Game Awards

[king3pj]

Hmm... I'm gonna have to put some thought into this before I write up my own list. Last year it was a tough choice for me between Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us. They were both amazing games that would rightfully belong in the game of the console generation discussion.

This year it is also tough for me to pick a GOTY. Unfortunately it's for a completely different reason. This year nothing stood out to me as head and shoulders above everything else the way Infinite and TLoU did. It was the first full year of a new console generation and those first years are traditionally weak so that makes sense.

I did have a good time with inFamous: Second Son, The Wolf Among Us, Child of Light, Wolfenstein, COD Advanced Warfare, Diablo 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Master Chief Collection and several other games but for various reasons I'm hesitating to call any of them my GOTY right now. I will have to look at my Gamefly rental history and Steam profile to see exactly what I played this year and make some choices.

 

[Zookster]

Like last year, since I've played so few current-year releases, it would be silly for me to name a GOTY. As much as I'm enjoying Far Cry 4, I'm not even halfway through (this game is HUGE!), and I have no other current-gen games to compare it to. So instead, I give you my most memorable gaming experiences of 2014:

#1 Most Memorable Gaming Experience of 2014: Bioshock Infinite
Having not gotten around to TLOU this year, I had a much easier choice than king3pj did last year. Bioshock Infinite is hands down, no question, my absolute greatest gaming experience of the year — a year that included other great "backlog" titles like LA Noire and Tomb Raider (a.k.a. Honorable Mentions).

Most Memorable "Remaster" Gaming Experience: Hitman Blood Money
I'm making up this random category not only because I played more than one PS2-era game this year, but because Hitman Blood Money is memorable in the true sense of the term: I'm frequently being reminded of its fantastic environments and level design when I'm watching TV shows, movies, or visiting certain places in real life. Living in California, I can't tell you how often I want to hide in a tool shed while I wait for the hostess to catch on fire as she lights up a poolside barbeque. If you haven't added the Hitman Trilogy to your PS3 download queue, do yourself a favor and do it now (before this month's free Plus games expire).

Most Memorable DLC for 2014: Mass Effect 3 — The Citadel
Thanks to some great sales, I played quite a bit of DLC this year for games I had beaten in the past. But certainly the most memorable experience was ME3 The Citadel. I actually procrastinated getting to this, as I was afraid it would be cheesy and overly sentimental, ultimately marring my overall experience of one of my all-time favorite games. Fortunately, The Citadel completely delivered as a fitting wrap up and fan service to the epic trilogy, providing some of the most memorable lines of the entire series. Honorable Mention: Borderlands 2 — Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep.

Most Memorable Downloadable-Only Title — Contrast
I also played quite a few non-retail games (mostly free ones for Plus members) this year. Contrast stands head and shoulders above all of them in terms of its freshness, uniqueness, design, and fun factor.
Biggest Disappointment: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Biggest Disappointment: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

Why was this a disappointment?

 

[king3pj]

I guess it's time to write out my list. I'm going to rank a top 5 but I wanted to point a few things out first. Dragon Age: Inquisition would probably be my GOTY if I was finished with it or even close but I don't think I've played enough of it to make that call. I'm probably 25 hours in but I have done so much side stuff that I've barely done any of the story missions. I suspect that Shadow of Mordor would be in my top 3 as well but I've played less than 5 hours of this one so again it will be off the list. I also know I would like Far Cry 4 but I haven't played any of that one.

Finally, some of these games may have come out in 2013 but these are the games I enjoyed this most this year. I'm not going to go into as much depth this year because I don't feel as strongly about any of these games as I did last year. Not only that but I have already done lengthy write ups on most of them.

1. Child of Light - This was a beautiful JRPG style game. The combat was unique and fun and I'm looking forward to playing it again at a higher difficulty.

2. inFamous: Second Son - I have to wholeheartedly disagree with @yourbeliefs on this one. I had just played inFamous 1 and 2 for the first time only a couple months before playing Second Son. They may have been better games for their time but I think Second Son plays better than both of them.

