What was your Game of the Year for 2013?

[ShinyCharizard]

So it's that time of year again. What was your favorite game released in 2013?

My choice:

Spoiler

Shin Megami Tensei IV.

With it's outstanding gameplay (Press Turn System rules over all), intriguing story and ridiculously good soundtrack. It's easily the game I enjoyed most this year.

Honorable mentions go to:

Fire Emblem Awakening, Tomb Raider, Bravely Default, Metal Gear Rising, Tales of Xillia, Dragon's Crown, GTA V and Assassin's Creed IV

 

[kingthrall]

Easily Shadowrun returns, everything from the cost, to unique game-play, modibility and dev support screams best game of the year.

 

[momijirabbit]

Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus. They did something right for once.
only thing wrong with this game is the Cop Out that is the RYNO VII aka the RYNO V but with purple glowsticks glued to it.

 

[Roxas1359]

Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus. They did something right for once.
only thing wrong with this game is the Cop Out that is the RYNO VII aka the RYNO V but with purple glowsticks glued to it.

Well it also plays Nightmare on Bald Mountain which was a nice touch.

OT: For me it is between Into the Nexus and Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon. I loved both games a huge amount and play them all the time.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

It's either Bioshock: Infinite or Battlefield 4. I hesitate on saying Bioshock: Infinite because of its shitty ending and that I haven't played Burial at Sea yet. I hesitate to say Battlefield 4 because despite it being a really good game, so much funner than Battlefield 3, its release has been notorious for being buggy and unfinished, and the so-called netcode problems are without a doubt the worst I've ever experienced. Delaying the DLC release (and thus delaying my precious M60E4 from the Second Assault DLC) made them lose the tiniest amount of good point, but at least they're delaying it on account of fixing the game.

The Wolf Among Us Episode 1 was good, but it took me less than three hours to beat and I was pretty underwhelmed by the detective stuff and only seeing the beginning of the story.

Metro: Last Light was really good, but I think it dumbed down too many things from Metro 2033, and I hate hate hate how the game treated all of its characters, especially Anna. Uhlman should have stayed as the comedic relief joker, but now he's serious and forgettable. Miller should have been the higher up with a conscience, but instead he's just blindly following and giving orders. Khan stayed as the mysterious badass priest, but he didn't do anything as memorable or spectacular as the "Ghosts" and "Anomaly" chapters in 2033. Anna could have been a harsh character, but instead she turns into a damsel in distress and a love interest who gets thrown out. Only Pavel and The Little One were at all memorable and I thought were handled well. The end of Pavel's arc especially is just freaky and sticks with me.

 

[Zhukov]

The Last of Us.

Loved the story, loved the ending, loved the characters, loved the dialogue, loved the performances, loved the combat.

Only complaint is the overused zombie apocalypse setting. Sure, they're slightly different zombies which is cool, but they're still basically zombies.

Runner-up goes to Bioshock Infinite. Fun if unimaginative gameplay, great setting, good story, fun dialogue.

Honorable mention to The Wolf Among Us, showing that Telltale's Walking Dead wasn't a fluke.

 

[Caiphus]

Posted it around before, but probably Fire Emblem: Awakening. Thoroughly good game. Had to nick my brother's 3DS for a couple weeks to play it, but that game was seriously good. And my first Fire Emblem game. Will be back for more.

Technically Persona 4 Golden was released in Europe/Australia/NZ this year. And that would probably edge FE: A out. But, eh. Either of those.

Two handheld games. Yeah.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

It's either Bioshock: Infinite or Battlefield 4. I hesitate on saying Bioshock: Infinite because of its shitty ending and that I haven't played Burial at Sea yet. I hesitate to say Battlefield 4 because despite it being a really good game, so much funner than Battlefield 3, its release has been notorious for being buggy and unfinished, and the so-called netcode problems are without a doubt the worst I've ever experienced. Delaying the DLC release (and thus delaying my precious M60E4 from the Second Assault DLC) made them lose the tiniest amount of good point, but at least they're delaying it on account of fixing the game.
.

Gotta agree on Battlefield 4. There is a good game there somewhere buried among the mountain of bugs and glitches. And how can the net-code be this bad after however many Battlefield games they've released. Only explanation would be that DICE are not being given enough time to finish the game.

