Well 2014 is in the books, not as good a year as we had hoped. As usual this will include both my awards and year in review. For reference here was my last years awards.

So 2014 was the year of the delay and glitched broken games. So many of the big titles failed to meet the hype. Some games came out in horrible states, broken online, game breaking glitches. Gamergate brought out some of the most terrible aspects of the internet community and it was mostly blamed on gamers. Controllers broke, online systems got hacked, and nintendo continues to support a mostly dead system.  I am sure there was some good stuff in there but good riddance to 2014. There was still some great games so lets get to those.

To start here are the games from 2014 that I beat:

1. MGS Ground Zeroes
2. Dark Souls 2
3. Infamous Second Son
4. Bioshock Infinite Burial at Sea Episode 1
5. Bioshock Infinite Burial at Sea Episode 2
6. TLOU Left Behind  
7. NES Remix 2
8. Wolfenstein New World Order
9. Watch Dogs
10. Mario Kart 8
11. Shovel Knight
12. P.T.
13. Destiny
14. Shadow of Mordor
15. The Evil Within
16. Bayonetta 2
17. Binding of Isaac Rebirth
18. 80 Days
19. LittleBigPlanet 3
20. Dragon Age Inquisition
21. Super Smash Bros Wii U

I played a few others that I did not finish and I have a few I still need to play like Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze.  So I went down from 27 games from 2013 that I beat in 2013, mostly cause there wasn't much to play. I did not play a 2014 game till march with MGS. Now you know exactly what I played, so that is the pool from which I choose my awards.

Miscellaneous Awards

Best Graphics: Infamous Second Son

It maybe the worst Infamous game but it sure is beautiful. The particle effects and the lighting are insane. The showcase for graphics on PS4.

Runner Up: Driveclub (even though I didn't play it)

Best Music: Dragon Age Inquisition

Turn on the game, let the menu screen play and just listen. This is epic movie level music at its finest. The score is at its best when the stakes are highest, nothing is better than that build up of music as a dragon flies over head. A beautiful score for a beautiful game.

Runner Up: Super Smash Bros. U

Best Original Title: The Evil Within

Mikami's almost masterpiece.The DNA for a legendary game was there but the execution was somewhat lacking. Still TEW is one of the best horror games in years. It has the spirit of RE4 following through it with the mind twisting nature of Silent Hill. This is almost a love letter to all forms of horror.

Runner Up: Shovel Knight

Best Story: Dragon Age Inquisition

Despite my issues with this game, when the story was advancing it was as good as any Bioware title. Inquisition tells a rather basic story of good versus evil but between the lines runs all sorts of real world undertones from religion, to discrimination, it touches on these subjects just enough to make the story far richer than the basic outline. You will end up loving many of these characters and as always being in charge of how your story pans out is one of the games strengths.

Runner up: TLOU Left Behind

Biggest Disappointment: Destiny

I actually do love this game in a certain way but I can clearly see this is not the game we were promised. Destiny gets so much wrong its actually shocking that it is so much fun to play. The story is non existent, the content is pitiful, multiplayer features from Halo are totally absent, and the loot is a crazy grind. This is the poster boy for 2014.

Runner Up: Infamous Second Son

Best Online Multiplayer: Destiny

One thing Destiny does get right is playing with friends, what an absolute blast. It kind of had that PSO feel of getting a small group and grinding away for items. Plus the raid is one of the most brilliant coop experiences of all time. It is a shame the competitive multiplayer is so basic, it is so much fun to play.

Runner Up: Mario Kart 8

Best local Multiplayer: Super Smash Bros. U

The online portion of this games multiplayer is sadly lacking. It works well but it is missing features and it is a pain in the ass to set up a game with friends. But offline, WOW, the best multiplayer game hands down. You can get 7 of your friends and go at it. There are various modes to play in. There is coop for classic, allstar, stadium and even exclusive coop events. This game should be played with actual humans sitting next to you.

Runner Up: Mario Kart 8

Best Character: The Inquisitor

My dude. I loved this character, I loved being him and developing is his tale. I began humble and insecure in my role as savior of the world but eventually became confident and loved by many. I loved how he was generous but firm in his decisions. He was accepting of all races and religions. My guy fell in love with and never cheated. And he was a total badass when he had to be.

Runner Up: Iron Bull

Best Voice Actor: Troy Baker

For being Troy Baker.

