What makes the best game of the year? Usually, it’s something memorable, great graphics, solid gameplay, and a memorable story and characters. While BioShock’s gunplay was solid and fun it did feel too similar to past games, but the story was the best of them this year. The game’s story is still talked about among the gaming community and it had some impressive visuals and art direction.
Sometimes there are games that I just give the benefit of the doubt. Blood Knights seemed to have fast-paced combat with decent graphics and some interesting environments. I was wrong on all of those except one. The game has horrible voice acting, stiff, boring combat, terrible platforming, and bad everything else.
There aren’t that many great vampire games because they all end up like this. I honestly don’t even know what this game is about because it’s so boring and monotonous to follow, and the voice actors sound like bored high school students reading from textbooks. The combat is so boring and uninteresting. You just mash on the attack button and use your special moves until they cool down, and then mash them again. The animations are stiff and cumbersome; switching between characters just makes things more frustrating, and I died so many times from just falling off of cliffs.
If that’s not bad enough, there are repetitive and lame objectives like protecting this person until he fixes something or flipping this switch. I mean, really? In 2013, we’re still stuck on these objectives. Not to mention the fact that the checkpoints are spread so far apart that you will die and restart the same section over and over until you tear your hair out. There’s no new twist or interesting plot about vampires—just the typical horror story stuff we’ve seen too many times. At least the game looks halfway decent, and there are some nice details in the environments.
You would think that the RPG elements would add some depth, but they don’t. Sure, there’s armor to get, gold to spend, and XP to obtain, but you won’t care when you’re trudging through endless amounts of boring enemies. Some co-op would have been nice, or some clever puzzles that utilize both characters, but instead we just run around flipping switches. At least the game is really short; you can beat it in about 4-5 hours if you pound through it, but who would want to?
As it is, Blood Knights is a decent concept that is ruined by horrid gameplay mechanics that feel archaic and unforgiving. What could have been a decent vampire game turned into another potato in the stew?
This was probably the best year for mobile games yet. Thanks to the ever-increasing power of phones games can have better graphics, stories, controls, and console-quality gameplay. There were a ton of awesome mobile games this year and I couldn’t pick them all. I wanted to pick games that didn’t feel too repetitive or completely ripped you off with microtransactions which were also an even bigger problem this year.
Assassin’s Creed: Pirates
Pirates weren’t just the best looking mobile game this year but also carved out a great feature from Black Flag and made a perfect port to mobile phones. There are so many missions to complete, upgrades to unlock, and the ship battles were just so much fun. It somehow steered away from the repetitious gameplay that most mobile games are plagued with and didn’t require microtransactions to play through.
The Vita grew very strong this year compared to last year’s weak games. If the Vita continues like it did this year it could be as strong or stronger than the 3DS lineup. While the Vita lineup was strong this year it needs more frequent quality game releases to continue selling well and getting more developers on board.
This was a very strong year for the 3DS. There were many great first-party games, but third party games also rocked the handheld. Games were very rich in gameplay and story this year and helped push the 3DS as the top handheld. Many games had better 3D effects than last year and just felt more wholesome and solid.
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Fire Emblem isn’t just the best strategy game this year but also the best 3DS game. The rich and deep story, addictive and well-paced combat along with great characters. There were many great 3DS games this year but Fire Emblem shocked everyone since they were expecting another GameBoy Advance type of game.
The PC kind of struggled this year, but was a great year for indie games. There weren’t many heavy hitters like Crysis or any other PC exclusive AAA game. What we saw were great indie games that pushed themselves beyond what big-budget games can do and even crafted whole new genres. Usually, the best PC game has some of the best graphics of the year, fantastic gameplay, rich multiplayer, and something that only the PC can offer.
The Stanley Parable
You may say that it’s unfair that a Half-Life 2 mod gone stand alone is the best game. The Stanley Parable actually isn’t much of a game but an interactive narrative. The story is so strange yet so grounded that you don’t want to stop playing. The fact that every path you take is narrated and adjusted accordingly is awesome. This game won by sheer story-driven elements and a unique narrative.
2013 was another slow year for the Wii U. There weren’t even that many games that were released for the struggling console. There were a few great gems, but overall they weren’t anything truly amazing. Hopefully, 2014 is a better year for the console.
