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Metacritic - The Best Videogames of 2014

A

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
http://www.metacritic.com/feature/best-video-games-of-2014?page=0
Last gen and handheld full charts at link.

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Note: Metacritic does not count reviews done on one platform as counting on another, even if it's multiplatform. That is why there's variations in the scores between two platforms for the same game, i.e., GTA5 has 63 PS4 reviews compared to 11 XB1 reviews. Same deal with Diablo 3, etc.

For the second straight year, just 11 console games (representing 9 unique titles) scored 90 or higher. Of those, only three were new games rather than ports of previously released titles. Overall, there were just 14 90+ releases in 2014 (see list at the bottom of this page), the lowest such total since 2006.
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Even this year's highest-scoring new release—Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. for Wii U—had a significantly lower Metascore than previous Metacritic Game of the Year winners. Three other products actually surpassed Smash Bros.'s 92, but all three (including XB1 and PS4 versions of 2013's best game, Grand Theft Auto V, as well as a PS4 release of 2013's The Last of Us) were remastered ports of older titles, leaving Smash Bros. as the year's highest-scoring new game.
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It's not quite fair to compare this year's Xbox One numbers to last year's; in 2013, there were just 17 releases (with at least 7 reviews) for the brand new console. That said, the console's 2014 slate was better, averaging 72.4 compared to 2013's figure of 66.8. This past year also saw the Xbox One get its first-ever 90+ game: a port of Grand Theft Auto V.

Still, between the Xbox One and the fading Xbox 360, there were just two 90+ releases in 2014. That's the worst showing ever for Microsoft consoles, below even last year's total of just three great games. In 2013, the transition to new hardware was the likely culprit. This year, part of the blame lies with the fact that reviewers have consistently favored the PlayStation 4 when choosing which platform to use for evaluating games. (If a reviewer evaluates a game on just one platform, we only apply her score to that platform's release.) The result is that many games that received strong scores on the PS4 (including 90+ titles Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition and Rayman Legends) received fewer than 7 reviews on the Xbox One.
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The PS4's total of five 90+ games released in 2014 was the best for any platform. Including another 90+ game (flower) released in late 2013, there were six great games released for the PlayStation 4 console in its first year on sale. That compares favorably to the launch of the PS3 in 2006-07, when just three 90+ titles were released.

What the PS4 console is missing so far, however, is exclusives. There were just four good PS4-exclusive titles released this year, lowest among the next-gen consoles. Still, with exactly half of all PS4 releases in 2014 receiving positive reviews from critics (the largest success rate among any platform), there were plenty of good games for PS4 owners to play this year, even if most of them could also be found on other platforms.
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There's good news and bad news for fans of Nintendo's once-struggling next-gen console. In the good news department, sales of the console were up considerably in 2014 (though, despite a year head start, the Wii U still trails far behind the PS4 in hardware sales).

The reason for that sales bump was this year's other bit of good news: several great platform exclusives, including our game of the year (Super Smash Bros. for Wii U) and Bayonetta 2, plus a very good installment of Mario Kart that just missed the 90 mark. There were also more titles released for the Wii U this year than in 2013, though still far fewer than could be found on the PS4 and Xbox One.
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This past year saw 132 computer games receive a 75 or higher. That's not only the largest number of good games released for any gaming platform, it's the highest total of good games for a single platform for any year in recent memory.
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While dedicated handheld gaming devices would seem to be on their way out (as smartphones continue to attract game developers), neither the PS Vita nor Nintendo's 3DS saw much of a decline in total games released in 2014 compared to the previous year. (In fact, we scored more Vita releases this year than in 2013.) However, those 2014 releases were, on the whole, not quite as good: both handheld platforms saw a decline in their average Metascores from 2013 to 2014.
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BY2K said:
So Smash Wii U is the highest non-remaster/re-release game of the year, huh?
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I'm surprised that Bayonetta 2 didn't score higher. It seemed like it got much more praise from the media than Smash. It's also funny how the three highest scoring original games got hardly any GOTY picks.
 
