My Top 5 Video Games of 2013

#5: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

MGR:R is easily this year’s best hack and slash game and comes in at a solid #5 on my top 5 list. The game presents a spin-off story starring Raiden, the infamous cyborg ninja from Metal Gear Solid 4. It has excellent graphics, challenge and an amazing soundtrack that bears listening even when not playing the game. On top of all that, you just have to give bonus points to a game that uses it’s own made-up word in the title.

#4: The Last of Us

Is it supposed to be Ellen Page or isn’t it? Who cares, because the real star of this game is the intense survival action. The Last of Us has successfully captured the magic that the Resident Evil series has been trying to rekindle for years now, and does it while presenting a story that is legitimately engaging and heart-wrenching. This game mixes 3rd person shooter gameplay with challenging stealth sequences that will have you on the edge of your seat. One of my favorite aspects of this game is that it really doesn’t feel like a game when you are playing it. The areas and sections of the game are so seamlessly blended with the gameplay that’s its super easy to become engrossed while playing. This is a game that will continually be referenced in the ever-ongoing “Games vs. Art” debate for years to come.

#3: Bioshock Infinite

Another highly artistic yet undeniably addictive game, Bioshock Infinite brings all the high quality FPS action you’d expect from the Bioshock series and sets the game in a truly unique world environment. The game presents a fair amount of challenge but it’s the story’s constant twists and turns that are going to keep you glued to the game, all of which culminates to one of the most satisfying, thought-provoking endings in game history. This is another one to reference the next time you are debating your friends if video games are works of art. I feel like this game is generally on par with The Last of Us in terms of quality, but I had to rank Bioshock Infinite higher simply because I enjoyed the gameplay more.

#2: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

For RPG lovers, Ni No Kuni is a breath of fresh air in a console generation that has generally been lacking in Japanese-style RPGs. This game was developed as a joint venture between Level-5 and Studio Ghibli. If you’re not aware of these companies, crawl out of the rock you’ve been living under and just know that they represent the absolute best in their respective fields. This game has amazing anime-style graphics, a heart-warming story to tell and is overall just plain fun. It reminds me a lot of Dragon Quest VIII, another of my favorite RPGs. One of my favorite aspects of the game are the familiars, who are your characters’ counterparts in battle in the same vein as Pokemon. All of this combined with a rather long quest and post-game content makes for one of my favorite games of 2013.

#1: Grand Theft Auto V

Is this a surprise to anyone? I suspect that Grand Theft Auto V will be at the top of many gamers’ lists because it is simply that good of a game. GTAV takes everything you love about GTA and just gives you more. This game, set in fictional Los Santos, is massive and full of activities, random encounters and missions to complete. I literally don’t believe that any game has as much varied content to offer gamers as Grand Theft Auto V does. I feel that the story missions and heists were especially well done and had a good amount of variety to them, which is something I think has been a weakness in the GTA series in the past. The ability to play as 3 different characters is, surprisingly to me, very well done and keeps the game from getting too stale. The story is very interesting and has some real humanity to it which also surprised me. Basically, this game is flippin’ sweet and IMO is the best game released in 2013 (and I haven’t even talked about the extremely robust and fun online mode)!

Honorable Mentions:

DMC: Devil May Cry

I’ve already said a lot about this game here, but I wanted to mention it again because it really is one of the stand-out titles in 2013. In my mind it was a battle between this and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance for the #5 spot on this list, but I had to give it to MGR:R due to the engaging challenges that game presented. DMC is a game that faced criticism from both fans and non-fans alike, but I think that this game showed that it can and will carry the Devil May Cry pedigree in 2013 and beyond.

Dragon’s Crown

Dragon’s Crown is an under-appreciated gem of a game lost in a sea of FPS rehashes. It harkens back to a time where side-scrolling beat ’em up games were king and is effectively a love letter to the genre. It has beautifully hand-drawn graphics and sprites, engaging gameplay and a killer online co-op mode spread across a deceptively long quest. The playable characters represent different play-styles and strategies and really serve to add variety to this game. If you’re a beat ’em up fan this game is sure to be a hit with you.

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Thanks for checking out my top 5 video games in 2013 list. Do you agree with my picks? What games did I miss? Be sure to let me know in the comments.

