As you may already be aware we’re kicking off our awards at Kotaku Australia and, as always, we’re looking for nominations. Today we’re looking at the biggest surprises of 2014.
This is a fairly open category — and probably a little less serious — I’m just looking for things that surprised you in gaming this year. It can be a video game, a convention, an event, breaking news, a console, anything. Feel free to get creative.
Here are a couple of my own nominations to get things started.
Alien: Isolation
PAX Australia
Crossy Road
Overwatch
Now let’s hear your nominations. Drop them in the comments below!
Comments
82 responses to “Kotaku Awards 2014: Nominate Your Biggest Surprise Of The Year”
Have to say Wolfenstien…thought it was gonna just be another “eh” reboot. did not expect that to be as good as it is. 🙂
Definitely agree. What a great game!
Yep wolfenstein, it surprised the shit outta me.
At the start of this year I would never have predicted that a new Wolfenstien game would have sat higher on my GoTY list than Destiny, Titafall, Assassins Creed: Unity, Forza Horison 2, or Watch Dogs.
Honestly, if Dragon Age hadn’t proven as impressive as it is, Wolfenstien may have been my Game of The Year.
Screen Cheat
Framed
South Park The Stick Of Truth. I have a feeling that because it was released in Feb, although everyone loved it immensely it’s been forgotten in this year of gaming even though there hasn’t been a great deal of great games come out.
Wow did that really only come out in February? It was being hyped for so long I thought it came out last year. I picked up a collector’s edition on a whim back in March and still haven’t gotten around to playing it. It’s next on my list, I swear.
which console/PC did we all play this on?
I want to get it but I have ps3, xbox 360 and a crappy PC
I have it on PS3. It looks exactly like the series
I played it on 360.
Have it on PC, my tablet can almost keep it constantly at 30 FPS (the frame limit). Its got an Intel HD 4000 I think. Not really high system requirements.
In reality, its up to you where you want to play. Its the exact same on all platforms (only PC has KB/M (not recommended) and higher resolution)
I sort of bought it on a whim a few weeks ago for PC at EB Games (cheapest price its ever been for the PC version in the current sale) when only intending to buy Dragon’s Dogma, and I’m having a blast. 10 hours in, only on the second day and I’m not bored, even as someone who only rarely watches the show. Props to Obsidian and the guys behind the show for making a game based on a movie/show that doesn’t suck.
Well Hearthstone was officially released this year, and I didn’t expect it to be my addiction for the entire year (and still going strong). I vote Hearthstone
Blizzard really does seem to have the secret recipe for videogame crack. No-one makes addictive games like they do. At least you can play for free to get your fix of Hearthstone.
Shadow of Mordor – All though early reports were good I don’t think people were really expecting a game on that level.
Yeah, I think people were a bit iffy about whether the Nemesis system would be good or not. Turned out to be fantastic!
I agree. When it came out and looked exactly like Assassin’s Creed I dismissed it. 30 hours later I have definitely been proven wrong.
Dunno about biggest, but I was pretty stoked about GTAV and MGSV on PC.
Also, actually getting FFXV news and footage has been a nice change
Borderlands the Pre-Sequel. At first it seemed like a cheaply made game to tide people over until Borderlands 3 but it ended up being the best designed game of the franchise.
(and the Australian vibe doesn’t hurt too)
Assassins Creed Unity – Pre-order pants that make you go faster.
I was going to nominate Unity. I’m a huge fan of the series and Black Flag was such a great improvement on III that I was really looking forward to Unity. Nothing this year surprised me more than the fact that two days after buying it, I was walking back to EB Games for a refund.
Destiny.
Yes really. I thought I’d have a big story and enjoy the single player campaign, struggle with an FPS on a console, and it would see me through ’til GTAV HD or I dived into my pile of shame, or AC: Unity came out, or look something else shiny.
WRONG.
The story was meh, but the mechanics are amazing. The single player is sparse, but running strikes and the raid with mates is a blast. Met a bunch of excellent new people, suspect some of them might even become meat friends in the long run. Playing EVERY DAY.
Unity still in the box. Rogue installed but unplayed. GTAV HD installed but unplayed. PC not turned on for weeks. The only other game I’ve played is a bit of Kerbal Space Program on the laptop while the missus has the TV.
What the? Where did that come from?
I almost wish I didn’t agree with you. I can’t stop playing it.
Wolfenstein: The New Order
I knew it was going to be interesting and I really wanted it to be good since the last instalment in the series was a little bit underwhelming (despite being fun) but this game had a lot of fun with the alternate history route to just go off the wall with the power-at-all-cost themes set up in the original games. It contained a lot of really engaging human moments and approached disturbingly mature content with the appropriate gravitas while at the same time giving us cartoonishly evil Nazis to hate and shoot at. The balance was so finely tuned that a little more in either direction could have been disastrous.