I had fun with inFamous but I felt that the traversal and combat was a bit wonky. I also didn't think the story was very good.

I think inFamous 2 greatly improved on the first one in just about every way but I would still say the movement and combat was more fun in Second Son. There is no doubt about it though, Cole and Zeke were better characters than Delsin and Reggie.

Second Son has an okay story and I didn't have a problem with most of the characters. The voice acting was very good and the visuals are still maybe the most "next gen" thing I have seen on PS4/Xbox One. For me the game was just pure fun though. I liked having access to multiple powers any time I wanted them.

Writing about this makes me want to go home and jump into First Light. If I see Second Son below $10 or it ends up free on PS Plus I will go through the evil story line and get the platinum trophy.

3. Sunset Overdrive

4. The Walking Dead: Season 2

5. Wolfenstein: The New Order

 

[yourbeliefs]

I have to wholeheartedly disagree with @yourbeliefs on this one. I had just played inFamous 1 and 2 for the first time only a couple months before playing Second Son. They may have been better games for their time but I think Second Son plays better than both of them.

I think part of my disappointment with the game is that, IMO, it didn't do anything to enhance the franchise. Nearly everything they added either didn't help things or could have been done better. And as I mentioned in my review, it didn't help that I had played Saints Row 4 and Prototype, which are both open world destruction games like Second Son, and I had much more fun in those than I did with SS. As I said, I still like the game and recommend it to anyone who has a PS4 (and can find it heavily discounted) but I just feel like they sacrificed a number of things I liked (story, length, characters, atmosphere, easily accessible powers) and then added stuff I didn't like (motion/trackpad controls, power switching that needs to be done via finding stuff in game as opposed to just pushing a button) and then made other bad stuff worse ("Moral Choice" System/Rewards, Loading Times.)

 

[Zookster]

Why was this a disappointment?

If I didn't know anything about the game going in, I think it would've been a pleasant surprise rather than a disappointment. But my expectations were high, and ultimately I was too frustrated by the controls to enjoy the experience fully and the ending was predictable. It was a great freebee, however, and I don't regret playing it.

I


1. Child of Light - This was a beautiful JRPG style game. The combat was unique and fun and I'm looking forward to playing it again at a higher difficulty.

2. inFamous: Second Son - I have to wholeheartedly disagree with @yourbeliefs on this one. I had just played inFamous 1 and 2 for the first time only a couple months before playing Second Son. They may have been better games for their time but I think Second Son plays better than both of them.

I had fun with inFamous but I felt that the traversal and combat was a bit wonky. I also didn't think the story was very good.

I think inFamous 2 greatly improved on the first one in just about every way but I would still say the movement and combat was more fun in Second Son. There is no doubt about it though, Cole and Zeke were better characters than Delsin and Reggie.

Second Son has an okay story and I didn't have a problem with most of the characters. The voice acting was very good and the visuals are still maybe the most "next gen" thing I have seen on PS4/Xbox One. For me the game was just pure fun though. I liked having access to multiple powers any time I wanted them.

Writing about this makes me want to go home and jump into First Light. If I see Second Son below $10 or it ends up free on PS Plus I will go through the evil story line and get the platinum trophy.

I hope I don't regret not jumping on the $7.50 sale price last week for Child of Light as I hold out for a steeper discount or for it to be offered free.

Also, since you've played both Second Son and First Light, can you tell me if I'll be okay playing FL before SS? I definitely plan on getting SS at some point (perhaps it will be on sale again during January while FL is free), but I'll be very tempted to jump on FL as soon as I can download it.

 

[king3pj]

If I didn't know anything about the game going in, I think it would've been a pleasant surprise rather than a disappointment. But my expectations were high, and ultimately I was too frustrated by the controls to enjoy the experience fully and the ending was predictable. It was a great freebee, however, and I don't regret playing it.



