The System Wars Game of the Year 2014 Is Bayonetta 2

Before we proceed with the winners and the losers- and yes, of course there was a winner, and of course there were losers- let's at least sit back and appreciate how, in spite of everything, this was a great year for gaming. Even when games like Watch Dogs, Destiny, and Assassin's Creed Unity disappointed, games like Shadow of Mordor surprised. While the traditional AAA industry went through a period of upheaval, literally everything else- the PC market, indie games, Nintendo- saw a sort of second renaissance, and put out one amazing game after the other.

But ultimately, one of those games came out on top, one of those games shone out as the best game released this year, as decreed collectively by all of System Wars. With over 150 different members voting, and votes spread across 54 games, this was a very diverse showing. But ultimately, one game managed to win, and it did so convincingly.

Before we get to it, here are the nine runner ups:

And now, for the inaugural System Wars Game of the Year, as chosen by all of you:

BAYONETTA 2

Platform: Wii U

Developer: Platinum Games

Publisher: Nintendo

Gamespot Review

Metacritic

THE FINAL SCOREBOARD

1. Bayonetta 2: 1360 points
2. Dragon Age: Inquisition: 1175 points
3. Divinity: Original Sin: 920 points
4. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: 745 points
5. Dark Souls II: 710 points
6. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor: 675 points
7. Mario Kart 8: 575 points
8. Sunset Overdrive: 330 points
9. Shovel Knight: 290 points
10. The Last of Us Remastered: 250 points
11. Pokemon OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire: 240 points
12. Far Cry 4: 235 points
13. inFamous: Second Son: 230 points
14. The Evil Within: 205 points
15. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker: 190 points
16. South Park: The Stick of Truth: 185 points
17. Forza Horizon 2: 180 points
18. Destiny: 175 points
19. Alien Isolation: 145 points
20. The Walking Dead Season 2: 130 points
21. Titanfall: 125 points
22. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: 120 points
23. Grand Theft Auto V: 115 points
24. Super Smash Bros. for 3DS: 90 points
25. Wolfenstein: The New Order: 90 points
26. Wasteland 2: 85 points
27. Assassin’s Creed Unity: 80 points
28. Hearthstone: 75 points
29. Legend of Grimrock II: 75 points
30. The Wolf Among Us: 65 points
31. Insurgency: 50 points
32. Halo: The Master Chief Collection: 50 points
33. Threes: 50 points
34. Age of Wonders 3: 50 points
35. Velocity 2X: 50 points
36. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter: 45 points
37. Metro Redux: 40 points
38. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth: 40 points
39. World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor: 40 points
40. Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes: 40 points
41. Hyrule Warriors: 30 points
42. Bravely Default: 30 points
43. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax: 25 points
44. Civilization: Beyond Earth: 25 points
45. Outlast: 25 points
46. Valiant Hearts: 25 points
47. Tales of Hearts R: 15 points
48. Injustice: 15 points
49. Freedom Planet: 15 points
50. Monument Valley: 15 points
51. Drakengard 3: 15 points
52. PES 2015: 15 points
53. OlliOlli: 15 points
54. Inzauma Eleven: 15 points

Okay, guys. You all voted. And here it is.

The very first System Wars Game of the Year.

REALLY??

AW YEAH!

By how much though?

are the runner ups in any order?

The final tallies were actually quite funny.

Congrats to the game. Also, suck it cows

They should have been, but Gamespot's uploads screwed up the order for some reason.

I've posted the full scoreboard in the second post now, so you can see the exact order there.

Nice

let the crying begin

It's funny that I agree far more with a system wars polled list than any official GOTY shit that's come out.

I mean, this is the manifestation of System Wars' collective opinion, so it makes sense a System Wars poster would find this far more to his or her liking :p

My mentality on voting Bayonetta 2: 2 games for $60+ and a well made quality.

I thought Sheep were extinct? :P

Good good.

I really need to start playing this. Just 4 more chapters to Bayonetta...

The only two games I've even enjoyed this year (and are from this year) and MK8 and SSBU.

If I had played Bayonetta 2, it probably would be that though.

actually we did this a few years back as well.. Demon's Souls or Uncharted 2 won, can't remember

Glad to see Divinity: Original Sin in top 3. In fact first three games were also my own top 3. The difference was that Bayonetta 2 was at number 3 while Divinity was at number 1.

So I just realized, Wii U has more reps in the Top 10 than either Xbox One or PS4 do.

Heh.

Bayonetta 2 is well-deserved and I did not know that many will vote for it.

Different format, different rules, different person holding them, I think.

Thanks for going through the billion of voting. It must have been a completely headache.

Such excellent news! Platinum at least got the respect and admiration of the real gamers and not the bland corrupt gaming media that is too PC and too scared to honor true greatness. But the best part about this list? Captain Toad destroyed such games as South Park, Alien Isolation, Smash, DKCTF, and Forza Horizon 2. It brings joy to my heart to see the captain get the recognition he deserves.

Now that's a top 10 list that I can agree with. System Wars should create a critic hub of it's own.

@charizard1605: Pretty cool list, thanks for taking the time to compile all of this. I wish I could have played more of Bayonetta 2, but alas, no Wii U and I probably won't own one for a few years. From what I did play and everything I've seen, I'd say the win is well deserved though.

