Usually, it’s tough to decide which game deserves the honour of being Game of the Year. This year was relatively easier given the number of disappointments and games that just failed to live up to expectations. That being said, there were plenty of gems that stood out and grabbed our attention, refusing to let go and engulfing us further into their core.

For all its criticisms, Titanfall really did make us rethink first person shooters and of all of the shooters this year, it handled verticality and airborne movement the best. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor took us by complete surprise with its innovative Nemesis system but made us stay with its compelling plot, combat, missions and characters. It further proved that you don’t need a huge environment to make a successful open world game.

Super Smash Bros. Wii U once again proved the appeal of a crossover fighter, especially one that emphasized chaos and fun over competitiveness and perfection. Only one game could earn the mantle of Game of the Year 2014 though.

Nominees:

• Dragon Age: Inquisition
• Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
• Super Smash Bros for Wii U
• Titanfall

Winner: Dragon Age Inquisition

After the ho-hum Dragon Age II, Bioware set out to address each and every single criticism surrounding the series. Even then, it went overboard in making Dragon Age: Inquisition. There are those who have spent more than 100 hours with the game and are still finding new areas to explore and missions to undertake.

But that’s not what made Dragon Age: Inquisition so amazing. The visuals brought the world to life in a way we hadn’t experienced since The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The companions and their adjoining voice actors made for arguably the best cast in the series, if not RPGs, till date. The questing mechanics, strategies, side missions, co-op multiplayer, Skyhold missions and customization options only further added on to a game that was determined to get you hooked and addicted.

You can’t really appreciate Dragon Age: Inquisition without pouring a significant amount of your time into it. This isn’t because the game doesn’t impress off the bat but because the more effort you put in, the more the game rewards you. And thankfully, Dragon Age: Inquisition doesn’t demand too much to deliver a good time.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

This year didn’t have the benefit of two major consoles releasing, never mind the various controversies that went on behind both their releases, but headlines were still buzzing a’plenty with what had happened.

If it wasn’t Microsoft acquiring Mojang and Minecraft for $2.5 billion with Markus “Notch” Persson departing soon after, then it was the acquisition of Oculus VR and Rift by Facebook for a whopping $2 billion. Twitch also made plenty of news this year with rumours of its acquisition by Google before Amazon finally picked up the video game streaming site.

Street Fighter 5 being exclusive to the PS4 was also a hot topic especially since it confirmed that Sony was as much involved in keeping third party exclusives as Microsoft was. That being said, there was one particular event this year that caused plenty of impact in the industry itself. Thankfully, it worked out in a positive way for the party in question.

Nominees:

• Street Fighter V is a PlayStation Console Exclusive
• Xbox One price drops and launches Kinectless version
• Amazon buys Twitch
• Facebook buys VR headset maker Oculus for $2 billion.

Winner: Xbox One price drops and Kinectless SDK

After its initial reveal and the controversies that followed, Microsoft took every single step possible to address concerns. 24 hour online authentication? Gone. An always on Kinect? Gone. No game sharing in either the digital or retail space without paying a small fee? Gone. Horrible indie publishing policies? Gone. Don Mattrick? Thank Christ he was gone.

But there was still the issue of the Xbox One costing $100 more than the PS4 due to the inclusion of Kinect. Microsoft tried to spin this as beneficial but eventually, even it had trouble justifying the purchase. So when it was finally announced that the Xbox One would $399 without Kinect, there was both anger from those who made the day one purchase and jubilation from those who always wanted to get on.

The price drop helped sales as well. Microsoft reported double the number of sales within the first month of the price drop and though official numbers are yet to be released, the Xbox One is catching up pretty well to the PS4. It may seem minor – it is just a price drop after all – but the Xbox One costing $399 and ditching Kinect is our pick for biggest news of the year.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

Best Co-Op Multiplayer

Developers are now, more than ever, emphasizing on experiences you can enjoy with your friends. This has led to some titles ostensibly focusing on online-only gameplay while others struggle to have their co-op mechanics running on day one (but don’t worry – we’ll get to Assassin’s Creed: Unity soon enough). Regardless, 2014 was as heavily focused on co-op as next year is expected to be especially with games like Tom Clancy’s The Division, Bloodborne, Battlefield: Hardline and more set to arrive.

What were the stand-out experiences of this year? Was it the traipse into Destiny’s Vault of Glass which took teams several days to figure out, not to mention the current Crota’s End raid which many are still yet to beat legit? Was it Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and it’s wacky story-line replete with loot trading, powerful enemies and hijinx? Heck, when it actually worked, was it the co-op heists and assassinations of Assassin’s Creed: Unity that simply demanded some one mess things up for added fun?

Unsurprisingly, it was a game that saw immense success last year for its co-op gameplay.

