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GAF Games of the Year 2014 - Voting Thread [voting closed]

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Timeaisis

Member
EDIT: Fuck it I'll post when I'm actually ready to create my ballot.

First signs point to DA:I winning, but it'll be pretty damn tight, unlike last year.
 

Beernf

Member
1. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor ; Most fun I had with a video game this year. Loved the open world, the nemesis system and how powerful I felt at the end.
2. Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls ; Made the game fun, revamped loot to make it worthwhile, added in enough new content where it felt like a new game.
3. Dragon Age: Inquisition ; Loved exploring the world and finding hidden stuff, combat was easy but fun for me, dialogue and story lines were all top notch.
4. Grand Theft Auto V ; Huge world, good story, fun gun play.
5. Wolfenstein: The New Order ; Came out of nowhere and really surprised me with the gameplay, graphics and overall tone. Underdog of the year.
 

Grisby

Member
1. Sunset Overdrive ; Probably the most innovative game of 2014, certainly one of the most colorful. It was a delight to roam around the world that Insomniac created. Mechanically, it was almost perfect and I couldn't believe how smooth it was to get around the world. One of my highlights was climbing a building using nothing but the wrap around wall jump. The weapons, the story, all of it was fun and amazing. I spent a lot of time in Chaos mode as well, so I cant rule that out. Bravo guys..

2. Dragon Age Inquisition ; This game and Sunset might as well be tied. I ended up giving the nod to Sunset just because I liked the games central mechanics more. However, DAI is a wonderful game and Bioware finally made Thedas feel as big as it should have been from the beginning. The story was a fun ride and, although it was a power trip, it was a delightfully fun one. Most of the characters hit home and the call backs to the old games were great. The combat could have been a tad more interesting and there should have been one more main mission or so (would have cut out one of the maps) but overall it was great. So many good character moments here, with one from Cassandra being a particular highlight.

3. Wolfenstien The New Order ; Straight up, this was the best shooter of the year. Machine Games managed to craft one of the tightest story's in a Wolfenstien game, a series that inst particularity known for it's storytelling. The best part though, was the gunplay, and they delivered it in spades. The amount of options you had when going through a level was great and didn't feel overwhelming. The setting kept things fresh, and the heavy guns brought the gore and pain. Well done gents and ladies.

4. Dark Souls 2 ; Co-op was a huge pus for me in this third entry into the series. I enjoyed the hub world and throwing myself against tough enemy after tough enemy. The settings and endgame were far more enjoyable than the more bland areas of the original Dark Souls. Other than that, it's a Soul's game, and that meant quality and fantastic atmosphere.

5. Bayonetta 2 ; Although the boss fights weren't quite as awesome as the original, Bayo 2 still had everything else in spades. The combat seemed quicker, and there were less filler areas than the original. The game had more color, and although the story blew huge chunks, it's always a blast to see Bayonetta own the scene. The end game wasn't as fantastic as the original's but man, the boss fights with the masked man are some of the best this year..

6. Shovel Knight ; A classic game in more modern times. It was a complete surprise for me and I was swept off my feet. The story was lean but endearing, and the graphics were quaint but colorful. Oh, and the gameplay was so up to snuff I thought I was going to bounce shovel through my ceiling. Will be double dipping on that vita OLED.

7. Super Time Force ; Another surprise, and a welcomed one from Capy games. The retro art and comedy pulled me in, but the 2d puzzle action kept me stayin'. Trying to figure out how to get through a level in 60 seconds was a great mechanic, and seeing everyone pop up on screen in the replay never failed to amuse me. Kinda want a sequel Capy.

8. Alien Isolation ; Scared, running, fun, looking at sweet alien universe recreated graphics. All these thoughts and more were running through my head as I was knee deep in Isolation. I've been a secret fan of Creative Assembly and it was great to finally see them do an Alien game done right. I was surprised to see that there was going to be combat in the game and the moment with the
flamethrower was a gaming highlight (yelled in triumph as I burned the f outta that alien).

9. Forza Horizon 2 ; Driving around all day in a Italy like setting. Expensive cars, a fun mix of sim and arcade racing with lots of fun events. Racing trains, planes, and automobiles.

Game brightens my day whenever I think about it. It's the racing series for me.

10. Evil Within ; This game didn't start off on a good note for me. To say it was slow is an understatement. However, the survival combat and the sheer amount of different situations that you get thrown into won me over. The story isn't great, but the environments are creepy, the enemies are fun, and the gunplay is satisfying.

Honorable mentions:
Titanfall; Short on content, but fun on shooty bang bang. I really wish this game would have a SP deal, but I keep coming back to it. The dynamic between titans and pilot never gets old. There should have been a lot more of it though.
Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 ; The sequel should have been everything the first game was and more. Instead, they introduced a crappy overworld and somehow minimized the epicness of the first game. The bosses and the improved combat system saved this game, more than saved it really. I was just disappointed as I really expected this to be something special. Still, I'll go back and play a new game plus someday.
 

Spineker

Banned
1. Dragon Age: Inquisition;

I just fell in love with it, more so than any other game this year. It kept me wrapped up in its world, which looks gorgeous by the way, for nearly 80 hours. I've moved on to VC now after finishing the story mission but no doubt I'll return to it later.

2. South Park: Stick of Truth;

Finally, another funny, well made game. It's been too long. SoT delivered on its promise of replicating a typical South Park episode and it paid off in spades. Coupled with a competent combat system and video game references galore, this was easily the second most fun I've had with a game this year.


3. Valkyria Chronicles PC ;

I just got done beating the infamous chapter 7 before I came to write up this post. This is Strategy done right, with an interesting story, well thought out characters and really nice, clean visuals. Gameplay can be a bit on the cheap side at times, and wasting shots on invisible walls is very frustrating, but otherwise it's a lot of fun.

Don't really have much comments to make about the rest but here they are:


1. Dragon Age: Inquisition ; 4 points
2. South Park: Stick of Truth ; 3 points
3. Valkyria Chronicles PC ; 3 points
4. Wolfenstein: The New Order ; 2 points
5. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor ; 2 points
6. Shovel Knight ; 2 points
7. Binding of Isaac: Rebirth ; 1 point
8. Mario Kart 8 ; 1 point
9. Bayonetta 2 ; 1 point
10. Destiny ; 1 point

Considering it's been such a bad year, I have no honorable mentions that I can think of.
 

codhand

Member
1. South Park: Stick of Truth ; A really fun and funny game, with the systems and interface-RPG stuff from more demanding games like Mass Effect. It is apprent while playing, Matt and Trey were deeply involved, and humbled by the whole process.
2. Jazzpunk ; The funniest game I've ever played. 60's mod aesthetic hasn't been so successfully captured since No One Lives Forever.
3. Child of Light ; Gorgeous game, the rhyming is lame, I loved it all the same, maine.
4. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor ; Love me a good third person action game. Nemesis system elevated the open-world aspects. Great atmosphere. The ending is hated, but I enjoy a simple and not a frustrating final battle. Good story and voice acting too.
5. Sunset Overdrive ; Great traversal with a focus on minute-to-minute fun. Voice work and music grated on me, but I it speaks to how strong the gameplay was for me. Great Bosses.
6. Mario Kart 8 ; Best looking and playing Mario Kart game ever. Online play with gaffers, humbling and fun. Luigi death stare?! What?!
7. Far Cry 4 ; Amazing coop experience, which I hope they expand on in the next one. Tons to do. Beautiful world. Elephant riding.
8. Drive Club ; My kind of racing game. Plays like an arcade, but looks like a sim. Addicting challenges. I recognize Forza 2 as the better game, but it hasn't compelled me to play in the way Drive Club has with its beautiful tracks and cars.
9. Never Alone ; Scary ass game, especially with headphones on. Very short, light on actual interaction, but points to a larger untapped arena, for horror games. Great art.
10. Wolfenstein: New Order ; Wasn't as big on the story aspects as others here, but I greatly enjoyed the gunplay, level variety, and "shock" moments. Some good voice work and graphics as well.
 
