Well it’s that time of year again, time to squabble, fight and bicker our way into deciding what was the best of the best of Video Games in 2013. So after much deliberation we are proud to present Gamlr’s 2013 Game of the Year.
Gamlr Presents GAME OF THE YEAR 2013
Best Music
Grand Theft Auto V
GTAV had the best music of of 2013 for 2 reasons, firstly is the great line up of licensed tracks in the game and the second is the fact that the game also contains a brilliantly created score to accompany the story moments.
Runners Up: Bioshock Infinate, Ni No Kuni, The Wolf Among Us
Best Graphics
The Last of Us
Kind of a no brainer here, nothing managed to look quite as great as The Last of Us this year.
Runners Up: Assasins Creed IV, Battlefield 4, Tearaway, Guacamelee
Best Story
The Last of Us
It's a story that undertones the compassion of a father and his daughter, it's also wonderfully presented and brilliantly voice acted. Nothing else really stepped into that same light this year.
Runners Up: Bioshock Infinate, Papers, Please, Brothers
Best Indie Game
Papers, Please
Although other games such as Gone Home and Brothers featured on our top list we felt that Papers, Please needed it's time in at least one category. One for it being the creation of a single mind and two for the way it created a truly emotional reaction.
Runners Up: Gone Home, The Stanley Parable, Kentucky Route Zero
TOP TEN GAMES OF 2013
10
Tearaway
The Vita has for a while now been a little starved for games. Thankfully Media Molecule saw a fitting solution to that in the form of Tearaway a game that truly took everything the Vita has to offer and reached for the sun... Literally.
READ OUR REVIEW09
Gone Home
It may have been short and the storyline may have come off as one normally reserved for a soap opera but Gone Home held itself high with a fantastic setting and bags of atmosphere.
READ OUR REVIEW08
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Very few games have made you do the things that Brothers did, not just in the way you play but in the emotional context too. There were parts of this game that simply blew our mind. It’s subtly approach is what gives it a massive punch.
07
Super Mario 3D World
Mario returns and Nintendo refined the 3D platform game once again with Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U. It brought about a great deal of thought, why do we play games? If it’s for fun then this game is the showcase of it all, because it’s simply an utter joy to play.
06
Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Link's latest outing was a revisit to his older experience of A Link to the Past. Only Nintendo presented this with a new twist, take the world of a Link to the Past and add a new twist to it. On the surface this may seem a little mundane but what it actually creates is a fantastic and genuinely interesting experience.
05
Ni No Kuni
A game in co-operation with Studio Ghibli and Level 5 was always going to be something special. What we got was one of the most charming games you'll ever play add to the mix a great cast of characters, wonderful music, great artstyle, interesting story and you end up with a fantastic RPG experience. It also introduced us to Drippy which is worthy by itself...
04
DOTA 2
In 2013 DOTA 2 became something of a phenomenon. We saw 'The International' present winning team Na'Vi with a $1.4m prize fund all to the viewership of thousands. This alone would qualify it as a staple for the year, but as it happens DOTA 2 is also a fantastic game. Fueled by an incredibly dedicated online playership, it may seem a little daunting at first but give it a chance and you will see why it’s so beloved.
03
Bioshock Infinite
Irrational Game’s latest provided us once again with a fantastic first person experience set to the backdrop of interesting ideas embedded into a remarkable world. This blend of subtlety carries Bioshock Infinite along, and as you progressed through, this subtly took it’s notches down to full blown action and all out warfare.
02
Grand Theft Auto V
Any Grand Theft Auto Game is a big event, Rockstar's staple has always been a mark of quality. Grand Theft Auto V took everything the previous games had offered and churned it into a ever better experience. Met with a new multi-person narrative the game almost feels like a Pulp Fiction of the GTA world.
01
The Last of Us
And Gamlr's 2013 Game of the Year award goes to... (drum roll) The Last of Us. While there were a lot of great games this year, nothing hit like The Last of Us did. A game that ramped up everything we know and love about games. It added more emotional punch with it’s characters than almost any other game ever made and combined that with an incredible story. Alone that may have been enough to secure it a top spot, but to add to such a feat the game also features a huge beautiful and sprawling world full of interesting ideas and scenarios. It truly was an incredible achievement.
READ OUR REVIEWHonarable mentions go to: The Wolf Among Us, Tomb Raider, Assasin's Creed 4, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Bravely Default, The Stanley Parable.
And there you go folks, Gamlr's '2013 Game of the Year' list enjoy... And try not to kill each other.