The Top 10 Games of 2014 (So Far)

Written By: Tyler

We're a little past the middle of the year, and I love "Top 10" lists, so I think now is a good time to give a quick rundown of my favourite games of 2014 so far. Let's get right to it.

10: Earth Defense Force 2025 - I'm a little disappointed with Earth Defense Force 2025 because in a few ways they've improved the experience, but then they've dampened it in a few ways as well. They've improved classes like the Diver (jet pack), and they have some neat other classes, but I feel like one of them is broken and the other wouldn't be any fun unless you're with someone. Still, it's the same Earth Defense Force that I know and love, so it has to be on there because it's just mindless fun.


9: Jazzpunk - Jazzpunk is a parody/homage/satire of the spy genre, and it's one of the funniest games I've played in the past ten years... and it's one of the funniest of the year. It's a joy to see how silly everything is in this game.


8: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - Even though I've always enjoyed Donkey Kong Country, it's not a series that I get excited for when a new game is announced, especially when I feel like the developer should have made a new IP or just done another Metroid. But despite all that, Donkey Kong Country follows a familiar formula but it's an awesome platformer.


7: South Park: The Stick of Truth - It'd be easy for South Park to just rip on the role-playing genre, and it certainly does that, but it embraces the genre at the same time. It's a solid, though pretty linear (as if a linear game is bad), and has solid game mechanics. If you don't like South Park you won't like it as much, but I love the show, and I feel like that should go without saying. Obviously the humour of South Park is the main draw, but even if you took it away there'd be a pretty decent RPG here.


6: The Floor is Jelly - The Floor is Jelly uses a bunch of different tricks to keep the platforming fresh, and it has a beautiful soundtrack by Disasterpeace, who should be indie video game music royalty by now. The ending also caught me off-guard in the best way possible.


5: Charge! - At the beginning of the year I was disappointed by a Jake Clover game, but then I played this later on and it reminded me why I love the game. It isn't much, but it's a lot of fun. It's essentially just a repetitive run-and-gun shooter but it's surreal and uses an excellent song by Jack King-Spooner really well.


4: Mario Kart 8 - I have a few beefs with the way they handle online and the Battle Mode is ass, but it has a good amount of re-worked old tracks and brand new ones. The driving is Mario Kart at its best, especially when you consider how nuts some of the tracks are.


3: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - If this was The Phantom Pain, I have no doubt that this would be number one -- I can already call my game of 2015. Since this is so short and is more of a teaser than anything, I dropped it down a point and only gave it a 9. The gameplay is awesome and dynamic, and I can tell from the limited experience that The Phantom Pain will be awesome... but it's hard to shake the feeling that this is an overpriced demo.


2: Sluggish Morss: Ad Infinitum - Jack King-Spooner released the third game in the Sluggish Morss trilogy -- a series full of surreal and odd social commentary -- and it's a doozy. It's easily the best entry in the trilogy, and while I still feel like it would do him well to add some real gameplay (not just walking around), it's one of the best games of the year due to the style, visuals and the story.


1: Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls - I'm considering an expansion a game, especially since this, and the update before it was released, re-works the Diablo 3 experience drastically. Diablo 3 was a good, even great, game with a bunch of flaws, but Reaper of Souls fixes pretty much all of them but one. The only flaw I think the game still has is the level system, but they'd have to do a complete overhaul to fix that anyway. The new act that they added was incredible, the music actually sticks out and is one of the best soundtracks of the year, and the new Adventure Mode adds a lot of replay value. Reaper of Souls made me go back to a game that I already put over a hundred hours into.

April Is National Humor Month, So Here Are Some Games That Are Much Funnier Than I Am

Written By: Tyler

Well... March has gone by, and now we're into April. Every month I choose something that the month commemorates and I tie it into video games. April is National Humor Month, so I've taken it upon myself to tell you some of the funniest games I've played.

Unfortunately I haven't played Portal or Portal 2, so I'm just letting you know so we can get the disappointment out of the way because damn, those games are loved.


