This will be broken into two sections, first is my GOTY awards, next post will be my year in review where I breakdown everything I played. Well lets give out some awards! What would a Dvader trophy look like? Solid Snake with Wesker glasses holding the master sword maybe.

Anyway 2013 was a fantastic year for games. Great bounce back from the awful 2012. This year is all about the variety in gaming experience, mainly from the "indie" scene exploding into the mainstream. It saw some mega budget releases that lived up to the hype. Oh and there were new consoles released, remember that? That was exciting for like one night.

My awards will be a little different as I wont be doing genre awards, I don't feel I played a wide variety of genres this year so I am sticking to miscellaneous awards, then my top 10.

To start here are the games from 2013 that I have beaten (I played but didn't finish a few others)

Games Finished:

1. DmC
2. Metal Gear Rising
3. Tomb Raider
4. God of War Ascension
5. Bioshock Infinite
6. Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon
7. The Last of Us
8. Luigi�s Mansion Dark Moon
9. New Super Luigi U
10. Duck Tales Remastered
11. Rayman Origins
12. GTAV
13. Sonic Lost World
14. Wonderful 101
15. Super Mario 3D World
16. Resogun
17. Zelda ALBW
18. Killzone Shadow Fall
19. Need for Speed Rivals
20. Gone Home
21. The Stanley Parable
22. Batman Arkham Origins
23. Papers, Please
24. Marvel Puzzle Quest
25. Brothers
26. Castle of Illusion HD
27. Battlefield 4

Miscellaneous Awards

Best Graphics:  Battlefield 4

Well the PS4 was good for something, amazing looking graphics. Perhaps PC people have been experiencing this for years but this is my first taste of perfect smooth 1080p, perfect frame rate graphics and BF4 is definitely the most impressive of the PS4 launch games visually.

Runner up:  Killzone Shadow Fall

Best Music: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

This has some of the most impressive music I have ever heard and it is coming from a portable device. It feels like the Zelda Symphony is in my pocket. Every instrument comes through clearly, there is a certain level of nuance to the score I rarely hear in games. Most of the score involves amazing versions of some classic Zelda tunes so while it may not be the most original score it is the best.

Runner up: Super Mario 3D World

Best Non-sequel: The Last of Us

This was a very easy pick as TLOU is one of the best games of this year. There were many new original games this year, many indie titles but none of them reach the heights TLOU does. This has monster sequel potential even though the story is perfect as one game. I think this universe has more characters to share with us.

Runner Up: Wonderful 101

Best Story: The Last of Us

Quite possibly the best story I have ever experienced in a game. TLOU may not just be one of the best games I play this year but also one of the best movies I have seen all year. Rarely do I feel the need to talk about the story of any game, I spent two hours talking about it with my brother one night, that never happens. It has such real characters with amazing character growth which makes the player care greatly about these characters and then pulls no punches with an ending that leaves you emotionally exhausted. Just brilliant.

Runner Up: Bioshock Infinite

Biggest Disappointment: Sonic Lost World

Stop laughing; yes I expected a Sonic game that takes Mario Galaxy as an inspiration to be great. It seemed that Sonic Team has turned the franchise around with some great entries lately. There was no way this was going to be bad... its bad.

Runner up: Tearaway

Best Online Multiplayer: The Last of Us

Man this game is winning a lot of awards. Not only is the story and campaign fantastic I found that the multiplayer in TLOU to be great. It was not deep so after 10 hours or so it does get very repetitive but those 10-15 hours were the most fun I had online all year. My friends Solid, Travo, F1, and all the others that joined in absolutely helped make this multiplayer so special. I loved playing with you guys.

Runner up: Killzone SF

Best Character: Trevor Phillps

What is not to love about a totally psychotic murdering asshole. Trevor is the Joker of the GTA universe. Every scene with him involved was simply electric. Just when you think you understand him he does something totally unexpected, then moments later does something else that just contradicted what occured. He is the best thing about GTAV, I cannot wait for more Trevor in the DLC.

Runner up: Joel

Best Voice Acting: Troy Baker

One guy was Booker, Joel and The Joker all in one year?! Who is this magnificent person? It is Troy Baker who is easily the best voice actor in games right now. His performance as Joel is one for the ages, that is not an easy role, he is the completely opposite of bombastic and over the top. The Joker on the other hand is just that and Baker pulls that performance off just as well. He does it all.

