Top 5 Games Played in 2014

01

Lifeless Planet - Stage 2 Studios

Release Date: June 6, 2014

I was excited when I first saw this game pop up on my Steam store feed. Honestly, the game lived up to the trailer and beyond. I bought it in anticipation of a five hour plane ride to visit my family over Christmas break and it kept my attention the whole way, pulling me along until I finished. No easy task for a game to hold onto my attention, as I frequently leave games half finished.

"Lifeless Planet" hooked me with the desolate, lifeless environment, telling a strange yet intriguing story of how the planet went from being green and full of amazing life forms to being absolutely barren. It tells the story through the discoveries of the main character, whose silky voice was well worth listening to, even when I'd already finished reading what he was saying.

If you enjoy discovery, exploration, light platforming and mysterious sci-fi stories, this is a game well worth the price.

02

Borderlands 2 - Gearbox Software

Release Date: September 18, 2012

This game continues to be one of my favorites. I can play it almost any time and have a good time with it. I've yet to finish it, because I decided to finish playing through the whole thing with a friend and finding time that we're both good to play can be difficult.

The games ability to continue being fun where other FPS's have lost some of their replay value (with me, at least) is in the snarky storytelling and amount of character modification available.

I still haven't tried all the characters yet, despite multiple game restarts in order to play with different friends of varying levels. No matter how many times I've played the beginning levels of the game, the sarcastic, intelligent and sometimes slapstick nature of the story and missions still makes me laugh.

03

Beat Hazard - Cold Beam Games

Release Date: July 5, 2011

There's not too much to say about this game aside from how addictive it is. As one of many games that uses your own music in some way, Beat Hazard is honestly nothing new. It is fun though.

The game is essentially revamped "Asteroid," this time with your own music collection providing the background music. It's amazingly fun to twirl around with your finger on the trigger of the little spaceship, blasting centipede looking enemy ships, asteroids and strings of pulsing lights, all of which are out to get you.

Trying the game with different types of music can make it even more interesting. Most of the online radio selections the game gives you access to are electronic music based, but throw in the Disney music you have and suddenly you've got an unlikely thrill and a few laughs. (Psst! Try "Little April Showers" from "Bambi" for a surprisingly challenging level.)

04

Game Dev Tycoon - Greenheart Studios

Release Date: December 10, 2012

Re-released on Steam: August 29, 2013

Sim/Management games just happen to be one of my favorite types of games, so when Greenheart Studios came out with a game all about starting an indie gaming studio I had to have it. I mean, it's about video games! I like video games! (Obviously!)

The game is executed very simply, with fun and happy designs. Upon booting the game I was immediately hooked. I just had to have the best made, best selling game possible.

As a consumer, the struggles of the flip side of the video game coin, so to speak, were sometimes hard to deal with. At times I had to sacrifice game development to keep my company afloat, selling buggy games so I wouldn't go bankrupt the next month. I even had to make a decision of whether or not to take some dedicated fans of an old, popular game to court because of copyright infringement. The game was fantastic about having me make those difficult decisions and then bringing me back to the simple fun of deciding on new game concepts and names.

05

Age of Empires II HD - Hidden Path Entertainment, Ensemble Studios

Release Date: September 30, 1999

Re-released on Steam: April 9, 2013

Age of Empires II has been one of my favorite games since I first played it with my older brother, pretending I was the queen of whatever nation he was currently playing and ordering him around.

So it's no surprise that when I saw a remastered version of the game, complete with expansions, I grabbed it. I couldn't even play it at the time, because I hadn't partitioned my Mac's hard drive to Windows yet. When I finally got around to partitioning I ended up spending 97 hours on it.

The game is so simple in it's execution of city building and military strategy that it's easy to pick up and play for hours. The calming background music and smooth single click actions can make it a rather soothing game to pick up after a long day of schoolwork.

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