My Top 40 Games of 2013, 10 - 1: R.I.P. 2013

Written By: Tyler Selig

                Hello everybody and Happy New Year! To start the year off, let’s remember the ten best games of 2013, according to me of course.

10: The Wonderful 101

                I’m going to rage a bit here. This Platinum Games superhero action game should have sold systems. People bitched about how the Wii U doesn’t have new IP and this interesting fast-paced beat ‘em up comes out and people don’t seem to care or even acknowledge that it exists. It’s one of the best games of the year and does something different with the genre, allowing your superheroes to form things like giant hands and whatnot. From the visuals, to the silly over-the-top humour, to the intense action, The Wonderful 101 really is wonderful and people shouldn’t sleep on this.

9: Fire Emblem: Awakening

From here on, you could switch any of these around and I’d be okay with it. It ultimately only came down to the mood I was currently in, since a lot of these are so entirely different than one another.

This is the first Fire Emblem game I’ve ever played and I was blown away.  I love tactical-RPGs, I love ‘job systems,’ and I love how deep the combat is in this game. One of the best RPGs of the year, by far.

8: Shin Megami Tensei 4

                This was also the first time I’ve played a Shin Megami Tensei core game. I also bought that other one that was finally release over here, but that was a tad dated. I loved what it was offering me though so I got really excited to play 4. It didn’t let me down at all… part Pokemon, part old-school RPG, it’s got incredible depth and a great story.

7: Batman: Arkham Origins

                I don’t care how many people want to say it’s too similar to Arkham City, or even that it sucks, this is another fine entry in an epic and legendary Batman video game series. Glitches aside – in which there were many when I played – it’s everything you could want from another Arkham game. Great villains, a logical story for why Batman is fighting so many villains at one time, and awesome gameplay that in some ways redefined the genre. No, it’s not a complete overhaul of the series, but since we don’t get one every year, I’m completely okay with that.

6: Bioshock: Infinite

                I think the first one may still be better, but this is another great Bioshock game. Wonderful story, solid game mechanics and dat mindfuck of an ending. It’s an accomplishment on pretty much every front.

5: Super Mario 3D World

                This game is just fun incarnate. It’s hard not to play this without a smile on your face, from all the references to games past, to the way the game works, it’s all on point. People can hate on Nintendo and all the Marios they release, but when Mario is at its best, there isn’t a platformer on the planet that can beat it. This is one of the best of the series, and that says a lot.

4: Path of Exile

                Free-to-play means shit right? Nope. Path of Exile is one of the best ARPGs of all time. It has your classic hack n’ slash action, but it does a few things different within the genre, such as having a barter system, or levelling up on something that is like the Final Fantasy X Sphere Grid. There is an incredible amount to love about Path of Exile. Did I mention it’s free?

3: The Last of Us

                It’s important to note, again, that from 9 on, any of these games could be number one but I believe in the integrity of the list so there has to be winners. The Last of Us was number one until right now, but I did a quick switch up. The Last of Us, like Bioshock: Infinite, is an accomplishment on everything. One of the best told stories of recent years, with memorable characters. One of the best soundtracks of the year. While some criticize the gameplay, I see absolutely nothing wrong with it. The Last of Us is one of the best PS3 games ever.

2: Killzone: Shadow Fall

                The bias is strong with this one. Killzone is my jam, I say it all the time. It’s a game I can sink hours into. I don’t know if this is the best one or not, but it does some things amazingly well, and they released a patch that fixes some of the issues I had with it. If you want a slower, Sci-Fi shooter, Killzone is where you should go.

1: Animal Crossing: New Leaf

                That’s right, I moved The Last of Us so I could put Animal Crossing: New Leaf as my number one. It’s mostly because it was a game I kept going back to for a couple months, whereas I basically only played The Last of Us for a while. Animal Crossing was my first real go at the series, since I only played the first one for a little bit, and I’m a huge fan now. But like I said, The Last of Us could be here, Super Mario could, Killzone, Fire Emblem, etc. Just depends on what genre I felt like playing at the time.