Runner up: Stephen Ogg (Trevor)

Worst game: Gone Home

I wouldn't even classify this as a game but because of stupid things called definitions it has to be categorized as a game. Well it is a terrible game. You do nothing but read a diary and walk. A complete waste of time and money. Go watch the story on youtube, don't even bother with this tripe.

Runner Up: Sonic Lost World

Most Addicting game: Marvel Puzzle Quest

Don't play this free to play game. Seriously don't go on steam or your phone app store and download this amazingly addicting puzzle game. You don't want hours of your life wasted away on building an awesome super team of marvels best characters. Why would you ever want to play an awesome puzzle game with Marvel characters? Don't do it.

Runner Up: GTAV

Best game I played not from 2013 : FTL

Holy crap what a game. This is how you do indie. It takes a unique interesting concept and creates a rogue like game that is super addicting with so much to unlock and see that it can take 90 hours to see it all. Somehow even though you are sort of performing the same actions over and over, each run feels new in some way. Great design, great game, I should have bought this the second it came out.

Best Developer: Nintendo EAD

What other developer released two of the best games of the year on the same day; not only two games but two games of two totally different genres. The new Mario and Zelda introduced new ideas and mechanics to create two more masterpieces in these legendary franchises. These two games show that no one comes close to understanding game design as Nintendo EAD does. They are the greatest developers of all time and continue to be to this day.

Runner Up: Naughty Dog

Best Publisher: Nintendo

They had an incredible year, there was no competition. They start off with the excellent Fire Emblem, Luigi's Mansion, and Animal Crossing which to most publishers is about as many great games they will publish in one year. That was just the appetizer. Mario and Luigi, Pikmin 3, Pokemon, Wonderful 101 and then it ends with a new Mario and Zelda. It is not even close. Look at the variety of games; look at the amount of genres they cover, look at the consistent quality in every title. This was one of Nintendo's best years.

Runner Up: Sony

Asshole award for biggest dick move of 2013: EA for launching a broken Battlefield 4

Did you know that Battlefield 4 was almost unplayable FOR A MONTH on the PS4. I didn't even try to get online cause it was a disaster so I decided to try the campaign, oh but there was a glitch that would randomly delete your save file so not even that worked. How does this happen?! What is crazier is that no one really called them out on it, a few articles here and there but BF4 scores stayed the same.

Runner up: Ruining and almost breaking NBA2K14 after its released

Best System: 3DS

We reached the end of a generation so the current consoles had a few big goodbyes but was lacking in the usual string of quality titles. The Nintendo Wii U is a wasteland with a few gems so forget that. The system that had the best overall year was the 3DS, from beginning to end this bad boy had great game after great game in all sorts of genres. I will mention my runner up cause it is crazy for me to ever give PC any credit but this year it really had a stellar year with crazy huge amounts of original titles in genres I actually care about, it wasn't a sea of FPSs or strategy games. It was an old school game resurgence with a little bit of crazy thrown in. That said I still think the bigger budget larger in scope games are better.

Runner up: PC

Top Ten Games of 2013

10. Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon                  

An extremely joyful, unique puzzle adventure game which is pure fun from start to finish.

9. Tomb Raider

A great big budget TPS that hits all the right notes and adds some nice exploration elements.

8.  DmC Devil May Cry

If you tell me that Ninja Theory would pull off a DMC game I would think you are crazy but they did just that. This is a great action game and worthy of the DMC name.

7. Rayman Legends

The best 2D platformer of the year because of the excellent variety and always interesting level design.

6. Wonderful 101

Kamiya's latest masterpiece is an action fans dream come true. It is a game that continues to surprise the player with new elements and crazy boss battles. It is all wrapped up in a Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic which creates fits the style of the game perfectly.

5. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

The latest in this legendary franchise is a love letter to all old school Zelda fans. ALBW cuts all the fat that has been filling the last few Zelda�s and gets back to what makes this franchise great; action, exploration and puzzles. The changes to the formula are minor, in reality this is the most traditional Zelda game in years and that is exactly what was needed.

