The Walking Dead Season Two, Clementine Strikes Back

It's hard to talk about Telltale's Walking Dead games without spoilers, so I'll keep it short.  These videogame versions of the "choose your own adventure" books of my youth continue to raise the bar for storytelling in the medium.  While season one took a serious stab at a truly heart-wrenching story and was successful to a degree that I did not believe was possible with a videogame, season two is a great tale of Clem's coming of age in the WD universe.  While it may not have the "punch in the gut" impact of season one, it continues the tale and tone that the first season established so well.  It was not without it's downsides and questionable moments, but those are so overshadowed by the overall package that I could easily put the blinders on for those moments.  Cannot wait for season 3!  Hopefully Telltale will allow us to transfer save files from the 360 to the PS4.

...and Injustice for all.

Having tons of fun with Injustice: Gods Among Us.  I had heard tell of the great single player story, and wow did I hear right!  This changes everything for fighting games.  I had fun with Street Fighter IV, but I don't ever have the living room full of willing fighting game players that I did in my 20's when we had a constant Tekken 3 beatdown going on.  So there's only so many times I can fight my way through eight guys to get to the boss at the end, and then watch a terrible cut scene that makes a weak attempt at a laughable story.  Injustice throws that formula, which has been in place as long as fighting games have been on consoles, right in the trash and replaces it with a great superhero multi-universe cross over.  Of course it's ridiculous, but it's fun to follow and explains how Oliver Queen can punch Superman and actually hurt him doing so.

Fly like the wind

Last week I was finally able to complete The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. A fantastic game, and I can tell that the changes that were made to the Wii U version were all for the better in terms of cutting out the unnecessary fat. The game has catapulted itself into my top ten all time list, which I suppose looks like this nowadays...

1. Super Mario Bros
2. The Elder Scrolls Series (IV and V)
3. Portal Series (1 and 2)
4. Final Fantasy VII
5. Grand Theft Auto 3
6. Bioshock
7. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
8. Half Life 2
9. Metal Gear Solid
10. Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

I'm going to have to refine it a bit, but this is what I'll go with for today.

Vacation 3DS love

Last week during my kid's spring break we were fortunate enough to take a vacation to Florida.  During our time on the plane and downtime at the crib there, I spent more time with my 3DS than I have in quite a while.  Got back on track with Sticker Star again and enjoyed a lot of multiplayer with my kids and brother.  Notably, we spent most of our time with Four Swords and Mario Kart 7, and I was reminded how fun these titles are.  Had a blast and when I returned to the frozen north I did something I haven't done in years, pre-ordered.  Paid for Mario Golf and Mario Kart 8, two titles I'm 100% sure we'll be happy with.  Now I just have to wait a month for them...

Killzone: Shadow Meh

Some good, some bad.  I'm glad I bought Shadow Fall as my launch game, but it will ultimately be forgettable years down the road.

I would be remiss if I didn't state my opinion that "Killzone" is the worst name for a series in videogames and I'm actually afraid to tell non-gaming adults that I'm playing a game called "Killzone."

Past that fact, this is a pretty game.  Definitely happy with how it showed off my new hardware.  The outside environments don't really stack up to AC4, but the cities are fantastic looking, and at times the scenery (especially seen from afar) is breathtaking.  The combat is fun shooter action and the owl adds to the gameplay nicely.

The downsides are somewhat brain dead enemies, a story that only sort of makes sense, and a few infuriatingly difficult sections.

Haven't touched the multiplayer yet, so well see how that goes...

The end of Kenway's quest

Finished Assassin's Creed IV last night, and although I've probably gushed enough about it on here I did just want to comment on the story quickly.  Having only played AC1 before this game, I must say that I enjoyed this story quite a bit.  By no means did it stack up to some of my favorites, but it was perfectly serviceable for how much fun the entire game experience was.  This game truly took the action genre to the next level and also took GTA's "sandbox" style where it's never gone before.  One of my all time favorites for sure.

Also, FF XIV dropped their Beta on the PS4 this week.  The only MMO I've ever spent any real time with is FF XI, and I had a LOT of fun with that game.  That said, XIV immediately sunk it's teeth in.  The subscription fee is not in the budget once it launches for real in April, but I may have to make some room for it...

My 2013 Top Ten

Looking back, 2013 was a great year for games.  My 360 had great AAA games all year, and the "games with gold" promotion filled my hard drive to the bursting point with some quality titles as well.  The 3DS had an awesome year, with WAY more quality games than we could devote time to in my household.  And finally, the holidays brought a PS4 and Wii U into our living room as well.

What follows are my favorite games that I completed in 2013.  Games with a story that I made it all the way through.  Unlike most "best of" lists, these are not all games that were released in 2013, they are simply the games that I spent my time on last year.  Each one of these is great, and worth your attention if you have not experienced them.  Enjoy...

10) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

One of the all time classics.  Ocarina brought Zelda into the realm of 3D and was a breakthrough achievement in it's day.  I finally was able to experience it this year, and although I would say that it hasn't aged as well as most critics seem to believe, it's easy to see why everyone holds this game in such high regard.

9) New Super Mario Bros Wii

Super Mario Bros made my head explode as a child as it was light years beyond the blocky experiences that Atari had provided before the NES hit my living room.  As the formula becomes more refined over the years, it just gets better and better.

8) Super Paper Mario

The only Mario RPG I've played before this year, is probably my favorite DS game of all time, Bowser's Inside Story.  Super Paper Mario is a different beast all together, but both are kooky JRPG games that strive to have fun, instead of taking themselves seriously.  This is another gem, and I need to make time to play the other Mario RPG's as well, if these two games are an indication of their quality and fun experiences.  Bonus points because you get to be Bowser!

