Best Games of 2013

2013 was another year for wide variety in my late night gaming. Miles wide in fact and mostly inches deep. I think I prefer it this way, even if my bank account is worse for wear because of it. I decided to separate out the games I played on the toilet tablet and keep them for another post on another day though. Below is my top 10 proper games of the year 2013. Below that is all the other stuff I played too.

1. The Last of Us
This year I finally realized what I value most in video games. I want story. The game play has to enjoyable enough to engage me, but mechanics never make me say wow. The Last of Us was somewhat flawed in it's combat mechanics and had puzzles that eventually grew tiresome, but the story never let up. Zombie stories The characters and their relationships were top notch. The arc that is told is a roller coaster of tragedy, but not without it's moments of hope. The ending was something I've rarely seen in any medium and certainly not a video game. 2013 had loads of great games, but Last of Us easily stood above them.

2. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Video game mechanics rarely are in support of their story. At best they do their damnedest to no detract from it, but many times they outright betray the story being told. Brothers was one of the first games I've seen where the two went hand in hand from start to finish. Controlling two characters (siblings) with a single controller is awkward at first. My thumbs learned to work in tandem though and as they did the two characters on screen also learned to work with and support each other. In a game without dialogue Starbreeze managed to tell one of the most enjoyable stories in a game this year.

3. BioShock Infinite
I was a bit skeptical about a third game in the Bioshock-o-verse after Bioshock 2 was such a let down. Infinite was by the same team as the original though.Would offer up very little in direct relation to the games setting and told a brand new tale with new characters. The story opening was incredibly strong. Slowly introducing it's world through character and environment. At some point the combat sequences became a bit dull and tedious though. The story lost it's way, but not for long. By the end it was back on the rails and presenting not only insights into Rapture, but the entire universe the game exist in. Really cool stuff.

4. Far Cry 3
In a year where I played more open world games than ever before, Farcry 3 stood above the rest. As with most open world games it's good story was not in the main plot, but in the tales concocted through it's "living" environment. "Oh man, I was sneaking up on this base. Cataloging it's defenses and plotting out my approach. When a pack of wild dogs burst from the trees and started attacking the guards. I threw out my plan and jumped into the three way fight". The game is jam packed with moments like that. All on a sprawling and beautiful island system. There is loads of meaningful side missions to go on, a crafting system worthy of emulation (see: Assassin's Creed 4) and one of the best acted villains video games have ever seen.

5. Gunpoint
I've been following allowing with Gunpoint's development since early 2011. Before it had great art and a smooth jazz soundtrack. The core concept stands up on it's own just fine. 2D stealth and puzzle mechanics. More specifically rewiring the electronics in the building you are infiltrating to remove obstacles. The light switch. You know, the one that turns on lights. Now it opens the door you wanted to sneak through or better yet short circuits a socket next to a guard and murder him.  If it was just that it would be a good time, but it also has the art and soundtrack mentioned earlier. Plus a story that is worth reading and interactive dialogue that is pretty damn humorous. It's a great game. I just wish there was more of it, I completed it right at three hours. What you get in that three hours though feels like a new experience in gaming. Maybe? Or maybe it is just Elevator Action evolved. It is a marvelous little game either way. (This write up was cribbed from my first post on this game)

6. GTA V
The single player in this game is far and above any other GTA story on offer to date. The up and coming criminal to king pin tale is out. They'd done it enough times and done it well where it would have been passable this time through. What they offered up instead was leaps and bounds beyond what they already did really well. Following three established characters from the start meant working with in the confines of their lives and personalities. You aren't meeting new NPCs every hour so you can play errand boy again. It works really well. The loses it's head of steam about 3-4 hours from the end, but the plot was still paced masterfully by comparison to the rest of the series. (This write up was cribbed from my first post on this game)