I hope I don't regret not jumping on the $7.50 sale price last week for Child of Light as I hold out for a steeper discount or for it to be offered free.

Also, since you've played both Second Son and First Light, can you tell me if I'll be okay playing FL before SS? I definitely plan on getting SS at some point (perhaps it will be on sale again during January while FL is free), but I'll be very tempted to jump on FL as soon as I can download it.

I actually haven't played First Light yet. I bought it right when it came out but I was in the middle of one of my Gamefly rentals so I didn't start it. I am planning on playing a couple hours of it this afternoon and maybe finishing it over the weekend. Thinking about Second Son got me in the mood to finally play it. I can probably give you a better idea before it comes to PS Plus next week.

Like The Last of Us' DLC this is supposed to take place before the main game so you might be ok. That being said, I was told you shouldn't play the Left Behind DLC before playing the base TLoU game because there are spoilers even though it takes place before the main story. I suppose that could be the case for First Light too if it takes place in a flash back or something. Again, I think I'll be done with it before it is free so I can give you a better idea later.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Also, since you've played both Second Son and First Light, can you tell me if I'll be okay playing FL before SS? I definitely plan on getting SS at some point (perhaps it will be on sale again during January while FL is free), but I'll be very tempted to jump on FL as soon as I can download it.

From what I've read he HASN'T played FL yet. He simply has it in his queue. I did some research and apparently FL is a prequel or takes place before the events of SS (the ending marks the start of SS), but apparently it does spoil a few things about some other characters and plot points, and opinions as to whether you play SS or FL first seem split down the middle.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/805575-infamous-first-light/69944132

 

[yourbeliefs]

I know that I already made my list but recently two games from 2014 that I purchased but didn't really get into until recently have shined to where I feel they need to be praised here. They weren't necessarily my favorite games of 2014 but I feel they were outstanding for specific reasons.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth: This deserves accolades because this game shows how a remastered game SHOULD be done. Nowadays, a "Remastered" game or a "Definitive Edition" or whatever you want to call it usually just has a graphical and/or frame rate upgrade along with all the DLC included for free and a cheaper price than the typical $60. Rebirth on the other hand feels like a complete overhaul because it is. It has updated graphics, frame rate, sound, old DLC, new enemies, new characters, new items, new level design, new control schemes and so on. It also added very nice perks like multiple user profiles and the ability to save your progress while you play. Now I have probably around 40 hours of the original game under my belt but even so I still find there's lots to love about Rebirth. It really is so good that it's near impossible to go back to the original, even though the original is 1/3rd of the price, but like I said there's a lot to love about Rebirth, assuming you can stomach the subject matter. It is a VERY out there game, and considering the name (yes, it derives inspiration from that story) it has a lot of dark stuff in it. If you can handle all that it is well worth your time regardless of platform

Shovel Knight: The idea of an indie platforming game that looks like it was on the Nintendo Entertainment System is about as common nowadays as unfinished games being released. So when a game comes out that actually makes you believe it could have run on an NES as opposed to just a game made by a guy good at Pixel Art and retro sounds, then you have something. Of course, just looking like a NES game doesn't really mean much of said game isn't designed well or fun to play. Shovel Knight is designed very well, to the point of frustration, because whenever you die or screw up you don't curse the game for being bad, but rather you curse yourself for being incompetent and failing at that part of the game. The soundtrack is also outstanding. It doesn't just sound good for a NES-like game, but rather it genuinely just sounds good. Shovel Knight is truly a shining example of the great things that can come from Kickstarter and other crowd funding activities, and it deserves your attention even at the full price of $15, especially since you may find yourself waiting a LONG time for a sale. It is a fine example of how "retro gaming" SHOULD be done.