I'm impressed with the number of titles released and the average metascore of the Vita library this year. I knew it had been a pretty good year.
 
Metacritic gets shit all the time, but I think it has its place. Just look all the highly rated games are indeed decent games. Sure some good games might get low scores, but overall it works well enough imo.
 
PC had twice as many good exclusives as all console platforms combined?

Sounds about right. Though I think there are some great PC games which fail at the "7 reviews" hurdle.

Rad- said:
Damn this year sucked.
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It was the best year of the past decade.
 
I guess the fact that Legend of Korra was worse than mediocre has its bright side: Platinum Games is kind of the first developer to release (one of) the best and the worst game of the year in the same year. More or less on the same week too.
 
Not surprised we have so little 90+ titles.

Was a weak year in general and even the good games were reviewed a bit harsh.

I'm still baffled by DriveClub reviews to be honest.
 
There you have it, Out of the Park Baseball 15 is the best PC exclusive of the year. Congratulations!

Maybe next year, Blizzard.
 
For a platform that has no games the Vita holds up pretty well for the third year in a row. This time, the 3DS beat it with the amount of positive reviewed games compared to both of the years before though.
 
nampad said:
For a platform that has no games the Vita holds up pretty well for the third year in a row. This time, the 3DS beat it with the amount of positive reviewed games compared to both of the years before though.
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Cross buy slashes the Vita 'exclusives' list to pieces.

Of course, those titles might not exist without cross buy, so it's a fairly moot point.
 
SmokyDave said:
I'm impressed with the number of titles released and the average metascore of the Vita library this year. I knew it had been a pretty good year.
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And there are a lot of games that didn't 'chart' because they haven't got enough reviews(which is, unfortunately, pretty common on Vita).
 
Durante said:
PC had twice as many good exclusives as all console platforms combined?

Sounds about right. Though I think there are some great PC games which fail at the "7 reviews" hurdle.

It was the best year of the past decade.
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It doesn't even come close to 2007. Or probably many other years. If the best year of the past decade is led by two games that came out previous years, video games would be in a pretty bad state.
 
Seanspeed said:
I know. Not even 50 good exclusives. Poor showing.

Also, how the hell did Divinity Original Sin not score at least a 90?
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Very good game, but I think high 80 is fine for it. The overall story telling wasn't very good, and some of the pixel hunting parts were a little annoying amongst other issues. Just shy of true greatness imo.
 
Heartening to see the Talos Principle and Year Walk receive such warm receptions. Loved the latter and I'm eager to play more of the former.
 
Rad- said:
Damn this year sucked.
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We got possibly the best platformer of all time, along with possibly the best action game of all time, both danganronpa titles, divinity, wasteland, mario kart, and a new smash bros.

This year was the best in memory for WiiU/PC/Vita.
 
A lot of outlets seem to have gotten their review standards up with the release of ps4/xbone, so in a lot of cases, low 80s now is equal to low 90s of the past.

(this is good btw, but still, after having that old scale for so long it can really make it seem like as though the games we're getting now aren't as good as the games we were getting in the past, whereas the quality hasn't changed, just the way the score is being assigned that leaves a lot of room open for truly outstanding games to shine)
 
Durante said:
It was the best year of the past decade.
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Not even top five. What the shit?

Durante said:
For me, it was the best year in a decade easily. There were more worthy CRPGs released this year than the past 5 combined. I'm not exaggerating in the least.
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ooooooooooooh

yeah, no, you're right, my bad

I don't know why I keep forgetting about the awesome shit dropped on PC this last year. Never thought I'd be playing Wasteland 2

bombshell said:
That second image shows how dumb the PS4 has no games narrative is/was.
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So now I know that the 'no games' threshold is somewhere between 20 and 25
 
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