Geekmandem

Every year there are tons of awesome games that get released and we always hear about them well in advanced (sometimes a little too far in advance *cough* The Last Guardian *cough*). So, we already know most of the major games that we will be playing this year and this is my personal list of the ones I am most excited for. Turns out it is pretty hard to rank your excitement for games and an awesome trailer or a demo tomorrow could change up the ranking, but as of right now this is where everything stands for me.

10. X

I really hope this game gets a different name soon because X should be reserved for an awesome revival of Mega Man X. Anyway, this is the Wii U game I am most excited about. I’ve heard great things about Xenoblade Chronicles, but I never got to play it. The fact that the game operates on a pseudo real-time combat system where you can move around freely but must pick attacks that go for a certain amount of time has me a little worried. I would prefer a full on real-time system like FFXV will have. That said, it seems to have a lot of cool and huge monsters to battle plus I can get inside of Mech that turns into a motorcycle and that is pretty cool.

9. Evolve

Evolve was only announced recently, so if you don’t know what it is I’ll provide a brief description. Evolve is a multiplayer only game where you are either on a team of four people or a team of one badass monster. The game is from the makers of Left 4 Dead and that has me really excited as Left 4 Dead 2 is one of the few games that I can go back to over and over again with friends and still have a good time. This type of multiplayer set up has been done before (think Halo’s Juggernaut) where everyone is trying to take out one guy. The thing is I’ve never seen it be the entire focus of an entire game and I think that level of dedication to the experience will lead to something that feels unlike anything we have played before and will be awesome.

8. The Wolf Among Us

I know the first two episodes are already out, but the majority of the game is still to come and I am pretty excited about that. I didn’t love Telltale’s The Walking Dead as much as most people seemed to, but I did really enjoy it. The writing and characters were great, but the action scenes were terrible. Luckily, The Wolf Among Us has greatly improved in this regard by taking some ques from Heavy Rain and Beyond. I’ve played through the First episode so far and I really like the world depicted in the game, which comes from a comic I haven’t read called Fables. The reason I chose Wolf over The Walking Dead Season 2 for this list is that I am already so interested in this world and story from the first episode and I want to see where it goes, whereas with Walking Dead I feel like they won’t be able to tell a tale as good as the first season.

7. Murdered Soul Suspect

Every now and again I like having really different types of experiences in games. One unique experience from the past few years that really sticks out in my mind is L.A. Noire. Murdered Soul Suspect really reminds me of L.A. Noire except with a supernatural twist that seems to offer a number of interesting methods to help find clues. One of my least favorite parts of L.A. Noire was the gun fights and luckily Murdered won’t have any of those. There will be enemies, but apparently they are meant to be scary and not to be taken head on. I think the game has a lot of potential and I’m already interested in the story because there is no better murder case to investigate and solve than your own.

6. Quantum Break

I liked Alan Wake and I definitely want an Alan Wake 2 at some point. Right now though I really want Quantum Break. I’m interested in  the time manipulation aspect to the story and I like that you will be put into the shoes of the villain at points where you get to choose what to throw at the hero, thus determining what type of level you will play next. I also really like binge watching TV shows so the fact that the game comes with a live-action TV show is a nice bonus and something I am really curious about.

5. Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes

I know it is only a short prologue to the real MGS5, but that doesn’t really matter as it is still Metal Gear. The game has a lot of changes to the gameplay mechanics and structure and I really want to see how it affects the experience. I’m also really excited to get a feel for the story of MGS5, which I’m sure will be crazy yet awesome.

4. Destiny

Bungie is one of my favorite developers and in my opinion no one does first-person shooters better, so the fact that they are working on a brand new FPS obviously has me excited. However, Destiny isn’t just another FPS. Destiny throws RPG elements into the mix allowing you to traverse a massive universe shooting, looting and leveling up your character. Then there is the revolutionary (so long as it works right) co-op that interweaves millions of players. The Halo series changed competitive multiplayer for me (you could even say it caused it to Evolve) and I would love for Destiny to do the same thing to co-op for me.

3. Titanfall

I remember following the coverage of Vince Zampella and Jason West leaving Infinity Ward, which caused a mass talent exodus from Infinity Ward and was shortly followed by the creation of Respawn Entertainment. I also remember the three year wait to finally see what Respawn’s first project would be and in that time I never imagined they would be working on something that would get me as excited as Titanfall did at the end of Microsoft’s E3 2013 press conference. Everything has looked so good so far and I can’t wait to finally get a chance to play it.

2. Halo 5

I love Halo. Unfortunately I feel like 343 Industries took the multiplayer in the wrong direction with Halo 4, but hopefully they will rectify some of those errors and deliver something more akin to Halo 2 or 3 with the next game. Even if they don’t though I’m confident I will still have a lot of fun with the newest Halo just like I have with every Halo. Also Halo 4 looked incredible and I really want to see how far 343 can go beyond that with the Xbox One.

1. Final Fantasy XV

Originally announced as Final Fantasy Versus XIII back in 2006, this has been a long time coming and I’m still not 100% sure it will be out this year. That said the odds seem to be in favour of a 2014 release so I’m going to believe it until Square Enix breaks my heart some more by further delaying it. I really enjoy Japanese RPGs with Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts being amongst my favorites. In Final Fantasy XV you get the best of both, I mean it is a brand new Final Fantasy with an original and interesting universe and now it will use a real-time combat system similar to what is used in Kingdom Hearts. I feel it has been too long since I played a JRPG that I absolutely loved and I have high hopes that FFXV will change that.

Honorable mention: Final Fantasy X & X-2 HD

I didn’t feel right about putting a re-release as one of most wanted games of 2014, just as I wouldn’t want to see an HD remake win Game of the Year (there is just something off about that). With that said though, I am really looking forward to this collection because my copy of Final Fantasy X (I love this game by the way) got scratched to hell somehow before I could finish it. I got up to the battle with Sin on the Airship if you are familiar with the game. I really want to beat the game and I also really want to experience the whole thing over again because I enjoyed it so much the first time around. I just wished they would have added online multiplayer to Blitzball. Seriously, wouldn’t that have been amazing? It would have been amazing.

If you want to chime in with what you are looking forward to, feel free to post a comment below.