by Alex Quevedo
Well, 2013 was somewhat of a dud for me in terms of ranking my Top 10 games. I only got four in! 2014 saw a bit of a personal improvement as I was able to get 10 games to rank among the event coverage I provided. Howevahhhh, I’m still not going to rank 10 games because I wouldn’t necessarily consider them to be all top games but I’ll get halfway there. Baby steps, I suppose!
Starting off the year, there were a good amount of games I was excited for. Then hype trains continued, or more previews were released, and some waned from my sight. Or some got delayed. Eventually, I played what I played and it culminates in this list. Even some of the other games I was excited about and played, I couldn’t warrant throwing them into this list, but there were definitely some awesome elements I wish I could include here. Game of Thrones, the Telltale series, isn’t eligible yet, but I’m excited that they’ve captured a lot of the spirit. Perhaps it will make 2015’s list? Alien Isolation was kind of a drag, but man, that music! Even Destiny, a game that had so much potential but fell flat with its initial offerings, had me geeking out with being able to make my character look like Marvel’s Ultron.
5. Sunset Overdrive – Xbox One
In my review, I called Sunset Overdrive the living embodiment of Mountain Dew. That’s not necessarily a negative thing (though personally I’m not a huge fan of THE DEW). Sunset Overdrive accomplished much of what it was meant to do: provide a fun and chaotic monster smashing experience.
4. Halo: The Master Chief Collection – Xbox One
Ah yes, the game that could land on both Top and Worst lists. Top in terms of what it’s able to provide (four games, reinvigorated multiplayer, customizable ways to play the series); worst in terms of the bungling of its initial stability. Still, it was a content-filled offer that brought an interesting take on playing through some influential games.
3. Watch_Dogs – PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U, PC
While not the most groundbreaking of games, I liked the rogue-ish hacker story that Ubisoft brought to the table. It was a very involved game. Much of the city could be under your control and you could even start screwing with other peoples’ games if you wanted. The commentary on this world’s privacy concerns could have been a bit more direct, Watch_Dogs was an enjoyably challenging game to play through.
2. Titanfall – Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC
You know the movie Pacific Rim? It caught some flak, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. It was simple: giant robots fighting giant monsters. The main robot even looked like Fox Sports’ Cleatus! That’s American right there, friend. That type of simplicity from Titanfall is what made me like it as much as I did. It was straight forward in that you were primarily meant to fight mechs. Sure, it could have just completely avoided a story, which was incredibly lacking, but that didn’t take much away from seeing your Titan drop awesomely from the sky.
1. The Walking Dead: Season Two – PS4, PS3,Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC
I loved the Lee/Clementine dynamic from Season 1 and saw a good set of potential in Clementine’s story. Could she carry her own season? I say yes. Season 2 was a good extension of Season 1, without repeating too much of the same drama. Clem was put into newer type of crappy situations that made her even more awesome than before, so I’ll be excited to see how Season 3 pans outs.
So, there it is! There are some other games I’m looking forward to getting my hands on directly, such as some of the other games my fellow staff members have included in their lists. Here’s hoping that 2015 provides some strength; games that follow through on their promise rather than just throwing out some out flash.