment to it. The punk rock aesthetic is a bit one-note, but it fits for what they're going for. Which is to say that the goal was to make this the loudest, most vulgar statement that they could possibly make, and by and large it's a success. Yes, it's still got a lot of the trappings of an open world shooter that are mostly run-of-the-mill. Plenty of missions are throwaways. But as with the humor, Sunset Overdrive hits when it matters most and above all else, I had a great fucking time while I was playing it. Traversing a game world has never felt so great, and by grinding, bouncing, air-dashing, and wall-running my way around such a hyper-stylized city, it has never looked this great either. It didn't matter if it was the 13th collect-a-thon mission to that point -- I wasn't doing it to get my completion % up, I kept on going because I was having fun. Finally, the game brings the spectacle and bombast in spades at the biggest moments: the boss fights. By making the most of the large open world environment and all of your high-flying abilities, each boss encounter ranks as one of the more memorable moments of the year for me. They perfectly capture the level of audacity and ridiculousness that Sunset Overdrive was striving for. (Insomniac, XB1)
10. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker ; One of my favorite games from last year was Super Mario 3D World, and one of that game's biggest strong suits was that I rarely felt like I played back-to-back stages that were too similar. The Captain Toad stages that were mixed in among the more traditional Mario platforming levels were a part of that game's impressive variety, and with Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, that same philosophy is still in tact but with those types of levels now in the forefront. In many respects, it's a Mario-quality game where the platforming element has been stripped away, and yet it manages to be nearly as fun regardless. The bulk of the stages are very well-designed, in that they are able to be completed in only a few minutes each, but are loaded with all sorts of surprises that demand 2, 3, and sometimes more replays. It's incredibly fun and satisfying to search every nook and cranny of these stages, especially when eventually finding a secret that was very cleverly hidden. As an appendix of sorts to 3D World, this could have been a phoned-in effort, but all of the super creative level designs and puzzles you'd expect from an EAD Tokyo game, it's all here on full display. And like all of Nintendo's first party stuff on Wii U, it looks stunningly good in HD. When this game was first announced at this past E3, it was a pleasant surprise and immediately became one of the games I was most looking forward to playing. My one concern was whether a full game made out of these puzzles might possibly wear thin, but in hindsight that was a pretty silly thought: these guys have been making 3D Mario games. They know what they're doing! (Nintendo, Wii U)
Honorable Mentions:
x. D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die ; Well, I've gotten my Swery fix for the year. Imagine Deadly Premonition without the open world and combat, just the cutscenes. And instead of tackling Twin Peaks, this time around he's taking on Memento. That's D4 in a nutshell...if you like Swery, this is for you. (Access Games, XB1)
x. Far Cry 4 ; I probably would have gotten more out of it if I hadn't just played Far Cry 3 earlier in the year, as it's very similar to its predecessor. But that also means that it's still pretty darned good. (Ubisoft, PS4)
x. inFamous: Second Son ; At the time, traversing the environments in inFamous were the most fun I've had in an open-world game in a while, but then games came out that did it better (Mordor, Sunset). Still a very solid game, and provided my first "next-gen moments" from a visual standpoint. (Sucker Punch, PS4)