While many releases are packed into the last three months of the year, there’s more than enough going on in the rest of the calendar that can be easily forgotten by the holidays. Progress Report is our way of remembering: a quarterly look at the laudable and notable in the games industry. This installment covers April, May and June. Check out the previous installment here.
Biggest Surprise
Andrew Passafiume: I don’t often keep up with new iOS releases, but every now and again a mobile game comes out of nowhere and completely surprises me. Monument Valley, which I didn’t know existed until the day it released, is a puzzle game not unlike Echochrome. It features well-designed puzzles, gorgeous aesthetics and an effective story that did a lot with a little. It’s one of the best games I’ve played this year.
Graham Russell: For me, that’s definitely Tomodachi Life. The game had been rumored to make a Western appearance for a while now, but due to the game’s bizarre nature, I couldn’t help but be a bit skeptical. Yet it was announced in April, released in June and… I don’t know. I mean, we have it now! It’s addictive and fun, though certainly not for all temperaments, and you can totally pick it up in English.
Chris Ingersoll: I mentioned this a couple of times already, but this is the first E3 in a while that has held this much immediate promise for my gaming future. Starting around October this year, I am going to be assaulted by a bunch of games I want to play for potentially the following fifteen months. I say “potentially” because… well, see below.
Justin Last: I don’t play World of Warcraft, I never got around to Warcraft III and I was awful at Warcraft II. In the end, though, that doesn’t matter, because Blizzard has created a great, free iPad app that pulls me back every day. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a well-balanced CCG. I don’t have to spend money to feel competitive, and the daily quests are great encouragement to try new heroes and create new decks. Those heroes having powers and hero-specific cards make each game feel unique as well. My Hunter may work well against a Priest but completely fall apart against a Mage, and I like that a lot. The touch interface works wonderfully for playing cards, and if you do want to play on PC at the same time, your Battle.net account synchronizes between platforms.
Henry Skey: There were lots of good surprises, but I’ll go with Nintendo’s decision to enable GameCube controller support for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. I never used a Wii remote for Brawl, and was getting a little anxious about starting now. With the announcement of newly-manufactured GameCube controllers, I’m once again ecstatic about the fourth console edition of the long-running series. I smell at least a few Snack Time sessions on the horizon with this one!
Chris Dominowski: Nintendo is internally developing a shooter, Splatoon. Yes, it’s a relatively nonviolent one, and the style is consistent with the majority of Nintendo’s work, but it’s still bizarre on a conceptual level. Sure, Nintendo has hired other developers like Retro Studios to make shooters before, but it’s rare that it goes ahead and does something like this itself.
Lucas White: Murdered: Soul Suspect came out to very little fanfare, and frankly the only reason I played it was I didn’t have much else going at the time. I ended up doing something I haven’t done with a game for a while: I didn’t put it down until it was over (or I needed to sleep). It’s basically a point-and-click adventure. It uses a lot of aesthetic affectations that make it look like an AAA game, but for the most part it didn’t try to hard to appeal to a nonexistent “mass market.” But what really makes it is how much respect it has for the player; it gives you everything you need to find the answers, but leaves it up to you to put it all together.
Biggest Disappointment
If you’ve read my review or New Game+ all about Watch Dogs, then you know exactly why it’s so disappointing. While I typically love Ubisoft’s brand of open-world games, Watch Dogs failed to do anything remarkable despite its unique concept. It’s far from a bad game, but it feels more like a long checklist of ideas rather than one cohesive experience. Here’s hoping the inevitable Watch Dogs 2 builds on (and improves) this solid, yet tired, foundation.
While it certainly did many things right, Child of Light managed to do just enough wrong — awkward rhymes, too-linear structure, repetitive battles — to keep it away from “amazing” and securely in the “adequate” column. I applaud the effort, and you should still play it if you can, but Child of Light had the potential to be one of the year’s best and squandered it largely by breaking the immersion needed to truly enjoy deeper titles.
I played a grand total of two new games during this section of the year. Two. I readily admit that part of that is my own fault, with my limited system options and narrow preferences, but still. I feel like I make this same statement to game publishers every year at this time, but spread our your releases across the entire calendar. I fully expect my end-of-September Progress Report to be equally barren, and then the floodgates open in October through December because those are apparently the only three months that matter. The only reason January, February and March get anything is due to spillover.
