South Park: Stick of Truth
The game plays out like a full season of the TV show. The writing is incredible, the voice acting is spot on. Gameplay is easy to get used to. I had high hopes for this game and did not disappoint what so ever. I even played though it a few times just to collect every collectable. Some of the jokes could be very offensive to certain people, but isn’t that what makes South Park so great.
Mario Kart 8
Nintendo has finally made an incredible Mario Kart game that surpasses every other game in the franchise. With so many great tracks, great detail to tracks and great controls this game took up a lot of my time in 2014. There is new downloadable content that features new characters and best of all new tracks. There is an online feature that lets you race players from all over the world. Every time you play it the game feels as fresh as it did when it was released.
Alien Isolation
finally, an Alien game that doesn’t suck. I came into the game expecting a crappy game but it turned out to be great. Instead of going around shooting multiple aliens, there is only one on this ship, and there are no weapons that can kill it. Most of the game you are sneaking around and hiding from the Alien. At first it sound boring but it is really intense. My only complaint about the game is it was about 8 hours too long. When you defeat the Alien, there are other objectives you have to do to save the ship and by then the androids are the major threat. It just carried on too long.
Super Smash Bros 3DS
First time a Smash Bros. game was released on a handheld and it felt great knowing I could take it where ever I wanted to go. I wasn’t tied down to sit in front of a TV. With an incredible line up of character and stages and so many things to collect it was definitely worth the money. When it was released on the Wii U, I found myself board of it due to the fact I had already played though it on one system and unlocked all the characters that I did not want to do it again. I guess it came down to whatever game came out first I would invest my time in and in this case the 3DS version won.
Halo: Master Chief Collection
four full length campaigns, one of them completely upgraded graphics and sound. Another one that had an upgrade treatment a few years ago, add on the Halo 3, and Halo 4. Also included is online multiplayer for all games which they announced there would be around 100 maps to play on. That’s where things get tricky, since day one the online features of the game are glitched and sometimes completely broken. They have been and still releasing updates and patches so it is getting better.
Walking Dead Season 2
Not as emotional as season 1, but the story is still incredible. It is good seeing some old faces from season 1, but you also meet new characters that you get to love. The ending is one choices are some of the hardest I ever had to make in a video game and each option changes the ending. I don’t know if there is a ‘best’ ending but the ending I got left it open for a third season so let’s hope it happens
Diablo: Reapers of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition
Got the game thinking I could just play the expansion pack “Reapers of Souls” but no. I had to complete the full game of Diablo III. I almost turned it off and put it on the shelf, but after playing for a few hours I really got into it, and finished the Diablo III side of the story. The expansion pack was fun and had a good story. A little harder than Diablo III but I found myself playing hours after I had completed it and too me that’s a sign of a good game.
Costume Quest 2
Fun and colorful as the original. Going around collecting candy while using costumes to enter a RPG type game with different abilities. It is a good game for people who want to try an RPG but are too afraid that you will suck. There are some quests that get boring and repeated at times but I enjoyed myself enough to where when I beat it on Xbox One I got it for Xbox 360 and do it again.
Wolfenstein: The New Order
The game is a typical first person shooter so nothing to brag about there, but the story is what drew me in. What if the Nazi’s won World War II and what if they came up with high technology? The tech is really science fiction but it’s really creative.
Ultimate NES Remix
A game that is hard to explain, so I will describe a level. You are playing the first level of Donkey Kong, You cannot jump over barrels, oh and you’re playing as Link from Legend of Zelda. It is that kind of mash up game. It uses all the Nintendo brand classic Nintendo games and gives you challenges can either be a unique twist on the game or something simple as beat the final boss in Zelda II, and if you don’t know the secret it could be very hard.
Kinect Sports Rivals
I was expecting a game you just put in and go, such as I just wanted to go bowling but they make you create an avatar that uses the Kinect to use the shape of your body. They then walk you through a tutorial using a jet ski which the controls were so bad I had to turn it off and never gave it a second try.
Castlevania" Lords of Shadow 2
The ending of the first Lords of Shadow game left the series up for a good sequel. Dracula in modern days, in the middle of what looks like Times Square. Lords of Shadow 2 does take place in modern day and you still play as Gabriel Belmont now known as Dracula. The game story feels really weak, and the gameplay can be confusing at many times. You cannot start the game, play for a week and stop playing and return to it a month later since you will forget all the special inputs for abilities in the game. There are too many areas that you need to sneak around areas because you are too weak. Come on, you’re the price of darkness, Dracula himself. I want to go kill and kick ass. Sequel I was looking forward to but let me down big time.
