Game of the Year 2014: Geoff’s Top 10

5. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

If you know me, you know I’m a huge Tolkienite. So when I first heard the premise behind Shadow of Mordor, the gamer in me was excited for a new game set in Middle-Earth while the Tolkien geek in me was cringing. Of course, I couldn’t help but pick it up on release day.

For a while, this game made a run for the top of my list and was a serious contender for my Game of the Year. The gameplay is a fun mixture of a healthy dose of Arkham with some Assassin’s Creed elements thrown in, but the Nemesis system is where the game really shines. Running into Uruks that I had already slaughtered (or had already slaughtered me), having them learn from our last encounter and gain resistances to my attacks, and having them react with an appropriate amount of fear (or defiance) at the fact that they just couldn’t seem to kill me: these were immensely satisfying moments that made the Nemesis system feel like the first true next-gen feature. Mind-controlling captains and amassing your own Uruk army, then pitting them against the other captains is a blast too. The fact that the Uruks had such memorable personalities helps as well, especially since they’re made out to be pretty much mindless cannon fodder in the lore. Stealth is so satisfying in Mordor as well. Not since Arkham Asylum have I enjoyed staying in the shadows, planning my attacks, calculating my next move, and causing sheer chaos without ever being seen.

So how did it wind up this far down the list? It suffers from a godawful plot with an outright insulting ending, and the abilities are spoon-fed to you through the main story missions, so it’s the end of the game by the time you have a full arsenal – you only have a limited amount of time to really make use of your entire bag of tricks before it’s all over. Still, Mordor was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had all year, and I’d love to see the Nemesis system fleshed out in a sequel or even integrated into other similar games. Just ignore the persistent whirring noise – it’s Tolkien spinning in his grave.

4. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare

By all rights, this game shouldn’t work. A class-based third-person shooter based on PopCap’s mobile tower defense juggernaut? Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, but Garden Warfare is one of the most outright fun games I’ve played all year. It’s a fairly standard third-person shooter at heart, but the different plant and zombie characters add a unique gameplay twist and an undeniable amount of charm. There are a ton of unlockable sub-classes of characters – I’m still nowhere near unlocking them all – and each of them have differing stats and play styles. The sticker shop adds a fun twist to normal unlock progression, and it’s always satisfying to get enough coins to purchase a new pack, open it, and see what’s inside.

The modes are PvZ-styled twists on fairly traditional shooter multiplayer and horde modes, and the classes are basically just themed variants of standard classes: Heavy, Medic, Sniper, and the like. But it’s the charm of the characters, the bright and colorful graphics, and the twists to the traditional formula that make the game stand out. Garden Ops is basically how you’d imagine PvZ would be as a third-person action/tower-defense game, and it feels closer to that game than it does any shooter. The competitive modes are a blast, and EA is still pushing out free content updates, adding new modes and characters, and keeping things fresh.

I’ve owned this game for a while on PC, but it wasn’t anywhere near this point on my list (or even on my list) until a few weeks ago when I gave it another shot (brought on by the free offer on PS4 during the PlayStation Experience). I’m not normally a fan of multiplayer-only third person shooters, but Garden Warfare has gotten its tendrils in me and forgotten to let go, and it might even become my go-to multiplayer game for a while to come. In the end, it might not be the most original game, or the most content-rich, but Garden Warfare is just a damn fun game, and that’s how it wound up as #4 on my list.

3. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Another 2D platformer? At #3, no less???

Yeah, either I’ve gone off the deep end or Tropical Freeze is just that damn good. Probably a bit of both. I feel ashamed to admit that I’ve never played a Donkey Kong Country game beyond the first few levels of the original SNES game – the series’ infamous difficulty has always been a turn-off to me. I never played Retro’s first effort Returns either. For some reason though, I got the urge to try Tropical Freeze and picked it up during a sale, knowing there would be a lot of gratuitous swearing in my future.

The swearing was definitely there, and if you’d heard me playing the game you’d never believe I was having any fun at all. But I was having a blast. DK has a satisfying weight to him that makes handling him second-nature (much better than the slippery Mario from the New Super Mario Bros. series), and his sidekicks help alleviate the otherwise unrelenting challenge – even though there’s rarely any reason to pick anyone other than Dixie. The levels, beyond being pure eye-candy, are expertly designed. There are some cheap shots in some of the levels in the last few worlds, and the boss fights are just outright sadistic, but once you learn the rhythm and pattern to each level, they all feel conquerable. And don’t even get me started on the glorious David Wise soundtrack – there were so many times that I stopped playing just to listen to the tunes.