1. Dragon Age: Inquisition ; Took what was good about DA:O and DAII, and improved in every way
2. Defense Grid 2 ; The best Tower defense game I've ever played
3. Halo: The Master Chief Collection ; Yes, it's still broken, but, Playing through the remastered campaigns has been a joy. Still a lot of great content. Would be higher if not for MP issues.
4. TitanFall ; Awesome mechanics and levels. Constant action fun
5. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor ; loved the nemesis system
6. Forza Horizon 2 ; Awesome racing in a great open world setting
7. Super Time Force ; Scratching that Contra itch
8. Sunset Overdrive ; A fresh take on post apocalyptic action
9. Wolfenstein: The New Order ; A great return to it's roots
10. Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition ; Hack and slash co-op fun

Honorable Mentions:
x. Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare ; Fun and colorfull
x. Guacamelee Super Championship Edition ; Loved the gameplay and style of this Metroidvania

It was a fun year, really looking forward to all the great releases next year!
 

ironcreed

Banned
1. Dragon Age: Inquisition ; BioWare's best effort in years. It's huge, beautiful, has wonderful variety, great characters and is all around fun to play.
2. Bayonetta 2 ; Simply put, one of the finest action games ever created. It looks and runs great on Wii U as well.
3. Dark Souls II ; Despite not being as well received as it's predecessor, it's still a Souls game at the core. A massive one at that.
4. Forza Horizon 2 ; Open world racing goodness in a gorgeous environment and some of the best driving gameplay to be found.
5. Sunset Overdrive ; Still need to complete it, but it is easily the most unique exclusive this year for me. The world is gorgeous, the gameplay is like liquid and the customization is nuts.
6. Mario Kart 8 ; Beautiful, charming, infuriating, yet addictive. And it is only getting better with the best deal on DLC you can find.
7. Captain Toad Treasure Tracker ; About as fresh of an experience as you can ask for in a $40 package. It's beautiful, adorable and immensely replayable.
 

adj_noun

Member
1. Dragon Age: Inquisition ; A sweeping adventure, a long awaited return to form, a surprisingly tender examination of faith in a world where the supernatural is indisputably real and a glorious soundtrack combine in one of the best games I played this year.

2. South Park: the Stick of Truth ; As a child I used to dream of being able to control episodes of my favorite cartoons. This is the dream come to life. South Park immerses you in its IP like few licensed games in history and it's hilarious to boot; a feat few games have managed before or since.

3. Alien: Isolation ; We've long since mastered the adrenaline pumping action of Aliens, but the skin crawling tension of Alien itself has remained almost absent from the franchise until this installment. Capturing not only the aesthetic but the innate feel of the horrifying alien and its surroundings makes Alien: Isolation an exercise in existential despair. (In a good way)

4. The Banner Saga ; Oregon trail meets Asgard may seem like a weirdo pitch, but this refreshing game offers a welcome new take on the...journey management genre? You probably won't get dysentery from playing this, but you will start to care about your disparate charges as they march on towards their destiny.

5. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor ; I forgot his name, but I won't forget his face. It'd be hard to do so; over the course of hours it went from a squat, piggish countenance, eyes brimming with malice, to a charred husk, rough sewn burlap barely concealing the horror within. It was a horror I was well familiar with; I'd made it. Every slash, every burn, every cut and scrape was a gift from my sword, my bow, inflicted on the hapless nightmare that simply refused to die. Finally, at long last, I took pity on this creature living solely on the hate it bore for me; I bound it to me, this wretched thing, and, in recognition of its tenacity, I put it in a place of power among its fellows, so its works would be mine, now and always.
 

Ikon

Member
1. Bayonetta 2 ; I honestly didn't think Bayonetta 1 (game of last generation for me) could be improved upon but this year I was thrilled to find out otherwise. Everything about this game just feels like it was made with me in mind. Both these games now sit comfortably in my top 10 of all time list.

2. Mario Kart 8 ; This is one hell of an amazing game in one of my absolute favorite gaming series. The handling, courses, graphics, soundtrack and character gallery are just fantastic. Also the online functionality is surprisingly good for a Nintendo game. I didn't play too much in the gaf server but what I did play was really good
fuck you guys ;)
. On top of that it has probably the best DLC I've ever seen.

3. Super Smash Bros for Wii U ; The fact that this game is placed at #3 in a GotY list speaks volumes as to what an incredible year this has been. Smash 4 follows up on the somewhat disappointing Brawl and brings me back to the wonderful days of Melee. Yes, it may be more of the same as the previous games but they are just so wonderful and special that it doesn't really matter. Also the amiibo integration has proven to be a brilliant addition and me and my friends have now found a new level of respect for Pikachu due to it.

4. Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition ; Hands down my most played game this year and possibly moved up a few spots due to that. To be honest I didn't even see the potential for greatness in launch D3 for PC. I had then expected one of the best games ever and wound up just playing it a couple of weeks. I only picked this up because I needed something to play on my PS4 that supported couch co-op and was just blows away. The controls work perfectly, the new loot system and items change more than you can imagine and the surprisingly most significant improvement is the fact that the camera is no longer centered on my character. It's a small detail but it made me feel like I was actually controlling a character instead of just a place on the screen where all the attacks originate.

5. Binding of Isaac Rebirth ; I spent quite a lot of time this year with the indies from PS+ but none of them hooked me like this one. I dabbled a little with the original PC game but never quite got it. Now on the PS4 it just clicked for me and I boot it up whenever I have some time to kill to see what kind of items I can get. I still have a lot of stuff I don't quite get or that I can get better at but it's just that sort of game where you want to improve yourself. Only negative thing I have to mention is that I don't really appreciate all the poop.

6. Wolfenstein: The New Order ; I've always had a weakness for first person shooters but lately I feel like they've been getting progressively worse. Enter The New Order, a game that seems to ignore all the Call of Duties and Battlefields of recent years and instead builds upon slightly older genre staples. The maps are larger and there's multiple ways to approach them with pretty clever secrets to try to find throughout. Also the gunplay is phenomenal and the health system manages to feel like a breath of fresh air. To sum it up Wolfenstein TNO is a return to format for the first person genre and I look forward to what Machinehead games will give us next.

7. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ; For a Platinum Games game this is a surprisingly low placement from me. This is in large part an unfortunate effect caused by my late arrival to the party and the crap state of my computer. I failed to play this game last gen and when I got it for PC earlier this year I must admit I found my computer to be a bigger challenge than the game. I have no doubt this game deserves to be placed higher and that it is just as fantastic as Platinum's other games but the technical barriers soured the experience.

8. Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare ; Easily my best online experience this year. I have a thing for class based games such as this and two of my all time faves before this are Team Fortress 2 and Killzone 2. This is my go to fix for online competitive multiplayer at the moment.

9. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare ; I really liked that they changed it up a great deal with this year's CoD but for some reason this also resulted in me not getting into the multiplayer in the same way at all. The campaign was somewhat novel and the addition of Spacey really contributed something worthwhile but the actual story in and of itself was far too obvious and to be blunt utter crap.

10. The Last of Us Remastered ; I'm currently playing through this game for the first time and so far I just don't see the greatness everyone else sees. Up until now I find it to be in turns walking through beautiful scenery with some nice dialogue and in turns pretty easy stealth segments that I've already tired of just a few hours in. I'm glad to see Naughty Dog return to Uncharted next year.

