The 1st Annual Game of My Year Awards!

     The Game of My Year Awards are a list of every game that Robotic Attack Squadron has reviewed in the current year in order of greatness. These games didn't all come out this year. Some of them I didn't even necessarily play this year as I wrote some of the reviews before I started this site. But all these games had reviews published in 2013. Amazingly, that's 31 games. One of those games got a perfect score, and four were really close. None got the lowest possible score, and only one was in the lowest tier. I really hope I run into another perfect score in 2014! I'm putting them in order off the cuff, not taking into consideration their scores. I might end up putting something ahead of something with a higher score if I feel like it while writing this. Also, this order can change minute to minute. It's hard to say which I really like better, although number 1 is a definitively my number 1. Here they are in descending order (best first!):

1. Closure – I've already written a lot about Closure and I don't want to repeat myself too much. It's amazing story is told almost exclusively through its mood, which is set by its music and visuals, and a ton of half glimpsed images that flash briefly in the background as you solve its pretty brilliant light manipulation puzzles. The creepiest game I've ever played and one with some of the most memorable and shocking story elements, Closure is a basically perfect game and one I recommend to anyone who can handle its level of creepiness and heavy mood.

2. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron – This game is going to show you all kinds of beautiful, surreal stuff. A lot of game's promise that, but El Shaddai delivers. It also delivers an intricate, fun combat system with terrific animations and a really great Biblically inspired story with tremendous presentation. I'm really hoping for a sequel, and with the creator buying the rights to the property, that's certainly a possibility.

3. Where is My Heart? - This game has a crazy concept and executes it perfectly. It's main idea is one you think you can wrap your head around, but you never can. Your confusion is part of the theme, as are the amazing pixel graphics and sound design.

4. The Walking Dead – This game suffers from a crazy amount of techinical problems, but its interactive story-telling is terrific. Prepare yourself to feel feels and make hard choices.

5. Bit.Trip Presents... Runner 2:Future Legend of Rhythm Alien – This musical running experience is pretty sublime. It demands perfection but is not at all punitive. It's super addictive and sounds and looks beautiful. It's also funny and subtly inspiring.

6. Spec Ops: The Line – This game tells the story of the anatomy of a tragedy that comes together with the player character right in the middle of the storm of violence. Designed to mess with you and make you think about real things, Spec Ops also features fun and frantic gunplay, which helps hammer home its points and themes even more.

7. Anomaly: Warzone Earth – “Revese tower defense” or “tower offense” are both perfect descriptions of this genre flipping game that has your units set out on a set path to fight stationary towers. There is a ton of variety in this game. It just never seems to get old; you always discover some new set-up or tactic. On paper it sounds like it plays itself, but actually requires near constant attention to play well. It looks great too.

8. Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den DLC – I like Bioshock 2's story a lot, but Minerva's Den's story is better. It's up there with the original Bioshock's brain bending tale. The gameplay, as usual, is brilliant but not difficult enough for veteran players.

9. Alien Zombie Death – AZD is short but sublime. Every bit of it is full of white-knuckle action. Each level is a close-call factory that pushes you to the edge without feeling frustratingly hard. The art and character design is great, and the tiny bit of theme and story go a long way in sparking your imagination.

10. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath – Despite being a 1^st person shooter/ 3^rd person action game, this title is instantly recognizable as an Oddworld property in its themes and design. The different take on 1^st person action is pretty solid, and like all Oddworld games, the character and world design is top notch.

11. Wipeout HD Fury DLC – More like a sequel than a DLC pack, Fury is full of content. The new race types are fun, especially detonator and eliminator. As usual, the audio-visual experience is near peer-less.

12. BreakQuest – BreakQuest embraces the chaos of the breakout genre by throwing you into a new and different set-up in every level and bombarding you with tons of power-ups, both positive and negative. Lots of fun. When I finished, I wanted to go for another 100 levels. Guess I need to try the sequel...

13. Velocity – The teleporting game-play that takes center stage in this game is unique and really fun. Lots of little touches, secrets, and extras polish things up too.

14. The Unfinished Swan – This game is short and sweet. It's basically a game about having you do new things. I just wish it was a bit longer and that the story was a little more coherent.