 

[king3pj]

I know that I already made my list but recently two games from 2014 that I purchased but didn't really get into until recently have shined to where I feel they need to be praised here. They weren't necessarily my favorite games of 2014 but I feel they were outstanding for specific reasons.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth: This deserves accolades because this game shows how a remastered game SHOULD be done. Nowadays, a "Remastered" game or a "Definitive Edition" or whatever you want to call it usually just has a graphical and/or frame rate upgrade along with all the DLC included for free and a cheaper price than the typical $60. Rebirth on the other hand feels like a complete overhaul because it is. It has updated graphics, frame rate, sound, old DLC, new enemies, new characters, new items, new level design, new control schemes and so on. It also added very nice perks like multiple user profiles and the ability to save your progress while you play. Now I have probably around 40 hours of the original game under my belt but even so I still find there's lots to love about Rebirth. It really is so good that it's near impossible to go back to the original, even though the original is 1/3rd of the price, but like I said there's a lot to love about Rebirth, assuming you can stomach the subject matter. It is a VERY out there game, and considering the name (yes, it derives inspiration from that story) it has a lot of dark stuff in it. If you can handle all that it is well worth your time regardless of platform

Shovel Knight: The idea of an indie platforming game that looks like it was on the Nintendo Entertainment System is about as common nowadays as unfinished games being released. So when a game comes out that actually makes you believe it could have run on an NES as opposed to just a game made by a guy good at Pixel Art and retro sounds, then you have something. Of course, just looking like a NES game doesn't really mean much of said game isn't designed well or fun to play. Shovel Knight is designed very well, to the point of frustration, because whenever you die or screw up you don't curse the game for being bad, but rather you curse yourself for being incompetent and failing at that part of the game. The soundtrack is also outstanding. It doesn't just sound good for a NES-like game, but rather it genuinely just sounds good. Shovel Knight is truly a shining example of the great things that can come from Kickstarter and other crowd funding activities, and it deserves your attention even at the full price of $15, especially since you may find yourself waiting a LONG time for a sale. It is a fine example of how "retro gaming" SHOULD be done.

I've played an hour or two of Binding of Isaac since it came to PS Plus. I recently found out I like that style of game. Rogue Legacy made my list for last year and I also like what I've played of Spelunky since it came to PS Plus. I haven't put a ton of time into Spelunky either though. I'd like to dig deeper into all 3 of these games but Dragon Age and Advanced Warfare multiplayer have been taking up all of my gaming time.

Shovel Knight is also one of the games I'm most looking forward to playing. The discount offered during the Steam Holiday Sale wasn't quite good enough for me to jump on it with all the games I want to play right now. When I finally finish Dragon Age the next thing I'll be getting from Gamefly is Far Cry 4. This is another massive game that will take up all my time for a couple months. Until I'm done with both Dragon Age and Far Cry I don't see myself picking up anything new that's not free or heavily discounted.

 

[Zookster]

Shovel Knight is coming to a PS platform near you and will have special features exclusive to the PS Universe, including cross-save and the addition of a Kratos playable character. If history is any indication, I would say there's a 50-50 chance this game will be free for Plus members when it's released (several indie remaster/ports have been offered free in the past year). Having skipped every generation between the Atari 2600 and the PS3, this whole retro gaming style doesn't appeal to me, however, and limits my options when I'm looking through my download queue for things to play on my Vita (I don't add most of the free ones).

 

[king3pj]

Shovel Knight is coming to a PS platform near you and will have special features exclusive to the PS Universe, including cross-save and the addition of a Kratos playable character. If history is any indication, I would say there's a 50-50 chance this game will be free for Plus members when it's released (several indie remaster/ports have been offered free in the past year). Having skipped every generation between the Atari 2600 and the PS3, this whole retro gaming style doesn't appeal to me, however, and limits my options when I'm looking through my download queue for things to play on my Vita (I don't add most of the free ones).

I agree that there is a decent chance it will be free on PS Plus. I don't think it will be free at launch though. This was on many GOTY lists for this year and it's pretty much guaranteed to sell relatively well on Playstation. I think it's more likely that they will sell it for $15 for a few months to rake in the cash and then offer it free once the sales drop off.

