Community Choice: GOTY 2013

[deanb]

So what are your lots picks for your favourite games from this year? Throw a few out, back-up your choices

i.e not "GTA V, Bioshock Infinite, and Saint's Row IV" but something like "ACIV because it has the shops in and while it's called "Assassins Creed" I rather liked going around in my boat and playing as sailor instead and I hope more of Ubisofts Assassin Games incorporate sailing elements so I can stealthy kill someone with my prow"

 

I'll put em together in a nice little voting form on Tuesday and winner of community GOTY will be one with the most votes.

 

I'd start us off but the only game I've beaten from 2013 in 2013 is Bioshock Infinite.

[TheMightyEthan]

Assassin's Creed 4, pretty much for the reasons you listed.  I loved the sailing mechanic and AC3 when I played it and was hoping Ubisoft would make a pirate game based entirely/primarily around that mechanic.  I had actually hoped it would be a new series and wouldn't have all the Assassin's Creed land-lubber stuff, but otherwise this game was pretty much exactly what I'd dreamed of.  My one complaint about it is that I think Adewale would have made a better main character, and this seems to be confirmed by his DLC.  Not only is he more likable, his motivations and background are just more interesting.

 

The Last of Us.  It was an interesting take on the zombie genre, and I really liked the way it implemented stealth.  What really puts it over the edge though is DAT ENDING, which obviously I can't describe without massive spoilers.

[toxicitizen]

The Last of Us for being actual survival-horror (and that applies to both the zombies and the human enemies). The gameplay was so satisfying for me, especially resource management during combat. The story was also one of the best all year.

 

Guacamelee. There's just no way around it. After getting the platinum on Vita last week-end, I realized it was the third time I 100%'d the game since first getting my hands on it, and that was less than 6 months ago. It's not a very long game but nothing else has made me feel compelled to return to it so frequently in a very long time. It also helps that I can't say no to a solid Metroidvania, and this is a very good one.

 

Infinite was good but I don't feel particularly passionate about it so I'm giving it a pass. I do want to mention Splinter Cell Blacklist and DmC: Devil May Cry, though. Both were particularly great games that got a ton of undeserved shit because gamers are huge whiny cunts. Shitty main character changes aside, they're both among the most fun games I've played this year. DmC fixed a completely archaic control scheme/camera and had a pretty good story (a first for the series) while Blacklist brought the series' gameplay some of its former glory back.

Edited December 28, 2013 by FLD

[TCP]

The Last of Us because it made me feel something that I've never felt in gaming before. It took the rock solid engine from Naughty Dog's Uncharted trilogy and made it even better. It's beautiful, haunting, exciting, and depressing, all at the same time.

 

Grand Theft Auto V, it might not have been as good as Red Dead Redemption but in terms of open world city games this year, it's the top of the class. The character switching was a great idea for this style of gaming and Rockstar really did make Los Santos feel alive. Plus, Rebel Radio was awesome.

 

I might edit in a third one. Tearaway I'm so close to finishing and it's sooo good but I'm not comfortable putting a game on I haven't finished so... we'll see.

EDIT: I officially deem Tearaway one of my 3 GOTYs.. just a fun, creative, joyful experience. Great music, great level design, at times it reminded me of Metroid, at other times Mario, and sometimes LittleBigPlanet, but at the end of the day it was a completely unique experience that won't be playable on any other platforms. This is the game the Vita deserved.

 

So...

 

1) The Last of Us

2) Tearaway
3) GTA V

Edited December 31, 2013 by The Cowboy Poet

[Saturnine Tenshi]

[x]

Edited July 8, 2015 by Saturnine Tenshi

[Baconrath]

Lego Marvel Super Heroes because Lego Stan Lee

 

edit: this is sort of a placeholder while I try to think of the games I've played that werent released before 2013

Edited December 29, 2013 by Baconrath

[Hot Heart]

My three picks were Tomb Raider, The Last of Us and GTAV.

 

Initially, I thought GTA V was my #1 but having typed up all my thoughts for this PXOD article, and picked the game apart, I'm not so sure anymore...

 

Tomb Raider was just damn good fun. A good mix of combat, exploration and mild puzzling, with a really cool cover system and animations.

 

The Last of Us tells a good story, particularly with the performances and that motion capture, plus the gameplay grew on me. However, and it's by no means unique to this game, I can't quite escape the feeling that it would've worked just as well as a film... It just doesn't make the most of what games do best, I guess I'm trying to say.

 

GTA V. Well, it's a remarkable technical achievement and there's so much to do. Driving is heaps of fun, and the online makes for some nice tense open-world battles and chases. I just found the story mostly underwhelming and a lot of the side content, pretty pointless or unfulfilling.

Edited December 28, 2013 by Hot Heart

[jayc4life]

I think my top 3's going to come down to Saints Row IV, Gone Home, and Gunpoint, in that order. No room for GTA V - surprisingly one of the only "big" 2013 games I've actually finished.

 

Saints Row IV is just balls-to-the-wall fun, and I'd be hard pressed to fins a game where it's just fun to unleash utter chaos with no reprimand whatsoever just for the hell of it, not just in 2013, but ever. Yes, this also includes Just Cause 2. It's just FUN.

