For as long as the series has been going, the Battlefield games have always done a better job with their multiplayer modes than its single-player ones. And I say that as someone who doesn’t play well with others. But by adding some intriguing (albeit not wholly original) mechanics to its campaign, while keeping its online modes mostly the same, Battlefield Hardline (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PC) is fun whether you play it on your own or with friends.
It’s been three long years since Zen Studios last onade an original table for Pinball FX2 (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC), Zen Pinball 2 (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, WiiU, Mac), or Zen Pinball games (iOS, Android, Amazon Fire). But after playing the new “Wild West Rampage” table — one of two in the just-released “Iron & Steel” pack — it’s clear they haven’t lost their touch.
In honor of its nineteenth anniversary (?!?), or maybe for some other equally weird reason, the good people at Capcom have released an HD remake of their classic 1996 survival horror game Resident Evil for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC. But by neither making it a faithful recreation of the original game, which would appeal to nostalgia buffs and old school fans, nor a truly useful upgraded edition, which would be great for those who want to play a modern version of a classic game, those same good people at Capcom have oddly made a game with very limited appeal.
Having already gone to space (in Saints Row: The Third: Gangstas In Space) and The Matrix (Saints Row IV), the Saints Row series is going to Hell, literally, with Saints Row Gat Out Of Hell. Available as a stand-alone game for PlayStation 4 (available digitally), PlayStation 3, Xbox One (also available digitally), Xbox 360, and PC, or in a bundle with Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, a new version of Saints Row IV for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, this new adventure continues the mindless but magnificent mayhem this series has come to typify.
While there were some great games in 2014, there were also a bunch that weren’t so great.
And then there was the following bunch of crap that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
Here now, in no particular order, are the worst games of 2014.
While 2014 wasn’t a great year for video games — and no, I’m not just talking about that #gamergate crap — there were a bunch that I had a lot of fun playing.
Here now, in no particular order, are the best games I played in 2014.
Over the years, some of Spider-Man’s adversaries have been accused of plagiarism by comic book fans who think, for instance, that Sandman is a bit too much like Batman’s bad guy Clayface or that The Green Goblin is a rip-off of The Joker. But one (of many) exceptions to this is Venom, since Batman never fought an alien symbiote who used to be his suit. Which makes it fitting that the new Venom pinball table — which Zen Studios have released for Pinball FX2 (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC), Zen Pinball 2 (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, WiiU, Mac), and Zen Pinball (iOS, Android, Amazon Fire) — is also pretty unique.
When it comes to recent racing games, the two ends of the quality scale are marked by the terrific Forza Horizon 2 and the terrible DRIVECLUB. And now, bringing up the middle, is Ubisoft’s The Crew, a flawed but somewhat fun open world, always online, arcadey racer made by Ivory Tower for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.
You might think that writing a book based on a video game just requires that you play the game a lot. Which is why no one is ever going to ask you to write a book based on game. Instead, they’ll probably ask John Shirley, who’s written a number of game-related novels, including the new Halo one, Halo Broken Circle (paperback, digital)…and not just because his research process involved more than a few rounds of “Team Slayer.”