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Chamber · Jan 16, 2014

Guess I should finally submit a list. Been holding off for whatever reason.

1. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ; Character action games are my favorite kind of game and this was the best one released all year so it's an easy vote for me. Best boss fights of the generation and my favorite soundtrack of the year as well.

2. Beyond: Two Souls ; Vote is largely based on how much I like Jodie Holmes as a character and the interactions between her and Aiden. Very memorable game for me, could be my number 1 game in a lot of other years.

3. Batman: Arkham Origins ; The most underrated game of the year. Part of me believes this is the best game in the Arkham franchise.

4. God of War: Ascension ; If the first half of Ascension was as good as the latter half, it would be hard to choose between this and Revengeance. I find the game rather dull up until you reach Delos Landing but beyond that point were some of the best puzzles and combat in the franchise.

5. Resogun ; Save the last humans!

ZeroRay · Jan 16, 2014

Really didn't play many new games this year. (5 to be specific)

1. The Last of Us ; I'm sure everything about the story has been mentioned a million times by now, so I'll just say, yeah it's good. Not because of anything it does specifically, but the restraint Naughty Dog showed when it came to its presentation. Lessor creators would have tried cram too much exposition, or try to be too shocking. None of that would matter if the gameplay was up to snuff though, and the gameplay in the Last of Us top class. While the AI and spawning can get glitchy at times, there hasn't been a third person shooter this intense since Resident Evil 4. There isn't anything like running away from enemies chasing after Joel and you taking him behind cover, gun at the ready waiting for them to show up with Joel breathing heavily and your reticule swaying just a bit. Though my favorite moment of gameplay took place during the Winter chapter and thus would present major spoilers. Without saying too much, I'll say it was the best combination of scripted design and emergent gameplay ND has ever done.

2. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ; Nanomachines son! Zandatsu bitches!

3. Grand Theft Auto V ; While some of the missions are a bit too scripted, the game is great open world fun off mission.

4. Super Mario 3D World ; Fun, fun, fun. Co-op is surprisingly well made and the many little touches truly makes Mario 3D World a worthy successor to the Galaxy games.

5. Hotline Miami ; PS3 version. Was wary about controls but it's just as good, if not better than the PC version. If this was a fresh release, it would be placed higher. Also, fuck Bioshock Infinite.

Papercuts · Jan 16, 2014

(Pls forgive me)

Another year, another game of the year list. I had a much better time with games this year, to the point where I actually wanted to put more than 10 games in this list, but had to make some cuts. I actually had a pretty hard time writing the list up and went completely over the character limit and some of it was written while hungover so thats fun. But anyway, here it is, blatantly stealing a lot of the formatting from Riposte.

X. State of Decay
Undead Labs | 360, PC

This is a bit of an odd title for me, as it came out of absolutely nowhere. I heard about it for the first time roughly a week before it launched; an open world zombie game focused more on the survival aspect than anything else. Now, zombies are obviously a concept getting overplayed quite a bit, but Id be lying to myself if I said I wasnt still hugely invested in games with them, and every series I play with them always adds some unique twist on the idea. The focus here is on your own rag tag team of survivors. There is a general safehouse where everyone stays (and you the player can relocate to a few different areas), and how this space is managed is key. Maybe focus on producing food or medicine, have setups for weapon or vehicle repairbut probably have someone overwatching from a tower to keep zombies from swarming the place! Either way, the space is limited which makes for some tough calls on what doesnt make the cut.

Instead of being an army of one like many zombie games, characters can get injured and fatigued if theyre used too often, and they also all have specialties and skill trees. Even if you manage to use a single person a lot, if they die, they are DEAD. The camera will switch to someone new, and in that situation its good to have multiple survivors that can handle themselves instead of relying on singular people too much. Even if you try, like mentioned, they can get hurt. Then maybe theyll have less health or messed up movement for a certain amount of realtime hours, limiting what they can do. They can also get sick, and even infected. Some pretty neat situations like confronting one of your members, taking them out into the woods, and putting them down before they turn is totally possible. Others in the base can be sent to scavenge or do various things of that nature, and you can, too. Go into a small town, sneak into a house and search through to find food, medicine, or weapons to bring break. An intriguing aspect of how this game works is that this stuff is finite. Theoretically, staying in the same spot forever wouldnt work, as eventually the well of stuff to find runs dry. This adds more importance to the safehouse location, as you can move everybody and start anew in locations with more stuff to scavenge closer to base. The game shines while going off during stuff like this, as the way of approaching the game is pretty open. Its entirely possible to quickly in and out of a building, being aggressive and loud. Sound is important in this game, you can search quickly at the risk of making a loud noise as you scavenge, and firing a gun WILL pull many nearby zombies to the location. Needless to say, the game can go bad quickly when a house starts getting swarmed with you in it. I had the tendency to play it stealthy, using melee weapons and a lot of crouching and spent a lot of time avoiding hordes, which has the added benefit of saving ammo for other people.

All that said, the game is pretty damn rough around the edges. The combat isnt exactly fluid, and the performance was all over the board with framedrops, tearing and the likebut this is ultimately a budget title at $20, and has a hell of a lot of ambition within it. The game got a solid grab on me for awhile, and Ill be looking for what Undead Labs puts out next.

IX. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Starbreeze Studios | 360, PS3, PC

Game of the Year deliberations last year had a pretty big focus on two titles, Walking Dead and Journey. Ill cut it short and just say neither of these games are something I look back on as fondly as other people may. A reliance more on aspects unrelated to game mechanics is not something I am totally against, but Brothers got me in a way few others have, and it still needed the games mechanics to properly pull it off. The plot is very simple and sets up everything you need to know within the first minute, a big and little brother have a mother that passed away, and their dad just got hurt, so he stays back while they trek out to find medicine for him. Everything is communicated without a single real word, but even the smaller stories that happen like them encountering a bully at the start all make total sense just by the animations and tone in their weird language. You dont know where you are, where youre going, just that you see obstacles and get around them. Together.

Whats here is fairly basic puzzles and traversal, but its still something that felt substantial enough to me to be engaging. An initial confusion wrapping your head around the controls aside, simultaneous movement of two people might not seem that difficult but man, my hands did not want to play along at first. Its technically simple, left stick and left trigger is for the big bro, right stick and right trigger for the little bro, and much of the game is essentially playing co-op with yourself, as each brother can do certain things the other cant, and theres anything ranging from lifting the small one up to drop a rope for the big one, or splitting up while levers are manipulated to move eachother forward. One of the biggest strengths of the game is the art design and the slow decent it takes. Starting off in fairytale-esque town where you can mess around with villagers and be playful, its loaded with color and a happier tone. It gets darker and darker as the game goes on, and gets downright twisted in both design, colorization, and even mechanically. Heading into a later game environment example,

at one point it reaches an old battleground of giants, with dead bodies and blood all over the place. Simply to keep progressing past some of the stuff here is done by manipulating dead corpses, chopping off arms, stuff like that. A HUGE departure from the early goings.

While the game advances linearly, there are a solid amount of side things to see and do off the path a bit, one of these in particular stood out to me a lot, and is when the game starts getting darker.

You come across a split in the path in the mountains, one going to what looks like a treehouse. Go down there, and you see someone about to hang themself which can be stopped by climbing the tree and getting the rope off, and the person will justsit there and sob. Again, the game has no words at all, and I really enjoyed how much can be picked up from environmental cues. Theres a burnt building nearby, and a sheet that looks to be covering bodies. Further exploration here goes to the side a bit where a music box is found within the burnt rubble, and it ends with a somber burial of the two while the person who was able to commit suicide just stares at them.

This is something that anyone could just walk on past, and it doesnt really add anything to accomplish or avoid, but little moments like that stuck out to me.

Im sure even people who havent played the game heard about a singular moment that happens here which does something unique with the controls, and that segment is done very well. It cant be explained without spoilers and tiptoeing around it is pretty dumb, as I feel it can be explained why what it did works(or didnt work). Needless to say this is massive spoiler territory:

After the big brother gets killed, it kind of hits the player with something. That entire half of the controller dies with him. The normal way to control anything is with the left stick, so when its first shown to control just the little brother, its only the right stick and right triggerit feels unnatural. The controls are hardwired into you at this point, and losing is a strong way to communicate the loss itself. This isnt even the moment itself, that happens later when the little brother has to swim to reach the father. It was relayed a couple times that he is afraid of swimming due to the way his mother died, and when you reach this roadblock, his trigger wont swim. The best part about this moment is it respects you, they could have very easily beat you over the head with what to do, but it still needs to be figured out. He relies on the memories and strength of his big brother to grow and do it himself, meaning the left trigger is used here. It seems simple, maybe even obvious, but the moment was done in a very clever fashion that was a great aha moment for me.

Brothers is not a long game, taking about 3 hours to trek through. But it does a damn good job with that time and left a wonderful impression.

VIII. Dead Rising 3
Capcom Vancouver | Xbox One

Quite a funny parallel to 2006, Dead Rising was the franchise that made me want to get a 360. Mall full of objects to be used as weapons with a reliance on huge zombie counts, sign me right up. What I got was quite a bit different, but I loved it all the same. A focus on a strict timer that made it possible to outright fail the main plot, miss out on side content, fuck yourself over with the single saveI totally get why the game turned off people but I loved the hell out of it. Capcom had a whole lot of changes within the last generation and started to give western developers a chance at some of their IPs, and luckily Dead Rising 2 did much better compared to other efforts. It maintained the same feel, greatly expanded the aspect of using miscellaneous objects as weapons with crazy combinations. It still was a very different game with these mechanics in play, but it still maintained the heart of the series. 3 from the start looked touh, not really do this. Talks of a nightmare mode which is where old fans got their timer fix and a new grittier artstyle is not the best way to show off a followup here. I will take a special moment here to say it was disingenuous at best how they talked about this game in regards to the timer. It is ALWAYS THERE, but it is fundamentally different from the previous outings. First and foremost, all nightmare mode does is progress time at a faster click, standard mode still has a timer and there is no way to play without one. The biggest change is the main missions no longer have their own separate timer, but the side missions do. The game is also much longer, spanning a 7 day period over the 3 days before. Lingering feelings may fester in the back of your mind as youre on day 3 and barely moved on wondering if youre completely screwed relative to being able to finish in time, yet in my experience the allotment was quite lenient and allowed me to do every side mission and scour the city for collectibles with time to spare. Surprisingly, this bothered me much less than I expected, but it has a lot to do with how the game world is crafted. Many times larger than both of the previous outings, opening you up to an entire city really flips the progression on its head and quite frankly a rigid time system would have been much more annoying here, as it takes a longer time to get around and even then the city has a lot of roadblocks in play so that vehicles arent able to always easily get around, forcing you on foot. Luckily, the actual world still had the charm and design of the older titles, where to this day I could boot Dead Rising 1 and find the same hidden weapons I always used. What I can best describe as some kind of weird platformer, they have loads of collectibles and blueprints hidden all over the place and there is a huge emphasis on exploration that isnt immediately obvious. Some of the most fun I had was figuring out a blueprint was on top of a building, trying to see something like a plank connecting two buildings and working backwards to see where I initially start to reach this stuff.

Still, there are many more mechanics that underwent overhauls. Survivors were a big part of DR1 and 2, much to the dismay or joy of others as escorting them around was not always easy as they suffered from various mental deficiencies. Dead Rising 3 still kinda has them as you complete sidequests, they tag along and be handed a weapon, or just turned into a board of sorts that lets you picks a crew up to 5 if you level up towards that. I personally liked being solo so I never bothered with it much, but theres no more random escorting persay...and once again this didnt bug me as much as I thought it would as safehouses are all around the areas and wouldnt be hard to get to anymore. The attacks in general are different, having two different buttons to light and heavy attack instead of one being something that would change the camera like pressing a heated pan against a zombie face or smashing a bat into their head. This is now done by a, uh, call of duty-esque killstreak system funny enough. Every few kills x+y will start to do these special moves and multiply the amount of PP you get, and it keeps stacking the multiplier. It worked out pretty well, and causes massive point gains to come from going on random killsprees to help level faster. Combo weapons are still in, and there are even multiple blueprints that spin off the same general item and lead into Super Combo weapons. These are hilariously powerful, ranging from things like a scythe on fire that you spin around and lob skulls that explode which kills hundreds with a single swipe, to a megaphone made out of traffic cones that has a massive shockwave as Nick yells into it, blowing through hordes like nothing. Gone are the workbenches, meaning everything is made on the fly as long as weapons are there, and as you level up they have now added combo categories that open up requirements on how to craft. So for example, a spiked bat would be a baseball bat + nails, but if the blunt weapon category is bought on a level up, ANY blunt weapon works in its stead. So now a desk lamp + nails or hookah + nails works to make a bat, and this extends to every weapon category. So by the end game if this is focused on, the amount of weapons that can be created by anything right in the world makes it so youre always armed and ready, and thats pretty key due to the zombie increase.

On that, the sheer amount of zombies on screen is totally nuts here. Just naturally playing the game, by the end of my run I had roughly 40,000 kills under my belt which is simply insane compared to previous outings which would maybe be around a fourth of that. While Dead Rising 3 is hardly the prettiest game out now, but it is the one that has benefited the most from the new consoles from what Ive seen and played funnily enough. The removal of all load screens and amount being pushed on screen at any moment adds so much to the playability it cant be understated, its a bummer trying to go back to previous games as the loads in between areas could get pretty brutal and frequent.

Where the game falters for me happens to be in mostly UI elements, which can be pretty dumb. The map is not labeled with store names anymore, so being sent on a mission to find a chainsaw makes it so its no longer possible to just see the hardware store and go there. Eventually this can become second hand as the map is learned, but it wasnt something that I saw a reason to remove. Stupider, yet, is the companion app. Since there seems to be some growing focus on second screen experiences, Ill just say I find them pretty fucking stupid. What the Dead Rising app does is let you find specific weapon types and have it label what store to go towards, so labeling food will typically find the closest restaurant and so on from there. What on Earth prevented something like that just being in the game so I can just use one screen? Stuff like that came off as a needless takeaway to try and give strength to some silly ass compatibility.

Still, in the long run thats hardly a huge negative on the fun I had here. Special shoutout goes to the story, which I enjoyed far more than I expected. What starts off pretty on the nose and serious quickly turns into something a bit crazier, and ties in extremely heavily to previous games in the series in ways I certainly did not expect. The ending sequence introduces a cool twist I didnt see coming, and was really great fanservice, which reminded me of how many people were worried on how this didnt fit Dead Rising. The costumes are still totally insane, stores still have the same campy atmosphere and joyful music playing in the midst of chaos, and the story tie ins show that this was designed from the start as nothing but pure Dead Rising. This is easily the most playable game in the franchise, and is one case where despite multiple cases of streamlining, the game still works well and is a blast through the end.

