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#3 Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor
Shadow Of Mordor is a solid, polished action/adventure game that’s the best Assassin’s Creed game in years. The graphics are sharp, the combat is satisfying, and there’s plenty to do in it. And then there’s the Nemesis system, which brilliantly makes every “boss” encounter memorable and different for every player. The only weak part of the game is the story, strangely enough considering it’s Lord Of The Rings related. Nevertheless, Shadow Of Mordor remains an excellent experience and one of the best games of 2014.

#2 Shovel Knight
These days retro-style indie 2D platformers are a dime a dozen, but only a select few manage to do it successfully and elevate the genre. Shovel Knight is one of those games. The presentation is fantastic with pixel-perfect art and great music. The controls are tight, so you know if you screw up, it’s your own dang fault. It’s also super hard like these sort of games should be. Once I was done, I was looking forward to going through the game again.

#1 Bravely Default
It’s been a long time since I’ve really gotten into a JRPG, but Bravely Default really sank its claws into me. I spent more time in it than any other game this year (that wasn’t Spelunky). It does a lot of things that streamline the experience such as allowing you to adjust random battle frequency and game speed. The music and graphics are top-notch like you’d expect from a classic Square game. The game does get a tad repetitive toward the end, but I was so enamored by the whole package that I just wanted to keep playing anyway. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do for Bravely Second.

Description
#3 Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor
Shadow Of Mordor is a solid, polished action/adventure game that’s the best Assassin’s Creed game in years. The graphics are sharp, the combat is satisfying, and there’s plenty to do in it. And then there’s the Nemesis system, which brilliantly makes every “boss” encounter memorable and different for every player. The only weak part of the game is the story, strangely enough considering it’s Lord Of The Rings related. Nevertheless, Shadow Of Mordor remains an excellent experience and one of the best games of 2014.

#2 Shovel Knight
These days retro-style indie 2D platformers are a dime a dozen, but only a select few manage to do it successfully and elevate the genre. Shovel Knight is one of those games. The presentation is fantastic with pixel-perfect art and great music. The controls are tight, so you know if you screw up, it’s your own dang fault. It’s also super hard like these sort of games should be. Once I was done, I was looking forward to going through the game again.

#1 Bravely Default
It’s been a long time since I’ve really gotten into a JRPG, but Bravely Default really sank its claws into me. I spent more time in it than any other game this year (that wasn’t Spelunky). It does a lot of things that streamline the experience such as allowing you to adjust random battle frequency and game speed. The music and graphics are top-notch like you’d expect from a classic Square game. The game does get a tad repetitive toward the end, but I was so enamored by the whole package that I just wanted to keep playing anyway. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do for Bravely Second.