Good list.

Personally I would have gone with DA:I but I can settle with Bayonetta 2.

Oh my! I didn't even vote.

But congrats to Bayonetta 2 for winning SW's game of the year 2014.

@mikhail: @daious: Thanks, guys ^_^

And yeah, this is a pretty solid and well done Top 10 list, all said and done. I was pretty impressed, collectively, it looks like System Wars has some good taste.

Great list.

@charizard1605:

I'm sure counting all the votes was tedious. Great job dude.

thats cool. I honestly never cared for her or the game itself.

Thanks! :-)

It was a bit difficult, especially since I've been down with the flu for a week now, but thankfully, the points system is intuitive for tallying, so that certainly helped with the process!

Bayo 2 is garbage. Recount! Seriously though I think it is highly overrated. Played it maybe for 3 hours before retired from it.

Good choice, SW. Game is glorious. I can't think of a single action game whose moment-to-moment action feels better.

Nice try.

Yep, you made the thread.

Anyway for once SW made a not shit pick for this.

GTFL

Man, divinity sure got a lot of love. Maybe it can grab me better then inquisition has so far. Grats to Bayonetta 2.

Oh boy I hear ya on the sick part. I've had the worst chest cold I have felt in years. I want to buy a WiiU and games, but I have recently gotten involved in an animal rights cause that interferes. Read my latest blog for info on it.

Wii U owners had only 3 games and they voted all 3 games(this is why Bayonetta 2 won)

But PS4, PC and Xbox One owners had 100 games, and they split all game votes.

So of cause Wii U owners will vote Bayonetta 2 since they had no other game than that.

Wipe those tears away.

Not all hope is lost in System Wars.

Not perfect since it's a poll using a sample of fanboys that haven't played every game, but it didn't turn out entirely terrible.

Lolworthy that votes for remasters are counted though. Would have been silly if one of those had won.

I wonder how much this says about the faction population of System Wars.

It's interesting at least.

As far as the winner, I agree. Bayonetta 2 FTW.

A game which came out several years ago and seen by the industry as being somewhat fun but not groundbreaking in any way........ended up having a sequel that is suddenly GOTY material.

That's how system exclusivity shapes perception I guess

Your description of the original's reception is completely inaccurate.

90 on Metacritic.

Edge magazine said of the original:

"A beautiful and graceful fighting game that lets imagination loose, and winks before slapping Dante, Kratos and every other hero back to the drawing board."

From Game Informer:

"When you’re chaining combos together, switching between weapons, and punishing otherworldly opponents, Bayonetta is the epitome of its breed. It isn’t so much an evolution of the genre as a well-tuned and highly polished culmination of its history."

From Multiplayer.It:

"Bayonetta is truly a masterpiece of the action genre, a fresh, funny and spectacular stylish game also very deep in its gameplay. Platinum Games has definitely made a title that put Devil May Cry and every other action game in shame. Must Buy, period."

3DJuegos:

"Bayonetta is a step further in the hack 'n slash genre, a genuine explosion of fun in which Hideki Kamiya discovers his feminine side: a witch killing angels and dancing to the beat of Fly Me to the Moon. In other words, we love you, Bayonetta."

Eurogamer:

"Bayonetta is an unique title that exhales life back into the action hack-n-slash market."

Gametrailers:

"Bayonetta is as good as it gets when it comes to action games. The combat system is the work of masters, and the whole production is vivid, bold, and imaginative. It's also a hugely substantial experience that sustains and encourages repeat playthroughs."

Gamer.nl:

"The story and world of Bayonetta don’t make sense in any way, but that’s the point. It’s a chain of strange, spectacular moments in incoherent surroundings. It’s a parody of other action games, but it also sets the new standard for those same games. It’s that good."

You really think that equates to "somewhat fun"?

Kids get mad when you don't agree with them. lol

Plenty of goty winners aren't ground breaking, last year's big one: The Last of Us didn't do shit we hadn't seen done before in video games, it was just really good execution.

Groundbreaking doesn't necessarily mean 'doing things no one has seen before'. Specifically, that's innovation. Don't confuse the two.

Uncharted 2, GTA4, Skyrim and Metal Gear Solid 4 are groundbreaking in their own right, despite not being innovative....just like The Last of Us. They just did the same thing really really well.

L.A. Noire is one example of an innovative game.

Doing the same thing really really well, or innovating can both lead to a game being groundbreaking. It's just a figure of speech. Bayonetta 1 was a good game. I enjoyed it. However, I enjoyed it as much as I did Vanquish, or Metal Gear Revengeance. Are they GOTY material? IMO....no. And many shared my opinion as well. But asking for that opinion before and after Bayonetta 2's exclusivity was announced seemingly yielded different results.

You do realize that Bayonetta 2 is universally considered to be much better than the first Bayonetta (which, as I demonstrated, was considered to be at least somewhat groundbreaking by quite a few publications), right? You're acting like they're the same game or something. They're not.

You've provided no evidence that Bayo 2's reception as a groundbreaking title has anything to do with exclusivity.

This here is what the overall GOTY for Gamespot should be, stuff what ever process they use, leave it to the fans to decide.