Papercuts · Jan 16, 2014

VII. Grand Theft Auto V
Rockstar Games | 360, PS3

The GTA series has left one hell of a splash from the previous generation, I couldnt even imagine how much time I have sunk between 3, Vice City, and San Andreas just goofing off in police chases or messing with the missions to find hilariously dumb ways to complete them. Before the reign of Call of Duty, this was one of the few videogames that seemed to pierce the market in a way that many of my typically nongaming friends knew about and played which led to fun memories at their house swapping the controller around going on rampages. I have made my opinion pretty known over the past, but Ill just reiterate that GTA4 is a game I have very serious issues with. While I was initially enamored like many others by the new physics and restructure of combat, the feeling waned before the credits rolled and even going back to it today, the combat quite possibly aged worse than the PS2 era games. I straight up dislike it, and think it does a disservice to what sandbox games can be by how it was structured. So many missions that blend together into generic chases or shootouts, or scripted chases that lead to shootoutsplayer creativity was just about given the death kneel and it was an incredibly poorly paced game to boot. It had a protagonist I couldnt stand, and many of the NPCs did very little for me, focusing far too much on telling a (poor) serious story while clashing with the goofy names of companies and the like. It came off as a deeply confused game, and really took the wind out of sails for my interest in the franchise.

What they pull off with 5 is a much better attempt, seemingly taking many aspects of previous games theyve worked on this generation to find their way within the gameplay systems, they got a game that mostly nailed it. Mission variety got a much needed adrenaline shot and are much more varied and exciting again, many of them going on multiple parts that all feel like important moments. And hey, the controls are a lot better even if it isnt quite at Max Payne 3 level. The world itself is incredibly expansive, and I was constantly stunned by the draw distance and how they pulled this off on these rigid old consoles, even if I have some misgivings about how some of the bigger landmarks are oddly underused. The biggest addition is clearly the three character system, and it worked well on a few levels to me. First and foremost it serves as a potential way to cleanse the palate after going on a rampage. Having a car blow up in the middle of nowhere isnt always the most entertaining thing to come back on, and when in these scenarios its nice to know that a simple hit of a button can get right back into some other action. But more importantly is the impact it has on the plot and how it can be interwoven into missions, even if it didnt actually get used as much as I expected, the handful of times where it was all three characters provided really fun times and was a unique twist on what is otherwise standard TPS gameplay. Otherwise, there are a lot of bits and pieces from their previous games that seem to have influenced the design here. Being Red Dead Redemptions strangers and freak encounters, alongside a large list of random encounters to try and inject more life into the world is once again done well and leads into a lot of fun scenarios such as coming across a deal gone wrong with abandoned cars all blaring their horns and dead people everywhere, with nothing but a suitcase full of money to take.

On the characters, the cast here was much more memorable *cough cough* unlike 4 *COUGH oh jesus Im dying*. I found Lamar and Trevor in particular to be consistently hilarious, and Trevor specifically is my favorite thing about the game. I see him get a ton of hate, but they really did a great job on making a psychopathic bastard and Steven Ogg nailed it, giving my favorite performance of the year.

Rockstar tends to have an issue with proper pacing which shows in just about every game, but it hit a breaking point with GTA4. Nikos story got dragged out to a ridiculous length, and a simple way to show that is by seeing how many missions that game has. 88 of the goddamn things, and I only remember maybe 5-10thats a problem. GTA5 has 69, yet does this with 3 characters splitting them up with occasional bouts of meeting up.

With that said, this game still flubs the pacing quite a bit. Franklin in general doesnt fit in the game very smoothly as he isnt really explored much with his family or girlfriend, and the game has an absolutely insane case of rushing to the finale in a confusing string of basically solving every single problem in the span of 10 minutes. I guess thats preferable to dragging on, but games not sticking the landing when it comes to the ending really leaves a poor impression and in many cases can almost erase previous praise. Infact, there are more examples of this, almost making the game seem rushed, which is a bit funny considering the delays. The entire economy is pretty much busted, the stock market is a lame addition and the property buying feels ridiculously inflated to make it seem important. But its a gameplay loop akin to empty calories, I never found a reason for most of these properties to exist. You amass a large amount of money to dump into a property that slowly gains some money overtime, just to amass a larger amount of money to dump into a more expensive property to do the same. There is no end goal here, the money is pointlessI really think they just added this during a delay for bulletpoint features. Its especially odd considering that there is a ridiculous amount of small details here, like the ingame internet I got surprisingly engrossed in. Giving personal lifeinvader pages to many people that constantly updates during the story, and an ingame twitter ripoff that does the same was the kind of stuff I loved to keep checking into, so it can be a bit of a harsh balance when some aspects feel halfbaked. I guess it mostly shows that even a developer with a massive workforce, time, and a huge budget still couldnt fully capture the sheer scope of what they wanted, even if they did all they could. While this seems to be a bit of a negative tangent (and misplaced in a GAME OF THE YEAR post, lol), Im mostly just illustrating how GTA5 is a massive game with a lot of good, but a surprisingly large amount of bad with it. In many ways for better or worse it feels as if they created the game within their own bubble, taking no influence from other open world games and just forging on whatever path they felt like. While I was playing this game, it gripped me in a way no other game did this year. I dumped crazy amounts of time into it, and was totally convinced it was my game of the year. But once I cooled a bit, it helped get a clearer stance on where I stood with it. Oh, and the awful launch of the online component probably sobered a bit there, too. Still, I had a great time with the game, and think it works as a nice upswing for the franchise that will hopefully continue into the new generation.

VI. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Platinum Games | 360, PS3 (and PC now I guess!)

Here is a game that even as a huge fan of the character action genre I was skeptical it would turn out well. All signs pointing to a mess of a development and a quick turnaround job for Platinum, they really did a hell of a good job with what they had. The clear focus on here is a constant offense, something that seeps through in multiple waysthe parry having an automatic attack followup and the dodge being aptly named defensive offense, a dodge out of the way with a sword slash to attack during it. You are constantly in the face of enemies giving them no room to breathe, dodging or parrying only as a NOPE to their attempts at turning the tide of battle and continue slicing them up. Its incredibly fun and works well, helped by the great visual feedback. Parrying feels impactful, and the game is great at empowering the player with spine ripping and zandatsu slashes to tear everything apart. Also doesnt hurt being accompanied by one of the best soundtracks of the year as its finely tuned to match the onscreen action in a way few games have been able to match.

The real star of the show here is the boss encounters, which are all incredibly entertaining and heart racingespecially the final boss. In what may be the purest example of literal white knuckle action (I think I hurt my hands gripping the controller so hard), it may be my favorite singular moment of the gaming year, taking the story to an over the top finale while being a pretty solid challenge in its own right. The bosses in general had an annoying tendency to jump into the background to throw stuff which gets old on replays, but beyond thatgodaaaamn. Once again the music adds so much to whats happening, like the lyrics to A Stranger I Remain kicking in on the final leg of the Mistral fight or the entirety of Armstrongs fight because shit man that was SO GOOD.

Still, there are many ways where the rushed nature of the game shows its roots. First and foremost, I never really liked all the subweapons like the rocket launchers and grenades. In a game that is otherwise very fast paced while moving and attacking, it gets slowed down too much to fiddle with the awkward menu that only is brought up when you come to a dead stop. Even the alternate weapons you get are pretty lame, though they have some specific uses. Then theres the camera which seems to like having you check out those sick walls and corners it gets frequently stuck on. Another thing I dislike was actually Revengence difficulty. Before I go into that, Id like to say how I really appreciated how content stuffed Bayonetta was. All the abilities you could equip, the long length it lasts outright, and when Infinite Climax disables witch time entirelybut it still worked surprisingly well. It practically flipped the game on its head in doing this, being a big adjustment that was still great in its own right. In what came off as an attempt to do a similar change, the hardest difficulty in this game gives an outrageous damage boost to the parry while making the timing tighter and the enemies more aggressive. It didnt come off nearly as smoothly, and makes some bosses like Sam a complete joke as its not hard at all to kill him in under a minute with how powerful that is. Very Hard still exists to help get a deeper satisfaction atleast, but I was left wanting something more when I finished the game and I found the VR missions to be pretty crummy.

Warts and all, the core here is very strong. A sequel to this game with the proper amount of time and polish has the potential to be something truly special. As it stands now, this is still a great game, but its not Platinums strongest effort even this year. Oh, and please remove waggle the stick to get out of stun in a future sequel. I beg of you.

V. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies
Capcom | 3DS

I have a deep love for the Phoenix Wright series. I still remember before playing any of the games, having a general really? thought at the very idea of a game where you play as a lawyer. Of course, instead of being filled with paper work and general boring shit, it has a supremely fucked up justice system and wacky courtroom back and forths that somehow make the entire thing work. It relies heavily on the twists and turns each case takes, and the great cast of characters to make for very memorable moments. Beyond the initial trilogy, the series hit a bit of an odd spot, but now have brought Phoenix back to the spotlight while still giving Apollo more room to breathe and introducing Athena. They tend to switch off during cases and it works well as the inner monologues are then given from other character perspectives, and it helps flesh them all out. The new prosecutor Blackquill was great after the pretty lackluster and overly helpful Klavier, too. The biggest overhaul here is bringing everything to 3D instead of sprites, the old animations had so much charm and were a big part of making the characters likable, and they manage to capture it in a very impressive translation.

While this is not really a series that focuses on the gameplay, Dual Destinies actually has a handful of mechanical improvements. The cursor used to scan the environment now notifies when an object that hasnt been clicked on yet is being passed over, and also changes when you pass over previously examined things. Its small but handy, going against any potential for pixel hunting to trigger something. On top of this is the notebook, which starts to layout everything needed to progress to the trial section. These games are super linear, to the point where to get person A to show up at area B you would need to go through a specific line of events like showing a certain piece of evidence to person C to garner a reaction for more information. Its nice to have this to prevent that and can be totally ignored if it feels too guiding. Sadly, they do go a bit too far in streamlining as now only specific murder rooms can be examined, which actually loses a lot of the flavor text the series always had when you examined completely irrelevant background objects. I do hope they retain this in the future but expand the searching again, as its a big loss and easily the worst thing about the game.

The quality of these games is still majorly hinged on the actual quality of each case, and for me, Dual Destinies strongest asset is that I like them all. Usually the games have a lull in the middle, and in here that seemed to be Case 2 for most people, but I really enjoyed how that played out after the first day. The final case is always the big one, and it plays out in such a fashion here that it reached a point where I actually had to lay my 3DS down and pace around my room going holyfuckwhat in my head. Its a direction taken in such a way that I realized what was happening the same time the characters themselves did, and I never saw it coming before that. A game being able to garner such a reaction is pretty good indication that I was completely engrossed in what was happening. Overall, this is simply another strong entries into a series I dig a lot. Now fucking localize Investigations 2 you goddamn bastard assholes.

IV. Super Mario 3D World
Nintendo EAD Tokyo | Wii U

I was one of the people who had a negative reaction to the reveal of this game, but to be fair I still stand by that. It wasnt until later videos started showing what looked to be super inventive level design crammed with ideas, and it didnt really hit me fully until playing it at how often this is done. Its been stated many times in this thread already, but it really is nuts how often 3D World will introduce a new concept that it only uses within that level, and when/if it shows up again it has something else new on top of it. This is done to such an extent that they let nothing hold them back, including the themes worlds tend to constantly fall in. Even if you go to the same desert background in the overworld, the levels may not care at all and just do whatever they feel like.

The most frequent thing that shows up is the cat suit, and for me the previous Mario outings have been adding powerups that didnt do much for me, like the bee in Galaxy which mostly served to slow the pacing to a crawl. Luckily, they nailed it is time; it is damn fun to crawl all over levels and cat dive kick into flagpoles. The other new powerup, the double cherry, is inventive and surprisingly simple to understand. While the concept of multiplying the amount of characters onscreen yet all following the same input sounds like a complete mess, the game always removes the real character and places it to whatever the final one standing is. A simple way to make it so the player doesnt have to follow and guide a specific pawn, yet want to manage everyone to reach the numeral checks and feel like something was accomplished.

Even if this game doesnt attempt massive playgrounds ala Sunshine and 64, exploration is still very important. 3 green stars on each level that are addictive to scope out and heavily rewarded ingame with what feels like a very generous post game that just keeps going, the surprises in store just refuse to cease. It even manages to integrate levels with Captain Toad who cant jump and make them fun. A Mario platformer with levels that restrict jumping yet manages to be captivating in its own way. What.

Beyond all this is about what youd expect, rendered in a beautiful artstyle that pops out of the screen. Not Marios technical HD debut, but certainly the first that looks the part. Hell, in many ways this simply feels like an all-out celebration of Mario, given the throwback to SMB2 characters, enemies like SMWs Chargin Chucks making a 3D debut, the return of the SM64 Bullies or a plethora of other things. There is series history bleeding out in every level on top of all the constantly inventive levels, and its glorious.

III. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Nintendo EAD Group No. 3 | 3DS

Zelda is one of my favorite franchise in all of gaming, possibly the top in general. Yet I am a bit of a weird fan here, as the 2D games just tend to not grab me nearly as much as the 3D entries with the exception of Links Awakening, though Ive been wanting to replay that to see how it holds up for me. Still, that means the famed LTTP which is in many discussions one of the biggest fan favorites is a game I dont have a huge attachment towards. Not to say I dont like it or anything, but upon seeing an installment return to that world didnt garner any real emotion from me. The previous handheld outings also didnt inspire much reason for me to get excited for this, yet here we are.

What ALBW does best is move you at a very quick pace, and its something that shows in damn near every facet of the game. You move around the environment and dispose foes at a blistering speed, the renting system gives you a horde of items practically from the word go, and theres generally always something being accomplished. Going further with this, items no longer have ammo or any limit at all. You never need to collect bombs, bomb bags, arrows, quivers, etc. as its all tied to the central magic. So, infinite bombs and arrows on regen means there is never a need to cut grass or get drops from enemies, keeping you movingeven if its a bit silly in some cases like being unable to use a hookshot if the meter is depleted. The wall merge mechanic, then, has this same approachan incredibly quick animation that gets you moving in and out of dimensions immediately. Despite being a simple idea, I was constantly surprised by the clever uses of this mechanic and it worked well in conjunction to the combat and dungeons. It also adds a twist to a typical overhead Zelda room, where they need to design and accommodate the parts you cant see. Meaning cracks may be hidden on the backs of buildings, or merging into a wall and curving all the way around could lead to secrets. Its very good at relaying ingame rules to look out for in subtle ways, like small rocks jutting out of a cliff side to let you know its basically a roadblock to pass, or a small gap in the end of a railing for the opposite. Small clever design that works well and are things the player will look for, possibly without even realizing.

The dungeons and renting go hand in hand, given you much more freedom to basically go wherever you want, yet I still felt like the dungeons were able to house items such as master ore to not really feel like anything was missing. The renting itself is especially skewed a bit as the game is pretty damn easy, so its nice that the maimai sidequest exists to give a decent reason to outright buy these. 100 little things that end up hiding all over both worlds that I found to be pretty fun to figure out how to capture, giving a straight upgrade to an item of your choice every 10. Though it possibly adds to the ease of the game as getting a bow that shoots 3 arrows or things of that nature are really strong.

