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 1st person shooter/ 3rd person
action game, this title is instantly recognizable as an Oddworld
property in its themes and design. The different take on 1st
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 2nd
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!
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