I spent most of 2014 playing games that came out last year. Part of that is an artifact of my vast Steam backlog, but most of my game time was spent playing Assassin’s Creed IV and XCOM: Enemy Within. I’ve only bought five new-release games this entire year (which actually seems like a respectable number, now that I think about it): Shadow of Mordor, Alien: Isolation, Far Cry 4, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and South Park: Stick of Truth.
All four are fantastic games, and I’d recommend them for different reasons. Far Cry 4 had some annoying bugs so I put it on the backburner, but it’s basically a bigger, crazier Far Cry 3 — and I really liked Far Cry 3. I’m still a long way off from being able to write a legitimate review of Dragon Age: Inquisition, but I’ve played enough that I can confidently recommend it to fans of the series.
I finished the other three games, though. Shadow of Mordor can be played practically indefinitely, so completing the story mode isn’t really “finishing” it, but I did log in some 27 hours and I plan on logging many more. It’s beautiful, creative, challenging, and ultra-violent. The much-touted Nemeses System works remarkably well, and it’s a feature that some big game franchises would be wise to learn from.
Stick of Truth is a fairly simple RPG, but it’s absolutely brilliant, hilarious fun. Any longtime fan of South Park (which I am) will love the dialogue, Easter eggs and in-jokes. It’s like playing a South Park episode, and the gameplay is deep enough to be interesting and fun without trying to be Dragon Age. It’s also well worth doing the side quests, as they’re almost all hilarious and chock full of great characters and homages to classic episodes.
But my favorite game of the year — which could change after I finish Inquisition, because I really love the series — is Alien: Isolation. For years I’ve thought a game like this would be amazing, if anyone had the guts to make it. Well Creative Assembly had the guts, and sure enough it’s amazing. The atmosphere is a loving homage to the original film, with all kinds of subtle design elements that really capture its analog-future aesthetic. Human and android enemies can be plenty troublesome and unpredictable as it is, but of course the real star of the show is the Alien itself. The first time it drops out of a vent with a lumbering thud, it sends a chill down your spine — and that tension never really lets up. The Alien isn’t always there, but it could be, if you’re a little too loud or a little too careless… or hell, if you’re just unlucky. This kind of cat-and-mouse gameplay, relying on unscripted AI, has never been done before. Like Shadow of Mordor‘s Nemeses System, it’s a watershed moment for video games that elevates the art form by integrating a brilliant concept seamlessly into tense, challenging gameplay. I took a break from the game after I finished it, but the great thing about unscripted AI is that no two times through the game are alike. I’ve got plenty on my plate for a while, but I’m definitely looking forward to returning to the Sevastopol.
This has been a great year for PC gaming. It’s easier than ever to build a powerful, affordable gaming PC with the rise of Mini-ITX systems; nVidia’s Maxwell cards upped the ante for high-performance graphics cards, and fast CPU platforms are as affordable as ever. There have been lots of great games that take advantage of the superior power of gaming PCs — but of course that’s icing on the cake for games that are just damn fun to play, and we’ve had plenty of those, too. 2015 looks like it’s going to be a big year as well, and hey — maybe I’ll even write about it or something.
PC Gaming Are Yes! 