Id also like to give a mention to the verticality of this game. Some dungeons are composed of many floors, and let you see them while you rise up. Something about the 3DS and my eyes typically dont get along, leading to many cases of seeing ghosting images in some sections of the screen that bug the hell out of me. I tend to try to mess with the slider a lot in every game, then eventually just keep it off, yet it was different here. Im not really sure how or why, but I was able to play the majority of the game with it on a low setting and it helped make a lot of the vertical segments pop more. Also, the visual style as a whole seemed really ugly to me in footage, but works a lot better seeing it personally on the small screen. Managing 60fps to boot on top of that is fantastic.

ALBW was simply a really fun romp. Consistently clever moments, smart dungeon and overworld design, and trying out some new ideas while having a nostalgic tie in. It isnt something that I think will just work and should be adopted by other Zelda games, but atleast in this specific entry it shows that this kind of mindset is being considered and is likely being toyed with, which is pretty exciting.

Papercuts · Jan 16, 2014

II. The Last of Us
Naughty Dog | PS3

Putting the player right in the middle of an outbreak and having suitably brutal combat and characters within, TLoU is not a game getting up this high on my list without being one of the most entertaining games to play on top of everything else. The shooting was much more satisfying than the Uncharted games, both audibly and visually from enemy feedback, on top of a melee system thats basic yet appropriately desperate and powerful feeling. But thats not to say I even did this all that much, as I spent most of the encounters crouching around thinning out numbers. While its hardly the most hardcore stealth game ever made, the blend of choking out guys turning into a steady and heated up gunfight was done incredibly well. The AI respondalmost messily to you, and Joels aim doesnt start incredibly steady either. It was a game where fights could turn into slugfests, and it felt somehow right. This gets mixed up with encounters with the Infected, which are tense in a completely different way, once again heightened with excellent sound design as you hear clicking and other noises all around. I played with listen mode off and feel it would have taken a large amount away from this, as not necessarily knowing what was around a corner was a big part of the appeal. Once the infected are on to you, various screams can be heard from the back as you take off in a mad dash, not knowing just how close behind they may or may not be. The camerawork while sprinting is a small thing that they nailed as well, shaking enough to up the tension of the situation without being an annoyance.

The game takes some time to kick into gear, taking a few hours to reach Bills Town to really take off. When it does, though, it doesnt stopseasons change and the game keeps ramping up the stakes and encounters until the very end. Yet, I still enjoy the intro and feel it was important to the flow of the game. A slower paced look at the general state of things, and easing into the characters a bit is something important to get done. Still, it does drag on replays and so do the many bouts of menial moving of ladders and getting ellie across water. Small scuffs on a game that I otherwise have very little issue with.

The story is really little more than a typical zombie deal, as I was able to predict just about every story beat as they happened, making this a case where its all in the execution moreso than the overarching story. Joel and Ellie are very well realized and written, with excellent performances by Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson. The cinematic nature of the game and the frankly absurd amount of assets all around the environments truly captivate the destroyed essence of the current state of the world here. The strong depiction and direction within the cutscenes add a lot to the experience, and makes this the strongest blend Naughty Dog have pulled off so far. This is the studio at their best, and theyve made something special here.

I. Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby

Christopher Robin, is saying his prayers
But no one is up there, nobody cares
Christopher Robin, he prays to the lord
For the starving young children, for the old and the cold

Christopher Robin, he falls to his knees
Wailing and crying alone in the night
Christopher has a secret, one that he mustn't tell
He's drawn up a contract with the devil in hell
Ç̮h̨ͣͬ̄r͔̹̠̠͙̲̩ͥͣi̟͔̦̙̙͛̀ͅs͓͙͓ͥ̓̏ͫ̐̃tͤ̊ͫ̽ͥ͊͏o͇̥̦̻̖͇̻ͧͮṕ̭̪̌̓͞ẖ̬͈̪̙̠̼̃͠e̘̭̲̣̮̓̿͗͑͗̍̓͘r͉̭̬̫̃̾̎͂ ̑̾wͫ̑́̑ͥ͛a̛͕̰̩̪̹͈͈͒͑s̾ͭ̅ͦͫ͏̳̻ ̸̳̜̞̞̒g̴̭͓r̲͍̺̜̬̻͙̆̈́̿̽̇ͨͩ̕e̲̯ͣ̒̄̏̿eͨ̑̐ͥ̓ͣd̙̺ͬ̇͆̕y̺͇͚,̥̬̖͓͔͕̆̈̽͊̑̑̔̀ͅ ̵̯̝̯̈͌C͔̙̭ͤͤ̔h̻̬̠͈̱̮ͥͣ̉̈́̿͂͋r̴ī̋sͩt̞̣̝̅ő͉̟̺̬͍ͥ̌ͬ͂͒̂p̷͔̞ͭ̅ͮͥͣ͋h̫̥̠͇ͮ̋ḛ̞͉̥͋ͧ̓̓ͥ̅r̞̻͈̺̲͚͍͆̓̊͑̄̇͊ ̴͕̝̻͇̻ͨ̀̊̉̋̈́w̪̹̯̯̳ͪ͝a̸͔̦̤͍ͪsͪ͂̑͛̋̒͢ ̖̝͕ͫͦ̽ͬb̮̔͒͂͐̇͟a̡͉̰̜͍̜̖̮͊ͪ̀̂͗̏̐d͇͕͘ ̨͈̳̤̘̞̩̒ͭ
̙͊̏̌ͯͥ͐H͒͐͏̖͕ê̮̰̫̜̈͛̑̆̀ͨ͜ ͚͉̗̿̌ͦs̳̱̝̼̖̪̔ō̢͇͈͖̤̙̞͋̂̽͑ͪl̶̦̥̗̪̪̰̠̏̈ͭͦd̻̩́̎͠ ̴̣̋̓̆ͭ̐ḫ̢̤͈̦͚̮̜ͭ̍ͣ̎ĭ̮̬̺̲͒̅̇͝s̼̮̖̞̥ͪ̉ s͕̔̌ͥ͛̒̋̑͝ọ̴̄u̖̖̲ͦͤ͆l̼͚̞͍͓̭̙ ̧͖͖̑t̴̳̹̝͎̹ͩ̄̃ͭͭͩṍ̈҉̻̟̩͓̰͖̦ ̧̙̭͎̗͎̹̭̓́ͦ̈́s͔̤̉̉̍̇͝a͈͉̜͇̺ͪͧ̍͆ͧͯt̿̏̿͆̑҉̜̭͙̲a̢͓̔́͌͆n̵͕̺͍̖͖̥̘ͦ̿ͯ́ͬͮ,̪̠̙̓ͬ̈ ͆ͬ͏̜̗̲̙͈͕b̏ͫ̈̍̿̇ͭ͏̘͕̥͍o̹͙͓ͣ̊ͯͫ͝y͙̗͎͕̾̈́͗̈̚ ̥̥͆ͫͯͩͥ̄͒w͔̘̖̟̹ͯͩ͂͘ï͔̇͗͝l̓̿͂͂̋̿͏͙̱̬l̩̰̟͙͎͚̹̊ ̲̹͚͔̇̽̌̓͢h̥͎ͣͧ̎̒̂͜ë̹̪̼͕̟͚ͤͅ ͙̮̭̗͚̇́́b̰͓̭͎̙̺e̵̞ͥ͐ ̨̤̥̅͗̏̀̅̈́s̵͈̣͕͉͌ͤ̑ḁ̍̾͑̒͋ͪdͤ ̪̱͙̲̼̩ͩ̎ͯ̉̃̆͟
̦̭̅
̯̺̐̓̿ͮ̅ͦ̑C͔̭͈̤̗̓̔͐͗̃̔͠ͅh̻̰͈̞ͮ̉ř̶̺̣̠̯̼̮̻͒̉̏i͍̝ͯͬ͛̋̓̕s͉̯̲̒̋͐t̘̺̯͎ȍ̶͇̭͈̯̔̑͑͐p͢h͕̻͎̻̠̠̦̅ͩ̾ͥ̽͋ĕ̒̓ͤr͖̞̙̜̂ͦ̾͝ ͪ̒̋ͤc̥̙̭͔̑ͧ̈́ͣ̊̎r̼̥͇̤̖̪ͦ͊̌̽̉̔̚i͉̼̗̲̕e͉̗̒̚s̜͟ ̝̹̺̠͓̭̦̆̆ͭ̔̅̂́o̯̫̦͗ͭ̎͠u̻͂͐̑ͧ͊̾̚t͓̯ͮ̏͋́̍ ͉͓̣̟̩͂ͭͬ̏́̚o̴̬̫̐ͫ̈̅ẖ̻̗̥͔ͨ͗̏ ̖̺̋͌̈́̐ͧg̘̬̭͎̲̣͔o͙̲͙̳ͫͬ͞d͓̬͕͓̟͇ͅ ̮̲̙͎̠̤̞ͯ̔̌̉ͪͭ͆́h͋͐̔͋͊ͧe̬͔̝̲͕̓̈̾ľ̤̯̞́̂p̬̭̦̺̺ ̬̮̱̲̳̰͑̍m̞̳̜̗̒ė̯̭̲̝͓ ̂̌p̩̥̫̺̩ͨ͆̍͜l̷̅̔̽ͣ͐́e̮̼̩̼̞͗ȃ̻͖̮̟s͇̪͚e͊͊ͤ҉͍͎͇͎̣͓ ̮̰̒ͤ͒̓̊͂ͮ

Wonderful I. The Wonderful 101
Platinum Games | Wii U

The Wonderful 101 wears its gaminess on its sleeve, a sleeve is attached to a massive fist punching you directly in the face. Right off the bat, this is one of the oddest and most obtuse games I have ever played, as its something pretty bold for the genre. Typically there is some sort of comparison to be made when a new action game is released, like Bayonetta being very DMC-like with some twists added on with the hand/foot weapons, witch time, and dodge offset. But W101 doesnt really have a comparison, its very much a twist on the standard formula in its very core. An isometric camera, combat based around crowd control and number management, weapon switching done via drawing, yet still having comboability and reflexes being crucial cogs to the system. Its something that takes quite a while to get competent at, let alone good, and the game doesnt do much to assist you here. Starting from square one, the player is missing any way of dodging or blocking, and the store has a ton of skills/items/other misc. objects. These vital skills need to be purchased, and even if theyre cheaper, theyre odd moves (turning into a spring and turning into some flan/jello thing, respectively) that could be overlooked. Even with them in tow, its an odd system. Unite Guts, the block, reflects moves, but not all moves. It really does need to be thought of like the blob of jelly it is, as it will absorb single hits like cannonball shots and fire them back, but sword swipes, lasers, etc. go right through it. Eventually this will click and then you will know what moves can and cant be blocked without trying, but experimentation is a big part of this game. And man, getting hit in this game makes you feel like shit, as the game slowdowns for a you dun fucked this up moment and the various members of your team get scattered all over the place, meaning you cant really do anything.

By anything, I mean ANYTHING. Another thing that doesnt really get touched on is a minimum of 10 people is needed to merge anything. You cant dodge, block, or form a weapon if everyone is scattered. When you do have everyone, it scales accordinglythe weapons grow based on the length of the drawing and the chain of people within. Draw a short straight line and you get a small sword, draw the longest straight line you can and the sword is massive. Smart enemy makeups prevent this from being a simple system where you may think why would I not just always make the largest weapon?, as the attacks have wide areas of effects and many enemies are armored. Swing something like a sword against armor and everyone combined in that sword flies off in a daze. That is coupled with the battery meter, and large weapons drain a large chunk out of it. Of course, with those major drawbacks it means those attacks pack a solid punch; a lot of damage in this game is done burstfire during vulnerable segments in enemies which is where making large weapons can help cut through health like butter. Yet its still a game where you can keep feeling improvement, like when it first drops the 2 turtle enemies. I initially was just aiming to crack their shells with the Hammer, but its a very slow attack and the other turtle will extend its neck out and snap out you. So, rethink the scenario, there has to be a better way, right? Sure enough, there is. Blocking the footstomp, attacking the now off balanced turtle to flip over and go nuts on the belly. Even then, the other turtle keeps doing this damned move where it stomps the ground and I have to run away from these pillars of fire, which gives the other turtle time to recover. Oh waitI can use wonder reds fist to attack the turtle as it will absorb the fire. Elevations like this happen, and it feels incredibly satisfying partially due to how otherwise odd the game may seem, that was all on the player to figure out. For me there is a bit of a misstep with wonder pink, as her whip is one of the few things that feel overly restricted. Some enemies come in that are covered with spikes, and there is nothing you can do but whip pull it off. While even here there are some tricks, such as whipping the enemy as it curls into a ball as it grabs much faster, its a little too reminiscent of another action game this year that loved restricting your movelist to blue and red coded enemies constantly. Not nearly as bad here, but I cant say I enjoyed when those enemies popped up as the battle plan felt overly linear.

Mario 3D World gets a lot of deserved praise for always giving something new in each level, and I feel W101 deserves similar praise, as its pretty nuts how well this game gives the player fresh stuff at a solid click. Once you get too used to everything, heres a new enemy. Then heres a new Wonderful One, adding a weapon which opens up options against every old enemy you fought. Now heres a segment unlike anything else where you control a ship and play something akin to starfox. Now heres a fuckin punch-out segment, or a giant setpiece, its whatever. The game keeps this up to the very end, and its quite meaty to boot, taking me around 15 hours for the first run. And its not like it ends there, as it takes a lot from the Bayonetta school of design with a whole load of custom skills. You can get an ukemi straight out of viewtiful joe, a parry, dodge mines, etc. that all serve to spice up playstyles. Its an absolutely content loaded disc, even having a solid chunk of unlockable characters with their own attributes to aim for after the credits roll.

Oh, and before those credits rollthe ending here. The entire final operation is incredible, and is a very strong endgame to a very strong game. The final moments made me laugh so hard I could barely press the buttons I needed. The entire game was just oozing creativity and videogame references, I can imagine they had as much of a blast making it as I did playing it.

All 101 of us that have played this game need to unite up into a wonder tissue to soak up my tears, as there is no justice in this world.

2012. FTL: Faster than Light
Subset Games | PC

An enjoyable little game I got for cheap on the steam sale. Many interesting paths that can lead to all kinds of secrets, and a combat system I found to be very fun. Everything can go horribly wrong and keep escalating from there once fires break out and invaders start crashing into your ship, with many on the fly strategies needing to be used.

x. Killer Instinct
Double Helix | Xbox One

I think it goes without saying that anyone following this game had one hell of a rollercoaster leading up to launch. It had a very small announcement with low amounts of information, we found out Double Helix of all people were working on it, then details leaked that confused people about the payment method (and the effect still lingers as I frequently see people talk about it with no clue how it actually is), and the cherry on top was finding out it was going to have a very small roster on launch. But what kept me interested was how prominent and open Double Helix was with this title, they were well aware of their reputation, had a lot of new hires with fighting experience, and the game was playable more than any other launch title before release at various events. From these, I was constantly reading hugely positive reports on the feel and flow of the game.