I knew it would be pretty good but I was actually impressed.
One more vote for Wolfenstein: The New Order.
EA – not charging us for pools!
Definitely a pleasant, out of character surprise from EA!
That really was a surprise. I think we have a winner. No votes needed. 🙂
alien: isolation
tomodachi life
New 3DS in Australia and not US or Europe.
Also, I was surprised that the current gen has continued to sell so well despite the games not being exactly stellar. Solid but not stellar
Bayonetta 1 getting thrown in with 2, and on its own disc in its own case and everything. Smash Bros Wii U getting pushed forward a week. Duck Hunt Dog getting resurrected. 3DS homebrew kicking off. Amiibos not being region-locked. New 3DS releasing here before any other western market. Bruce Willis was dead all along.
I don’t know if it is just me understanding the gaming market better but seems to be a lot of deceit and unfair practices in the business. I know most company’s do this to a degree but I don’t know of any other industry where you can blatantly false advertise / sell a faulty product and the consumer having no rights after purchase.
At least from a PC player point of view, consoles may be different.
It’s long enough ago that I can’t find anything about this on the ‘net and I’m starting to doubt my recall, but I seem to remember when a game, I think it was Dam Busters, came out way back on 8-bits, the publishers thought it was so hard they didn’t bother putting the later levels on the tape and had to fix the “error” when players complained that the later parts of the game wouldn’t load.
Anyone else of my advanced years remember this?
Anyway, the games industry has had a shonky reputation as long as there’s been a games industry.
I have not played a game this year that didn’t require either a large patch to fix, ample time spent trying to make it run at all, realised what I was lead to believe wasn’t truthful, day one DLC or had parts of the game locked unless you paid for some stupid edition ( looking at you Elder Scrolls Online ) not to mention reviewers bought giving games like COD high 9/10 scores.
The industry seems to be in worse state than ever with no sign of change.
Again my personal opinion with what I have experienced over the last year or two.
I suspect that’ll get better.
Companies have taken a PR black eye over that so far, and console makers are also getting grief about their cert processes because of broken games.
Several companies took hits to their share values as well (EA with Battlefield, 2K with NBA, and Ubisoft with Unity).
Anecdotally the story was that publishers didn’t expect the new consoles to actually do that well, and so didn’t put much effort into development. When they sold like gangbusters they found themselves on the backfoot and had to rush development.
That’s allegedly the reason we’re seeing so many games delayed and so many remasters of last gen games. It could also be why indies became such a focus too.
It’s not just you. Some of the business practices of major game developers this year have been disgraceful. If what they have done is not illegal, it ought to be.
Would definitely be Wolfenstein or South Park. Never been a fan of either, but found both extremely enjoyable.
South Park on which console or PC?
Not sure how relevant that is, but PC for both.
Just interested as I want to buy South Park and Wolfenstein, but not sure which platform to get them on.
Oh, fair enough. South Park had a few issues when I played it (nothing closing and restarting didn’t fix), but I think they’ve been fixed by now. Wolfenstein had some optimisation problems, but nothing game-breaking, and again, it’s been out long enough that they should be fixed by now. They’re both on steam – might be worth seeing how low they go during the Christmas sales.
As for PC or console… from what I’ve heard, it’s up to personal preference for both. From what I’ve read, Wolfenstein sticks at 60fps on both current gen consoles, so unless you’re a stickler for 1080p60 ultra, or must use a keyboard and mouse (and judging by your indecision, I’d guess not), there’s no major difference. And, South Park’s aesthetic means it’ll be pretty much exactly the same no matter which platform you get it on.
– Grid Autosport : Was VERY sceptical after Grid 2, but it’s a genuinely awesome racing game.
– Spintires
– Star Citizen FPS reveal : Considering how revolutionary they are aiming to be in the space-sim genre, I was always concerned that the FPS felt slapped on. But the reveal showed how revolutionary this game will be even for FPS mechanics! Also, the event in Melbourne was freaking awesome!
I’ve also got a negative surprise
F1 2014 – I was surprised just how AWFUL this game is! [Codies is getting pretty hit or miss eh?]
I was surprised by just how unpolished and unoptimised Ass Creed Unity turned out to be. I’m surprised Ubi (yes, even Ubi) would release a game in that kind of state.
Also, I nominate:
Never Alone
This War of Mine
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd
Ah, keep forgetting I wanna get Project Diva F 2nd!
If you aren’t getting it digitally you might want to jump on that, because I’ve heard people say that retailers aren’t carrying many (if any) copies. I got mine from ozgameshop.
