It's certainly been a long year, so Dustin takes some time to review some of his favorite games from 2013.
10. Gunpoint
Starting off my GOTY list is a bit of a smaller game, but
one well deserved.
Gunpoint is a great game just for how it takes the ideas
behind a stealth game and manages to size it down into something smaller, but
manage to not compromise the in gameplay
mechanics of the genre. A small indie game done primarily by one man, it
combines stealth elements and puzzle elements to create a fantastic game. Armed with what’s called the Crosslink, you
play as a freelance spy whose objective on the missions he takes from all sorts
of people, you’re tasked with infiltrating buildings, hacking computers,
stealing schematics, looking at laptops, planting bugs, all variety of
different objectives, by rewiring switches, motion sensors, and security
cameras to aid you in getting around buildings and past guards.
The neat thing about how Gunpoint is structures is the quick
reload function after you die. It’ll give you either the option to restart the
mission entirely, or from a variety of going back different amounts of seconds.
The ability to go back a small amount of time back to right before you made that
crucial mistake that led to you getting shot and being able to just go back on
the fly is really great, and takes out a lot of the tedium of a stealth game,
while still being able to remain stealthy with how the game is constructed. It’s
a nice addition that doesn’t compromise on any core design.
The music is a soothing jazz that fits the espionage and the
hatted, trenchcoat wearing character, and the writing feels on point. The main
character is quick-witted and always ready to strike back with something witty
or sarcastic to say in the pre-mission dialogue. Gunpoint is a rather short
game that can be breezed through pretty easily, but despite that, it’s fun to
be able to go back to, run through a couple of levels quick, and then leave it
be for a little while to return to at another point. The game is simply, but
solid, and I would love to see the concept expanded upon in the future.
9. The Stanley
Parable
Without a doubt, 2013 was a year for incredibly inventive,
incredibly interesting games. The Stanley Parable was one of those games. Based
on an old Source mod, The Stanley Parable is a first person game that is focused
on exploring the environment and what it may hold. One of the most enjoyable
things about The Stanley Parable was just how subversive it generally was.
Whatever you would go into the game expecting, the game would find some way to
mess with your expectations of what you would expect from a game. Even what
would probably be the simplest achievement, clicking on a door five times, is
made absolutely ridiculous in what should be a rather simple achievement.
The narrator proves to be probably the shining spot of the
game as well. Filled with wit and snark, the narrator constantly goes over every
event and action that the main character does, and even disobeying him leads to
a lot of sarcasm and quite a bit of hilarity. The Stanley Parable is one of the
few games that had me laughing out loud from the writing. Although the gameplay
is simple walking around with the occasional clicking objects in the environment,
simply exploring the environment, finding out how events unravel in certain
endings, and listening to the narrator speak made this an unexpected, yet very
enjoyable experience.
8. Shelter
For those who have been following Zero Second Cooldown from
very early on, you may remember the stream and video I did of the small indie
game Shelter, by Might and Delight. It was a game that I heard about, was
surprised was even being made, but the concept seemed so unusual and
interesting to me that I couldn’t help but want to try it out. The very concept
sounds almost unheard of in a video game: you play as a mother badger guiding
her five young cubs through the wilderness, making sure to protect them from
other animals, starvation, and nature. The whole premise of the game sounds a
bit strange and unexpected, but I think that may have been what drew me to
liking it so much. In an age where we’re only now starting to get these types
of experiences, Shelter is a very special one, evoking plenty of emotion in
urgency in very real ways.
The small family of badgers ends up having to face all sorts
of dangers ramping up with each chapter, and the urgency that you experience
ramps up as well, starting from simple darkness and fetching food all the way
to forest fires. The game constantly had
me on edge, due to the very real consequence that if something happened to my
badger cubs, they were dead for good. The game did a great job at showing just
how protective a person can become, and that definitely held true for me. I was
near screaming by the end of the game due to how poorly everything started to
unravel for my playthrough of the game. The environments were gorgeously
crafted, and the ambience from the music helped make the experience come
together even more. Despite being a rather short experience, it was a wonderful
one, and talking to one of the developers helped affirm how much I enjoyed
Shelter even more.