                And that’s it folks. I don’t know what 2014 is going to bring for me or this blog, but I hope you enjoyed my end of the year extravaganza.

The Gamecepticon Awardicons -- Misc. Video Game Awards

Written By: Tyler Selig   

These are my Miscellaneous Awards, where I give awards based on things such as music, multiplayer, etc. You’ll notice that there’s not a lot in terms of negative awards, and that’s mostly because I believe end of the year awards should celebrate the good because the bad makes me want to kill myself. With that said, I will cheat death again and include a couple negative awards.

                This will be a long post, and yes I may have a lot of “Other Nominees,” but this is my blog and the end of the year is important to me so there you have it. It also only includes games I’ve played so, sorry, no Battlefield 4 – from what I hear, nobody can play it anyway – or Grand Theft Auto 5. 

               Winners are in bold, let's do this.

Best Soundtrack – Starbound

Other Nominees

The Last of Us

Bioshock: Infinite

Animal Crossing

Super Mario World 3D World

Beyond: Two Souls

Monaco

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

                Starbound wasn’t technically released this year, so maybe it shouldn’t count, but the soundtrack was given out to people who pre-ordered it. And let me tell you something, this soundtrack is special. It’s so emotional and beautiful that it hurts. Try listening to Mira and not feel something. The Starbound soundtrack will be even better in context of the game, but even solo it’s incredible.

                If you don’t want to count Starbound, then I’d give it to The Last of Us, which is brilliant enough by itself with songs such as Vanishing Grace… but when you see the game in action combined with the music it’s a whole different ball game.

                Bioshock returned with another great soundtrack of old tunes and original content.

 Animal Crossing is a completely different type of OST compared to the others, but it isn’t any less effective in creating tone and mood. It’s just not something I listen to a lot of outside of the game, outside of a song or two, which isn’t a criticism so much as a comment on how ingrained in the game it is.

Meanwhile, Super Mario 3D World had some of the finest music Mario has ever had, with a mixture of original content and remixes/remade versions of the songs we know and love.

Beyond: Two Souls had a wonderful OST that compliments the themes and storylines of the game perfectly.

Austin Wintory can add this to his list of achievements. After almost winning a Grammy for his work on Journey, he released another great soundtrack – that isn’t quite as good as Journey – that perfectly fits being a thief.

It’s hard to argue with Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch from a musical standpoint, because it is quite an accomplishment. You’ll see this nominated on most sites that do these awards, and there’s a reason for that because it’s one of the better RPG soundtracks of recent years.

Best Multiplayer – Killzone: Shadow Fall

Other Nominees

Super Mario 3D World

Path of Exile

Anarchy Reigns

Bombermine

                Killzone wins because it’s my online shooter. It’s the same as a Call of Duty fan giving the award to Call of Duty. Whenever one of these games come out, I absolutely adore it. It doesn’t do a whole lot new, except having shields and whatnot, but it’s another amazing Killzone experience.

Super Mario 3D World is a great game by itself, but it becomes even more fun and chaotic when you introduce another player or three. It gets nuts, and for that, the game should be praised.

                Path of Exile isn’t anything new, I just like playing the ARPG genre with a friend.

                Anarchy Reigns is probably the more original of all the nominees, offering a brawler experience combined with things such as death match, capture the flag or even a rugby mode. Except you fight, y’know. Unfortunately the online community is probably non-existent at this point, but it does allow you to use bots.

                Bombermine is Bomberman but on a large scale. I’ve always considered Bomberman as one of the amazing multiplayer games, and it’s nice to see it so big.

Most Memorable Moment – Dat Moirai Ending

Other Nominees

The Last Of Us – The giraffes

Year Walk – The “Fake” Ending

Bioshock: Infinite – The end part where everything ties together

                Admittedly I often forget great scenes in things I like, so it’s kind of a poor showing on my part here, but these are the four that popped into my head.