I understand that companies are in business to make money. I understand that PopCap is not beholden to me in any way, shape or form. Regardless, where is the PC version of Peggle 2? PopCap used to be a PC-centric developer, and its platform shift is an odd one because it’s not just expanding into the console space; it’s actively ignoring the PC. We still don’t have a PC version of Plants vs. Zombies 2: It’s About Time, and Peggle 2 looks to be following suit. That makes me sad, most of all, because after playing the original on both PC and 360, I know Peggle is a game that plays a ton better with a mouse.
The Last Guardian. Is it canceled? No. Oh good! Wait… it is canceled? Yes? No? Maybe? A game made by the studio that made Ico and the near-perfect Shadow of the Colossus. We’ve heard so many rumors and fabrications about this game that I can’t help but be disappointed. It looks… I’m not even sure how it looks, but I know I want to play it. If it ever comes out. Which it will/won’t.
Sony had a great thing going with the concept of PlayStation Now, but as it stands, it is falling prey to the same faults that have plagued past game streaming experiments thus far, such as latency and some very greedy pricing structures. If PS Now can be shaped up into a Netflix-like subscription structure for a similar price before its launch, then we will have something worth celebrating. As it stands, it is a major disappointment.
I didn’t expect much from Watch Dogs, but I did expect more. I was hoping, at the very least, for a next-gen benchmark that would bring something new to the table, something interesting. What I got instead was a bunch of polished nothing, a game that handled surprisingly well for a big open-world game but drowned in egregiously vapid writing that had nothing of value to say. From the balsam wood of gritty-white-dude protagonists (and of course his “iconic” cap!) to the almost-too-cliche-and-boring-to-be-offensive sexism and racial stererotypes making up the game’s sense of social awareness (set in Chicago, no less), Watch Dogs aimed for every spot on the AAA dart board and hit none of them.
Game of Q2 2014
I love Transistor, even if it turned out to be a weirder experience than I was anticipating. The combat didn’t grab me immediately, the story felt too distant despite hints of brilliance, and it was starting to feel like it would ultimately be a huge disappointment. Despite that, I stuck with it due to its incredible visuals, cohesive world and compelling lead characters. By the time the credits rolled, it turned from “good, but disappointing” into “just as spectacular as Bastion” all thanks to the game’s final 30 minutes. It deals with themes I never expected, yet I should have seen coming. It’s another triumph from a team absolutely full of talent, and I can’t wait to see what Supergiant comes up with next.
Even with the quarter sporting some great releases, the one that will stick with me for a long time is the long-awaited Sportsfriends, the local multiplayer collection on PS3 and PS4 (and eventually PC) that focuses on delivering a great time to parties and gatherings. The marquee game, Johann Sebastian Joust, is certainly worth the accolades it receives, but Hokra, BaraBariBall and Super Pole Riders may stick with you even longer if you give them a chance.
Mario Kart 8, more or less by default. Its only competition is Child of Light, and Ubisoft’s art house RPG simply doesn’t have the staying power to go head-to-head with one of the best versions ever of one of the best franchises ever.
I’m a software engineer. Unlike a doctor or a crime scene tech, I still get giddy when I see and hear things related to my job in games, movies and television, so Transistor got points right out of the gate with things like Red taking Turn();s and installing new functions into the titular transistor upon level-up. Add to that a phenomenal soundtrack and an engrossing story, and you’ve got a successor to Bastion that I think I’ll revisit just as often.
As soon as the Snackbar staff sat down and played some Mario Kart 8 online, I knew it would be in my top ten for the year. It might be the best Kart yet: phenomenal track design, perfect frame rate, amazing lighting and water effects, great new gameplay mechanics and finally a way to defend yourself against a blue shell. Nintendo knocked it out of the park; can it use this to gain momentum for the Wii U?
It’s so rare to see completely innovative games in a new IP come with such great support from a big game company. Boasting a refreshingly different narrative, an eye-wateringly gorgeous visual aesthetic and memorable characters, Child of Light bucked the trend that plagues modern gaming. It is absolutely healing to see a big-name release be so imaginative and pleasant. It’s usually only Nintendo who can fill that role.
I played a lot of games from April to now that I had a lot of fun with: Mario Kart 8, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Transistor and more. But when I think of games that will stick with me to the future, I keep going back to Murdered. I love a good, pulpy crime story, especially when it doesn’t lean too hard on cliches and makes sure the supporting cast is just as interesting as the one in front of the controller. The puzzles and mysteries are so well done and fun to solve; you get a great sense of accomplishment without a bunch of video game-y rewards. Also, as a sometimes-writer of horror fiction, the little short stories you find that have nothing to do with the game proper were a neat touch that made one of my least favorite contemporary game tropes — sitting there and listening to the game vomit exposition on you (lookin’ at you, BioShock) — surprisingly engaging.