7. Metal Gear Rising:
Revengeance
Aside from Anarchy Reigns, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
was my first Platinum Games romp, and my first traditional one at that. Having
never really been a part of any Metal Gear Solid craze, this was, admittedly,
my first time playing a Metal Gear Solid game, and a spin-off at that. And it
was definitely a really fun game, without a doubt. The music was absolutely
insane and fantastic, not to mention unexpected considering my only exposure to
any Metal Gear music was the Snake Eater song, I was definitely thrown though a
loop.
That it was possible to cut nearly anything and everything,
while it was a bit silly, was a surprisingly fun novelty to the game that I never
seemed to tire of. I remember having to restart the game due to cutting away
too much from a ledge that I needed to jump onto just because I was having so
much fun with the sheer absurdity with the ability to cut just about whatever I
wanted to in the environment. Even continuing on to being able to chop up
random foot soldiers and Geckos up into thousands of pieces was bizarre and
fantastic in its own right. The gameplay was as tight and fast-paced as I’ve
heard of a Platinum Games game, and it never felt too overbearing or difficult
to get a handle of, especially for a person like me that’s, at best, average at
action games. From the beginning of the game to the very end, the sheer
absurdity and fun I had with Revengeance is not something I can say of many
other games, and the game just managed to have what will probably end up
forever being my favorite line from this past generation of video games.
“Nanomachines, son.”
Just the perfect, absurd end to a perfectly absurd game.
6. Fire Emblem
Awakening
Despite coming out so early in the year, Fire Emblem
Awakening has remained one of my favorite games of the year because it’s been
so absolutely solid despite all of the other releases. After games like Fire
Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Fire Emblem more or less fell off the radar for me, so
the news that they were actually going to localize Awakening was not only a bit
of a surprise, but something that helped work up my interest in the Fire Emblem
games again. And when I had heard that Fire Emblem Awakening was turning out to
be a great game that a lot of people liked, I just readied myself even more for
another romp in the realm of medieval strategy.
Fire Emblem Awakening was another good return to form to the
Fire Emblem series when I ended up actually playing it. It took a good mix of
past games and refined them, as well as taking a mechanic that was only
featured in a Japanese only Fire Emblem, the “My Unit” and brought it to the
US, but the great thing about the Avatar character in Awakening was that they
actually mattered to the story in an important way. Awakening also had tons of
content at its disposal, between near 30 chapters for the main game and plenty
of DLC, not to mention Streetpass battles if you can manage to find someone to
Streetpass, there’s plenty to do in this Fire Emblem, far more than any past
Fire Emblem. And with the music being solid, the switch from sprites into 3D,
while a bit jarring (those sprites in Fire Emblem and Sacred Stones were
fantastic, after all) and the gameplay being fantastic, Fire Emblem Awakening
was a bit of surprise that turned out to be one of my favorites.
5. Animal Crossing:
New Leaf
Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a bit of an interesting case as
to why I’ve loved it so much this year. More or less, it’s a lot of the same as
past games. There’s an absolute ton of improvements from the past games,
without a doubt (especially for those who remember playing Wild World, ugh) and
they’re all solid improvements. While the addition of being the Mayor of your
town is a bit inconsequential at a certain point, it’s just a neat addition
that adds a bit to the series that’s never been there before. All of the
additions of happenings with your fellow villagers in the town, returning holidays
and new holidays, the game is just packed with content that, as to be expected
from Animal Crossing, definitely takes a long time to just see everything,
assuming you’re not altering the time.
But, the nice thing about the game is that it’s just relaxing.