15. Mirror's Edge Pure Time Trials DLC – These maps are beautiful and fun. Just don't expect me to work on those uber-hard trophies. I had enough trouble with the platinum.

16. Outland – Outland is very solid. The controls are silky smooth. Still, there was something just a little off with it. Just a little mind you. I think it's that it wasn't hard enough. It should have had hard mode. I'm starting to play arcade mode now though, and that just might be hard enough, we'll see.

17. Quantum Conundrum – This game is very fun to figure out your first time through. I wish there was something worth doing in the post game though (besides finding the noise makers). Also, the story goes nowhere.

18. Costume Quest – This game is cute and fun and funny. It could use a little more difficulty and options in the battle system though.

19. Enigmo – Enigmo could have been really great if it layered on a few more mechanics in its late game. Still, it's really fun. I highly recommend going back and experimenting a bit for fun once you have beaten the game and really understand how to use the different pieces, as you can set up some really crazy stuff (that does nothing).

20. Canabalt – Canabalt is a really cool game. I played it quite a bit for a few weeks, but with no goals other than a higher score, I couldn't really stick with it beyond that. That's just the way I play games. I know that part of it's point is to be simple and have no goal other than a high score, and I respect that a lot, but the goals and levels are what made me enjoy Runner 2 so much more than this. It is a great game though.

21. Wizorb – Wizorb is fun and looks awesome, but the way it handles its breakout scenarios leads to a lot of frustration. Really, despite the new mechanics piled on top, it's just too traditional of a breakout clone. It needed every level to be more like the boss fights.

22. Rainbow Moon – Rainbow Moon is really long (at least on hard mode). It's battle and leveling systems are fun while you are playing, but with barely any good story parts to gel things together, it's ultimately pretty forgettable.

23. Jelly Pops – This game is short and fun, with a few frustrations along the way.

24. Galcon Labs – The core cocept of this game is fun and cool, it just feels unfinished.

25. Earthworm Jim HD – If you're a fan of EWJ and/or HD sprites, gives this a quick run-through. I did, and it was fun. I had played too much as a kid to get into playing this for any length of time, especially enough time to work on its super-hardcore trophies.

26. Hoard – Hoard is an awesome multi-player game. Too bad I played it almost exclusively single-player. Playing against the AI is fun to an extent, but not an extent with too much longevity. If you can play with others, ignore these comments. If it's just you, you may want to skip it. The hour or two I played multi-player was pretty brilliant though...

27. Patapon – This game is fun and unique, but is missing something. It needed better music and a different progress mechanic. Leveling is added in the 2^nd game, but I'm not sure if I'll ever give that a whirl or not.

28. Tomb Raider – After playing this game, it's hard to believe how universally loved it is. It was fun, but it is not the top-tier game I hear so many people claim it is. I played it because I heard the story is amazing, but the story was really bad.

29. Alien Zombie Mega Death – It's odd how low on the list this game is considering how high the first game is on the list, and that this game is loads more of similar content. Some of the magic was gone in this version in the gameplay and art design departments.

30. Dracula: Undead Awakening – This twin stick shooter is fun and cool, but gets repetitive after awhile. The unlockable portraits aren't enough to keep you coming back. And the lack of actual 2-stick control makes it physically painful to play at times

31. Piyotama – This puzzle game is fun for a few rounds, but then I was done with it. It's chaotic in a way that makes it feel like it's playing itself. It's the only game to get a rating in the “Bad Games” tier this year. Hopefully there won't be any more in 2014 and beyond!

     I hope you enjoyed the year 2013! Thanks for reading, and we'll see you in 2014 with some new reviews and articles! I'm currently playing Bangai-O Spirits, Retro/Grade, Everyday Shooter, and Plants vs. Zombies, so look for a review of one of them soon!