Runner Up: Troy Baker

Most Addicting Game: Destiny

About 200 hours put into a game that I hated for about 100 of those hours, such a strange dynamic with this game. It's biggest strength is that it is addicting, I feel like Bungie took some psychology classes to understand what makes gamers want to keep playing with the least effort in game design needed.

Runner Up:  Super Smash Bros. U

Best new game I played not from 2014: Guacamelee

This is one of the best metroidvania games I have played. It has a unique melee system and some killer platforming. Buy this game, play it, thank me.

Best Publisher: Nintendo

I should start to exclude Nintendo cause it is not fair to anyone else. In a year where so many companies released crap, broken games Nintendo continued to shine. The released masterful platformers like Donkey Kong, the best multiplayer games in Mario Kart and Smash, they published the best action game of the year in Bayonetta 2. Every game is polished, every game is fun. No one matches their consistent level of quality.

Runner Up: Activision- Blizzard

Asshole Award for biggest dick move of 2014: Sony for launching a broken Driveclub

You get a whole year to finish up your game, you have no beta and then you launch and ONLINE DOESN'T WORK. It is so bad that the promised Plus version has to be delayed indefinitely. Seriously. What a total embarrassment.

Runner Up: Ubisoft for the glitchfest Assassin's Creed

Best System: Wii U

Screw PS4, I am not giving them this award cause they so happen to get the third party games. Wii U had all the best exclusives of the year, they win by default.

Runner Up: PS4

Genre Awards:

Best Action/Adventure Game: Bayonetta 2

The sequel I never thought would happen, it happened and it was glorious. It may not be as unqiue as the first one but it plays better and is one of the finer action games out there.

Best RPG : Dark Souls 2

I still don't feel this is really an RPG but whatever, that is what it is categorized as so here you go. It maybe the worst in the series but it still has all the phenomenal gameplay and deep challenging gameworld.

Best Fighting Game: Super Smash Bros U

Well come on, not much competition here. A brilliant fighting game. Surprisingly deep and an absolute blast with friends.

Best Shooter: Destiny

This has the best FPS mechanics I have ever played. It is so much fun to control. It just needs quality content and it would be a masterpiece.

Best Platformer: LittleBigPlanet 3

The shortest LBP campaign but the one with the best new ideas and gameplay additions. The new characters actually have new physics for precision jumping. It still has all the features and user levels that make this game a blast to play.

Best Sports game: Mario Kart 8

It could be Driveclub if I actually got to play it. But by default its Mario Kart... meh.

Best Handheld/Mobile game: Hearthstone

I have never played a video game card game before, I have full confidence that I have played the best one of all time. This is a masterpiece of a mobile game, a must play for all. You will be addicted.

Best Downloadable Game: Shovel Knight

2D 8-bit greatness. Mega Man maybe dead but shovel knight keeps its spirit alive. If you are a fan of NES games this is a must play.

GAME OF THE YEAR

Super Smash Bros. Wii U

In the end one game this year stood out as being exceptional in nearly every way. When I played it there was never a moment of boredom, of wondering when the game may get better. It is pure joy. This will serve as my review for the game as well.

Smash Bros. U does not reinvent the wheel, this is basically the same Smash you have been playing since the 64 days. It doesn't have as big an improvement as the last two sequels. Melee mastered the gameplay. Brawl added insane amounts of content, music and modes but the gameplay took a step back. Brawl is not used in tournaments, it is slower than Melee and just does not feel as responsive. Smash for Wii U is a mix of all the excellent content from Brawl but bringing back the perfect feel of Melee. This is the best Smash game hands down.

The gameplay remains the same, if it is not broken don't fix it. You can play with nearly every controller known to man, you can adjust every button, customize it any way you want. Fighting just feels right, its hard to describe if you never played smash. The amount of speed and weight feels right where it should be. This has the largest cast of characters,even though they all use the same commands some have some really cool unique sub systems in place. There is so much hidden depth to this game, I can totally see why some view this as a hardcore fighting game. Each match can be customized in every single way imaginable; every item can be switch on or off, every rule, gravity, weight, damage out put, levels, music, whatever you want you can do. Even every character can be customized now with new moves and power levels. Every single character has two other complete sets of special moves, all can be customized into any order of moves. Sadly these moves all have to be earned, it can take 50 hours to get a full set for a character, then it is hardly used as most people just play with the default. It is a nice addition but needed better implementation.

