Top 10 Games of 2014

Honorable Mention

Rebooting or remaking anything has always been and will always be a daunting task. Will it successfully attract a new audience? Will it alienate the old one? How do you approach it? What do you keep, what do you discard, and what do you revamp? Eidos Montreal's recent Thief remake/reboot/sequel is a great example of how to successfully marry old-school and new school together, and while the reviews would lead you to think otherwise, Thief 2014 is, for the most part, Thief just as you remember it. Thanks to brand spankin' new consoles, the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC versions are quite good-looking despite being rendered on the creaky Unreal Engine 3 tech, though to be fair it has been heavily modified.

You're still playing as the mysterious master thief Garrett, you're still meant to favor stealth and distraction over the direct approach, and the plot is still imbued with the same creepy gothic atmosphere fans are used to. For better or worse, it's definitely not the 1998 original and concessions have been made to keep Thief contemporary. The story shows so much promise which makes it all the more frustrating that it never develops properly. Gameplay is straight-ahead stealth, as you'd expect it to be, and players are given a plethora of different ways to tackle objectives if they're vigilant enough. To its detriment, Thief can't seem to decide if it wants to be a tough hardcore-minded experience or a guided casual-friendly affair. Thief tries to balance both with, thankfully, more focus on the former. It's a good game, sometimes even great, and if you're old enough to have played through the original series you'll find yourself right at home with Thief, if not a little letdown by all its minor foibles.

Gearbox Software's 2013 failure, Aliens: Colonial Marines, has made it harder than ever for Aliens-based videogames to be taken seriously. Who can blame us for having doubts? Colonial Marines was a competent shooter, I'll give it that, but a loathsome Alien adaptation. Expectations were understandably low when SEGA announced yet another game set in director Ridley Scott's universe, this time a direct sequel to the original film that tasks Ellen Ripley's daughter, Amanda, with thwarting her own Xenomorph menace aboard a space station called Sevastopol.

Alien: Isolation gets everything right that Gearbox's title got so very wrong. Isolation is a tense, terrifying, and challenging experience. It's hard as hell, scary as shit, and does everything in its power to make you feel utterly helpless. As the title suggests, there is but one Xenomorph for you to face off against, though "face off against" isn't a very apt phrase. Isolation trades the dude-bro first-person shooting of Colonial Marines for white-knuckle survival-horror. You'll spend 90% of the game running, hiding, and distracting the various threats around you as opposed to tackling them head-on. Isolation is a horror title and there wouldn't be much horror in allowing the player to fight back.

The game looks very good (though nothing groundbreaking) from a graphics standpoint, but it's not interested in dazzling you with shiny graphics. Isolation earns its stripes by building an intensely desperate atmosphere, communicating an obvious respect for the Alien mythos, delivering an involving story, and showcasing memorable encounters with the cunning & lethal titular monster. One of Creative Assembly's most amazing accomplishments is making the Xeno feel truly alive thanks to its complex set of AI routines. You're never sure when it's going to appear, when it's going to finally decide to give up the hunt, if it's going to sniff you out of your hiding place, or if it's going to leave the area at all. No two encounters play the same and that makes for some really thrilling gameplay.

Alien: Isolation is an unforgiving game that not everyone is going to like. There's a real learning curve here, a specific way to play the game in order to have fun with it, and that's going to frustrate impatient players. Forget all you've learned from the last five years of videogames because Creative Assembly have taken the book and burned it with this one. It feels good to have to sit down with a game and figure it out, to spend time with it and force myself to understand its mechanics and the way it wants me to play it. Alien: Isolation is, hands down, the best developed adapation of the source material ever made. Amidst the heart-pounding tension - no hyperbole intended - and blood-curdling run-ins with the Xenomorph, there's plenty of fan service to dig into also. Alien: Isolation is an overall excellent package and the game Alien fans have been begging for.

A veteran company like Ubisoft should know better. Assassin's Creed is their flagship series, and understandably so, but it's becoming more and more apparent that the next-gen-only Assassin's Creed: Unity could have used a few more months in the cooker before release. It doesn't seem to matter which platform you play this game on because neither of the three are more technically proficient than the other. The PlayStation 4 version has the worse framerate, the Xbox One version runs just a touch better, and while the PC version looks and runs the best comparatively, it too is an exceptionally unoptimized experience that requires a beast of a machine to run decently. Now, if you've got the rig to handle it and can look past some absolutely horrendous bugs & glitches, the PC release of Assassin's Creed: Unity is the one to get.

