2013 was quite a year for gaming.
There were so many well received games one could feel overwhelmed on where to
start. For me it was slightly easy, I’m a console gamer, and specifically a
PlayStation gamer. So, unfortunately for me, games like Gone Home and the
Stanley Parable left me in their wake, hopefully giving me the finger until the
day I decide to finally play games on PC too. But until then, I proudly grab a
dual shock and declare war on whatever villain dares cross my path. Now there
will be some glaring omissions, money was tight for me, so games like Bioshock
Infinite, Tomb Raider, Beyond Two Souls, God of War, and Grand Theft Auto V,
are waiting in the wings until some sort of Game of the Year edition comes out
that collects everything or they come down in price. So for now, out of the
games I played this year, these are my favorites, and the top three in this
list will stick with me for a long time to come.
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| No to mention all the money spent on next gen. |
10) Sound Shapes (PS4)
Sure this game came out on the
PS3 and Vita in 2012, and I loved it. So when it came time for me to get my
PS4, I immediately downloaded this bad boy and had a blast, making it my first PS4
platinum. Sound Shapes is tremendously fun, and I can’t wait to see what Queasy
Games does next.
9) Contrast
(PS4)
I really enjoyed
my time with Contrast. It was a tremendously charming game, and I immensely
enjoyed playing as the imaginary character Dawn, who could not be seen by
anyone, just as she could see no one save for her creator Didi.
I’ve always felt Killzone has
taken itself too seriously. It also doesn’t help that I’ve never really felt the
need to fight the Helghast besides the fact that they are shooting at me. I
always thought it would be better if they introduced an alien enemy to fight,
uniting the two human adversaries. Regardless, Shadowfall is immensely
beautiful, implementing the touchpad effortlessly and kept me hooked until a
slightly sloppy end.
7) Resogun
I haven’t spent nearly enough
time with Resogun yet, but the time I have spent has been thoroughly enjoyable.
Much like Super Stardust, the game comes fast and hard, but is so addicting. I
had a blast playing it thus far, and once I’m back home in front of my PS4,
I’ll be playing it again.
One day, I was looking to play
something thoughtless while waiting for a friend to give me a call. Two hours
and three missed calls later I was hooked. I had no idea what this game was
before going into it, but man was I floored. It was colorful, loud, and just so
smooth I couldn’t help but get through the game with three perfect scores. It
didn’t hurt that is was free for PS+ members.
5) Assassin’s Creed IV (PS4)
Assassin’s Creed currently ranks
as my number three favorite franchise of all time behind Metal Gear (1) and
Uncharted (2). So short of this game being an AC Revelations clone, it wasn’t
going to take too much for me to like this game. But I didn’t realize how
much fun I was having with this game until close to the end when I, I mean
Edward, became an assassin for the first time. That’s when it hit me, this game
was huge and immersive, and I was content with just being a pirate. FYI, it
plays a hell of a lot better on the PS4 vs PS3, but the graphical difference in
negligible.
4) Sly Cooper, Thieves in Time
(Vita)
For me, Sly Cooper was always
that third wheel of the PS2 generation when compared to Ratchet and Jak. Don’t
get me wrong, I enjoyed it a lot, but not near the level of Ratchet let alone
Jak. However, Sly scratched an itch I had long forgotten I had. With games like
Into The Nexus and Puppeteer not till the end of the year, I was craving a game
that was pure PS2 era platforming, and Thieves in Time, especially on the Vita,
was just the game I needed. Not to say that the Vita version was superior to
the PS3 version, but it did allow me to play through the game on the subway to and
from school. Sly sneaked back onto consoles, and I hope to see more of his
adventures. Hopefully, Jak too will take note of how to make a successful
return one day.
5 years. That’s how long I’ve
waited for a new Metal Gear. I did not release how much I was missing this
franchise until I started playing through Revengeance. It had the zany Metal
Gear character that is unique to this franchise. It had a polish that Platinum
Game has focused since its days as the great Clover Studios, and it had the MGS
4 Raiden, the only Raiden that matters. This game was so new, yet felt so
familiar, I genuinely forgot it came out this year. I thought that I had had
this game for generations, having fond memories of playing it back in the day. Do
yourself a favor and pick this up, it is terrific.
2) Ni No Kuni
I had no expectations going into
this game. I can’t even remember the last JRPG I played (Valkyria Chronicles if
you count it). From the beautiful animated cut scenes to the seamless gameplay,
to the large world map, this JRPG may have started on a sad note, but never
relinquished that sense of wonder and optimism that good Japanese games manage
to capture. The characters never border on annoying, and the voice acting is
great. I’m having a blast (not quite done with it yet), and this game has me
coming back for more.
When I finished Uncharted 2 for
the first time, the words that came out of my mouth were ‘I can’t believe I was
a part of that’. It was such a roller-coaster ride of adrenalin that by the
time I was done I just wanted to dive right back in. The Last of Us on the
other hand was entirely different. I was drained, physically and mentally. I
felt a sudden urge to hug a giraffe. I was afraid more of random strangers than
clicking sounds in the distance. But most of all, I was pleased with Joel, with
the decision he made. I’ll try to be as vague as possible; when I found out towards
the end what the ‘bad guys’ were planning on doing, I was furious. There was no
way I, as in me not Joel, would allow them to do what they were planning. I had
come too far for that, and thankfully, so had Joel. I did what I had to do, and
a couple of days later, I did it again. This journey was a tough one, with a
muddied conclusion, where the line between good and bad is nonexistent. The
voice acting and motion capture was done so well, I’m struggling to think of
another game that comes close to it. Naughty Dog was brave to tell the story it
told, and I for one am privileged to have played it.
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