You may not be into the retro style but if Rogue Legacy or Shovel Knight ever show up on PS Plus I suggest at least giving them a try. You're not out anything if you don't like them.

I can't speak from experience on Shovel Knight but Rogue Legacy has great gameplay and it's super addicting. The retro art style has very little to do with my enjoyment of the game. From what I hear, Shovel Knight has some similar qualities.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Honestly the whole "retro" feel should not dissuade you from trying out Shovel Knight. Total Biscuit has been very vocal about his displeasure towards platforming games yet he gave it a praising review, and Yahtzee never got caught up in the whole "nostalgia" gaming scene because he never had a Nintendo back in the day but he rated it in his top 5 for 2014. Oh, and the game has an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating on Steam with 3,188 positive reviews and 77 Negative ones. My point is that Shovel Knight is not a good game because it looks and plays like an NES game, but rather the look and feel are just the window dressing on what is a VERY solidly made platforming game.

 

[Zookster]

I agree that there is a decent chance it will be free on PS Plus. I don't think it will be free at launch though. This was on many GOTY lists for this year and it's pretty much guaranteed to sell relatively well on Playstation. I think it's more likely that they will sell it for $15 for a few months to rake in the cash and then offer it free once the sales drop off.

You may not be into the retro style but if Rogue Legacy or Shovel Knight ever show up on PS Plus I suggest at least giving them a try. You're not out anything if you don't like them.

I can't speak from experience on Shovel Knight but Rogue Legacy has great gameplay and it's super addicting. The retro art style has very little to do with my enjoyment of the game. From what I hear, Shovel Knight has some similar qualities.

Thanks for the recommendations. Rogue Legacy did actually end up in my download queue, partly because I didn't realize it had pixilated graphics. The gameplay did sound promising.

 

[Zookster]

Honestly the whole "retro" feel should not dissuade you from trying out Shovel Knight. Total Biscuit has been very vocal about his displeasure towards platforming games yet he gave it a praising review, and Yahtzee never got caught up in the whole "nostalgia" gaming scene because he never had a Nintendo back in the day but he rated it in his top 5 for 2014. Oh, and the game has an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating on Steam with 3,188 positive reviews and 77 Negative ones. My point is that Shovel Knight is not a good game because it looks and plays like an NES game, but rather the look and feel are just the window dressing on what is a VERY solidly made platforming game.

To be honest, I did play and enjoy Proteus on both PS3 and Vita. I just don't know if I'd pay for a game like that. Hopefully Shovel Knight will be offered free at some point. It's partly a matter of priorities. For example, in the category of side-scrolling puzzle platformers, Dust, which I have yet to start, appeals to me much more.

 

[king3pj]

Thanks for the recommendations. Rogue Legacy did actually end up in my download queue, partly because I didn't realize it had pixilated graphics. The gameplay did sound promising.

Was Rogue Legacy free at some point? I think that would be my perfect Vita game but I don't have it in my library. All my playtime came from Steam and I probably spent $2-$3 on it. I probably won't buy it again but I won't be too happy with myself if I missed it when it was free.

 

[Zookster]

Was Rogue Legacy free at some point? I think that would be my perfect Vita game but I don't have it in my library. All my playtime came from Steam and I probably spent $2-$3 on it. I probably won't buy it again but I won't be too happy with myself if I missed it when it was free.

My bad. I'm getting Rogue Legacy confused with Road Not Taken. When I looked at some screen shots earlier today of Rogue Legacy, one of the characters looked like the hooded Road Not Taken guy.

 

[king3pj]

http://www.ign.com/lists/best-of-games-platform

IGN published their GOTY awards. I gotta say, I don't understand their logic. They gave their overall GOTY award to Dragon Age: Inquisition. They then went on to give their best PS4 game award to Shadow of Mordor and their best Xbox One game award to Sunset Overdrive. Dragon Age also lost IGN's Game of the Month award to Smash Bros. in the month they were released. In addition to all that, this year IGN gave 20 games higher review scores than the 8.8 they gave Dragon Age.

