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.

The 8 Stages of VR 18 (Metal Gear Rising)

First Attempt
You may not even realize that this is a “one-hit KO” challenge at first. You take out the first wave easily by baiting the Gekko’s bum-rush and countering, the same technique you’ve been using the majority of the game. It’s not until you get killed by the Mastiff’s drop kick that you realize what you are in for.
“One-hit KO? This is going to be tough.”

Stage 1: Denial
After a couple hours of failed attempts, you start to blame the mission for being too difficult and unfair.
“The stupid camera keeps getting me killed!”

Stage 2: More Denial
By this point you’ve mastered perfect parrying the Mastiffs only to subject yourself to the horror of wave 3.
“That laser attack is so unfair!”

Stage 3: Anger
You’re seeing red. Your gameplay is starting to suffer due to your lack of focus. You start to spout expletives in a vain attempt to vent your frustration. Sadly for many, the game disc itself does not survive this stage.
“[EXPLETIVE DELETED] [EXPLETIVE DELETED] [EXPLETIVE DELETED]!!!”

Stage 4: Bargaining
You start to realize that success in this mission is highly dependant on the actions of the enemy AI. You beg the game for mercy.
“If only the enemy AI would just do what I want it to do!”

Stage 5: Acceptance
After hours and hours of failed attempts, you finally accept your defeat. Your eyes are getting heavy, your reflexes are slowed and your drive has been all but squashed.
“Forget this, it’s not worth it.”

Stage 6: Research
You start to watch YouTube videos and read forum threads about the mission, hoping to discover some kind of tactic or exploit to make the mission more manageable.
“This guy on YouTube makes it look so easy…”

Stage 7: Revengeance!
You’ve gotten a good night’s sleep and return to the game with a clear head and renewed motivation. You’re parrying and dodging like a pro, Raiden on the screen looks like poetry in motion. You embarrass the Mastiffs and trick the Fenrir into killing his own entourage. You obliterate the Grad using the tactial Sai stun lock trick you saw on YouTube.
“Holy crap, I actually did it!!”

Stage 8: All That Heavenly Glory
You are elated now. You triumphantly proclaim “I beat VR mission 18!!!” on your Facebook status. No one knows what you’re talking about.
“I wonder what VR 19 is like?”

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (PS3) Review

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a fun game. It’s fast-paced, colorful and it’s got a great and varied character roster. But does it live up to all its hype? Let’s find out.

When I first fired up this game, I went through the roster and was really happy to see some of my favorite video game and comic book characters. I think Capcom did a great job with the character selection, aside from some glaringly obvious omissions (hint: rhymes with ‘Shmega Shman’). The graphics, character models and stage backgrounds look really awesome; this game looks really great. That’s all well and good, but aesthetic value alone will not hold hardcore fans’ attention for long if the gameplay is not good. Thankfully the gameplay is as good as you’d expect; the combat is very deep and combos and various other commands are quite easy to do. The core gameplay is strong. I have a blast playing this game, especially locally with friends.

In this game the majority of the characters have the same basic combo structure: you can combo from your lightest attack up to your heavy attack and go into a launcher if you want to. The air combos work in a similar way, and feature the ability to switch in one of your other characters in the middle of an air combo, thereby extending your combo. There are exceptions, of course (for example, Hulk cannot combo his medium attack into his heavy attack. You can only combo from L > H or L > M), but for the most part I feel like the combo system was designed with a “pick up and play” style in mind. I think its good that the combos are standardized in this way, it allows me to feel more comfortable picking different characters that I might not be as familiar with. This game also features a system called “advancing guard”, that can help you defend against aggressive players. I like this feature and find it quite helpful. Briefly touching upon the music – it’s really catchy and well done. Those annoyed by the quirky soundtrack of MvC2 will be pleased with the audio this time around. The remix of Zero’s theme from Mega Man X2 stands out in my mind as being particularly stellar.

Understatement of the year.

When you want to play this game single player, there is not much to do. You can play arcade mode at various difficulty levels and view the character endings. I found the endings to be disappointing for the most part, they consist of two images and several lines of text. Some of the endings are better than others and feature cameos from Marvel and Capcom characters that did not make it in the game as playable characters. When you get bored with that, you can tackle Mission Mode, which are combo challenges. There were many Missions that were challenging for me and took many tries. When I finally did them, it felt very satisfying in a way I don’t get from many games. These are fun but can get boring fast, and I’m sure there are players that have no interest in this at all. The game also features a good training mode for you to practice your combos. You have many options in this mode, including AI and block settings and the ability to record actions to the dummy character. Pretty standard stuff but necessary if you want to get good at this game. I just wish the single player modes had more to do, like time trial or survival modes. Capcom attempted to add some more single player content via “Shadow Mode” DLC, where you fight AI opponents programmed to play like Capcom employees or pro players. But it’s lame, it’s just really lame – you can hardly tell that it’s any different than the game’s default AI settings. Some more single player content would have gone a long way for me with this game.

An example of a license card.

