PS4 Fun

Firstly Happy New Year to all you PlayStationers out there, and here are my top five games of 2014.

To qualify I had to have played them on the PS4 for the first time in 2014.  This means that Final Fantasy XIV and The Last of Us can’t be on this list because I played them both first on PS3.

Click on the Titles to link to Video Footage for each game.

So here’s the List in reverse order…

My Top Five Games of 2014

Number 5 – Child of Light

Child of Light was produced by UbiSoft using the UbiArt engine.  It is a stunningly beautiful side-scrolling RPG.  The central character is a little girl called Aroura who has to battle through a fantasy world to save her mother.

The turned based strategic battle system harks back to the Grandia series and requires planning to interrupt enemies attacks. The Story is engaging and the eclectic cast of characters are fun.

But the most striking thing is just how beautiful this game is.  The art style is incredible and the character animations are fluid and add weight and character to your merry band.

It is well worth a look and is available on all PlayStation Platforms, Ideal for your poor neglected Vita.

Number 4 – Don’t Starve

Ahh Don’t Starve, the perfect mix of achievement and sudden death.  A true survival game it throws you into a hostile world with no tutorial, no clue and no help, you have to figure out everything.  And most Importantly… Don’t Starve.

The art style is quirky and the playable characters are weird and wonderful.

Start the game…starve to death. Start again, live 5 days get a campfire die by hell hounds, Start again, get camp, get science machine, build a farm, freeze to death… Rinse and repeat.

This may see a dreadful mechanic, but it isn’t, each death teaches you something; randomly generated levels make each restart fresh and surviving all the hideous odds set against you becomes a fist pumping supreme achievement.

Also available on PS Vita. The PC version now has a 2 player co-op mode now, I hope for a patch soon!

Number 3 – Dragon Age Inquisition

The only full title on this list.  I played a number of AAA titles this year and although they were very good, outside of The Last of Us Remastered, this is the only one that really grabbed me.

Massive, Epic, Moorish, Compelling, Beautiful.  Dragon Age Inquisition is all these things wrapped up in a good (not brilliant) story and fantastic characters.  Voice acting is amazing the script is witty and brilliant and above all it is huge fun to play.

The thing to bare in mind though is that it is huge, aside from the main quest there are huge areas to explore and lots to be done.  Side quests may not be the stuff of legend but they drive you through some of the most breathtaking environments available.  Snowy wastes, lush forest, storm wracked coast and wind blasted deserts are beautifully realised and wonderful to explore.

Number 2 – The Last of Us, Left Behind

Now despite what I said in the first paragraph I can include this because I didn’t play it on PS3, I played it as part of the remastered edition. For my thoughts on The Last of Us (my all time favourite game) click here. But let’s get on with the DLC.

Left Behind is set before the events of it’s big brother and tells two stories about Ellie, one of the main characters from the original game.  It tells how Ellie came to be part of the larger story by following a day out with her friend Riley and also fills a gap in the main game where Ellie is on her own.

Both tales are told with the same wit and emotion as the main game and the superb motion capture, scripting and voice acting that have come to expect from Naughty Dog.  Action, emotion and fun counterpoint each other perfectly and lead to the heartbreaking, inevitable but uplifting conclusion.

Do not play this if you have not completed the main game, not just because of the spoilers but because Left Behind add real depth to Ellie’s character but more so in the knowledge of what she went though in The Last of Us.

Number 1 – Valiant Hearts

So here it is my number one in my Top Five Games of 2014.

Valiant Hearts was published by UbiSoft and was built on the same UbiArt engine as Child of Light.  It follows the story of four characters through the horrors of the First World War.

This is not a shooter or a third person action game, it is a side-scrolling puzzle platform game.

The power of this game is its beautiful character development that shows painfully how ordinary people were affected by this terrible conflict.  The developers partnered with two educational companies to add archive photographs which add terrifying insight into the conflict.

It is a downbeat game and the ending is shocking and horrific and beautifully captures the futility and human cost of any war.  UbiSoft really need recognition for the sensitive and intelligent way they dealt with this topic and it is a game that will stay with me for a long time.

So what for 2015???

So my Top Five Games of 2014 is done… What am I looking forward to in 2015?  Here’s another top 5

5) The Order 1886

4) The Division

3) Witcher 3 The Wild Hunt

2) Final Fantasy XV

1) Uncharted 4 A Thief’s End (no brainer really)

What were your favourite games and what are you looking forward to?

Whatever they are happy 2015, here to another year of great gaming.