Basically Dragon Age isn't the best game on either console and it wasn't even the best game to come out in November yet it's still the overall game of the year.

Don't get me wrong, by all accounts every game I just mentioned is pretty great. I'm about 45 hours into Dragon Age now and if I was at this point when I did my game awards it would have been my personal GOTY. I just can't help but laugh at the paradox IGN is trying to create with their awards this year.

 

[yourbeliefs]

First off, whoever designed that page deserves to have THIS happen to them (slightly NSFW, violent). Honestly, that design is infuriating as a user and as a web developer.

I think any game reviewer will tell you that scores are somewhat relative. I mean, South Park: The Stick of Truth got a 9.0, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find many people who really think that that game is better than DA:I. Hell even though they're both RPGs they're basically completely different games. Also, DA:I is the third of the series, so when reviewing it you hold it to different standards than Sunset Overdrive and Shadow of Mordor as they aren't part of a series (yet.) Also, Dragon Age DID win best PC game, so it did win for at least 1 platform.

Speaking of Platforms, with the exception of the Nintendo consoles, nearly every console has like 66% of the same games up for awards. And the winner of the PS4 GOTY wasn't even a console exclusive. I must say though, given all the awards Child of Light has received I may have to bump that up on my To Play list. I'll probably delve into that after I finish up Shovel Knight (which won 3DS game of the year.)

One last note: Why the hell is Bravely Default up for an award? That came out in 2013!

 

[king3pj]

First off, whoever designed that page deserves to have THIS happen to them (slightly NSFW, violent). Honestly, that design is infuriating as a user and as a web developer.

I think any game reviewer will tell you that scores are somewhat relative. I mean, South Park: The Stick of Truth got a 9.0, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find many people who really think that that game is better than DA:I. Hell even though they're both RPGs they're basically completely different games. Also, DA:I is the third of the series, so when reviewing it you hold it to different standards than Sunset Overdrive and Shadow of Mordor as they aren't part of a series (yet.) Also, Dragon Age DID win best PC game, so it did win for at least 1 platform.

Speaking of Platforms, with the exception of the Nintendo consoles, nearly every console has like 66% of the same games up for awards. And the winner of the PS4 GOTY wasn't even a console exclusive. I must say though, given all the awards Child of Light has received I may have to bump that up on my To Play list. I'll probably delve into that after I finish up Shovel Knight (which won 3DS game of the year.)

One last note: Why the hell is Bravely Default up for an award? That came out in 2013!

Yeah, that truly is one of the most unnecessarily complicated websites I've ever seen. It doesn't make much sense, given that their normal format is fine. They just tried to hard to make something special for their GOTY stuff. It took me a minute to figure out why it looked like they picked two winners for every category too. Eventually I realized that the red symbol meant it was IGN's winner and the gold symbol was the community choice winner.

I also realize that the number on a review score is super subjective. I glance at them to get a quick impression on a games quality but I don't typically know whether I want to play a game or not until I watch the video review. I just included that part to show how weird it was to give Dragon Age the GOTY given all the other choices they made.

In general I think the platform specific awards are weird unless you are going to limit them to exclusive games. By default, if a multiplatform game wins your overall GOTY award it has to win the award for every platform it's on unless there are glaring issues that make it not as good on specific platforms. That doesn't appear to be the case for Dragon Age Inquisition. It's great on PS4 and I assume it's of similar quality on Xbox One. If you want to give out platform specific awards that are different than the overall award you really need to limit it to exclusive games.

I do see why platform specific awards are useful for PC, Wii U, 3DS, and Vita. These platforms get such a high percentage of their library from games that aren't on other systems that it makes more sense. Again, if you are going to do this, limit it to games that are exclusive to that platform though.