Destiny
Advertisements for this game always said that if you are a gamer you need this game. So I said ok, I will go get it day one. Well I wish I had waited until it dropped in price. It is made by Bungie, the creators of the original Halo games so I thought it would be a lot like that. In a way it does feel like Halo in the sense of controls, but a step in the back direction. The first Halo had a very confusing story, but Destiny’s story makes Halo’s story a masterpiece. I don’t even know if there really is a story.
Hyrule Warriors
The game takes place in the Zelda universe but does not deserve the title of Legend of Zelda. You run around an open play area slashing enemies that are everywhere. There could be 300 enemies around you at one time. After you kill around 500, a boss will appear and after defeating him you will “secure the area” and move on to the next area. There are objectives such as finding a bomb to blow up the giant stone that is blocking the way. The game is about 8-12 hours long, but being the Zelda fan I am, it failed to impress me.
Duck Dynasty
This game I knew was going to be a terrible game going in, but I had to get it just to see how bad. It ranks as the best of the worst games of 2014. Gameplay involves fishing, driving, and collectables and of course duck hunting. I refer to this game as Duck Hunt 2014. The cut scenes and hearing the stars of the show are so bad it’s hilarious. If you find this game under $15 and want a good laugh I recommend this game.
Guardians of the Galaxy
A movie I had no idea who the characters were or what it was even about. If you like Star Wars and Indiana Jones this movie is for you. The two characters that stood out to me the most is the gun wielding talking raccoon “Rocket” and the giant tree that can say only three words, “I am Groot”. The soundtrack and also badass.
Sex Tape
Despite it getting bad reviews I found this to be the funniest movie of the year. It is so stupid that it’s funny. If you have seen a trailer you know what you’re getting into but I had a blast watching it.
Captain America: Winter Soldier
Probably the best sequel from a Marvel movie. I was impressed that it wasn’t your typical super hero going around pounding bad guys around. Don’t get me wrong it has plenty of it, but there is also a mystery and cover up element that really interested me.
X-Men: Days of Future Past
If you have not followed along with the past X-Men movies this movie will leave you scratching your head wondering what the hell is going on. I have seen all the X-Men movies and there were times I was left scratching my own head. It’s the Matrix all over again. But seriously the story is good enough even if you don’t know what’s going on. It is an all-star cast of characters who I grew up loving.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
This movie made a lot of money at the box office, reviews were horrible but I enjoyed myself. Probably since I grew up with the Turtles in the 80’s and 90’s and have loved them since brings back fond memories. The CGI turtles are maybe a little over done. They did their best to make them look like real turtles, but I think they went overboard. Their size and strength bothered me a little. The thing that bothered me most is that Shredder was all CGI. I don’t think there was a single shot of Shredder that wasn’t CGI. They created a new origin story that was different from the original which was fine with me, I like to hear others ideas how four turtles grew up to be ninjas. When I heard Megan Fox was cast for April O’ Neil I was concerned that she was cast just for her looks, like in Transformers, but I thought she did a good job pulling off the roll. There are a lot of reference’s that referred to the old school turtles that was fun seeing and hearing. This movie is 10x better than the last two Turtle movies, “Ninja Turtles III” and “TMNT”. Looking forward to the sequel.
Neighbors
Stupid comedy about bad neighbors. I found it disturbing, maybe it’s just due to my experience of having evil neighbors
Ride Along / Lets Be Cops
These movies are almost identical, both involve a person trying to be a cop, both boring, both got shut off 30 minutes into the movie.
Transformers: Age Of Extinction
Michael Bay, enough is enough. I thought the third Transformers movie was going to be the last. As always I hate them because of the mass destruction, hard to figure out what character is who, and story sucks. Sad that the 1980’s animated film was a lot better than all four of these movies put together
Into The Storm
Might as well called it “Twister 2”. And yes it does have some sort of a flying cow.
Amazing Spiderman 2
Spider-Man sure does like to talk a lot and make little jokes during every battle doesn’t he? The ending was predictable from the very start. They left it open for the third sequel in a unique way, the battle against the next villain has already started in the streets of New York.