Grim Fandango
 Grim Fandango has an interesting plot. I'll let Wikipedia take it away:

 Grim Fandango takes place in the Land of the Dead, where recently departed souls aim to make their way to the Ninth Underworld. Good deeds in life are rewarded by access to better travel packages to assist in making the journey of the soul, the best of which is the Number Nine, a train that takes four minutes to reach the gate to the Ninth Underworld.^[6] Souls who did not fulfilll a kind life are left to travel through the Land of the Dead on foot, which would take around four years. Such souls often lose faith in the existence of the Ninth Underworld and instead find jobs in the Land of the Dead. The travel agents of the Department of Death act as the Grim Reaper to escort the souls from the mortal world to the Land of the Dead, and then determine which mode of transport the soul has merited. Each year on the Day of the Dead, these souls are allowed to visit their families in the Land of the Living.

Grim Fandango has memorable and hilarious characters and plays with Film Noir conventions incredibly well. It's a dark comedy due to the subject matter, but it's a blast to play.


Conker's Bad Fur Day
The Nintendo 64 had some mature games, but even back then I'd say they started to focus more on family affairs. But not Conker's Bad Fur Day. No, this game is gross and immature, but there's a lot of clever writing on display here. The game also parodies various things, such as Saving Private Ryan, and it does a great job. To this day I still remember coming across one of the other characters and it says, "I'm just wandering around... aimlessly."



Saints Row: The Third 
When Saints Row first came out, it was a decent Grand Theft Auto clone. I had no desire to play the second one because of this so I don't know if they started carving their own path at that point or not. But then the third came out, and oh my god. 

It's another game that may seem juvenile, but it's cleverly juvenile, and it made me laugh a lot with its parodies and jokes.


Jazzpunk
Jazzpunk came out this year, and it's one of the funnier games I've played in the last few years. It takes the spy genre and flips it on its head, crafting a genuinely humorous game. It's just a shame that it isn't a little bit longer.



Earthbound
Ah, Earthbound, the legendary SNES RPG. As a kid I laughed at the jokes, but as an adult I can truly appreciate just how smart and funny it is. And dark. Somehow Earthbound manages to be comical yet tackle some pretty serious issues. Don't get me wrong... it's all about the quirky characters and environments, but there is more to this game than meets the eye. One of the best RPGs of all time and also one of the funniest games.






South Park And The Stick of Truth
Another game that just came out this year, but I had to put it on here because it does what a South Park game should do -- it makes you feel like you're playing an episode (or season) of the show. This is the highest praise I can give it because when South Park is on, it is one of the funniest shows on television. The same can be said about this game. It has all the South Park flavour and characters that fans know and love, while maintaining the gross out satire that it became famous for. For fans of the show you can't do much better than The Stick of Truth.



The Simpsons Game
The game has some gameplay issues, but it's still a fun game. However, like The Stick of Truth, The Simpsons Game perfectly nails the look and feel of the show it's based on. It's a joy watching the classic Simpsons characters interact with each other in context of a video game. It's an homage and parody of the medium.


Psychonauts
I'm not sure if Psychonauts is an underrated/overlooked game at this point or not. Some games get that title so much that they stop being it. Regardless, Psychonauts is an hilarious game.



HK47 from Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic
While not a game, I had to throw some love for HK47 in here because he's a great character in a series that's epic and serious. He provides comical relief in the form of being a homicidal droid that has no respect for human life. Seriously, just go Youtube HK47.



Borderlands 2 
Borderlands was funny, but Borderlands 2 is even funnier because of one person -- Handsome Jack. The rest of the game makes me laugh, but when Handsome Jack basically calls me up just to shit talk me (for the entire game), I can't help but smile and chuckle to myself.



What games make you bust a gut (I've never said that before in my life)? Let me know in the comments below, or if you really want to bitch at me about how Monkey Island isn't on here then tweet me on that Twitter thing @ArtBathednCrime and hurt my feelings.