The 5 Best Games of 2013

- by Ninja Ross, 1 January 2014

As you’re reading this, you’re probably as incapacitated as I am. Too much alcohol and food, right? Sleeping in a pool of vomit, right? Well, happy New Year! To celebrate the New Year, let’s take a look at some of the best games of 2013. Five of them, to be exact!

Five - Batman: Arkham Origins

It’s not the best Arkham game by a long shot... But it IS a very good game. There’s plenty of Gotham to explore and plenty of bad guys to beat up. Yes, there’s a lack of life outside of the missions and the Riddler side missions are disappointing, but the good definitely outweighs the bad here.

Roger Craig Smith (Batman) and Troy Baker (joker) are perfect younger versions of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. They did a darn good job and I’d love to hear more from them.

Talented voice acting aside, it has some great missions and Batman’s rogue’s gallery is well represented. Bane is a formidable foe, Joker is crazy enough and Mad Hatter is... Well, he’s Mad Hatter. His side mission is fun and plenty challenging.

Actually, the whole game is pretty challenging; it’s much harder than previous instalments of the series and that’s a very good thing. It’s difficult in the right ways! It’s a great Batman game and it’s something to keep you busy while you await the inevitable Rocksteady sequel.

Four - Splinter Cell: Blacklist

This one has already been reviewed here on Trash Mutant, so you know how much I loved it. Level designs that rival Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, a not too bad replacement for Michael Ironside and some great action.

I will take this opportunity to mention the online play, though; it’s both great and terrible. One minute you’re having a blast as a spy, fooling real people, taking them down before they realise something’s behind them (or above). The next minute, you’re throwing your controller at the screen because HOW THE FRAG DID THEY KNOW I WAS THERE?!? I AM INVISIBLE! I AM SO-

It’s a fantastic return to what made Splinter Cell such an amazing franchise.

Three - Outlast

Another one I reviewed for Trash Mutant. One of the best horror games I’ve played since Silent Hill, people! That’s how good this is. The ending kind of lets it down a little, since it abandoned the horror for some fetch quests, but it was still pretty amazing.

It was nice to see this game come out and be so successful, especially after AAA publishers claimed that the survival horror genre was done and could make no money. This one proves that the horror genre is very much alive and can make money.

Easily the best horror game in years. If you haven’t played it yet, you suck. YOU SUCK.

Two - Bioshock Infinite

I don’t care for the first two Bioshock games. They’re ok. A lot of people hated Bioshock two, for some reason... They both seem to be exactly the same kind of “not terrible” to me. But Bioshock Infinite? Man... That’s how you write a story!

Ken Levine is a fantastic writer and Infinite is the perfect example of his abilities. He takes on themes like racism and religion to craft a beautiful, thought-provoking story full of interesting characters and some fun, space and time based sci fi craziness.

But, besides the story, it had some real good gameplay, too and. It looked beautiful. No other game makes you walk around a sky city, listen to a barber shop version of God Only Knows and then use a Sky Hook to destroy someone’s face.

It’s beautiful. It’s well written. Every good thing you’ve heard about it is right.

One - Far Cry 3

I didn’t know which I love more: Bioshock Infinite or Far Cry 3. It took a while to decide which one I’d put as number one but, after looking at all the pros and cons of the two games, I decided on Far Cry. It doesn’t have the better story or characters, but it has pretty much everything else beat with gameplay.

That’s not to say the story is bad; it’s actually pretty darn interesting. A rich brat and his friends party on an island and get abducted and tortured by insane pirates? Pretty flipping interesting, right? The game is filled with revenge clichés and subtle hints to a supernatural history of the hostile island, which keeps you interested in the plot. The game also has Vaas, one of the scariest, craziest villains in the history of video games. Not because he was difficult to beat, but because he was well animated and acted.

But, like I said, gameplay is where this one excels; you can spend hours hunting tigers, sharks and goats to make wallets, bags, arrow quivers and more. You can sneak around the jungle and take out the pirates one by one (advised) or run at them like a psycho (NOT ADVISED).

No game this year, as far as I’m concerned, made exploring this much fun.

And that’s it, folks! This is the best of what I’ve played in 2013. There’s no Last of Us here, because I haven’t played it (in case you were wondering. That one’s getting A LOT of praise). GTA V isn’t here because, after playing it enough, I realised it wasn’t nearly as good as I first thought. It’s fun, sure... But there’s no a lot of depth.


I’m sure you have your own selections, though! Let us know in the comments section below!

Tagged: video games.

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