Your Game of the Year 2014

[Vagabond142]

So, since it's officially 2015 now, let's hear it from all the Beyond gamers what your favorite game(s) of the year was/were, and if you feel like typing a bit, why it is your selection.

For me, a pretty easy call

Game: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Reason:
Dragon Age: Inquisition got my vote because it packs in a stonkingly huge story, interesting characters, a world that you actually feel involved in, and a return to excellent tactical combat. It feels like a return to form for BioWare, and even though there were some glitches, as well as animations and character models being a bit stiff jointed, it is still fun, immersive, and challenging.


Honorable Mention:

Shovel Knight. The game that is a love letter to MetroidVania games with some MegaMan thrown in

[Redlined_8000]

Destiny.

I am not a big FPS guy or gamer at all but IMO this is the best FPS game put together to date. Its fun and well thought out. I like how the PVP is driven by PVE (needing gear and new weapons).

[Thales of Miletus]

I got Portal 2 for Christmas, so does that count?

Otherwise I absolutely agree, D.A. Inquisition, hands down the best. The next best was Divinity.

I am a geezer when it comes to gaming. I am still waiting for "Combat Cribbage".

[403Gemini]

Oh good, i just purchased Dragon Age Inquisition and I am currently downloading it... happy to hear it's good!

From what I've "played" so far, Alien Isolation.

And why I quoted "Played" ... I've played it for maybe around an hour and a half and I had to turn it off.... honestly I thought my nerves could handle it, especially after dealing with the flop of Alien Colonial Marines , jumping into this felt fresh and reinvigorated my passion in the franchse.

I dont know why the Alien scares me so much, probably because my dad let me watch Alien / Aliens when I was 6 years old and it's always been the focal point of my nightmares growing up. Just one xenomorph was enough to make me stare at my open closet door as I imagined it's head peaking out of my closet. Fast forward 25 years to today and even still when I play games like Alien vs Predator - even Alien Colonial marines (until I got comfortable with their shitty AOE / laughable behavior) my nerves are on extreme edge when I see the Xenomorph.

Combine this with an atmosphere of SHEER claustrophobia , having NO WEAPONS to kill this thing and all you can do is run, hide, lean back in a locker and hold your breath , it makes the game TRUE survival horror. I hear at the half way mark you get a flame thrower and can scare it off, but you can never kill it. And while my exposure to the game is limited, I've heard the alien behavior is honestly "it's own" , nothing is predetermined, that fucker can show up at any time. I plan on playing through it, I just need to get over my fears.

[Vagabond142]

Originally posted by 403Gemini

Combine this with an atmosphere of SHEER claustrophobia , having NO WEAPONS to kill this thing and all you can do is run, hide, lean back in a locker and hold your breath , it makes the game TRUE survival horror. I hear at the half way mark you get a flame thrower and can scare it off, but you can never kill it. And while my exposure to the game is limited, I've heard the alien behavior is honestly "it's own" , nothing is predetermined, that fucker can show up at any time. I plan on playing through it, I just need to get over my fears.

You do get a flamethrower, but it's kind of like using a match to fight off a slightly drunk, angry rhinoceros. And yes, the alien is a motherfucker in A:I. There were a couple of time where I actually felt it was hunting me. I would move from cover to cover, and then I heard it crawling after me in the air ducts. Playing the game with a GOOD set of headphones really ramps up the tension

As to DA:I, if you liked the previous two DA's, Inquisition is by far the best and most challenging, imho

[Freestylin]

Originally posted by 403Gemini
Oh good, i just purchased Dragon Age Inquisition and I am currently downloading it... happy to hear it's good!

From what I've "played" so far, Alien Isolation.

And why I quoted "Played" ... I've played it for maybe around an hour and a half and I had to turn it off.... honestly I thought my nerves could handle it, especially after dealing with the flop of Alien Colonial Marines , jumping into this felt fresh and reinvigorated my passion in the franchse.

I dont know why the Alien scares me so much, probably because my dad let me watch Alien / Aliens when I was 6 years old and it's always been the focal point of my nightmares growing up. Just one xenomorph was enough to make me stare at my open closet door as I imagined it's head peaking out of my closet. Fast forward 25 years to today and even still when I play games like Alien vs Predator - even Alien Colonial marines (until I got comfortable with their shitty AOE / laughable behavior) my nerves are on extreme edge when I see the Xenomorph.

Combine this with an atmosphere of SHEER claustrophobia , having NO WEAPONS to kill this thing and all you can do is run, hide, lean back in a locker and hold your breath , it makes the game TRUE survival horror. I hear at the half way mark you get a flame thrower and can scare it off, but you can never kill it. And while my exposure to the game is limited, I've heard the alien behavior is honestly "it's own" , nothing is predetermined, that fucker can show up at any time. I plan on playing through it, I just need to get over my fears.

Oh this game gets even better as you progress.. the xenomorph, androids, and enemy humans all in one level

[schocker]

I will do categories then an overall:

Action - Shadow of Mordor - Such a neat game. Usually movie tie-in games are garbage, but the nemesis system is very innovative. The game also looks amazing on PC with the un-compressed textures.

Racing/Sports - Forza Horizon 2 - Such a big improvement over the first title mainly due to being able to drive almost anywhere. The first game was basically all on road. The graphics on the XB0 are excellent and the car selection and upgradeability is great. The physics are also based on Forza 5 as opposed to Forza 4 from 360.

Strategy - CIV: BE - I love civilization, so while this isn't a huge upgrade over Civ V, I like the changes enough to play this instead of it. The new additions are neat with being able to be passive with the aliens and also the large assortment of ways to win.