Nominees:

• Grand Theft Auto 5
• Destiny
• Borderlands: The Pre-sequel
• Assassin’s Creed Unity

Winner: Grand Theft Auto Online

You may scoff and think we only mean the Xbox One and PS4 versions of Rockstar’s masterpiece when we say it’s the Best Co-Op Multiplayer Game of 2014. We won’t argue that first person mode and improved visuals made co-op tons of fun on the current generation either.

However, it was Rockstar’s continuing support for Grand Theft Auto Online that’s made it the most addictive game with friends till this day. New content in the form of missions, a Job Creator, playlists, weapons, vehicles, properties, costumes and so much more has been added to Grand Theft Auto Online that it’s overwhelming. The best part? It’s all been available for free. No extra charge whatsoever.

The future looks especially bright since Heists will be heading to Grand Theft Auto Online in early 2015. While we doubt it will remain on top next year, when it comes to having fun with friends online, Grand Theft Auto Online is still the experience to beat.

Best Competitive Multiplayer

Now this is one category that’s been a real doozy. As much as developers focused on co-op, there was still a prevailing school of thought for competitive multiplayer. It also helped that Nintendo brought two of its biggest competitive franchises to the Wii U this year with Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. The surprisingly good multiplayer component for The Last of Us was given a new leash on life when Naughty Dog brought the Remastered edition to the PS4 this year.

This isn’t including the usual competitive fore-runners like Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Halo: The Master Chief Collection. However, due to a range of issues from matchmaking an unbalanced lobbies to lack of dedicated servers and horrible spawn points, both games were knee-capped at launch. The mechanics may have been there to make both games fun and they have been patched extensively – with Halo: MCC having better success than Advanced Warfare – there’s still more work to be done.

Which game walked away with the award for Best Competitive Multiplayer of 2014 then? The choice wasn’t easy but it felt right.

Nominees:

• Titanfall
• Super Smash Bros for Wii U
• Mario Kart 8
• The Last of Us: Remastered

Winner: Titanfall

Respawn Entertainment’s first game was hyped to the moon and back before it released. While player numbers continue to dwindle, Titanfall delivered on being the best competitive multiplayer experience of the year.

It hasn’t been an easy journey. The online-only first person shooter suffered from a lack of content, Smart Pistol woes, matchmaking issues complaints of repetitive gameplay, the usual bugs and a severely different style of play from Call of Duty. But it had tons of dedicated support from Respawn, right down to the dedicated servers that insured a silky smooth experience till this day. The developer even added new modes including a co-op based Frontier Defense mode completely free.

However, it was the gameplay of Titanfall that made it one of the most enjoyable games of the year. From the fluid parkour movement to the sheer focus on strategy and skill over drop-shots and kill-streaks, Titanfall rewarded players for simply being better than the competition. Even the weapons, despite the limited selection, each had their own line of mastery and alternative firing modes. Love it or hate it, Titanfall stood out as the best way to reinvent the first person shooter genre without severely breaking the mold.

Best Sound (Music, SFX and Voice Acting)

Graphics may be the first thing a person when witnessing a new game but sound plays an even more pivotal role than ever in immersing one in it. Where would games like System Shock 2 be without the amazing sound behind it, reminding you of danger around every corner? Would Nathan Drake have been as appealing a protagonist as he turned out being without the stellar voice acting behind him? The Last of Us would have certainly been less than emotional without Gustavo Santaolalla’s amazing score.

This year, we decided to look at games with the most stellar effort in every single aspect of sound. Some efforts like The Last of Us: Remastered were considered but really, it is just the same game from last year in terms of sound. Alien: Isolation, like the original Alien film, made excellent use of its audio to create the surreal feeling of dread from being hunted by a Xenomorph despite the voice acting being a tad weak.

Mario Kart 8 seemed to have things in the bag with its awesome music, voice overs and sound effects. But one game would rule them all this year and it wasn’t hard to see why.

Nominees:

• Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor
• Alien Isolation
• Mario Kart 8
• The Last of Us Remastered

Winner: Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor

The soundtrack by Garry Schyman and Nathan Grigg embodied the spirit of Middle Earth while still evoking an action movie feel. Troy Baker’s work as protagonist Talion was stellar but it was equally matched by the rest of the cast including Alastair Duncan as Celebrimbor and Nolan North as the Black Hand of Sauron. The opening sequence of the game probably wouldn’t have been as chilling without the soft slitting of throats or the manic clanging of swords in the thunderous rain.

However, the voice acting of the Orcs is easily one of the most stand-out features of the game. Monolith not only crafted individual personalities for each Orc Captain and Warchief but recorded tons of dialogue for that added bit of uniqueness. You may find some lines being repeated but it’s amazing how each Orc feels like its own entity with the right of amount of varying inflection and tone in their voices.