I have played more than 9 games this year (what with the constant barrage of ps+ and all) but nothing else really stands out at the moment. I'm beginning to realize I've made some dire mistakes with my purchases though. I should have prioritized Donkey Kong Tropical Freed, Hyrule Warriors and inFamous over some others and can only hope that one or more of them show up as Christmas presents next week. Either way next year seems to bring with it even fewer games for me so I'll get to catch up some.
 

Bessy67

Member
1. Sunset Overdrive ; Just plain fun. Traversing through the city is a blast, and there are tons of missions and challenges to do. Chaos Squad can be pretty fun too.
2. Dragon Age Inquisition ; Huge game with interesting story and characters. Some of the quests get a little too MMOish, but it doesn't detract from the experience very much.
3. Forza Horizon 2 ; Hits the perfect balance between arcade and sim racing for me. Big variety of cars and events.
4. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare ; Great multiplayer game. Gardens and Graveyards might be one of my favorite competitive MP mode ever.
5. Titanfall ; Gameplay absolutely lived up to the hype. So much fun playing as a pilot or titan. The multiplayer "campaign" was nothing more than regular games with some voiceovers though, and there wasn't enough content to give it serious legs.
6. Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition ; Loot games are addicting to me, and Diablo 3 is a really good loot game.
7. D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die ; A very different and very enjoyable experience.
8. Grand Theft Auto V ; So much to see and do. An open world packed with content.
 

majik13

Member
will post when not on mobile. And damn people already clearly breaking the rules within the first few posts. Though there is plenty of time to fix em.

Anyways, my draft, I don't think I even played 10 games this year.(besides sampling a bunch of PS+ and free games)

1. Mario Kart 8; Tight controls and gameplay, buttery smooth and beautiful.
2. Destiny ; Gunplay, skills and upgrades are awesome, put too much time into this game. Has so much potential to be better though.
3. Super Smash Brothers for Wii U ; Packed with content, a blast to play. Online works!
4. P.T. ; Awesome production value, looks amazing for a hallway.
5. Towerfall Ascension ; Game is just pure twitch fun, still need to try multi.
6. Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare ; Didnt play much but what I did was really fun, lots of customizations.
7. Binding of Isaac: Rebirth ; Strange and addicting.
8. Game H ; Your thoughts on Game H.
9. Game I ; Your thoughts on Game I.
10. Game J ; Your thoughts on Game J.

Honorable Mentions
x. Game K ; Your thoughts on Honorable Mention Game K.
x. Game L ; Your thoughts on Honorable Mention Game L.
 
1. Bayonetta 2; as polished and perfect as an action game could ever be
2. Wolfenstein: The New Order ; The best time i've had shooting things in years
3. Mario Kart 8
4. Jazzpunk ; One of the funniest games i've played!
5. South Park: The Stick of Truth ; I'm still amazed this game turned out so good.
6. Dragon Age: Inquisition ;

I've played a ton of other good games this year, but there hasn't been many great ones.
 
1. Bayonetta 2 ; A very well polished and fluid action game. The game improves everything that it's predecessor has done and cranks it up to 11. An amazing game that is definitely recommended for action game fans.

2. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze ; Back when this game was first announced, I was immediately excited for it than most people here. The game is just a perfect 2D platformer. The enviroments are beautiful, the pacing of levels is perfect, the music is awesome, and personally dethroned Rare's DKC 2 to me.

3. Wolfenstein: The New Order ; Easily the best shooter of the year for me. The game just felt good to shoot good ol' Nazis again. While the story isn't much to look at, it's the games way of interpreting the characters is what makes it a looker.

4. Alien: Isolation ; A proper Alien game, though surprisingly from Creative Assembly a developer mostly known for making the Total War series. They absolutely nailed the atmosphere of the game and made the Alien more of a threat than a common enemy. Definitely a great game for Alien fans and Sci-fi horror fans alike.

5. Dark Souls II ; While the game is not as good as it's predecessor. I played the game for quite a long time and was just fun for the 3-4 weeks after release. I even bought the PC version after beating it on PS3. The game is good in it's own merits just not a good follow up to the predecessor.

6. Shovel Knight ; I honestly never was nostalgic for 8-bit games era, as I was never born around that time. While the game took mechanics from classics from Megaman, Ducktales, etc.. The game still felt very fresh and alive. The levels are very well made, the bosses have very great personalities, and shovels. It's just one of the greatest indie games made this year.

7. Mario Kart 8 ; Well, it's Mario Kart. What can I say, the gravity mechanic is good, has good race tracks, amazing music, could have had a better roster of characters. Other than that, the game is just a solid fun experience.

8. Valiant Hearts: The Great War ; A very nice 2D side-scrolling puzzle game with point n' click elements. Has a very good and very emotional story, while the game's characters are fictional it does portray quite major events that happened in WWI. Probably one of Ubisoft's best lower budgeted games they've released this year.

9. Kirby: Triple Deluxe ; A solid 2D Kirby game. It's fun, charming, and cute.

10. Hyrule Warriors ; Pretty much a Dynasty Warriors game with Zelda fanservice. Fun, addicting, mindless action. The story is ok and has some decent charm to it. Plus with all that content that the base package has, you can play it for a long time and not get bored of it.
 

Bl@de

Member
dkctfnxo21.jpg

1. Donkey Kong Country - Tropical Freeze ; A flawless game with an outstanding soundtrack. Probably the best 2D Plattformer I ever played. Because the only thing better that comes to my mind is Super Mario Galaxy 1/2. Best version of the DK Swing. I tip my hat David Wise. You are a master. Makes me dance everytime I hear it. Better than the Mario Theme. There, I said it! Ha!

darksouls2b0rze.jpg

2. Dark Souls 2 ; Many people act like it's a bad game. It's not. Was my first Souls game and I love it. I don't care if it holds up to anything. It's better than most of the other games anyway.

evilwithinrkjb1.jpg

3. The Evil Within ; The usual perfect gameplay and pacing of Mikami. But the story is just too confusing and jumping around in time doesn't help. Everything else is near perfection. Would have been higher, if for a better (simpler) story.

wasteland2o3lbd.jpg

4. Wasteland 2 ; Gets a lot of hate from the disciples of Fallout 2. I just think it's a great game with fun combat and a great atmosphere. RPG of the year.

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5. Might & Magic X - Legacy ; A great revival of a dead genre. In my opinion more difficult than DS2. But watch out. Steals over 100h of your life.

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6. Bioshock Infinite - Burial at Sea Episode 2 ; She no like him. He no like her. Situation is impasse. Unacceptable.

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7. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter ; Stunning visuals with a great atmosphere and a good story. Like walking in a painting. Five relaxing hours. Away from all the mechanics of modern games.

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8. South Park - The Stick of Truth ; I love South Park. But the jokes are more in style of old season (farts and feces instead of politics and daily affairs) and the game is too easy. But it's up there as one of the best Tv-to-Game adaptions. Like playing a season of South Park.

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9. Wolfenstein - The New Order ; Mond! Mond! JAA! JAA! Always nice to see the grandaddy of shooters alive and well. Next time a little less stuff to pick up ... running around looking at the ground and hammering space is not fun. Auto-Pick up like Quake did it. It's a good linear shooter. Nothing more.

divinityfhk3v.jpg

10. Divinity - Original Sin ; Yes, yes great combat, bla bla. I just didn't like the characters, design and story too much. I like "darker" games (like the Souls series). Divinity has great mechanics but it's not my type. Still good fun.