Tropical Freeze has made me want to go back and experience the DKC games that I missed. Not only that, it’s made me realize that, hey, maybe 2D platformers aren’t so bad after all. It’s too bad it’s been so criminally overlooked both critically and commercially. That said, Retro, it’s time to take on a different series.

2. Sunset Overdrive

Ever since I saw the initial reveal trailer for this game, I had a suspicion this would be the game to make me buy an Xbox One. I held off for two months after it released, but the holiday sales plus other deals made me unable to resist any longer. And I’m glad I sprung for it, because Sunset Overdrive is good enough to justify buying a console.

Never has traversal felt so natural in a game, especially after you unlock the Air Dash. With the excellent controls, you’ll be grinding, bouncing, flipping, and soaring all throughout Sunset City with the greatest of ease, all the while shooting baddies with the impressive and unique arsenal of weapons. But it’s the premise and tone of the game that make it stand out from the rest. Make no mistake, there’s nothing serious about Sunset Overdrive. A new energy drink has turned all the citizens of Sunset City into mutants, and you have to gain the trust of different factions, ranging from a group of hardcore LARPers who think they live in the Middle Ages to a troop of scouts who abide by ancient samurai code, in order to escape the city. Along the way, there’s plenty of swearing, breaking the fourth wall, and outright self-awareness. Sunset Overdrive is a game that knows it’s a game, and it’s all the better for it – it’s one of the most hilarious games I’ve ever played, and there were so many laugh-out-loud moments that I lost count. Insomniac’s typical wacky weapon offerings top it all off, ranging from a grenade launcher that fires detonating teddy bears, to deployable yard-sprinklers that spew acid and a shotgun called the Flaming Compensator (I’ll let you guess that one). It’s all rendered in a striking visual style that makes you want to just take in the scenery…if you can stay still long enough.

On the flip side, the Night Defense tower defense sections are kind of crappy, and the game probably drags on for about one act longer than it needs to. I found myself wanting it to just go ahead and end already – but when it finally did, I had a stupid grin on my face throughout the whole ending. “Now THAT is how you end a game” indeed. Come to think of it, I probably had that grin the whole time I was playing the game.

1. Mario Kart 8

Some would say that it’s a sign of how bad 2014 was for gaming that I have a Mario Kart game at the top of my list. I would say that it’s more likely that Mario Kart 8 is just such a good game that it finds itself here.

The track designs are second-to-none. From the slopes of Mt. Wario (one of the greatest tracks the series has ever seen; shut up, Justin), to the skies of Sunshine Airport, the thundering techno beats of Electrodrome, and the best Bowser’s Castle in series history, Mario Kart 8‘s tracks are works of art, and they’re rendered in quite possibly some of the best graphics of any game available – never mind that this is a Wii U game. Item balance is improved considerably from the chaos that was Mario Kart Wii, though it still has a long way to go. The roster is also solid, despite some questionable additions (Pink Gold Peach? Baby Rosalina?). But even beyond the core game, Nintendo has jumped into the world of modern gaming and is continuing to support the game through DLC. Normally I’m not a fan of DLC in general, but the value proposition Nintendo has offered is more than reasonable, and the new tracks are just as fantastic as the tracks in the base game.

It’s also quite possibly the best online mode Nintendo has ever created. Races are smooth with very little lag – unlike the lagfest that is Smash Bros. – and it’s easy to jump in races with your friends or random players. There’s even voice chat with friends! Too bad Battle Mode is entirely gimped and not even worth trying out – one of the few negative things I can say about the game.

When I look back at all my gaming this past year, nothing else even came close to the countless hours that I spent playing Mario Kart 8 online. All summer, Justin, Klippy, and I, along with others, would gather every single weekend for sometimes 3-4 hours at a time and just raced over and over again, and it never got old. Once that started winding down, the DLC came out and hooked us again, just as I’m sure it will once again in May when the second DLC pack is released. No other Mario Kart game has ever hooked me like that, and no other game grabbed me this year like Mario Kart 8, and despite my best efforts, I can’t imagine any other game taking the top spot as my Game of the Year for 2014.

So that’s 2014 – despite all the delays, busted games, and disappointments, it turned out to be a pretty great year for gaming after all. Here’s hoping 2015 is even better!