Well it has been an a riveting year for games this year, it has also been a tough year for the gaming community. 2014 is literally ending tomorrow evening and the new year of 2015 is starting. In this post I am just going to review some of the more interesting highlights to me for the year of 2014. I may not hit on exactly every single note because lets face it come November the market was so over run with new releases that we all felt the pain in our wallets, and it is what really stood out for the year was the title after title after title release. So without further ado lets review the year of 2014!

In the year 2014 we have seen 2 next gen consoles, a slew of games, and 2 next gen consoles just waiting to have some real next generation games to really be released for it. January was a really slow month for console games, however the PC market was flooded with titles that really made PC gamers (Who are the superior gamers) so excited. I really can’t say to much for the month of January.

Then February marched in and we had a good amount of releases, with Donkey Kong : Tropical Freeze, Bravely Default, and Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns. Then we got the news that one of my favorite studios Irrational Games was closing. If you are unfamiliar with Irrational Games well shame on you! Irrational Games are the creators of System Shock and BioShock Franchises. I loved the BioShock series, the first BioShock was just so amazing and wondrous. The story was amazing where you felt actual emotions and you felt like you were the main character. You had ups and downs and lefts and rights. The graphics were beautiful and you felt in this under the sea city known as Rapture was just breathtaking seeing a once amazing city fall into decay. Then you had BioShock 2 which continued the story from 1 and didn’t meet to the same response as the original had did but still an amazing game. Then you had BioShock: Infinite which just I didn’t know how to feel at first because it didn’t take place in the fallen under water city of Rapture but rather in the sky city of Columbia. My opinion greatly changed with this after completing it and seeing the game evolve, it still blows your mind. I digress though but Irrational Games you shall be missed greatly.

March is where 2014 everything clicked and the trend began. We saw South Park : The Stick of Truth release on the Xbox 360 and pS4…Finally!! The game was fantastic funny and was worthy of the South Park name. I am so glad this game not only did not get cancelled but met to such brilliant reviews and even won awards!! Then you had the glorified demo of Metal Gear Solid V, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeros. With this you were introduced to not only a older Big Boss who isn’t trying to kill Solid Snake but a new voice to the fabled character by none other the Jack Bauer himself Kiefer Sutherland. Along with fantastic graphics they added all new elements of Gameplay to the Metal Gear franchise that made combat smooth, but still keeping that classic Metal Gear charm. You still gotta be stealthy, you still rely on patience, and of course you always have your trusty Codec radio. I cannot wait to see the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain next year, because this game impressed me so much. We had Titanfall release for the Xbox One, this kept most new console adopters happy for the time, especially with the online Multiplayer. Then of course I cannot leave out the release of the highly anticipated online collectible card game from Blizzard. Hearth Stone : Heroes of Warcraft. This game is not only free to play but now is across multiple platforms including the iPad and Android Tablets, and highly addictive if you learn how to play it right and have money to buy the packs of cards.

Then in April another PC game month with Goat Simulator, a hilarious game that just sparked so many new simulator games that just are so silly and mindless that you can’t help but not play them. Granted you think they are stupid at first but as you play them you ask yourself, “Why am I still playing this.” I did not play Elder Scrolls Online another game that was released during this time because I just couldn’t deal with another MMO, but the game itself I heard very mixed opinions on. The one game that I absolutely loved in the month of April was Child of Light. Child of Light is a 2D side scroller RPG made by Ubisoft. This game not only was magical in its simplistic game play and fairy-tale plot driven story, but what really made this game shine was the artistic graphics. This game was in my opinion Art, plain and simple. The backgrounds were gorgeous the characters were beautifully drawn and all were designed in a water-color aesthetically pleasing.

