Top 10 games 2014

It's time once again for a look back at another year of gaming!

I went through a period early this year where maintaining the weekly review schedule felt like a chore instead of fun. But I got over it - especially when I picked up my fancy top-of-the-line laptop in September, when you may have noticed increased quality in my screenshots and some experimentation with video reviews (now that I have a PC that can handle running a game and capture software at the same time).

As always, this is a list of my favourite ten games I played this year, not a list of the best games that released this year. Well, actually, this year it's eleven, because I just couldn't bring myself to cut any of those games off the list. So here we go - top ten eleven games, in (I think) the order I played them.

Mass Effect 3

Post-Launch Review
Mass Effect 3 (PC)
Developer: BioWare
Released: March 2012
Played: best ending and all DLC in 38 hours; 2 hours multiplayer

About

The Reapers have arrived and no one is ready. After an initial assault on Earth, the Reapers quickly spread across the galaxy, laying siege to the homeworlds of the strongest species to begin their harvest. Facing impossible odds and fighting against a cycle that's lasted millions of years, Commander Shepard must unite the galaxy for a desperate, all-out offensive against the overwhelming force of the Reapers.

Mechanics and Narrative: RPGs

I've covered horror and FPS, so now let's take a look at mechanics and narrative in RPGs.

Roleplaying games typically work a lot harder to construct a complex narrative than other video game genres. They also typically tend to focus a lot on the player's choices and how they affect the characters or story. But there's a balance here: giving the player too much freedom weakens the narrative, while not giving them enough makes a game that's supposedly about freedom and choice feel pretty restrictive.

Personally, I have a lot of problems with how many big RPGs handle choice - I find that they simultaneously offer too much and too little freedom. The very principle at the core of the RPG genre is the root of almost every issue.

Choices and Morality in RPGs

Have you ever been playing an RPG and accidentally had sex?

Have you made a decision for a certain reason, only for the game to think you did it for a completely different one?

Have you ever yearned for morality options more complex than “second coming of Christ” vs “Satan incarnate”?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you've witnessed firsthand some of the main weaknesses of modern roleplaying video games: lack of clarity and lack of depth. All these RPGs boast about their “deep, mature worlds and experiences with rich, meaningful choices”... and then go on to tell you that you can pick between “the good choice” and “the evil choice”.