 

Gone Home done a fantastic job of being a text adventure without the text. It just feels right to explore this creepy house that neither you or your character have ever been in, all by yourself, and it's nearly haunting at times, making the whole experience all the more memorable. 

 

Gunpoint's story was baffling to get a hold of at times, but the mechanics of the hacking puzzles, combined with having to manipulate the guards to be in the right places at the right times, just felt fantastic. My sole regret about the game is that the level editor suite isn't tied to Steam Workshop for easy sharing, and it's an easy feature to miss entirely.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

I am struggling to think of any 2013 game I have played for any length of time. Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon was good. Dishonored and X-Com are the only recent games I've spent more than a couple hours with this year, and both were very fine games.

[Alex Heat]

I'm going to second Ethan on Assassin's Creed 4, though I haven't played the Adewale DLC yet, so I can't comment on that.

 

My nomination is Fire Emblem: Awakening because it's a definite step in the right direction for the franchise.  Revising the Avatar unit from Heroes of Light and Shadow so they've got more going for them than being relatively bland was a great move, as was the option of being able to freely reclass or grind if you wanted to.  It'd be nice if they had party members matter more than beyond the initial chapter you get them in though.

[TheMightyEthan]

Oh shit, I was thinking Tomb Raider was 2012.

 

Yeah, I'm going to second Tomb Raider.  It was very well put together, it did a lot of things that I liked in Uncharted, and focused on them more than Uncharted did (exploration, traversal, etc).  Also when you did have combat it tended to be better than Uncharted.  I also liked the slight Metroidvania feel to it.

[danielpholt]

I love deciding between things I love!

 

GAMEOFTEHYEAR

 

 

Metro Last Light

 

Well if you're going to make me pick a favourite, i guess this is it. It builds upon the good aspects of 2033, the atmospheric,claustrophobic nature of underground Moscow, the fantastic visuals and interesting game play mechanics, and improves what the original got wrong. Tense, thrilling and different enough to stand out from the crowd, its my favourite game of the year.

 

 

 

1st Runner Up

 

Tearaway

 

This was an absolute joy to play. The art style and aesthetic are beautifully realised, the story is sweet and surprisingly touching at times, and whilst the 'Platforming' is a little basic, it more than makes up for it by introducing new and interesting ways to interact with the world inside the game. 

 

 

Joint 1st Runner Up

 

Gunpoint

 

I didn't spend too much time with this game, but I can confidently say its one of my more memorable games of the year. The little time i did spend (i completed it btw) with the game was pretty much perfect. I just wish it was longer..

[staySICK]

Overall I'm going to say The Last of Us, for the reasons everyone's mentioned.  It's engrossing, fun, has a terrific story with memorable moments, and makes choices that can be talked about and debated nearly endlessly.  I thought I was growing weary of zombies for games but this has shown that there's still some life left in the genre.  I also liked it as a stealth game, which is how I played through it mainly.

 

 Tomb Raider, because it's a great reboot for the franchise.  It's fun, obviously comparable to Uncharted, but I would counter it's actually the other way around.  Also, I daresay it does some things better than Uncharted.  The story is a bit ehh but everything else is just terrific.

 

I would probably nominate Assassin's Creed IV but I've been trying to power through what I have left of III before really getting into IV.

[Hot Heart]

Hmm, whether or not to switch out the game that cost over $137m to make and put in one made of paper, card and plastic...

[TheMightyEthan]

I wish I could see what everyone else finds so amazing about Tearaway, it really seems like I'm missing out.

[Hot Heart]

Haha, I'm not talking about Tearaway. I mean a game literally made out of paper, card and plastic.

[Strangelove]

The Last of Us - No fucking contest. To be honest, the more I look back one some of my favorite games this year, the more flaws I see. To me TLOU is still as good as when I played it. Story, gameplay, visuals, music. Its the complete package.

 

Tomb Raider was really good. A lot of people compare it to Uncharted and I can see why, Uncharted was always compared to Tomb Raider too. And while TR does a lot of stuff better gameplaywise than Uncharted, it fails at everything else. Set pieces, story, dialogue, and voiceacting are all superior in Uncharted. And while TR is a lot more open than Uncharted, it still very much a corridor with an optional tomb every once in a while. Seriously, the game was very short of tombs. And the Metroid comparison was very shallow. The Arkham games did it better.

 

Super Mario 3D World - It's just fantastic. If youve played 3D Land, its like that, except about 2 or 3 times as good.

 

Assassin's Creed 4 - I had a ton of fun with it, but the more I think about it the more it seems like its just a "reskinned" AC3. I actually liked AC3 too, but I think the whole "AC4 is a million times better than AC3" is overblown. AC4 just has a waaaaaay better "skin" than AC3. Its more interesting, more charming, and the pace of the story is a trillion times better. Otherwise they both have almost identical gameplay, which admittedly the AC games arent great at. So I guess I see what people see too.