Some may scoff that I chose Moirai over heavyweights like The Last of Us and Bioshock: Infinite, and believe me… it was a difficult choice. I chose Moirai because – spoiler alert – when you find out that the conversation you previously had was impacted by the player before you, that’s a “holy shit that’s cool” moment. It’s not that emotional, it’s not complicated, it’s just really, really neat and plays with the medium in interesting ways. I chose it at number one for that reason and that reason only, even though all of the other nominees are more powerful and conventionally memorable.

                That’s not to say that the other nominees aren’t also fantastic, because the giraffe scene in The Last of Us was the prettiest, saddest, most beautiful moment of the year. I just sat there and watched them walk as Vanishing Grace played over it. It’s such a simple moment that ends up being so much more.

                Year Walk had a fake ending, and when “I don’t love you anymore” flashes up on the screen, that’s an incredibly melancholy and tragic moment as well.

                The whole last bit of Bioshock: Infinite is memorable because up until that point, you’re playing a great FPS, but it’s not much different than the others in the series. Then, all of a sudden, things start getting messed up and weird, and somehow all three games are connected. It goes from fun to mindfuck pretty quick.

Best Character – Peck from Animal Crossing

Other Nominees

Bioshock: Infinite – Elizabeth

Bioshock: Infinite – The Lutece Twins

The Last of Us – Ellie and Joel

Batman: Arkham Origins -- Batman

Beyond: Two Souls - Jodie

Killer Is Dead – Mondo Zappa

            I like when award shows/articles have their own identity, and I like to think mine often do. That’s not to say every pick of mine is original by any means, as there are a bunch of awards that I need to follow the grain. However, the joy of doing these are discovering your own oddball choices, and Peck is probably one you won’t see anywhere else (unless maybe on an Animal Crossing forum or something).

                I love Peck because I cared deeply about Peck. I cared about all my townspeople, but I was sad when I was away from Animal Crossing for a while and when I came back he was gone. He made me laugh, and he gave me a picture to remember him by. Animal Crossing is great because even though they’re all AI, you build a bond with them. There was no one else in the game that I built a bigger bond with than Peck.

                The more I do these awards, the more I realize that Bioshock: Infinite is a complete and utter mammoth when it comes to everything plot or character wise, so that’s why I put both Elizabeth and the Lutece Twins in here. Elizabeth is obviously a more straight-forward important part of the game, but the Lutece Twins swoop in there in their own little way and end up being memorable… just more confusingly so.

                Ellie and Joel are one person to be in context of these awards because they are so important to one another. Joel is the grieving father, Ellie is a young girl in need of guidance and support. They fulfill the needs of each other (ew, I didn’t mean that way fanfic writers).

                Batman is on here because regardless of how many times he shows up, he’s still fucking Batman.

            It’s a good thing that Jodie from Beyond: Two Souls is a good character because the game is so story-based and Jodie is obviously the center piece for it. Also, Ellen Page gives a powerhouse performance and brings the character to life in ways most games can’t.

                Mondo Zappa isn’t complex, but I have a thing for weird badasses, and Suda51 often populates his games with interesting characters in that sense. Like Asura from Asura’s Wrath in years past, he’s just fucking cool and that’s why I pick him. Not every character worth remembering has to have incredible depth.

Best Story – Beyond: Two Souls

Other Nominees 

Bioshock: infinite

Shin Megami Tensei IV

The Last of Us

The Wolf Among Us Episode 1 -- Faith

                Beyond: Two Souls is focused on story, and it succeeds. There are a few moments where it gets off the rails a bit, but ultimately it ends up being an extremely satisfying paranormal story.

A good story isn’t just about the pacing and depth of the plot, the characters and their relationship are a crucial aspect of it sometimes. Nowhere this year is that more apparent than in The Last of Us. It’s a simplistic, but well told story.

                Or do I go for the more confusing, intriguing tale that you get in Bioshock: Infinite? Yes, Bioshock has that mindfuck element to it that appeals to me, and it does create a world that’s fun to explore and learn about.

