Rate your 2014 games here!

[Blodhemn]

Stick of Truth - More innovative/entertaining than most games. I can only imagine the hype it would've received if it were an isometric game with a worn out setting. Yikes.

[Volourn]

What was innovative about it? It was fun (though I didn't bother finishing it) but it was not innovative.

 

 

. "I can only imagine the hype it would've received if it were an isometric game with a worn out setting."

 

WUT!?! It was friggin' hyped BIG TIME.

Edited November 24, 2014 by Volourn

[Blodhemn]

Lol no it wasn't. Innovative/creative story elements/design. If only the tr00 rPg KiKcStArTeR gAmEz of today had an ounce of the creativity Stick of Truth had would I actually bother to back them.

[prodigydancer]

The Banner Saga - nice (as a breath of fresh air). Shadowrun: Dragonfall - not bad but I liked the original SRR campaign more. Child of Light - amazing, absolutely loved it. D:OS - (act1) sort of alright; (act2/act3) lethally boring. WL2 - awesome, instant classic. Shadows of Mordor - worse than AC2 but mostly playable.

 

Everything else was garbage.

Edited November 24, 2014 by prodigydancer

[Starwars]

Alien: Isolation - 5/10

Bonus points for having amazing graphics that actually ran like a dream on my old rig. Great asthetics and generally (that Alien thump sure gets old though) good sound-design. Was more annoying than scary after the first Alien encounters though, has a crappy story which is crappily told. And worst of all, it tries so hard to be an "authentic" Alien experience, but it completely stumbles with its obvious video-game trappings. The constant stream of "you need this item to enter here, but to get that item you need *this* item first etc" and the game taking control at key-moments... Blah. A big blah.

 

The Banner Saga - 9/10

One of those games I could nitpick to hell and back but that just had that special "thing" that kept me playing. Really, really enjoyed it and looking forward to the upcoming chapters.

 

Banished - 7/10

Great little builder though it gets old fairly quickly. Huge effort by one guy. Should get back into it soon with the release of more mods.

 

Child of Light - 8/10

Very touching little game, charming. Gets repetitive but it's a nice little ride. Aesthetically it's one of the best I've played probably.

 

Divinity: Original Sin - 5/10

Disappointing for me. Great combat system and a nice sense of freedom of how to do some things... But if Banner Saga had that special "oomph" to keep me playing, Divinity completely lacked it. Story, setting and writing were also crap. Fun at first though.

 

Eidolon - 4/10

Walking simulator I bought on a whim. Pretty game and with interesting stories to find. But it is not "advanced" enough graphically speaking, nor have enough gamplay things to do, for its large world. Gets boring fast.

 

Dragonfall: Director's Cut - 10/10

Does not mean perfect in this case, but really as good as I could expect such a game. Great writing, great atmosphere and the mission structure works really well. The gameplay is pretty solid and fun. Fantastic game. GotY 2014 for me probably.

 

South Park: Stick of Truth - 8/10

Surprisingly solid combat (nothingh special, but solid), though it gets easy to break unfortunately. Story and such are spot-on, had some moments that made me lol which is rare from a game. Wish there were more choices & consequences to it but I guess it was not meant to be. Great fun nonetheless.

 

Unrest - 5/10

Could've definitely scored higher if it had been a bit longer. I don't mind short games but the concepts of this ended up feeling undercooked due to how short the game is. Great setting and writing, but yeah... failed it hit its potential.

 

This War of Mine - 8/10

Bit early to give a score but eh. Definitely addictive, great atmosphere and with pretty well thought out gameplay. Can get easy in the latter parts of the game. Hoping that the devs will support it in some way after release, they've got something special here.

 

Valiant Hearts: The Great War - 4/10

Would really love to give this a higher score. Enjoyed its take on WWI and it was occasionally really touching. But the gameplay is bad and the story feels very disjointed. Too bad.

 

Wasteland 2 - 7/10

Had hoped for something more to my taste I suppose. Felt there was too much combat (and not enough depth), the writing was all over the place and gameplay overall felt really slow and sluggish (in a bad way, I like slow games usually). Also, not usually one to knock games for bugs and such but the latter parts of the game were a complete mess when I played it. Hope they've fixed some of that. 

Even with its flaws though, it's definitely an addictive and fun game. Has that magical "I gotta play some more" feel which means a lot of course.

