The Best Mobile Games of 2014 (According to Everybody Else)

With 2014 almost behind us, it’s time to pop the champagne corks and celebrate the year that was. Earlier this month, Gamezebo took a look at the games that amazed us this year (check out our “best of” picks for iPhone, iPad and Android games), and since that time the rest of the internet has too.

So what games did everybody else love?

TIME

When people think of TIME Magazine retrospectives, “Person of the Year” is usually what comes to mind. Certainly not video games, and certainly not mobile games. But the TIME’s, they are a-changin’.

In their Top 10 Video Games of 2014 round-up, not only were some mobile games included (Monument Valley, Hearthstone), but their overall Game of the Year award went to inkle’s narrative mobile adventure 80 Days.

Touch Arcade

It was a big year for mobile games, but TA managed to keep their GOTY list succinct and to the point this year. Only three games made their official round-up: Hearthstone (honorable mention), Monument Valley (runner up), and their Game of the Year… Wayward Souls.

Considering all three of those made appearances in our own “best of” roundups, we whole-heartedly approve. If you’re looking for even more “best of” content from Touch Arcade, they also took a look at the 25 best games of the year, and their writers put together personal Top 10’s for 2014. Check out the picks of Eli Hodapp, Jared Nelson, Shaun Musgrave, Eric Ford and Carter Dotson.

The Guardian

Wondering what one of the UK’s most widely circulated newspapers thought of mobile gaming in 2014? (if so… who are you!?) For iOS gamers, The Guardian’s top pick was the fantastic mobile MOBA Vainglory.

For Android gamers, their Game of the Year went to Monument Valley; a game I think we all expected to sweep this year, but that seems relegated to the #2 or #3 spot in most lists for some reason. (Gamezebo’s selections included).

Pocket Tactics

80 Days is really, really great. If TIME Magazine’s endorsement (and Gamezebo’s own inclusion in the top 10) weren’t enough to convince you, maybe Pocket Tactics can. Like TIME, they too named 80 Days their Game of the Year.

In the days preceeding their GOTY reveal, they awarded games for everything from Best Strategy Game of the Year to Best Puzzle Game of the year. Check out the complete list at pockettactics.com.

r/androidgaming

While there doesn’t seem to be an iOS counterpart that we could find voted on by the reddit community, the fine redditors in r/androidgaming took a vote on which 2014 Android games were the absolute best.

Their #1 pick? Monument Valley. But that top pick isn’t what makes this list great — it’s all of the obscure games you’ve yet to discover. Iron Snout? Stories of Bethem? First Strike 1.2? If you think you’ve played everything there is worth playing in 2014, you might want to bookmark this list.

Metacritic

Taking all of the scores from all of the top publications into consideration, you’d think that Metacritic would be able to give us the definitive answer to “what was the best game of the year?” So was it Threes? Monument Valley? Wayward Souls? Nope – it was VVVVVV.

With an average score of 95, the port of Terry Cavanagh’s earlier PC masterpiece was the highest rated game of the year. Metacritic’s article stipulated that a game needed to have 7 or more reviews to be included, though, so while the #1 pick would stay the same, the rest of the list looks quite different if viewed here. For example, their #2 pick would change from Hearthstone to Traps n’ Gemstones.

Hey, wasn’t that Gamezebo’s pick for iPhone Game of the Year?

Jim Squires

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Jim Squires is the Editor-in-Chief of Gamezebo. Everything you see passes his eyes first, so we like to think of him as "the gatekeeper of cool stuff." He likes good games, great writing, and just can't say no to a hamburger. Also, he is not a bear.