May was the month that kicked off the huge spike in Nintendo! I am so proud of Nintendo, because they are climbing back to the top with this month. Nintendo not only had Mario Golf: World Tour for the Nintendo 3DS, but they had the amazingly successful and fun Mario Kart 8 that launched the Wii U to great heights. Mario Kart 8 was what Nintendo needed to get back in the game. The game was knocked out of the park! With new and classic levels new karts, new everything! Also it was the start of the whole Nintendo actually allowing you to post your videos of gameplay onto YouTube directly from the system. You see this was a bit of a hot button issues because Gamers who did lets plays with Nintendo games Nintendo was not to happy with them, because they were monetizing off there work. I can see the perspective from both sides, but I already went over that in a previous post (Read that Here). All this was gearing up to the month gamers drool for and wait for all year I am talking about June

June is not only the beginning of Summer but it is Gamers month as I like to call it. Simply because you guessed it… E3!!! (Read my E3 Review Here) Also thats the month that I started writing and reviewing games again here on my lovely blog thanks to you guys! Every year every company makes there way to Los Angeles to show off there games fro the coming months and next year and ohh this E3 was fantastic because it was all about the Games! We had games announcements left and right! It was exciting to be a gamer at E3 this year. Nintendo again I think stole the show, however Sony out of left field who usually does not have very good shows at E3 really put up a fight this year and made me glad I actually purchased a PlayStation 4. They showed titles like No Mans Sky, and Uncharted 4 and a slew of other titles. Microsoft however was a little lackluster in there performance.  There were a couple of gems that were release like Shovel Knight, but the main spotlight was E3 and the games that were coming up in the coming months and year.

Now in July and August it wasn’t to exciting so instead of rambling off titles that really didn’t make the cut because I honestly didn’t play them I am gonna take this time and talk about some of the trends that were happening in gaming along with some stuff that was happening in the industry over the year. 1st in August there was Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. It was a pretty awesome show, continuing off the success of E3 the game company’s really brought there A games to the table. However this year trends really started to grow. It was a year of HD remakes and remasters. You had Fable: Anniversary, The Last of US HD, GTA V for next gen, the Master Chief Collection, Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix, I mean honestly the list goes on and on. Then the second thing I saw a trend in this year which I already went into great depths again in previous posts, but there are definitive console editions and exclusive content for consoles. I really don’t like this because I think Microsoft and Sony instead of fighting and spending money on exclusive stuff for 3rd party multi-console games they should I dunno make new games! Also it was a year of a lot and I do mean a lot of glitches with supposedly finished games. First was Watch Dogs, following suite with Assassins Creed Unity, Halo Master Chief Collection and many more. This in my opinion was unacceptable, I mean you can’t release something unfinished charge us full price and then say your fixing it, then in order for the fix to go through you gotta buy downloadable content and purchase that to get the fix along with content that’s already in the game. I know the industry is trying to get the most out of consumers, but when are we going to draw the line in the sand? I think there was enough outrage with this that I hope and pray that developers get the message. Then there was the purchase of Twitch by Amazon. Then what really rocked the gaming community was GamerGate, I rather not go into this but its sad that we as a community had to go through this because some people can’t play nice with others and we all can’t be grown ups, it was a sad time these months for both the community and gaming but don’t fret because September was just around the corner with its gaming goodness.

In September we saw the release of Destiny the claimed shooter from Bungie, this is what warmed up the month, then of course my favorite Hyrule Warriors was released along with the definitive Lord of the Rings games Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor.  September was the warm up month for what would be the beginning of what some people called Gamergedon. Because then in October we had a load of games. We had a good amount of Horror games for the spooky time of the year with Betheseda’s Evil Within, and Sega who finally brought an Alien game worth calling an Alien game unlike that piece of crap Aliens : Colonial Marines. Alien: Isolation was scary and everything you would expect from an Alien game. It had its moments of frustration but this game really brought new life to the survival horror genre along with the Alien franchise name. Xbox One had the punk rock spectacular Sunset Overdrive, and Nintendo gave us more with Super Smash Bros. 3DS , and Bayonetta 2 for Wii U which was not only an amazing fun game but it was so well recieved by critics getting scores almost near perfect. May was the start of Nintendo’s climb and October made it even more hotter, but this was nothing what was in store for next month.