So, it finally came out, and its a hell of a lot of fun. Very heavy on getting into the opponents mind, this is a game that tries to always give both players an option even within combos, and does it far cleaner than the original KI series. Unlike many other games in the genre where you essentially find out the maximum potential damage combo for certain scenarios and delegate it to muscle memory, KI feels totally free form. As, obviously, if you only do the same combo it will get broken constantly, so freshening up your moves to keep your opponent from feeling comfortable is vital and feels very different from the usual fighting game strategy. It follows a golden path of Opener -> Auto Double -> Linker -> Auto Double -> Finisher, which is very easy to get into for new players. Essentially, doing a special move like Jagos windkick is an opener, then a single tap of light, medium, or heavy does a respective double hit, and you do another special from here. This can basically go on infinitely, so they smartly have what is called a KV meter on screen that fills up, when it reaches the threshold of 100 the opponent will pop out of the combo, and the way this game functions makes it so a lot of the damage isnt actually done until a finisher is pulled off. Lights are super-fast and not damaging, mediums slower and more damaging, heavies slowest and most damaging making them the easiest to react and break. Even if someone plays predictably, they can break your own combo breaker, so if I only do heavy moves for damage it might be to bait a combo breaker which I will counter break. This counter break resets this combo gauge allowing for devastating combos that otherwise wouldnt be possible, and locks you out from attempting another break for 4 secondswhich is quite a long time in a fast paced fighting game, and lets you go nuts and predictable as its a rare time where theyre powerless against you.

Still, theres no ifs, ands, or buts about itthis game was totally rushed for launch. It had a short dev time and it shows in both the modes and cast, a big tipoff being the $20 all characters package having 8 characters but only 6 being usable for now. Further, there is nothing to this game for now beyond a survival ladder against CPU, offline versus, online battles (no lobbies), and the tutorial. That said, if the core is strong enough, does it matter that much? This is very much a platform to be built on in the future, so one of the reasons Im not putting this anywhere on the list is even the initial Season 1 wont be finished until Spinal and Fulgore release, which comes with a Story mode and costumes that are not yet presentmeaning the first few months of 2014. The biggest strength relies on character diversity and if they did what little is there well, and for me, they absolutely did. All the characters are very diverse, with Sabrewulf being total rushdown, Jago being balanced, Sadira being aerial focused, etc. They all have their own combo quirk as well, such as Glacius being able to do full combos from mid-full screen, or Sabrewulf being able to just mash during an autodouble for the same move as long as he wants.

Modewise, the tutorial and even practice are done well. Leading from walking, jumping, and blocking to KI specific systems and combos, the lessons are informative regardless of exposure to the genre. It also has a handful of contextual popups that lets the player know what theyre doing wrong, which alleviates a lot of frustration. Unlike many trial modes where the game is deadest on having a ridiculously hard to pull off combo that is hardly applicable in a match, the combo gauntlet at the end is one of the few I ever finished and felt much more grounded in usability, which I think is important to not overwhelm newer players. This also goes over well into the standard practice mode, which actually lets you turn hitboxes on and off and displays frame data.

And, of course, the online. No lobbies are a bummer, but the developers did a bang up job on the general netcode which was my biggest worry. Utilizing their own style of GGPO rollback, the matches dont lose much of the feel and the game has seemed smart to drop games that do end up skipping around in comparison to the many titles Ive played, this is one of the strongest online components Ive seen. Killer Instinct is a game that will be growing as the console does, with new seasons in the pipeline, and a smart free download incentive to make it a no brainer to atleast check out, Im very excited to see what the future holds for this game. Oh, and I just have to somehow mention that the OST and general sound design are top notch, which I made a post of here.

x. Tales of Xillia
Namco Tales Studio | PS3

Im mixed on how I feel about this game overall, as I feel a lot of the new additions serve to detract from the game. The shop leveling takes away a big part of the joy that comes from getting to a new town, I really dislike the overworld stringing together a few large areas with glimmering collectibles everywhere as it makes the world feel smaller when it seems like it was made to try and add a sense of scale to everything, and the initial selection and splitting of the story as Jude/Millia isnt something I care much for as I dont want to play a game like this twice to fill in the blanks. Still, I love me some Tales and still had a good time here. The cast was pretty strong and the combat was fun as always, and I enjoyed the specific quirks each character had such as Judes backstep teleport or Alvins charge. I swapped around characters much more than I have in the past games for some reason, which added a nice spice to everything.

x. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Ubisoft Montreal/Shanghai | 360, PS3, PC

I both enjoyed and had a lot of issues with Far Cry 3 last year. The core shooting and everything was fun, but the progression got pretty borked considering I spent a lot of the initial game hunting and upgrading everything. Taking the same systems and making them in a smaller game worked out really well. A game that obviously gets influence from 80s sci-fi in visuals, narrative, and the great soundtrack comes a game that is basically a laser focused Far Cry 3 and a good success story for this type of format to work in the future.

x. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
Techland | 360. PS3, PC

Going hand in hand to Blood Dragon, itd be hard to not mention this as well. This time I have no frame of reference; this is the first CoJ game I have ever played. Yet the focus remains clear, making a western influenced arcadey first person shooter. Smart story mechanics based around Silas narrating events that have happened, retelling on the fly to force rewinds and scenario mix ups lets the developers reuse assets in a way that actually works in their favor. Its simple fun and a trend I hope we see in the future, as shooters can thrive well at this pricepoint instead of forcing some garbage multiplayer or stretching everything too thin to try and make up for the $60 tag.

x. The Stanley Parable
I have no idea | PC

A short game that is memorable for its commentary at just about everything in games. The rigid act of decisions, blindly doing what youre told (or going against it in a futile escape), poking fun at both the gamer and games as a whole. The witty narration is key here, frequently bringing a smile to my face at how dead on everything is. It especially hit me at a certain point where I went towards an ending where I fall through a window into a white nothingness, where it said something akin of why did you try to break the game?, and I dont really know the answer to that. Something different and memorable that should be experienced.

x. Pikmin 3
Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 | Wii U

One of my biggest takeaways from this past generation was expanding my gaming horizons. I branched out to a lot more genres I never messed with much before, which meant my experience with the Pikmin series has been very limited. I do remember trying them both out a little, but it never really clicked and I never got far in them at all. Right now, I really regret that, because this is a great little game. Full of charm yet tension as the clock is raced against to accomplish goals each day, its just a lot of fun and has a sense of just one more day because I just missed a single fruit that I want to get before I stop playing. All the different pikmin had a purpose and reason to manage, and for more expert play the three captains could split up with their own groups to accomplish a hell of a lot, finishing off each level with a fun boss battle and the every so satisfying reward reaping pikmin trail of bringing back the corpse. I had a great time with this and really want to head back and give the previous games another shot.

x. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Ubisoft Montreal | Fuckin' Everything

I have been feeling that the entire AC series is deeply screwed from a mechanics standpoint. Brotherhood added kill chaining as an almost self-admitted defeat from the developers that the combat wasnt very good and this served to get through it faster. The stealth is a constant overly gamey confusion that doesnt work well, now with 3 adding crouching through vegetation yet forced standing in a small gap between two bushes where enemies can see you as long as the bar doesnt fill upit just isnt very satisfying. But I would be lying if I said I didnt have a mostly great time with Black Flag, a game that spends the majority of the game barely being an AC game and focusing more on a pirate game Ive always wanted. Just sailing around to shanties, looting ships, trying to ignore the story full of samey pursuit and eavesdropping. Though even in segments like boarding ships, I cant help but feel the combat just detracts from what it could potentially be. Its a series I feel is in the need of a complete reworking, yet I am not sure they can really do that to a game of this scale if theyre so deadest on running it into the ground. It would be a shame to see an IP with so much potential get squandered.

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I played a lot of games this year, but Im still only human. Many were missed, most notably being Tearaway as I dont have a Vita, Papers, Please as I missed it on the steam sale, and Fire Emblem: Awakening. I actually DO own fire emblem, and its the first time I played any game in the series, but I hit a bit of a rough patch with life stuff and put it on the backburner. Stupidly enough I actually cant find the cart now, so I need to find it again and probably restart the game as I wasnt very far in it. Sucks but cant do much about it.

Papercuts · Jan 16, 2014

I'll redo this for the parser:

1. The Wonderful 101 ; Platinum have twisted the very core of character action games and nailed it with stunning accuracy.

2. The Last of Us ; Naughty Dog at their finest, with a supreme blend of the cinematic flair they're known for coupled with brutal and satisfying gameplay.

3. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds ; A unique take on the standard Zelda formula giving the player complete freedom to approach the world at their leisure.

4. Super Mario 3D World ; Levels that keep throwing new ideas at you until you pass out.

5. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies ; Another great entry in the franchise, bringing a lot of new and old faces to take on more thrilling cases.

6. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ; YOU ARE JUST LIKE ME TRYING TO MAKE HISTORYYYY

7. Grand Theft Auto V ; A game that doubles as soap to wash the taste of 4 out of your mouth.

8. Dead Rising 3 ; Ridiculous amounts of zombies on screen with the standard zany Dead Rising gameplay.

9. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons ; A simple game that plays out in an interesting fashion
.
10. State of Decay ; A rough gem full of ambition.

2012. FTL: Faster Than Light ; Fun game with a moody atmosphere where I kept dying in tragic ways.

x. Killer Instinct ; A solid turnaround for Double Helix as a company that will keep growing in the future.

x. Tales of Xillia ; Solid entry in the tales franchise that is held back by some questionable changes.

x. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon ; Live out an 80s fantasy fighting dragons that shoot lasers out of their eyes.

x. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger ; Another bite sized downloadable entry that is hopefully the start of a new trend.

x. The Stanley Parable ; Witty narration that pokes fun at all things gaming.

x. Pikmin 3 ; Murder everything and collect fruits.

x. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag ; Not quite the pirate game I’ve always wanted, but it’ll do.

x. Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby ; A game so far ahead of its time that we simply weren't ready. The one true game of the year if I was a better gamer and could actually vanquish Christopher Robin.

Now if you'll excuse me I'll go collapse somewhere.

ViewtifulJC · Jan 16, 2014

Papercuts pls

we have now officially put Riposte to shame

Dark Schala · Jan 16, 2014

Jesus.

And here I was thinking I could get away with half-assing mine because I don't really have a single GotY anymore + powerpoints/spreadsheets to deal with!

Daaaaaaaaamn, Papercuts. That's something to live up to, haha. I'm not as passionate for GotY as I am SotY so I don't think I can fill in those big shoes.

i haven't even started tw101 yet, man.

demidar · Jan 16, 2014

Great list, and it's nice to see W101 make number one (seriously it's a goddamn injustice it's not on everyone's number one).

Cheesemeister · Jan 16, 2014

Papercuts said:
(Pls forgive me)

No, programs don't forgive. PM sent.

demidar · Jan 16, 2014

I'll have to one-up you Papercuts.

Prepare for 50 posts of comments next year!

Sojgat · Jan 16, 2014

1. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist ; A big budget, design by committee effort that cribs shamelessly from a number of other popular titles (Mass Effect 2 chief among them), while trying to be all things to all people. In many ways Blacklist should be a perfect example of everything that's wrong with the modern video game industry... except it actually works this time. Blacklist somehow manages to be the best stealth game released this generation, while at the same time, being the most satisfying third-person shooter of the year. The stealth and assault options are both of an equally high level of competence, while not undermining the cohesiveness of the overall design. Many titles in the genre have strived for a similar open-ended approach, but have always failed to get the balance right. Blacklist succeeds and makes it look easy. There's an abundance of content across various game modes, featuring some of the finest level design in the Splinter Cell franchise. The story is typically boring Clancy game nonsense, with Sam Fisher now recast in the mould of Commander Shepard/Jack Bauer, but Carlo Rota helps to liven up proceedings, with a great performance as this years best new videogame villain Majid Sadiq. I love this game, I just wish more people did too.

2. DmC: Devil May Cry ; While a few of the previous entries in the Devil May Cry franchise have featured some of the deepest combat mechanics in the character action genre, DmC is just a better overall game. Imaginative level design and well handled platforming help to make it a more complete package, even if the combat itself is shallower. The astounding art direction works in harmony with the aggrotech soundtrack to give DmC it's own unique identity, so much so, that I really wish it had been a new original IP, rather than a poorly received DMC reboot. While the story is a little unoriginal, the writing and acting are strong, and I actually grew to really like "Donte" by the end of the game. I'd be there day 1 for a sequel, but I doubt we're ever going to get one.

3. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger ; Western themed FPS with a creative narrative structure (for a video game), Borderlands-esque visual presentation, fantastic OST, and really, really, really, ridiculously fun shooting mechanics. The campaign is great, and Arcade Mode is super addictive. Gunslinger was by far my biggest pleasant surprise of the year. I would recommend this game to anybody.

4. Rayman: Legends ; Perfectly responsive controls, charming art style, and the musical levels are absolute genius. A pure joy. One of the best 2D platformers ever made.

5. Batman: Arkham Origins ; A number of bugs mar this worthy prequel to Rocksteady's Fantastic Batman games. However, many things are actually handled quite well here by WB Montreal; the story is comic book bliss, sidequests and upgrades are better integrated into the story progression, crime scene reconstructions are a great addition, and combat has been fleshed out with a variety of fun new enemy types. The boss fights in particular, are a big improvement over the previous games (excluding the fantastic Mr.Freeze fight from Arkham City). Deathstroke is one of the most entertaining boss fights I've played in a long time.

6. Anarchy Reigns ; A supremely underrated beat'em up. The MP was great fun (Deathball baby), but stangely enough, for me the two sided single-player campaign was the highlight. It's just old-fashioned brawling fun with tons of replay value (it at first seems limited to the two lead protagonists, but you can replay levels using any of the fighters from the stage select menu). A better OST than MGR and a farcically over-the-top story that takes itself far too seriously, make this my favourite Platinum Games release of the year. Note: I don't have a Wii U yet, so I haven't played The Wonderful 101.

7. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ; Stellar combat mechanics, great boss fights, and a killer soundtrack are sadly offset by bland level design, lack of enemy variety, and one of the worst cameras to ever feature in a character action game. It's impressive what Platinum managed to pull off here given the short development time they had, but it still feels like an incredibly slight offering. During the second half of the game it seemed like they ran out of time to build actual levels, and had to make do with just putting boss fights instead. A more substantial sequel could be something truly special.

8. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon ; A bite-sized helping of Far Cry 3, with an insanely sped up upgrade progression, and an awesome 80s style soundtrack and retro-futuristic reskin. Michael Beihn is the part man and part machine Sergeant Rex "Power" Colt, on a mission to investigate a Mark V Cyber-Commando gone rogue, and it's all so fucking great that I've played through the whole thing 4 times. More like this please.

9. Metro: Last Light ; Great atmosphere and a little bit of freedom in how the player can approach combat encounters goes a long way in a linear story driven FPS. A very nice looking game, with a good basic stealth system and satisfying shooting. The attention to detail is mind-blowing, even if the story itself is kind of bad (especially towards the end). Comparisons to Half-Life 2 are inevitable and not unwarranted.

