Top 5 Best Games Of 2014

2014 has been a pretty massive year for gaming. Not only did South Africans now have the selection of two new consoles on the market, thanks to the launch of the Xbox One, but the release list was packed full of some interesting and epic new titles.

Looking at this year’s games on Metacritic (which aggregates review scores from online gaming publications), we can have a brief overview of which games were the best of the best in 2014.

Check out the list below:

1. Grand Theft Auto
(Xbox One, PS4)

As expected, the undisputed best game of 2013 is now also the best of 2014 too, thanks to Rockstar’s masterpiece getting a next-gen makeover and some extra little features. An open-world that’s still utterly absorbing, characters that you’ll still want to spend time with and enough new stuff to drag you back for more, all conspire to make GTA V on new-gen entirely indispensable. After 17 years, it’s incredible that the series still has such power to astound and excite.

2, The Last of Us: Remastered
(PS4)

Another next-gen re-release gets a spot on the list this year, and it’s no real surprise. The Last of Us is not only one of the best games of the year, but one of the best ever made. It’s haunting, beautiful, brilliant and downright terrifying, and utilising the boosted power of the PS4, the game was taken to new heights in the remastered version.

3. Super Smash Bros. Wii U
(Wii U)

Super Smash Bros. on Wii U is pure Nintendo magic and it is a lot better than its 3DS brother. The fighting system is challenging and for every element in this game there is a wide range of options. A real single-player mode would have been nice, but the multiplayer is just so good. Also, in a holiday season rife with games that are riddled by bugs and glitches of all sorts, it’s refreshing to know that one can sit down and repeatedly wail on Mario or pummel Samus into submission to your heart’s content.

4. Shadowrun: Dragonfall – Director’s Cut
(PC)

The Director’s Cut is a standalone release of Harebrained Schemes’ Dragonfall campaign, which premiered as a major expansion for Shadowrun Returns, and it pleased PC gamers greatly this year. Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall- Director’s Cut is the best available version of an already great game and it’s worth any RPG fan’s time, plus it costs a lot less too. Cyberpunk, dragons, and exceptional tactical combat, what’s not to like?

5. Dark Souls II
(Xbox 360, PS3)

Dark Souls 2 is the sequel to arguably the most-difficult game in the last couple years. Why’s it so hard,  you ask? Because everything and anything in the game wants to kill you, and it’s not about skill,   because you will die, a lot.  That being said, the attraction to DS is the learning curve of the trial and error (or in this case:   die and try again) nature of the game that has made the franchise as popular as it is.

Which game have you been most happy with this year? Let us know in the comments section below.