3D World was a fantastic platformer and was the best Mario game for the Wii U yet. The graphics were fantastic and the game was so much fun in co-op and featured some fun mini-games. Despite this, it’s still not the best game the Wii U can produce but was a solid platformer this year.
I like to do things a bit differently for the best console games. Most websites will pick multiplatform games which I find pointless. The best platform-specific games should be exclusives. You will notice the Xbox 360 is absent this year and probably won’t show up again. The only heavy hitter (or any for that matter) exclusive wasGears of War: Judgementwhich was sub-par and belowGears of Warexpectations. The PS3 had some of the best games this year and was stronger than ever. Sony put a lot of time and money into projects for 2013 and it really paid off. Will the PS3 run this strong next year? Maybe not seeing how the PS4 is already out, but we’ll see.
The Last of Us may have had some flaws, but it was a beautiful game. It looked nearly next-gen and was a truly crafted piece of art for the PS3. It had a gripping story, great characters, and a fantastic atmosphere full of gritty urban combat. There were many fantastic PS3 games this year, but this one shines above all.
This was a great year for strategy games. While most were just excellent expansions we saw a few new faces. A great strategy game will have a fantastically balanced gameplay economy and an intuitive interface. A great story and memorable characters are a plus but are usually rare in traditional strategy games.
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Fire Emblem is Nintendo’s TBS pride and joy. Awakening pushed itself up and over PC heavyweights due to a fantastic battle system, and an amazing story. The combat was so addictive and fun and full of deep strategy that you couldn’t put the game down. Most of the other strategy games are ones we have seen before and are just better than their predecessor. Awakening is a whole new monster and one of the top 10 best games on 3DS.
The Halo series is probably one of the most repetitive and unchanging series I have ever played. The first three were pretty good, and Reach and ODST made me fall asleep. With Bungie out of the picture and 343 Industries in the captain’s chair, I figured Halo may have some great new changes. I was half right. The single-player campaign is pretty fun and is as tough as nails. The new weapons are awesome to shoot, and there are new enemies for once that are different. The story is convoluted and confusing, but hardcore fans may be able to follow it okay.
The mechanics are pretty much the same as in previous Halo games. There are no iron sights; the game is fast-paced with high jumping and fast sprinting. There’s still no cover system, which is a shame, and the game is damn hard. I felt the story was a bit random, and the environments felt the same way. One minute I’m shooting the same tired Covenant, then these machines type aliens, then mutated Covenant, then regular Covenant. There were some vehicle sections, and I was riding a giant vehicle. The game just felt all over the place, but it was fun, at least.
The story is really confusing and never makes much sense. Something about Cortana being infected and a giant being called the Didact trying to destroy everything. It’s nothing fancy or sophisticated, but you can’t expect much from an FPS. At least the game just feels tighter, a bit heavier, and less floaty than other Halos. I felt the weapons had weight to them, and the sheer variety had me switching them up all the time for different situations. I did find that there were repetitive scenarios throughout the whole game, like jumping into stations to hit a button at the top and running back down to get to the next one. This scenario repeated often throughout the whole game and felt archaic and overly simple.
While the structured campaign felt old and tired, multiplayer is still the best part of Halo. The constantly updated match types make you come back for more all the time. The game feels faster-paced and just more fluid and balanced than any previous Halo game. Customization is deep for your avatar; there are many levels to climb, and the unlocks are sweet and rewarding. After you beat the Halo campaign just once, I doubt you will ever go back because of how forgettable and repetitive it feels. I honestly think at this point, Halo should just continue as a multiplayer-only game and maybe jump on board with PC.
The few little tweaks here and there help the game become more balanced overall. The lack of dual-wielding makes the game feel more raw and “hardcore.” The various adjustments in damage from each weapon and the increased damage for melee attacks are nice. I also love how great the game looks. This is the best-looking Xbox 360 game out, and the voice acting and animations are so lifelike. However, the Xbox 360 doesn’t have the same processing power as the PS3, so you won’t see The Last of Us-quality textures and lighting effects. There are some ugly textures in Halo 4, and they really show sometimes. Surprisingly, there weren’t any slowdowns or glitches that plagued other Halo games.
Overall, Halo 4 is a great final opus for the 360, but it isn’t the revolutionary new Halo like everyone thought. The campaign is repetitive, extremely difficult, and confusing; the story is so-so, but the multiplayer is where the meat of the game is.
thebinarymessiah.com 
Try multiplayer. A lot of fun !