November was what was called Gamergedon because of the title after title major releases that came out that month. November had releases like Call of Duty : Advance Warfare, the first call of duty game I genuinely enjoyed in a long long time and I actually purchased it. World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, Halo the Master Chief Collection, Little Big Planet 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition , Lego Batman 3, Far Cry 4. I mean the titles go on! However I keep on stating it and I do apologize but this year was Nintendo’s big comeback with not only the launch of Super Smash Bros. Wii U, The Collectible toy come to life Amiibo figures which are hotter the Skylanders at this juncture, and Pokemon Alpha Ruby and Omega Sapphire.  I still am playing all these titles so hopefully I can get some reviews out for you with in the next month but being so super busy with personal items and the Holidays it was just to overload for me!

Things wind down for the close of the year in December with Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix , and more Nintendo goodness with Captain Toad Treasure Tracker and NES Remix Pack for Wii U. However in December the gaming community was able to put down there battle axes with each other and we were treated to probably the best Video Game Award Show. It was a celebration of games and the community. What really impressed me the most was that games that actually deserved the awards in the categorys actually were game I would choose! It was amazing. Along with all the announcements. My favorite being the gameplay of the New Zelda Wii U, and announcement of Star Fox coming out in 2015. Then we were treated to the PlayStation Experience where Sony had there day of showing off there 1st party titles.

All and All 2014 was slow to start but ended with a Big Bang! There weren’t really any show stoppers this year but it did open the door to a great start of 2015. I am excited not only for the continued success that Nintendo so richly deserves but also what to look forward to for all the next generation consoles! PlayStation 4 I think is going to be the big dog to beat with its amazing line up with games like No Mans Sky and the Order 1886, but Xbox One has yet to show off its muscle with its teaming up with a lot of Indy Developers. So with that being said I hope everyone had a great 2014, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to all! I will see you all in 2015!

Game On!

-Keith

The premise of the story draws from various mythologies, and follows the story of a Bird and a Fish. They are two souls who are in love but cannot be together. The objective of the game is you control both the fish which is orange and the bird which is blue using the DualShock 4’s dual analog sticks. In story mode you play through what are called “Lifetimes” and there are 9 lifetimes to play through. Each character has there own degree of 180 degrees of a tunnel and using the corresponding analog stick you move the characters collecting orbs orange for the fish and blue for the bird. While you do this you maneuver yourself through a series of rings  that have obstacles in color coordinating to the particular color of the specific animal or if you meet in the middle with both animals you turn into a new green color.  Keep in mind both animals you control simply using the analog sticks. The ultimate goal is to collect these orbs and successfully maneuver through the tunnel matching the colors in each barrier. Towards the end when your meter are full you fuse together by holding the L1 and R1 and after passing through more barriers you form a magnificent dragon and fly through painting the sky. The game itself is simple to understand and easy to generally pick up.

The main objective gather orbs to fuse into a magnificent dragon

With the basic game play knowledge in mind this can be where the game can get quite frustrating. Each of the 9 lifetimes require that you collect the corresponding orbs to fill a meter that corresponds to either the fish or the bird. Now if you miss a barrier the corresponding color is penalized. Each level slowly increasing speed and slightly raising in difficulty. As the difficulty rises the barriers patterns change and if you don’t really have the eye hand coordination and knowledge of the Jedi Knight the game can become quite frustrating. Combine this with the fact the game is very short roughly a couple hours long and really has only 2 modes of play the basic story mode and a challenge mode that really has no levity on the game so the content is kinda lacking a little bit.

Pass through the color barriers with the corresponding colora bird or fish and fill your meter.

My final review on this game is even though the game play is simple and easy to pick up can get quite frustrating at points and being paired up with a short game time and lack of content can be quite underwhelming. Where the game really gives me justification for really playing and kinda makes up for some of its general frustration is the sound and visuals of this game.  The aesthetics are gorgeous with a brilliant color palette and the soundtrack that accompany’s the game is absolutely sublime. However while aesthetically pleasing I cannot justify a price of $9.99 I believe at this time I would say either wait for the price to drop or quite possibly wait for it to be free on PlayStation +.

I rate this game a 2.5 out of 5 for beautiful graphics and sound but for lack of content and short game play.