Most players who get this game will get sick of single player very quickly and start playing online. The online play is pretty standard if not a little bare bones. You can have player lobbies with up to 8 people, but there is no spectator mode so if you are waiting to play you literally have to stare at the lobby screen until it’s your turn. This basically kept me from participating in any lobbies with more than 2 players; I hate waiting, especially if I can’t even watch the fight that’s going on. Ranked mode is a lot better. You can choose to a degree who you want to fight: people ranked higher or at the same level as you. This mode is quite fun, but like any competitive game, certain characters will be favorites and you will see them repeatedly. If you are a competitive gamer this is where you will spend the majority of your time with this game. I am disappointed to see that the replay channel feature from Super Street Fighter IV is gone. I really enjoyed that feature. In its place you have what is called a “license card”, which keeps track of all your wins/losses, player statistics, as well as a play style rating that I’ve yet to really figure out. It’s very prominent on the player card and looks like a circle with triangles emanating from the center of the circle and is supposed to represent your personal play style.

I have a couple gripes with the game. I dislike that there is no way to break a combo. Combos are easy to do compared to other fighting games and if you get caught in one, you have little choice but to sit and watch and hope your opponent drops their combo. I find that this adds an element of frustration to the game. I think the new Mortal Kombat game got this feature right with their Kombo Breaker system: you can break your opponent’s combo at the cost of super meter. While I do like many of the gameplay features like advancing guard, dial-a-combos and on the ground attacks, I do feel like this game is quite unbalanced. Certain characters are much better or worse than others, and I think that Capcom felt that since this is a “vs.” game it gives them license to have a slightly unbalanced game. As I said earlier, the best characters will always rise to the top. If you don’t mind seeing similar characters or teams repeatedly online then this will not be an issue for you. I also have to mention “X-Factor”. X-Factor basically allows you to make a comeback in a match. You can use it once per match, and it makes your characters stronger (depending on certain in-game variables) and can really swing a close match in your favor. You will either love it or hate it. Personally, I like it because I am sort of an average player and I feel like it has helped me win games I otherwise would have lost. I bring it up here because there are many MvC3 players who hate this feature with a passion. I suppose I can’t really blame them, it sort of ruins the rhythm of a match when an already powerful character gets a big x-factor boost and you’re forced to go on the defensive or see your win go out the window.

Personally, I’ve been playing this game since its release and have had a blast with it. I plan on getting the platinum trophy for it, but once I do that I will move on to Mortal Kombat and may not really play this game again. It just does not have the staying-power of other Capcom fighting games like Super Street Fighter IV. All in all, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is fun to play. If you’re a fan of fighting games you will certainly have fun with this game… at least for a little while.

Assassin’s Creed II Platinum

Last week I got the platinum trophy for Assassin’s Creed II! I really enjoyed this game, even though I found it to be a tad on the easy side (more on that later). I particularly enjoyed getting the platinum for this game because they don’t require you to waste a bunch of time replaying the game on multiple difficulty settings (looking at you, Bayonetta). I was worried that it would be a pain to get 100 feathers, but it really wasn’t. I had a little more than half by the time I had finished the game and rounding up the remaining ones was easy using this guide from gamesradar.com.

Actually, the most annoying trophy was Fly Swatter: Kick a guard while using the flying machine. This trophy is insanely easy to get if you know about it, but if you don’t it’s a missable trophy. If you miss it your choices are to play through the game again (the ability to replay chapters is not possible and the flying machine segment occurs a little more than halfway through the game) or buy the Battle of Forli DLC for $3.99 which has a flying machine available for you to use whenever you wish. I chose to buy the DLC pack as I didn’t have the patience to replay the game. The DLC pack (which, to add insult to injury, does not have any trophies of its own) is entirely a waste of $3.99 unless you need to use the flying machine to get your platinum like I did. Boy, did it piss me off when I realized how crappy the DLC pack was, but I was happy to finally have my platinum even though I basically had to buy it.

Trophies aside, I really liked this game a lot. The ending was very interesting and well done, the gameplay and graphics are top notch and you really feel like an assassin sneaking around the cities. My one major gripe with the game is that it is just entirely too easy. The game offers little to no challenge, if you can power on your PS3 then most likely you can beat this game. This would not be so detrimental except for the fact the game puts so much emphasis on stealth but in reality your character is so awesome at fighting that you can just annihilate anyone in the game that happens to see you, thereby completely nullifying the need for stealth. The developers attempted to balance this by having certain missions automatically fail if you are seen by anyone, which was just annoying. That being said, this game is a really fun experience. I had the most fun just exploring the cities, running around on the rooftops and looking for treasure.

So now that I’ve completed this game I’m going to give Brotherhood a go, most likely when it comes down in price a little bit more. I hear the online aspect of that game is really awesome and I’m interested to see where the creators go with the story.

Assassin’s Creed II – In the Name of God

This is a gameplay video for Assassin’s Creed II. The music is ‘In the Name of God’ by Dream Theater.

EDIT: If the embedded video is not working you can watch the video on YouTube via this link.