Rate your 2014 games here!

[Gorth]

2014 has been a bad year so far for me. Most notable games I bought and tried ended up being dropped 10 minutes or less into the game. I guess that means they all had a lastability of 15 or less (for me!) and similar scores in entertainment values

 

Tomb Raider: Mostly bought and played to satisfy my curiosity, being a fan of the very first TR games. After 10 minutes I just couldn't be bothered.

 

Dark Souls: Got as far as the requirement for GFWL and said this. Not going to waste any time on this and much less buy the successor until it gets patched out.

 

Europa Universalis IV: Ok, tried it several times for almost 10 minutes each time, but something is just missing from the ease of use of the predecessor. Naval combat still sucks.

 

Book of Lost Tales: A bug in the game means I Need(ed) to create a Special hardware profile disabling the second GPU to run it. Couldn't be bothered. Never got patched, didn't get started up again. Not interesed in the sequel for the same reason.

 

Which means, most of the PC games I played and enjoyed in 2014 were purchased (or played the for the first time) between 1998 and 2013.

 

Edit to add: Haven't tried Wasteland 2 or the POE Beta yet

[IndiraLightfoot]

Gorth: That's almost the norm. If you, like me, try out plenty of nice AAA-ish PC games at around release, the risk of you sitting there two or three hours later, upset/frustrated and slightly regretful is still too high for my liking at least - and I am pretty easily entertained. Thief was one such moment for me this year, but otherwise I've stuck to slightly safer bets, personally. Indie games, Kickstarter games, as well as games that appeal to two of my PC-games addiction: 4X-games and ARPGs - slow or quick.

 

Out of all the games I've played this year, I have the feeling that you ought to like Wasteland 2 the most. Perhaps also M&M X - although it's more like a slomo party-based ARPG. Have you played any of these two?

[Gorth]

Indie games, Kickstarter games, as well as games that appeal to two of my PC-games addiction: 4X-games and ARPGs - slow or quick.

 

Out of all the games I've played this year, I have the feeling that you ought to like Wasteland 2 the most. Perhaps also M&M X - although it's more like a slomo party-based ARPG. Have you played any of these two?

I'm probably entitled to multiple copies of Wasteland 2 through backing both WL2 and PEO, but my main/Desktop PC is still in storage. Waiting until I get settled in, in a new place and get the the container with all my belongings in it

 

Never tried any of the M&M crpgs (loved HoMM3 to death though, but that's a different genre). Not into arpgs, but I love 4x games. Still take Master of Orion 2 for a spin regularly. I also got the X games (X2 and X3, but the learning curve of the latter is just very, very steep). All games that predate 2014 though, some of them by way more than a decade. I got a number of "indie" games, but again, got them last year or earlier. Demolition Inc., Gratuitous Space Battles, Rochard, FTL, etc.

 

Edit: Speaking of indie titles, I really need to finish Trine 2. I finished the first one a while ago. A most gorgeous and addictive litle game.

[Malcador]

This year, mainly been Banished, Arma 3, EU4, BS5 and assorted stuff to further waste my time.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Malc: Banished! Thx for reminding me. I actually bought it, but never got around to play it. Another 2014 game on my backlog.

 

Gorth: Trine 1 & 2 are truly little gems of joy! As for the M&M series. I played almost all of them long ago. The atmosphere in them back then was usually pretty great - and some of that atmosphere is still intact in M&M X. So, it was mainly a nostalgia trip for me, but still a worthwhile game in its own right. Once you get to it, WL2 will most likely be your cup of tea.

Edited October 16, 2014 by IndiraLightfoot

[Tale]

Dark Souls 2: 10/10 Game of the Year!

Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: 10/10 Game of the Year!

Dragonfall: 8/10 Game of the Year!

South Park: 8/10 Honorary Mention

 

My computer's been dead since last year, so I'm not gaming as much as I used to. A few console games and some old PC games that work on a borrowed laptop.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Tale: Nice to see Dragonfall getting nice reviews. I have yet to get around to it. SRR was decent enough, so eventually I will. 

[Gorth]

Two Three games I bought quite a while ago, yet never got around to try: Enslaved, Dishonored and Divinity: Original Sin. I'll make a Point of going back here and give some real feedback once I get to try them.

