2014 has been a memorable year for owners of PlayStation platforms. The first year of PlayStation 4 brought with it some exciting exclusives, with the likes of inFAMOUS: Second Son showcasing the power of Sony’s black behemoth, while third-party games like Dragon Age: Inquisition and Destiny brought gamers together with co-op features and huge game worlds that just weren’t possible in previous generations.
PlayStation 3 churned out some great titles too with publishers continuing to put their weight behind Sony’s last-gen machine, while PS Vita, though moderately supported, had its fair share of highs with indie titles such as Rogue Legacy, Fez and TxK generally taking the limelight from more established franchises.
With dozens of games to choose, it’s a daunting task picking The Game of The Year. That’s why, this year, we’ve put it in the hands of our readers, who have been voting over the past week on the one PlayStation game that they have enjoyed more than any other. The voting has closed, the results have been counted and we have an overall winner.
Gathering almost 30 percent of the votes and voted Game Of The Year 2014 by readers of PSU.com, with data gathered from a home page article, forum polls and social media, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor gains this year’s accolade.
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Monolith Productions’ action-role-playing game focuses on events set between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. With an open-world environment ripe for exploration, a revolutionary new game mechanic in the Nemesis system and rewarding combat mechanics, Shadow of Mordor has widely been talked about as the best Lord of the Rings game to date.
Here’s a reminder of what makes Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor so special.
Check out some of the quotes from those readers who voted for Shadow of Mordor as their Game Of The Year.
“BBK – "For me I enjoyed every minute in that game world and no moment felt like a chore.”
Neil S Bolt – “What Monolith made from those raw ingredients is bloody phenomenal.”
Naxi – “The gameplay and combat is solid, but it’s the Nemesis System that makes it. It adds a sub-plot and a truly player-controlled narrative to the game. Affecting the orc hierarchy was a lot of fun.”
The opinion of our readers also tie in with our own Shadow of Mordor review.
Here’s our summary: “Combining the transversal and exploration of Assassin’s Creed and the combat of the Batman: Arkham franchise, Monolith Productions has created not only the best title in the Middle-earth franchise, but probably the best action title of the year.”
So, a huge congratulations to the team at Monolith and publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for showing us all that justice really can be done to major IPs when you have a team that’s passionate, talented and understands their subject matter and audience well.
If you’re interested to know which games gained the other votes then check out our Top 5 games of 2014 feature which launches on PSU tomorrow, December 27.