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2014 is quickly drawing to a close, and while most people will be out spreading holiday cheer and spending time with family and friends, I'll be here, writing words about games, movies, and the occasional bout of pure insanity.
Today, and for the next few days, I'll be looking back at 2014 in gaming, and talking about what games managed to not completely disappoint me this year. Generally this is known as a "best of" list, or a "Top Ten" list, but I don't play that way. Instead, each day I'll be going through one quarter of the year and looking at the best games from that time frame, and why you should play the fuck out of them.
A heads up, it was a fucking disappointing year. I could only muster together 24 games that didn't completely disappoint or enrage me. That means there was only two good games a month, and some of these were real stretches too.
Today is the cast offs, the games I didn't like, didn't play, or couldn't play. I'd like to preface this by saying this is simply my opinion, and like everything I say/do/write, means nothing. If you disagree with me, that's fine, having an opinion merely means you're still human.
The Dissapointments
Far Cry 4
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A great game, that we've already played.
Far Cry 4 isn't a bad game, in fact it's quite a good game. But it's a game we've seen before. One of my favorite things about the Far Cry series was that, true to their name, each of them were a far cry from the last one. FC1 was a sci-fi shooter, FC2 a hard hitting Africa war sim, and FC3 an all-American power fantasy. FC4 is just a really good re-skin FC3. It's a fun game, but that's because it's the game we already knew was good. It's Ubisoft's best game this year, but being Ubisoft's best has become it's own hyperbole, as this year has proven.
Borderlands: Pre-Sequel
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Moon Australians are more annoying the regular Australians.
Now here was a good look at what happens when you don't let a good IP just die. Borderlands:PS is the worst way to keep something alive, ie, handing it off to a new dev team. The ideas of a good Borderlands game are here, mostly taken from the far superior Borderlands 2, but wrapped in so much stupid horseshit it's hard to enjoy. For every good idea presented, there's two or three bad ideas along with it. The character talk more, but they're all annoying as hell. There's no more cringe-worthy memes, but now there's shoe-horned in LGBT characters because Anthony Davis is a crazy person. It's enjoyable with friends, sure, but I've beaten the game and have no plans to replay it. Playing it just makes me want to play BL2 again, so I did.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
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Ol' Faithful, never fails.
2014 was such a shitty year that I really considered putting this on my best of. COD: AW is a completely competent game, bolstered by great performances by Troy Baker and Kevin Spacey. But like FC4, it's a game we've all seen before. I missed last year's Ghosts, so my last experience with the series was Black Ops 2 and, aside from much better graphics, it was the same game. I'm tired of the COD series, and I suspect a lot of you are two, but Sledgehammer games might be able to save it. Just not this year yet.
Watch_Dogs
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Bland, generic, and a waste of a new IP.
You knew this was coming. Watch_Dogs has become the poster boy for over-hyping a game. A great E3 trailer does not a great game make, and this is evidence. A boring plot, a psychotic and unlikable protagonist, a complete misunderstanding of the basic ideas of it's own concept, and a dumbed down PC version are enough to make Watch_Dogs one of the most disappointing games this year. Add to that Ubisoft lying to people and it's a marvel this game got any positive attention at all.
Star Bound
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Early Access to no content.
Early Access games are a controversial topic in PC gaming circles right now, and Star Bound has found itself a poster boy for why it's a bad idea. A great game that's received acclaim, abandoned and left to die on the vine, As of today the devs have finally announced the long awaited next step, but should people have to wait almost a year for any form of development on a game they paid full price for? I don't think so, and neither should you.
The Didn't/Couldn't play
EA Games
It might be passe now, but I have an ongoing boycott against EA games. It's a personal thing, something I rarely bring up, and I don't discourage others from playing EA game, it's just that I don't. I've been doing this in protest of games like Sim City and BF4, games released in a broken state that never seem to get fixed. (Note: I did NOT boycott Mass Effect 3. Bad writing is no reason to boycott a game) What this means is that I didn't and won't play games like Dragon Age: Inquisition, Sims 4, and TitanFall, as well as any EA sports games. I have no opinion one way or the other on these games, save for what I can only speculate on.
GTA V HD
I like GTA V. I really liked GTA V. I only haven't played it again in HD because the PC version doesn't come out till next year. With today's announcement of online heists, and the promise of a proper PC port, instead of whatever the PC version of GTA IV was, I'm really looking forward to this.
Five Nights at Freddy's 1/2
Despite my love of horror games, I didn't get a chance to play FNaF at all. They both look quite good, and I hope to play them one day, if I get the courage to.
Destiny
I don't play console games that much anymore, simply because I find PC gaming to be much easier. Therefore I didn't get a chance to experience Destiny, the followup from Halo creators Bungie. It sounds like I dodged a bullet though, since I've heard complaints about nearly ever aspect of the game. The PC version is due some time next year, but I honestly don't know if I'll play it, even then.
The Talos Principle
Believe me, this is top of my list right now. The recently released puzzle game has got me intrigued, with it's promise of challenging puzzles and a tonne of secrets to discover. The holiday time is just a little to rough on the ol' VanderWallet, so like so many other great game it's getting passed over till next year.
Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze
Trust me, I wanted to, but I don't have a WiiU handy to often. I love DK games, be them in 3d like the classic DK 64 or the old SNES platformers. I really do hope I get my hands on this game soon, since it looks like a tonne of fun.
DoubleFine Games
DoubleFine technically released two games this year. I say technically, because in reality they released half a game, and a broken mess. Despite being released very early in the year, we have yet to see episode two of Broken Age, proving that perhaps money can't buy greatness since this game cost three million to make. Speaking of broken things, Spacebase DF-9, a game so shitty that Steam has had to re-write it's content codes for what can be released on Early Access. At least Star Bound has promised us content, but DF-9 has gone the way of the prom-night baby and been left abandoned with no support. Really shameful actions considering how highly we once held Tim Schafar in such high regard.
Outro
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The Closest this blog will ever get to being about food.
Well that's it. The short list of games that utterly failed to impress me this year. To be fair, most of them were close calls, and had they been just a little bit better they wouldn't be on this list. Look forward to my breakdown of the best games this year, starting next week.
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