4. Bioshock Infinite

A grand sci-fi adventure where the shooting is only part of the equation. What makes the gameplay so unique are the skyhooks that allow the player to soar to the battlefield all while summoning objects out of thin air and using multiple super powers. The action feels like controlled chaos; it is such a blast to experiment and play.  With one of the most beautiful settings I have ever seen in a game and a sci-fi story that had me engaged from start to mind-blowing finish, it is absolutely worthy of being one of the best games of the year.

3. Super Mario 3D World

This is pure unadulterated Mario. It is the 3D Mario that feels closest to a 2D Mario which leads to having the best of both worlds. Nearly every level introduces some new gameplay idea or a level design moment that makes the player smile. This is fun in a box, this is gaming in its purest form. It may never reach the heights of Galaxy but it definitely gets to join the Mario hall of fame.

..........

And now there are two, this was not an easy choice. If you ask me my GOTY back in October it would have been GTAV but as the months went by I never thought of that game again. TLOU on the other hand has been imprinted in my mind, I think back to it and think wow what a journey you go through in that game. I had the most fun playing GTA this year, that said I was actually let down a bit since I don�t think it is as good as it could have been. I am going to choose the game that sticks out to me the most, TLOU wowed me more than any game this year.

2. Grand Theft Auto V

I love GTA, I could lose myself for nearly a month just exploring every nook and cranny or trying every side quest. GTAV was a return to what the series should be about, fun and mayhem. The vehicles controlled so much better than in GTAIV, the shooting was improved, and everything in terms of controls is the best the series has ever seen. Los Santos is one of the most diverse gaming worlds I have ever experienced and the way the story fits into every aspect of the game world from the radio, to the internet makes it feel so real.

Then there is the cast and the biggest gameplay addition which is the ability to change between three characters at almost any time. While Trevor steals the show, the other two are interesting in their own way and even though these are horrible people for some reason you end up rooting for them. The gameplay reaches incredible highs when missions are designed to offer strategy when the player changes from character to character. Sadly this does not happen often; neither do the advertised heists that the game was supposed to be about.

I felt the potential for the greatest GTA was there but the mission design was sorely lacking. Even though I loved my time with GTA it simply should have been better.

Game of the Year

I believe this game represents the best example of gaming and storytelling coming together we have ever seen in this medium. Not only is The Last of Us the best game I played this year it may also be the best movie I have seen all year. It had a level of acting that felt real, a relationship as powerful as ones you find in movies and a story that left me floored. The second I finished TLOU I wanted to find other people who played it just so I can talk about what I just experienced for hours on end. I find that rarely happens with games, Naughty Dog has raised the bar.

But none of that would matter if it played like crap and thankfully this is an excellent survival horror title. By restricting the amount of ammo available the gun battles have a more powerful feel than most games do. Every bullet shot means something, gun battles have a visceral feel rarely felt  in games. The stealth mechanics are very well done as well. What I love most about stealth action games is what I call the playground effect where you have a location with enemies and you use your abilities to get through the location in all sorts of interesting ways. The best of these games allow the player to go through the same sections in a huge variety of ways. While TLOU is more limited than a MGS it still has that spirit which makes these games so compelling.

Naughty Dog has become the masters of the action setpiece and once again they flex their muscle with many moments that blew me away. There is a great ebb and flow to the action; just when things are getting too quiet the action ramps up, your adrenaline starts pumping and the game reaches incredible highs. Winter in particular is one of the best designed gameplay segments I have ever played; it has everything dialed up to ten. The dramatic tension is at its highest, the story hits the climax all while the gameplay is reaching the max potential with the best stealth moments and a great boss battle.

I can go on and on, this game is a masterpiece. It may not be flawless, for instance it starts very slow and ends on a low note from a gameplay perspective but it is still the best experience I had playing a game all year. It not only kept me engaged as a player but kept me emotionally invested in the story, a feat very few games pull off.

Its time to look back as I do every year and see what I bought, what I played and break it all down. You can view last years review here.  Last year I got 76 new games and spent about $2100. I think I went down on that number this year as I bought less new and really went for deals. I expect the average score of the games I played to increase from last year as this year was way better. I do not think I played a wide variety of genres like I did last year, lets see.