Honorable Mentions
x. Resident Evil 4 - Ultimate HD Edition ; First good PC release ... 9 years after the initial release ... *applause* ... would have been at the No.1 ... Undisputed action game of all time. But Capcom doesn't deserve the praise.
x. Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse Episode 2 ; Technically only half of the game is of 2014. Great adventure. I always loved Broken Sword. Played them as a kid. Nicole, George, Paris ... a lovely combination
x. Banished ; Great one-man-job. Superb mechanics but a small game with not much to offer after a couple of hours. Fun in hot-seat-coop. Watch-your-people-starve Simulator.
x. The Walking Dead - Season 2 ; I like the TV Show. The first season was great. The second was good. But it's more like watching a cutscene. No fun gameplay or puzzles ... sadly.
x. Dead Rising 3 - Apocalypse Edition ; Mindless. Dumb. Fun. Save the world with a dildo canon. Terrible PC port. Capcom doesn't deserve praise.
x. Assassin's Creed - Unity ; I like the series. Black Flag was a Top 3 Game for me. Looks great, sure. Paris is great, sure. Feels like a good AC, sure. But terribly broken and so I stopped playing after 5h. Will continue in 2015 when it's patched.


Everything was played on PC or WiiU.

Bayonetta 2 is till missing. Could be a big one. But I just didn't have the time yet. Still on Bayonetta 1 (never played it) as we speak. Will play it in 2015.
 
this reserving shit is lame

just post when you have your actual list

no one is going to read it anyway so it doesnt matter if its on page 1 or 300
 

Regiruler

Member
That magical time of the year again.

1. Bayonetta 2 ; A spectacularly designed character action game by GAF favorite PlatinumGames. While the pacing may be a bit overly brisk in some circumstances, it does so for the sake of pure spectacle that leaves everything else in its wake.
2. Shovel Knight ; I'm incredibly glad I backed this kickstarter project, and to date it's the only project I have backed. Great art direction, creative use of limitations (which look incredible on the 3DS), and a great soundtrack (winning my SoTY award in the respective thread over Bayo 2), all tied together with level design that rivals some of the greatest platformers of all time with fantastic gameplay mechanics.
3. Mario Kart 8 ; Truth be told, a lot of games this year didn't stick out as being better than another. This is not to say that they are bad, but rather it's hard to say that Mario Kart 8 is objectively better than Super Smash Bros 4. That said, I think that Mario Kart 8 does more to its franchise than Smash does to its own. While not 1080 like its partner, it features such a spectacular level of detail that exceeds most other games on this list.
4. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U ;
5. Steel Diver: Sub Wars ; While somewhat lacking in content and visual flair, the game gets on the list partially due to the fact that I haven't played much this year, but also because it's representative of a new direction for Nintendo. Updates have been fairly consistent, and the gameplay is both unique and very fun.
6. Game ;
7. Game ;
8. Game ;
9. Game ;
10. Game ;

I have a question: in last year's GOTY thread, I had voted for metal gear rising: revengeance, because the voting ended after the PC version of game came out in january. I assume I cannot vote for it this year's voting, correct?
 
I have a question: in last year's GOTY thread, I had voted for metal gear rising: revengeance, because the voting ended after the PC version of game came out in january. I assume I cannot vote for it this year's voting, correct?

Don't vote for games you've already voted for.
 

Fracas

#fuckonami
Love doing these each year.

1. Sunset Overdrive ; This is one of two games I bought my Xbox One for (the other one being Halo, but that game's a mess). The traversal mechanic absolutely cements this game as my favorite this gen. You're constantly moving at high speed. Going against the flow of modern, waist-high cover shooters - movement is your cover. Combat is this stylish, chaotic, almost rhythm-based mishmash of grinding, jumping and shooting. It all sounds so weird on paper but oh man, it works so damn well. I want to praise the art direction as well. It's a modern game with color! Sunset City, while not exactly detailed as something like GTA, is bright, colorful and fun to roam in. There's a fast travel mechanic but honestly, grinding is more fun. The story and dialogue are both pretty weak but everything else more than makes up for it.

2. Transistor ; Supergiant's really found themselves in a groove the last several years. I bought this during the steam summer sale on a whim and I loved it.

3. Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea: Episode 2 ; What can I say? I'm a sucker for Rapture. Bioshock's one of my all time favorite series, and I'm still finding new things in Rapture every time I play the original. It feels just like the first game - we see plenty of familiar faces and locations, but with Infinite's style of combat. Exploration is encouraged here. And without spoiling too much (I'll put in spoiler tags to be safe),
We see some awesome connections between Columbia and Rapture.
I had low expectations coming into the first episode, and by the end of this one my jaw was on the floor. Irrational did something I didn't think they could do; introduce more mystery and new things to Rapture, after 2 whole games in it.

4. The Last of Us: Left Behind ; Touching bit of content that provides some good backstory to Ellie.

5. INFAMOUS: Second Son ; Not much to say here, it's just more Infamous with new powers and a new city. I liked Baker's performance as Delsin Rowe; the game's story is solid enough for a game. Mission design is well-executed, and this is probably the most any superhero game has come to making you really feel powerful.

6. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U ; Kind of like Infamous - you know what to expect here. It's an iterative step for the series; mechanics are refined, along with new locales and characters. I've already spent tons of hours with bros just donging on each other.

7. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ; I had played the demo back on 360 some time ago and didn't like it. I picked it up during the Steam summer sale on a whim. I'm glad I did. While I've never really been into Platinum's games, Revengeance stands out as their best. The boss fights are some of my favorite in a game (RULES OF NATURE) and feature some stellar cheesy rock songs. Combat is simple but still challenging and rewarding.

Honorable Mentions
x. The Last of Us: Remastered ; I didn't want to include it as it's just a port, but TLOU is one of my favorites from last gen and I'm glad I got to play it again on my PS4. I'm sure most of you guys have played it by now, but I feel this is one of the few games I can say really legitimizes this art form.
x. Grand Theft Auto V ; This was another of my favorite games of last gen. The heists are straight up perfection. I wasn't a fan of IV but good lord this game is ridiculously good. Just go play it, seriously.
x. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare ; I have to give credit to Sledgehammer for trying to mix the series up a bit. I feel the campaign is the best one since 4. However, the exo system just wasn't as fleshed out as I had hoped.
 

Dysun

Member
1. World of WarCraft Warlords of Draenor ; A return to form after the mediocrity of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor captures the classic Orcs vs Humans feel with streamlined gameplay elements and a quick boost to 90, there hasn't been a better time to return to the game in years.
2. Dragon Age Inquisition ; Similar to #1, Bioware returns to what made Dragon Age Origins great with a fantastic ensemble of characters and a huge world to explore. The amount of content and production values is truly staggering.
3. Alien Isolation ; The biggest surprise of the year, I had muted expectations after a few of the major outlets railed on the game for "Trial and Error" and "Cheap AI" and found none of the sort. Wonderful game, with an incredible amount of atmosphere and palpable tension.
4. Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls ; Seems like this is the year for redeeming past games? Diablo 3 was one of my biggest gaming disappointments ever, but the folks at Blizzard righted that ship pretty fast with Loot 2.0 and Adventure Rifts. The Crusader class was also a ton of fun to play and became my new main.
5. Mario Kart 8 ; The title that made me pick up a Wii U, really happy to see it turned out great.
6. Metal Gear Solid V Ground Zeroes ; The fact that this title makes my list after only an hour and a half of campaign says enough. Bring on The Phantom Pain Kojima
7. Far Cry 4 ; The formula is starting to wear a little thin but for now its still a blast to take over outposts however you want
8. Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor ; Would have placed higher with more diversity in locales and a better story, the core gameplay was fantastic. Truly felt like Talion became more powerful as the game progressed.
9. Super Smash Brothers for WiiU ; The best game to play with friends locally, and the online works this time!
10. Call of Duty Advanced Warfare ; Kevin Spacey does a good job breathing life into the campaign to make it rise out of typical CoD run and gun and the exo suit movement added a nice fun layer to multiplayer. It makes the list due to me not having a chance to play some of my honorable mentions yet.