 

[exo photogenics]

I really want to say starcraft 2: heart of the swarm but I'm personally too annoyed at blizzard keeping fans waiting so long then releasing the game in three separate parts.

I think I'm going to say fire emblem awakening.
I love the storyline (so far as I have played I have not completed it) and the gameplay it felt challenging enough without being off-putting.

I felt the character interaction was really good how helping a character in-battle reflected there relationship in the story, both that and the perma-death system though optional made the battles a lot more mentally taxing and directed your decision making, for example if you had to lose one of your characters you would pick the one you had least investment in to be a martyr and preserve the characters you felt invested in to continue effecting both your squad and the storyline.

honorable mention to: legend of Zelda: a link between worlds, wow: mop, kingdom hearts: dream drop distance, tomb raider, bioshock: infinite, dmc. (sorry if some of the games listed are not from 2013 but I have only just got round to playing some games I've been wanting to play for years)

 

[shrekfan246]

Bioshock: Infinite.

DmC has gotten the most time out of me, and Fire Emblem: Awakening, Divinity: Dragon Commander, and Tales of Xillia are honorable mentions that I wish I could judge more fully but unfortunately haven't played very far in any of them yet, but Bioshock: Infinite has taken the cake away from every other game I've played this year.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

It's either Bioshock: Infinite or Battlefield 4. I hesitate on saying Bioshock: Infinite because of its shitty ending and that I haven't played Burial at Sea yet. I hesitate to say Battlefield 4 because despite it being a really good game, so much funner than Battlefield 3, its release has been notorious for being buggy and unfinished, and the so-called netcode problems are without a doubt the worst I've ever experienced. Delaying the DLC release (and thus delaying my precious M60E4 from the Second Assault DLC) made them lose the tiniest amount of good point, but at least they're delaying it on account of fixing the game.
.

Gotta agree on Battlefield 4. There is a good game there somewhere buried among the mountain of bugs and glitches. And how can the net-code be this bad after however many Battlefield games they've released. Only explanation would be that DICE are not being given enough time to finish the game.

It's been accepted (though I don't think anyone in DICE or EA will ever confirm it) that the game was rushed out in its buggy state to beat CoD Ghosts on release date.

Some bugs and problems I don't mind being shipped out, because they're bugs that would require thousands of people playing the game constantly to find out. Remote-controlled equipment can cap flags? Sure, I can accept that. Denied revives count as teamkills? Annoying, but it's acceptable. One gun with right combinations of attachments can vastly outplay most other guns in its class? (nottalkingabouttheace23nopethereisnowayiamtalkingabouttheace23) That's something they can give a logical nerf or buff to.

Then there's bugs that are pretty inexcusable. How about the M320 Flashbang and M320 LVG crashing every time you fire it off? The only reason that made it into the game was that nobody ever fired those weapons or nobody cared you could carry game crashing weapons. How about my T-UGS that explode for no reason? Or those annoying texture bugs and unimpressive draw distance? Or all those times you're running or jumping over something and you just... fall over and die?

And the beta was off to a really good start too! Most of the bugs in the beta were texture bugs, optimization problems for the PC, or the occasional problem like when vehicles would endlessly spawn fifty feet up and explode (which was hilarious, especially when you found an attack boat in the middle of the street wrecking tanks). The beta felt like it was about balance, like the Mobile AA being too powerful against armor or the illogical action of RPGs being able to lock on, and then the full release came out and DICE can take two weeks at a time to roll out an update that makes it so the game doesn't crash every ten minutes. (And then the fix ends up breaking five more things in the game.)

 

[Catfood220]

There really is only one game of the year for me.

Puppeteer.

A charming little platformer released a few months ago which has a witty script, excellent voice acting and engaging setting. I played through Puppeteer with a smile almost constantly on my face, something no other game has done this year. So for that, Puppeteer is my game of the year.

Honourable mentions go to Tomb Raider for being basically Uncharted with a woman and I love Uncharted. And Bioshock Infinate for being the only Bioshock that I like.

