Nate's 2014 Top Ten List

It's that time of year again. Time for me to dust off the old blog and bestow upon the internet my favorite games of the previous year. This is my second annual list, and like last year my 2014 list has nothing to do with the release date of these games. These are my favorite experiences of 2014, and as will become immediately apparent, I was behind the times with many of these games. Check 'em out and know that each one of these are super-dooper, grade-A works of art, and come with my full recommendation.

10. Tomb Raider

First of all, I don't usually like to play sequels. Second of all, Lara went from being (almost) revolutionary during her first two games to being boring and repetitive, not to mention the womanizing image that she brought to teenage boys around the world. I wasn't going to play this, even after I started hearing how good it was. Then my brother sent his copy to me in the mail so I threw it in to see what the fuss was about. Turns out the fuss was about one of the best action adventure games of all time. This game did Hollywood type high-action sequences like they have never been done before. Oh, and they re-did her image so that I wouldn't be ashamed to play as Lara in front of any self-respecting female. I'll nit-pick by saying that she went from naive young lady to cold blooded killer a bit too fast, but other than that I really cannot find a fault with this game.

9. The Walking Dead: Season Two

The sequel to my game of the year from 2013. This game and Wolf Among Us proved that telltale know what they're doing with this weird game/comicbook-ish/movie/tv show style storytelling thing that they seem to have cornered the market on. Taking on the role of Clementine was great fun and the amount of investment that I have with her character is off the charts at this point. Nothing can match the emotions that the end of season one brought, but this follow up adventure is a superb sequel. I can't wait to see where things go from here and would love to see Clem end up on the show or comics.

8. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

This is it, the game that has finally brought me into smash. I've tried the previous games in this series and they never quite clicked with me. I'm all in on the Wii U version. Nothing new to fans of this series, but I enjoy the way that each fighter basically has the same controls so it's a piece of cake to pick up any character and try out all their moves. I'm having tons of fun playing this with the kids, I enjoy the amiibo interaction, and HD might help Smash more than anything else on the Wii U. I bet this will be in the household rotation for years to come.

7. Infamous: Second Son

This was my first experience with Infamous and I came away very impressed. Seattle is awesome and this is perhaps the best superhero game ever made. Why can't we get an iron man or spidey game of this type of quality? I have a super minor gripe with the story writing in regards to the 80's era “war on drugs” portrayal of the drug dealers/addict relationship, but like I said, super minor. In general this game had a great story, top notch voice acting (especially the brothers at the heart of the story), and most importantly, made suddenly gaining super powers seem like the blast that it should.

6. Mario Kart 8

Number eight is the greatest Mario Kart ever made. Enough said.

5. Diablo III

Wow. The king and genre creator is back and better than ever. This game is so much fun and so addicting that everyone gives the piss poor story a free pass. Stories are what I play games for, and I often find myself sitting through cut scenes that most gamers would have bypassed. That said, in this game I was skipping them by the end, and I think this may have been the first time I've ever done that. The story is that bad. Even though that is the case, I still had so much fun playing this game with my brother that it cracked the top five.

4. Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag

I'll come right out and say it. This game would have been better as a stand alone pirate game, with no relationship with Assassin's Creed at all. Black Flag is the pirate simulator that we've been waiting for since videogames were invented. The land based missions, ship sailing fun, upgrading everything, real world history lessons and overall pirate-y-ness totally nailed it. I would also say that I don't think it was given enough credit for how good it looked on the PS4. As an open world game, I think this definitely rivaled Shadowfall for launch game graphics, and I never hear anyone touting that side of it. If it took the AC franchise to bring us the greatest pirate game ever, than so be it, this adventure was a great ride.

3. Destiny

I'm not sure if everyone's expectations for Destiny were unrealistic or what, and I do agree with the main criticisms that people have for this game. However, just like Diablo III this game is so fun that I don't care that the story sucks – and... the bosses are bullet-sponges, and I can't re-customize my character, and that I get awarded loot that I can't use, and that someone invented Grimoire cards. I don't care about any of that because this game is so damn enjoyable. This is the very pinnacle of FPS controls. From the moment I started playing the game, the controls just felt “right” in a way that only Nintendo seems to be able to achieve on a consistent basis. I still play this game every week and I bet you that Destiny will remain in my rotation of games as long as they keep making content. (which will certainly be a very long time)

2. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

So I've went back and forth with my top two games of 2014 for weeks. Wind Waker ended up second, but it is for sure one of my favorite games that I have EVER played. This game nailed the action/fighting controls to perfection, and unlike Destiny, it matched that type of gameplay heaven with an awesome story as well. The story of Wind Waker and how it ties in with Ocarina of Time took the “another Link” story to the next level. This is truly one for the ages, and stands out against most of my favorite games with the fact that it doesn't rely on machine guns and blood to tell a mature story. Wait, I think that makes it one of the most “mature” stories in the medium.

1. The Last of Us: Remastered

Ok, so The Last of Us does have the machine guns and blood that I just talked down on. It also has one of the best stories ever told, in videogames or otherwise. It's hard for me to explain why I enjoy the tale that Naughty Dog told so much without going into details that would definitely be spoilers, so I will just say this...

They took a setting and world that begged for a huge, world and humanity saving tale, and instead turned that idea on it's head and created a story that was deeply personal between individuals. They took characters that could have easily had a “father/daughter” dynamic and went in a completely different direction. In every way that this tale could have fit into our expectations, it dove deeper as it continued and obliterated them instead. (and I feel exactly the same about the included “Left Behind” dlc.

If I look at the gameplay in the Last of Us, not only would I say that it's “just ok” but I think I would go as far as to say I didn't really enjoy it. It was good enough drive the story, and because the story was so fantastic, at the end of the day I really don't even see the so-so gameplay as a negative. This game is one of the very best ever, and is the kind of experience that has stuck with me to this day. Thank you Naughty Dog for this gem.