Honorable Mentions

x. Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire ; Haven't had a chance to fully dive in to this game yet, but I'm sure it would have made the list if I had.
x. Dark Souls 2 ; Read above
x. The Evil Within ; Read above
 
1. Bayonetta 2 ; I jumped back into Bayo 2 after a while out of it due to personal reasons. While I enjoyed it enough that I knew it would be in top three for the year, returning to it just reminded me how incredibly fun it was. And even when I first played it, it reminded me how incredibly fun the gameplay was from Bayonetta 1 and still was in 2 but more refined. This jumped from third to top of my list even though I was sure Forza would win at one point. And then I returned to Destiny and that threw it open into a three-horse race. In the end, Bayo came out of nowhere - even though it shouldn't have - and clinched it. Amazing game.

2. Forza Horizon 2 ; Horizon 1 was just brilliant. A fantastic first outing from Playground Games with a terrific open world and incredible soundtrack to boot. Horizon 2 was more of the same with a bigger world, but that's no bad thing. I loved Horizon 2 so much, although I could do with less of Sean Maguire's characer and its weather update not being as nice as DriveClub's retrospectively. But damn if it still isn't a fun racing game. Hope Playground finally goes to Japan for 3 next time.

3. Destiny ; Okay, it has a bunch of issues. But there's still something that has me coming back for it which even I haven't figured out what that is yet. But yeah, it has issues - big ones at that - but I still love it. Gunplay is still as fun as it was with Halo and Crucible isn't too shabby neither. Hope Bungie gets it shit together for Destiny 2. though.

4. The Last of Us: Left Behind ; The Last of Us is my favourite game ever, not to say also it was my 2013 GOTY. Considering I don't include DLC in my top ten - honorable mentions at best - this is a special case. How Left Behind manages to flip the mechanics in it from survival to two teenage girls being mallrats through a wonderful tale of adolescence. In my top three DLCs ever now.

5. DriveClub ; DriveClub had serious issues out of the gate, but even when online was FUBAR'ed, I was still having fun with the single-player. But now it really does feel like a whole new game as a result of the weather update. Man oh man, is it a different game now because of weather. Literally a game-changer. It's fantastic.

6. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare ; Last time I had a Call of Duty game in my top ten was 2012 with Black Ops II. And since then, I've come to realise one thing: Infinity Ward has massively gone down the toilet in terms of Call of Duty because Treyarch has been killing it. And now Sledgehammer, in its first full effort, has managed to be the highest a Call of Duty game has gone on my top ten since CoD4. AW feels like the CoD rulebook has been thrown out with the kitchen sink and rewritten again. It's massively fun to play, story is a fun romp to go through (even though I'm a sucker for Black Ops 1 and 2's story) with Kevin Spacey putting in a terrific performance. And some of the facial tech, wow.

7. South Park: The Stick of Truth ; It's South Park. It's funny, it's faithful to the TV show and it's funny (again). Obsidian put a lot of love into the game.

8. Far Cry 4 ; I've had a love/hate relationship with the series since Far Cry 2 which I just massively loathed so hard, though it thankfully seems to be skewing into the former category since Far Cry 3. Far Cry 4, admittedly, I've yet to finish but I've put in more than enough time into the game to consider it eligible. Loved my time with it so far and I can't wait to play more soon once I've gotten Dragon Age out of the way.

9. Transistor ; Man, I loved Bastion so the fact Supergiant were doing a cyberpunk, isometric strategy RPG was just the biscuit on the cake. This was just terrific along with an incredible soundtrack from Darren Korb and wonderful art design. Can't wait for what comes next from them.

10. Titanfall ; This was perhaps the first real reason to own an Xbox One. Pity then I've not spent a great deal of time on the Xbox One version then, that the PC version was tanked on my end thanks to 'Data Center: Searching' and that I played the Xbox 360 version. That said, that version of the game was crafted well from Bluepoint Games and what I played of it was terrific fun.

x. Mario Kart 8
x. Sunset Overdrive
 
1. Dark Souls II ; Disappointing compared to Dark Souls and Demon's Souls, but still a great game that provided me with 100s of hours of quality entertainment.
2. Divinity: Original Sin ; Best isometric RPG released in a long time.
3. The Last of Us Remastered ; After not liking the game on PS3, I decided to give it another chance on PS4. I'm glad I did, loved it.
4. Shovel Knight ; Just a whole lot of fun, good for a bit of nostalgia.
5. Mario Kart 8 ; It's Mario Kart!
6. Donkey King Country Tropical Freeze ; Right up there with 3D World as one of the best platformers I've played in years.
7. Transistor ; Not as good as Bastion, but it was alot of fun. Aesthetic and music top-notch.
8. Alien: Isolation ; As a huge fan of Alien, this game was great. Amazing atmosphere.
9. Wolfenstein: The New Order ; Best FPS I've played in years.
10. Valkyria Chronicles ; Didn't play it on PS3. Glad I waited... great aesthetic style, great gameplay.
 
1. Dragon Age: Inquisition
2. Divinity: Original Sin ; It has the best TB combat of a RPG ever, even if the story is poor, such an awesome combat system deserves recognition.
3. Wolfenstein: The New Order
4. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
5. Alien: Isolation
6. Far Cry 4
 

zarnold56

Member
1. Dragon Age Inquisition ;
2. Shovel Knight ;
3. Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls ;
4. Destiny ;
5. Infamous Second Son ;
6. Child of Light ;


Might add more later.
 

Ladekabel

Member
1. Bayonetta 2 ; It exceeded my high expectations.
2. Wolfenstein: The New Order ; Didn't plan to pick it up but heard good things and bought it. Really surprised me how god it was.
3. Mario Kart 8 (WiiU) ; I really enjoyed it. Playing it with Off TV Play while watching TV is what made it so good for me.
4. Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition ; First time that loot was a motivation for me.
5. Pokemon: Omega Ruby ; I just can't resist a new Pokemon game.
6. Grand Theft Auto V ; First Person Mod does nothing for me, but Los Santos at night at 1080p is beatiful to look at.
7. Dark Souls 2 ; Great sequel. Can't say that I think it's worse than the first one. Both have their strenghts and faults-
8. South Park: The Stick of Truth ; Really enjoyed it, but I always forget that it released this year.
9. Super Smash Bros. Wii U ; Didn't have the time to play it for longer which probably would put it higher. But I liked what I played it the short time I had with it.
10. OlliOlli ; Had me hooked for a few weeks but I suck at it.

Honorable mentions:

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance: I hope we will see more Platinum and japanese games on PC in the future.
 
1. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is the best platformer I've ever played and David Wise's soundtrack, well I mean you're here on GAF so you already know. This game is pure platforming bliss and if you can't handle a little inertia and difficulty in your platforming then go home and be a family man, play some leapfrog games or something because you a bitch

2. Grand Theft Auto V Remastered Edition is one of the best games I've ever played even despite all its problems. It's just a comprehensive and totally engaging sandbox and I love testing its limits in first person. I love driving down the street, clicking the analog, and shooting at cops driving behind me from inside my car. I love going 120+ mph as Franklin and driving off rocks and walls on the fly to do crazy turnarounds and stunts. I'm not going to get bored of this game until the day GTA 6 comes out.

