I’ve run out of clever award names, but I want to make sure this gets in as the last of my Top Pickz for the year. Consider it the “wild card” spot. It was such a nice surprise to play through it and be so consistently entertained.
It’s also been the most inspiring to me to track down other games in the series, at least the ones in the exploration-based “Metroidvania” genre. I’m certainly no design expert, but there was never a dull moment playing this. Exploring, finding upgrades, collecting abilities, it was such a good experience. The character-switching Julius Mode was a great extra, too.
I’m cheating a little by naming a game I haven’t got around to reviewing yet, but it’s amazing just how addictive this game can be. And when you say “just one more map”, that can take up to 20 minutes or more. But you just don’t want to stop!
On the small scale, you have to be thinking about what moves to use when; on the medium scale, you have to watch the map and your objectives; on the large scale, there’s always something to work towards unlocking or collecting; on the even larger scale the regular releases of DLC keep you coming back with more things to look forward to.
As my first Dynasty Warriors game, I’ve had a great time learning the mechanics and how it plays. And as a Zelda game, the items, locations, characters, and music really appeal to me as a fan. Basically the game has lots to love and although I could never be sure about it before playing it, I’ve found it completely captivating. Or absorbing if you like, hence the award.
I struggled to pick the next category for the worst list. “Most disappointing”? I had quite a bit of mild disappointment, but I don’t think my expectations were that high. Yoshi’s New Island, Final Fantasy 3, Lego Lord of the Rings (iOS), Super Metroid. All were slightly disappointing, but not life-ruiningly so.
Speaking of ruination, I considered the category of “Most Franchise-Ruining Game”. This year I played Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and Metroid Other M, two of the worst games in two of the best series Nintendo has. They had catastrophic effects on their respective fanbases, and adversely affected the reputation of the series for, say, half a decade each. It wasn’t as personally affecting to me though as I try to maintain mindfulness of the good games that still exist, and both have hopes for the future, so I didn’t want to do an award about it.
“Worst Free-to-Play Mechanics” was a strong contender. Angry Birds Star Wars 2 and Trials Frontier had updates that drove me away, but couldn’t kill my overall goodwill for them completely. Star Trek Trexels pulled me in but kept pushing me back simultaneously, until I had to break ties. I played a few other little games too that gave me the impression of an ever-greater App Store movement towards ads and microtransactions. But I don’t want to disparage the platform too much, there’s still lots of great stuff happening there. Besides, I already gave up Rockman Xover (which is shutting down soon apparently; good riddance).
Basically I wanted to dish out lots of small bits of negativity so as not to get too bogged down. This is a season of joy, reflecting on things we’re thankful for, and celebration. So let’s give some more good awards. Er, tomorrow, anyway, because that’s how my queue works.
I can’t believe we got two 2D platformers that were so awesome, with such great soundtracks, within six months of each other. DKCTF deserves top honours for both of these, but I couldn’t not mention Rayman (although I played it late last year, I published the review this year so it’s sort of in-between). Consider it a close second place.
Both have amazing track lists that I will gladly listen to anytime. Both play so well that it’s so easy and inviting to get deep into them, yet they can challenge you brutally. They have quite good multiplayer options. They have tons of replayability. They’re practically works of art that I’d be glad to see in any gallery. They’re top-tier instalments in their respective series, in the Wii U library, and in the pantheon of video games in general.
I liked them. So much that I gave them two awards. Although Tropical Freeze is technically the front runner in these categories, they have their distinct strengths from each other too. I reckon you should play them.
Although I wanted to use the name Top Pickz, I’m also covering Anti-Pickz. To kick off the “worst-of” list, I wanted to bring up a game that had lots of hype, lots of praise, but left me totally cold on many levels. Of course I’m talking about that Zelda anniversary flop, Skyward Sword.
At least Zelda got an anniversary celebration. But the game they made for it pays lip service to the series while changing many things for the worse. Well, to be fair, it did feel Zelda-y. There were just lots of implementation details that frankly sucked the fun out of it. From the incessant tutorialising to the cliche characters, to the endlessly frustrating core motion controls, the more I played it the better I felt about Twilight Princess.
The game was competently made, but it was such a chore to play. There were things to like, but given what I’d heard when it came out about it being the best Zelda yet, I had to label it as the biggest disconnect compared to my play experience. When its characters and places are transplanted into Hyrule Warriors, a play experience I do enjoy: they’re great, I like them. So my problem is with the game itself.
Here’s my end-of-year GOTY feature, my Pickz for 2014. Please note that I will be covering games that I played and reviewed this year, not necessarily games that came out this year. Also the categories are kind of being thought up at the last minute as I review my post archive. Of course, it’s all very subjective; I’m rating my experience as much as the game itself.
To start with I wanted to highlight an experience that I enjoyed a few times throughout the year, that of sharing a game with another; most often my wife. We love playing Lego games and so on, but we also tried out a few others. Kirby’s Dream Land 3 proved too hard to do together, and our attempt at Child of Light unfortunately didn’t last long; there’s not much for the firefly player to do. But it’s not all bad news.
Lord of the Rings: War in the North was something we both enjoyed as Middle Earth fans, and despite being pretty much noobs to this genre. Big points in its favour were its faithfulness to that universe and the cool stuff it let you do around the characters and concepts we love; having a fairly linear structure that kept us going; not to mention the ability to play through as a woman, which is a great thing for any game.
Despite a raft of technical problems, gameplay flaws, and accessibility issues, we had a good time with it and that’s why it was my favourite co-op memory of the year. It was a close call with Lego Batman 2, though, but I liked being pushed out of my comfort zone with this.