 

Edit: I'm a gully dwarf. No more than two games.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Gorth: Those two games are two of my favourites in recent years! Dishonored was completely unexpected. I tried Assassin's Creed, but didn't care for it, but this game just fit my mood/mentality, as well as my rogue-ish playstyle like a glove. One of the best games past the year 2000! As for D:OS, I've only played the starting area, and it is very well polished. However, I've heard that the rest isn't up to bar with Cyseal. I'll see how it goes.

[ShadySands]

Tale: Nice to see Dragonfall getting nice reviews. I have yet to get around to it. SRR was decent enough, so eventually I will. 

 

Dragonfall is way better in pretty much every single way possible

[IndiraLightfoot]

I've played Civ: BE for like 13 hours now, so I reckon I can give it a fair verdict.

It's pretty obvious to compare it to Endless Legend, and of course, CiV, which I really like.

The Hookability is slightly less than Endless Legend, since I've played CiV a lot, and it was a bit generic and techie, the whole spacie pioneer thing.

Lastability should be pretty great, if not better.

I was entertained, that's for sure, and the AI seemed a bit better than EL's, but it didn't wow entertainment-wise in how it played, as it were.

 

Endless Legend (for comparison):

Hookability:                 80

Lastability:                  89

Entertainment value:    82

 

Civilization: Beyond Earth:

Hookability:                 72

Lastability:                  90

Entertainment value:    75

 

This gives C:BE an average overall score of 79.

[Malcador]

CiV never gripped me the way CIV did. I should replay that, have fun making my fake history for my games as insane as that makes me sound. Forgot about D3, that ate up a lot of my time.

[Keyrock]

Here are the games I played this year that released this year rated using the highly respected and extremely scientific gif scale listed from best to worst:

 

Bayonetta 2

Not just my 2014 Game of the Year, it's my current leading candidate for Game of the Decade.  It's the best spectacle fighter I've ever played.  It's quite possibly the best action game I've ever played.  It's straight up one of the best games ever made in any genre, an absolute masterpiece.

 

Mario Kart 8

In many other years this would be my Game of the Year.  As it stands, it's the pinnacle of the Mario Kart series.  Finely tuned, colorful, less frustrating than ever, and most of all really fun.

 

Shovel Knight

Retro platforming goodness.  Not only does it pay homage to 8-bit platformers beautifully, it's better than the vast majority of the games it's emulating.

 

Wasteland 2

A solid, enjoyable old skool RPG that delivered on all its promises.  It's not groundbreaking but it met all my expectations, and my expectations were relatively high.

 

South Park: The Stick of Truth

While the combat got repetitive and there was a decided lack of difference in play style between the classes, this game nevertheless masterfully captured the wonderfully often times crass and sometimes surprisingly sharp and witty humor and charm of the series.

 

Might & Magic X: Legacy

This game came out of nowhere and came from a developer I never heard of before.  It is a surprisingly solid and faithful throwback to old skool M&M games.

 

Child of Light

Visually, one of the best looking games ever made with amazingly beautiful picture book style art.  The combat system is solid if unspectacular and the battles get rather repetitive after a while, but it was an enjoyable game overall and I liked the rhyming storybook narrative style.

 

Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure

Visually a weird mishmash of super high res FMV and horrifically dated 3D backgrounds and textures, this game nevertheless proved entertaining and worthy of resurrecting the Tex Murphy series.

 

Watch_Dogs

One of the hardest games for me to judge.  On the one hand, even with the obvious graphical gimping from earlier showings, the game still looked great, it incorporated some neat new gameplay ideas, did some mission types brilliantly well in how it allowed you freedom to tackle them in many different ways, and had pretty great asymmetrical multi-player.  On the other hand, the game fell woefully short of the insane hype around it, had one of the most boring and unlikable protagonists in recent times, had a city shockingly lifeless for all the detail put into it, had terrible driving physics and rubber-banding, and was marred my some boneheaded design decisions.

Edited November 12, 2014 by Keyrock

[IndiraLightfoot]

I love your games list with gif-"emoticons"!

 

Like many others here, I've accumulated some mysterious urge to get a Wii just to play Bayonetta 2.

[Volourn]

But, Bayonetta is evil trash that is sexist....

[Tale]

Update:

 

Alien: Isolation was pretty sweet. Not game of the year sweet, but sweet.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I'm a bit lazy to follow the template so I'll just give /10 scores.