7. Don't Starve
Klei Entertainment, makers of Mark of the Ninja (ma jam!) made ma new jam too. Don't Starve is a 2D-ish (it's a 3D engine with 2D assets) open world game in the vein of Minecraft. That is to say it is a survival game where the environment you are in provides the materials you'll need to survive. What makes the game intriguing beyond being another open world survival game is the amount of trust placed in the player. The game opens with an unnamed man who instructs you to find food before night fall and poofs away. From that point on there are no instructions. The tool tips provided for left and right clicking different things in the world are all you have. What is good for you and what can kill is a trial by error process. The reward is mastering the consistent systems in the world, not starving and ultimately thriving. Bonus content: Great article and video about Klei. (This write up was cribbed from my first post on this game)

8. Tomb Raider
In 1996 my second computer or maybe third whirled up the original Tomb Raider on it's bite sized hard drive. It was the same time frame as the Nintendo 64, so polygonal platforming was still in it's larval state. I have great memories of that game. The new game is a reboot, but doesn't evoke memories of that past though. You don't raid any tombs per se, but that is because Crystal Dynamics is too busy doing their best Uncharted impression. Which, as it turns out I wanted way more Uncharted, so good job guys. It's an action movie in video game form, with better combat than the series it apes. (This write up was cribbed from my first post on this game)

9. The Stanley Parable
What this is, is hard to describe. It's a game for the PC that spawned from a source mod in 2011. That much is easy enough. What the game actually does though is much harder. It is not a puzzle game, as much as it is a mind fuck. Most "gamers" have played enough games to know the tropes, language and mechanics of a modern video game. This one turns all of that on it's ear. It constantly breaks the fourth wall and does so in clever and humorous ways. You explore the ins and outs a world that is masterfully narrated and never what you expect it to be. You should play it and will love it when you do. Very much like portal, but not like it at all, it's strange and wonderful. (This write up was cribbed from my first post on this game)

10. Saints Row IV
Earlier this year I caught up with Saints Row: The Third, a game that I should have made time for in 2011. It was an absolute blast. What started as a GTA clone turned into a goofy parody of the videogame world. Often breaking the 4th wall and throwing out reality and tired tropes in favor of fun. The fourth game in the series actually started as a DLC pack for the third and then ballooned into it's own game. It stands on the shoulders of the third (engine, mechanics and world) and then breaks all of it's rules. Your character is now super powered. Gliding through the air, sprinting at the speed of light and leaping over buildings. There is no need for a car or even guns later on, but the game manages to stay balanced and challenging even as it gives you loads of power. The humor is the main course still though. Eliciting consistent small giggles and even the occasional belly laugh. Totally worth a play through, though you may be better served playing the third installment first. (This write up was cribbed from my first post on this game)

11. Call of Duty: Ghost
12. Prison Architect
13. Sleeping Dogs
14. Metro: Last Light
15. Hotline Miami
16. Magicka
17. Orcs Must Die! 2
18. Spelunky
19. Card Hunter
20. Guacamelee*
21. Papers Please!*
22. Gone Home*
23. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
24. The Wolf Among Us*
25. Max Payne 3**

* played it once or twice and was not hooked enough to return to it
** actively disliked playing this piece of crap

Weekend Review: May 4th & 5th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

Assassination Vacation
On a weekend where my body was riddle with sickness, it was nice to catch a few moments to myself and listen to a new book. Sarah Vowell's work is not new to me, I read Unfamiliar Fishes last summer and The Partly Cloudy Patriot ages ago. I've been meaning to catch up on the rest for a while, so when my new Audible credit dinged it was an easy pick. Though probably not the most efficient use of my subscription. It is short, but full of the humor, interesting facts and true tales that I love about her writing. It covers the three assassinated presidents (Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley) and admittedly I knew nothing of them, save Lincoln of course. Fun Gruesome fact: Robert Lincoln (the oldest son) was present at all three assassinations.

Star Command
FTL was fantastic little indie game that came out last Fall. It was a roguelike in space, with pixel graphics that was fun to replay over and over again. All that and I put in for maybe four hours of it. It was a PC game that should have been a mobile game. Every time I sat down to play there were a handle full of more substantial games waiting to be played. Star Command beat them to the punch. Making their own pixel game in space. It is not a roguelike, it actually has a story, but the game play mechanics feel very similar. How much replay value there is I have yet to see, but all it takes is 10-15 free minutes on the couch to have a go at it.