What I love most is the level of detail in every facet of the game. All the characters feel like the game they come from. Mega Man moves and animates like mega man. He has no standard punch cause Mega Man shoots blasts, so that is what he does in the game. Every special move is a power taken from one of the Mega Man villains. The Villager from Animal Crossing some how incorporates random AC activities into the battle like planting a tree and watering it. Robin has a whole magic level system that no other character shares. Little Mac has a charge meter for a KO punch just like in the arcade version. Alternate costumes represent different versions of characters from different games when appropriate. Levels have crazy details as well, like the animal crossing level having a concert from KK Slider on saturday nights exactly like he does in AC. There is a Pac-Man level where you actually play through the entire level from Pac World. The Duck Hunt level has a fully operational Duck Hunt game running in background. This is just the tip of the iceberg, the amount of small details in every area is so impressive, there is so much care and love put into this game and small things like that do make a difference.

The largest addition to the franchise is the introduction of 8 player smash. If you think that would be too chaotic you are right, but that is what makes it AWESOME! It somehow still works great and there are more than enough large levels to support so many players. Speaking of levels, there are some crazy ones and now boss battles break out in the middle of some of them. What I did not like is that there seems to be fewer new levels than in Brawl and there is a lack of classic selection like in Brawl. The same goes for the incredible soundtrack, a lot of it is borrowed from Brawl and the new stuff is not as expansive as it was the first time the attempted this crazy collection of songs; that said the soundtrack is still legendary, no game has a collection as good as this.

In terms of content this game has a near endless list of things to do. Personally I loved the story mode in brawl and I hate to see it go but this game makes sure that every single player mode is fun, is centered on the core smash gameplay and is all tied together with collectables. Every single mode you play rewards you with gold or new moves that can be used in all other modes. Classic mode has a different structure and a very cool boss battle system that gets more elaborate the higher the difficulty. There are a ton of events to complete with genius new challenges to play, one of my favorites was using duck hunt to actually play duck hunt while a bunch of Falcos try to kill you. Orders are small challenges that offer a risk reward system, very addicting. There is a new smash board game which is ok but kind of a throw away mode, that could have used some work. All these modes are tied into the challenge system which is like the in game massive trophy section. 120 challenges are available, trying to get them all is near impossible but it can direct you to new ways to play. I could spend five hours straight playing this game simply jumping from mode to mode, all of them fun, get bored with one and change it up. That arcade quality of just one more game, I can get a higher score permeates nearly every mode in this game.

Smash is best played with others so online play is very important. Online play is improved over Brawl, matches are no where near as laggy but the options online is still very dated. There is no in game notification system so simply getting friends together is a chore. Also there are no 8 player matches online, you cant play the board game or any of the other modes. If you play with randoms you can only play a timer match, which I dislike. The ranking system is terrible, no real boards to see how you rank. It is such a shame that the online mode feels so limited cause actually playing online is a blast.

Among the unlockables are a treasure trove of trophies of Nintendo characters and items with a description. There is a collection of short segments of old Nintendo games. That along with the crazy music collection makes Smash a virtual Nintendo museum. It celebrates everything I like about games; it loves to challenge and engage the player.Smash is a fighting game but it is also a game about the love of  games. Another masterpiece in this great series.

Overall Score: 9.5

You are wrong about almost everything But good writing and craftsmanship.

Looks awesome! Haven't had time to read the entire thing yet, but I like what I've seen so far!

5 times? Who the fuck are you trying to impress marathon man? I could have rubbed one out 7 or 8 times.

Nice list Vader. Good to see Smash getting all the proper accolades it deserves too. AND I hope you played the Super Turbo Championship Edition of Guacamelee. Anything less is uncivilized.

robio said:

5 times? Who the fuck are you trying to impress marathon man? I could have rubbed one out 7 or 8 times.

Nice list Vader. Good to see Smash getting all the proper accolades it deserves too. AND I hope you played the Super Turbo Championship Edition of Guacamelee. Anything less is uncivilized.

Regular version for me.

gamingeek said:

It's not stupid, it makes perfect sense.

It does but it's not fair. So I left out the category since I didn't play a puzzle game.

Great read as always.

Fail of the Year Award:

Dvader not playing Hyrule Warriors

travo said:

No, quitting Tropical Freeze to play MehPlanet3.

This one is totally valid. I have no regrets!