Seeing as everyone’s on the Game-Of-The-Year bandwagon I thought I’d hop on too.
After the PR disaster that was the Wii U release, I had real concerns for Nintendo’s future but getting a 3DS XL handheld has reignited my love and faith in what was my favourite video game company as a child. Also, I’ve only played one game on my Android phone (World of Goo) and absolutely no games on my iPad this year. So again my prediction was way off, I thought that mobile apps would be the death of handheld video game consoles. I’m very pleased to report I was wrong on both counts.
A quick mention has to go to the big games of the year that I didn’t enjoy. Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite. I enjoyed the latter as a spectator and loved the story but watching the game being played didn’t inspire me to play it myself at all. I’m suffering from zombie fatigue so when Last of Us’s railroaded gameplay and dodgy controls made me rage-quit I never picked it up again.
One last thing before I get to my favourite games of this year. Two games I played that were released before 2013. Journey was worth the wait. An unforgettable 3 hour experience. Also a friend lent us Heavy Rain and that was terrific. Two fantastic and unique games, highly recommended if, like me, you missed them when they were released.
Honourable Mentions.
Attack of the Friday Monsters! (3DS)
This is a beautifully realised Japanese game about a boy named Sohta who lives in a town where monsters and superheroes from 1970s tokusatsu shows appear every Friday. If you love Studio Ghibli movies you’ll likely love this little game.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf. (3DS)
Animal Crossing kept me busy for at least a month, if not longer. It’s hard to remember as I was too busy tending orchards to take notice of the passing of time.
Second Place.
Borderlands 2 DLC: Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon’s Keep. (PS3)
“The gameplay revolves around Lilith, Mordecai, Brick, and Tiny Tina playing Bunkers and Badasses, a tabletop role-playing game parody to Dungeons and Dragons. The player is dropped into the Bunkers and Badasses world, and as the player progresses through the game, Tiny Tina, as the Game Master, narrates the story; sometimes deciding to modify the game world to add in a boss, new enemy or new NPC.”
Borderlands 2 is one of my favourite games of all time and this DLC was made for me. The rpg in-jokes, the story, the ending. Absolutely. Genius. So enjoyable. Moments where I laughed so hard I had to hold my sides. Moments where the story itself moved me to tears. If this was a full game it would have been my game of the year. As it is, it almost won despite just being downloadable content.
My Game of the Year.
Tomb Raider. (PS3)
Aside from the occasional annoying quick time event, I loved everything about this game. Beautiful vistas, spine-tingling climbs, bags of adventure. Plus a whole heap of character development. At the start of the game Lara’s vulnerable and desperate but by the end she’s a hero and you’ve lived that journey with her every step of the way. The balance between exploration, combat, and puzzle-solving was just perfect.
Notes:
Having just started Pokemon X and Beyond: Two Souls these games may still make my list. In addition there’s a long list of games I haven’t played yet including Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Gone Home, and Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. 2013 was a fantastic year for games.
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