A smaller crop than usual
Top Ten? I can’t really say I’m all that on top of gaming as I have liked this past year given the overall turn of events my life has taken, so I’ll go the High Fidelity route and look at the top five games. We’ll shoot for quality over quantity. Or that’s the excuse anyway. Cause screw the rules. Rules are for suckers.
Watch_Dogs
This is me not caring about negative reviews – and finding Cthulhu worshippers.
People can be as negative as they like about this title – I liked this game. It wasn’t as polished as the stuff at E3. So what? It was still a great looking game and it has some some cool ideas at play. I think it’s a good stage setter for some even better games down the line, and there are far worse games one could play in the PS4 category – like Killzone.
Infamous: Second Son
Aw yeah, let’s drop the bomb! Wait, that sounds like a poop joke. Too late anyway.
I really, really spent some time on this one, making sure that not only did I play the game for both good and evil playthroughs, but took the time to get every last trophy available for it. Some may say that Infamous: Second Son is just more of the same – but when the same is still awesome and enjoyable, I can’t really fault it. It’s what’s kept the Madden franchise alive, so that proves that even a stopped watch (or franchise) can be right twice a day.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Not sure how the bandit got on the cover – there’s precious few of them… IN SPAAAAAACE!
I’ll admit, I have a Borderlands bias in general and you could put Borderlands anything in front of me and I’ll play it (still have to get to Tales From the Borderlands – just as soon as my PS4 comes back form its second round at the repair center in Illinois) .This was a late game entry for me as I only got to it this past week. The twist on the franchise has enough of the familiar and several new innovations (the Grinder, the individual transport options, low-grav and creative oxygen mechanics, and a couple of new damage and weapon types). The tale of Handsome Jack becoming the douchecanoe that he was is also presented admirably so far, and I look forward to more playthrough hours as I continue to play this game.
Borderlands 2 (Wait, what?)
Still unloading into bandits wholesale. As long as there’s DLC and badass ranks, I’m still shooting.
Yes, I am well aware this game was released in 2012. Yet… it’s a game I’m still playing – obsessively I might add. I recently realized that while I’d downloaded the season pass material, I hadn’t installed any of it as I’d let it lapse in my gaming rotation. I recently installed the Psycho character option, Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt, and what may be the best goddamned DLC on the planet: Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon’s Keep. I have put in a lot of time on all of these, and have been so thoroughly pleased that I couldn’t keep this off the list. I’m also going for a completion of the Ultimate Vault Hunter mode – and those Badass Ranks ain’t gonna generate themselves. And I’m gonna need em since UVH mode is very, VERY difficult.
D&D 5th Edition (and Roll20.net)
PLEASE DON’T TELL MY SUPERVISOR I WAS SLEEPING!!! (Still funny the second time)
Are you really surprised here? As one of the only folks to post in Unplugged, I have to bring up the 800 pound gorilla that is Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition. I’ve had occasion to play it a couple of times and can say that I like this edition far more than fourth edition – which despite what I said about fourth edition in an earlier post, was something I did enjoy for what it was. The fifth edition though has really cleared out the stuff that made the last edition frustrating (combats that never ended, numeric bloat, choice paralysis) and corrected it, changed it, or just plain threw it out. When you add in Roll20’s full integration with the newest edition, you get an amazing game with tools that make everyone’s life a whole lot easier.
So that’s it – my top five games of 2014 in a nutshell for you. I’m hoping for a new boatload of good stuff in the coming year and I’ll keep bringing it at you.