For an all-round excellent effort in every conceivable department of sound, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor is our pick for Best Sound of 2014.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

Best Gameplay Mechanic

Games are often defined by one simple characteristic: Graphics. As they should be, since the first thing a consumer will look at is the graphics. Debates about graphics fitting the tone of the game and adding to the gameplay or just standing on their own and becoming the game a la Myst can wait another day.

However, it’s the gameplay that will keep players coming back. An original mechanic or innovative twist on a time-worn classic often keep the player hooked beyond his or her understanding. It can add to the experience and really make one consider their actions as with Gears of Wars’ Active Reload or Titanfall’s Parkour.

Which gameplay mechanic this year succeeded in drawing the player in and exploring every single possibility it had to offer? Which mechanic offered hours of unique fun and intrigue, endlessly mixing things up and ensuring the experience never got old? Given the number of unique ideas this year – some which didn’t pan out – it was hard to choose but there was a clear favourite among the bunch.

Nominees:

• Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor -The Nemesis System
• Mario Kart 8 – Anti-Gravity
• Call of Duty Advanced Warfare – Exoskeleton
• Alien Isolation -Xenomorph A.I.

Winner: Nemesis System – Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor

Monolith Productions’ idea for the Nemesis System in Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor seemed simple yet highly complex. A system that actually made each enemy unique? A hierarchy you could manipulate to influence the balance of power in Mordor? Enemies that remembered your encounters and responded accordingly, each with their own strengths and weaknesses? It all sounded pretty cool but we had to wait and see how it worked.

As it turns, the Nemesis System worked out extremely well. You could be in the process of assassinating one Orc captain and suddenly be attacked by three more. You could send a feisty little Uruk up the food chain and see how far he progressed before dominating his mind and earning his allegiance. Orcs could be turned upon Orcs and struggles for power could be disrupted to kill two birds with one stone.

The best part is that it all fit in quite well with the Middle Earth lore, even if the overarching story was full of discrepancies. As it stands, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor was a good action adventure, third person hack and slash title. But the Nemesis System, among other things, helped make it truly great.

Worst Gameplay Mechanic

Just as good mechanics can leap out and further captivate a player already bedazzled by the sights and sounds of a great game, so can horrible mechanics draw one out of a game and make it extremely hard to bear.

Destiny’s random number generator received plenty of flak especially before Bungie patched the Engram system to allow Legendary Engrams to provide Legendary Gear. Before the patch, it wasn’t odd to pick up an Exotic Engram and see it decrypt into a worthless Blue Item. Speaking of Exotics, Bungie seemingly shot itself in the foot with Exotic Upgrades for The Dark Below expansion when it told players to spend a substantial amount of coin and re-grind their Exotic Weapons and Gear from scratch to take advantage of increased stats.

There were plenty of other stand-out stupidities including the inane decision making process of Far Cry 4, wherein you decided whether to follow Sabal or Amita or just hang out in Pagan Min’s house because he’s the least stupid of the bunch. Or the so-called “hacking” of Watch Dogs which seemed hokey at best and clunky at worst. If you think about it, Ubisoft was pretty determined to make this their roughest year yet.

Nominees:

• Assassin’s Creed Unity – Play the App to Unlock Chests
• Watch Dogs – “Hacking”
• Far Cry 4 – Decision Making
• Destiny – Exotic Upgrades

Winner: Assassin’s Creed Unity – Play the App to Unlock Chests

It’s one thing to force players into micro-transactions and purchase things simply to speed up the game. It’s another thing to introduce a pathetic movement system that actually makes navigating the open world more difficult than before. It’s yet something else to introduce a co-op mechanic that doesn’t feel special, much less work when your game first releases. And you’re really rolling the dice when your game is just broken and you release it anyway.

All that said, having to play an app just to unlock certain chests in Assassin’s Creed: Unity has to be one of the stupidest mechanics ever.

Not only is the companion app boring and a chore but you have to sync it with your actual game. This means stopping what you’re doing, loading the app and playing the portion in order to get the chest. Thanks to all the bugs, it wasn’t even guaranteed the chest would open.

A word of advice to Ubisoft: In the future, when you want introduce f**king stupid mechanics in your game, introduce them into your brain first to at least invoke hemorrhaging and possible death. Whatever gets the job done at this point really.

Developer of the Year

Hilariously or perhaps not, many top-tier and trusted developers failed to garner sympathy with our judges. Bungie’s Destiny, for example, may have been a better experience than initial reviews described but it was still seen as a game who’s campaign and content was lacking compared to the company’s best efforts.

