It's that time of year again! Time for the 2nd Annual Game of My Year Awards, where every game reviewed by Robotic Attack Squadron in 2014 is ranked in order thus making the first game the GOMY.
Firstly, I propose that we take a look at 2013's top honors for comparison purposes:
1. Closure
2. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
3. Where is My Heart?
4. The Walking Dead
5. Bit.Trip Presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
6. Spec Ops: The Line
7. Anomaly: Warzone Earth
8. Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den
9. Alien Zombie Death
10. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
11. Wipeout HD: Fury
Now onto this year's candidates. The first game on the list is my game of the year, and we count down to the worst from there. And keep in mind that I write this off the cuff without comparing scores, so a game that was scored lower could end up higher on the list than a game that had a better score. It's kind of my way of showing that a game might have improved or degraded in my mind after the initial review. Enjoy!
1.
The Last of Us: Grounded Mode - This DLC is simply a harder difficulty mode for The Last of Us. It eliminates the HUD and makes everything harder. The Last of Us felt much more "right" in this mode. Even on Survivor mode, the highest initially available difficulty mode, some things just felt a little too easy, especially the amount of item drops you can cause by using up all your ammo. Grounded Mode still has some instances where it will generate ammo for you if you need it, but it does it much, much less. This is really important since the game is all about scrounging for supplies and just barely scraping by and surviving. I even enjoyed TLOU's story more for some reason on this playthrough. It was my 3rd time around, and I really enjoyed some parts that I thought were dumb before. I never liked Tess, but this time around I loved her. The added difficulty is just what the doctor ordered for a game such as this.
2.
The Walking Dead Season 2 - Tell Tale's continuation of the story it started last year is pulled off with aplomb... at least on the story side. Technical edges remain extremely, disappointingly rough, but playing through this game's situations as Clementine is a blast. This game of life on the edge of survival is harrowing and brilliant. If you don't get on board for season 3, you messed up. Zombie games take the number 1 and 2 spots, with more to come below. I guess it was the year of the zombie for me.
3.
Sanctum 2 - My 3rd favorite game does not involve zombies. It does involve weird creatures attacking you and your base though. Sanctum 2 is a perfect balance of tower defense and frantic FPS action; you must be doing both right in order to succeed. Fail at one or the other and you probably won't make it. I played this game for a long time because it is not only balanced and challenging but addictive and fun. The really, really great visual design of everything doesn't hurt either.
4.
The Last of Us - I was pretty disappointed with TLOU because I was expecting it to be perfect and it certainly wasn't. Grounded Mode, my no. 1 pick of the year, addressed most of the gameplay issues and for whatever reason I liked the story better too when I played it on that mode. But that's not to denigrate vanilla TLOU, which is amazingly great in its own right and does a million things nearly perfectly for every big flaw it has.
5.
Papo & Yo - This extremely personal semi-autobiographical fantasy 3d puzzle platformer game is capable of causing large feels in my jaded heart. The music and visual design are both really great, as is the heart wrenching allegorical story of the sins of a young boy's father. Its wild environment manipulation puzzles keep the interactive part of the game interesting throughout as well.
6.
Strength of the Sword 3 - In my review, I described SotS3 as a hardcore experience akin to Monster Hunter or Demon's Souls that you can experience in just a few hours instead of dozens. I was happy to see that the creators say just about the same thing on the official website. Even the weakest of enemies can kill you in this series of arena fights, but as your skills and your armory continue to grow, you'll soon be taking on groups of enemies in challenge mode that you couldn't fathom being able to beat at the beginning. Character design is also off the charts awesome, and the music is a nearly perfect fit. It's amazing that this 2 man studio can so perfectly nail so many things that bigger operations get wrong.
7.
Patchwork Heroes - I had almost forgotten about this game when I went to make this list. Then I remembered how I played it obsessively for probably a month or more during my lunch break and that I had almost given it a perfect score. It's simple concept (it's basically a Jezzball game where you have to cut the level in half over and over) is fleshed out to the 9's with tons of mechanics, enemies, power-ups, and a great visual design and story theme. There is a ton of content that never gets old due to truly genius level design and variety.
8.
The Last of Us: Left Behind - Left Behind is a DLC scenario taking place before and during the events of TLOU. You play as Ellie. Sometimes this kind of thing can feel forced story wise, but it mostly fits in really well. The gameplay remains as fun as ever, and I especially loved the final confrontation on Grounded Mode, which took me a million tries. I enjoyed every try, it was a blast. If you've taken a few months off from TLOU and you want just a taste more, this is just what the doctor ordered.
9.
Dark Void - I'm surprised I don't hear more about Dark Void. Sure it has absolutely awful writing and some strange pacing problems, but the visual design and gameplay are amazing. At its best, you'll be in a level with miles of air space for you to jetpack around in with several objectives that require ground traversal, such as huge flying bases. No other game has that that I've ever played. It's an amazing feeling to fly over to a gigantic hovering installation, get inside, shoot your way through, rig it to blow, and then jump off as it explodes, free falling for a few seconds before hitting the jetpack and swooping onto the next base, which is guarded by UFO's you have to dogfight and hijack along the way. Amazingly fun.
