The most surprising games of 2014

Title The most surprising games of 2014
Author Tom Chick
Posted in Features
When January 12, 2015

So if the most disappointing category is a list of games that should have been better than they were, the most surprising category is the opposite. These are games that were better than they should have been..

Read the full article

No mention of Wolfenstein? Boooo.

Er...why is the lead image from Elite: Dangerous, yet the game isn't mentioned anywhere in the article itself?

He hasn't played it.

It's surprising right? ;)

I'm still disappointed in Watch Dogs but if you do chuck the main storyline it is a decent sandbox. Technically on the PS4 it ran very well so it has that over Unity as well. Plus multiplayer was very well integrated and extremely tense. I just wanted more from the main experince. It really sucked by the time I got to the big ending set piece I just didn't care at all. Usually I feel something but it's probably the least I cared about finishing a game ever.

Maybe Elite is the Honorable Mention? Tom also featured pictures from games not on the list for the other lists he did.

That's one of Tom's gimmicks. Look at the headline images to any of lists for at least the last several years.

I did pick up Wolfenstein, but I only played through the first chapter or so. I'm afraid I never got around to spending much time with it.

The early bits of Wolfenstein are a little bit unfortunate, as they don't do the best job at showing all the interesting things the game has to offer. Positive chatter from friends pushed me past the early bits, and I'm glad I did.

I think he did that with every list.

Borderlands:Pre is notably buggy on the 360. (Doors won't open. Bosses bug out. Etc.) And the story missions are super-heavy on the backtracking and "Where The Eff Is The Next Mission Marker Located?" moments. So much so, that I would consider it one of the year's most disappointing games. Despite being otherwise fun to play, with the enhancements to the Borderlands 2 gameplay model.

Sorry to hear that, Terrence. I spent so much time with Borderlands 1 and 2 on the Xbox and I don't recall having any technical issues. And you're right about the backtracking, but isn't that a staple of the Borderlands games? They have you constantly running to and fro, and managing the map and quests is almost always a big pain in the butt.

By the way, I should admit that part of my delight with the Pre-Sequel was that it was my first Borderlands on the PC. Man, what a difference a mouse makes!

I think most of Ubisoft's open-world games are better if you don't bother finishing the storyline. :)

Whoa, a Brendon Chung endorsement for the later parts of the game is quite the endorsement! :) You have renewed my resolve to push on to the better parts!

Nothing surprising about Elite, it's pretty awesome.

Titanfall is so unfairly maligned. It is the modern Quake. It's the present day Unreal Tournament. There is no other game right now that gets the second to second importance of motion, aiming and weapon choice more right than Titanfall does... when on foot. Get in that Titan though, and now you've got a whole other mess of important decisions to make, all at lightning pace! Your success or failure is all on you, and I think that's why people were turned off. Gamers have been trained to think the game should always help you. In Titanfall, you have to seriously invest in your own skills in order to be good.

Yeah, the first level is, while very competently made, still essentially traditional Wolfenstein fare. Virtually everything afterwards isn't.

I was turned off because I was told repeatedly from multiple corners of the internet that this was a multiplayer FPS that people who weren't into multiplayer FPSes loved, much like Team Fortress 2. Seeing as TF2 is the only multiplayer FPS I have ever enjoyed, and seeing as parkour and giant mechs seemed like a winning combination, I went ahead and bought in. And it was everything I hate about the genre, redux. It would be on my most disappointing list, but honestly, why the hell did I expect anything different?

Most surprising game of 2014: Edge of Tomorrow.

The best video game movie that isn't based on a video game!