It was the less likely developers that truly stuck out. Monolith Productions won over many hearts with Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor but Platinum Games curried even more favour with Bayonetta 2 on the Wii U. This is to say nothing about the stellar effort that Bioware put forth with Dragon Age: Inquisition, a game which redeemeed the franchise and reignited our love for Western RPGs in one fell swoop.

However, once again, there can be only one winner and sadly, the runners-up just couldn’t compare to what the oldest player in the game had in store.

Nominees:

• Nintendo
• Bioware
• Platinum Games
• Monolith Productions

Winner: Nintendo

Remember one year ago when we were all criticizing Nintendo for failing to expand its franchises into the mobile space? Or when we thought it was doing a horrible job with the Wii U? How about the lack of compelling games on the 3DS when it first came out?

Nintendo sought to show us all up this year on both the home console and handheld front. Super Smash Bros. Wii U and 3DS, Mario Kart 8, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Hyrule Warriors, Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby…that’s not even counting the number of releases that the company helped publish including Bayonetta 2.

The future looks even better with The Legend of Zelda, Splatoon, Yoshi’s Wooly World, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Star Fox, Mario Maker and Mario Party 10 out next year. For all amazing efforts and hours of fun it brought us this year, Nintendo is our Best Developer of 2014.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

Best PS4 Game

After a hyped up launch, millions of units sold, a solid indie policy and tons of high profile games teased at Gamescom 2013, E3 2014 and then the recent PlayStation Experience, it was somewhat disheartening to see only a few stand-out titles for the PS4 this year. One of the most anticipated games was DriveClub which launched with a multitude of issues and was ultimately in good shape a good two months after release.

It’s not all dire though – the PS4 still had some great games and a very successful year overall. 2015 is looking to be even better with exclusives like Bloodborne and The Order: 1886 kicking off the first quarter of the year. That’s not even including the blockbuster Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End that will release later in 2015. What stood out this year though? What was the top PS4 exclusive that earned our respect? It was a close race but the victor seemed obvious.

Nominees:

• InFamous: Second Son
• Dragon Age Inquisition
• The Last of Us Remastered
• LittleBig Planet 3

Winner: inFamous Second Son

Say what you will about the overall quality of Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Last of Us: Remastered but the former’s definitive experience is on the PC while the latter is simply a re-release of last year’s Game of the Year. LittleBigPlanet 3 was a good game but suffice to say, it didn’t quite live up to the hype of its predecessors.

That left Sucker Punch Productions’ inFamous: Second Son. Right off the bat, the world looked gorgeous and we were immersed in a brand new storyline with plenty of intriguing powers to play around with. The moral dilemmas and missions weren’t as properly evolved as one would have liked but in terms of running around and wrecking shop with superpowers, inFamous: Second Son was a blast.

Best Xbox One Game

Though Microsoft’s eighth generation console didn’t beat Sony’s out in terms of sales, it certainly owned the year with its exclusives. In Q3/Q4 alone, we got Forza Horizon 2, Sunset Overdrive and Halo: The Master Chief Collection to play around with.

Forza Horizon 2 wiped away the bad karma of Forza Motorsport 5 by giving us a wide open world to explore, stunning visuals and an excellent balance of arcade and simulation racing.  There was so much to go through with all the cars to customize, events to complete and random quests to fulfill that you’ll feel the hours melt away.

Another big name release that turned heads – both in good and bad ways – was Respawn Entertainment’s Titanfall which provided arguably some of the freshest fun in shooters that we’ve had in ages. Whether it was the sheer balance of gunplay, the fluid parkour mechanics or the crazy Titan battles, Titanfall attempted to reinvent the wheel while appealing to both new and experienced shooter players.

Then there was Grand Theft Auto 5, which arrived on the Xbox One and PS4 with plenty of grandeur and looked even better than what the previous generation delivered. Did we mention first person murdering? Because first person murdering – and first person tumbling out of an airplane – is awesome.

So with so much going for the Xbox One, what title ultimately ended up winning? The result was pretty much a no-brainer (though it was incredibly close).

Nominees:

• Sunset Overdrive
• Forza Horizon 2
• Titanfall
• Grand Theft Auto 5

Winner: Sunset Overdrive

Maybe it’s the customization mechanics. Maybe it’s the over-the-top inside humour and references. Maybe it was the colourful pastels. We’re pretty sure it was because of the guns and bizarre enemies and co-op mechanics and open world.

Whatever reason you want to give, it’s obvious that Insomniac created something special with Sunset Overdrive. Mixing parkour mechanics with a kitschy bombastic art style and an insane arsenal, Sunset Overdrive reminded us that you can throw away grim story-telling, realistic combat and grisly visuals to just have fun.