 

The Wolf Among Us - 7/10

Rather dumb at times and the QTEs are as annoying and tired as ever. But, I still enjoyed following the story a lot, enjoyed the character and aesthetics. Definitely not for someone who doesn't enjoy interactive novels though.

 

Those are the big games I've played, but I've probably missed some. Was a great gaming year from my point of view. Feels like

Edited November 24, 2014 by Starwars

[Drowsy Emperor]

The Wolf Among Us - It was fun to experience but not all that much fun to actually play, as there is little...playing.. involved. 7/10  

 

In other news, I gave up on Original Sin (in Cyseal, Act 1). It just doesn't keep me interested. The ratio of fights to quests leans heavily towards the former and it somewhat wore me down to have to fight the same enemies all the time at the rather unforgiving standard difficulty. With no real characters or storyline to provide motivation I was asking myself "why I am playing this anyway"?

 

To make matters worse, I was playing in co-op with my gf and we even got tired of the game at the same time.

 

Child of Light 7/10 - pretty art design but the gameplay is too light for my tastes

[IndiraLightfoot]

Alright, I have three final games of the year 2014 to report:

Dragon Age: Inquisition (20+ hours in, and I have a hard time letting go of it and do sensible things like sleeping, eating, working and delivering #1s and #2s):

Hookability:                 92 (Some say it looks and plays like an MMO, but as I don't play those, I just got sucked into it hard in SP-mode)

Lastability:                  89 (I'll be returning to this game a lot until I've exhausted the roles I want to play in it)

Entertainment value:   94 (Fantastic music, brilliant graphics, very nice areas deeper into the game, interesting characters with surprising twists)

Total average score:    91.7  (My personal game of the year! Yes, the story certainly is run-of-the-mill high fantasy, but wow, what a high fantasy indeed!)

 

Lords of Xulima (I've merely played for nine hours, and at the highest difficulty - it's very unforgiving and pretty vast. I really like it so far):

Hookability:                 71

Lastability:                  82

Entertainment value:    70

Total average score:   74.3

 

COH2: Ardennes Assault (nearing the end of all the missions, and I've started over and taken my time):

Hookability:                 74

Lastability:                  68

Entertainment value:   83 (Surprisingly high - the historical atmosphere and fantastic VO makes it a little gem)

Total average score: 75.0

 

 

At the end of the day and year, this results in the following table, using overall scores based on the scores above:

1) 91.7 Dragon Age: Inquisition

2) 84.0 Wasteland 2

3) 83.7 Endless Legend

4) 82.7 Divinity: Original Sin

5) 80.0 Company of Heroes 2: WF

6) 79.0 Civilization: Beyond Earth

7) 78.3 Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls

8. 77.3 Might & Magic X: Legacy

9) 75.0 COH2: Ardennes Assault

10) 74.3 Lords of Xulima

11) 73.0 The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing 2

12)  67.7 Wolfenstein: The New Order

13) 66.0 The Tesla Effect

14) 64.3 Thief

15) 63.3 Unrest

16) 30.0 Goat Simulator

 

And here's a plain old time-killer list of these games (Value For Money?), but lumped together with older base games, up until now:

1) c. 600h COH2 + Western Armies and Ardennes Assault (lots of those hours are from idling and farming though while doing other things)

2) c. 500h  D3 + RoS (So my perfect lunch break game would be this one this year)

3) c. 130h CiV + Civ:BE

4) c. 80h M&M X

5) c. 75h WL2

 

But I can promise that DA:I will push into this list of top-five time-killer games before New Year's!

Edited November 24, 2014 by IndiraLightfoot

[HoonDing]

Ultimately the games I enjoyed most this year are ports of former console exclusives.

#pcmasterrace #gaben #gamergate

[Tale]

Ultimately the games I enjoyed most this year are ports of former console exclusives.

 

#pcmasterrace #gaben #gamergate

If one of those games is Final Fantasy XIII, I think we're going to have to revoke your membership.

[HoonDing]

If one of those games is Final Fantasy XIII, I think we're going to have to revoke your membership.

[Keyrock]

 

Ultimately the games I enjoyed most this year are ports of former console exclusives.

 

#pcmasterrace #gaben #gamergate

If one of those games is Final Fantasy XIII, I think we're going to have to revoke your membership.

 

Let it go Tale, let it go.  It's not worth it.  

 

As an aside, I should follow through with that advice myself more often.