3. Forza Horizon 2 is excellent. It's the racing game equivelant of GTA V, to me. It's beautiful, and huge, and there's just so much to see and do. and of course the gameplay is top notch

4. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is, well, I mean it's Smash Bros.... It's the most content packed Smash Bros. by far and unlike its predecessor the vast majority of this content is actually good. Shit-loads of music, stages, characters to choose from, loads of features, and enough competitive depth for me to not want to drop it immediately. Works for me.

5. Shovel Knight because who doesn't love Mega Man music and challenging, tactile, satisfying gameplay

6. Wolfenstein: The New Order was on my radar since day one but I never expected it to be so excellent. The storytelling was really good and fresh compared to all these frontloaded bombastic-as-fuck shooting galleries and the run-and-gunning itself was sublime

7. The Last of Us: Remastered Edition... I didn't really get into this game on PS3 and I always wondered why GAF was so into it. It finally clicked with the remastered edition and now I know. I started off on Grounded and shiiiit, I don't think I've played a game this tense in years. And the story is stellar through and through. I'm about three quarters through the story - not finished with it yet but it's already one of my favorite games of the year.

8. Sunset Overdrive is way fucking over the top but I think it boasts the best gameplay formula Insomniac has ever put together. It's really satisfying and addicting and there's so many options with which to create carnage.

9. Wasteland 2 scratched that Fallout itch that Bethesda can't. This game came out of nowhere for me and I love it to death. (Of course I'll pick up Fallout 4 to scratch my 'post apocalyptic walking through zany cartoon world populated by retards' itch)

10. Civilization: Beyond Earth is a dream come true and even if it lacks so much of the depth introduced to Civ V through expansions it's still lots of fun and a crazy timesink.
 
1. Dragon Age: Inquistion ; A wonderful ride. I've put over 70 hours into the game and am still not finished. Will probably play another character once I'm done.

2. Banished ; A strategy game with a great loop that pulled me in for a month or so.

3. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor ; The nemesis system is great and the combat is fun, though the main story gets kinda tiresome towards the end.

4. Diablo III: Reaper of Souls ; The original Diablo III was fun but underwhelming, the expansion made some great tweaks to the formula that keeps me coming back to it.

5. Transistor ; Beautiful game with really interesting mechanics

5. Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare ; I had a great deal of fun with this game. Fun in co-op and in vs.

6. Threes ; Really fun puzzle game that I still come back to months later.

7. 80 Days ; Still very early on this one but it's great so far. Great writing, lots of interesting decisions to be made.
 

Coxy

Member
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1. Ar nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star ; Oh god, where do I even start explaining this to people unfamiliar with the EXA_Pico universe? In short, this is a prequel to the Ar Tonelico series, a series I was worried we'd never see again when Koei Tecmo bought Gust up. The backstory says humans were living on a planet called Ra Ciela, whos sun was becoming a red giant as it approached the end of its life. So they destroyed their own planet to obtain the power and resources to travel to a new planet. When that planet was lost to them too, they tried to create an artificial planet and so the story begins.It gets even more complex from there as the player is directly involved in the story with the mecha character Earthes being directly controlled by the player and the characters within the game being aware there is a human on earth interacting with the game from behind a screen and using the breaking of the fourth wall to progress the story. Cosmospheres (Visual novel type sections where you explore a persons mind) return with a twist, as you can co-dive into the minds of many other characters too, getting to know the casts friends instead of just the main female characters. All of this is topped off with an excellent battle system that mixes the attack/defence phase style of Ar Tonelico 2 with something somewhere between SMT's press turn and Grandia's cancels as you gain extra turns over and over by breaking enemies guards.

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2. Tears to Tiara II: Heir of the Overlord ; This game has an incredibly slow, long, misleading opening section with next to no combat. This put most people off playing it but I absolutely urge you to try it and stick with it, the payoff once it gets going is incredible as everything is revealed. Throughout the story it builds to several crescendos over multiple story arcs and goes in some very unexpected directions. Again, the pacing can be a little trying as things dont go in expected directions, plans fail, strategies are abandoned as the enemy make moves of their own and there's rarely a comfortable point in the story. It offers a decent challenge to S rank all battles and get all bonuses as the game punishes you for being overlevelled, forcing you to switch party members often to spread out exp gain.

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3. Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky ; Though its still titled Atelier and part of the dusk series, this game actually felt far more like Mana Khemia, another Gust series and my personal favourite. Combat and exploration were taken up a couple of notches for this one and it involved a couple of my favourite sense of adventure aspects, exploring to the end of the known world and building an airship. The end of the world scenario in this is a really interesting concept I've considered myself many times. The very plausible "What if all the bees died out?" possibility, one of the final boss themes is even called "Colony Collapse Disorder".

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4. Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland ; One of the first games that got me to jump into this gen, remade as one of the last games of this gen, showing just how far they've come in those years, with really nice bookending extra content. The extra year added so many things longtime fans wanted to see and is incredibly challenging with a mix of some of the toughest extra bosses from throughout the series and even some new ones. It was a really nice final challenge to those who had followed the series all along, really pushed me to use all the alchemy and combat knowledge I'd amassed over the years playing the series.

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5. Tales of Xillia 2 ; I was delighted to see so many of the characters I loved back again and I enjoyed my time with them greatly, however this game doesnt really answer the questions I had left after Xillia and it ends on a pretty unsatisfying note of its own.

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6. Battle Princess of Arcadias ; This is such an oddball game, its most standard form of gameplay isnt actually that good but its experimental battles where you command troops against other armies or giant bosses were very fun and interesting. The game felt like a throwback to Saturn games like Guardian Heroes and Dragon Force which I loved in the past.

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7. Drakengard 3 ; Your thoughts on Game G.

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8. Final Fantasy X HD remaster ; I'd almost forgotten how much I used to love these games.

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9. Ragnarok Odyssey ACE ; as a huge fan of both Ragnarok Online and all Game Arts work I was always going to enjoy this one, dressing up as Feena from Grandia and slaughtering hundreds of porings is a double dose of nostalgia for me.

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10. Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius ; I passed on this game when it was on kickstarter because I wasnt interested in the waifu aspects of it and man do I feel guilty about that now as it actually turned out to be a pretty damn interesting game. Between grouping together to get the effect of shields vs lining up behind units to take advantage of their anti-missile flak defences and tearing up fast moving units with machine guns vs the power of cannons on heavily armoured units, it offered something different from the typical rock paper scissors sword axe spear. The dialogue can be a little weak at times but it really shocked me by offering some of the most interesting moral choices I've seen in a game. Rather than the typical, tedious good vs evil choices, its much more a decision between being a coldly efficient leader making the tough decisions for the greater good that might make you feel like shit, or trying to be the hero, making decisions that might feel good but are a bad idea, increasingly riskier with real potential for disaster. Even when you think you've made a decision, the game will absolutely mess with you sometimes and try to get you to change your mind. An early game example:
By just killing a handful of diplomats you can avert a war and save millions. You decide to do that? ok but it turns out those diplomats are on civilian ships, you'll kill hundreds or maybe thousands of civilians, by your own hand. Still want to do it? The ships are full of children they were evacuating just in case war kicked off and a friend is asking you not to do it or they'll hate you
and when you want to make a tough decision like this you can use up some of your command points, which are otherwise used for powerful abilities in battle.

Honorable Mentions
x. Bayonetta 2 ; This probably could have ranked very highly but I dont have a Wii U yet, what little I had a chanmce to experience made it seem like a real worthy sequel though
x. Earth Defence Force 2025 ; I finished this but only on normal as the regular soldier, I feel this needs many more hours of gameplay to appreciate it fully
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
1. Alien Isolation - The most tense game I have ever played and the best use of a license in over a decade. Nothing else even came close this year (and I highly doubt any of the big hitters next year will either).