Post-Halloween Horror Movie Review Round-Up

I watched a lot of horror movies this week, being Halloween and all. Here’s what I thought of them.

This movie is kind of boring. The plot sounds good enough on paper, but when you watch the movie it is kind of uninteresting because everything takes place in one room. This robs the movie of any kind of interesting cinematography and greatly hampers the ability to create suspense. The ending, while not overly predictable, is also not very shocking. I guess I would just describe this movie as being kind of “blah”.




Pet Sematary is an entertaining horror movie despite being somewhat dated. The story presented here is quintessential Steven King. The pace is a bit slow because the movie is filled with character exploration, although I don’t feel that these characters are among Steven King’s best. This movie has some creepy moments and does a good job of building tension, but ultimately I don’t think this movie is scary by today’s standards. Thankfully the creepy plot and endearing characters keep this movie engaging enough to allow the viewer to become caught up in atmosphere that King has created.




This movie represents the archetype for many, many similar movies to follow. It’s an absolute horror classic, almost every scene from this movie is iconic. This movie also packs some serious scares, although some of the effects look rather cheesy by today’s standards. Still, I would recommend this movie to anyone looking for good scary flick.






This movie’s pretty atrocious. The acting is horrible and the story is nonsensical. I actually really liked the original Silent Hill movie so this one was disappointing. Maybe the problem is that you have to be familiar with the Silent Hill video games in order to appreciate this? At the very least this movie has some creepy visuals and CGI but the acting especially really brings this one down.






This one surprised me, it was a lot better than I thought it would be. The plot revolves around some genuinely disturbing imagery that feed into the overall mood and tone of the movie. There are several plot twists that really keep you guessing and ultimately culminate to an unorthodox yet satisfying ending.






This is an entertaining albeit somewhat goofy horror flick. There is lots of gore, gross-outs and some comedic moments as well. My biggest criticism of this movie is that it is kind of disjointed. The plot jumps around between characters and is somewhat difficult to follow, but honestly this doesn’t detract from the film too much. Check this one out if you are looking for a gory alien horror flick.

Just Doing God’s Work (DmC prank call)

Dante, disturbed by what he believes to be demonic subliminal messages during a recent news broadcast, decides to call his local news station and complain.

Platinum Report: DmC: Devil May Cry

I got the platinum for DmC: Devil May Cry. I had been looking forward to playing this game for a long time and let me tell you I was not disappointed! Here are some of my thoughts on the game.

First of all, let me address the issue of the reboot/Dante redesign. Like many hardcore Devil May Cry fans I was skeptical about Capcom’s decision to redesign the DmC characters and reboot the series, but I figured as long as the combat and gameplay were top notch I would enjoy the game just fine.

Once I had the game in hand and started playing, I actually started to appreciate the reboot. The newly redesigned DmC world is a world parallel to our own, but the twist is that demons are controlling the populace with subliminal messages and media propaganda. So you spend the game fighting demons and eventually face Mundus, whose appearance and role in the series has been completely revamped. Plot-wise the game draws elements from Devil May Cry 1 and 3 and I think it really sets the foundation for future successful DmC sequels.

In terms of the combat, this game offers the same addictive gameplay that is expected of a Devil May Cry game. Most of Dante’s signature moves and weapons are back, which makes the combat instantly recognizable. The problem for me and most fans of the series is that the difficulty this time around has been severely reduced. I think that maybe the developers were trying to keep this game from being overly difficult so as not to scare away new players to the series. To give you an idea of the difficulty reduction (and this is entirely my opinion), I would say that playing DmC on ‘Dante Must Die’ mode is easier than playing Devil May Cry 4 on ‘Son of Sparda’ mode. While the game is easier this time around there is still challenge to be had on the upper difficulties should you wish to attempt them. DmC isn’t as brutal as past Devil May Cry games, which may be a plus or negative for you depending how much of a gamer you are.

Surprisingly, the shining star in this game is the level design. The game offers some of the most creative levels and backdrops I’ve seen in a while, there are even some fun platforming sections that do a good job of breaking up the combat. DmC also has great bosses, some of which I found genuinely disturbing my first time through the game.

All in all, I liked this game a lot. Sure there are things that I would like to see changed for DmC2, but I am just happy that Devil May Cry is back and getting the attention it deserves. To me, this game will always be the king of the hack ‘n slash genre.