7) Kid Icarus: Uprising

I'll start right off the bat by saying that this game had one of the worst control scheme's in history.  It literally hurt your hand to play.  That said, this fact was overshadowed by the amount of character that this game exuded.  The constant jokes about old games and current pop-culture were top notch, and had me laughing my way throughout.  The entire group of characters in this game were very well developed and played well off of each other.  A triumph of character the likes that I have not experienced since Glados.

6) Diablo III

I've always enjoyed "Diablo-style" games in the past.  Balder's Gate 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance have been some of my favorite co-op experiences of all time.  Diablo III was my first real taste of the grand daddy of the genre, and it definitely lives up to the hype.  It's too bad that the story is so forgettable, however the RPG level up and loot experience is a blast.

5) Luigi's Haunted Mansion: Dark Moon

What a great game!  What makes this one of my favorite games is that Nintendo has again managed to come up with an experience that is totally unique.  The type of action that is required to first surprise the ghosts, and then suck them up is unlike the experience that you can have in any other action game ever made.  It's not often that uniqueness on this level occurs in the genre or medium anymore.

4) Bioshock Infinite

The first Bioshock is one of my all time favorites, and the hype was huge for this AAA follow up.  While it was not nearly as good as the original, it was still a great experience, and it had me thinking about and debating the story for weeks afterwards.

3) Halo 4

This game suffered from having a truly great sci-fi story that it couldn't quite manage to get it across in it's convoluted cut-scenes.  That said Halo is still the greatest FPS in my opinion, and this one didn't skip a beat while changing developers.  It's also my number one co-op experience, hands down.  I will definitely miss the adventures of the Chief and Cortana, having switched camps from xbox to playstation this generation.  I'm counting on Destiny to heal the pain...

2) Fallout 3

I know, I know.  I don't know why it took me until 2013 to play this game.  Bethesda flat out makes my favorite type of game.  They don't quite nail down the action the way that I hope they some day will, but the gigantic open worlds stretch my imagination in the way that no other games do.  Absolutely one of the greatest games of all time.

1) The Walking Dead

Lee and Clementine came out of nowhere to steal my heart.  I read other's debates over whether or not this is a "game" and I could care less.  It's one of the best interactive stories I've ever experienced.  The way this game created a sense of genuine concern for it's characters was unlike what we are used to in this medium, and the emotional impact of the ending raised the bar for every story-based game moving forward.

The best games I didn't play in 2013

As everyone's "Best of 2013" list hit the internet (I'll try to do my own soon,) when I was thinking back to 2013 this morning, the games I didn't play came to mind instead...

3) Grand Theft Auto V

I'm a huge grand theft auto fan.  I own every console version of the series with the exception of China Town Wars, which I need to get as well.  I've beaten the main story in every game since III.  Even though I'm an adult who is a parent and considers himself a pacifist, the awesome variety of gameplay and open worlds of gta continue to have me looking past the terrible teenage bathroom humor and debauchery for shock value alone, as I run to the store with $60 outstretched for each new version.

With V I resisted.  Why?  My brand new PS4 is why.  I'm still certain that they will release a "best of" version for the PS4.  If rockstar decides against doing so then I guess I'll still have a reason to fire up my 360 this summer, but in the meantime I've got plenty of new games to enjoy through the rest of this winter/spring.

2) Fire Emblem Awakening

Zelda: ALBW, Rune Factory IV, 2 Etrian Odysseys, Shin Megami Tensei IV, Mario and Luigi: Dream Team...  The 3DS had an awesome year for JRPG's, but it seems that everyone agrees that Fire Emblem was not only the cream of the JRPG crop, but one of the best games of all genres and systems in 2013.

It's still on my must buy/experience list for sure, but my backlog as I sit today is too large for me to consider fitting this one in.  I'll have to re-evaluate around my birthday in April.

3) The Last of Us

EVERYONE'S hands down favorite game of 2013, and I missed the boat because I never owned a PS3.  I believe that this game and Journey are the only reasons I regret that decision.

The good news is the moment Playstation Now is launched I'll be on board and buying this game.  The day could not come quick enough.

All AC4, all the time.

I simply cannot get enough of Assassin's Creed 4.  I can't believe how much it has improved upon the AC formula.  Having only beat AC1, I was surprised how far they have come and now look forward to playing the older games to see if this was a gradual progression or new to this game.  It's unbelievable to me how many different types of gameplay there are to enjoy, from the "standard" missions, to naval warfare, to fishing, to diving, to upgrading the home base, to the fleet missions, to checkers.  It's insane.  I've NEVER spent as much time doing side quests in a game.  When I look back to my favorite games of the past few years, (skyrim, bioshock, halo, borderlands) I have a tough time not putting this game close to #1 of all time.  We'll have to see how the end game plays out.

D3

Quack. Quack. Quack...

So my brother and I sent Diablo back to hell last week.  Finishing Diablo III after a few months of mashing on his minions.

I've never really played the pc sensation, having only played Diablo II briefly with the bad PS1 port.  (One of the few old school "tall" PS1 cases I've ever had)  That said, I can't get enough of the genre, and have played everything I could get my hands on, from Balder's gate on the PS2 to Marvel Ultimate Alliance on the 360.  I enjoy the grind-fest, loot, level up, repeat gameplay although I can't even say why.  This was my first go at the grand-daddy and it is definitely one of the best.

The story is so bad it's a joke.  I can't believe that all the reviews fail to really elaborate on just how bad it is.  I've sat through some of the worst videogame stories there are, and I always follow them through.  This was the first game in a long time that I had no problem skipping through the dialog towards the end.

The game is so good that I can easily look past the story and enjoy it for what it is, especially when playing it co-op.  The gameplay and pacing is perfect, and even with the throw away story we could have kept doing it twice as long as it took to reach the end.  (and probably will)