5. Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty- Ghosts (tie): Both these popular franchises were given new installments this year. The former is EA's masterful first-person shooter that revolutionizes what war games are all about: lots of impressive action set-pieces and incredibly fun online multiplayer. This game perfects both, and raises the bar on what an FPS action game should be like. The latter is Infinity Ward, Activision, and Square Enix's latest installment in the increasingly mediocre Call of Duty franchise. Despite the fact that Black Ops II and Modern Warfare 3 are both excellent games, they still let a lot of fans hoping for more. I wasn't expecting much from this latest game, but it was a pleasant surprise. It has all the things that made earlier installments such as Modern Warfare 2 so great: fantastic action sequences, awesome weapons, and fun multi-player maps, and it's a breath of fresh air for this slowly dying action franchise.
4. Grand Theft Auto V: Rockstar kept fans, myself included, waiting in anticipation for the next game in their successful crime/action/satire franchise. Sure, L.A. Noire was awesome, and Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3 were nearly perfect, but none of those matched the fun and excitement of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Finally, last fall we were able to play Rockstar's highly anticipated fifth installment in the GTA series. Although some activities in the game (like surfing the Internet or playing tennis) seem pointless to include as part of a crime game, the city of Los Santos is so expansive and incredibly detailed, you can't help but be in awe. This puts even the fantastic Grand Theft Auto IV to shame. No wonder it took the developers five years to create this game. Even though some of the characters are a bit under-developed, sometimes the game's pacing is off, and some of the side-missions are incredibly boring and tedious, GTA V is a ton of fun. When you finally do a mission like robbing a bank, taking out a SWAT team, or fighting off some thugs during a car chase, it's exhilarating, adrenaline-fueled, and even a bit frustrating. And if you look closely, you can find some humorous touches to the crazy city of Los Santos: for instance, if you surf the Internet or listen to talk radio in the game, almost everything you see, watch, and hear is a parody or satire of something in the real world. Rockstar mocks everything from celebrities, to radio DJs, to cartoons, to reality TV, to fast food restaurants, and even other video games. But my personal favorite, especially when I'm bored with nothing to do, I pick up the game, and just free-roam, cause some mayhem, because that's one of the best things about this game, freedom: you can do anything, customize your character and vehicles, and buy up whatever you want: property, items, weapons, drugs, etc. And that's pretty fucking awesome.
3. Tomb Raider and Batman- Arkham Origins (tie): Both of these games were action-packed prequels to groundbreaking game franchises, and I loved them both. The first is Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics' gritty and violent prequel to the Tomb Raider series, showing a younger, more naïve Lara Croft become the survivalist and adventurer she is. The game smartly blends quick-time action with Uncharted-esque set-pieces that makes this entry not only more innovative and brutal, but also more cinematic than previous entries in the franchise. This game also takes a more realistic approach to the series, and is more focused on character development and survival tactics than explosive set-pieces and fell-fledged gun battles (although this has enough of those to keep action-obsessed gamers satisfied). The second game is Warner Bros. Montreal's prequel to Rocksteady's incredible Arkham franchise. Although not as satisfying as its' predecessors, Arkham Origins still delivers enough comic book action, detective work, and stealth-based sequences to keep Batman fans like myself happy. The voice acting (especially by the two leads: Roger Craig Smith and Troy Baker) is absolutely amazing, and the action sequences are thrilling and intense, despite some of the boss battles feeling a bit lackluster; even the musical score by Christopher Drake is excellent. The game also has a map twice the size and scope of Arkham City's, and incorporates a fast travel system. The game also features more detective work, and introduces a mechanic where you re-build a crime or murder scene to figure out exactly how a victim was killed. This game packs in a ton of fan-favorite villains, like The Joker, Black Mask, The Penguin, Firefly, Bane, Deathstroke, and Killer Croc, as well as some lesser-known ones like Anarky, Lady Shiva, Copperhead, and Electrocutioner. The game has a ton of side-missions to complete, including a long one tracking down a mysterious hacker nicknamed "Enigma" (it's not a big surprise who that guy turns out to be), and numerous murders to solve and smaller crimes to stop along the way. Overall, this is a game that was a tad disappointing, but I definitely wouldn't miss out on it, and it's one I'll probably play several times over in the near future.
2. BioShock Infinite: Irrational and 2K Games' incredible and visionary project may not be directly connected to it's predecessors (which took place in the hellish underwater dystopia of Rapture), but it certainly shares some obvious connections, including themes about self-identification, human psychology and philosophy and how it affects behavior, god complexes, and the nature of and relationship between good and evil. The visuals are absolutely beautiful (I'm talking about graphics and surroundings here, because some of the events in this game are horrifying to witness), the characters are three-dimensional, complex, and well-developed, the music is great, and the plot is astoundingly complex for a videogame. The game mechanics are cool, including the Skyhook, which can help the player travel between locations, and provides some help during gun fights and action scenes. Despite the fact that the action sequences are fantastic and intense, it's the quieter moments between characters that make this game so great. The two leads (Booker and Elizabeth) have fantastic chemistry, and you really relate to them as if they're real people, not just animated characters (which is because of the fantastic writing, and also the voice talents of Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper). Not to mention the ending: it continues the BioShock tradition of having a crazy, unexpected plot twist that completely changes the way a player looks at the game upon a second playing, but this one takes it to the next level, it even makes the fantastic twist in the original BioShock look predictable and simple, and that's a pretty big accomplishment.
Before I reveal the number one pick, here are some honorable mentions:
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (I'm gonna be honest, never got around to playing this entry in this great series, but I've heard a lot of good things)
Outlast
DmC: Devil May Cry
MLB 13: The Show
Madden 25
The Wolf Among Us (doesn't count, as only the first episode of this five-episode miniseries came out in 2013, still a great game, though)
Dead Space 3
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
Crysis 3
1. The Last of Us: Naughty Dog took a break from the pulpy, fun action of their fantastic Uncharted series to make a darker, bloodier, grittier game. Revolving around two relatable characters surviving a horrific apocalypse (brought on by a the outbreak of a deadly disease that turns people into fungus-covered zombie-like creatures), this game is a more dramatic and brutal game than Naughty Dog has produced before. The two lead voice actors (Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson) are amazing, and bring these characters to life. Like Tomb Raider, The Last of Us has a lot of intense and violent action sequences which employ a lot of survival and stealth tactics (unlike Uncharted, which goes for the more direct approach of explosive gun fights), but also focuses on themes like human nature, and how constant exposure to gruesome violence and having to survive affects the human psyche. The graphics are stunning and extremely realistic, everything from the slight grayness of the character Joel's hair, to the light reflecting in people's eyes, to the nasty textures of the zombies' fungus-covered flesh, every detail is perfected, no matter how gruesome or how beautiful. The music is subtle, but effective, and the gameplay is perfect, ranging from something as simple as hunting deer with a bow and arrow to something as complex as holding down a fortress against a horde of zombies with nothing but some bombs and limited amounts of ammo. The relationships between the characters is what drives the story, and you slowly but surely grow on them as the game progresses, and you fear for them as the story gets more bleak and horrifying, which leads to an intense climax which may leave some gamers divided on some of the choices the characters make, but I found it very satisfying and a fitting conclusion the game, considering the tone and content. The Last of Us is an incredible action/horror game which explores dark and complex themes, has some extremely well-written characters, insanely good graphics, and some great action sequences, as well as an emotional storyline about survival in a dog-eat-dog world. It's not just the best game of the year, it may be one of the best games of all time.
(Images: Wikipedia)
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