It came out at a good time for me, just as a school year was wrapping up, so to
be able to take some time with a nice, laidback game was one of the best things
I could ask for. It’s a simple game that is rather similar to past games in the
series, but it executes everything very well, and it’s just a treat to play,
whether you go to a villager’s birthday party, or come back to your town a few
weeks later to see your favorite villager has packed up and moved on, the game
has some strange ways of evoking emotion in its own way. It’s so simple and so
serene, yet at the same time, an absolute joy to play. While at first I played
an hour plus every day for the first few weeks after the game was released, now
I’m playing thirty or so minutes every other day, and I still love it just as
much. While I can’t give the time and dedication to New Leaf as I would love
to, even what I can give I’m happy giving to the game, because I have such a
relaxing time with it each time I turn it on. It’s without a doubt the game
I’ve spent the most hours with in 2013, and I still see myself spending many
more hours into it without a doubt.
4. Pokemon X and Y
While, normally, I might not consider a Pokemon game to be
quite as high up on a Game of the Year list of mine, Pokemon X and Y bucks the
trend with good reason. Pokemon X (the version I played, though, as always, the
two versions are near identical) is such a paramount improvement over the rest
of the series, that it’s almost crazy to think about how much the series has grown
with this release. The move away from sprites into an all 3D was probably one
of the most notable changes, and, while there weren’t as many new Pokemon this
time around, the sheer effort that went into the creation of not only a full on
3D world, but rather nice 3D models for all of the Pokemon is definitely
impressive to me.
Alongside that, the game is just fun to play. There’s always
been a point in Pokemon games where I eventually just erase my save file after
the Elite Four and becoming the champion, and then doing all sorts of theme
runs and Nuzlockes, but here I’ve managed to stick with the same file for a
surprising 205 hours now (and yes, I did check this). For me, that’s incredibly
surprising, but it’s due to all of the improvements that GameFreak has made to
a lot of the systems in Pokemon X and Y a lot easier to get used to, such as
breeding (and boy, did they make breeding easier) and EV training. Breeding a
competitive team is no longer a chore like it was when I tried in past
generations, but instead an easy process that allows you to get to the part of
the game that is the best: the actual battling. Overall, Pokemon X has been one
of the best games I've played just due to the sheer number of hours I’ve not
only put into it, but enjoyed from it.
3. Pikmin 3
To the people that know me, it’s no surprise that I
absolutely love Pikmon. Heck, even for those who read my Pikmin 3 review, you
can easily tell that I love Pikmin. So of course, a Pikmin 3 being released was
easily one of my most hyped and anticipated releases for the year. And, quite
frankly, it didn’t fail to impress. The game looked absolutely gorgeous, one of
my favorite looking games to date, with gorgeous creature designs that strike
both awe and terror, as well as wonderful environments that are as fun to go
through as they are to look at.
The gameplay was the same Pikmin gameplay that I knew and
loved, too. However, and maybe it is just my getting better at games with age
and determination, but the game feels much easier to get used to and adapt to,
considering the extra captains to take control of in the game and the two
different types of Pikmin that are vastly different than any type of Pikmin
from any game in the series, but still, the game remains deep and challenging,
especially considering the side modes that there are. The fact that the game
also makes sure to keep a great balance between the story and the gameplay is
something that has sorely been needed for the series, and is incredibly
appreciated. The series has had its fair share of bumps between Pikmin and
Pikmin 2, but 3 is by far the sharpest, most refined entry yet.
2. Phoenix Wright:
Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies
I don’t think many people were really expecting a new
Phoenix Wright game anytime soon. At least, people probably weren’t expecting a
Phoenix Wright game that wasn’t a crossover or iOS. Well, I wasn’t, at least.
When it was announced that Dual Destinies would be digital only on the 3DS, my
hopes weren’t exactly high. Alongside that, Capcom’s track record this
generation has been a bit hit or miss, so I was a bit nervous about their
ability to deliver a great Ace Attorney game. And while I did enjoy Apollo Justice
and Trials and Tribulations, I never was the biggest fan of Ace Attorney. So,
to come back to the series with a newfound appreciation for non-conventional
types of games (which I feel like I owe partially to games like 999 and
Virtue’s Last Reward) I was incredibly surprised.