Infamous Second Son. I know what you’re thinking, but with the new console i thought they would do a Unity and care too much about graphics and not enough about the game itself. I was pleasantly surprised, as it not only had good gameplay, but it also looked amazing.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, in particular…
The spaceman sequence. That was awesome.Mario Kart 8 – just so fun or maybe MArio Kart 8 DLC with Link and associated tracks
Another one for Wolfenstein.
I enjoyed South Park, nay I adored it, but a game breaking bug prevented me from getting more than halfway into it… given that it was developed by Obsidian, I was not surprised.
Wolfenstein. Was not expecting to cry during a Wolfenstein game but I did.
This is probably gonna get buried, but Child of Light from Ubisoft. Definitely a pleasant surprise.
Valiant Hearts, too.
That’s what I had in mind!
My biggest surprises this year were probably Valkyria Chronicles getting a PC release, and Codemasters trying to reboot the multiplatform party racer with the rather respectable Toybox Turbos (granted it’s no MicroMachines 2 or Mashed Fully Loaded, but with Wrecked not making it to PC this looks like a nice attempt to kick off a MM spiritual successor which should hopefully get a solid sequel or DLC if the first game is able to prove itself)
Marvel Heroes 2015.
The devs of that game have really gone pedal to the metal with improving on the game after an admittedly shaky start and now they have weekly events and content updates all while still having a new playable character added every month. And it’s still free to play!
Destiny. In a lot of different ways.
I did not expect it to score as low as it did.
I did not expect pulling the trigger on a console to feel so damn good.
I did not expect it to deliver storytelling only marginally better than the storytelling in Doom.
lololo
lol
Wolfenstein
Shadow of Mordor
Framed
Valkyria Chronicles getting not only a PC release but a very competent one at that was also a very pleasant surprise and is currently being replayed in preference to GTAV HD, DA:I and FC4! Then there’s the surprise that it managed to topple AC: Unity and other big names on the Steam daily sales stats if only for a day.
I’ll add another vote for Wolfy and Shadow of Mordor. Both brilliant games.
The resurgence of Nintendo. I mean they never went anywhere but 2014 was a really great year for them. From them killing E3 to Smash to MK8, that Zelda trailer, Hyrule Warriors, lots to be excited about.
Splatoon!
Shadow of Mordor I now expect a nemesis system in every game!
New Nintendo 3DS.
I did not expect it to be announced, or exist.
I certainly did not expect it to release in Australia before anywhere other than Japan.
… Finally, I didn’t expect it would be such an improvement. I really like my NN3DS with Yoshi cover plates.
Far Cry 2. Jks
But seriously, Wolfenstein has my vote – get to adding it Serrels! (please 🙂 )
The writer of these articles really likes Crossy Road :/
I would say Microsoft buying Minecraft. That was crazy
Infamous: Second Son.
GTA V on PS4, I knew I was going to be good, but Rockstar really impressed me.
Stick of Truth on PS3.
Warlords of Draenor.
“Here’s how this is going to work. I’m gonna ask you one question. You’re gonna answer that question in a way *I* find satisfactory and if you do not, I’ll saw your head off with this here appliance, you hear me? So here it comes: Where are you people keeping the captured resistance fighters?”
Wolfenstein.
+1 for South Park – The Stick of Truth
Also did anyone mention Divinity – Original Sin? Maybe it wasnt surprising that it was good because people already knew it would be 🙂
Underrail.
The PS3 console and all its exclusives. Yes PS3. I never got around to getting one until early this year, it dragged me out of a very long gaming rut. Have barely touched my 360 since.
Mario Kart 8 getting so much DLC and so soon! When it was first released I was only hoping it would ever get a few courses, a couple years down the line. I was very pleasantly surprised when they revealed that they would be unveiling so much additional content within 1 year of release.
Dark Souls II DLC after they said there wouldn’t be, and then today’s news of a PS4 and XBone version with even more DLC coming out.
Also, Amazing Frog coming to PC (Or Valkyria Chronicles, take your pick).
Biggest for me was Shadow of Mordor. Coming out of E3 I thought it looked like a poor mans Assassin’s Creed with a LoTR paint-coat. While the final product was still pretty similar gameplay wise, it added enough of it’s own ideas to make something special.
Alien: Isolation
Shadow of Mordor
Overwatch
Alien: Isolation
Gearbox obviously learned their lesson after Colonial Marines
Alien Isolation. WOW.
Also, EA’s ”On The House” program has been quite a surprise, really nice program!
All the big 3 licensed titles released this year. Alien, Mordor and South Park.
Hopefully more good licensed titles are released, these (and the Arkham series) have set the standard
Wolfenstein the New Order by far. Best FPS campaign in years.