The technical issues this game is experiencing on all platforms are a shame. A shame because Unity is easily the most accomplished Assassin's Creed since the second. But how are consumers to know that when they can't get their damn game working long enough to see it for themselves? The new playable protagonist, Arno Dorian, is a vast improvement over the dry Connor from Assassin's Creed III and the smug Edward from Black Flag. Arno is given a fantastic backstory and heaping portions of personality. He feels a lot like Assassin's Creed II's Ezio Auditore, and for me that's a huge relief. I didn't want another snarky non-assassin, which Arno most certainly isn't. Connor & Edward were brooding and unwelcoming, a far cry from Ezio's charismatic & suave demeanor. Arno is cut from his cloth, which I more than welcome.

Being the first native next-gen release for the franchise, you're no doubt going into it expecting something fresh and exciting. A lot of the core Assassin's Creed gameplay has been renovated and/or stripped down, some things removed entirely, and others given a major overhaul. You've got a lot more control over Arno thanks to the updated free-running mechanics. The new combat system is impressive too. Ubisoft have ditched the old model for something akin to western hack-and-slash RPGs. Assassin's Creed III and IV made it much too easy to dismantle swarms of enemies, something that ou won't be doing here. Unity's combat is far more difficult, and that's a good thing.

Assassin's Creed: Unity is jam-packed with things to do, places to explore, a variety of expertly developed missions to carry out, and an engrossing, emotional story to immerse yourself in. Unity is also brandishing the best looking in-game graphics I've ever seen. This is one seriously gorgeous game. For the first time in five years I felt like I was playing through an honest-to-goodness Assassin's Creed game again. Lack of Roman numeral aside, Unity plays, looks, and feels like the Assassin's Creed IV that Black Flag just wasn't.

November 15th, 2013 officially kicked off the start of a new console generation, and Activision's Call of Duty: Ghosts was there with bells on. Last year's Infinity Ward-developed Ghosts got the next-gen hype started early on. Infinity Ward touted a new engine (which ended up being the same engine, albeit updated exponentially), the inclusion of a playable German Shepard, and redefined multiplayer. Ghosts was a big ol' bag of disappointments, least of which being its soulless campaign and piss-poor QA testing. Even the series' typically rock solid critical standing had faltered with its Metacritic average settling somewhere around the low 70s, making Ghosts the lowest rated main Call of Duty title ever. The future of the series was looking mighty grim.

Did Activision say Ghosts was next-gen? I'm sure they'd give anything to rebuff that statement. Sledgehammer Games' Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the series' first real next-generation title, a title that Sledgehammer will remind you took them three years to develop. Those three years show: Advanced Warfare wasted no time cleansing Ghosts from my palate. Although Advanced Warfare is still utilizing the IW Engine, at this point its been so reworked & retooled it might as well be its own proprietary tech. Advanced Warfare's graphics are astonishing from beginning to end. Gorgeous facial renders, beautiful lighting effects, hi-res textures, an all-new movement system, and a revamped audio engine - Sledgehammer gave this thing the works.

You've also got the likes of Troy Baker, Gideon Emery, Kevin Spacey, and Russell Richardson playing main characters in the campaign. These are all fantastic actors and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how much better the acting is here versus the previous game. Spacey in particular is in tiptop shape, really digging into the character of Jonathan Irons. He gives an impressive, convincing, and well-rounded performance the whole way through. The campaign is well-written, well-acted, and full of variety. Vehicle segments, stealth segments, straight-forward shooting, and much larger levels than we've ever seen in a Call of Duty game combine to make this the best, most exciting campaign since 2010's Black Ops. Sledgehammer also gives players the longest campaign in the franchise post-Modern Warfare, clocking in at a very respectable eight hours. This one isn't going to convert the naysayers, but as far as Call of Duty games go, Activision's pride & joy is firing on all cylinders again.