The graphics looked quite nice, and as I mentioned in my
review, even the 3D effect, while not necessary for anything, added a nice pop
to certain parts. The music had a great mix of old that was finely updated, and
new ones that were at the top with the best of the classic Ace Attorney music.
Not only that but they just improved the gameplay as a whole. Whenever you were
finished in an investigation area you were told right away, finding things was
much easier, and the courtroom sections of the game never felt too tough or too
easy, just right, just about.
However, one of the best parts about the game, as to be
expected of an Ace Attorney game, is the writing. It’s absolutely top notch,
which, as bad as it may sound, left me a bit surprised. But, as surprised as I
was, I love Dual Destinies, and enjoyed every minute of what I played of it.
1b. Earthbound
Ok, so I’m sure a lot of you are wondering, “Earthbound?
Really? Really? That game was
released in 1995! That doesn’t count!” And, well, you guys are probably right.
However, Earthbound WAS released on the Wii U Virtual Console back in July, so
I’m putting it as an alternate number one. Due to the fact that, yes,
Earthbound wasn’t originally released this year, nor is this a remake of any
kind, it isn’t occupying the number one spot, but instead, an alternate spot so
to speak. It might be a bit unfair to give the Wii U Virtual Console release of
Earthbound my alternate number one spot, but, well, I feel that, even in the
year 2013, it definitely deserves a top listing in regards to a game of the
year list.
To me, it’s what a fantastic game is. A great story, though
a bit simple at times, solid gameplay with just enough deviations from standard
RPG norms to make some great decisions and still work well, and some of the
best writing I feel like I’ve experienced in a game to date. The game, each
time I play it, is always a great experience to me, and. Even to this day, is a
game I feel can’t be rivaled by others. Even with plenty of advancements in not
just the RPG genre, but in video games as a whole, Earthbound is an incredibly
special experience. Upon finding out that Earthbound was going to be released
this year on the Wii U was sheer confusion and excitement for me—it was
unexpected by everyone, to say the least. But I’m glad it happened. It’s
allowed me to go through my favorite game and, in a day and age where spectacle
is quickly becoming a big part of video games, it allowed me to enjoy a game
that’s simple, but has always meant a lot to me.
1a. The Wonderful 101
Last, but certainly not least, it is time for my actual Game
of the Year for 2013.
Seeing The Wonderful 101 at E3 back in 2012, I was confused,
to say the least. It was hard from the get-go to really tell much about the
game with what little was seen about it, and with what was seen in the first
footage, while it looked good, it was, well, confusing. Back when it was
announced as Project P-100, I didn’t know a lot about Platinum Games or Hideki
Kamiya. I’ve read about both the company and the man on NeoGAF a ton, and knew
that they were both thought highly of, so I definitely had confidence in the
project, despite not knowing a lot about it. Of course, with 2013, playing
different games from Platinum left me all the more excited about how crazy and
over the top The Wonderful 101 would probably be.
And, with seeing The Wonderful 101 Nintendo Direct, my
excitement for the game shot through the roof and then some. The game looked to
be as what I hoped it would be—something over the top, crazy, ridiculous, and
most of all, something that looked to take pride in the fact that it was a
game. And from the moment I first started it up all the way to the last boss
battle, I felt like I was definitely right about it. The Wonderful 101 is a
game that really is over the top in story, cinematics, and gameplay, but also doesn’t
compromise on solid gameplay mechanics either. The Wonderful 101 is an
incredibly solid action game, constantly keeping you on your feet, but never
being (at least when I played it on Normal) too tough to the point of not being
fun anymore. The story was absolutely silly and ridiculous in all of the best
ways, and the ramping up of the action with each boss battle, by the end of the
game; I had a huge smile on my face and loved every moment of what I was
playing. Out of all of the games I’ve
played this year (and believe me, I played a lot of games this year), The
Wonderful 101 is far and away my favorite, even with me not expecting to like
it as much as I would at first. It is without a doubt my game of the year.
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