2014 "Of The Year" Awards Part II

2014 Worst Entry to a Franchise

Assassin's Creed: Unity

Assassin's Creed is my favorite franchise and it has completely gone off the rails with Unity. Telling a smaller in scope story than previous entries, it follows a young man (Arno) who is orphaned as child and taken in by a powerful man and his family during the French Revolution. Creating a literal interpretation of Romeo and Juliet that skirts the outside of the French Revolution rather than embedding in historical fact a la Assassin's Creed III, the narrative is thin but has some emotional connection. Broken in every, Unity continues to be buggy months after release and multiple patches. Unfortunately the common issues that have affected the franchise, ie jumping off a roof to your death and other mechanics are still present, diminishing the series further. Hopefully Ubisoft takes the horrible launch and fiscal ramifications of this game to heart and rethinks their current design by committee methodology.

2014 "Of The Year" Awards Part 1

2014's 2013 Game finished in 2014

XCOM: The Bureau/Enemy Within

 XCOM: The Bureau is slow slow burn but once the AI teammates have leveled up enough to stay alive it becomes a Mass Effect-esque romp through XCOM's past. If you can stave off the frustration of micromanaging the survival of your team The Bureau is a perfectly entertaining game.

XCOM: Enemy Within presents as a glorified expansion pack to Enemy Unknown but is so much more. Layering on new mechanics and new enemies over the original EU campaign improves on excellence and makes one wonder if this is the game they originally wanted to make.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare: Too Little Too Late

COD:AW is ostensibly  set in the near-ish future of 2050, where Metal Gear Solid style PMC’s are fighting wars on behalf of countries until a single PMC, ATLAS, becomes the big dog. Led by a scenery chewing House of Cards style Kevin Spacey doing as easy day’s work, ATLAS is the macguffin on which the plot revolves.

Still Playing: The games of 2014

New to 2014, the following are games I have begun but not completed.

Assassin's Creed 4: This nut will crack sometime in January. It's a great game and far superior to the mess that was Assassin's Creed 3.

MARK OF THE NINJA: A taut stealth side scroll-er with beautiful art and great mechanics, this XBL Arcade game is always beckoning to me.

RED FACTION:ARMAGEDDON: I had heard how terrible and linear this game is compared to its predecessor, and while it is linear, it is a perfectly fine third person shooter. It is gorgeous on PC and just the thing for a lazy afternoon of "working" from home. Hit the same long checkpoint enough times to finally give up towards the end. Endlessly repetitive and far too long. Feels compromised.

F.E.A.R 3: I ignored this game when it was released, but having finished and enjoyed F.E.A.R. 2 and love the original, I wanted to give it a shot. Graphically impressive on PC, the mechanics are as expected with the new addition of co-op. The story is nonsense but as a satisfying mouse and keyboard shooter, I am digging it.  Enjoyed this until my save disappeared.

Dead Rising 3: A sluggish poor PC port, this bad ass needs a reasonably beefy rig to run well. Slowdowns happen in the same parts of the map like clockwork. Sticks to the Dead Rising formula but seems confused about what it wants to be. Story is as dumb as ever.

Alien: Isolation - I barely touched this before it went back to the library by accident. Playing it fills me with actual dread as the atmosphere and suspense are amazing. Can't wait to get back into it.

Thief (2014) -  Played for about 2 hour before I decided I hated the controls and look of the game on console, so I bought it on sale on PC. Curious to see if that makes it more palatable.

Here I discussed a bunch of games I had not yet finished at the end of 2013,  few of which are now in the can, unfortunately.

STATE OF DECAY: This surprise hit downloadable game is a great if janky open world zombie exporation game that incorporates day/night cycles and mission timers like Dead Rising. I keep restarting it, hopefully I will find time to finish it.

DEAD ISLAND:RIPTIDE: A disappointing cut and paste of Dead Island with some of the more interesting quirks patched out, DI:R still has that combination of broken jank and open world combat that made the original compelling. However the linear nature and extreme familiarity to the first game make it a bottom rung choice.


SKYRIM: This game is like my white whale. I keep finding reasons not to play it.

FAR CRY 2: Like any other open world game, I get lost in wandering and lose interest in the main thread of quests. Rightfully lauded for emergent gameplay and player agency, I hope to give this game it's due. I have attempted to stick to the main quests, especially after finishing Far Cry 3, just so I can stop wandering. 

JUST CAUSE 2: The campaign story is pointless and best ignored in favor of exploring the massive game map, wreaking havoc. The lack of compelling direction makes this and Skyrim both hard games to stick with.*NOW WITH INSANE MULTIPLAYER*  
With much determination I finally waded through this batshit inane story to its deserved conclusion and just in time for Just Cause 3.

Time is never a friend

It's not that I haven't played games this year, not in the least. It's that I haven't had anything to say about them. This year has been a continuation of The Worst Year of My Life. It has been filled with change, very little of which has been good.

But here we are rolling into the end of 2014 so I have pulled together some thoughts on what I have been playing, including Still Playing and Game of the Year stuff.

I can only hope that 2015 is a better year for games, for movies, and for me and my family.