2. South Park The Stick of Truth - Funniest game I have ever played, perfect way to translate a TV show to a game.

3. Dragon Age: Inquisition - Best RPG I have played in years. I liked it even more than Origins.

4. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor - The story may have been underdeveloped but the gameplay was a ridiculous amount of fun and the Nemesis system is an excellent addition to the genre.

5. The Last of Us Remastered - A perfect example of how to update a game, as the graphical and performance boost makes it an even better game. Still incredible the second time around.

6. Forza Horizon 2 - My first XB1 game (I actually found it in the disc drive of my 2nd hand XB1 when I got it home) I usually don't like racing games but am finding it really fun and easy to play.

7. Infamous Second Sun - It wasn't as good as the first two but it was still a lot of fun to play, absolutely gorgeous to look at too.

8. Sunset Overdrive - Wasn't a fan of the forced humour, but it was a ridiculously fun game. Best traversal system since Mirrors Edge, the rollercoaster boss was one of the years highlights.

9. Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 - An amazing return to form for the series, best football game I have ever played.

10. Diablo 3 Ultimate Evil Edition - Was hugely disappointed by the PC release a few years ago and pleasantly surprised by the PS4 version. It's the definitive version of the game, as the DS4 destroys KB+M.

Brothers: A tale of two sons would be second on this list if it had not been released in 2013, an amazing game.
 

T.O.P

Banned
1. Forza Horizon 2; The perfect sequel, beautiful location, incredible selection of cars, weather and an amazing soundtrack for the best digital trip of my life.

2. Dragon Age: Inquisition; Immense and extremely detailed world, i was floored at how big it ended up being, amazing copanions with the best LGBT character to date...wonderful experience (and addicting as fuck too 120+ hours spent on it already).

3. Sunset Overdrive; Jet Set Radio meets Crackdown, such a funny mindless adventure, i needed it, badly.

4. Titanfall;
5. Bayonetta 2;
6. Middle Earth Shadow Of Mordor;
7. Halo MCC;
8. Call of Duty Advanced Warfare;
9. D4;
10. Rayman Legends;
 

v0yce

Member
work in progress

01) P.T.

02) Bayonetta 2

03) Mario Kart 8

04) Super Smash Bros Wii U

05) Drive Club

06) Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeros

07) Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call

08) D4

09)

10)
 
What an amazing year for games!!

1. Alien Isolation ; A love letter to a place and time. Wonderfully crafted environments, compelling story, tense and challenging gameplay. Not just a GOTY candidate but one of my favorite games of all time. A classic I will come back to for years. The atmosphere, the sound design, the art... in my wildest dreams I'd never though I'd see a game crafted with this much love and respect.
2. Valiant Hearts ; Thought provoking, beautiful and an excellent history lesson.
3. Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor ; 2 of my top 3 are licensed games. What world is this?
4. South Park The Stick of Truth ; Another lovingly crafted game, laughed non stop.
5. Out of the Park Baseball 15 ; I grew up on Strat-O-Matic baseball way back in the day and this more than captures the feel of both managing and being the general manager of a baseball club. Super impressed with the details, and completely (and easily) modable, OOTP is as good as it gets for sport Sims. Also, the best baseball game ever made.
6. Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare ; A huge surprise, excellent shooting mechanics and level design.
7. Mario Kart 8 ; Best game when the gf is watching crap tv.
8. Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls ; Improved immensely on the base game.
9. Forza Horizon 2 ; I'll never finish it, but wow is it gorgeous.
10. Kirby Triple Deluxe ; Smile didn't leave my face through the game. An excellent Kirby game that doesn't get enough love.
 

Puru

Member
1. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair; Interesting visual novel with a good ambiance and musics, interesting story, some minigames are annoying as hell during the trials though.

2. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc; Same than above, can potentially be considered better due to the more claustrophobic feeling (school > island) and less annoying minigames, i personally still hesitate if it should be above or not but i'll leave it at that, to each their own.

3. QP Shooting Dangerous; Had to edit my vote because of this game, this game has one of the most satisfying scoring system i encountered in a shmup, on top of being simply genuinly fun to play. Once again, like with Sora/Suguri the player are offered a large selection of shots they can unlock to add variety to the game (and you have to choose wisely anyway for scoring or simply finishing the thing). The game only features 5 stages but they are long enough on their own, and the boss battles are very well done in general. I'd recommend it to beginner and more veteran players alike. OST is alright, it has it's high and downs.

4. Gunhound EX; Blast the shit out of everything and get killed or succeed, fun game, nice OST, and who doesn't like to play as a mecha?

5. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth; Fun little game to spend some time on, start a run, have fun, get terrible items or become a god, can be played infinitely. Controls are perfect and responsive. Some issue here and there but overall a well made game. Musics are kinda meh though, it starts good, ends good but what's in between is just forgettable.

And i'll leave it at that.
 
1. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII ; This game checked off a lot of boxes for me-- gameplay, atmosphere, music, content, replayability, and yes, even story. It's just as nonsensical as other Japanese RPG's when it comes to plot, but I thought the game did an admirable job nonetheless at tying up the entire trilogy and the ending itself felt satisfying to me. The combat system was fast-paced and tremendously fun, as was customizing Lighting for battle. The environments were sprawling and beautiful despite the texture work, and the frame rate left a lot to be desired, but for the most part I very much enjoyed my time in the game's world despite the highly oppressive, even depressing atmosphere. There were also a few optional boss encounters that really made the combat system shine, and I had so much intense fun with those. Finally, it has one of my all-time favorite game soundtracks out there. It's not a perfect game by any means but the flaws were mostly technical. It kept me hooked and I couldn't stop playing. The best of the Final Fantasy XIII games.

2. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze ; platforming perfection. I noted that in my Shovel Knight write-up that I appreciate how it's not a terribly challenging or frustrating game, but Tropical Freeze hits this note where it comes close to being frustrating without actually going overboard, and can be finished with reasonable dedication. The game is absolutely packed and condensed into a phenomenal package of visuals, gameplay and music. Second to Lightning Returns' soundtrack, Tropical Freeze's soundtrack from David Wise is stunning and memorable. I wasn't hugely fond of the more rock-driven music, but it's easily overshadowed by everything else. It's simply one of those games that boggles the mind when you start thinking about how much thought and careful design was put into it. Most of the stages are so dense and varied that it makes you wonder if the game was created by humans. But, that's Retro for you.

3. Shovel Knight ; This isn't just an NES-inspired title. It's a game that embraces that time period and dishes out plenty of inspiration while still feeling like it is its own thing. It doesn't feel like Castlevania, or Ducktales, or Mario 3, or Mega Man. It takes elements from those games, but Shovel Knight feels like Shovel Knight-- and that's where it stands head and shoulders above the rest. I've finished it twice on Wii U and plan on buying the PS4 version for the tropies and Kratos content and whatever else they do with it, because it's just that good. One final mention for the soundtrack, which, like the rest of the game, only takes inspiration from classics rather than ripping them off. When I got to the last major stage of the game, I was hoping for a tune that got me pumped up in the same way as the first Dr. Wily castle stage in Mega Man 2. I was not disappointed.
 
1. Sunset Overdrive - a refreshing mashup of existing genre's. Ended up being some of the most fun I've had in years.

2. Titanfall - another twist on an existing genre, this game is so satisfying and I absolutely loved it. Wish it had a single player though as it was pretty feature bare at launch.

3. Halo:MCC - even though the multiplayer is broken going back through each campaign has been extremely fun and rewarding. You forget how good these game are. Multiplayer is still amazing when you can find a match

4. DONKEY Kong Tropical freeze - I'm not a huge fan of platformer but this is far and away the best and most enjoyable platformer I've ever played

5. PvZ:GW - Another fun multiplayer only shooter. Both Charming and addictive

6. Disney's fantasia - a fun and unique take on the rhythm genre. Extremely satisfying to play and brought back those rock band vibes.