 

Alien Isolation 8/10 (decent, but flawed)

Wasteland 3/10 (first impression, there'll be no final score)

Divinity Original Sin 8/10 (first impression, game in progress)

Civilization beyond Earth (6/10, mediocre)

South Park SoT 7/10 (nice, but runs dry towards the end)

Endless Legend 7/10 nice flavor and graphics, but the gameplay is boring

Shadowrun Dragonfall 9/10 (realistically, its an 8/10 game, but it was too good a nostalgia ride to lower the score)

Edited November 12, 2014 by Drowsy Emperor

[Drowsy Emperor]

I should add :

 

Legend of Grimrock II    8/10 BUT - its certainly better than the first game, about as good as a dungeon romp gets, but like the first game, I tired of the gameplay quickly and stopped around half way. So it could be a 7/10 game on account of not even bothering to finish it but I feel they put too much effort into it for me to dump it in the "barely above average" category 

[Tigranes]

Divinity: Original Sin and WL2 are very nice, fully worth the KS money.

 

EU4 is very solid - Gorth I'm not sure, it's the most user-friendly EU ever?

 

Risen 3 was ok but ultimately the final nail in Piranha Bytes' decline.

 

What else? That might well be it..

[Katphood]

Unfortunately, I didn't get to to play some of the more important games of this year(Divinity: Original Sin, Dreamfall: Chapters, Wasteland 2). I had some fun with Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls and The Evil Within and that's about it, the rest was either not a 2014 release or simply not worthy of mentioning.

 

...also this.

Edited November 18, 2014 by Cat Food

[LadyCrimson]

I haven't played much this year.

Banished:
Hookability: 90
Lastability: 75
Ent. value: 90
--great fun for those who like such games. Eventually it starts to feel a little same-y, map after map, town after town, but until then it's great fun. And for the price, even more so.

Borderlands:Prequel
Hookability: 70
Lastability: 40
Ent. value: 50
--On the plus side, it's more Borderlands to scratch an itch. Has some ok new ideas but didn't love them in-game myself. Area design lackluster. Not much interesting new loot or Legendaries. Wasn't very funny. Didn't make me want to replay, a first for a BL game. Full price value low, but would be ok at half price.

Stronghold Crusader II (I have not played SH3 etc).
Hookability: 60
Lastability: 40
Ent. value: 35
--3D graphics still doesn't improve this series. AI skirmish maps small and AI is worse than average. Total unit limits per player/map far too restrictive. Does have editor. Sandbox kinda fun but no sandbox invasions. Uninstalled.

 

--I played Grim Dawn build 21+ a lot and liked it, but since it's not actually a completed game, probably doesn't belong here yet.

--Re:Divinity Original Sin. Was originally keen on it during KS but by now...I keep getting emails saying to claim my rewards before it's too late, and I keep not caring. Nothing to do with the game, just not in the mood or something.

 

...if I played anything else I can't recall at the moment, which would mean it wasn't memorable anyway.

[Darkpriest]

Hmm I had to take a look at my games libraries to actually select the games:

 

1) X:COM EW Long War mod - I know it's not a game on iself, but comining the excellent mod with the excellent base game, makes the whole pckage beyond awesome

 

2) Might & Magic X Legacy - it is really a super good game for the cost and coming from Ubisoft O.o

 

3) Wasteland 2 - Even though I feel like it's a weaker Fallout Tactics, it has story elements which are better than that game. I hope they can make the game better with some expansion and bring better cover/LoS mechanics and give various stances and body part aiming, and implement stealth mechanics. Plus make ARs less of an ultimate weapon and balance out importance of each CLASIC stat

 

4) Divinity: OS - great game, wouild like to see better RP elements though, the original was really lacking on NPCs part. Overall amazing game

 

5) Shadowrun: Dragonfall - amazing, want more of it... the only complain is that it's too short

 

6) Blackguards - a good game, but missed some potential, I don't really like the leveling system, and that they made finease weapons lackluster (not full mplementation of wounding).

 

7) Total War: Rome 2 - it had its problems at the launch, but now it is a really good game, especially with all the DLCs, and I need to compliment CA for adding some Free LCs as well and 15 patches...

 

Age of Wonders 3 - a good game, not as good as the earlier AoW - Shawdow Magic, but still a good game

 

9) Endless Legends - on going, but looks really good. I am glad i supported them va Early Access

 

10) The Banner Saga - a fun game

 

There are some honorable mentions too:

 

Legends of Grimrock 2 - even though i hate spell casting system (same like in the first game) it is a good game

 

Company of Heroes 2 - aside of some controversies about the russians, it is a good game... I miss a proper DoW though

 

Middleearth - Shadows of Mordor - cant play it fully yet, cause of my recent traveling schedule and having only a laptop

 

Alien:Isolation - cant play it fully yet, cause of my recent traveling schedule and having only a laptop

[Gorth]

EU4 is very solid - Gorth I'm not sure, it's the most user-friendly EU ever?

