Something went wrong. Try again later

PistolPackinPoet

This user has not updated recently.

323 62 40 6
Forum Posts Wiki Points Following Followers

GOTY 2013

Man, Twenty Thirteen was something, right guys? Where did the time go? I don't want to go into specifics because now is the time to celebrate the end of an era. No, not Triple H versus the Undertaker. I'm talking about the current "next-gen" consoles being overshadowed by the new "next-gen" consoles.

Unfortunately, my poor ass can't afford the new consoles yet and there's nothing really worth playing yet. (Really? Assassin Creed IV: Black Flag is your 2013 XBONE and PS4 GOTY?) But, I managed to scrap up a list of ten great games I played this year. Yeah, I didn't play the true games of the year such as Divekick and The Cave, but my top ten list appreciates the unappreciated. (But to be perfectly honest, I didn't really seem interested in zombie killin' in Deadrising 3 or the Last of Us.)

So here we go.

WAIT! I played the Stanley Parable over winter break and I would put it on my top ten, but i'm lazy.

List items

  • I was shocked to hear that Giant Bomb would not put GTAV on the top ten list. While their criticism was understandable, I feel like it didn't get the praise it deserve.

    Even when running on consoles, it still looked like an urban masterpiece. The city was dense, the population had personality, the cars drove way better than GTAIV, and the amount of fun you have destroying and wreaking havoc is amazing. While the missions were completely separate from the fun you had in the story, I felt like even without the online portion, it was a great game.

    The tone of the game with Rockstar's comedic touch was wonderfully crafted in detailing the lives of Trevor, Franklin, and Michael. Despite feeling that most of the characters had a mid-life crisis, it was a fresh story. The only missions that really intersected with the plot was the bank heist, and even though its sorta a pain to actually set it up, it was rewarding to just break into the banks and grab as much cash while fending off cops. I loved the strategy/RPG elements of each bank heist but wished it went a little more detailed into the crew spec-ing. Like Jeff said, I wish there were more bank heist in the game too.

    To be honest this is the only consoled GTA game I finished. I usually just mess around within the game doing as much dumb shit as I can because I could. But it was so addictive to figure out what was going on with the story because of the chemistry each character had with one another. And I feel like there is so much more to talk about in this game, but I feel like the bank heist, the story, and the chemistry of the characters are the main reasons why this game is my game of the year.

  • Empathy games are here to stay. This game is probably the best empathy game I've played. Playing as a border patrol officer is a way different experience than any other game offered this year. Especially when you are in a dystopian country called Arstotzka. The tone of the game gives an Cold War era, Eastern European vibe that is rarely found in games. It's astonishing how minimal details is needed in this game to give the user that sort of experience. Now the gameplay/story is woven together pretty nicely as you need to do you work efficiently to avoid penalties and quickly to obtain money to support your family. But as the time progresses throughout the game, the story develops as the people you process through are more fleshed out in a way with specific personality. As they become more individualistic in their needs, you have to choose between continuning in being a cog in the machine or a empathic human being.

    It's great how themes such as that is fleshed out in the sort of game because not a lot of game explore the morals of the player in that type of way. It's not like you the choice of saving the world or not. It's not that simple. The time is on the clock, and you have to choice whether or not to go against the rules of being a immigrant inspector or go against your own morals. I would like more games to have this sort of element in their game other than the clear cut "black/white" or "evil/good" choice.

  • Metroid meets Call of Duty? Mega Man meets Borderlands? The creators of Risk of Rain does side scrolling action games right with this game. I never felt so powerful leveling up and spending money to find perks to clash against the game's biggest monsters. Even though when I played this game, it was a bit broken with its in-game balance, but it was so dope wrecking fools with the engineer's powers with turrets. I didn't even care about the perks when I was playing the engineer cause my friend was finding all of them because I was just dumpin' on monsters and aliens with these turrets. I can't get over how much I love Risk of Rain because its one of the games where its even better with multiplayer and once you get through the hassle of setting up a server to play with your friends, it's an amazing experience.