10. Fuse ; No fun played alone, thanks to the garbage teammate AI, but highly enjoyable as a co-op shooter experience. The art style change did this game no favors, and the bullet spongy nature of the enemies probably turned off many people as well. However, it probably has the best cover system and movement controls ever featured in a third-person shooter, and the various character specific abilities complement each other nicely in combat. Fuse happily consumed a lot of my time this year, until I ran out of people online to play it with.

x. Grand Theft Auto V ; Rockstar's best game ever. Fantastic open world and hugely enjoyable characters, but too much of the mission design still feels like work.

2012. XCOM: Enemy Unknown ; I originally put off playing this awesome reimagining from Firaxis, even though so many were raving about it. I now really regret that decision. I recently started Enemy Within and it's even better. I'm guessing it will probably be the LTTP pick on my 2014 list.

Yagharek · Jan 16, 2014

1. Fire Emblem Awakening ; There is a reason there are games in my list below that have not been played to the extent to which I would have liked. That reason is Fire Emblem Awakening, which scratched an itch I never knew existed. 200 hours + into the game, all extra missions, no deaths and one monster Donny later, this game... this fucking game has just taken over.

2. The Wonderful 101 ; I reckon I played through 60% of the game before I figured out you could launch chained secondary attacks with X and leader attacks with A. I played most of the game not knowing what I was doing, swearing at it for being a cheating cunt of a game and then learning what I was supposed to be doing. Once it makes you think like the game has clicked, it becomes even more enjoyable.

3. Pikmin 3 ; Just a lovely, charming, relaxing game to play even with time limits and more guilt trips than any other game when you see a lone Pikmin make it too late to the Onion at sunset. Also, Louie is an arsehole. And I now refer to avocados as scaly custard.

4. Super Mario 3D World ; A victim of unrealistic expectations perhaps. The first half was too easy. Amazing ideas were discarded far too quickly. Yet it still has enough great platforming to make it worthwhile and it lets you run around as Mega Toad.

5. Animal Crossing New Leaf ; Fast approaching Fire Emblem for my most played game of the year and I am struggling to pay off debts already.

6. Lego City Undercover ; Frank Honey is a fucking idiot. You get to ride on a T-Rex in a spacesuit. Loading times aside, this is the best sandbox game this year.

7. Kokuga ; Another victim of Fire Emblem, but I love the tentative back and forth rhythm of playing this game, and it reminds me of an old Amiga 500 game called Simulcra I used to love back in the early-mid 1990s.

8. Luigi's Mansion 2 ; Best use of 3D in a game to date.

9. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds ; Comments reserved as I am still in the midst of playing it.

10. Bravely Default Flying Fairy ; Comments reserved as per LoZ, but the style of the game is a welcome breath of fresh air after a decade of shit Final Fantasy games.

x. Ni No Kuni ; An absolutely beautiful world.
x. Grand Theft Auto V ; Probably the last other game I played this year. Definitely better than GTA4, but it's still a case of the jury being out on this one. Heists are interesting.

2012. New Super Mario Bros. U ; I nearly bought a Wii U at launch but skipped out due to teething problems. This was the first game I bought with it when I jumped in early 2013 and it is a great 2D platform game. I still haven't completed it, but it is the kind of game I can keep coming back to bit by bit.

MetalGuardian · Jan 16, 2014

1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds ; What's this? A glorious return to form for what was once my favorite gaming franchise ever? I SHAN'T BELIEVE YOUR LIES! Zelda is dead to me, and I'll never let it break my heart again!

Wh-what's that? I'm NOT huffing lead paint again? Be still my throbbing soul, for the gaming savior has returned!

While thinking of A Link Between Worlds as a messianic title may be a tad hyperbolic, it certainly felt that way considering the last Zelda title that fully satisfied me was The Wind Waker. Here is a game that does virtually everything right: a gameplay-centric, non-linear, clever title that assaults the ears with the godliest soundtrack of the year and bends your mind into thinking transdimensionally. The story ended up disappointing me by the end, and the graphics look less appealing than a botched liposuction job during the cut-scenes, but those two knocks weren't nearly enough to dethrone this baby as my Game of the Year. A true gaming classic, and my third favorite Zelda ever (behind Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time).

2. The Last of Us ; Let me tell you the hoops I went through to play The Last of Us. I've never owned a Sony system. Yet I'm nothing if not an avid whore for top-notch gaming, so once reviews and GAF impressions started rolling in for this title, I knew I had to find a way to play it. I put a plea on facebook, begging someone, ANYONE to let me borrow their PS3. I even offered money. Finally, one of my shadier acquaintances roped me into his deal: for $20, I could borrow his PS3 for two weeks. Worth it, I decided.

The nearest place that had a copy of The Last of Us for rental was a Redbox kiosk... almost forty miles away. Worth it, I decided.

I drive to the middle of nowhere and procure my sweet, sweet copy of the game before heading to my friend's place to snag his PS3. I get there, hand him the money, and he hands me the system.

"Hey man, there's a bit of a catch," he says, as he pockets my money. "I don't have a controller." He lets out the biggest shit-eating grin I've ever seen another person muster after uttering it. What the fuck?, I think to myself. Should I go off on him for swindling me and only telling me he didn't have a controller AFTER I drove 40 miles to rent the game and then gave him the money? Should I take my money back and forget the whole damn thing? I decided to grit my teeth, be polite, and accept his shitty deal. Worth it, I thought.

All I wanted to do at this point was play the dang game, but without a controller I had to devise another plan... I called up a friend to "hang out" whose brother I knew had an extra PS3 controller. I go over to his house under the pretense of wanting to do literally anything other than play the PS3 all night, and, of course, his brother isn't home. I ask my friend if I can borrow the controller anyway. "Sorry man, you'll have to get clearance from him. I don't know where he is."

Son of a BITCH!

Minutes turn to hours turn to suicidal thoughts. I am wasting my entire freaking night on a fool's hope that I can snag a video game controller, I think to myself. Worth it, I decided.

FINALLY the brother comes home. I ask to borrow the controller, he's happy to allow it. I feign exhaustion and say I'm going to head home to catch some sleep.

I rush to my room to hook up the system. Adrenaline pumping through my veins, I power on the game for the first time and... it looks fucking HORRIBLE on my shitty SD TV. I spend the next thirty minutes fooling around with display settings on both the game and my TV, the results of which didn't improve the situation. I'm about to invest fifteen hours of my life staring at an eye-bleeding bastardization of what is undoubtedly one of the best looking console games ever released. Worth it, I decided.

Three days and several emotional breakdowns later, was it worth it? Oh HELL yes.

3. Super Mario 3D World ; Goddammit Nintendo. That was, quite literally, my first thought when seeing the unveiling of this game at E3. It looked like everything Super Mario Galaxy wasnt, and something that was going to further send the Wii U down its hold of deathly oblivion.

Several months later and I sacrifice a ton of other cool stuff on my Christmas list in order to secure a Wii U just for this game, and I couldnt be happier about the decision. This game is unbridled joy on a disc, to the point where I dont want to say anything else about it. It is impossible for words to convey the sublime sensations this game offers, so if you havent already, go play it. The Wii U is a surprisingly badass system anyway, and deserves a place in any gamers home.

4. Animal Crossing: New Leaf ; After pouring 200 hours into the GameCube version, I found both Wild World and ESPECIALLY Shitty Folk to be incredibly underwhelming retreads. New Leaf is everything the previous two iterations werent: creative and brimming with new activities and functionalities. Ive played about 120 hours so far, and while Im sure Ill only average 15 or 20 hours in the game this year, Ive still gotten more mileage out of the forty bucks I dropped on New Leaf than any other game in years.

That's a screenshot of me playing with three of my best friends, by the way. We had many an excellent night this summer drinking brews and goofing off in each other's towns.

5. Fire Emblem: Awakening ; An all-around badass package. Flawless mechanics that remain both complex and user-friendly, a lively cast of characters, deep levels of customization, and an engaging story. The best Fire Emblem game Ive ever played.

6. Grand Theft Auto V ; Before this game, GTA IV and its DLC and Chinatown Wars were my sole experiences with the franchise. I really enjoyed GTA IV at the time, but after revisiting it in anticipation for V, I absolutely understand all of the harsh criticisms that game had.

While GTA V is noticeably absent from many GAFfer and gaming outlet GOTY lists (and understandably so), this was my first time playing a GTA game that hit all the right notes. If VI doesnt significantly shake up the formula, Ill be with most of the other naysayers who are feeling franchise fatigue, but for now, GTA V showed me the pinnacle for what that brand of open world game design can achieve.

7. Pokemon X/Y ; Just LOOK at that badass up there. You know when you go to sleep tonight a motherfuking Froakie is going to lay eggs in your ear before gleefully hopping away into the night. The eggs will burrow through your ear canals before worming their way down into your torso cavity. Froakie eggs THRIVE on stomach acid, and when it will go from hatchling to goddam Greninja before youre able to call your grandma and tell her how sorry you are for using the graduation money she gave you that one time to buy Cocaine. It will be far, far too late, because with a sickening splatter your body will rupture into a bloody entanglement of intestines and gore, as a crimson-dripped Greninja stalks its way out of your fresh corpse and into the night. THAT is what were contending with here, so how could I NOT include it on the list?

8. The Wonderful 101 ; Having only gotten my Wii U at Christmas, Ive admittedly played relatively little of this title. Since its so damn original though I want to encourage more products that take such a risky approach, so Im including on my list as an act of being the change I wish to see in the world. Despite forcing the player to turn to outside sources in order to become proficient at the game (include an in-depth, in-game tutorial ffs) I cant wait to play through the rest of it.

9. 3D Super Hang-On ; This game came out of nowhere for me and ended up being one of the best surprises of the year. I had never heard of the arcade original, and in fact didnt even know SEGA was planning on doing 3D revamps of some of their classic titles until the GAF thread went up and the first batch were already out.

The concept of using wily items aside, the gameplay here feels like what I WISH Super Mario Kart were like. Its tight, fast, and fluid. That is such a generic description for a racing game, but those adjectives all absolutely apply to this game, and the way they interplay with the arcade structure of each race creates a very addictive experience that is absolutely perfect for a portable gaming system.

The time limit can be pretty unforgiving, but hey! NO WORRIES, THE DEVELOPERS AT M2 ARE LITERAL GODS AND THEY GOTCHA COVERED. Raise or lower the time limit, opt to have the screen tilt with every turn, turn on a visual of the original arcade cabinet exterior do whatever the hell you want! You paid six bucks for a twenty year old game after all, and M2 is going to make sure you can play it how you want.

10. Bioshock Infinite ; Gameplay is almost always the biggest appeal for me when it comes to my favorite pastime, which is why even Im surprised this game ended up squeezing onto my list. The gameplay is, of course, perfectly serviceable. Yet as someone who isnt a big fan of first person shooters, and who has in fact played FPS that have far more satisfying combat than this game, I cant say I particularly enjoyed fighting off wave after wave of bullet-sponge enemies. The atmosphere of the game is what kept me going, as it is some top-notch stuff.

The REAL reason this game is on my list though is because of that ending. Amazing, mind-blowing, and thought provoking. The ending was absolutely worth all of the misgivings I had experienced with the game up to that point.

x. Batman: Arkham Origins ; Whats this? The third game in my favorite new franchise of the generation didnt make my top ten?

Its a very competently-made game (aside from the glitches and bugs, which have hopefully been patched by now), but it failed to do anything new or interesting with the already established formula. Thankfully that formula is a brilliant starting point, which is why I still enjoyed my time blowing through the story. There are quite a few badass cutscenes, and I enjoyed most of the boss fights, but I pray to the Bat-gods that Rocksteady is indeed working on a next-gen Batman title.

x. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons ; The controls are clunky and counterintuitive, the story premise is dull, most of the puzzles are brain-dead easy, and the two protagonists are given absolutely no characterization. However, the music, artstyle, certain set pieces (specifically the

graveyard of the bloodied giants, which may be my favorite set piece of the whole year), and the way the actual controls come together to create an emotionally powerful moment gives this enough of a creative edge to at least deserve an honorable mention. I really loved the ambition the game had, even if it wasnt executed particularly well the entire way through.

x. Tomb Raider ; This was my first Tomb Raider game. The graphics were nice, the level design of the island was very impressive, and the combat offered tight control and a good level of precision. That was enough to propel the experience through its laughably awful story that consisted of cliché after stereotype after cliché.

x. 3D Sonic The Hedgehog ; Another incredible port/upgrade by M2. Having never played the original Sonic, this was assuredly the best way to experience it for the first time. Of particular note is the included option to make the game look like it's being played on an old-school television... complete with the 3D effects being used to curve the edges of the screen!

2012. Mutant Mudds ; Whats not to love? An homage to the hard as nails platformers of yore. And look, it even seems like the developer took some inspiration from the NeoGAF logo!

jj984jj · Jan 16, 2014

1. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ; Handing this off to Platinum Games was clearly the right decision, they had a novel idea but if they wanted to make an action game there still needed to be a good action game behind it. This is the change the Metal Gear series needed to offer more variety in gameplay, an extremely fun and fast pace game that still has elements found in the series.
2. Shin Megami Tensei IV
3. Bioshock Infinite
4. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
5. Ys: Memories of Celceta
6. Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers
7. Guacamelee!
8. Hotline Miami
9. Bit.Trip Presents Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
10. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

x. Tomb Raider
x. Fire Emblem: Awakening
x. Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
x. Etrian Odyssey IV
x. Tales of Xillia

2012. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Levyne · Jan 16, 2014

It aint a contest, guys.

I've read papercut's 101, MGR, and Last of Us write ups. I really need to play 101 one of these days..

Dark Schala · Jan 16, 2014

Levyne said:
It aint a contest, guys.

we're saying this stuff in jest because papercuts and a bunch of us write looooong posts every year we've been on gaf so it kinda makes no difference.

well i dunno about jc. jc could be serious.

Levyne · Jan 16, 2014

I wasn't really being serious either, I guess I was trying to write out a verbal

, that's all!

toastyToast · Jan 16, 2014

I feel bad for not finishing W101. Game just doesn't lend itself to long sessions. I do one operation and I'm exhausted then I kind of forget about it for a while.

I don't think I'll finish it in time but perhaps it'll make my game of 2013 next year.

adversesolutions · Jan 16, 2014

2010
2011
2012

1. Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai 2; (SEGA, AM2 3DS) The chibi style take on the Hatsune Miku rhythm game series is more fun than you can shake a negi at. It’s ultra-cute, packed to the gills with arcade sensibility, and might just have the most replay value I’ve ever seen outside of the RPG genre. There are about 50 songs to play, most of which are catchy, saccharine little tunes, but there’s also some punk-esque songs mixed in. Stand-outs for me are Marashii’s Amatsu Kitsune, a melancholy but high-paced track dressed in classical Japanese melodies, Invisible, a relentlessly fast head-banging hard rock track, and the well-known vocaloid track Kokoro, an alternately quiet/soaring melodic tune that, when paired with its video of the character transforming into an angel and ascending to the clouds, is impressive on the highest difficulties. The PVs are all relatively simple due to the constraints of the 3DS’ rendering, but tend to have excellent artistic sensibility, from the sassy dance moves and confident looks, to rapid camera angle changes and dramatic finishes. In the Miku-sphere (if you will), some people reacted negatively to the inclusion of “original PVs”, i.e. videos created by outside artists, but to the contrary some of these have the most powerful effect. For instance, Matroyshka (if you have a nico account), another fast-paced heavy punk track has a sequence at the end where Miku’s face descends from the top of the screen to the bottom, all while the notes are coming fast and furious. The pressure to keep the combo up, the intensity of the music, and the imminence of the “descent” creates something that really transcends pressing buttons in a sequence.