Guacamelee!
Another indie game and another piece of gaming vocabulary for you dear reader: metroidvania. Guacamelee is just that with 2D vector art that pops off the screen. A labyrinth to explore and conquer with a hero brought back from the grave by a magical luchador mask. It has a certain charm that my four year old son and I love. You learn new combinations from a giant chicken and get new powers from an elderly man disguised as a goat. Plus the controls are tight and the difficulty is hard, but not bone crushing. Worth a play if you have a PS3 sitting around collecting dust.

E to the E to the Electronic Three

Shit has it really been a year since the last E3? It is time then to throw my short form commentary on what seems interesting into the nether. Jesus do they only make sequels now or is that all I care about? Who is the problem here...

Uncharted 3 - The only reason I care about my dusty old PS3 just got another iteration in the story. I will be picking this game up on launch day.

Modern Warfare 3 - Despite second fiddle love for the PC market and Activision crapping all over Infinity Ward's founders I am still playing BLOPs most nights. The MW3 trailers look incredible and Elite looks benign, sign me up.

Battlefield 3 - I want this game to compete with MW3 in the worst way. I skipped Bad Company one and deux, but have a storied past with BF1942 and Vietnam. I want to come home.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations - Last year I thought Brotherhood would be a money grab. I was wrong, I can admit that. They made an awesome single and multiplayer game. I'm ready to be done with Ezio's story, but they have earned my faith in one last romp.

BioShock: Infinite - I'm hearing game of the show from twitterverse. I would not put it past Ken Levine and company if that were the case, I loved the first one.

Mass Effect 3 - Though not out till 2012 the coverage has only served in me wanting this game more.

WH40k: Space Marine - Every trailer of the actual game play looks like crap, no cover, poor graphics, bland animation. They will need to be swimming in media praise for me to even consider buying this game now. I'm super disappointed.

Wii U - Seriously who is the audience for this? They (Big N) now have a console on par with 360 and PS3, but it is 5 years too late. Getting ports of the big games that will already be available on the two systems I own does not sound appealing. Hasn't the "hardcore" audience moved on? Wait we were left behind.

Dragon Warfare 2

Modern Warfare 2
The PC community has been up in arms for the past month about the sequel to COD4:MW. There are no dedicated servers, the multiplayer cap is 18 players and my dear God in heaven you can't lean! Lets see, I don't play competitively or obese over realism, check. Anything over 18 players gets unruly and just ask begs for spawn camping, check. I don't camp and therefore have no need to lean wit it, check. How about is it fun? Um, yes, very, check! All of this protesting seems like calorie burning that could be focused on a better cause. The single player, while not as good as COD4, is still over the top fun. The multiplayer is better than COD4, in that it offers more kit options and balances game play. Get over yourself and get this game on the PC.

Uncharted 2
I picked up my PS3 less than month before Uncharted 2 dropped and choose to forgo new titles for at least 4-5 months while I played the back log of games I had missed. I had a spreadsheet even. Well after being blown away by the original Uncharted and being lukewarm on MGS4 I threw that plan out the door. Uncharted 2 is a knock you socks off action movie that damn hard to put down. Like the game before it I chugged through it in less than a week and enjoyed every minute of it. The locations you visit are far more varied and the game play feels even more polished. While the ending is a bit of burnt toast on an otherwise tasty egg sandwich, it does a better job of wrapping things up than the original.

