A DLC add-on. A trippy mobile psychodrama. A triumphant
rebirth. A chilling sci-fi future. A giant arcade cabinet that lives in New
York City. This is what I’ll remember most about my video game experiences in
2013.
Some of what I loved this year told great stories, tapped
into my own ancestral history or messed with my reflexes or perception. All of
it surprised me.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Freedom Cry
Until Edward Kenway’s adventure showed up this fall, I
hadn’t played an Assassin’s Creed game since 2010’s Brotherhood. The long time
away made Black Flag‘s success shine even brighter as the open world feels even
more alive than before and the sense of re-imagined history comes across as
even more impressive. But it’s the Freedom Cry DLC—which was set in the land of
my ancestors and connected to me on a personal level—that made this Ubisoft
title one of the most special things I played all year.
https://kotaku.com/a-game-that-showed-me-my-own-black-history-1486643518
Tomb Raider
The previous games in Lara Croft’s video game lifeline may
have told us, as a matter of course, that she had hopes, dreams or needs. But
I, for one, never felt like they were real and urgent. Tomb Raider 2013 is the
first game to make me feel connected to this iconic video game character and
part of what made it so gripping was the imperative to make sure Lara survived
the horrors of the cursed island she was trapped on. Wherever she goes next, I
will follow.
DmC
I love third-person action/adventure games and, even though
it came out early on in 2013, fond memories of Ninja Theory’s re-imagining of Capcom’s stylish action series have stayed with me all year. DmC offered a
great sense of flow and improvisation and let players customize their upgrades
to prioritize their particular playstyles. I also liked the game’s
global–elite-as-demons metaphor and Dante’s more emotionally relatable
personality. Different? Yes. But connected enough to what came before to make
me remember why I liked Devil May Cry in the first place.
Need For Speed Rivals
I was skeptical about how impressed I’d be by any next-gen
launch title. Then I played Need for Speed Rivals. And I couldn’t stop playing.
Sure, it upgrades the visuals and the iterates on some pre-existing
infrastructure. But Ghost Games’ racing game does so in such an attractive way
that it made me look forward to the evolution of other games that I thought I knew well enough already.
Remember Me
This first effort from Dontnod Entertainment clearly needed
more time in the oven but I was wholly won over by the fantastic world-building
and overarching conceit in Remember Me. Clunkiness aside, the game’s signature
Memory Remix sequences delivered moments that I’d never played in a game
before. Here’s hoping we haven’t seen the last of Nilin.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
All too often, the way that you play a game is just the
means to an end. In Brothers, the control scheme is a way to both disorient the
player and forge a deeper connection to the two playable characters.
Ultimately, you feel certain emotions specifically because of how you play the
game, not just because of how it’s scripted. A very big achievement from a
small game.
Injustice: Gods Among Us
Surprisingly, nothing felt wrong about getting pure,
unmitigated fan service in this DC Comics fighting game. You knew you were
getting an alternate-reality version of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the
other allies and enemies of the Justice League. So, it didn’t feel weird to
have them beating the hell out of each other. Moreover, this is the playable
version of the kinds of arguments that superhero fans have been having for
decades. Feels good to have Aquaman kick Green Lantern’s ass, doesn’t it?
Year Walk
This was a different kind of scary. One that crept into the
periphery of your vision and made you tilt your phone to peel away the layers
of reality. The mobile game from Simogo managed to home in on something
existential, forcing players to glance at both an iPad and iPhone to keep a
grip on reality. There was nothing like it at all this year.
Bennett Foddy’s Speed Chess
Take a game known inside and out all over the world.
Digitize the system, put an emphasis on quickness and chaos and throw it into a
mosh pit of sixteen players. The result for Bennett Foddy was a memorable and
utterly unique on chess. I only played it one night of the year but Bennett Foddy’s Speed Chessstayed with me for the rest of 2013. It reminds me of what
I love about game design, which is that—in the right hands—it can take familiar
forms and invigorate them with new freshness.
Killer Queen
I’m old enough to remember the video game arcade emporiums
of the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. The feeling of standing up and watching someone
author a virtuoso interactive performance in a flash of hot seconds. Killer Queen multiplied that sensation by pitting groups of players against each other
in action/strategy scrums. Like Speed Chess, it was part of NYU’s No Quarter
exhibition and something that was specific to a certain time and place.
Opportunities to play aren’t as ubiquitous as so many other games but that
makes the experience so much sweeter.
