My Obligatory Top 10 Best Games of 2013 List

     As a wanna be writer I figure there must be some unwritten, but fully understood, rule that we must make a list of things every end-of-the-year that we then label "the best."
     These are ones that stood out for me.  A note beforehand- there are plenty of games I have not played due to being a more-than-full-time patient care worker in the medical field, and I also had school and other hobbies on top of that.  But I still managed an absurd amount of gaming.
     Most of these I've written about previously, or have drafts mostly finished and on the way, so I'll keep this short.

     That being said, here it goes...

1.  The Last of Us
     Honestly, this's probably going to be on many, many lists.  It is a gaming experience on a personal level.  Hitting us with a small, but powerful story of two people in a story that is undeniably moving in a struggle for morality and meaning in a world gone wrong.

2.  Bioshock Infinite
     This one caught me a bit off.  I have some issues with the story, how some parts don't work when you think about them- but the ideas, that's where they get me.  The Infinite universes opens up endless opportunity for stories with the same characters in an infinite number of ways.  Genius, and one I hope they can follow up on with ingenuity.

3.  Tearaway
     A masterwork of tiny paper proportions.  This was a game the PS Vita needed a while ago, and one I hope gets the Vita sales it rightfully deserves.

4.  Tomb Raider
     A simple reboot done well.  They've taken an old character and gave her a much needed overhaul.   Not amazing, mind you, but memorable nonetheless.

5.  Brother: A Tale of Two Sons
     This is the first game I've played that not just had me play the story but experience it through gameplay mechanics.  A brilliant way of game development I hope other companies look at.

6.  Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
     This game, while just DLC, was a game in itself.  An homage to the absurd neon 1980's, and made all the better because of it.

7.  Guacamelee
     Who would've thought a game about an undead Luchadore could be so wonderful.  A lovely art style and great platforming fun.

8.  Marvel Lego Super Heroes
     Lego Marvel has 2 parts.  The first is the main storyline and levels, this piece of the game is not what I like.  The second part- a massive New York City open world of Lego.  They've, in my opinion, made the most accurate and best marvel game yet with this open world portion.

9.  Batman: Arkham Origins (and Blackgate)
     Sure, it was full of glitches and bugs that hampered any progress across all systems.  After waiting for patches I've finished both Origins and Blackgate- both were well done.  Once again, nothing phenomenal, but something I did in fact enjoy, regardless of most everyone hating it.

10.  Skyrim.
     Ha!  So what if this game is years old, it has unlimited quests and a huge world.  How many other games are immersive enough to keep people going for this long?


     Two others that I really wanted to add were Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger.  There's something about unreliable narrator stories and games that appeal to me.  When they are handled well they can open avenues of storytelling that traditional methods lack.
     Borderlands 2 I must've put in roughly a thousand hours of playtime with all the various content being released for it.  The only reason it isn't on the list is because it's pretty much ALL extra content, and not the main game, that I've spent playing.