In that sense, the stars of the show really are the “notes” in the songs and their brilliant lay-outs. Unlike the Diva series on the Playstation consoles, Mirai’s notes are all arranged in a line that progresses across the screen. Notes don’t fly in from here and there; the progression is completely ordered, which gives the game a very accessible starting point for beginners. My girlfriend picked up the game, and despite being a 3DS greenhorn, managed to clear it on Easy. Still this is AM2 we’re talking about, and as you play you discover that the note patterns get intriguingly complex: double inputs, triple inputs, d-pad-only inputs, giant loop de-loops where you have to switch between multiple buttons while holding others. Every song has a very unique note pattern to it which, when played to perfection, brings the experience to a higher level.

One key part of earning money in Mirai 2 is hitting and holding long “rainbow notes”, then scribbling on the bottom screen with your finger as fast as you can, which racks up cash to use at the in-game store. Every song has rainbow notes so you wind up doing this quite a bit, and it never loses its charm. What you realize after some time with Mirai 2 is that despite the ostensible simplicity of the note structure, your hands are extremely busy. That busy-ness gives the game an extra layer of complexity that pulls you in.

The last thing that decisively brought this game to the top of my GOTY list is the replay value. Mirai 2 has its own stamp-based achievement system, and there are 100 stamps to be acquired. Most of that is driven by playing songs, earning cash, buying costumes, swag for your character’s rooms etc. But unless you’re hitting high ranks for songs, you don’t earn a ton of cash, so “completing” the game is a long road. Still, there’s so much fun stuff to do along the way that I don’t mind at all. The focused fury of the rhythm game, alongside the character and room customization features, makes the game compulsively addicting.

How addicting? Well, yeah this is my current game time:

And I’ve only got a little over 50% of the stamps at this point…
I could go on and on about Mirai 2 since there’s a lot to it, but I don’t want to look like an obsessive lol so here’s just a few more features it has:
・You can shut the 3DS lid, plug some headphones in and listen to the soundtrack whenever you want.
・Mini Puyo-puyo game included (!) where you play against the Miku characters while the game’s songs play in the background. Gets pretty damn hard too!
・Cool streetpass features where you build and share a personal profile, and a little melody and dance number that you can fully customize.

It's all these little features, plus the main course of hardcore arcade sensibility in an ultra- cute package that made Mirai 2 my GOTY. Will probably go back to it after I finish this post lol…

2. Crimzon Clover Arcade; (Yotsubane, NESiCA Arcade System) Crimzon Clover was a PC doujin shooter title that popped up in 2011 and made waves not only in Japan but also overseas for having extremely tight, arcade shooting gameplay steeped in the CAVE tradition of bullet barrages, complex yet intuitive scoring, and challenging difficulty.

With Crimzon Clover Arcade, Yotsubane took their existing game, turned it up to fucking eleven, and ported it to NESiCA arcade hardware. The result is an all-out assault on heaven, featuring some of the most frenetic shooting gameplay since 2008’s Futari Black Label (infamous for getting faster as you score better). They understood that the missing ingredient to shooters of the past generation was speed. And this is a fast and aggressive shooter. In my opinion it’s the best one of the last 5 years, and while it follows in the CAVE tradition, Yotsubane’s attention to what shooter players want has been transformed into good gameplay so well that I think they’ve actually eclipsed the company they took so much inspiration from.

Break it down:

A. Boost Mode
The better you do, the faster it gets. It wants to kill you. Bomb or die to escape, but if you survive to Stage 5 and 6, you will feel your brain coming through your nose.
Fast and fun, this mode poises right on the borderline of ridiculousness (i.e. 1998’s Dangun Feveron), but doesn't cross it. Tastefully break-neck; and clearable if you put the effort in.
B. Original Mode
An arcade-tuned and higher-res version of the PC doujin game. Eschews the speed of Boost Mode for a bullet density a la Futari Maniac Mode, i.e. ominous bullet barrages that can only be carefully dodged through. Lock-on and destroy enemies, build your Break Gauge, then trigger it with your bomb. Waste everything in sight or build another break gauge and hit a “double break”.
C. Unlimited Mode
The "Ultra" or "God" version of this game, which is friendly enough to end everyone's credit on stage 1 for every time I've seen someone attempt it an arcade. Not to be fucked with if you’re not open to a massive challenge.
D. Time Attack Mode
A new extra-long arcade-only stage in which you compete for score within a short time limit. This is what you’re seeing in the left-most gif above. Your goal is total annihilation in 3 minutes. The more enemies you kill, the more spawn. The more spawn, the more stars they drop, and the screen becomes a fine chaos.
E. Extremely detailed arcade scoreboards
Not only is the game compatible with NESiCA boards as usual, but your best score gets saved to your NESiCA card and kept at the top right of the screen to constantly haunt (encourage) you. There's also a scrolling list of the best scores in each mode available at the Title Screen. These touches are minor, but they remind you that Yotsubane actually cares about what this genre is all about: getting that number up.
F. Achievements
The game saves achievements to your arcade card, which are shown in the bottom left of the screen when you’re playing. This is pretty cool because if you see somebody at the arcade with most of the achievements comped out, you know shit’s about to go down.

All of these things combined gave me one of my favorite games ever this year and provided a shining light to the starving arcade shooter scene. When it gets this good, it’s easier to accept that it’s almost certainly the doujin shooter makers who will carry this genre forward, as almost all of the major dev studios have given up.

3. Super Mario 3D World; (Nintendo EAD Tokyo, WiiU); I don’t own a WiiU, so I played 3D World at my girlfriend’s house. I therefore couldn’t get quite as much time with this game as I’d like, but despite that it was one of my most fun game experiences of the year. Every time I boot 3D World up, I have a good time. I discover something, I explore something, I move in a new way. I get obsessed with a level and have to green-star/gold flag/stamp it, or I get flummoxed by another and resolve to come back to it later. The short but sweet action-packed stages sucked me in on with 3D Land on the 3DS, and the formula is just as addictive on the WiiU. Of course this time, the gameplay is built-out to the max: the cat suit alone really gives a whole new dimension to the platforming, and then you have isometric and rotatable Toad levels, ride-on Plessie levels, cherry clone switch levels, mini-stage compilation levels, and hey a world map. Each stage is crafted beautifully according to its own logic. It’s clear the planners at EAD really cared about each level, and their individual signatures are evident.

I will mention here that I do fall on the side of people who call for getting rid of or restricting use of the white tanooki suit, as I’ve always thought of it as a rather ham-fisted way to bring beginners in. Of course that had no bearing on my enjoyment of the game though. 3D World is a modern console classic and something I’d want my kid to play.

4. Killzone: Mercenary; (Guerrilla Cambridge, PSVita) Killzone: Mercenary was one of my big surprises of the year. There was some hype for the game early on here at GAF which piqued my interest, and given that the Vita 2000 was coming out in Japan around when the game was launching, I decided to pick a copy up.

What I got was a title that not only justifies the purchase of a Vita, but has solid enough gameplay mechanics to put it among the better FPSes I’ve played.
To start off, there are four different “contracts” for each campaign mission: one for clearing it normally, another for stealthing through missions (covert), one for clearing as quickly as possible (precision), and lastly one for just blowing everything the fuck up (demolition).
I’ve heard people compare KZ:M to Goldeneye but I’ve never played that game, so I don’t know personally but having these different challenges for the same missions is a lot of fun and a great variation on the standard FPS campaign. They're not short per se, but you can run through them in about 20 minutes or so, and they pack a great punch for the short time investment.

Mercenary is probably also the first portable FPS to have good multiplayer. Over Wi-fi I get stable matches which don’t have too much lag. The weapons in this game, in particular the special weapon “vanguards”, make multi-player a lot of fun. You’ve got the shoulder-mounted Porcupine rockets (my favorite), the Sky Fury which murders people from orbit, the Arc Missile drone that damages/stuns enemies around you, the unfortunately too powerful Mantis Drone which runs around chopping heads as you pilot it remotely etc. Your standard arsenal plus these vanguards creates a sandbox of chaos, and all of them are a blast to use.

Mercenary is unfortunately limited to 30 FPS due to the restrictions of the Vita hardware, which can be a hindrance during really hectic situations, but despite that I’ve genuinely enjoyed my time with it. There’s a good amount of weapon variety, and the integration of the touch controls work brilliantly.

In the KZ:M OT, pretty much everyone who played Shadowfall incidentally says that Mercenary is the better game. Handheld AAA beating next-gen console AAA, who’da thunk it? Mercenary has tons of replay value, excellent multiplayer, ridiculous weapons, career stat integration to Killzone’s website and incoming DLC that is bound to be fun and keep the servers populated. If you own a Vita and don’t have this game, pick it up now. Apparently they’re selling it for 9 bucks or something in the US and Europe. I’ve got some serious MP grinding left for the platinum, so maybe we’ll wind up shooting at each other.

5. Ginga Force; (Qute, Xbox 360) I almost forgot that Ginga Force released this year, since it came out much earlier in February. Good thing I didn’t, because it was a great shooter release that was not only fun, but managed to actually evolve the genre in a few ways, and therefore deserves a spot on my list.

Ginga Force is a “vertizontal”, a shooter sub-genre that we'll probably see much more of in the future as shooters built for 4:3 cabs disappear and 16:9 becomes the norm. Despite the sheer scarcity of precedents, developer Qute managed to acclimate to the vertizontal style brilliantly in a single game. The game plays smooth as hell, and that’s a testament to tgeur aptitude for game design, tempered over 3 console generations. With Ginga Force, Qute slows down the bullets a bit to give the player more room to work, but keeps the enemies and attacks coming hot and fast, never relenting on the challenge.

The game has a great sense of speed, and in the highest difficulties can be delightfully overwhelming. It's slightly more of a bullet hell shooter than Qute's previous effort Eschatos, especially on the Hard difficulty, but it retains the core dodging mechanics that made their earlier Wonderswan games so memorable. What’s totally innovative is that you slowly unlock more and more optional weapons as you play the game; there are almost 100 of them, each with unique attacks. Some of them are inevitable stronger than others, in fact that’s part of the progression, but you get a gamut of zany lasers and spreads to play around with while you unlock the strongest stuff.

Really the only knock against this game is well, the character art (what were they thinking...), the simplistic polygon graphics and oh the crazy grindfest that is required to comp out its achievements (which I bulldozed through). All told however, these slight drawbacks don't hurt what is a very intense and engaging game. One that was clearly built for consoles, for users that play on consoles, unlike some of the bare-bones arcade ports of this gen, which came off as slap-dash.

6. Legend of Zelda: ALBW; (Nintendo, 3DS) Making a sequel to one of the most beloved SNES games of all time is a pretty safe business move. But when that game adds a brilliant new mechanic in the form of entering walls, says no to Nintendo’s hand-holding tutorial structures, encourages players to explore and learn on their own, nearly tops the first in terms of quality, and is universally loved by fans young and old, you have to hand it to Nintendo as a company. They hit this one out of the park.

The pacing is great, the dungeons are tricky, the bosses are fun, and the story doesn’t get in the way. For an action-RPG that’s about all I need. ALBW definitely ranks near the top of the Zelda series, but it’s also a 3DS classic IMO, and one of those go-to games you can recommend to anyone.

7. Donkey Kong Returns 3D; (Retro/Monster Games, 3DS) DKCR is a game I picked up for the Wii, but never got around to completing because after Sin & Punishment 2, I never turned the Wii back on. The solution to backlogged games is of course to play and beat them, but in this case I took the lazy route out and bought the 3DS version. And I’m glad I did!

Now that I had it on a handheld, I could pop it out on break/on the train and clear a level at a time. One would turn into several and I’d find myself sessioning pretty hard. Puzzle pieces and KONG letters are what you need to find in each level, and grabbing them is always a fun challenge. The 3DS version also has a whole new set of stages (9-1 and up) which are accessed by clearing the “#K levels” in each world, themselves accessed by getting all the puzzle pieces/KONG letters in each stage. I beat the game but didn’t manage to get to the new stages. Considering how hard some of the #K levels are (especially 1-K!!), I’m not sure if I can cut it, but I do want to go back and try one day.

This is a game that benefits from the 3DS’ 3D functions, and it’s fun to turn that on every once in a while to get a gander at the background layers. All in all just a very solid platformer for the 3DS, and definitely worth a play through.

8. The Last of Us; (Naughty Dog, PS3) Naughty Dog’s emotional tour de force on the PS3 did us all the favor of closing the case on whether games can be an expressive art form. The immersive and dread-inducing story, framed with a simple but engaging game system drew me in, and three pizza/coke sessions later I’d beaten it fully satisfied. Not much to say here except that I enjoyed the ride and I’m looking forward to the story DLC coming up this year. For whatever reason I never touched the multiplayer of this game, so my ranking is really only based on my experience with the campaign.

9. Revolver360: Reactor; (Cross Eaglet, PC) Revolver 360 was one of the very few Xbox Live Indie Games worth giving a shit about. Reactor is its sequel which keeps the core “rotation” mechanic of the original untouched, and adds peripheral features around it to create a more full experience. Whereas the prequel was very focused on rotating and lining up flying enemies in the best combination to score, for this game CrossEaglet added background enemies all around you (located on surfaces, buildings, highways etc.), which you can only hit by getting close and using your lock-on weapon. This encourages you to zoom around the screen and rotate quite a bit to find hidden background enemies, while taking care of all the flying enemies that are already coming at you. Some background enemies have 1-ups, overdrive recovery or laser recovery items, so they're worth seeking out to survive and to score.

The game also has a route-splitting system where maybe 3 or 4 times a level you can fork down a different path. Harder routes open up the better you score, so every time you play the game feels a little bit different.

Reactor's client includes twitter integration, which posts your high-scores and achievement unlocks automatically. This is something I've been waiting on other games to include for awhile now so I'm digging it.

The game came out literally on the last day of eligibility for the GOTY competition (12/31), but my limited time with it has already shown me that it's an impressive shooter. Cross Eaglet and Yotsubane are without a doubt at the top of the “indie” (doujin) game.

The PC demo for this game was actually just released today, so try it out if you’re interested. http://crosseaglet.xii.jp/game/R360R/download.html

10. Tearaway; (Media Molecule, PS Vita) Late last year around November, I’d finished Killzone and was hard up for a new Vita game. I downloaded a bunch of demos from the PSN store and tried them all out, one of them being Little Big Planet Vita. When I played through it, there was something about the forced “whimsicalness” of the British narrator that really irked me. It had this faux Edward Scissorhands air to it that just really oversold the quirk. I wound up passing on the game because of it.

