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No game this year had a more visceral effect on me. I could only play it in short bursts, maybe an hour at a time. The oppressive atmosphere, the constant story gut-checks, and the unrelenting tension wore me down. I didn't want to play it, and yet I could not put it down. On top of all of this structural magic, Naughty Dog has honed their talent for character to almost superhuman levels, crafting not only one amazing character, but two. Joel and Ellie become something special when paired together. I loved both of them, for very different reasons. Much has been said about the game's ending, but I don't think you can understate how ballsy it was to end a big-budget video game without even a hint of a sequel. And I don't want one. The ambiguous, heartbreaking ending and the quick cut to black completed the experience of The Last of Us. And that's really what this game feels like: a complete experience, likely to remain unmatched for years to come.
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When Rockstar puts its full muscle behind a product, there aren't really any studios that can match them. Part of that certainly is their seemingly limitless pool of resources, time, and talent. But I think a more significant part is a vision. Grand Theft Auto V drew me into and hooked me even more than Grand Theft Auto IV (a game I loved) did. In the first day I had it, I played for like nine hours. I almost never play games that way. But I was constantly unlocking more of the map, learning more about the characters, and, perhaps most importantly, doing fun things. I had a ton of fun playing GTA V, which counts for a lot for me. Parts of the story fall flat, but there is nothing like the long stretch of boring nothing that plagued the middle of Red Dead Redemption. Everyone seemed enamored with Trevor this year. He's funny. I guess? He's certainly well-drawn as a character, but as he hit basically the same note over and over in his scenes, I found myself far more invested in Michael and his crumbling family. Getting them back together and beginning to resolve some of their issues was surprisingly affecting. The game is also beautiful to look at and almost never hitches of stutters at all. I could not believe that what I was seeing was coming out of my Xbox 360. Its (at times) problematic story does not stop GTA V from being one of the most technically and artistically impressive games, not only of the year, but of the generation.
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This was the first game I played to completion on the 3DS, and it may be the absolute best on that system. I didn't have a Super Nintendo as a kid. I know. I feel bad, too. It means I never played A Link to the Past. I love the series, but I don't have any particular nostalgia for this flavor of Zelda. None of that stopped me from instantly falling in love with A Link Between Worlds. I was bad at it when I started. Bosses that my wife beat without getting hit killed me. Over and over. I got frustrated. But the more I played, the better I got. I felt like I was learning a language that many of my friends had been speaking since A Link to the Past came out. By the time I reached the startlingly poignant conclusion of the story, I took some self-control to not just dive back in and do it all again.
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Coming into 2013, this was probably the one we were all waiting for. After six years of development and mounting expectations, when I finally put BioShock Infinite into my Xbox 360, I was instantly blown away. From blasting off from the first lighthouse to the mind-bending conclusion, I was entranced by the world of Columbia and the story of Booker and Elizabeth. A few design decisions gave me pause, and the last encounter in the game was needlessly frustrating, but I forgot all of that as I was pulled through the last tear back into the iconic world of Rapture. It's a game that sometimes overextends itself, but for pure ambition, there weren't many games this year (or, really, any) that can match it.
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When I got my iPhone 5 this year, this was one of the first games I downloaded. I expected to mess around with it for awhile and then shelve it away in some folder on my second screen of icons. That didn't happen. Not only did I finish the game (which, granted, isn't all that hard), but I scoured internet forums, made maybe a hundred runs, and yelled obscenities at my phone until I had caught every available fish in the game. It's pretty much a perfect mobile game.
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I liked Saints Row IV. I wanted to like it more. I loved, loved, loved the third game, and this one, for better or for worse, was basically more of that. But it's really hard to catch lightning in a bottle twice, and this game doesn't quite pull it off. The inclusion of super powers feels like a natural and necessary addition to the series, but I wonder where it can possible go from here. Space? Time travel? Sure, why not? I'll probably still play it, if only for the demented devotion to pure fun that Volition infuses into its game. And they brought that big purple dildo back, so...
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I found myself drawn to handheld and mobile games much more this year, which probably signals that these games are reaching an interesting level of maturity. Year Walk is profoundly unsettling. I usually can't play scary games. This one only has a few jump scares, but for each of these there are three or four genuinely creepy moments that made me pause before continuing to tap my way through this strange wilderness. The incredibly clever implementation of the companion application to see the game's true conclusion, which was telegraphed on the game's very first screen, was awesome.
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I got a 3DS XL this year, and this was one of the first things I picked up for it. I haven't been into a Pokémon game since I played Pearl while in college on my original fat DS. Jumping into this one after that span of time makes this new game feel fresh to me. I'm not super far into it, but I've got a pretty rad team that has a Wartortle on it, so it's basically the best thing ever.
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What a weird thing. I had no idea what to expect going into this, but even with those expectations, I got something totally strange. The graphics are rudimentary, but intentionally so. The sound design draws you into this bizarre, pixel forest and it is only by walking about and interacting with the world that you begin to understand what you should be doing and what it means. Short, but powerful.
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I'm conflicted over this one, but here it is. This seems to be the first game that overtly signals that the clock is probably running out on this series, at least as it exists in this form. When I bought it, a well-meaning GameStop employee told me, "You know this has been getting mediocre reviews." I sighed and said, "I know. I don't like that I want it. But I want it." The first maybe half of the single player has some interesting and cool stuff (the level in which the city floods comes immediately to mind), but later is gets dumb in all the wrong ways. It pulled too hard on the father-son dynamic, which didn't really pay off. The dog was neat, I guess. Kind of? The campaign wraps up in such a way that it signals that in two years we'll probably get Ghosts 2, but I can't say I'm really excited to play it. The multiplayer remains fun, but I don't feel nearly as into it as I did even last year with Black Ops 2. It's on my list, but just barely. If I had played more Animal Crossing: New Leaf, it wouldn't be.
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