  • There is a lot of controversy surrounding this game with my friends. Heard that before? Well with Bioshock Infinite its was gameplay vs story. Was the story that good to overcome the flaws of the gameplay? Or was the story even that good? To be honest, my answer to that the game is a lot like Spec Ops: The Line.

    The gameplay drags the game's pacing down, however, the game's storyline is different enough to make you want to go through it. Now the storyline may not be for everyone especially with the frame story surrounding class issues and racism, but it worked for that time period. I found the twist at the end of the game fantastic even though it was flawed and came out of nowhere. How the story changed in the climax of the game made me love the interactions between Elizabeth and Booker. The chemistry and journey the two underwent was amazing and rivaled the elements of the characters in GTA V. Even though the gameplay was dumbed down compared to the first Bioshock and it lacked the same atmosphere (haha just kidding right? hurr), I found the game incredible. Although it lacked the eerieness of the first Bioshock, the utopian skyland of Columbia made up for it and how you figure out the setting was created with the callbacks to Bioshock.

    All in all, the setting of the world of Columbia, the characters that was involved in this game's mishap, and the entire story is what makes Bioshock Infinite a great game.

  • X-Com with a twist for sure. Now I personally love anime and love it as a medium, so it was easy for me to get into this sort of game. The game is X-Com with an anime facelift and more character based with its story. And that's not a bad thing, I feel like this game deserves more love and attention. Normally I'm not a fan of Nintendo's games, but this series is actually one of the better series that they churn out.

    The translation is amazing, I give props of 8-4 Play for a great translation that should be given praise. Each character you recruit has a backstory and a personality which interactions with one another provide great banter and characterizations. Alright, let me get this out guys, you are shipping characters together and its a great reward system to pair up dudes and chicks together to get linked-powerups as you fight the enemies throughout the game. The best thing about linking character together is that they produce offspring that help you fight in the back half of the game. Although its more scripted than I thought, it's still amazing how there's an incentive in finding more about the characters through their interactions with one another which left an amazing impression on me.

    I know this is out of left field, but I strongly recommend the fans of Persona 4 and X-Com to play this type of game. The game is more character driven than X-Com but has the same tone of Persona 4. Instead of your soldiers being disposable like in X-Com, you feel like your avatar's comrades are worth saving just like in Persona 4.

  • Games these days are missing a very precious element found in a lot of my favorite games: Charm. Persona 4, Castle Crashers, and Katamari all had it. And guess what. Despite how weird this platforming game was, this game has a lot of charm. In not just the cutesy weird character prisoners you control, but the whole package.

    It just felt great playing co-op with my sister and just abusing each other as we try to escape this hellish playground filled with cats trying to murder you while you jump over blocks. Just watching the cutscenes were more than a reward to finish each level because the narrator and the weird ass puppet show is great. The Behemoth is a video game ass company that knows how to make a funny and fun game. Most of their games are obscure and enjoyable which no other company really can handle. This game gave me so much joy and grief and laughs all at the same time. For instance, imagine in one of the time trials where you are so close to the end, just for you and mess up a jump and time runs out. It's just a rewarding and fantastic game where you need to learn from trial and error.

    Also, the soundtrack alone could have cracked my top ten list. It's so dumb yet fits this weird cat apocalyptic theater show. Here, just take a listen to the bonus stage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwZISypgA9M

  • Oh man, this game. Even though there was a little of controversy coming out of this game, I really wanted to play this game. Not just because I love the concept of a character action game such as one with Dante in it, but because my consider this a travesty even without playing it. They say that Dante looks like a whiny dirtbag hipster, and they say the gameplay is easy peasy or its "my first Devil May Cry" even without playing the game. Look, I really wanted this game to succeed and I really wanted to like this game to prove the naysayers wrong. But what I learned was that no matter how good you think a game is, others will vehemently try to oppose how you think. Rorie said it best in his tweet, "It's disheartening to see people be so arrogant about personal opinions."