If you had told me a year ago that I would seriously be considering Wolfenstein: The New Order a 2014 Game of the Year contender I would have called you a liar. Original creators of the Wolfenstein franchise, id Software, had almost nothing to do with this entry aside from slapping their logo on it. That's usually a pretty bad sign. The unknown MachineGames (strike two) handled The New Order's development duties with Bethesda, for the first time in the series' history, acting as publisher. Sounds a touch suspicious, yeah? 9 times out of 10 this would turn out to be everything it sounds like: a crap game churned out by an obscure (read: crap) developer trying to shake whatever loose change it can out of fans' pockets. The Gaming Gods must have ruled in MachineGames's favor because The New Order could quite possibly be the best Wolfenstein game ever!

The New Order is weird. Really fucking weird. But in a totally I-can't-believe-this-works kind of way. It's sci-fi, it's horror, it's melodrama, it's straight drama, it's funny, gut-wrenching, touching, and sometimes poignant. It sports an imaginative, character-driven storyline while skillfully balancing the utter lunacy of its transpiring events. One minute you're taking a beachhead and before you know it you're flying to a German lunar base! You'd think its identity crisis would be a bad thing, that The New Order would feel disjointed and awkward. It doesn't. I can't explain why nor do I wish to, I just know it works. The action is unsurprisingly intense, that intensity helped along by massive weaponry that dismember, pulverize, liquefy, and explode Nazis in the most satisfying ways imaginable. The campaign is also notably lengthy on top of offering two different storylines based on a choice you make early on in the game. Depending on your choice you'll be treated to new characters, new dialogue exchanges, and new areas. You want replay value? MachineGames have come up with an ideal way of giving it to you.

The New Order is equally impressive visually. Not a true next-gen game, unfortunately, but sporting big enough leaps in lighting, shading, and motion capture techniques to exceed my expectations. Thanks to the id Tech 5 engine and its streaming texture capabilities, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One owners will both be trouncing through The New Order's action-packed campaign at an unwavering 60 frames-per-second. The New Order is a fantastic shooter that reminds me why I fell in love with Wolfenstein in the first place. It's so well-designed, so well-developed by MachineGames that I simply can't fathom another game in this franchise not created by this studio. Make it happen, Bethesda.

When it comes to these end-of-the-year lists I've made it a point not to include re-releases of a game if the game made it on a prior year's list. How fitting then that Naughty Dog's controversial The Last of Us - of which the PS3 version made it to number three last year - be the first exception. The Last of Us - Remastered isn't a mere re-issue for the sake of making a few bucks off consumers during the summer months' gaming drought, though it wouldn't surprise me if that's what everyone was thinking. If Sony had wanted that they certainly wouldn't have had to expend much effort to do so. Early adopters want games for their expensive machines and The Last of Us was a huge draw for PS3 owners. Needless to say, PS4 owners that hadn't already played the game would have shelled out $60 with little hesitation.

No, The Last of Us - Remastered is not a cash grab. The work Sony and Naughty Dog put into this "remastered" release is more than a basic increase in resolution and an uncapped framerate. The Last of Us was a great looking last-gen game that has surpassed a number of today's cross-generation titles. The PS4 version does indeed feature an unlocked framerate & a native 1080p render, but players are also getting a reworked lighting system, high resolution textures, increased shadow quality, and some very pretty DirectX 11 effects. Simply put, the PS4 version of The Last of Us very seldom looks or feels like a last-gen release. Visual quality meets and exceeds most of what's on the market at the moment save for next-gen exclusives, with the high quality character models, shading, and reflections being as good as anything you're going to see for the next couple of years. Yes, it looks that incredible and runs equally well.

The game you know and love is still there, thankfully, as Naughty Dog haven't adjusted the gameplay whatsoever. That brilliant mixture of third-person shooter and hardcore survival-horror is just as brilliant a year later, backed by the increased fluidity in framerate that pushes the intensity right over the edge. It's so responsive and so smooth; a marked improvement over the laggy sub-30 frames the PS3 version achieved. The Last of Us is dark, disturbing, gritty, unrelenting, and even better the second time around. It well and truly feels tailor made for next-gen, without a doubt making the PS4 the ideal system to experience it on. If you still haven't picked up The Last of Us then what the hell are you waiting for? One of the PlayStation brand's best games just got better.