Games I bought/receieved (this does not count Plus games as those are through a service):

PS4

• PS4
• Plus 2 years
• Battlefield 4
• Killzone Shadow Fall
• Need for Speed Rivals
• Assassin's Creed 4
• NBA 2K14

PS3

• DmC
• Metal Gear Rising
• Bioshock Infinite
• The Last of Us
• House of the Dead Overkill
• Machinarium
• Velocity
• Doom 3 BFG
• Duck Tales Remastered
• Cloudberry Kingdom
• Castle of Illusion
• Castle of Illusion HD
• GTAV
• FFXIV Reborn
• Batman Arkham Origins

360

• Tomb Raider
• State of Decay
• Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon
• Rage
• Mass Effect Trilogy

Wii U

• Mighty Switch Force
• Super Metroid
• Super Mario World
• New Super Luigi U
• Lego City
• Wonderful 101
• Super Mario 3D World
• Rayman Legends
• Sonic Lost World
• Wii Fit U (balance board)

3DS

• Professor Layton Miracle Mask
• Luigi's Mansion DM
• Super Mario Land 2
• Pushmo
• Castlevania Mirror
• Zelda OoS
• Zelda OoA
• Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
• Zelda ALBW

Vita

• Tearaway
• Touch my Katamari
• 8GB card x2

PC

• L4D2
• FTL
• Universe Sandbox
• Organ Trail
• System Shock 2
• Surgeon Simulator 2013
• Half-Life 2
• Terriaria
• Amnesia
• La Mulana
• Fallout
• Fallout 2
• Fallout Tactics
• Puzzle Quest 2
• They Bleed Pixels
• Medal of Honor
• Mirror's Edge
• Dead Space
• Dead Space 3
• Crysis 2
• Burnout Paradise
• Trine 2
• Mark of the Ninja
• Brutal Legend
• Eets Munchies
• Witcher
• Stanley Parable
• Gunpoint
• Gone Home
• VVVVVV
• Rogue Legacy
• Papers, Please
• Electronic Super Joy

Total Number of Games: 80

Estimated Cost (Including all deals)~ $1,600

The amount of games I got went up but the amount I paid went down, good sign. Still a ton of money. Only one piece of hardware in the PS4, spent a lot of money on everything surrounding the PS4. Steam sales and humble bundle helped a ton, as you can see from the PC section exploding. New games costs so much, even with $10 off most of them.

Games Finished In 2013:

First time completions (by order of my rating)

1. The Last Of Us - 9.5
2. GTAV - 9.5
3. Super Mario 3D World - 9.4
4. Bioshock Infinite - 9.3
5. Zelda ALBW - 9.3
6. LBP Vita - 9.2
7. FTL - 9.2
8. Rayman Legends - 9.2
9. Wonderful 101 - 9.1
10. DmC - 9.0
11. Xenoblade - 8.9
12. Sleeping Dogs - 8.9
13. Tomb Raider - 8.8
14. Super Meat Boy - 8.8
15. Luigi's Mansion DM - 8.8
16. Metal Gear Rising - 8.7
17. Fez - 8.7
18. Banjo Kazooie - 8.7
19. Bulletstorm - 8.6
20. The Walking Dead - 8.5
21. Rage - 8.4
22. Far Cry Blood Dragoon - 8.3
23. GoW Ghost of Sparta - 8.2
24. Kingdom Hearts 3D - 8.1
25. GoW Ascension - 8.0
26. HotD Overkill - 8.0
27. Hotline Miami - 8.0
28. NSLBU - 8.0
29. Stanley Parable - 8.0
30. Far Cry 3 - 7.8
31. Game of Thrones - 7.8
32. Binding of Isaac - 7.8
33. Super Mario Land 2 - 7.7
34. Little Inferno - 7.7
35. Pilotwings- 7.7
36. Duck Tales Remastered  - 7.7
37. Yakuza 2 - 7.6
38. La Mulana - 7.5
39. 999 - 7.5
40. Killzone Shadow Fall - 7.4
41. Kid Icarus Uprising - 7.3
42. Need for Speed Rivals - 7.2
43. Resogun - 7.2
44. Max Payne 3 - 7.0
45. Sonic Colors DS - 7.0
46. Gravity Rush - 6.9
47. Fable 2 - 6.9
48. Monster World 4 - 6.8
49. Spec Ops The Line - 6.8
50. Kirby's Epic Yarn - 6.7
51. Dragon's Dogma - 6.5
52. Galaga Legions DX - 6.4
53. Bully - 6.1
54. Organ Trail - 5.9
55. The Thing - 5.8
56. Sonic Lost World - 5.6
57. Dark Void Zero - 5.5
58. Metal Slug XX - 5.0
59. Battlefield 3 - 4.6
60. Gone Home - 3.0