Tearaway still has a bit of that whimsicalness, but its unassuming world is much more genuine. The narrative is there, but it’s minimal and not overwhelming. Things unfold naturally. Everything feels like a discovery. The world that Iota and friends inhabit can at times be spare and minimal, allowing you to quietly explore a silent paper forest as long as you want. Or it can be fast and hectic as wild white paper wendigos chuck rock after rock at you. It has its clangy, loud moments and its quiet and introspective ones.

The game brings Vita features deep into the gameplay: taking pictures of people, animals, landscape, cutting up papercraft to build a new face for somebody, rotating the Vita to progress through a maze, and peeling off covers on platforms with your finger on the touch screen. None of this winds up feeling gimmicky, since they’re extensions of the game and its world setting (you are god!). Whereas in other games collectibles can feel like a chore, once you beat Tearaway and take a gander at all the goofy pictures you’ve taken, all the papercraft you’ve collected etc. etc. the collectibles become an album of memories from a journey worth remembering. They’re yours to keep.

Honorable Mentions:

x. Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA- Arcade: Future Tone; (SEGA Arcade) I’ve been putting some credits in this one when I can’t play Crimzon Clover at the arcade (due to Blazblue players hogging NESiCA cabs). Much stricter in timing than the console versions, the arcade side of Miku can be a bit frustrating, but the controls are awesome. There’s something massively addicting about holding down one button while hitting the rest in increasingly complex sequences.
If you have a Nico account, here’s one of the more reasonable stages on Extreme: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm22428431 .

I’m really more of a spectator for this game than anything, but when I do play, the song selection and unlockable costumes keep me happy.

x. 3DS Streetpass Games; I got obsessed with these earlier in the year, and carried my 3DS literally everywhere I went for probably 6 months. All four games have a great deal of charm. These games were also single-handedly responsible for majorly upping the number of Streetpasses in Japan, which helps when you’re trying to get Streetpasses for more minor games. A fun ride, although I’m a little tired of the games now.

2012. Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown; (PS3) I kept playing VF5 this year, and even went to my first tournament!
Maining Brad, I can do OK on PSN, but I pretty much get annihilated in the arcades. I'm still just swimming in the kiddy pool of the deepest fighter out there.

Levyne · Jan 16, 2014

Regarding TW101, for me it's the Wii U "barrier". I have one, but I never play it. I have tons of other games in the PS ecosystem and on steam and etc that are games that I really want to try that "come first". It's like wanting to try every food place in the neighborhood but someone tells you the best place for lunch is really in the next town over but you haven't tried everything you wanted to first and don't want to make the trip until you do.

I'm not saying it's rational, but there it is.

Papercuts · Jan 16, 2014

Levyne said:
101: For me it's the Wii U "barrier". I have one, but I never play it. I have tons of other games in the PS ecosystem and on steam and etc that are games that I really want to try that "come first". It's like wanting to try every food place in the neighborhood but someone tells you the best place for lunch is really in the next town over but you haven't tried everything you wanted to first and don't want to make the trip until you do.

I'm not saying it's rational, but there it is.

I sorta get that. It happened to me with the wii, though with that it was more me not liking the wiimote much and the visuals always taking an adjustment period. I was pretty surprised as I made my list at how much representation the system had as I felt pretty down on it most of the year. Guess the few times where I did want to use it actually counted. Sadly(?) this year is looking the same. Lot of gaps but Donkey Kong, Bayonetta 2, Smash, and some others are shaping up pretty well. I'm at a point now where I already have enough to play on everything to not care as much.

Either way, as much as I liked Wonderful 101 it is definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea, even if the genre is up your alley. It's super weird.

demidar said:
I'll have to one-up you Papercuts.

Prepare for 50 posts of comments next year!

don't make me go for 100 posts.

hell i might as well make that 101. I'll channel my inner kojima.

Fine Ham Abounds · Jan 16, 2014

I honest to god was hoping that Winnie the Poo game was really your number one

I'm just saying

Levyne · Jan 16, 2014

Yeah you forgot that game in your list for the parser.

demidar · Jan 16, 2014

Papercuts said:
I sorta get that. It happened to me with the wii, though with that it was more me not liking the wiimote much and the visuals always taking an adjustment period. I was pretty surprised as I made my list at how much representation the system had as I felt pretty down on it most of the year. Guess the few times where I did want to use it actually counted. Sadly(?) this year is looking the same. Lot of gaps but Donkey Kong, Bayonetta 2, Smash, and some others are shaping up pretty well. I'm at a point now where I already have enough to play on everything to not care as much.

Either way, as much as I liked Wonderful 101 it is definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea, even if the genre is up your alley. It's super weird.

don't make me go for 100 posts.

hell i might as well make that 101. I'll channel my inner kojima.

I'd actually like to see you try

I might be able to if I had 20 honourable mentions, but I had a hard enough time getting a top ten.

Anyway is Bayo 2 confirmed for this year? I didn't think it was.

theprodigy · Jan 16, 2014

Pokemon X/Y vs Assassin's Creed IV vs Tearaway for best match ever

anyway 3 days left right?

Levyne · Jan 16, 2014

Yep. Well for the balloting. I don't know how long it typically takes for the turnaround.

We will know our first runner up soon!

theprodigy · Jan 16, 2014

Levyne said:
Yep. Well for the balloting. I don't know how long it typically takes for the turnaround.

We will know our first runner up soon!

eh what
second place?
spoilers: it's not TLoU

ultron87 · Jan 16, 2014

1. Fire Emblem: Awakening; Awakening has a lot of great things going for it, but the thing that grabbed me the most was the fantastic writing for all the characters. The plot was fairly uninteresting, but the little side conversations between characters as their friendships leveled up were all wonderful. While they were mostly just hilarious they also managed to occasionally create some genuine emotional moments.

This is all layered on top of a wonderful strategy game. I do wish it was a little harder on the Normal difficulty or that Id picked a harder difficulty, but it was my first Fire Emblem. I now realize I never actually beat this game because I couldnt go to the end till every character had gotten married.

2. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate; MH3U was the biggest gaming source of a sense of progression and accomplishment this year for me. Moving from struggling against that first Qurupeco to taking down multiple dragons is a wonderful journey. Hunting monsters with an experienced crew online is also fantastic. Everyone knows their roles, splits up and takes that thing down. It always felt great when cheers ring out from the voice chat when I, as a greatsword user, cut off the monsters tail while others are smashing its head in. If you like boss fights in games you need to play this game.

3. Bioshock Infinite; The world building and plot of Bioshock Infinite made up for any occasionally repetitive combat. Columbia is a wonder to behold and the time travel/alternate dimensions plot is actually extremely well thought out and put together if you dig into a lot the details.

4. DmC Devil May Cry;
5. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance;
6. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons;
7. Super Mario 3d World;
8. Samurai Gunn;
9. Gone Home;
10. Saints Row IV;

WickedLaharl · Jan 16, 2014

1.Grand Theft Auto V ; The attention to detail in Los Santos blows my mind. There is so much to see in do in the game that I would get lost for hours just searching every nook and cranny.
2. Metal Gear Rising Revengeance ;
3.The Last of Us ;
4.BioShock Infinite ;
5.Tales of Xillia ;
6.Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch ; beautiful graphics and art with amazing locations and a simple yet enjoyable battle system. Voice acting and music were great as well.
7.Ys: Memories of Celceta ;
8.Tomb Raider ;
9.The Guided Fate Paradox ;

ohlawd · Jan 16, 2014

theprodigy bro stop tallying what games are fighting over fifth or twentieth or whatever. just keep it to yourself. it affects people's votes.

well i just beat bioshock infinite. wow i found a worse 2013 game than project x zone. then again you can say i didn't play it properly. i tried emulating my call of duty playstyle on it what with the dropshots and the 360s and all and died tons.

powers? what powers?

demidar · Jan 16, 2014

ohlawd said:
theprodigy bro stop tallying what games are fighting over fifth or twentieth or whatever. just keep it to yourself. it affects people's votes.

well i just beat bioshock infinite. wow i found a worse 2013 game than project x zone. then again you can say i didn't play it properly. i tried emulating my call of duty playstyle on it what with the dropshots and the 360s and all and died tons.

powers? what powers?

I didn't think the gameplay was too good in B:I either, it wrecked the flow of story and then you fight a ghost for some reason.

Seriously wtf.

theprodigy · Jan 16, 2014

ohlawd said:
theprodigy bro stop tallying what games are fighting over fifth or twentieth or whatever. just keep it to yourself. it affects people's votes.

well i just beat bioshock infinite. wow i found a worse 2013 game than project x zone. then again you can say i didn't play it properly. i tried emulating my call of duty playstyle on it what with the dropshots and the 360s and all and died tons.

powers? what powers?

man look at this guy

sackferret · Jan 16, 2014

1. Super Mario 3D World ; An all round amazing and fun game. So much level diversity and creativity, and the multiplayer is insane. Utter brilliance.
2. Pikmin 3 ; Miyamoto's veggies made a triumphant return with this beautiful game. Such a fun take on RTS, and co-op Mission Mode is top notch.
3. NES Remix ; I was too young for the NES, but I go back and play the best ones on the VC. NES Remix let me play bits of the less good ones in a challenge style so I didn't have to slog through the rest of the game. See: Urban Champion. Extremely addictive and frustrating (in a good way) for someone new to most of the games.

Levyne · Jan 16, 2014

Also a good Brothers write up, papercut. I love how you describe the consecquences of the ending in that manner.

I have a twin brother that's effectively my best friend that I've never not known. So that game, simple as it seems, will probably be one of the most memorable of the year for me.

Jay-T · Jan 16, 2014

1. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons ; First time i played the demo i didn't like it at all, it didn't look hot and the control scheme was confusing, i gave it another chance and finished the demo, i bought the game immediately afterwards, one of the best games i've ever played, this is how you do story telling in games, not walls of text and unskippable cutscenes, the art style throughout the game is phenomenal. i wish the game was a bit longer, but the short length is not a point against the game, because it does everything else right, i hope we see more games like this in the future.
2. Tomb Raider ; Probably the biggest surprise personally for me this year, i've never liked any of the old tomb raider games, and when i got the game i didn't have a PS3 yet and never played the uncharted games to compare it with, but even after playing all 3 uncharted games this game is much better than all of them, and still one of the best reboots for a franchise ever.
3. BioShock Infinite ; I didn't know a lot about the game before playing it, so the game's theme and story was shocking to me in a very good way, the ending left me thinking about it for days, while the game is a bit on the easy side, its still a fantastic journey from start to end.
4. Grand Theft Auto V ; I wasn't hyped for this game like the rest of the world was because i never finished any of the previous GTAs, i always got bored midway through the game, and the frustrating controls and boring missions of the previous games didn't help, this one though is a much tighter experience, at first i thought having 3 protagonists would be bad, but after this game i want all GTA games to have multiple protagonists, all of them were likeable and different, the missions were fun, and rockstar IMO still have the best lighting in games today,also this is the first GTA that i could finish!.
5. Grid 2 ; never cared for DiRT games, and i missed the first GRID, but i gave this one a chance, and surprisingly the games is a very fun and challenging arcade racer, and looks absolutely fantastic.
6. DmC: Devil May Cry ; While very different from previous DMC games, its still a very fun game at its core, the art style in some levels was mind blowing.
2012. Forza Horizon ; My GOTY 2012, the sequel will be the reason i buy an XBO.

Riposte · Jan 16, 2014

Comparing the length of my current paragraphs (one per game) to last years is shocking. I really need to cut down. I see the light at the end of the tunnel though.

CitizenCope · Jan 16, 2014

1. Brothers: A tale of two sons ; When a game can make me care so much for the well being of a character I've met for 2 seconds

hanging dude

it gets my game of the year, especially in a year when I killed hundreds upon hundreds of people in my other top games without a thought.

Visualante2 · Jan 16, 2014

2012

Zero. Kentucky Route Zero ; Intelligible.
1. Gone Home ; Highlights a broader potential for interactivity.
2. Anodyne ; Found me at the right time, in the right place.
3. Dota 2 ; The software I uninstalled and reinstalled most frequently.
4. The Swapper ; A child of Braid.
5. Spelunky ; A short, but sweet love affair.
6. Bioshock Infinite ; Upon meeting Elizabeth and exploring Colombia I found myself dragging my heels because I didn't want the game to begin.
7. Proteus ; Vibrational
8. Dyad ; A variety that is more fragrant than meaty.

x. Grand Theft Auto V ; Validated my appreciation of All Saints.

2012. Super Hexagon ; I felt as though my heart was going to collapse. A religious gaming experience.

I wish I had the energy to play more last year. Again thanks to the people who make this award happen.

gutterboy44 · Jan 16, 2014

1. Trials Evolution ; I guess all I needed to enjoy a platformer again was a bit of petrol and rubber. This racing game-meets-platformer has one of the most divine control mechanics I have ever experienced. I love the way you slowly build your skill set to accomplish incredible platforming maneuvers you would have thought impossible when first playing. The way you balance and dance the bike across certain stages is incredibly rewarding and satisfying. I end up feeling like I just put in a brilliant qualifying lap of iRacing whilst speed running a Mario 3 level. A strange but wonderful combination. The over the top, tongue-in-cheek tone is a nice balance to break the tension of immense concentration and skill that is required for the higher level challenges or platinum runs. The silly skill events where you are a down hill skier, piloting a UFO or navigating a stage with a stuck throttle help add variety to the core gameplay. All of this satisfaction and I haven't even touched the user created content, which is supposed to be fantastic. I adore racing sims but detest platformers so this was a very surprising outcome for me. I knew LoU was probably going to be amazing, but I had no idea how much I was going to love Trials Evolution. The unexpected amount pure fun this game has brought me puts it at the top of my list.
2. Gun Point ;
3. The Last of Us ;
4. Rogue Legacy ;
5. Grand Theft Auto V ;
6. Papers, Please ;
7. Don't Starve ;
8. Surgeon Simulator ;
9. The Stanley Parable ;
10. Cook, Serve, Delicious! ;

x. Gran Turismo 6 ;

2012. Far Cry 3 ;

Need to get my list in just in case I don't have time to tweak it and make it pretty and add my thoughts. I also plan on playing Gone Home and Risk of Rain before the dead line. We will see if they make the cut.

Pie and Beans · Jan 16, 2014

1. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ; Within minutes of the game opening, I am facing down a Metal Gear Ray with but my high frequency blade, slicing its missiles in half while running towards it, blocking its tail swipe, and then slicing said tail into metal fillets through blade mode as Rules Of Nature's lyrics kick in. Videogames, son.

In many ways I consider this to be Platinum's most purest of games. No HangOn or Space Harrier bit dragging it down, no outstaying its welcome, and the best boss fights they've produced since leaving Capcom's decaying bosom. The soundtrack is the very essence of adrenaline, and the core concept of zandatsu oddly never got old due to the many ways in which you can choose to go about cutting your foes to meaty strips.

