Facebook Picks Its Games of the Year

[Andy Chalk]

Facebook Picks Its Games of the Year

Facebook's Games of the Year list for 2013 features 23 titles taken from a surprisingly diverse range of genres.

With the end of 2013 nearly upon us, the time for various "of the Year" lists has arrived, and what better way to upend the cornucopia of other people's opinions than with the very best that Facebook has to offer? A total of 23 games made the lists this year (and there are three), including seven mid or hardcore games, five arcade games and five casino/slot games. Hey, it is Facebook, after all.

Best New Games of 2013:


Bake Shop Drop [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/bakeshopdrop]
Farm Heroes Saga [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/farmheroes]
Heart of Vegas [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/heart_of_vegas]
Hit It Rich Casino Slots [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/hititrich]
Jelly Splash [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/jellysplash]
Kitchen Scramble [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/kitchenscramble]
Monster Legends [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/monsterlegends]
The Smurfs and Co.: Spellbound [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/thesmurfsco-two]
Soldiers Inc. [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/soldiersinc]
Solitaire Tales [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/solitairetales]
Thunder Run: War of Clans [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/thunderrun]
Vikings Gone Wild [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/vikingsgw]


I admit that I know nothing about any of these games, but Vikings Gone Wild, in which you "build armies of Vikings to pillage one another's homesteads for spoils of gold and beer," sounds promising.

Next up: Staff Favorites!


DoubleU Casino [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/doubleucasino]
Game of Thrones: Ascent [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/gamethrones]
King's Bounty: Legions [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/kingsbountylegions]
Panda Jam [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/pandajam]
Wartune [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/wartune]
War Commander [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/vikingsgw]


Again, not familiar with any of them, but "Panda Jam" is fun to say. Next, the titles that have entered into Videogaming Immortality:

2013 Hall of Fame


Candy Crush Saga [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/candycrush]
DoubleDown Casino [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/doubledowncasino]
FarmVille 2 [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/farmville-two]
Slotomania [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/slotomania]


Okay, Candy Crush Saga? I had that monkey on my back for awhile, but I was eventually able to kick it and I didn't even get the DTs! I consider that a victory. And now, finally, the moment you've all been waiting for:

Facebook's 2013 Game of the Year:

Criminal Case [https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/criminalcase], a hidden object adventure by French indie studio Pretty Simple, "combines crime scene investigation with engaging sharing mechanics to create the most successful Facebook game of the year." Roughly ten million people play the game, which has maintained relevance over the course of the year with content updates and additional cases.

So there you have it. It's easy to poke fun at Facebook games but its offerings have grown increasingly sophisticated over the years, and while some of this stuff isn't likely to have much appeal to core gamers, there might be something in this list (or elsewhere) that turns out to be not so bad after all.

Source: Facebook [https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2013/12/09/facebook-games-of-the-year-2013/]


Permalink

 

[Pebkio]

Bwa. Ha. Ha. Haaaaaaaaaaaa.

Really? I... I really can't... um. This is so niche it hurts. There's a Farmville 2 now? Okay, most "game of the year" things are websites all throwing their two-cents into the Internet about the same pool of games. But Facebook only covering Facebook games seems more... advertisey than actual awardy.

Edit: It's as if Microsoft released its game of the year list and it was all Microsoft produced games. And Ubisoft's list was all Ubisoft games. We'd never take those lists seriously.

 

[Aerosteam]

Candy Crush not winning Facebook's Game of the Year? Blasphemy!

Ugh, this list is more like "Play these games so you can give us your money after getting addicted by them!" than anything else. (Then again I don't use Facebook that much so I'm just going to assume that.)

 

[siveon]

Thanks, I needed a good laugh.

 

[NLS]

It's as if Microsoft released its game of the year list and it was all Microsoft produced games. And Ubisoft's list was all Ubisoft games. We'd never take those lists seriously.

No. It would be more like Microsoft released a game of the year list consisting of games released for the Xbox, or Apple releasing a game of the year list for iOS.
Neither of these games are developed or published by Facebook, they're just released for Facebook as a platform, but some are also released for other platforms like iOS and Android.

 

[Pebkio]

No. It would be more like Microsoft released a game of the year list consisting of games released for the Xbox, or Apple releasing a game of the year list for iOS.
Neither of these games are developed or published by Facebook, they're just released for Facebook as a platform, but some are also released for other platforms like iOS and Android.

Oh, well if that's the case... no no, it still feels very advertisey. I guess I don't know enough about these... um... app games? Esepcially since all the links are to Facebook... and not to, say, a developers site... or wiki article... or anything other than the game specifically on Facebook.

Just for fun I went and looked up Candy Crush: they have a developer page.
...also... it looks like Bejeweled but with, I guess, candy.

 

[Glaice]

I don't consider Facebook games true games anyways.