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.