The last console generation's system sales crown, excluding the runaway success that was the Nintendo Wii, irrefutably belonged to Microsoft's Xbox 360. Sony's PlayStation 3 lagged behind a majority of the generation in both sales and popularity with most pointing in the direction of its outrageous price tag as the cause. What the PlayStation 3 lacked in monetary accruement it made up for in top-notch exclusives. Sony's first-party dominance - as far as Metacritic is concerned - is inarguable. The PlayStation 3 console's exclusive games were one of the biggest reasons I opted for the system in the first place. Time will tell if the PlayStation 4 will continue its predecessor's legacy, but if Sucker Punch's outstanding inFAMOUS: Second Son is any indication, I'm buckling up for what promises to be a hell of a generation.

inFAMOUS was a sprawling sandbox game with a genius twist: your character is given powers and it's up to you to be either a hero or villain based on the choices you make. Save civilians, subdue bad guys, achieve mission objectives with minimal collateral damage, and generally uphold a positive, ethical approach to crime-fighting and the public warms to you, your powers, and sees you as a possible savior. Do the opposite, however, and you're looking at a supervillian in the making. It was an awesome idea then and it's still an awesome idea now. The difference? Second Son genuinely benefits from the next-gen leap in technology, delivering the biggest & grandest inFAMOUS yet.

inFAMOUS and inFAMOUS 2's Cole McGrath has been done away with to make room for new protagonist Delsin Rowe. I can't say enough about actor Troy Baker's immaculate performance as Rowe. He's funny, instantly likeable, and relatable. One big thing here - as far as characterization goes - is Rowe's Native American heritage. A non-white lead character in a AAA title? Sucker Punch, my hat goes off to you. Then you've got the graphics, which are positively stellar. Second Son is sporting jaw-dropping visual fidelity from top to bottom. It plays like a dream; surprising given its sheer visual density. Rowe's adventure takes him all over a beautifully re-created near-future Seattle. Kudos to the development team for choosing such an original (and overlooked) locale. An interesting & fully realized cast of characters, gobs of side-activities to complete, and the same morality-driven gameplay you've come to expect from the inFAMOUS franchise rounds out this high quality, content-laden package. Every little thing Sucker Punch could have and should have implemented is here in spades, worked in flawlessly and painstakingly perfected to the tiniest detail.

Allow me to preface this body of text by admitting that I know nothing about the Lord of the Rings universe. Zilch. I went into Shadow of Mordor based on glowing critical reviews and friends' recommendations. It was to my understanding that Shadow of Mordor, despite being a part of the Middle-earth saga, has relatively little to do with Guillermo Del Toro's sprawling film adaptations or J.R.R. Tolkien's novels. It's been described as an "off-canon" side adventure of sorts, so I'm going to assume that my depressing lack of Lord of the Rings knowledge didn't hinder my level of enjoyment. I'm not sure why exactly I'm writing in the past-tense (my attempts at building suspense, most like) because Shadow of Mordor being fourth on this list makes it readily apparent that I had a blast with it.

Whatever Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor has in common (or not) with the Lord of the Rings universe is lost on me, meaning I'm free to view this as nothing more than an action/stealth videogame. Monolith (the F.E.A.R. franchise) developed this title and it shows. You're going to get enough sword fights, slo-mo duels, and icky decapitations to last a lifetime. Shadow of Mordor is enthusiastically violent, reveling in its absurd displays of brutality at every turn. Gorehounds are going to cozy right up to it while the rest of you are more likely to shield your eyes in disgust. What holds this one together, however, isn't its copious amounts of grue but rather its outstanding gameplay. The much-discussed Nemesis system is great, the diversity in combat techniques & abilities sustains the action, and the fluidity of the game's core mechanics is impressive.

Shadow of Mordor isn't the most original title you're going to play this year. Cribbing a multitude of motifs from other games (namely Rocksteady's Batman titles and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed), a great deal of Shadow of Mordor's identity is borrowed from the DNA of other videogames. Monolith make it nothing if not apparent that they're as much gamers as we are; they make no attempts to hide their influences. This veritable hodgepodge of ingredients comes out a surprisingly tasty dish, developed with the level of expertise you'd expect from a company that have been in the business since 1996. The game's stealth system is uncommonly good, allowing players the option to go in with force or trepidation seamlessly. Mordor is yet another sandbox game that folks with OCD just shouldn't play. It left me chipping away at its mass of activities up to the wee hours of the night. Damn you, Monolith!