Everything in the game comes together so well and gels perfectly with the atmosphere. No single element overpowers the other and Insomniac will be delivering even more content in the coming months with its Season Pass DLC. If you’ve ever wondered what a hipster, grindhouse, action adventure, open world escapade was like, then take a trip to Sunset City.

Best PC Game

Judging the best PC game was tough. Do we look at the various AAA releases that came to PC and ultimately ended up being the definitive versions to play in terms of visuals? Do we look at efforts like Divinity: Original Sin, Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun: Dragonfall which reignited our passion for the turn-based, isometric RPG genre like no other (besides proving the power of crowd-funding to deliver excellent games)?

Or do we just look at the games we had the most fun playing on PC?

It’s a tough choice to be sure, especially given the number of third party games that suffered from issues at launch. Assassin’s Creed: Unity was a flop and still needs extensive work to correct its frame rate. Watch Dogs warned us of the dangers of too much hype. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was excellent but not the full-fledged Vault Hunting experience we had hoped for. Thankfully, there was still a strong palette of releases to choose from.

Nominees:

• Dragon Age: Inquisition
• Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor
• Titanfall
• Alien Isolation

Winner: Dragon Age Inquisition

Bioware outdid itself with Dragon Age: Inquisition. It could have attempted to deliver a compelling medieval fantasy RPG with a larger scale than the second game and gameplay that improved on the first. Instead, Bioware went all out in terms of scale, side-quests, detail, characters, companions and writing.

It connected to earlier events and happenings in the franchise. It gave us a customizable Skyhold to raise our armies. It let us send armies out to complete missions. It gave us a co-op multiplayer experience that seemingly solved the issues that plagued Mass Effect 3.

It gave us a gorgeous, fully-realized world that was just plain fun to play in.

The tactical camera and mechanics felt like a more natural fit for PC but in terms of pure, overall quality and top-notch visuals, Dragon Age: Inquisition stood as the best PC of 2014.

Best Wii U Game

In a year where major developers and publishers failed one after the other to release error-free games, Nintendo stayed consistent with its releases all throughout.

It’s funny that with all the doom and gloom that plagued Nintendo coming into 2014 that it would ultimately end up delivering the most number of quality exclusives.

Bayonetta 2 finally arrived on the Wii U and turned out to be an even more bizarre but still highly memorable experience than the first game. Mario Kart 8 rekindled our hatred for our fellow man and his possession of the Blue Shell but made it all better with its excellent multiplayer, track design and music. And while Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze didn’t stand out the most, it was still an excellent platforming experience that one simply had to play.

All of these paled in comparison to our pick for Best Wii U Game of the Year.

Nominees:

• Super Smash Bros for Wii U
• Bayonetta 2
• Mario Kart 8
• Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
  

Winner: Super Smash Bros. Wii U

Online play! Customizable Mii fighters! Amiibo support! Eight-player Smash! There are plenty of buzzwords you can throw around to hype up Super Smash Bros. Wii U. However, it all comes down to the fact that the game is just plain awesome.

You have a wide range of characters to choose from, with series classics like Mario and Star Fox to new additions like Mega Man and the Animal Crossing Villager; there’s a new set of challenges to complete with rewards to be earned for the single-player crowd; and really, do we even have to sell you on the multiplayer?

Nintendo has had a great year in terms of sales and games. We’re confident that 2015 will be great but after the release of Super Smash Bros. Wii U, Nintendo has set an extraordinarily high bar to conquer.

Best Indie Game

You just can’t stop the indie movement. Sony unveiled various indie properties for its consoles, which included the awesome Velocity 2X and upcoming efforts like The Tomorrow Children and Everybody Goes to the Rapture. Microsoft didn’t lay dormant and made a quick recovery from last year’s indie debacle to introduce efforts like Inside, Cuphead and Ori and The Blind Forest while continuing to tease us with Below. PC gamers had more than enough to enjoy this year with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and The Talos Principle which will also be heading to the PS4 next year.

That being said, while we enjoyed the utter competitive madness that Towerfall: Ascension provided, the heart-breaking and emotional story-telling of Valiant Hearts: The Great War (which isn’t technically indie but was created by a small team with limited resources at Ubisoft, much like Child of Light), and sheer action platforming excitement of Velocity 2X, there was one indie experience that defined 2014.

It was a game we had looked forward to for a long time and thankfully, it released across a variety of platforms.

Nominees:

• Shovel Knight
• Velocity 2X
• TowerFall Ascension
• Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Winner: Shovel Knight

Everything about Yacht Games’ Shovel Knight is a win. The theme, the 8-bit graphics, the music, the sheer difficulty that threw us back to the days of the original Mega Man and Castelvania titles – Shovel Knight manages to mix all these elements together and magically appeal to players of all ages. The appeal of the game isn’t in its nostalgia or quirkiness – it’s in the fact that games can be distilled to a select few elements. And when you make those elements simple and satisfying, people will have fun regardless of which games they prefer.