The Walking Dead ***SPOILER POST*****

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!! DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE GAME!!!!!!!!!!MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Real quick, here are my stats:

Lied to Hershel

Saved Duck

Sided with Kenny against Larry about Duck being bitten

Didn't give the bitten lady the gun

Saved Doug

Chopped off that dude's leg

Listened to the crazy lady in the woods

Tried to revive Larry

Killed the first St. John brother, not the second

Stole the food from the car

Didn't shoot the girl who was being attacked

Brought Lily with us

Talked Kenny down

Shot Duck

Helped Omid instead of Khrysta

Killed the emaciated Zombie boy

Didn't lie to Vernon

Left Clementine at the house when going to Crawford

Saved Ben

Hid the bite

Ben, Omid, and Khrysta came with me to look for Clementine

Kept Lee's arm

Argued Kenny down

Kept my cleaver hidden during the stranger scene

Clementine killed the stranger

Made Clementine leave without killing Lee

     Quick thoughts. In this world, it doesn't matter that Lee is a murderer. All that matters is what he does now. You can instantly form a super-strong bond with someone (like Clementine) or instantly be enemies with someone (like Larry) in dire situations like this. All relationships like that are heightened. Killing Duck was the hardest part. Burying the zombie boy really made you feel the weight of what happened to Duck. You do a long list of questionable stuff. Stealing food from the car is the one that comes back to haunt you in the end. Some peoples' deaths are meaningless, they just happen with no great purpose. Like Ben, who in my game tried to do the right thing over and over but failed, and then died on his way to try again. Once Lee got bit, I instantly knew what the end would be, I just had to get there. This is exactly what Lee was thinking too, so at that moment, you are totally in his head. Amazing.

PS: In the review I talk about a conversation that the game didn't save. I told Clementine in the store that I had killed someone before the zombie infestation. Later, she didn't know that, and told me I could have told her. Stupid no auto-saving.

The Walking Dead Review (PS3)

     I've read 2 issues of The Walking Dead Comic book (one excellent, one meh), and seen one episode of the TV show (which was so so). I had heard nothing but praise for the game though, so I picked it up. It's an adventure game, but it only bears a passing resemblance to the adventure games I have tried in my life, like Myst and... that's about it.

     It's hard for me to review a game like this as I am very cautious about spoiler's and literally everything that happens in the game is story driven and therefore apt to be spoiled. So this might seem like a poorly written review, and for that I apologize (of course there is also poor writing involved too). I just do it because I love you and I don't want to spoil you. Smiley face. I also recommend not reading the trophies before playing the game, as some of their names are spoilers. Also, I'd recommend turning trophy notifications off while you play this game, as you get them all automatically and they are therefore pointless interruptions (although I love trophies in general!).

     The game is a story driven adventure that is all about how you act and speak in certain situations. Scenarios culminate in mucky moral dilemmas where you are forced to make a choice with drastic consequences. The game tracks what you say and do between episodes (the game was originally released as five separate episodes that came out 1 at a time).

     You control Lee Everett, a man who suddenly winds up in the middle of a zombie apocalypse that's just starting to happen. He finds himself taking care of an 8 year old girl, Clementine, whose parents were out of town when bad things started happening. They meet randomly and end up sticking together, trying to survive. I'm just giving you the very basics here. The story is top notch, I don't want you to know almost any of it when you go in. You'll learn a lot more than what I'm telling you here in just the first few minutes of the game, but I'm keeping it super spoiler free!

     Each of the five episodes takes, by my estimate, 2-3 hours to play. You're going to meet a lot of characters and be put in a whole lot of different situations. In many situations, you walk Lee around a set environment with the left analog stick while the right controls a cursor that works like a mouse. The cursor has four spaces around it, which correspond to the layout of cross, circle, triangle, and square. When you put the cursor on an object or person you can interact with, your available methods of interaction pop up as pictograms in these four slots, and pressing the corresponding button does that action. It might be a hand to pick something up, a word bubble to initiate a conversation, a hammer icon to bash a zombie's skull in, or a gun icon to shoot. Objects and people you can interact with have a white dot on them that appears when your cursor gets near them. This system works well for the times when you are left alone to walk around and do stuff freely, or when you are under the gun to try and do stuff during an intense situation. Sometimes you are deliberately searching for items or a way to do something with the items you have and sometimes you are acting on the spur of the moment, but this control scheme handles either pretty well. This is certainly a slower-paced experience than you might expect for a zombie game, but it works great. 