10.
Braid - Braid is pretty close to perfect in its visual design, gameplay, and story. I think the reason I didn't put it higher on this list or even give it a perfect score is that it is too similar to Closure. I gave Closure a perfect score, and I guess I don't want two games that are so similar to have the same score. Closure is the pinnacle of the genre and one of the pinnacles of video gaming itself, so it needs a higher score than Braid. If it didn't exist, Braid might be perfect too. The time manipulation puzzles have to be seen to be believed. The level design is mind-bogglingly precise and complex. And the ambiguous story is quite interesting. And it's gorgeous, one of the best looking games... ever I guess.
11.
The Walking Dead: 400 Days - This follow-up to season 1 of The Walking Dead is a stand-alone chapter with all new characters. Most people I know who've played have had a pretty blah reaction to it. I thought it was brilliant. I went in thinking it might be blah, but it was brilliant. The first big choice I had to make had me debating for like 5 minutes. One of the next choices (the one involving prisoners) is one of my favorite Walking Dead moments. The format of telling multiple short little stories was great. And then the inclusion of several of the new 400 Days characters in Season 2 worked quite well (despite the fact that part of it was incorrect based on my choices!), especially the inclusion of one of the characters as a main character in the latter part of Season 2. You have some nice insight on her if you played 400 Days.
12.
Retro/Grade - Retro/Grade's sh'mup in reverse as a rhythm game is a little hard to wrap your head around at first, but it works really well. I'm pretty worn out on the Frequency/ Guitar Hero model of game, but I loved Retro/Grade. It gave me hope for that sub-genre. A big part of that is its stellar original soundtrack, probably the best I've heard all year. I would kill for some DLC levels with new songs. The balance of how Retro/Grade's beat matching mechanics work is also a big reason why I played a ton of this game despite it being comparable to Guitar Hero.
13.
Dyad - Dyad is pretty fun, but not quite engaging enough to play to total, absolute completion. It is very fun to beat and then play through some of its crazy challenge levels. However, the game's last level, Eye of the Duck, is a shocking, beautiful, moving experience. I haven't stared at a screen with my mouth agape like that since Closure. Highly recommended.
14.
Plants Vs. Zombies - Each level of this game is kind of exactly the same. Except there is always something different. Be it the set-up of the field, the type and number of zombies that attack, and especially the plants that you choose to take with you. I played a ton of this game, and I kind of forgot about it. But making this list reminded me of how much fun I had and how much content there was, which is why it is so high on the list. Great music, art, and animation too.
15.
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams - This game's absolutely amazing soundtrack switches between light rock and total metal on the fly as your character changes back and forth between cute and punk modes. The very challenging 2d platforming gameplay is really special and the gameplay feels fresh since you must switch forms constantly to use the abilities you need for each given area. The extreme difficulty was balanced just on the edge of frustration for me, which is right where it should be. The harder difficulty modes are laughable though.
16.
Urban Trial Freestyle - I wouldn't normally consider playing a game like this. Joe Danger is pretty similar to this, and I didn't find that fun. But this game is awesome. Driving your dirtbike through everyday urban situations leaves an extreme swath of destruction in your wake, and it is quite the spectacle to witness. It would be disturbing if it wasn't awesome. Trying everything you can to shave a few seconds off your time or add a few points to your score so you can unlock some new levels is a great feeling.
17.
Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer - There are a ton of shmups out there, so I was going to pass over this one and maybe try its sequel which looked a bit more interesting. But when this one was on sale for $1 on PSN, I couldn't resist trying it. And I'm really glad I did. It has a really nice feel to it since it forces you to constantly switch weapon types. It's very difficult and has a cool last boss. And perhaps best of all, its "berserking" system ensures that nearly every death is an awesome one and that you might even be able to squeeze through some near death situations.
18.
Bangai-O Spirits - Bangai-O looks like a shmup, but it's not. At least it's not a traditional one. It is set in little non-scrolling levels you can fly around in. This allows for mazes, puzzles, and rooms. This game is filled to the gills with screen-filling, hardware crashing missile attacks. The strategies you can work out for taking on giant hordes of enemies or single enemies with that are packing incredible firepower are really fun and interesting. The multiple weapon types and combinations, unique controls, and tons of content made this a fun lunch break institution for me for a month +.
19.
Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut - Don't call it "Director's Cut." It's "The Director's Cut." This game is pretty disturbing. It's a 2d pixel art account of one man who seems to be alone in a city where everyone has mutated and become an unspeakable monster. And oh what pixel art it is. Some of the best. It looks like detailed cross-stitching on fabric. The protagonist is loosing his grip on reality after so much time alone with the truly hideous creatures roaming his apartment building. Scrounging for food and supplies to try and survive and keep your mental health high become a daily routine. But what will become of the man when his mind becomes more and more fragmented and the crazy visions he sees start to blur with his already twisted reality? FIND OUT NEXT HALLOWEEN (I recommend you play all horror games around Halloween).