Dragon Age: 2 Origins
After logging nearly 40+ coop hours in Borderlands I think it was probably a bad idea to pick up another long run RPG. While Dragon Age seems to be a fantastic game and easily deserving of it's 91, it suffered the same fate as Mass Effect on my first attempt to play it. I just didn't have the time given the hectic fall game release schedule. I did try to let it hook me at least. Think of me as a suicidal fish, swimming up to various lures placing my mouth on them and waiting a pull on the line. Nothing. The ": Origins" part of the title does seem to be the most interesting part of the game I saw. Depending on the class and race you choose at the start you get a different 1-2 hour intro to you "origin". The rest of the game is peppered with dialogue references to your beginning, so it all feels meaningful throughout. Maybe next summer I'll actually play it.

Uncharted Zombie Gear

Metal Gear Solid 4
Some how despite not liking the story or game play in MGS4 I played through twenty hours of it to beat it. The same complaints I had about Metal Gear 3 still hold true. The story is long winded and convoluted to no purpose. Characters speak in monologue instead of addressing each other directly and go off on wild philosophical tangents that do not move the story forward or make sense given the context. The game play feels dated and gives the sense that I am "doing it wrong" when simple mechanics like stealth attacks feel clunky and unusable. The majority of my time was spent treating it like a shooter. The game does shine in the graphics department, the models, textures and animations are some of the best I have seen to date. Yes, it is pretty, but how the hell did this game garner a 94 on metacritic?

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Though this game was very short (I finished it in one night) it was concentrated goodness from start to finish. Think interactive action film, there is no shortage of big explosion, daring escapes and hair raising leaps of faith. The dialogue is very well written and always appropriate to the current situation unfolding. The characters are believable, funny and easy to root for. Gameplay is everything that MGS4 is not, the controls are crisp, the melee feels brutal and the cover mechanic works as you would expect. Though the levels are very narrow the graphics don't make the experience feel like a single path. The jungles feel alive and interact as such. Drake, the main character has what seems like a million different animations and they all blend together smoothly. Not that it is meaningful, but some how this game got an 88 on metacritic. Both scores are good, but Uncharted is markedly better than MGS4.

Zombieland
The trailers for this film do not do it justice. I was expecting to be mildly entertained by a film we choose as the lesser of October movie release evils and was slapped in the face by a comedy that was crazy good. Though opening with a little more gore than Crystal is comfortable with, the humor that juxtaposes the blood makes for a good balance. The plot is simple enough, zombie outbreak leaves survivors surviving in a United States that is a shadow of it's former self. Where the film really takes off is it's small cast and their ability to bring humor to horrific situations. Jesse Eisenberg stars as a shut in college gamer (WoW cameo) who through his already loner life style and list of rules has managed to survive. The list keeps reappearing through out the film as he meets the rest of the cast and they come across different zombie related scenarios together. I won't go into to much more, because you really should see it for yourself.

Spoiler below...
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Bill Murray as himself in this film is simply amazing.

La-Li-Lu-Le-Lame

After much birthday deliberation and hand wringing I purchased a PS3 over the weekend. I must be living a pretty swanky lifestyle to complain about not wanting anything for my birthday, but such is the case. As an adult (a.k.a. grown ass man) I pretty much buy whatever I want when I want it. So when my birthday comes along once a year and I'm asked "what do you want" my mind draws a blank. This year it was a toss up between a Ps3 and an assortment of bike parts and clothing. I didn't really need either, but I guess you strike while the birthday iron is hot.

I ultimately decided to get the PS3 because at $299 it is less of an impulse buy the other 364 days I was not born. If I get a wild hair to buy a new rear rack in November, I'll just order it that day. The back catalog of games on the PS3 that I can get dirt cheap is really nice. So far I have I finished the first Uncharted and started Metal Gear Solid 4 (hence the title reference). Full reviews (as full as they get on this blog) are forth coming, but I will say that I enjoyed Uncharted and I'm enjoying MSG4.

The built in Blu-ray player is a nice addition as well. I always thought unscaled DVDs looked particularly crappy when viewed next to HDTV movies. So getting a notch above HDTV and 10 stories up from DVDs with Blu-ray is a breath of fresh air in a cloud of sulfur. We rented Push as our first dip into high def disk based movie watching. It looked great and actually turned out to be a decent enough film. Now for surround sound? Maybe my next birthday.