End of the Year Notes
Good Year?
You needed to ask me? Holy fuck yes. The Last of Us, Gone Home,
Papers Please, The Stanley Parable, Consensual
Torture Simulator and Metal Gear
Rising, and that’s just counting the stuff that my meager means allowed me the
privilege of playing.
Better than 2012?
Similar in form and quality! AAA games took similar
self-investigative turns as last year’s major games, and Indie games continue
to provide fresh and exciting experiences. Seriously guys, high fives all
around, it has been an incredible
year, and that’s saying a lot considering 2012 was also a really good year, one
of the best ever.
Game I Thought Was Best This Year?
The Last
of Us: Everything about the game served only to emphasize its aesthetic
and its themes. I can’t say it was a pleasure to play, but it was a moving and
wholly worthy experience. And yes I’ll openly admit to a bias towards the
console/AAA releases.
My Favorite Game This Year?
Metal
Gear Rising: Revengeance
Worst Game of the Year That I Can’t Be Bothered
to Get Mad About
Ride to
Hell: Retribution
Worst Game of the Year
Bioshock:
Infinite
Game That Surprisingly Sucked the Least
Metal
Gear Rising: Revengeance
Best Soundtrack?
That’s a question? Metal Gear
Rising: Revengeance
Best Villain?
Senator Armstrong – Metal Gear
Rising: Revengeance
Game With Worst Camera
Metal
Gear Rising: Revengeance
Game That Will Not Age Well
Bioshock:
Infinite considering it seemed outdated about 45 minutes in.
Taking a Lemon and Making Lemonade
Far Cry
3: Blood Dragon
Oh C’mon, Blood
Dragon Was Gross
Yeah, but I wanted to use that joke to piss on Far Cry 3. Fuck that game.
One True Fighting Game
DIIIIIIVVVEEEKKKKIIIIICCCCKK
It’s Still Not Out on USA PSN
Guilty
Gear Accent Core +R
My PC Can’t Run It
King of
Fighters XIII: Steam Edition. I’m really mad about it.
Still Not Buying The WiiU
Deus Ex:
Human Revolution looks so good on the WiiU.
That Sold in America?
The Hatsune Miku game is
getting a sequel released in America. Whoulda thunk it man.
Best Example of Sexism in Gaming
As always there were a more than a few good ones (not the least of
which was the continuing embarrassment that is gamesmens’ reaction to Anita
Sarkeesian’s Tropes Vs. Woman in
Videogames), but there only being one female hero in The Wonderful 101 is pretty good.
Oh wait, no, it’s definitely the
gigolo missions in Killer is Dead.
Would Ya Please Stop Already
Killer
is Dead, Grand Theft Auto V
Best PS4/XB1 Launch Title
Can you buy FFVII on a
PS4 yet?
Am I Going To Talk About Music More In The
Future?
Yes, starting now. (Don’t worry, it won’t be too often.)
Favorite Album
The Wonder Years – The
Greatest Generation
Favorite Debut Album
Turnover – Magnolia
Favorite EP
Diamond Youth - Orange
Favorite Kanye West Album Released This Year
Yeezus
Favorite Rap Album Not Released By Kanye West
. . . I need to listen to more rap.
Best Black Metal Album That Cannot Be
Reasonably Labeled Black Metal
Deafheaven – Sunbather
Best Album I Checked Out Because Dan Ozzi Said
He Hated It
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Favorite Band I Discovered in 2013 That Didn’t
Put Out an Album This Year for Me to Talk About
In Flames went from “Well I’ve heard of them,” to one of my top 5 favorite metal bands in the space of
about a month. Clayman is one of the
hands-down best metal albums ever recorded, The
Jester Race, Whoracle, Colony, Reroute to Remain and Come
Clarity are all track-by-track great as well, and Soundtrack to Your Escape, A
Sense of Purpose and Sounds of a
Playground Fading are all ranging from great to almost-perfect.
Will Final
Fantasy XV Be Released in 2014?
Well it was announced to be in “full development” in 2011 so, my
money says no.
Is That a Joke About Square’s Development and
Release Cycles?
Yes.
Can It Be 2014 Yet?
Metal
Gear Solid V is going to be fucking amazing and that is a fact.
In All Seriousness
2013 was a turbulent year in my life. I went from jobless and
single, to being neither, and back. School was hell. My parents broke up, and
that was also hell. I moved out of my mom’s place, into my dad’s, and now it
looks like us two are moving back into my old house. I became a founding member
of a pop-punk band[1],
and I got a bitchin’ new amplifier to
help me make some noise. I also finally started a game blog. I named it Haptic Feedback after ICO.[2] I
wrote an essay about Metal Gear Solid
that I’d been meaning to try for years. Point is, writing gamecrit helped me
get through quite a lot this year, and I hope it’s been as meaningful for
anyone reading this as it has been for me to write. It’s not yet been a year,
but I’m looking forward to playing and writing for the rest of my life. Thank
you for reading.
- Austin
C. Howe, Maryland, 2013
[1]
http://thebreadshots.bandcamp.com
[2] It’s
my interpretation of the controller vibration when you hold Yorda’s hand: most
people just take it as feet hitting the ground, but I like the idea that it’s
the excitement in Ico’s heartbeat when he holds Yorda’s hand, or maybe it’s the
excitement in hers. Maybe it’s both.
You forgot Lunar Strain! But perhaps you recognize this song anyway...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI3iX8WtzaM
The band I've listened to the most this year is Opeth, which I had a similar experience with as you had with In Flames:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUNiazZ5fj4
They lean more toward death, but as with early in flames also incorporate some more blackish elements.
Also, here is my 2013 (and every other year for that matter). :P
http://mindinggames.blogspot.se/2013/12/annual-video-games.html
I'm interested in Lunar Strain since it's ostensibly an In Flames album with Mikael Stanne on it, and he's arguably just as good a frontman as Anders Friden. It's weird how those two bands pulled a switcheroo, but then again their debut albums are both usually regarded as pretty weak compared to any of their later work, so I guess that swinging worked out pretty well.
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