    Anyways, let me praise this game. This game is a very good game and I dislike hack and slash games like this. The gameplay flowed so well and the game was challenging without being unforgiving which is something I really appreciate. It felt good to dodge, unloading my pistols, and slashin' my sword. I also loved the aura and vibe of the game. It felt filthy in a good way. The environments felt punk rock-ish and grunge-y. The Swedish death trance music fit the game. The environment designs was so trashy yet refreshing. And the voice acting and cinematic fit the storyline and the feel of the game. I do like the character progression of Dante. I felt like he was a piece of shit that actually developed into a decent half human being or whatever he is, but the story was average. The only part I really disliked about the game was how easy was it to fall off the levels and the cameras angles was still bad. But all and all, DmC shattered my expectations and it was a fine ass game.

  • Yep, I love baseball. I miss baseball games and I haven't played a really great baseball game since EA Sports put out MVP Baseball 2005. That was a great baseball game. But last year, I actually picked up a PS3 and really, it was just to play this game. I know PS3 had the God of Wars, the Infamous series, and Journey, but really, I just wanted to play baseball and MLB 13: The Show delivered.

    Despite the game not really looking like it should, ehh graphics could not put a damper on how the gameplay was. Pitching, Hitting, Baserunning, Fielding, it all felt great. But the main mode I played for about 70 hours was The Road to the Show mode. And damn, that is a great mode to roleplay as a baseball player. Unlike NBA 2K14, you feel distant from what is going on in the league as you progress through the season, but you feel like you accomplish things once you get promoted from the minor leagues. It's just a little too easy to dominate in this mode, but damn, that ain't a knock on this game. I know I'm being naggy when it comes to this, but I would love to implement some sort of system where you can know what's going on with the league and more stat history would be nice. All and all, MLB 13: The Show is a really great baseball game. Just enough to crack the top ten.

  • Hey! I love me some Pokemon. But I've been extremely burnt out since remake of Pokemon Heart Gold. I really liked the concept of sorta rebooting the structure of catching a new set of pokemon that was in Pokemon Black/White, but I could not handle how slow you progress throughout the game.

    BUT, Pokemon X/Y changed all that sort of. You gain the Exp Share item early on and you can obtain money or whatever currency the Pokemon world features. There is less grinding and more enjoyment in Pokemon.

    I know that there's new features in the game too. Such as a new fresh coat of paint, chair sittin' simulation, 3D/2D graphics, and brand new Pokemon. But really, its still Pokemon. And that's not a bad thing. I do like how the 3D model of the Pokemon look in the battle scene, but its still the same drag during the battles. However, you can play with your Pokemon like its Nintendogs and that ain't a bad thing. Sure there are weird perks that associate with playing with your Pokemon, but I don't give a damn. It's pretty adorable when you and your little furry companion play together and it cries of enjoyment fill your ears. But it's a little weird once you evolve them and your Charizard is badass, yet still adorable when feeding it. But that ain't all bad. The game is actually pretty alright. I just need another break from Pokemon

  • Listen. It's been years since 2K Sports had any competition. Just like the Heat in the Eastern Conference! But, look, NBA 2K14 is the same game that 2K13 was. But that ain't a bad thing. I guess a few updates here and there and a new blue UI just made 2K Sports think that they can push this as a new game. I'm kidding.

    The game feels looser, you can actually block dunks, and you have to learn how to set up pick and rolls to actually score points. 2KSports makes you relearn the game because it was once to easy to have your player score over 60 points again. They made the myplayer mode more RPG-ish with more grinding, and that ain't a bad thing. It's just feels like the same game with new rosters. And that's unfortunate, because this game is actually a great game. It just sucks that NBA 2K14 had to followup the greatness of Jay-Z's produced NBA 2K13. I hear the next-gen version was absolutely top notch with new my player cutscenes and updated graphics, but another year of this, and it'll feel a little stale.
Load Comments