     Combat in the game is handled in a few different ways. Sometimes you may just click on a zombie to attack it. Other times you may need to actually aim a weapon and fire. Sometimes you have to mash cross and then press a button corresponding to an on-screen prompt to finish it off. Sometimes you need to click on a zombie as it is thrashing around and holding you to kick it off. These situations are some of the few moments where you can actually die and get a game over. Most of them work pretty well; some are frustrating because clicking on a moving zombie is a little awkard.

     Often you are in interactive cutscenes where the group you are with is interacting and doing stuff. In these situations you control what Lee says. You are given four options most of the time (well, three and the option to stay silent by pressing square). A timer bar appears at the bottom of the screen to count down how long you have to answer before you automatically say nothing and the scene goes on. Just hearing about this may sound boring or pointless, but choosing what to say is one of the most engaging parts of the game. What do you say to people you meet for the first time when you don't know if you can trust them? What do you say to people you know you can't trust, or who hate you, or who you are trying to keep secrets from? Or when you are asked to take sides? What you say and do defines how the game goes on, and trying to pick between the three options in intense situations with only a few seconds to make your decision is nerve wracking. The stakes are always life and death and your choices seal the fates of yourself and the people around you, so chooses wisely.. Just like real life, you'll wonder if you did the right thing or what would happen if you had done things differently.

     It can't be overemphasized how good the story is. What happens in the game will be defined by the choices made by each individual player. If you don't like it at first, give it a little time. The investment will be well worth it. The characters and story are in the top echelons of game story-telling. Only a small handful of games, like the Metal Gear Solid series, have great writing like this (and just so you know, the game is nothing like MGS in writing style. I'm just saying they both have great writing). And the fact that all the conversations are interactive and change based on what you say and do makes it even more amazing. At the end of each chapter, a summary shows you what percentage of players made the same choices that you did. This is a fascinating end to each chapter. If you know someone else who has played the game, talk to them about your choices. I had several interesting talks with another player about how he played the game and what differences there were in our stories. I didn't have a desire to re-play the game and make different choices. I felt very strongly that I made my choices and I wanted to stick with them, and that playing around would cheapen the experience. But discussing your choices and what happened with other players is really fun. I'm being super vague about the details because even talking about themes and ideas presented in the game can be a spoiler in a game like this (they were for me!). Going in cold is your best bet. I don't think you'll be disappointed. 

     The graphics are designed to look like a hand-drawn comic book. The game is in color, in case you were wondering (the comic is in black and white). This style works pretty well. It's definitely not the best looking game, but it works. There are a few ugly character models, namely Larry and Omid. I think they look like they were ripped out of a PSOne game.

     The sound effects are appropriate and when there is music it's good.

     Unfortunately this game has a laundry list of technical problems. Animations stutter. Lips get out of sync. Music gets stuck and loops. The game froze on me once (at a particularly epic moment). Character models sometimes pop into existence or move around when they shouldn't. Background items move around (I mean, like, trees and stuff are moving around in the background. The whole tree). Sometimes in the middle of intense moments you will click to do something and the game will freeze for about 2-5 seconds before doing what you said. This happens a handful of times right in the middle of intense action sequences. Worst of all, in my opinion, is the auto-saving. I had to re-play some segments after quitting to the main menu a few times, which is a total mood killer. One time, while re-playing a part I had already played, I noticed the game auto-save several times, so I don't get why it hadn't saved that part before for me. The absolute worst was an important conversation I had early in the game. Later in the game the characters acted as if this conversation never happened. My theory is that I had this conversation and then had to quit. The game wasn't saved. When I re-loaded I didn't re-do the conversation because I was in the same spot and it seemed like it was saved. So the auto-saving isn't consistent and the game doesn't save when you quit (to be fair, it does tell you this. But why doesn't it just save?). This conversation was very important to me, and when it came up later in the game that I didn't have it, I was mad.

     But the long list of flaws can't drag down the experience; The Walking Dead is one the best games I've ever played. The story is affecting and superb, and you really feel like you are crafting it, living it though your character's thoughts, words, and deeds. It will make you feel many emotions and debate with yourself what you would do in a similar situation. If it ran perfectly, I'd definitely give it a perfect score. Maybe even if we could eliminate half of the flaws I mentioned above. Together, that long list of problems do hurt the experience, but just barely. Everything else is just too good for the flaws to bring you down too much. It's a great game, Tier 2.