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Metal Gear Rising is the figurehead for a short but explosive and entertaining experience. I had an absolute blast all the way from start to end, and the short nature even in some ways promoted replay enough that I played it over and over just because the combat was so much fun. This is without a contest the most complete and enjoyable package out of 2013.
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I have many drawbacks with playing the game, and eventually could only go through it with my sanity intact by shooting shit with shotguns on easy. Even then the "puzzles" were tedious, and the combat encounters glacially paced.
Through all of this, The Last of Us remains a masterpiece in storytelling. The world they create is coherent, interesting and beautiful without ever being explicitly explained through normal exposition. The characters are believable and relatable in a complete greyzone that no other game to date has matched and the thematic brutality and ambiguity seeps perfectly into gameplay, character interaction and plot alike. It is the complete storytelling package in every way. And just about the only example I would ever pull out in an argument of excellent storytelling in games.
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Re-release or not, this was my first contact with Dragon's Dogma, and arguably the changes made to the game are major enough to call it it's own. For a game with many, many problems there really is something unique and deeply entertaining with trying to figure out the insane mess that is the games intertwining systems and open nature. If it wasn't so broken, inconsistent, and sometimes even plain bad, this had the potential to be my favorite game of all time.
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For a guy who generally has burned out and dislikes shooters, and thought Bioshock Infinite had the dullest gameplay of they year. I have to admit, Gunslinger is a really fun game. The lighthearted combo gameplay with some very stable and fastpaced shooting combined with a very nice looking artstyle and an entertaining story, both through writing and storytelling, makes for a cool fucking game. Highly recommended.
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Tales of Xillia is a fun lighthearted romp through Jrpg lands with some fun combat and leveling mechanics, and addicting although short end-game and moderately good writing. I had fun with minimal pain. So I'd call it a success.
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Say what you will about DmC, but it really was unfairly divisive. A good game is still a good game, even if it can't and arguably doesn't even try to live up or emulate it's predecessors. DmC is a fast and loose yet very precise romp through an appropriately cheesy story and entertaining set-pieces with just enough fun combat to back it up. I had a great time the first time through the game and even though I have some major misgivings about the combat and the replay value, It really isn't a big enough deal to knock it too much since one playthrough was fun and long enough for the price.
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Dragon's Crown is a fun damn game. You kill things for loot and you loot things to kill. The classes all play very differently and have their own quirks to them. Just learning how to play is fun on it's own and that is basically the nicest thing you can say about a brawler.
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Brothers is a very special story out of a mind I greatly respect. While I thought the actual melodrama and plot was subpar, how the scenes around it were handled is really something of it's own. One clever dude thought about the gameplay usage in the ending scenes. Though what I really enjoyed the most was the envivroments. They were beautiful beyond belief just to look at. But on top of just visual flair, they also told a lot of stories of their own, or rather created frameworks for stories. Every area had it's own sense of mystery, and looking around you can't help but wonder what the nature of it is. Did a big event cause this scenario? Is it just everyday life here? Who are these creatures and where did they come from? Nothing is ever explained, and that's how it should be. The game really put my imagination into full gear, and that is not something games pull off well generally. Especially with something that is arguably irrelevant to the plot. Brothers is a really neat game, and I hope Fares-sama decides to make another one.
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You know what. Fuck this game and fuck Ubisoft for releasing it broken. It ate my saves twice and the PC port is a mess. I have involuntarily replayed half the game twice, and got several headaches from dumb tecnhical issues. But goddamn if I don't think it's just a lot of fucking fun. While I do think it's way, way too easy and give you too many tools I would never use. The minute to minute stalking and stabbing is just goddamn satisfying. It hits the exact same predatory spots that Mark of the Ninja did last year, and on top of that it's totally a competent shooter! Great game. I hate it.
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Award for game that has been consuming my life since before 2013 and temporarily replaced League of Legends as my most played game of the year. "I'm now back to a 50/50 ratio, which basically means I forget/relearn constantly and suck at both". Dota and It's counterpart are masterworks of insanity, which I just can't help but keep playing and I really don't see myself stopping any time soon.
As a side note, you can put this at the top or remove it from the list completely depending on what my last match looked like. :D
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