2014

2014 Game of the Year Awards — Console Awards — Best Wii U Exclusive

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/15/2014

Posted in: 2014, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: bayonetta, captain toad, game of the year awards, mario kart 8, super smash bros, treasure tracker, wii u. Leave a comment

The Wii U may be the weakest link in terms of sheer content, but Nintendo proved one thing. Its core franchises are running stronger than ever on the system. Call the Wii U a Nintendo only machine if you must, there were some heavy hitters this year.

Super Smash Bros. For Wii U

Super Smash Bros. remains one of the best fighters around. It is the only fighting game with nearly every character recognizable by almost any gamer. The Wii U update adds more characters, better graphics, and overall a better-balanced game. The Wii U had a few solid games this year, but this one takes it home.

Runner-Ups

Bayonetta 2

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

Mario Kart 8

2014 Game of the Year Awards — Console Awards — Best Reissue

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/15/2014

Posted in: 2014, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: anniversary, collection, diablo iii, fable, game of the year, grand theft auto, gta v, halo, master chief, metro redux, reaper of souls, ultimate evil edition. Leave a comment

Reissue and HD collections are becoming a normal thing now, but they are a good thing. We can play our favorite games with better graphics, added content, and with nearly every bug fixed. This year was the best for reissues and shows how older games are turning into almost completely new ones. A lot of time and effort is going into them thanks to their popularity.

Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V was already a fantastic game but suffered from the lack of power of last generation consoles. GTA V isn’t just a simple sloppy port. The game is completely transformed with next-generation technology, added content, and better multiplayer. There is even a first-person mode added. This helps immerse the player even more into this realistic world and shows how reissues are done right.

Runner-Ups

Metro Redux

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls – Ultimate Evil Edition

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Fable Anniversary

2014 Game of the Year Awards — Console Awards — Multiplatform Game

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/15/2014

Posted in: 2014, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: alien, dragon age, evil within, far cry 4, inquisition, isolation, middle-earth, shadow of mordor. Leave a comment

To make up for the lack of Microsoft and Sony consoles the multiplatform category should help this a little. Most of the next-gen games were multiplatform so there is no need for separate PS4 and Xbox One categories. With that said there were many fantastic games this year on next-gen consoles.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

It was a hard decision this year but Shadow of Mordor is a brand new IP and the best Lord of the Rings game ever made. While it may borrow a lot from Assassin’s Creed, it perfects a lot of issues that the series couldn’t get right and adds many new ones like Sauron’s Army. With some of the best graphics ever seen and a fantastic story, what more could you want?

Runner-Ups

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Alien: Isolation

Far Cry 4

The Evil Within

2014 Game of the Year Awards — Console Awards — Best Mobile Exclusive

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/14/2014

Posted in: 2014, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: game of the year, hearthstone, hitman, mobile, monument valley, threes, warcraft. Leave a comment

The Mobile market is seeing a lot more PC ports and higher quality AAA games being released that aren’t freemium. We all know the less the freemium the better…well not quite. A few games have been released that did pretty well with the freemium model, but nonetheless, the mobile market really shined this year.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

What makes Hearthstone so great? Not only is it full of more Warcraft; it’s a CCG done right. With rich visuals and addictive gameplay, there’s not much more you could ask for. The rich content and hours of battling are what keeps you glued to your iPad and not many games can keep you there for even 5 minutes.

Runner-Ups

Monument Valley

Hitman GO

Threes

2014 Game of the Year Awards — Console Awards — Best PlayStation Vita Exclusive

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/14/2014

Posted in: 2014, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: danganronpa 2, freedom wars, game awards, goodbye dispair, hatsune miku, olliolli, playstation, project diva f 2nd, Sony, tales of hearts r, vita. Leave a comment

The Vita was a little weaker this year, but overall those games that were released were solid. The Vita has lost steam since last year, but here’s hoping 2015 is the year of the Vita.

Freedom Wars

Freedom Wars took the monster hunting formula that Monster Hunter did so well and made it better. With the addition of weapons and the unique Thorn weapon, Freedom Wars shot players into massive hunts with other players or AI controller characters. The insanely deep customization options and fantastic visuals were a treat as well. Not to mention widdling a 1 million year sentence to zero is quite the challenge.

Runner-Ups

Hatsune Miku -Project Diva- F 2nd

Tales of Hearts R

OlliOlli

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Dispair

2014 Game of the Year Awards — Console Awards — Best 3DS Exclusive

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/14/2014

Posted in: 2014, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: 3ds, alpha sapphire, bravely default, Nintendo, omega ruby, persona q, pokemon, shovel knight, super smash bros. Leave a comment

The 3DS is still going strong and this year there were many great games for this little system. Nintendo shows that it can still dominate the handheld market with its first-party games and a number of loyal third party developers.

Shovel Knight

Shovel Knight isn’t just any old 8-bit platformer clone. Shovel Knight does it exactly like we all remember back in the day but with a touch of today’s better controls and level design. Shovel Knight is very hard, but just the right amount of hard that only a few areas require constant restarts but they are oh-so-satisfying.

Runner-Ups

Bravely Default

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

Super Smash Bros. For Nintendo 3DS

Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire

2014 Game of the Year Awards — Console Awards — Best PC Exclusive

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/14/2014

Posted in: 2014, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: beyond earth, civilization, divinity, game awards, original sin, pc, van helsing ii, warlords of draenor, world of warcraft. Leave a comment

The PC was mainly about indie games this year. Steam was chock-full of them and many of them were fantastic but got overlooked by the AAA games. There were a few PC exclusives that stood out from the crowd and even surprised us a little.

Divinity: Original Sin

Divinity gave gamers what they craved most: lots of loot, a great story, and excellent visuals. This dungeon crawler is smart and packed full of great content as well as reviving the long-dead Divinity franchise. Coming up from the ground through a Kickstarter program; fans have really shown how much they love this series and it shines.