FPS - Far Cry 4 - I just really like this series so that is why this is here. Great fun to play wtih all of the various missions, animals roaming all over the place, the little helicopter thing to get around easier, interesting tibetan landscape. Even though it follows the formula of all ubisoft games, it is probably my favorite out of the bunch. Also on PC the graphics are awesome.

Indy - Banished - This is a city builder that was built by one guy on his own. I watched it for a while so it was a day one buy to support the dev. Great city building game but the only issue being the endgame where you kind of have a self supporting city. There is steam workshop support but I haven't tried any mods yet.

RPG - Divinity: Original Sin - Excellent rpg in the divinity series. I hadn't played much of the previous titles but the attention to detail and story in this game is pretty amazing. I haven't played it as much as I would like but will get to it soon. Also has a metacritic rating of 87 which was pretty high this year. All from basically an indy developer.

Overall - Divinity: Original Sin

Runners Up: Mordor, Dragon Age, Endless Legend, Assetto Corsa, This War of Mine

Also neatest game thing of the year: EA Access. $30/yr with 10% off all EA games/dlc, and a vault of games that are free to download and play (Currently, EA UFC, PVZ GW, NFS rivals, Fifa 14, Madden 25, Peggle 2, BF4). Best console obviously Xbox One

[TYMSMNY]

Divinity: Original Sin looks like a long and indepth game. How's the learning curve on it? Looks like theres a lot of things going on...

[heavyD]

Dragon Age Inquisition by a longshot in a year that didn't have a lot of great games. Biggest disappointment is Destiny. Had potential to be an all-time great franchise but instead it's the most shallow, repetitious game ever created as you there are simple games made 30 years ago with more depth than this game. If you like deja vu or doing things over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again this is the only game you should ever play.

[schocker]

Originally posted by TYMSMNY
Divinity: Original Sin looks like a long and indepth game. How's the learning curve on it? Looks like theres a lot of things going on...

Not much learning curve. It is a turn based rpg kind of feels a tad like diablo to me. Super good game though, so much detail in the game. Ie, freezing stuff, setting stuff on fire to solve problems.

Originally posted by heavyD
Dragon Age Inquisition by a longshot in a year that didn't have a lot of great games. Biggest disappointment is Destiny. Had potential to be an all-time great franchise but instead it's the most shallow, repetitious game ever created as you there are simple games made 30 years ago with more depth than this game. If you like deja vu or doing things over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again this is the only game you should ever play.

There were tons of good games this year though.....


Desinty was the biggest dissapointment for me as well

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by schocker
This War of Mine

Only game I really cared about this year. Stunning game from such simple mechanics.

Also, Gods are Watching was neat (story was a little meh near the end though).

I honestly don't care that much anymore about the "big name" releases anymore. I love Halo. I played it all the way through Halo 3. Then it just kind of became "meh".

I like interesting, in depth story. I like novel game design. I do not care for shooting people for the 50 millionth time anymore, as I have god damn racecars to work on haha.

[403Gemini]

2014 was the year of great disappointments imo
Watch dogs
Destiny
Assassins creed unity


Were they "bad games"? No, just over hyped, under promised

[403Gemini]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1


Only game I really cared about this year. Stunning game from such simple mechanics.

Also, Gods are Watching was neat (story was a little meh near the end though).

I honestly don't care that much anymore about the "big name" releases anymore. I love Halo. I played it all the way through Halo 3. Then it just kind of became "meh".

I like interesting, in depth story. I like novel game design. I do not care for shooting people for the 50 millionth time anymore, as I have god damn racecars to work on haha.

The God's are watching is nuts.... I tried to get through the game keeping everybody alive... When I got to the camp part I ended up quitting after hours upon hours of trying to keep everybody alive. I weirdly cared about all of them

[nzwasp]

whats the best assassins creed to play? I really enjoyed far cry 3 and 4 and think i'd like assassins creed yet never touched it.

[The_Rural_Juror]

Originally posted by 403Gemini
2014 was the year of great disappointments imo
Watch dogs
Destiny
Assassins creed unity


Were they "bad games"? No, just over hyped, under promised

NHL15

[DeeK]

Steamworld Dig, and unexpected gem I found in a humble bundle. it's pretty much a steampunk version of Super Metroid. Awesome.

Honorable mention:

The Banner Saga. Pretty interesting little RPG

[AE92_TreunoSC]

Endless Legend for me, loved Endless Space and finally got a really cool follow up.

Played a lot of Far Cry 4 and Mordor, but neither felt amazing. Pay Day 2 got a lot of time from me, but its from last year.

Still on the fence about DA:I I hate god damn Origin. More than the Ubi junk.

[heavyD]

Originally posted by schocker

There were tons of good games this year though.....


Desinty was the biggest dissapointment for me as well

Not for XB1 or PS4 which is all that really counts unless you are a PC snob. The Wii U had probably most of the best games if you are into its franchises (I'm just too old at this stage to want to play them) but the only one of those games that interested me is Bayonetta 2.

[xnvy]

Originally posted by nzwasp
whats the best assassins creed to play? I really enjoyed far cry 3 and 4 and think i'd like assassins creed yet never touched it.

AC 2 and AC Brotherhood are probably the strongest ones in the franchise barring AC 4. Probably couldn't go wrong with either of the 3 but I wouldn't play Brotherhood without first playing AC 2.

That said, the games aren't very similar to Far Cry IMO.

[Thales of Miletus]

I was watching a show about video games on Quest.

New games are being designed to give people a virtual reality to live in. The designers were saying that the human condition has moved so far from what humans actually desire, that people are becoming more invested in the virtual world than in the real one.

Future games will be infinitely expandable, so that a person can spend their lives building their virtual characters and lives.

Evidently there is a lot of money to be made in gold exchanges. Where players arrange exchanges between avatar, with an online broker taking a commission for mediating.

I can see the day, when our brains will be downloaded into our games, after we die.