Shovel Knight should have released in 2013 but subsequent delays made us doubt whether it would even be out this year. Yacht Games delivered though and if it that weren’t enough, we’ll be getting a battle mode for four players, campaigns for three other Knights featured in-game, a challenge mode and much more. PlayStation players will even be able to fight against Kratos when Shovel Knight arrives for PS3, PS4 and Vita next year.

Your lesson for the new year? Embrace the shovel, even if it looks a little less HD than you’re used to.

Best Handheld Game

The home consoles may have their disappointments here and there – this year perhaps more than any other – but one can always count on the handheld realm to deliver. The rising popularity of smartphones and tablets, not to mention the resources being poured into gaming on Android and iOS, hasn’t dulled the quality releases one can expect on handhelds like the Nintendo 3DS.

Even the PlayStation Vita has a relatively good year with Velocity 2X, PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate, Soul Sacrifice Delta and plenty of ports like Minecraft and Child of Light. The 3DS dominated as usual though with Bravely Default finally hitting the West, Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Kirby Triple Deluxe and Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth. Nintendo didn’t have as many first party hits like it did last year but the 3DS still stood strong with lots of quality releases.

Which one earned the right to be called the Best Handheld Game of 2014? As it turns out, Nintendo did have one AAA release up its sleeve.

Nominees:

• Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS
• Pokemon OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire
• Persona Q: Shadow of the labyrinth
• Velocity 2X

Winner: Super Smash Bros. for 3DS

Big surprise, right? Super Smash Bros. on the 3DS was notable for being the first real iteration of the franchise to hit handhelds and it helped fill the void till the Wii U version released this year.

Despite lacking features like 8 player Smash and spiffy visuals, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS still featured fun online play and Mii fighter support. If you wanted to hop into a random match with strangers with varying elements and plenty of chaos, Super Smash Bros. presented an excellent solution on the go. The 3DS version also featured its own exclusive content with StreetSmash and Smash Run. The latter was essentially the challenge mode for players that offered tons of different variations and competitions besides the actual racing aspect against friends.

Amidst all these variables, Nintendo managed to maintain what makes Super Smash Bros. so much fun. Gameplay is fast and responsive, and you’re never not having fun (unless you’re playing as Little Mac during his Final Smash, in which case we feel for). For all of its cel-shaded madness, the 3DS version is still a great addition to the Smash Bros. franchise in every single way.

Best Expansion Pack/DLC

We’ve come a long way from the days of expansion packs providing dozens of hours of new content but we’re also a long way from the Oblivion Horse Armour DLC that caused so much controversy.

Downloadable content and for that matter Season Passes have become the de facto way to obtain new content for a game in this day and age. Some games like Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare simply provide new maps, weapons and a Zombies mode while Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel throws new levels, new characters, new challenges and a level cap increase for the devout.

There were a few returns to the old way of doing things. Bungie dubbed its DLC for Destiny as “expansions” and delivered hours of new content and gear while Blizzard’s Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls was an entirely new campaign and set of gameplay options (though it took a while and a major patch for it to truly come into its own). Then there was The Last of Us: Left Behind which served as a prequel to the original story but delivered its own hard-hitting narrative. And don’t even get us started on Amiibos.

Which DLC or expansion stood out the most this year though?

Nominees:

• The Legend of Zelda DLC pack for Mario Kart 8
• The Last of Us: Left Behind
• Amiibo for Super Smash Bros for Wii U
• InFamous: First Light

Winner: The Legend of Zelda DLC pack for Mario Kart 8

Nintendo isn’t usually a company that pushes for DLC. With the Wii U gaining an added presence this year with multiple hit releases, it brought out DLC for games like Hyrule Warriors, Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. Wii U. The stand-out DLC pack for this year came in the shape of The Legend of Zelda DLC pack for Mario Kart 8 though. Just what made it so special?

Along with three new characters including Link and Cat Peach, four new vehicles and new parts. That’s not all though – you get two new cups with the Triforce Cup and the Egg Cup. Some of the tracks here are remixed versions of tracks from previous games in the franchise and some – like Hyrule Circuit – are brand new. When you consider how much content that is for just $7.99, The Legend of Zelda pack delivers insane amounts of value.

Even better, if you purchase it along with the upcoming Animal Crossing DLC, you’ll pay only $11.99 and receive roughly double the amount of content. The Last of Us: Left Behind may have the better story and characterization but The Legend of Zelda DLC for Mario Kart 8 provides countless hours of entertainment for solo and competitive players alike.

Best Multiplatform Game

In trying to choose the best multiplatform game of the year, it was important to highlight games that were equal across all platforms. No, being uniformly awful doesn’t count.

