My Top Five Games in 2013

2013 has come and gone, and the new systems are out!  Now it's time to look back at last gen and pick some games that are cream of the crop.  Here they are, in descending order!

At #5, we have Beyond: Two Souls.  Though not as good as it's predecessor, Heavy Rain, this game still managed to do what most others cannot.  Other games depend on big set pieces, over the top moments, and the biggest bang for the buck.  Beyond, though, is the opposite.  In fact, the most over the top action pieces are the worse part of this game.  The best part are the quiet moments.  What makes this game on my list is how the developers took some of the most mundane moments in life and turn it into an adventure.  Whether it's a girl stuck inside her house on a cold, winter day, or at the party of a teenager, there's never a dull moment, even when there are dull moments.  Totally worth playing just to see these masterpiece sequences.

#4 on the list is Project Diva f for the PS3.  I've played plenty of rhythm and music titles in my day, but none of them feature the sheer amount of great tunes as Hatsune Miku and Project Diva f.  In games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, I always struggle to find good songs.  In the end, out of a roster of 50 tunes, I might only like 5.  In Project Diva f, that number is more like 10, or even 15.  To be sure, there are some outright objectionable tunes, but unlike other music games, they are the minority.  With Project Diva, I can play for hours without getting bored, and I can even play the same song 10 times or more in a row!  It's also fun with friends.  We had a group of four over, once, and easily spent about 8 hours just taking turns playing.  Jpop isn't for everybody, but that's too bad.  This game is a pinnacle all by itself.

I had real trouble with #3.  2013 had a lot of great titles.  Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite, GTA V...  Just incredible.  It was tough but The Last of Us takes the third slot.  Thing is, I've played games like TR, Bio, GTA before, but nothing like The Last of Us.  The way it combines action and stealth together is a rareness and the best sequences in the game make use of both at once.  I find that, if a player chooses to use stealth over run-and-gun or vice versa, that player only experiences half the greatness of this game.  The act of being spotted and then having to run for your life is an amazing experience in and of itself.  Oh and the environment!  For once it actually makes sense.  If you're in a forest, it doesn't feel like you're running in a corridor of trees.  It also helps that the graphics are drop dead gorgeous, and the story captivates until the very shocking ending.  Believe the hype.  This game is a masterpiece.

I love a good story, which is why #2 is no surprise.  Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies take this slot.  Though not as good as Trials and Tribulations, DD recovers from the disappointing Apollo Justice outing, delivering a satisfying story from beginning to end.  The 3D graphics are slight below par compared to the 2D counterparts, but it also allows for additional effects like zooming and perspective.  The cases are still as twisted as ever, and will leave you guessing right up to the end.  Of course, a wack load of crazy characters populate this game, and the translation serving all this up is worthy of a Pulitzer.  It's one of the harder games in the series too, and I love that!  The icing on the cake is the $6 DLC.  It's an additional case that took me about 8 hours to beat, possibly longer than the longest case in the main game and every bit as good as the rest.  There is a lot of game here, and a lot to miss if people pass it over!

#1 will be no surprise to regulars of this blog.  That's right, it's Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.  For the first time ever, I appreciate and understand what it means to play an MMO.  It's endless, it's daunting, it's a time sink, but I love every minute of it.  It takes top honors because it's a stellar MMO.  The best I've played.  It's got all the modern enmities: a class system you can switch in and out of anytime, a fantastic matchmaking tool, the most involved crafting system I've seen, and tonnes of things to see and do.  There is one thing about this game that surprises me still.  The writing here is top notch!  I don't know who localized it, but every NPC manages to have it's own personality conveyed almost exclusively through text.  There are also some genuine moments in the game too, which would fall flat if not for the excellent script. But it also takes top prize because of what it did to me.  It made me a believer again. For a long time I stopped playing with other people, but with FFXIV, I do that every day.  It's given me hope.  Hope that I don't have to be alone in my gaming. 

And that's it folks.  Here's to another fantastic year for gaming!  Ciao.