Best of the Rest: Alexander's picks of 2014
ATTENTION: The year 2014 has concluded its temporal self-destruct sequence. If you are among the escapees, please join us in salvaging and preserving the best games from the irradiated chrono-debris.
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
If you'd told me a year ago that I'd spend a majority of my 2014 with a collectible card game, I'd have politely smiled and nodded, blind to how deeply Hearthstone would get its hooks in me. Blizzard once again proved itself to be the master of evolving a genre for the masses, creating a card game that is distinctly a video game and pulling in 20 million players.
Hearthstone was the perfect distraction from my coursework, allowing for 15-minute breaks. Its daily quests passively pushed me to develop a well-rounded appreciation for the game. I took the time to check out Hearthstone forums and researched different decks as I collected more cards. I soaked in the HearthPwn.
The additional cards added through the Curse of Naxxramas single-player adventure and the Gnomes vs. Goblins expansion have kept the game fresh. Hearthstone is a mathematical crunchfest at the tournament level and, much like poker, I can appreciate it, even knowing I will never be part of that world. Hearthstone and I have a casual understanding and I don't see us concluding our daily dalliance any time soon.
Towerfall: Ascension
Make no mistake, had Towerfall not come out on Ouya in 2013, making Ascension ineligible for our core top ten this year, it would have made our best games of the year. If I'm being honest, it likely would have made the top three. The Joystiq crew loved the game and behind the scenes we cajoled and manufactured numerous justifications to get it through our long-standing game of the year rules, but we had to be honest with ourselves.
Towerfall: Ascension is an amazing party brawler, and developer Matt Thorson conjured a game that immediately casts the Super Smash Bros. enchantment with pixel-art and arrows. Given the resources other studios and publishers have expended to capture the format Nintendo has made look so effortless, it's even more of an accomplishment that an independent developer pulled it off.
Learning to dodge in Towerfall is the skill that separates the puppies from the big dogs, and it's not a game that should be played while any noise ordinance is in effect. There will be laughter in triumph and screams of defeat. Simple to grasp and even simpler to be utterly consumed by in the moment, Towerfall: Ascension is made for gathering friends on a couch.
Dungeon of the Endless
In multiplayer, with up to four players working together, the roguelike Dungeon of the Endless is an intense cooperative experience requiring a lot of communication. Even its "very easy" mode is a challenge. All it takes is one person on the team to screw up and that's when the resentment begins. This is not "feel good" gaming. Dungeon of the Endless requires the same fortitude to not throw something at the screen like a Demon Souls (or Dark Souls), but also provides that stimulant rush when the seemingly impossible is accomplished.
I respect Dungeon of the Endless for being apologetically niche, but I like the game enough that I wish it wasn't one that I know I can only play with a few specific friends. This isn't a shared experience of fun, but of challenge.
Titanfall
It's a struggle to define why Titanfall wasn't sticky enough to hold me. The lack of an involved single-player campaign to introduce this new universe? Was the brilliant combat featuring nimble pilots and beefy mechs still a little too lone wolf for my taste? I was very excited about the game before launch and stopped playing very shortly after. Titanfall is the first of two shooter franchises introduced in 2014 where I hope (and believe) a sequel will rectify my personal issues, or merely solidify that we're just not meant for each other.
Destiny
For the past several months we've referred to Destiny as the best 70-something game that we can't stop playing. I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain how laughably terrible Destiny is at a laundry list of things ... but, boy, the shooting feels great and it's a fantastic cooperative experience. It's also got just enough massively multiplayer genre hooks to give players (especially those who never played World of Warcraft or the like) an inexplicable need to keep coming back. Even though the game's lack of content at launch was staggering, I still found myself playing the same levels time and time again, just because I was having fun with my friends.
And "#teamfriendship," for me, is Destiny's saving grace. As someone who is all about cooperative experiences where I can be supportive, playing a bubble Titan who gives the group a little time to breathe was right in my happy zone. Destiny is the shooter that comes closest to creating that camaraderie that makes the Battlefield series such a joy for me. Overall, Destiny is still working through its growing pains and the game we know two years from now will hopefully be one we don't impulsively mock and praise in the same sentence.
[Images: Activision Blizzard, Matt Thorson, Amplitude Studios, EA]
Joystiq is highlighting its 10 favorite games of 2014 throughout the week. Keep reading for every writer's personal picks in Best of the Rest roundups.