Describing something like Shadow of Mordor on paper does it little justice. It sounds too derivative, too familiar, and in a way it is. It takes a piece here, a piece there, a dash of this, a dash of that, and throws it together in a way that feels more atypical than it really is. You've also got a pretty decent story too, but Shadow of Mordor is more about gameplay than narrative. Let it also be said that while this is yet another in a long list of next-gen games with an accompanying last-gen release, the PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions play & look like fully next-generation titles. The PS3 and 360 versions suffer greatly from the decision to go cross-generational and that's a shame. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a shining example of how to do licensed properties right. Fan of the Tolkien-verse or not (I certainly am not), Shadow of Mordor is just a plain great game.

Warranted hype can make an excellent game a popular one. Unwarranted hype can sell your game but, needless to say, it won't be remembered as anything other than an empty promise. As far as I'm concerned, Watch Dogs lived up to expectations and then some, drawing me into its hacker-infused, meta-obsessed story & game world within my first hour of playing. I enjoyed it so much I played through the story again, completed even more side activities, and eventually purchased a copy for my PC. As gamers we sometimes find ourselves having to push to a title's end, wanting our money's worth even if it's a big steaming pile. For me, Watch Dogs wasn't one of those games.

But I can face facts. I knew it was never going to live up to its reveal at the 2012 E3 show. At the time it was truly marvelous; these were our first glimpses of what next-gen graphics would look like. At the event Ubisoft feigned ignorance and downplayed the possibility of new systems, though there was never an outright denial. Since then we've been treated to real next-gen games, games that aren't saddled with the obligation to run on the PS3 and Xbox 360's outdated tech, and games that have taken complete advantage of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One's respective horsepower. By our current standards Watch Dogs isn't nearly as impressive as it was circa summer 2012. The critical consensus has reflected as much.

If you were expecting anything other than an open-world game with an original premise then I understand why Watch Dogs must have been underwhelming for you. It's not a revolution, but what is anymore? Watch Dogs is a remarkable sandbox game for a number of reasons, least of which is its concept & plot. Open-world gameplay with the player character having the ability to connect to, manipulate, and dissect the world interactively through his cell phone? That's a million dollar idea if there ever was one. Couple that with an intriguing story, great gunplay, impressive amounts of destructibility, and interesting characters and you've got a winner in my book. And the driving mechanic that's been so harshly criticized I'd argue is one of the best in any game not named Grand Theft Auto V. Watch Dogs reminds me of a time where developers made sure their open-world games had vehicle physics particular to each class of vehicle. There's a (refreshing) learning curve here.

New consoles means higher expectations. Watch Dogs is an incredible sandbox title, but that's not enough. Gamers and critics alike want next-gen games to be huge leaps in playability now which just isn't going to happen. Watch Dogs isn't a reinvention of the open-world shooter and that's ok. What it is, however, is a perfected, polished, and really fun open-world shooter wrapped inside of a fiendishly original concept. Ubisoft are obviously fishing for a new franchise, and it goes without saying that I'm all for the eventual release of Watch Dogs 2 if the level of quality continues.

Mention BioWare to any self-respecting gamer and you're sure to spark a lengthy conversation on their beautifully developed, open-ended, and lengthy action-RPGs. The company's stock rose with the success of their epic sci-if drama Mass Effect, that game & eventual series striking a perfect balance between intense third-person shooting and lore-steeped RPG character building. Mass Effect is what BioWare are most known for but it's worth arguing that the developer's other RPG franchise is the one for which they are most respected. The Dragon Age games are more "traditionally" RPG in a sense. They're layered deeply with a multitude of medieval fantasy motifs - elves, witches, mages, dwarves, and yes, dragons. Some may argue that Dragon Age lacks the accessibility of Mass Effect. I argue that Mass Effect lacks Dragon Age's exquisite setting & mythology.