7. Shadows of Mordar - since I never enjoyed AC or batman I was surprised how enjoyable this was. I love the LOTR love and universe though.

8. Smash Brothers - smash in 1080p/60 fps with way more characters and levels. What is not to love?

9. Destiny - Had a great time going through the environments and raids. A dam shame about the story and lore though. It Could have been really great.

10. Max: Curse of the Brotherhood - A surprisingly fun and unique little platformer/puzzle that I enjoyed way more then I thought I would.
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
Work in Progress.

1. Shovel Knight ; Even without the nostalgic feeling of playing an old 8-Bit platformer, I would still put this game on the same height as the Mario, Mega Man and NES Castlevania. As good as old-school platformers can get, with excellent controls, clever level design and a memorable soundtrack. I believe this is the first time my GOTY is an Indie Game. And it deserves it.
2. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U ; It's the 3DS version and THEN some. Absolutely chock full of content that would probably fill two or three DLC packs if this was EA or Ubisoft. It's a celebration of everything Nintendo. Also, Mario, Sonic, Mega Man and Pac-Man fighting each other in the same game. You can't make that up.
3. Bayonetta 2 ; The first Bayonetta was already a game that set a standard for character action game, but somehow Bayonetta 2 managed to raise it even higher. And you get two games for the prize of one (in North America, anyway.)
4. Mario Kart 8 ; Always was a fan of the Kart game and this one is the best so far, minus the Battle Mode. And the soundtrack is fantastic.
5. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker ; A charming puzzle platformer.
6. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze ; Retro Studio proves they can do platformers that compares to the greats. And David Wise's music is godly.
7. Wolfenstein: The New Order ; Probably my surprise of the year. Was expecting nothing of this game and it hit me in the face with full force. Just a highly enjoyable game with old-school gunplay.
8. South Park: The Stick of Truth ; Easily the funniest game on this list, it was so fateful to the show you'd swear you were in an episode.
9. Hyrule Warriors ; Musou games were always a curiosity, but I never went and actually buy one. But being a huge Zelda fanboy, I had no choice but buy this game. And it's pretty great.
10. Dark Souls II ; One of the hardest games I've played, but oh so satisfying.

Honorable Mention
x. Titanfall ; While this is not the game I played the most this year, this is by far the most fun I had playing a Multiplayer First-Person Shooter. It's just plain old fun with guns. And mechs.
 

roytheone

Member
1. Dark souls II ; Not as good as Dark souls 1, especially the bosses and the level design. The core gameplay is still excellent though!

2. Rogue Legacy ; Incredibly addicting game, and it works perfectly on the vita.

3. Middle-earth: shadow of mordor ; A pretty good game that becomse a really great game thanks to the nemesis system.

4. Far cry 4 ; Doesn't have the "wow" factor that Far cry 3 had, but it is still a blast to play.

5. Dragon age: inquisition ; Half of the missions are incredibly boring, but the world is great.

6. The ratchet & clank collection HD ; Never played the original, so it was a great experience to play them for the first time on the vita.

7. Dead rising 3: apoclypse edition ; While it lost some of the charms of the original, it makes up for it with much better and less clunky gameplay.

8. South park: the stick of truth ; Nails the look, feel and humor of the series.

9. Wolfenstein: the new order ; Fun setting, fun shooting, fun characters. Much better than expected.

10. BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea: Episode 2 ; Great conclusion to the bioschock story, made everything come full circle.
 

Karu

Member
1. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare; The campaign lacked punch, but the multiplayer is great. While I'm a fan of the genre and CoD the new movement mechanics really elevated the experience. Some fun maps coupled with a plethora of modes - it's a engaging experience.

2. Dragon Age: Inquisition; Not fully satisfied with the full experience due to an unfitting mix of open world and story at times and a very lackluster decision-system, it's still the best game I played this year. Especially the first half is incredible, breathtaking and just wonderful.

3. Diablo III: Reaper of Souls; Played a bunch of it with a core group of friends --> best way to play, had a blast.

4. Hearthstone; I'm a fan of TGC's so naturally this would be right up my alley.

5. This War Of Mine;



That's it. I played a bunch of other games like Terra Battle, Threes!, the rest of The Wolf Among Us and a bunch I forgot probaly, but they don't really belong on this list. Rest was PS Plus. Planning on buying a PS4 next year so I can increase my output somehow. Will see...
 
1. Mario Kart 8 ; Just a ton of fun.
2. Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls ; Turned Diablo 3 into the game I wanted.
3. Dragon Age: Inquisition ; Best RPG I played this year.
4. Wolfenstein: The New Order ; Best story in a FPS I've played in a while.
5. Super Smash Bros Wii U ; I'm not a big fighting game guy but, I love Smash.
6. Bayonetta 2 ; Brilliant. Nothing else to say.
7. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare ; Most fun I've had in CoD in a long time.
8. The Evil Within ; It fit my survival horror urge well.
9. inFamous: Second Son ; a nice looking game that was fun to blow stuff up in.
10. The Last of Us: Remastered ; I had to list this game, remaster or not.
 
1. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze ; Everything about this game is amazing. It is, simply put, quite possibly the best 2D platformer ever made. Even better than DKC2. And the music deserves a special mention. I'm so glad they were able to get Dave Wise back.
2. Assassin's Creed Rogue ; Secret best Assassin's Creed game. It's everything good about the last few iterations without any of the bad. No tailing and eavesdropping missions!
3. Shovel Knight ; A game straight out of the '80s. It pays homage to no single NES game, but instead borrows a little bit from here and there to build its own thing. Also, excellent music.
4. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS ; Well, I played this game for over 30 hours, which is a lot for me, so it should be on here. A lot of that time was spent on single player Smash Run, which I actually grew to like quite a bit.
5. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U ; To be honest, I've barely touched this game. But I do feel like it deserves a spot up here next to its brother, because I think it's easily the best Smash yet.
6. Infamous: First Light ; I honestly enjoyed this more than the main game, which I gave up on after about an hour or two. I liked it enough that I decided to give the main game a second chance.
7. Mario Kart 8 ; The best Mario Kart yet. The new anti-gravity mechanic makes for some excellent track design.
8. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor ; I haven't beaten the game yet, but after giving up on it for a bit, I decided to give it another shot. I enjoy the mechanics of the game, but the world design leaves something to be desired. Still, I've been enjoying it enough to put it on this list.
9. South Park: The Stick of Truth ; It's basically Paper Mario: M-Rated Edition. I'm not too far, but it's pretty fun so far. I just wish it had a better map screen.
 

Ralemont

not me
1. Dragon Age: Inquisition; Finally Dragon Age has the space to make Thedas the compelling world it's always wanted to be. Good plot, characters, and finally some fun gameplay.

2. South Park: Stick of Truth; Not only does this game capture the spirit of South Park, it also manages to identify and ruthlessly lampoon the spirit of RPGs. Clearly made with love by the SP team and Obsidian.

3. Destiny - Bad story aside, Destiny takes FPS to a place I've always wanted it to go: dungeon-style team-based gameplay. As a sustained experience, Destiny runs out of steam after a few months, but during those few months I found excellent gameplay kept me satisfied.

4. Velocity 2x; Galaga games are always going to have a soft spot in my heart, and one that marries this concept to a side-scrolling shooter is going to earn its time on my hard drive.

5. Thomas Was Alone; A simple idea executed brilliantly, with top-notch voice over and puzzles that are challenging without being frustrating.
 
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