10. Infamous: Second Son
I don't really have much to say about this game. I bought it, played it, and then put it away. I had fun with it, but ultimately felt no real desire to go back and play it again. If I could do it all over again, I would just rent this one.
9. Goat Simulator
I agonized a little bit adding this one to the list, since it isn't so much a game as it is a big dicking-around simulator. It's basically a joke. Yet, for reasons that I cannot quantifiably justify, I continue to have a ton of fun just bouncing around, exploring, destroying scenery, and figuring out new ways to make things even more absurd. I mean, one of the most recent things I did was build a goat with the power to spin up a tornado and arbitrarily spawn sperm whales. Afterward, I started tearing through town surrounded by a whale vortex (see screenshot).
8. Mario Kart 8
This eighth entry in the series has probably become my second favourite. Double Dash is still the best, but this one is fun enough that I can see myself playing it for quite a while. Plus, it features the princesses in skin-tight motorcycle suits. I think I need a cold shower...
7. Banished
I was pleasantly surprised by this game. To greatly oversimplify things, it's a city-building sim. However, it has a much greater focus on survival. Your charges can't return to where they came from (hence the name), so it's up to you to ensure they have enough food, fuel, and shelter to survive the brutal seasons. My only real issue is that the late-game becomes nearly impossible. The AI isn't bright enough to decide that claiming a house and claiming a job on opposite sides of the map isn't a good idea in the icy winter. Once your city becomes large enough, this becomes a very big issue.
6. Super Smash Bros for Wii U
Seriously, what am I going to say here? It's a new Smash Bros game. Of course it's good. It even has Rosalina in it. What more could you want?
5. Dragon Age: Inquisition
I have to admit, I almost didn't buy this one. I thought the first Dragon Age was boring. And though I did enjoy the second game, it left much to be desired in the story department. Fortunately, the newest game in the series solved all of the problems. The story was amazing, and it went something like this: you become the leader of a worldwide inquisition with the purpose of eternally and justly collecting more elfroot. You can never have enough of this plant gathered and it is your job, dear leader, to collect it. Oh, there are also some fun characters and other stuff going on in the background, but whatever.
4. Tropico 5
Tropico is an amazing game series. It has solid gameplay and a hilarious sense of humour. I must admit, however, that I felt the gameplay was starting to stagnate. It didn't play much better than the original game all of those years ago. Thankfully, the gods heard my melancholy and graced the world with the newest and greatest game in the series. It cleared up almost every annoyance with the old games, while still keeping the core gameplay intact. It wasn't even a Faustian bargain. The improvements were not offset by the inclusion of nonsensical new features that nobody asked for! My only regret is that Miss Pineapple did not make as many appearances. Oh well, I suppose I can hold out hope for the Mistress Pineapple DLC.
3. Child of Light
People who know me know that I generally dislike RPGs. For an RPG to make it onto my Top 10, and even make it to the No. 3 spot, says something about this game. I find myself comparing it to Paper Mario (in my opinion, one of the greatest games ever made). It has a small cast of fascinating characters, a story that is both simple and complex, and just the right pacing that doesn't make it feel like a grind. And, might I add, it is jaw-droppingly pretty. The UbiArt framework is an amazing tool and I hope to see more coming out of it.
2. Wolfenstein: The New Order
When I first purchased this game, I expected it to be a dumb shooter where you ran around shooting Nazis. "Can never kill enough Nazis," I thought. Instead, I found one of the deepest and most immersive games I've ever played. The scenes that play out in front of you are both sickening and frightening, and you feel yourself, as a player, wanting revenge against the people who did these things to you and your virtual comrades. Even the stealth sections, the bane of most run-and-gun shooters, is handled well. Even if you screw it up, you can just say "oh well" and mow enemies down with a minigun without being significantly punished.
1. Luftrausers
This game hits the perfect sweet spot between simplicity and frustration. Its controls are so plain that they can probably be mapped to an NES controller with a few of the buttons missing. Playing the game, though, has that fun arcade feeling to it. You start from scratch every time and just fly around shooting at things while trying to not get things shot at you. Easier said than done, obviously. A lot of things really want to shoot at you, and it only gets worse as time progresses. But every time you play, you want to see if you can surpass your previous playthrough. It gets addicting as your body fills with vengeful fervour until you want to mentally crush every battleship and ace jet you see. Oh, and don't get me start on SFMT mode, this game's unlockable "hard" difficulty. That just takes NES levels of difficulty and multiplies it by 100 units of pure bullshit. Nevertheless, this game is amazing, and I will probably continue playing well outside of 2014.
Honorable Mentions:
Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley
Natsume's first foray into making a Harvest Moon game from scratch was commendable, but suffered slightly from grating controls and pacing issues.
Team Fortress 2
This one is disqualified because it, technically, came out in 2007. Damned if it wasn't the game I played most in 2014, though.
Broken Age
An immersive point-and-click adventure that somehow managed to not suffer from the deadly curse of adventure game logic. Sadly, it was disqualified for being unceremoniously chopped in half into two(?) episodes.
Game of Thrones
(the Telltale Games game)Wow, this was amazingly engaging and brutal, but must be disqualified for the year because only one episode was released for it. Better luck next year, guys!
The Sims 4
The newest Sims game plays well and all, but it just feels ridiculously oversimplified from the previous entries. At least the character models look better. I might even make some non-lesbian sims this time! (Haha, who am I kidding?)