                Shin Megami Tensei IV gets a nod here because I like how it mixes a bunch of different elements and genre to make an experience that isn’t unique, but is different from the other games this year. Samurais in the modern world, with the supernatural? It’s told well.

                Faith is also focused on story, and being able to change how it goes a little bit definitely made me consider it. It goes for similar things that Beyond: Two Souls does, but I just think Beyond: Two Souls is more emotional and well done.

                

Best Visuals – Killzone: Shadow Fall

Other Nominees 

Super Mario 3D World

The Wonderful 101

The Night of the Rabbit

Crysis 3

               

It’s important to note here that when I say visuals, I don’t just mean what is the best from a pure, technical, graphics standpoint. A game like that can certainly win, but I am more biased towards interesting art-styles and visual design.

                Killzone has an interesting world and the technical prowess to back it up. Normally I tend to go towards more original art-designs, but I’ve always loved how Killzone looks, and the fact that it’s a little more colourful sets this apart from other games in the series.

                Super Mario 3D World is the first of two Wii U games. I know the Wii U can’t manage some of the more technically demanding games on the levels that other systems can, but tell me that this isn’t beautiful Mario. It’s good looking in a different way because it nails the art-style so perfectly.

                Which is the same for The Wonderful 101. It does a fantastic job of offering a silly, colourful comic book/superhero world. It accomplishes what it sets out to do.

                The Night of the Rabbit is the only game on this list I haven’t played, but have watched, and I really enjoy the style.

                Crysis 3 would probably win had I been able to play it on a high-end PC. I couldn’t, I had to play it on 360, so that’s why Killzone beats it (though to be fair, I enjoy the art-design more in KZ than Crysis anyway).

Biggest Disappointment – Ni No Kuni

Other Nominees 

Sacred Citadel

Dust 514

Dead Island: Riptide

Fuse

Project X Zone

               

I’m not sure if there’s a game that has pained me so much to be disappointed by. I’m not even saying it’s a terrible game, because it’s not. I rate it a 7 or a 7.5, so you may be wondering, “then what the hell? How are you disappointed?”

                I’m a JRPG guy, always have been, and this was supposed to be an insta-classic, basically, but I just couldn’t get as into it as I wanted to. I went into it expecting to sing its praises, and there are great things about it, but I just don’t think the game stands-up to my own expectations, even if I didn’t give it a crappy rating.

                Sacred Citadel almost won because I love Sacred, but I also knew that it wasn’t Sacred 3 and it was a different experience so while I expected quite a bit, my expectations were tempered a bit. Now, if Sacred 3 ends up being average? That could easily win this.

                Dust 514 is an interesting case for me. The first day I played it I thought it was a 9, but then the game started to fall apart. It’s a disappointment because within the first twenty-four hours, it was going to be one of the games of the year. I had heard of Eve Online and loved the idea, and this game has so much potential it hurts. The fact that it ended up being a 4.5 for me is a tragedy. The only reason this doesn’t beat Ni No Kuni is because the FPS is not near and dear to my heart like the JRPG.

                Dead Island: Riptide is an okay game. The first one wasn’t a masterpiece but it was a helluvalot of fun, yet flawed. All they had to do was polish the first game, add a few things, and Riptide could have been awesome. But they didn’t. It has the same flaws and bugs. Why???

                Fuse is a disappointment because even though it just looked like a third-person shooter, I love the developers and their penchant for giving us odd and crazy guns. There is an interesting gun or two here, but while Fuse is a solid game, it should have been more.

                Project X Zone is a game that has gotten great reviews, and with the crossover appeal I should have loved it. Unfortunately it is the only RPG that I played on 3DS this year that didn’t leave me in awe.

Best Rehash of a Game Year Over Year – DRAW!!! CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS ASSASSINS CREED 4: BLACK FLAG

                This is the only co-Award I give out. My brother and I each picked a game – I picked CoD and he picked Assassin’s Creed – and so this is the first ever Draw in the few years I’ve been doing this.