It was tough to judge Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 5 because while it is a great experience on all four of its target consoles, two of those console versions released last year only. Also, the game wasn’t built from scratch for all four – it came out on Xbox 360 and PS3 first and then was remastered/ported to the PS4 and Xbox One.

As for Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions have several differences from the current gen platforms, the most prominent one being a scaled down Nemesis system. Titanfall is probably the only game that translated all of its mechanics to the Xbox 360 version thanks to having a dedicated team working on that version. Then again, it only released on three platforms. So which game won? The answer is quite obvious.

Nominees:

• Dragon Age: Inquisition
• Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
• Grand Theft Auto 5
• Titanfall

Winner: Dragon Age Inquisition

Bioware’s Dragon Age: Inquisition released on the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. Granted, the game isn’t perfect – it has its share of bugs – but compared to, say, Assassin’s Creed: Unity, it’s not nearly as bad.

That being said, the game works great across all platforms. The visuals are excellent despite the scaled down resolution on the PS3 and Xbox 360. There’s been no content cut or gameplay shortened in any way. Aside from some graphical differences, you’ll be picking up the exact same game on the Xbox 360 as you would on the Xbox One and similarly, for the PS3 as you would on the PS4.

Despite the PC being the superior platform, Bioware managed to properly optimize Dragon Age: Inquisition for the platform but the PS4 and Xbox One still look quite good in comparison. For that reason – and many others – Dragon Age: Inquisition is our Best Multiplatform Game of 2014.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

There are always plenty of disappointing games that more gamers got their hands on as compared to the good games. Games like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed are the ones that garner the sales while games like Wolfenstein: The New Order manage a respectable but still average sales tally.

That being said, games like The Evil Within and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare found a strong amount of success. Even if they won’t be beating out Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare or Destiny any time soon, they still managed to do well.

Now, as for a great game that no one played? Well…

Nominees:

• The Evil Within
• Wolfenstein: The New Order
• Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare
• Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Winner: Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze

Normally, 130,000 units in 8 days isn’t a bad amount. But this is Nintendo’s sequel to Donkey Kong Country Returns. This is a sequel that’s very good in its own right and came at a time when there weren’t any compelling releases for the Wii U. Like, at all.

However, you have games like Wasteland 2 which earned more than $1.5 million in revenue in the first four days. This is for a digital-only release that was funded through Kickstarter. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze had the might of Nintendo behind it and still didn’t notch up decent enough sales, especially for a platform that didn’t have many exclusives available at the time.

It’s a shame since Tropical Freeze is one of the best Wii U games available especially with competition like Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8 available. If you find it somewhere, even in the bargain bin, do yourself a favour and pick it up.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

Some controversies in 2014 were odd, like Hatred which ignited public outcry due to the fact that you could murder innocent civilians. Did anyone who complained even play Grand Theft Auto? We’re just saying. Watch Dogs’ visual degradation and boring gameplay was a subject of much controversy, especially when you factor in all the bugs. It only set the stage for a bigger controversy though.

It was odd to see the controversy created over Rise of the Tomb Raider being exclusive to the Xbox One and Xbox 360 when it releases in Holidays 2015. Forget the fact that it’s a timed exclusive, Microsoft was looked at in a negative light for paying extra to net a third party selling point for their console. Of course, then Capcom announced Street Fighter 5 as exclusive to the PS4 so really, third party exclusives in this day and age aren’t a major shocker.

What was a major shocker was a game’s launch being screwed up so bad that the developer actually had to offer free DLC and games as compensation.

Nominees:

• Assassin’s Creed Unity Broken At Launch
• Hatred
• Watch Dogs Broken At Launch
• Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbox One Exclusivity

Winner: Assassin’s Creed Unity Broken at Launch

We refer to Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Unity naturally. The game shipped with micro-transactions in the interface and asked players to put down as much as $99 for extra currency. We already talked about the gameplay and story issues above.

It’s just amazing to us that Ubisoft could release Unity in as broken a state as it was. The 900p resolution and 30 FPS frame rate for Xbox One and PS4 ruffled a few feathers but it made no difference when everyone had a shitty frame rate to deal with. Facial animations broke at the drop of a hat, revealing horrors that remain etched in our minds till this day. Glitches, save data issues, copy-pasted crowd individuals, disappearing crowd individuals, draw distance problems, co-op problems – you could spend a week checking off the number of ways Unity was broken.

For all the broken mechanics though, it was simply angering that Ubisoft didn’t delay the game. You could make the argument of a yearly release and shareholders and whatnot but even EA delayed Battlefield: Hardline to allow for more polish. When you’ve done worse than EA in terms of disappointing players at launch, you know you’ve gone wrong somewhere in life.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

Boy, was this a year for disappointments.