Average Score: 7.5

Games Already Beaten

1. Nights Into Dreams
2. Zelda: Skyward Sword
3. RE Revelations
4. Zelda MM
5. Doom
6. Super Metroid
7. Castle of Illusion
8. Zelda: OoS
9. Dark Souls

Total Games Beaten : 69

Platform Breakdown:

• PS3 - 16
• 360 - 14
• 3DS - 8
• PC - 8
• Wii U - 7
• Wii - 4
• PS4 - 3
• Vita - 3
• DS - 2
• PS2 - 2
• GC - 1

As expected PS3 and 360 are still my mains but as I made the list 360 was big early then it went all PS3. I went from finishing no PC games last year to 8 this year! It was the year of the PC. 3DS was high on the list as well, best portable out there. Contrary to popular belief there is stuff to play on Wii U, though some of it is really old games.

Genre Breakdown:

• Action/adventure - 28
• Platformer - 12
• FPS - 8
• RPG - 6
• Shoot em up- 4
• Misc - 3
• Puzzle - 2
• Adventure - 2
• Strategy - 1
• Racing - 1

Nice variety there, I didnt think I played that many RPGs, though most were of the action kind. Action/Adventure is a given, so is platformer. Second year in a row that I play a lot of FPSs.

Franchise Breakdown:

• Zelda - 4
• Super Mario - 3
• God of War - 2
• Far Cry - 2
• Sonic - 2

Very few franchise plays this year, Zelda tops the list after having no Zelda games last year. Last years winner RE only had one entry. As usual I play at least 2 Sonic and Mario games a year. I need to do a franchise playthrough of a series this year.

Publisher Breakdown:

• Nintendo - 14
• Indie - 10
• Sony - 7
• Sega - 7
• Take 2 - 5
• Capcom - 5
• Ubi-soft - 4
• EA - 3
• Square - 2
• Namco - 2
• Konami - 2
• Microsoft - 2
• Id - 2

Nintendo is king again! As it should be. Last year MS was the leader, ugh. But the story of the year is the Indie titles, I finished 10 indie games this year, that is crazy for me, I am Mr. Mainstream. Sega always gets some play from me. Capcom had a decent showing even though they did nothing this year.  I was heavy on Take 2 this year, I include Rockstar in that. I finished 3 EA games, which is 2 to much.

​

I have a lot to say about this. Will get back later.

Foolz said:

69, huh? So I still beat you even without Killzone 2.

When you said your GOTY was a surprise awhile back, I thought it was going to go to GTAV because before that you'd told me TLOU was your GOTY thus far (on the KZ4 Podcast).

Great shit dude.

I counted Walking Dead as one game. Did you do that? I have lost track of who counts what as what.

I meant it would be a surprise to me cause I still had not settled on a pick. By the time I was on that podcast my mind was already settling on TLOU. I tried to play GTAV to see if it would make me chose it but I didn't feel it. GTAV is just going to end up being another great GTA in a long line of great GTA games. TLOU is what I will really remember from this year.

Look at the general media picks for GOTY and compare that to my top 5. LOL, I am so mainstream.

My most contrarian reviews are anytime some non game gets praise.

Dvader said:

Look at the general media picks for GOTY and compare that to my top 5. LOL, I am so mainstream.

My most contrarian reviews are anytime some non game gets praise.

It's true. ven thought  you don;t particularly enjoy FPs or RPG you somehow always align with the mainstream.

Oh! I just noticed this now. At 8:15AM in the morning, just before I'm about to hop on a train. I'll have to read it later!

bugsonglass said:

Pikmin 3?  Why you got to be hating man?

I didnt play it.

This post boggles my mind. Teh stats!

gamingeek said:

Great writeup, you played Lego City? I thought you just tried the opening with a rental?

Yes that is all I played. Thanks for reading guys!