                These games don’t change. They’re yearly and you know what to expect. It’s kind of a complaint but it’s kind of not. You know what to expect.

Best Free-To-Play Game – Path of Exile

Other Nominees 

Neverwinter

Sluggish Morrs: A Delicate Time in History

Will You Ever Return: in da hood

Resogun*

                Path of Exile is an accomplishment in the free-to-play world. It’s legitimately an awesome game, and it’s not pay-to-win. Some of the prices are ridiculous, but they’ve crafted such a wonderful game for free… it’s hard to hate on it.

                Neverwinter may just be an MMO, but the idea of making your own quests for people to do is what makes me like the game as much as I do. It’s got issues, and I’m not a huge MMO guy, but it’s one of the better ones I’ve played.

                Sluggish Morrs: A Delicate Time in History is a short freeware game, and it’s one of the best free games of the year, period, if you want a quick, weird, surreal, odd adventure.

Will You Ever Return: in da hood is the same type of deal. I’ve loved the other WYERs, and this is great too.

Resogun was/is (I haven’t checked) free if you get Playstation Plus, which you have to if you want to play online anyway. It won’t be free, but when I played it, it was still free so I’m including it here. It’s a wonderful, beautiful action-packed side-scrolling shooter.

Biggest Surprise – Anarchy Reigns

Other Nominees 

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Shin Megami Tensei 4

Shadowrun: Returns

                Anarchy Reigns is not the best game in this category, but it’s the biggest surprise to me because I had no idea what to expect and actually got a game that will end up being in the discussion of “most underrated games” for years to come.

Van Helsing was a game I expected to suck for whatever reason, but it ended up being a solid action RPG.

                Fire Emblem: Awakening is only a surprise to me because I never actually played one before so I was blown away by how good it is. The reason it doesn’t win Biggest Surprise is because it’s not the type of game that comes out of nowhere like Anarchy Reigns did. It may be a better game, but not a bigger surprise.

                Same with Shin Megami Tensei 4. I managed to try out two cult-classic series that I only knew existed, and I loved both.

                Shadowrun: Returns is on here because I’m surprised it even got made. It’s not as good as the SNES classic, but after a disastrous foray into the first-person shooter world, Shadowrun has, um, returned to goodness.

The Official 'Don't Play This Game, It sucks... You Suck" Award For The 5 Worst Games of 2013 

5: Dust 514 – There isn’t a game I’ve thought about this year more than Dust. It just… it sucks. It isn’t there yet. Maybe someday it will be, but not now.

4: Apocalypse One – I hate picking on indie games, especially when they were quickly made but this just wasn’t fun at all and was buggy.

3: One Night at the Space Opera – This is a decent idea that didn’t pan out.

2: Tekken Revolution – This just reeks of bad free-to-play. This is the reason people hate that term.

1: Dark – Should have been great considering it’s a stealth game where you play as a vampire, but nothing about it works.

Best System – 3DS

                I won’t list all the other nominees because obviously it includes every other system in existence. The 3DS wins because during the year it has amassed a great collection of games – especially RPGs – and it really wowed me.

                If you want a first-person shooter, I wouldn’t go here. If you are an RPG nut, this machine is a monster. It has other great games in other genres, but I used it mostly as a way to play great RPGs (and Animal Crossing).

                The Xbox One and PS4 aren’t on here because they just launched so they haven’t had enough time to build their libraries. The Wii U has started on the comeback trail but it’s not there yet, and the PC had another solid year… but nothing impressed me as much as the 3DS.

             And that's it for these awards. Next year, if Gamecepticon is around, I may try adding more of a comic flair to these awards and at least give them funny names, but the end of the year came up on me pretty quickly (may have been the drugs, I dunno).

             Starting probably tomorrow, or at the very least the next day, I will be counting down my Top 40 Games of 2013, then I will disappear into the darkness where I came from.