20.
Burger Time World Tour - Burger Time World Tour plays a lot like the classic old-school version but in giant circular levels that loop around on themselves. It's pretty cool how you can see parts of the level that are really far away on the other side of the loop and plan on how you are going to get over there. The frantic gameplay, interesting and varied levels, and the very cool theme make this game lot of fun.
21.
Everyday Shooter - This game is all about the music, and fortunately it has unique and awesome soundtrack that sounds like (and I'm pretty sure is) just one guy jammin' on his electric guitar. The way the scoring system changes for each level is great and leads to more and more discovery about its levels as time goes on. The beautiful abstract enemies and levels are great too. It can get a little repetitive since you must re-play the game over and over to get good enough to beat it, so make sure to put shuffle mode on to mix things up a bit.
22.
Child of Eden - Child of Eden succeeds about half of the time in being a magical fusion of music, sound, visuals, and gameplay. It works great with Playstation Move. But between some missteps in the soundtrack, visuals, and theme, it is not really re-playable despite the fact that it wants you to play it a lot. It's at its greatest when it suddenly hits you with real life pictures and videos in the midst of its otherwise trippy, abstract environments.
23.
Alien Syndrome - This old arcade game is instantly fun and cool looking. It gets a bit frustrating after awhile as the difficulty slowly ramps up, but killing waves of awesomely animated enemies and disgusting bosses is tons of fun.
24.
Fantasy Zone - Here's another fun arcade game that feels like a shmup but allows you to fly in either direction. It has a fantastic whimsical look and soundtrack and features lots of fun and balanced boss fights.... until it becomes insanely hard.
25.
1000 Tiny Claws - This game has a great art style and sense of humor (and title). The gameplay is simple but fun. The insect sprites are great, especially the giant bosses. The gameplay can get a little old, especially once you get to challenge mode, but it's pretty fun if you play it in bursts rather than for hours on end.
26.
Kid Chameleon - This Mario-like platformer differentiates itself from the plumber by offering TONS of big levels, cool transformations, and a cool art style. It's extremely punishing and long to the point where it should probably be considered a design flaw, but it's fun to save scum your way through this very Genesis-feeling game.
27.
Shinobi Arcade - Your player character in this game doesn't move like a ninja. He's animated pretty poorly. But he feels like a ninja, and that is more important. When you fight another ninja (or three), it really feels like a battle between two martial artists. To the outside observer it might seem pretty straightforward, but the importance of positioning really makes the game shine, as do the fun boss fights.
28.
Mega Man Zero 3 - MM03 is another solid entry in the Zero series. The story is terrible, but as usual there are some cool parts; in this case a rather large and interesting reveal that isn't capitalized on. The game is tight, but not as fun and interesting as MM02, so it felt a bit disappointing as it is basically the same thing but not as good.
29.
Costume Quest: Grubbins on Ice - This DLC is more Costume Quest, for good and ill. It's more of the same fun and clever writing and visual design, but also more of the same problems, such as repetitiveness and lack of complexity. I was hoping this addition would work on some of these problems, but at least it still had more of the enjoyable fun atmosphere and writing.
30.
Fatal Labyrinth - This roguelike is ok, but the fact that it is really basic and troped-up and that it has a bad interface make it pretty obsolete. There are many other roguelikes that do the same thing but better in every way plus have some innovation to them. It does have graphics though.
31.
Space Harrier - Space Harrier is fun to play because it has crazy characters and enemies, but to me it seems impossible to control where your shots go. Therefore you can't really improve yourself. Therefore it isn't really fun, except when a giant wooly mammoth winks at you with its one cyclops eye.
32.
Hysteria Project - This is a short FMV horror game. The concept is ok. The video is super grainy. The gameplay is not done right. It's bad. It's interesting and full of potential, even as a short little interactive experience, but unfortunately it's not worth your time as is.
33.
Sneezies - Sneezies is pretty cool for about a half hour. But you still have a long way to go at that point even though you've seen it all. It would be amazing as a small part of another game like a bonus round or maybe as a random time waster that's part of an ad campaign or something. It's not something that's worth playing through a campaign of 50 levels or whatever it is. I guess you could also add some new mechanics to it throughout to flesh it out as the basic idea is cool.
There you have it, the best (and worst) games of my year! If anyone reads this blog, I greatly appreciate it. 2014 was a great year for games for me, and I am hopeful that I will find a perfect score game out there in 2015. I am currently playing Ring of Red and Planets Under Attack, with Thomas Was Alone and Lost Planet coming up soon, so look for those reviews in the near future, and happy new year!
