It’s been a busy week, but we’re finally one stop away from the finish line. This is it folks. The big fish. The grand finale. The Game of the Year. Spoiler alert: It’s Goat Simulator. How could it not be? If you don’t believe us, strap yourselves in one last time ladies and gentlemen and join us as we decide 2014’s best game. Right folks, let the shit hit the fan.
The Rundown
We’re here at last. In order for a game to be qualified as a nominee for Game of the Year, it has to exceed all expectations. It has to go above and beyond them and all other games. The minimum requirement to be nominated would be for the game to be immensely polished in all areas and outstanding overall. The one thing that needs to be made clear is that Game of the Year isn’t targeted at a game that has everything, but rather at a game that excels at everything it does or provides a gaming experience that’s worth remembering in the next year and beyond. In the end we’re looking for a memorable gaming experience that will stay with us for years to come, and can ultimately be seen as the representative of an entire year of gaming. This is it. The final award for the year.
The Nominees
South Park: The Stick of Truth
South Park: The Stick of Truth was truly a no-brainer for fans of the series, and for us was easily one of the best uses of a license in gaming history. The attention to detail and the amount of love for the franchise that was evident during every second of the adventure undoubtedly left us feeling as though we’d really engaged with the characters of South Park. We were honestly blown away by how faithful the game was to the source material, and it’s something that can only be achieved by artists who genuinely love and believe in what they’re doing. South Park: The Stick of Truth was hilarious, satirical, offensive and sometimes almost too ridiculous to believe, but all of that went pretty far in delivering a title that was authentic, believable and a downright amazing South Park experience which felt like an extension of the show. It really was one of the best licensed games we’ve ever played, and an excellent piece of fan service to top it all off.
Transistor
Transistor proved that Supergiant is no one trick pony, and was just as enthralling a journey as Bastion. In fact it often felt like a better game than what many consider a near perfect experience with its predecessor, and that is one hell of an achievement. Transistor was bold, intriguing and engrossing from start to finish, and it helped that it was one of the most beautiful games we’ve seen all year. We’ve raved about this game since the awards started, and by now we’re pretty sure that you’re sick of hearing us obsess over it. Nevertheless Transistor holds a special place in our hearts, and really is one of the best titles to come out of the indie space in a long time. It’s everything you could possibly want from an indie title, and from any game really. Transistor was easily one of the best and most memorable experiences we had this year.
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Dragon Age: Inquisition is the tale of BioWare’s redemption; their return to the throne. It took every single lesson that BioWare had to learn from its franchises over the years and incorporated all of it into one of the finest and most compelling RPG experiences that we’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. On occasion we could hardly believe that the same people had once made the underwhelming Dragon Age II. Not only was Inquisition aesthetically gorgeous — made even more impressive given the sheer scale of it — but it also told an intriguing and frenetic story filled with so much depth and substance, in addition to damn hard choices. If you’ve been following our awards you’d know that it already has collected the Best Story award, so that should tell you how highly we regard this game.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, for many, was a write-off for looking like a clone of Assassin’s Creed. But Monolith stuck to their guns and produced the biggest surprise of the year, surpassing all expectations. On top of that they gave us the first real taste of the possibilities of open world in the new generation, with the game’s innovative Nemesis System. Shadow of Mordor was a game made with so much passion and love and respect for the source material that we would be amazed if any fan walked away unimpressed. It’s a lovely thing to be pleasantly surprised, and we’re more than happy to say that Shadow of Mordor laughed in the face of all of our pre-release scepticism. It was oozing with quality, artistically brilliant and mechanically excellent, and we don’t know anyone who didn’t love the hell out of it.
Forza Horizon 2
Forza Horizon 2 was in no uncertain terms a masterpiece of a racer that truly understood its players. It wanted you to have fun, it wanted you to be entertained and most of it all it wanted you to feel as though you had made the right choice by buying it. It nailed all of those, on top of looking beautiful beyond words. It was a game that proved Playground Games meant business in the easily stagnated racing genre, and ultimately we felt that in today’s times it was the quintessential arcade racing experience. At least, until it’s surpassed. For the moment, however, Forza Horizon 2 can enjoy the view from the top.
And The Game Of The Year Is…
Naturally since we’re dealing with the best games of the entire year, there’s very little to take them down a notch for. That’s why we won’t nitpick over why any game didn’t take home the award, and instead we’ll get straight into it and light the firecrackers.
Is your body ready?
The WINNER of EGMR’s Game of the Year Award of 2014 is.. (click to reveal)
Destiny
In the end the choice was obvious. Destiny was an exemplary game. It was the beacon of hope and inspiration that the triple-A gaming scene has needed for years. We didn’t want to believe the ludicrous hype, and we couldn’t have imagined that Destiny would ever live up to it. No game could. But it did. That and so much more; beyond anything we could have dreamed up. Destiny blew our heads out of the water, and delivered one of the greatest games the gaming industry has ever seen. In many ways Destiny is the culmination of all the aspirations and dreams of gamers and developers since gaming first showed its potential to one day fit the bill of blockbuster entertainment. There’s been talk of a ten year plan. Well, we’re here to say that we believe in it. We believe in Destiny. We’re not exaggerating when we say that no game currently on the market comes close to matching it.
And absolutely nothing comes close to matching the sheer degree of bullshit we just fed you.
We’re sorry. We had to. One last time, for old time’s sake. We’re assholes, remember?
So which game actually won Game of the Year? We’re glad you asked…
The real WINNER of EGMR’s Game of the Year Award of 2014 is.. (click to reveal)
Dragon Age: Inquisition
No one ever said it would be easy to choose the best game of the year, but we believe in this particular choice. Dragon Age: Inquisition is BioWare’s return to form. It’s the complete rejuvenation of the RPG genre. It’s the shining example of how to make a third game: by taking the best elements of both predecessors and leaving out all the bad. That is mindbogglingly difficult to achieve, yet somehow BioWare did exactly that. It took us back to the epic nature of Dragon Age: Origins in giving us a deep, incredible fantasy world filled with interesting characters and locations that we wanted to explore, and it made us feel important within it. Yet at the same time it took the political intrigue of Dragon Age II and blew it up to create one of the most fascinating game worlds we’ve had the pleasure of being immersed in. Dragon Age: Inquisition delivered one of the best RPG experiences we’ve had in years, the best story for the year and one of the most memorable experiences we’ve had in ages.
Not only did BioWare go out of their way to correct their past errors and deliver the best game possible, but they also fought to create a game for gamers. No one was left out of the Inquisition — the intelligent Dragon Age Keep saw to that. No one was given half a game. In fact as we said when we handed BioWare the Developer of the Year Award, it would have been as easy as pie to monetise the hell out of the game in so many cheap ways. But BioWare didn’t go there. No one can complain about not getting value for money. Dragon Age: Inquisition is the epitome of that, and more than that, it’s just such a sincere game made with so much passion and love that it’s hard to believe it was published by EA. And finally no one can complain about getting a low quality or broken game. Dragon Age: Inquisition was overflowing with quality, and technically brilliant for such a massive project. If this is only the first year with our new consoles, we simply cannot wait to see what’s still coming.
Dragon Age: Inquisition deserves this, as do BioWare, and we could write the book on why. We’re sure you don’t want to read that book, but let it be stated loud and clear today that we have no regrets about selecting Dragon Age: Inquisition as our best and most memorable experience of the year. All of the above reasons make Dragon: Age Inquisition our number one pick for the Game of the Year for 2014.
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