I've only played it a few times. The mechanics seems Ok, but the User Interface is a step down. Too cluttered and not independently scalable. The latter is a big issue for me on large resolutions, as the microscopic text and tooltips are completely unreadable. So "user friendly"?... not really

 

I might dig around a bit more and see if there are some settings somewhere I have overlooked. At the Moment, its unplayable for me.

[JadedWolf]

I don't really care much for ratings, so I'll just do one sentence reviews.

 

Wasteland 2: exactly what I expected of it, a very entertaining game with that old school feel and enough quests and subquests to keep me busy for a week or two.

 

Blackguards: I love this little gem, but it's certainly not perfect - the combat is rather rough especially in the beginning and you are rather at the mercy of the RNG gods- but after you've managed to slog your way through the beginning and you have a decent build it's a challenging little RPG with a decent story.

 

Defense Grid 2: it's decent, but sadly not much more than that; it just doesn't have that feel of the old defense grid where you had to do a very tight balancing act to get that one level cleared, and as such also lacks the satisfaction that came with clearing that one difficult level.

 

Rome 2: Total War: sadly a disappointment and a step back after Shogun 2 - I really wanted to like this, and I will probably go back to it one day to see if it got any better, but it just didn't live up to the hype.

 

Elite Dangerous (Beta): the game does everything right in regards to visuals and sound, it's a lovely experience to feel like you are in your own spacecraft, but as of now the game still feels rather empty and purposeless - hopefully they will introduce more involving faction missions at some point.

 

Banished: a fun game for what it is, and rather challenging at that, and quite a timewaster - the thing for me is though, that when you've managed to get a half decent village going the only incentive to continue is to grow, and grow until eventually you run out of space for food production and in the end that means after a point there just is no reason to keep on going.

 

Godus (Beta): terrible little clickfest that I sincerely regret backing through kickstarter: Molyneux, never again.

 

Endless Legends: rather a surprise to me how much I ended up liking this game, it's just such an original take on hex based strategy with such flavourful factions that it really got me hooked.

 

The Banner Saga: lovely little game, but it didn't get me hooked, I can't say what it is but I always find an excuse to play another game instead.

 

Shadowrun: Dragonfall: when it comes to story alone, this was the best game I've played the whole year, and in every other respects it's quite decent too, absolutely recommend it.

 

The Adventures of van Helsing 2: very entertaining sequel, an improvement over the previous installment - especially the humour, some of the witty dialogue just really had me cracking up.

 

Massive Chalice (Beta): it's really when it comes down to it a fantasy version of X-com, which is rather entertaining, but it seems it will have no way to actually halt the corruption akin to how you could launch satellites in X-com, which makes me wonder if that won't be really frustrating eventually.

 

Southpark: Stick of Truth: I really liked this game, and I am not a huge fan of Southpark itself, so that's saying something - I had some great laughs and the combat system itself, though rather simple, kept me decently entertained.

[bobobo878]

Among the Sleep - Had great atmosphere, but it was too short, and the monsters stopped being scary once it became clear how little they could do to stop you. 5/10

 

Five Nights at Freddy's - Had a lot of organic jump scares, but got repetitive fast. 7/10

 

Goat Simulator - I suppose I got what I payed for. 6/10

 

South Park: The Stick of Truth - Funny game, but towards the end, the DOT attacks made the combat too easy. 8/10

 

Star Citizen: Arena Commander - The mechanics are solid, but the pay to win nonsense made this one hard to enjoy. I don't know what Cloud Imperium's deal is. Whenever they're criticized for the state of Arena Commander, they say the game is incomplete, and it will stop being pay to win when the persistent universe launches, but whenever they're criticized for their lack of progress on the persistent universe, they say the game is being released as a series of modules, and we should just enjoy the modules that are already out like Arena Commander until then. 6/10

 

The Walking Dead Season 2 - "Tell me that you won't leave me." 9/10

 

Wasteland 2 - The story wasn't as deep as I had hoped and the glitches were annoying, but the game made up for this with engaging combat and amusing factions. 8/10