[Question] The Gamingforce Game of the Year 2014: All aboard the hype train - voting edition

Are you ready for a megaton? The Gamingforce Game of the Year is back once again! That's right, the Game of the Year thread is ready to tickle your eyeballs, wow your ears and stroke your mindplace in an effort to build up the hype to uncontrollable levels before unleashing almost certain disappointment, at least if 2014's year in gaming is anything to go by.

The year that is 2014 is drawing to a close and 2015 is waiting on our doorsteps ready to barge in with a new year full of promises. For those merry few of us still at GFF that means that now is the time to look back at the year that was and all the games we played. As ever the question we ask and look to answer is: what does Gamingforce consider the best of gaming experiences of 2014? No gimmicks again this year, as ever I'd simply ask for you to take part and encourage others to do so.

As with the previous years' voting here's how this is going to work: each person has 100 points to vote for games released in 2014 (doesn't matter where, but games have to have been commercially released in 2014) and you can allocate them to as many games as you like as long as it totals 100 in the end. The only rule is that you can't award any single game more than 40 points. So you could vote two 40s and a 20, or a 40 and six 10s, or any other combination of points as long as it adds up to 100.

To vote all you have to do is post a reply with your top games of 2014, how many points you're giving each, and a brief explanation of why you feel the game deserves your points.

Example:

GAME A - 40 points
Man I loved game A because...

GAME B - 20 points
I ended up playing so much of game B that...

GAME C - 15 points
Game C gets some points because...

GAME D - 15 points
I couldn't decide between this and C, so gave both points, but D rocks because...

GAME E - 5 points
Good, but not necessarily great, but I figure E deserves some points because...

GAME F - 5 points
Like E, F gets a few points because...

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Voting will close on Saturday 24th January at 18:00 GMT (that's Englandland time), at which point I'll add all the points together and work out GFF's top 20 games of 2014, posting the results in a new thread for discussion/people to complain about. I'm allowing a little extra time again this year so you've got a chance to go try and squeeze in any contenders you wanted to try before voting.

So, go on, get voting.

Oh, and get other people to come vote too.

Disclaimer/Rules:
1. If you allocate any game more than 40 points your vote won't be counted.
2. If your points allocation totals more than 100 points your vote won't be counted (totals less than 100 are fine).
3. Votes for games not released in 2014 will be ignored.
4. Only official commercial releases in 2014 count.
4a. No 'Early Access', 'Alpha', 'Beta' or other pre-release titles will be counted.
5. No negative points. I'll point and laugh and then ignore your vote.
6. Whole integers only. Fractions and decimal places will also lead me to ignore your vote.
7. Any other such idiocy will also probably lead your vote not being counted.

And as ever, I take no responsibility for Skills fucking with stuff, which if you ignore these points he almost certainly will do somehow.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

So I've taken my sweet time, but here finally are my points for this year's GFF GotY thread. The quotes are highlights from my full write up, which can be found here: linky link


Bayonetta 2 - 30 points
From the moment I finished it there was little doubt in my mind what game was likely sit atop my top 10 list for 2014: Bayonetta is back baby!

Bayonetta 2 is everything that made Bayonetta 1 great with a little refinement, a little extra spit and polish and somehow turned up to 11. The prologue chapter sets the stage wonderfully and anyone who doesn't come away from it beaming with joy, well I'd question as to whether you had a soul because how?

For me Bayonetta 2 is the gem upon the crown which resides on Nintendo's head for the efforts in 2014.


Transistor - 20 points
Transistor to me feels like SuperGiant went away and learnt how to do everything better than the already great Bastion. It has a gameplay system with plenty of depth and one that encourages mechanical experimentation with narrative exploration. The art is just ridiculous and in a year of ridiculously good soundtracks this one is up there as possibly my favourite of 2014.

I remain incredibly impressed by SuperGiant's work and will absolutely be there for whatever they do next, particularly if Jen Zee is handling art, and Darren Korb and Ashley Barrett are doing the music.


DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 20 points
DanganRonpa is one of those games that caught my eye and I immediately knew I wanted to play it after reading about it. The game is about a set of high-school students trapped in their school with no access to the outside world; they can live happily inside the school forever more, but if they want to leave there's only one way to do so: kill and get away with it.

I don't really want to say too much because a lot of the delight is in the discovery, but if you look at the game and the premise intrigues you at all then I can't recommend it enough.


Mario Kart 8 - 15 points
Mario Kart 8 is fantastic. It is the best entry in the Mario Kart series for me, which I realise might be considered hyperbole to some, but I mean it. The game is amazing to look at in motion, it is both accessible and yet challenging, there is amazing detail to the tracks, and man that music.

I think the true testament to how much fun the game is that when I arranged a regular get-together on a Saturday for Mario Kart 8 sessions I thought the idea of 11 others turning up was a dream, and I didn't think it'd last more than a few months, perhaps picking up when the DLC hit. Well, some 7 months later we're still going strong (bar the odd missed week) and getting a strong turn out nearly every week. No matter what nonsense we do, or how many times we play Music Park, the game remains ridiculously fun. Bravo Nintendo.


Titanfall - 10 points
Titanfall is the game I bought an Xbox One for, and I don't regret it at all, having sunk hundreds of hours into the game and enjoyed every moment of it. In fact, the only reason I stopped playing is because I had other games I wanted to play and it was threatening to consume all my game time for months and months (rather than just weeks and weeks).

Yes, Titanfall is another fast-paced shooter, but it's a game that for a first showing gets so much right. The Titans feel fantastic and powerful, without being impossible to take down; and movement in the game feels incredible. Titanfall felt like a game changer for the current situation of shooters, and I think games like the newest CoD and Halo are just the first ripples of its impact.

For me this easily deserves a spot in my top list, and count me as someone incredibly excited for Titanfall 2.


Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - 5 points
The graphics, the music, that huge roster of characters (including some delightful new additions such as Bowser Jr., Little Mac, Shulk and Duck Hunt Duo), a solid stage creator, decent online play and just a huge amount of content. It's Smash, in HD, and it's glorious.


Again, my full top 10 and some honourable mentions can be found in my journal: clicky link.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Voting is now closed. Thanks everyone, will work up the results and hope to have them up soon (tomorrow at the latest).

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.