Dragon Age: Inquisition carries on the BioWare tradition of crafting an involving, elaborate story in which the player directly affects the outcome of conversations, character's fates, and the game's ending (of which there are several). Dragon Age II was generally seen as a step down from the original game, 2009's Dragon Age: Origins, upon release for a myriad of reasons. Less choices, less story, dumbed down combat, and less to do overall are among the chief complaints. Inquisition is a vast improvement noticeable right from the very beginning, throwing players headlong into their first sets of story-altering choices immediately following the customary creation of their character. Inquisition is a looong game, especially if you're wanting to complete everything, and what's most surprising about this is how continually fresh it feels upwards of 50 hours in. You're still grinding for XP like any other RPG, it just never feels like it. BioWare have always been adept at designing varied, fulfilling side-quests, a skill that benefits the longwinded Inquisition the whole way through.

Where other titles of similar length & scope feel artificially inflated by endless backtracking & hordes of respawning enemies, Inquisition feels like an ever-increasing forward step. It keeps getting better and better the further in you get. BioWare know how to tell a story and Inquisition's narrative is smart, intrinsically old-fashioned, and perfectly paced. The characters you'll meet during the course of the game, be they minor or major, are so well-constructed I couldn't bear losing some of my allies or not seeking sweet vengeance on heinous villains. One of the most outstanding aspects of Inquisiton's universe is that both good & bad characters have shades of gray: no one is without sin or merit. These are fully fleshed out, three-dimensional characters brought to life via first-rate dialogue and deft writing.

BioWare have gone on record as saying that Inquisition is the Dragon Age game they've always wanted to make. I believe them. Avid RPG players have got themselves one of the best the genre has to offer. BioWare's winning streak continues with Inquisition, a technically marvelous adventure rife with intriguing characters, a compelling narrative, exciting combat, a bountiful supply of quests, and gorgeous Frostbite 3-powered graphics all set in a richly immersive game world. Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of the most uniformly excellent games I've played in a really long time, so devoid of flaws that it's almost sickening. Not into RPGs? Make it your first. Seriously. Play this game!

Everything I saw of Far Cry 4 leading up to its release on November 18th was met with a resounding "meh" from yours truly. Far Cry 3 was an amazing open-world first-person shooter; perfect in almost every way. Although held back by a story that thought itself far smarter than it actually wound up being, there's no disputing just how damn good the rest of the game was. And there was Vaas. You know, the guy you saw plastered all over the advertising material, the E3 reveal, and the box art. Far Cry 3 is often called the Skyrim of first-person shooters, and it's a well-deserved (and earned) moniker.

Only two years after Far Cry 3's release we have Far Cry 4. Built largely upon the same formula, the same engine, and the same gameplay as its predecessor, you wouldn't be wrong to assume Ubisoft put this baby on cruise control and called it a day. I had no real expectations for Far Cry 4 and went into it expecting a fun, albeit forgettable Far Cry 3-esque romp. Nothing special, just more of the same. Surprise, surprise. While one can't argue how much this title owes to the previous game, it does a stunning job of perfecting that formula. Videogame developers, take notes, if you're going to reintegrate assets from a previous title and want to avoid the backlash that inevitably comes with it, this is how you do it.

Far Cry 4 is Far Cry 3 cranked up to 1,000. Everything that made the last game so much fun and so addicting returns ten-fold with notable improvements in gameplay, mission variety, character interaction, visuals, and story. You've got a seriously deep experience at your fingertips with Far Cry 4. I literally spent two straight hours just making my way to a story mission marker. I continuously found myself getting sidetracked to loot yet another chest, chase down an enemy courier & steal his documents, destroy or capture an enemy supply truck, liberate a bell tower, hunt animals to obtain their skins to craft equipment upgrades, or... you get the picture. By their very nature, sandbox games are designed to give players tons to do. Far Cry 4 has so much bang-for-your-buck its continually flowing over the edges. My OCD had a field day.

A consequence-driven story is one of the newly implemented features and I appreciated it immensely. As mentioned above, the last game was sorely lacking in the story department which is ironic considering Ubisoft touted the game's story as its main selling point. Words simply can't do justice to all the great things Far Cry 4 does, has, and improves on. I generally loathe the reheating of any successful title, and by all counts Far Cry 4 looked to be nothing more than a lukewarm Far Cry 3 rehash. While the game does play an awful lot like its predecessor, you're still playing through a game housing an experience all its own. Whatever elements of Far Cry 3 Ubisoft brings over for the sequel, it does them even better the second time around. It's the biggest, baddest, and most impressive Far Cry game to date. Easily the best game I've played this year and a proper raising of the bar for future first-person shooters.