 

Bioshock Infinite - I only remember parts of it, mostly the beginning and the ending, and the boss battles. Everything else is kind of a blur. I wish it had less shooting and more walking around exploring, which sounds crazy since this is still a game. I dunno, i liked it a lot when I played it, but now it seems like a blur. Plus, I always thought the shooting in all 3 Bioshock games was kind of weak. It just has no feedback. Enemies just fall over like you hit them in the head with a frying pan. It bothers me. Theres no joy in it to me.

Also, I hated all the items and money being all over the place. I cant help myself, so looking in barrels for cash when there are a million barrels in the game is annoying. Its almost never worth it. Ugh.

 

Beyond: Two Souls - I liked it quite a bit. It fixed a lot of what Heavy Rain did wrong. The story is still quite lacking and a lot of stuff never makes sense, but I had fun with it and it looked fantastic. The voice work was also a million times better. It also felt more like a game. But it just didnt have the impact Heavy Rain had on me. HR was something super weird and new to me at the time It had quite an impression on me.

 

GTAV - Really good. I wasnt even going to try to play it because of how much i fucking hated GTA4. Thankfully, this fixed almost every problem 4 had. At the end of the day though, GTA games never have a big impact on me. I play them, enjoy them and put them away for ever. Im not huge into these types of games. I feel like theyre "too real" to keep my attention.

 

 

.....and thats what I remember as far as good/great games this year. Maybe Ill update later with more.

[deanb]

Our lots picks written up all on the blog

http://pressxordie.com/2014/01/02/my-games-of-2013-dean/

http://pressxordie.com/2014/01/02/my-games-of-2013-james/

http://pressxordie.com/2014/01/02/my-games-of-2013-gregg/

http://pressxordie.com/2014/01/02/my-games-of-2013-darrell/

[Mr. GOH!]

Papers, Please because it was the most interesting marriage of gameplay and narrative this year. Few games are as funny, as soul-crushing and as good a rumination on morality.

 

Last of Us, because of all the reasons previously given. It's only major weakness is the lack of enemy variety.

 

Tomb Raider was unexpectedly good, but it's not a masterpiece. Felt like Uncharted, but with some of the sloppy open world systems of Assassin's Creed. For a first installment of a reboot of the franchise, it was phenomenal, however.

 

Bioshock: Infinite was the ne plus ultra of style over substance. It was pretty, though.

 

GTAV is impressive in many ways, but fails to hang together as well as it should. There is greatness in it, but its failures in writing and worldbuilding hold it back.

[NeoStarr]

Damn, most of my favourite games this year are still in early access. Do they qualify or do I have to wait for a proper release?

 

7 Days to Die is basically IRL Minecraft, and even with limited functionality I'm pretty hooked. You can get to a point of sort of infinite survivabilty with the limited number of blocks currently released which slows the game down somewhat; but playing self-enforced hardcore is pretty mental.

 

Wasteland 2 plays more like an alpha then a beta but it's still insanely fun. Captures the vibe of old school Brian Fargo/Chris Avellone games perfectly, and I've really been dying for that format to come back in a more modern way.

 

As for games that were actually released this year;

 

Grand Champion: Payday 2

Have over a hundred hours played on this already and plan on playing hundreds more as content is released so consistently. Being a huge Payday 1 fan (always preferred it to Left 4 Dead), this game took the series in the direction I think everybody wanted it to go; with a greater focus on the actual robbery elements than just being a Left 4 Dead style wave shooter. Always feel like such a badass when I've got a pile of hostages tied up at my feet and I'm drilling into a vault without a siren in earshot. Alternatively, the tense situations when a minor slip up causes shit to hit the fan are insane fun as well and often take the missions in a whole new direction. I'm lucky enough to have a full crew who is usually down to play, and that's practically essential, and really the games only downfall is when you don't have friends.

 

Runners up: Shadow Warrior

Simply divine first person shooting with all the humor and a fraction of the racist sexism of the original; it really takes me back to the build engine days with added awesome sword combat to boot. A masterpiece that may even be the first old-school style shooter to give Painkiller a run for its money.

 

Monacco

It's like if Payday 2 were made for the Atari, and I love it for largely the same reasons. That and the hilariously slapstick "stealth" leads to some pretty interesting situations.

 

The Stanley Parable

I never play video games for the story; but this is probably the most well written thing... maybe ever. I know it's always super annoying to hear this, but this is one of those games that you must play and I can't tell you why without spoiling it. I'm usually pretty critical of self-reflexive stuff because it always struck me as an overdone, simple, lowbrow way to get the 'artist' title slapped on your name, but this one stands out among the rest.

 

Democracy 3

I might be a bit biased towards this one since it's fairly new and I've been playing it quite a bit lately, but it stands out as the best educational game I've played since The Oregon Trail. I don't even follow politics, but I feel like I've been inadvertently been learning a lot more about them since getting into this and it's really interesting how it can make you question or go against a lot of political views you would otherwise hold in real life. For instance; I've played quite a few games where doing things like banning gay marriage or allowing the production of GM crops definitely felt like they were the right choices, and I actually felt I could argue for why those were the right choices, even though I'd never approve of such things normally.

 

And GTA5 of course, but everybody already said that so I don't think I have to sing too many praises.