Greetings, XP4Ts. They say that comparisons are odious, well, what’s really odious are some of the games on this list. We’ve sat down around the Christmas table here at XP4T headquarters and had a good think about our best and worst gaming experiences in 2014. And in the spirit of Christmas sharing, we want to tell you all about it. The only rule our brandy-addled minds could handle in this exercise was that all the games on the list had to actually have been published in 2014. Other than that, the gloves are off for the stinkers, while the good gaming experiences we’ve had are given the praise they deserve. Check out the video above if you’re feeling lazy, or give your eyeballs a workout with the text version, the choice is yours! (Make sure you don’t find any of the rotters under your tree – ask digital Santa to check the links at the end!)
Ian’s Best
Insurgency
It has everything a great FPS should have and plenty more besides. A modern military shooter that manages to incorporate realism, great map design and authentic sound effects within a well-balanced game. This hardcore tactical shooter can make you feel like a John J Rambo one minute and Gomer Pyle the next. The game is best experienced in PvP mode, where careful navigation of the map and covering your corners might make you live that little bit longer – I can think of no other game that can give you better clutch moments where you’re the only man on your team left against an untold number of enemies. Even in co-op mode, the bots will challenge you – they don’t just run headlong into your line of sight, but given half a chance they will flank you and try to kill you. New World Interactive look to be embracing their community too, with free DLC and mod support keeping this feeling fresh months after it’s January release. Publishers of so-called AAA titles take note!
The Wolf Among Us
Five episode series based on Fables, an award-winning comic book series by Bill Willingham. It’s a violent, hard-boiled thriller where the characters and creatures of myth, lore and legend are real, and exist in our world. Your choices matter and will change and define the story you experience. Just like the graphic novels it’s based on, Telltale Games nail the story, giving us an engaging plot with QuickTime Events to keep you engaged. The pacing is just right, giving the player enough to be satisfied but leaving out just enough out to make you look forward to the next episode. Decisions are weighty and feel like they matter to the story’s progression – this is no Disney adventure, and there will be no happy ever afters…Valiant Hearts: The Great War
In Video Games based around war and conflict you are expected, encouraged even, to kill as many of the enemy as possible, so it’s a brave game that goes against that grain. Valiant Hearts: The Great War is the story of crossed destinies and a broken love in a world torn apart. All of the game’s characters are just trying to survive the horror of the trenches, while also following their faithful canine companion. Their lives are inextricably drawn together over the course of the game. Friendship, love, sacrifice, and tragedy befall all of them as they help each other to retain their humanity against the horrors of war.Ian’s Worst
Rambo: the Video Game
Have you ever given up before you’ve even started? If you have, then perhaps you’ve worked for Teyon, the developers who made Rambo: the Video Game – a lacklustre effort with no redeeming features. Just looking at it you have to constantly remind yourself that this was made in 2014, not 1987. And when you take into account the fact that it was delayed from it’s planned 2013 release, you have to wonder what hell was going on – what did they use to polish it? Dog shit? There’s no character control in this on-rails, Operation Wolf clone. You just control the crosshairs, shooting at enemies that all look alike, again and again and again. It also has the worst QuickTime Events I’ve ever seen. Don’t have ninja reflexes? You’re going to have to restart again, and again, and again. Only a few minutes in, you’ll have seen everything it has to offer, and it’s monotonous and brain numbing. Even die-hard Rambo fans will not get any enjoyment from it. I cannot even see a reason for this game to exist . So if it’s that poor, it’s going to be cheap right? Wrong! this is almost a full-price game, and to ask that much money for it, you must have King Kong-sized balls.
“Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don’t turn it off! It wasn’t my war!”
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