There may be others that I haven't played or completed yet, but as it stands, I can't see anything changing.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

The Last of Us.
I do understand many criticisms that game gets, especially when people say that there's nothing innovative in a game, but I just don't care. Sure, in all honesty, there's nothing new that TLOU brings to the table, but so fucking what?! It is an amazing game and every single trope it uses, it uses perfectly! Yeah, it's zombie apocalypse, but they do know how to use setting for their advantage with nature that overtook the civilization. Yeah, it's another story where grizzled old man have to escort young and naive female. But that grizzled old man is the most morally ambiguous character I've ever seen, and that young and naive female is capable, funny and incredibly endearing. And their relationship is just freaking amazing! Not even Persona 3 and 4 managed to pull of the relationship between two characters so smoothly! Yeah, gameplay is kinda generic with some stealth and survival elements. But this is the first game that actually made me feel like a survivor! It made me feel scared for my life, it made me conserve my resources, use every trick up my sleeve and avoid confrontation whenever possible because risk is simply not worth it!
This one game immediately justified my purchase of PS3 and that's all I have to say.

 

[Hero of Lime]

The Legend Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. I love just about everything about it, the feel, the look, it all worked so well to make one amazing game. It even beat out A Link to the Past as my favorite top down Zelda game, that is an amazing accomplishment in itself.

Pokemon X and Y would be a close second, really had a blast with that game. Once Pokemon Bank comes out its full potential will be unleashed, and I can have even more fun with it!

 

[lapan]

Monster Hunter 3U, it gave me easily 350 hours of gameplay (and there is still stuff to do)
Bravely default is slowly growing on me too, might be about equal up.

 

[Arslan Aladeen]

Guacamelee!, Rayman: Origins, Super Mario 3D World, and I feel a little hesitant putting it on there, but Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. I Guess it would be in honorable mentions?

 

[The Wykydtron]

So it's that time of year again. What was your favorite game released in 2013?

My choice:

Spoiler

Shin Megami Tensei IV.

With it's outstanding gameplay (Press Turn System rules over all), intriguing story and ridiculously good soundtrack. It's easily the game I enjoyed most this year.

Honorable mentions go to:

Fire Emblem Awakening, Tomb Raider, Bravely Default, Metal Gear Rising, Tales of Xillia, Dragon's Crown, GTA V and Assassin's Creed IV

What, you mean that game that has yet to even have a solid release date in the EU because Atlus are lazy cunts is really good? I'm more of a Persona 4 man myself but lucky you. I'm not bitter or anything.

[sub]What is this like the 10th time now?[/sub]

OT: I don't even know, can I just pick Persona 4? Yeah i'm using Golden as an excuse to pick a PS2 game from 2009 as a 2013 game of the year. Come at me bro.

I was playing nothing but League this year because every game looked incredibly uninteresting throughout the year, I can't even remember any games apart from Bioshock Infinite and lol I am not giving that GotY.

Oh wait, the new Ace Attorney. Yeah i'll go with that, that's legit. Case 3 though. Persona 4: Ace Attorney anyone? I suspected it might have been taking inspiration from Persona 4 from the start then Athena drops "reach out to the truth" into a sentence. Yeah. I thought so.

Also P4A. The fighting mechanics in that game are brilliant, even if the story tends to bash you in the face with the same shit over and over and over and over again. YES, YOU MUST FIGHT EACH OTHER. NO, LABRYS IS NOT HUMAN. DID YOU EVEN LOOK AT THE BOX ART?

So mad that they'll inevitably pick Yu's story mode as canon. Yosuke's Story Mode was head and shoulders above the rest in quality. Come on, give the guy a break he never gets to be a badass... Though he even fucks it up when he does. Poor sod.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The Last of Us

If I finish a movie/game/TV series, and I'm walking around in a state of amazement for the next 10 minutes, it's done something very, very right. And if then it continues to spook through my head for the next few weeks, it's accomplished something astonishing.

Runner up; Assassin's Creed 4.

 

[putowtin]

Assassin's Creed Black Flag and Saints Row 4

The only two 2013 releases that I've played to completion and loved

 

[The Wykydtron]

Monster Hunter 3U, it gave me easily 350 hours of gameplay (and there is still stuff to do)
Bravely default is slowly growing on me too, might be about equal up.

What is Bravely Default like exactly? I need more 3DS games (I have one) and all I can think of getting is Fire Emblem Awakening which I hear is good.