A tough as balls final boss has Metal Gear canon finally stepping over into "absolutely laughing at itself" territory which felt cathartic after MGS4 left everyone with a sour taste. Even after wrapping the game up, in true Platinum style, the harder difficulty modes drink you right back in for a replay. The excellent Sam DLC was also an enjoyable romp back through the game with new mechanics, and I've even saved the Bladewolf DLC as a treat for another time.

A sequel unencumbered by aged console hardware and really letting the "cut anything" concept take root at its game design core is the most exciting thing I can possibly even think about in the videogame world. I raise a glass to the KojiPro members that failed so spectacularly to bring a game to market that it would give Platinum a chance to hurl out this masterpiece at a truly astonishing pace. Give 'em another public berating for me, Kojima! All hail Kenji Saito, heir to the Kamiya throne.

2. Tearaway ; Not since Mario 64 has a game felt so entirely tailored around the hardware in your hands, perhaps even more so since your hands and face get to star in the show. Unbridled creativity fills this games every pore from the core gameplay to the very concept of a world constructed entirely of papercraft that the game also provides print-out kits to create. I tailed a moose across an entire map just marvelling at how unique its structure was. That's high praise.

3. Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen ; Upon reaching Bitterblack Isle and killing the first big troll beast that lunged out from the darkness to devour my pawns, it quickly became apparent this wasn't business as normal as upon death by repeated lightning blasts it exploded into meaty chunks that covered the floor. The screen pulsed suddenly, as this foul monster meat had attracted even fiercer giant beasts to come and dine on both downed monster-flesh and my own. They will find my enchanted blade instead.

4. The Last of Us ; What more can be said really. Naughty Dog are masters of mocap and believable relationships between polygons matched to voices, and the gorgeous world in which you control them tensely through. When Winter struck, my jaw hit the floor and I couldn't even process playing the simple level ahead of me because of multiple tiered levels of "this is amazing". Not cheaping out on an ending that would have been in-congruent with the rest of the game and knowing just when to pull away and roll credits was the cherry on top of this clicker-infested sundae.

5. Ni No Kuni ; With the jRPG feeling almost like a zombie genre these days, a breath of fresh Ghibli air was just what I needed. A truly gorgeous world matched to an equally sublime soundtrack, and an honestly pretty nifty live pokemon battle system all conspired to make this one of my most enjoyed experiences of the year. Oliver's tale was just on the right side of heartwarming and not mush, and of course having a welsh comedian along to crack puns hit all the right notes for me.

6. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn ; "Am I playing this game solely for its incredible lighting system?" I would ask myself over what must be at least 100 hours. The answer must be no after seeing every stunning area of the reimagined Eorzea and coming back for more gameplay and adventure. This was essentially my first MMO, and it was an enjoyable romp all the way until human beings found a way to sour the end dungeons through selfish speedrunning. The witty english translation had me laughing out loud several times and made for a Final Fantasy I could enjoy fully since the ancient FFXII.

7. Dragon's Crown ; As a majesty of an over-muscled dwarf flew across the screen with his arms stretched apart like a plane, raining tiny bombs down upon the orcs below, I silently mouthed "well thats making the list then". Incredible 2D art and the realisation of The Thick Of It's second angry scotsman's dream of an experience labelled "There Will Be Tits" makes for Vanillawares best gaming experience that didn't drag itself out for a million years and sour me on it. Seriously, where are those bombs coming from.

8. Rayman Legends ; When its not stuffing gimmicky touchscreen Murphy crap into my face, platforming purity is where Legends hits all the right notes. Especially with the musical final stages of each world, of which they should have made many more and focussed on. A game now truly drowning in content with the inclusion of Origins levels and more, it was touch and go if I could allow it onto the list after the final unlockable worlds clowning around almost sent me blind. I beat that nonsense, and its all good again.

9. Killzone Mercenary ; Accidentally thinking shots from this I viewed from my phone were new Shadow Fall shots is a high compliment. This is the game it feels like the Vita was created to enable: an amazing looking FPS with dual sticks and online multi. The single player is also probably the best of the franchise due to the branching paths and the unexpectedly enjoyable brain teaser hacking mini-game.

10. Velocity Ultra ; Pure gameplay, a pulse-pounding soundtrack and some sexed up visuals. The quickness with which you can play one mission after another or replay because you missed 1 second of boost beyond that perfect score makes this some great portable shmup times. I am unreasonably hyped for Velocity 2X.

x. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate ; I have a fever and the only cure is cutting off more beast tails. Would have made the list but I burned the hell out on Tri back on the Wii so this being a retread keeps me from being too excited about it. Still, nothing else like it.

x. Soul Sacrifice ; Close, but no cigar. I love the focus on different mobility magic linking in with the combat, and the story was a pretty interesting spin on a hunting game of this sort. Missing the trick on crafting armour instead of arbitrary unlocks and a few too many cheap shots (the final boss is just... not well thought out with the limited magic use system) keep it from the list proper.

2012. FTL ; Glad I picked this up this year as I was totally addicted to it for a good while. Getting the grasp of ship combat and then just wrecking everything with ion cannons followed by barrages of deep laser burns made me the conqueror of space. Game was also oddly atmospheric for a limited visual and audio experience. Only downer for me was the total random plot elements that require too many replays to see all the stuff you want to.

Whew. I haven't had a chance to play Brothers yet (blame Rayman Legends final level), so no idea if maybe I'll sneak that in before deadline and rearrange the list if I find it amazing or if it'll be my Last Year choice next year. Would liked to have got Fire Emblem by now as well, but, only had the 3DS since Christmas so how many games can I even play in a month.

Fine Ham Abounds · Jan 16, 2014

adversesolutions said:

Lol, I gotta find some way to play this, shit is frying my brain just looking at gifs

Misterinenja · Jan 16, 2014

I don't have time or patience for a long and well-thought list so I'm going to keep it simple.

1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between the Worlds ; Fun, fun Zelda game with no boring moment in sight.
2. Grand Theft Auto V ; I had so much fun with this game just driving around and exploring. The world is unparalled and the graphics are maybe the most beautiful I've seen any game. Didn't care for story at all.
3. Metal Gear Rising ; Super fun and short game for multiple playthroughs. Not Bayonetta-tier but a great action game whatsoever.
4. Super Mario 3D World ; Played through this with my buddy and it's definitely a worthy Mario game and one of the best games released this year.
5. Puzzle and Dragons ; Crack on my phone.

Those are the games released this year that I enjoyed. I played some others like Bioshock Infinite but they don't deserve to be listed here.

Phantom Flapjack · Jan 16, 2014

I don't see Premium Play Darkness on the games list. It should be eligible, right? I think it came out in Japan in January.

Dance Inferno · Jan 16, 2014

Dammit Papercuts! Here I was happy with my format and now I'm going to have to rethink it. At least I have a few more days to rework it.

BTW this page has some great lists. Loving the extended write-ups. Also big up to Sojgat: it was RE6 last year and now Blacklist. Looks like you and I have the same taste in under-appreciated games.

Riposte · Jan 16, 2014

ilnadmy said:
Dammit Papercuts! Here I was happy with my format and now I'm going to have to rethink it. At least I have a few more days to rework it.

BTW this page has some great lists. Loving the extended write-ups. Also big up to Sojgat: it was RE6 last year and now Blacklist. Looks like you and I have the same taste in under-appreciated games.

Closer than you think

Voting Ends: Saturday, January 18th, 2014 at 8:59:00 pm PST / 11:59:00 pm EST. No extensions. No exceptions.

I'm really salty that some of my phrasing showed up in Sojgat's post. This always happens because I'm late.

John · Jan 16, 2014

1. Bioshock Infinite
2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
3. Shadow Warrior; man why haven't more people been gushing about this game? First I just want to say that when I was playing Shadow Warrior I was telling my friends about how great it was, and told them to check it out immediately! They have consoles instead of a PC, but the game is of such high production value that it came as a complete surprise to find out later that, uh, no dude, it's only on PC. So basically Shadow Warrior is sooo good that I instinctively thought it was a AAA multiplatform release and this fact basically made an ass out of me for a minute. But also this is a fun video game!!!! Like it takes all the actually kinda fun video-game-y bits from the shitty-shooter genre and lets you feel super boss with fun & challenging combat with a great curve.
4. The Stanley Parable
5. Brutal Legend
6. Surgeon Simulator 2013
7. Batman: Arkham Origins
8. Antichamber
9. Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus
10. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

RichardAM · Jan 16, 2014

Still a few to play, but I think i'm pretty settled with this.

1. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons ; I played the demo and gave this a shot because of the unique control system, but far from just being a gimmick, Brothers is a game with rewarding puzzles, an abundance of humor and most importantly, heart. It's a four hour experience that challenges expectations of both the genre and the tired and tested fantasy setting, and it's a game that really caught me by surprise earlier this year. Almost accidentally, and played entirely in one sitting, it's my GOTY 2013.

2. Animal Crossing: New Leaf ; In the pre-release months New Leaf (and Nintendo themselves) were nothing more than distant nostalgia, and i'd little incentive to play with either. Fast forward to the summer, a new 3DS for my birthday, a summer of gaming and Animal Crossing has probably been my biggest time sink this year. It's refinement more than revolutionary, but it's still charming, fun, colourful and the best antidote to the AAA console trap this past gen has fallen into.

3. The Last of Us ; I prefer Uncharted, there, I said it. Naughty Dog's cinegame is a blast to play through though, combining elements of videogame survival horror with a great American journey trope. Characters are strong yet distracted, survivors yet weak, but most of all, real.

4. Gone Home ; Telling the story of a girl who's come home to find her family's house empty, Gone Home remembers and brings back FPS adventuring, point and click before there was point and combat. The game is emotional, nostalgic, heartfelt and very human- though some would challenge its relevance, it's an interesting experiment in both combined gameplay and narrative, and one that I think, ultimately succeeds in creating something special.

5. Grand Theft Auto V ; San Andreas is a beautiful world, with Rockstar once again refining gameplay mechanics and making perhaps the smoothest GTA yet (online aside). Upon release there was no doubting- this was the best game in the world, ever. Four months later and with the SP complete, there's little incentive to go back, even to dick about, but for the memories and the moments it created, earlier this year, GTAV still manages to remain stellar.

x. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch ; I've only just started playing this and have yet to sink enough time in to it to consider it fully. This hurts me- Ni No Kuni is classic RPGing coated in colour and visual sheen.
x. Bioshock: Infinite ; For all it's promises, delays and pedigree, Infinite couldn't help but feel like a disappointment. Interesting narrative sidelined by corridor shooting, the game often felt at odds with itself, with neither mechanic ever becoming as strong as it perhaps should've. Bioshock: Infinite is a good game, it's maybe just not as good as it should be.
x. Bravely Default ; it's not out until later in other territories, but twenty hours in myself, it's shaping up to be a great game- traditional RPGing mixed with present-day social mechanics. It's interesting, but, alas, I haven't played enough of it yet.

2012. SSX ; it's not the game (or sequel) it should be, but underneath all the dubstep and CODbro bullshit, it's a snowboarding game in HD that looks glorious, and maybe, maybe, that's all I need.

Akito · Jan 16, 2014

Wanted to catch up with some more games before doing a proper list but before I miss this entirely:

1. The Last of Us ; enough had been said about this game but let's say that it was one of the few times where a video game story could resonate with me on a pretty deep emotional level. Actually it was more Joel and Ellie with their actions and interactions, what makes this game stand out for me. Great visuals with a incredible level of detail and a strong art design, a discreet yet poignant soundtrack and a solid gameplay just sweetened the deal for me.

2. Fire Emblem Awakening ; not the best Fire Emblem like many would like to proclaim but a damn fine entry in the series nonetheless, which resulted in a game that I've put over 150 hours into. I want the next FE announced yesterday Nintendo.

3. Tearaway ; that really was something special and the best excuse to own a Vita for virtually anybody.

4. Bravely Default ; even though the story went bananas after the first half, they got everything else right and while even including many great new features which I'll miss dearly from every other RPG I'll play in the future.

5. Guacamelee ; Metroidvania game with great visuals and level design as well as tight controls and a proper level of challenge, what else can you ask for.

6. Rayman Legends ; the graphics were even a step-up from Origins which was already looking pretty incredible on its own and the gameplay wasn't changed much and that's a good thing. I was disappointed with the size of the game though, you cannot just put half of Origins in there and call it a day.

7. Ace Attorney: Dual Destiny ; the best Ace Attorney game since T&T, I would've never guessed that Shu Takumi was not the writer this time around and they did a really good job at adapting the characters into 3D models.

8. Resogun ; it looks mind-blowingly good and is as fun as Super Stardust HD, a winning concept. But as I'm not into the high score chasing game at all, the game ist pretty light of content. I wish they would release some DLCs for it at some point.

9. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ; the first MG game that I have finished and needless to say I had absolutely no clue what the characters were talking about. The gameplay though was fun as hell despite my lack of skill. It's a short but intense and ultimately satisfying experience.

10. One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 ; a major step up from the first game with great amount of content.

x. Ni no Kuni ; I really wanted to love this game but while it's not bad at all, it lacks the polish I was expecting from a collaboration between two such high profile companies, mostly in the gameplay and story department, it was perfect audio-visually.

x. Dead or Alive 5+ ; they've done a great job of scaling down the game for the Vita but couldn't improve the netcode one bit, I couldn't get anyone to play online with.

x. Trine 2 Director's Cut ; not sure if this count but whatever, game looks amazing at 1080p (and 3D as well if you're a fan of that) and the added content was as good as the the original game.

2012. The Walking Dead ; while I don't think it was that good like all the hype was suggesting, mainly because I didn't like the "gameplay", the story was indeed quite good and I can see why it was so popular with so many people.

Game I was expecting to be somewhere on the list but ended up as far from it as possible: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

Lime · Jan 16, 2014

My effort in this year's GOTY isn't particularly commendable, because of other things in my life at the moment, but here is a quick run-down:

1. Papers, Please ; Good moral dilemmas without too obvious indicators.
2. Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen ; Great animation work, interesting storytelling, superb ending, excellent combat+boss fights.
3. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons ; Much darker story than anticipated. Gameplay isn't particularly noteworthy, but I like the theme and plot of this game to consider it to be one of the good games of this year.
4. Gone Home ; Great subversion of first-person horror mechanics with a fresh theme for its plot.
5. The Last of Us ; Good writing and acting performances.
6.Shadowrun Returns ; Decent writing, nice atmosphere and soundtrack.
7. Gunpoint ; Surprisingly engaging mechanics and interesting moral evaluation system.
8. Papo & Yo ; Heavy-handed storytelling, but an interesting plot that might have hit too close to home for me.
9. Guacamelee ; Fun coop game.
10. Beyond: Two Souls ; Frustrating quality of writing, but good main character, interesting themes, and uncommon genre in the blockbuster gaming space.
x. Remember Me ; Nice aesthetics, good main character, decent linear platforming and combat .
x. XCOM: Enemy Within ; An improvement upon an already good formula.
2012. Gravity Rush ; One of the best games on Vita, no doubt. Amazing use of spatial movement and coordination.

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