Game of the Year 2013

[Peanut]

Its the end of the year which means a bunch of people are compiling lists of their own games of the year. So, I figured it might be fun to post our own personal lists on CAA to see not only what everyone has been playing but what people think is worth playing. To keep things orderly lets follow the following Outline:

Your Top 5-(feel free to include a short 2-3 sentence description of why the game is on your list)

Games that just missed the cut


Please keep your list to only games that were released this year unless you cannot think of 5 games from this year that you have played. I'll start things out.

1. Antichamber (I have a tie for my game of the year this year. Antichamber was, simply put, one of the best experiences in gaming I've ever had. The way it deconstructs how you deal with puzzles and then teaches you the rules of its world was a joy to go through.)
1. Divekick (Hilarious in its concept and gloriously executed. Divekick is the best 2 button, dive kicking simulation you will ever play. Its also manages to be better then a lot of games you may have played.)
3. Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm (Blizzard does a fantastic job with expansions and this is no different. It takes everything that was great with Starcraft 2 and polishes to a nice new shine while adding in some unique new units to play with.
4. FarCry 3 Blood Dragon (A game which I simply have nothing bad to say about it. It has good action, a decent amount of content for its price, and is about as 80s as you can get. If this was a different year it probably would be my game of the year.)
5. Divinity Dragon Commander (This game is a terrible RTS but has an absolutely amazing world that I throughly enjoyed. There is nothing more fun then ticking off an fantasy race that represents a specific political persuasion by denying their legislation, marrying a princess from their lands, and then proceeding to corrupt her to the point that she rejects all that they hold sacred. Oh and you can sacrifice her to a demon to gain more power if your into that sort of thing.)

Games that just missed the cut: Risk of Rain, Papers Please, Killer is Dead, Kerbal Space Program, MURI

[drill]

1) Etrian Odyssey Untold (Having a story line in the dungeon crawling franchise was a bit unexpected, but it did a fantastic job of it)
2*) Rune Factory 4 (This is a really good game that fixes a lot of problems that previous RF games had. Combat system and the character AI were probably the most noticeable things)
3) Fire Emblem Awakening (I have been waiting for a FE game where you can have an avatar again)
4) Etrian Odyssey 4 (Nice addition of 3D graphics to the dugeon crawling franchise, also nice addition of animations)
5) Pokemon Y (Pokemon was one of those games that should have stayed away from story lines as most of them are not all that great, but the addition of 3D graphics was really nice to see in a handheld Pokemon game)

*EDIT: I just got this game for Christmas, so I added it in.

[Crossfire]

Because I haven't bought many games this year, I've only decided to pick three.

1. Metal Gear Rising: Revengence
Sure, it broke away from Metal Gear Solid's Tactical Espionage Action formula, but it's still a game that, IMO, stands on its own just fine. Platinum absolutely nailed the combat mechanics, especially the precision cut mode. I've been longing for a game with this idea for many many years, and using it in Revengence feels as natural as I dreamed. Campaign was rather short and more linear than I expected, BUT I have yet to get tired of it. Hacking up cyborgs and ripping out their spine is just too fun.

2. Splinter Cell Blacklist
Before August, I thought that Chaos Theory was the Splinter Cell experience. It still is, but Blacklist came pretty darn close- even with the lack of a certain Michael Ironside. It struck a decently nice balance between the action of Conviction, and the "old-school" stealth of Chaos Theory, although the overall story was to say the least, very unbelievable. Multiplayer, while objectively better than Chaos Theory, feels like it's lacking some of the magic that made the older games tense and fun. Same can be said about pretty much any other modern game, though.

3. Wind Waker HD
Okay, I may be cheating a bit with this one. But I think it's still a solid game that's held up to the test of time. The game looks absolutely beautiful considering its age, and I got a kick out of the Miiverse integration. Triforce quest was redone too, so it's a lot more bearable than the original.

*I'll probably edit this list when/if I pick up more games during Boxing Week.

[LastLfan]

1:pokemon Y-what can I say, the story wasn't great but it did have some good moments, it's my favorite pokemon game in years.
2:injustice:gods among us-what a fighter, what a fighter
3:batman:arkham origins-not as good as city, but still an amazingly fun game
4:grid2-a great racer indeed
5:kingdom hearts 1.5-okay yes its cheating BUT someone else did it too this collection was amazing and still holds up all these days later.
I just got ni no kuni and black blag so i might change my list

[blkmage]

In no particular order:

Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies - Every few months, I'd scream out GS5 WHERE and it eventually worked, we got GS5 and it was more glorious than I could have anticipated. I had my reservations about Athena, but she grew on me as the game went along and it's nice to have a law firm full of characters.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf - The best constituent meeting simulator there is. I think it influenced my real life furniture/kitchen/clothing buying habits.

World End Economica Episode 1 - A visual novel about algorithmic trading by the author of Spice and Wolf. A long time ago, I facetiously yelled on twitter about a translation and Isuna Hasekura somehow found it and assured me an English translation was in the works. Apparently this was true.

The Stanley Parable - Clever.

jubeat saucer - Not a 2013 game, but I did manage to play copious amounts of the arcade version for the first time when I was in Singapore this summer and having big old buttons to smack feels much more satisfying than smacking a touchscreen.

[Peanut]

Seeing a lot of these lists reminds me that I need to pick up a 3DS when I have money.

[ClaecElric4God]

The newest game I've played is Skyward Sword. Sooo....

[Xeno]

In no particular order:

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Euro Truck Simulator 2 (such a chill game)
Shin Megami Tensei IV
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Game Dev Tycoon

4:grid2-a great racer indeed

Hahaha, GRID 2 was terrible.

[LastLfan]

Okay so Grid wasn't great but still, I'll switch that put with Ni no Kuni please, just got it

[Peanut]

If you liked the game then its fine for it to be on your Game of the Year list. It doesn't matter if it's "terrible" if you liked it then it can be on a list like this. Really, whether a game is good or bad is mostly subjective anyway.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

1. The Last of Us: All the feels. ALL THE FEELS. HOLY CRAP THE FEELS. SO MANY TEARS AND EMOTIONS IN THIS GAME, BRAH.

2. Star Wars: The Old Republic: Yeah I know. Released late 2011 but I didn't play it much until 2012-2013. As MMOish and grindy as it can get, it did have a bunch of great storylines for most of the classes. Haven't played in a while but I thoroughly enjoyed my experience getting to level 50 with my Imperial Agent.

3. StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm: I mean playing online with Peanut and a few others. What better thing is there to do?

4. Bioshock Infinite: I mean it's Bioshock.

And that's it. I don't have a 5th. Haven't been gaming much, really.