There were plenty of divisive opinions about Bungie’s Destiny, which had several issues at launch with its core gameplay mechanics and still doesn’t have enough content at this stage (don’t even get us started on the Exotic Upgrades shit-storm). Plenty of people still find it fun to this day but suffice to say, we expected a lot more from the minds that put Halo on the map.

Watch Dogs was an even bigger cluster of insanity. The game went through several reveals where the visuals seemed to be dumbed down further and further. When the game was released, it was rife with bugs and issues. Even worse, the story was simply boring while protagonist Aiden Pearce came across as lame and unlikeable. The hacking mechanics were nice but it stood out as a game that still need a lot of work (keep that in mind, by the way).

Eidos Montreal’s Thief was a much simpler case: For all the delays and development troubles, it wasn’t expected to be good. When it released, it wasn’t. Case closed. It wouldn’t have been considered if it hadn’t been in development for so long.

Nominees:

• Assassin’s Creed Unity
• Watch Dogs
• Destiny
• Thief

Winner: Assassin’s Creed Unity

Why did Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Unity sting so much more than Watch Dogs? Was it because the company won back our trust with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag? Was it because it was looking to improve the core parkour mechanics while focusing on the PS4, Pc and Xbox One only, bringing large crowds and massive, detailed environments to the mix? Was it because we didn’t think the company could disappoint us much further after Watch Dogs?

As it turns out, it was a combination of all of the above and then some. Assassin’s Creed: Unity launched in an utterly broken state with frame rate issues, glitches, horrible AI and unplayable co-op. The worst part of it all wasn’t that Unity was a great game hindered by so many issues at launch.

No, it was simply because for all the hype that Ubisoft put forth, Assassin’s Creed: Unity was simply okay. The large crowds looked pretty, sure, but the missions were unimaginative especially in co-op. The movement system was even more hit-or-miss than ever and the story was odd and simply relegated the whole Assassins-Templar war to the background while focusing on the romance between Arno and Elise. Nothing was advanced or furthered and it didn’t feel like the series really evolved with Unity – and keep in mind, that this is without Ubisoft doing its damndest to break everything about the game.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

A year ago, it would have been crazy to nominate a remaster that wasn’t based on a game released several years ago. In 2014 alone though we’ve seen remasters of Sleeping Dogs, Tomb Raider, Metro 2033 and Last Light (in the form of Metro Redux) and The Last of Us.

Pretty much all of these games came out last year alone and the remasters were simply a way of bringing them on to the PS4 and Xbox One. There are plenty more remasters on the way with Tearaway Unfolded, the rumoured Beyond: Two Souls PS4 remaster, Final Fantasy Type-O HD and Resident Evil.

What stood out this year though and made us re-think the “evils” of remasters for year-old games? The decision was pretty easy, truth be told.

Nominees:

• The Last of Us: Remastered (PS4)
• Grand Theft Auto 5 (PS4/Xbox One)
• Metro Redux (PS4/Xbox One/PC)
• Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Xbox One/PS4)

Winner: Grand Theft Auto 5 PS4/Xbox One

Grand Theft Auto 5 skirted the line between remaster and port by bumping up the visuals significantly for the PS4 and Xbox One while adding a whole bunch of new features. Rockstar didn’t completely alter the game – in fact, if you ignored the new first person mode, Grand Theft Auto 5 on the PS4 and Xbox One felt like a remaster of the original.

However, in the graphical sense alone, Rockstar had to put in tons more effort to help Grand Theft Auto 5 stand out on current gen platforms. A higher resolution, improved foliage, larger NPC counts, dynamic weather, detailed pavements and lens-flares – achieving all of this in a world as large as Los Santos is simply awe-inspiring but Rockstar managed to pull it off and add new features in the process.

Grand Theft Auto 5 on the PS4 and Xbox One has earned our award for Best Remaster of the Year, edging out The Last of Us: Remastered slightly in the process.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

With all the top-tier games that get released every year, it’s a given that a few gems will fall through the cracks. However, this became a year of controversial releases as many games were either deeply despised or lovingly coveted by critics. Take Destiny, for example. Many still its flaws and the lack of content but these same individuals love it. They may think it’s just them and the mechanics will have a hard time appealing to others but several millions of daily players can’t be wrong.

Then there was D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die, a quirky release that attempted to be different like Access Games’ Deadly Premonition before it. Some appreciated the zany humour and play style, others criticized it for just not doing enough. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was criticized for being the same old Borderlands, which fans were surprisingly okay with (though it admittedly had its issues).

However, there was a true underrated release this year that just didn’t get enough appreciation despite the few vocal supporters.

Click the next button to check out the nominations.