Year in Review 2013: The Games Part 1

The last two weeks were just appetizers as it is finally time for the main course.  The previous two articles were just building to this writer's list of the best games of 2013.  While there were not as many games released in 2013 as in past years, there were plenty of outstanding titles.  So many noteworthy titles, in fact, that I had to make some tough decisions when creating this list.  Not every game this writer enjoyed in the past year could make it.  Although I spent tons of hours with games like Lego City Undercover, DuckTales Remastered and Resogun, they just fell a little short against the excellence encompassed on this list.  Due to how much there is to talk about, I decided to split this section of the Year in Review 2013 into two parts.  The first part will list the first five entries on this list in order of their release with the second part following with the final four entries.  Also my Game of the Year for 2013 will not be part of this list as I will honour it in the final entry of Year in Review 2013.  Hopefully you enjoy the first part of the best games of 2013 and if there is any game that I may have overlooked feel free to share in the comments.

Bit.Trip Presents Runner 2:  Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
Do not overlook Runner 2 for its incredibly odd title because you would miss out on one of the most enjoyable downloadable games of the year.  The Bit.Trip games are retro-inspired rhythm games that made a name for themselves on Nintendo's WiiWare service.  Runner 2 is the sequel to the grueling yet satisfying Bit.Trip Runner.  The difficulty may be scaled back for gamers of all ages to enjoy, but that does not mean Runner 2 is a walk in the park.  Runner 2 will put any gamer's hand-eye coordination to the test in trying to rack up the most points, collect all the secrets and Perfect+ every stage all while listening to the incredible ever evolving soundtrack.  Odd name or not, Runner 2 is pure unadulterated fun.

Tomb Raider
It has been a long wait for Crystal Dynamics' new direction for Lara Croft to reach store shelves, but it was well worth it.  Tomb Raider takes the iconic and pristine image of Lara Croft and throws it in the mud.  The mature tone of this new Tomb Raider is a breath of fresh air for a game series that seemed a little dated this generation especially when competing with Sony's action-adventure giant, Uncharted.  Tomb Raider does an excellent job of placing gamers in Lara's shoes, which makes her much more relatable than in past entries.  Apart from the story, the gameplay is phenomenal as the interplay between the gunplay and stealth is well balanced, the puzzles are always engaging and the optional tombs and collectables offer a lot of opportunities to traverse the interconnected island of Yamatai.  The multiplayer may not be the greatest, but it is still a fun diversion for those who cannot get enough of Tomb Raider's combat.  Since Tomb Raider's release, the game has not gotten as much attention as it deserves.  Hands down, Tomb Raider is one of the best games of 2013 and should not be overshadowed by some games that in this writer's honest opinion are extremely over hyped like BioShock Infinite and The Last of Us.

Luigi's Mansion:  Dark Moon
The first Luigi's Mansion was a launch title for the Nintendo Gamecube.  Being a huge Nintendo fan, yours truly was very eager to play Luigi's first big adventure.  After breezing through Luigi's Mansion in a week, this writer was very disappointed with the end result.  While length does not determine the quality of the game, Luigi's Mansion felt a more like a tech demo than a full-fledged game.  The mechanics were never fleshed out enough to feel rewarding in the mid to late hours of the game and there was not much to do in the mansion after capturing all the ghosts other than collect more money.  After revisiting Luigi's Mansion about a year ago, I enjoy the game a little more than my initial reaction, but it still was not a home run.  Well Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is that home run.  It improves on everything the first game lacked.  The bite-sized mission structure sets an excellent pace for the game, the multiple mansions offer more places to explore, the length of Dark Moon is two to three times the length of the original and the Poltergust 5000 is so fun to use with the upgradable suction, stunning white light and secret-finding dark light.  Also there are tons of secrets to find, Boos to capture and a full-on multiplayer mode to boot.  This writer can go on and on about everything great about Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, but this article will run far too long.  In summation, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is one of the premier experiences on the 3DS and definitely worth owning a 3DS just to play.  Do not miss out on the greatest ghost-busting game on the market.

Shin Megami Tensei IV
Before Shin Megami Tensei IV, I had never played a RPG from Atlus.  I heard about previous entries and spin-offs of the Shin Megami franchise such as Persona, Devil Survivor and Nocturne from reading gaming magazines and watching videos, but was too afraid to give these games a chance.  Due to Nintendo's efforts of pushing the game during the summer months and the free upgrade to the collector's edition for pre-orders, I gave Shin Megami Tensei IV a try.  Long story short, I fell in love with the newest entry in the Shin Megami series.  The great combat system that has the player balancing different elemental strengths and weaknesses to earn extra turns, increase the chance of criticals and cause more damage to enemies along with the excellent demon recruiting and fusing mechanics and tons of story and side missions easily kept me playing for hours on end.  While Shin Megami Tensei IV offers an "easy" mode, the game is not for the faint of heart.  Shin Megami Tensei IV is a very challenging RPG that will test your proficiency of all the game's mechanics.  The only drawbacks I personally had with the game were the abrupt ending and the unclear objectives which caused hours of inane wandering around Tokyo and the Kingdom of Mikado in order to trigger the correct cutscene to advance the story.  Inconveniences aside, Shin Megami Tensei IV is easily the best third-party exclusive for the 3DS and can stand among all the great titles released during the handheld's strongest year yet.

Mario & Luigi:  Dream Team
The Mario & Luigi series has been around since the Game Boy Advance, but no entry in this series has captivated this writer much like its latest, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team.  After all of their adventures thwarting Bowser, Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach decide it is time for a vacation.  Upon reaching their destination, Pi'illo Island, the Mario Bros. vacation is short-lived as an evil bat-king Antasma locks Princess Peach in the darkest corners of the Dream World.  What ensues is the crazy hijinks and hilarious dialogue that the Mario & Luigi series is known for, but those elements are not what makes Dream Team stand out from previous entries in the series.  The greatness of Dream Team comes from all the deviations introduced through Mario & Luigi's adventures in the Dream World.  As you access the Dream World through Luigi's dreams, it allows Luigi to transform into different forms, which are used to solve puzzles and interact with the environment.  Luigi's new powers changes the typical battle system as it takes full advantage of the 3DS' features and allows you to easily handle tens of enemies at a time.  The best part of Dream Team is fighting bosses in Dream World.  During these fights, the player controls a giant version of Luigi.  The player uses the stylus and accelerometer to perform moves from simple jumps and hammer swings to special attacks and guiding a star shuriken to finish the boss in style.  Each boss fight adds their own unique take on the battle such as a tug-of-war like battle or a multi-stage battle.  While these battles are Dream Team's greatest asset, the action-packed combat system, hilarious dialogue, Bros. powers and overworld puzzles are all amazing parts of this game as well.  Mario & Luigi: Dream Team is such a great game that can easily get lost in the shuffle of all the excellent 3DS titles released in 2013.  Do not make the mistake of missing out on this stunning portable RPG.

Year in Review 2013: Disappointments

2013 marked the end of one generation and the beginning of another.  The release of both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One held center stage in the video game industry.  This focus on the next generation saw fewer games release throughout the year compared to years past.  It was very easy to keep on top of the major releases in 2013 and this year saw yours truly buy many games upon release, much more than I have ever bought in years prior.  With buying many games upon release, not every game will live up to a person's expectations.  There were quite a few games that I played this year that fell short of my expectations and left me disappointed.  Being disappointed in a game is not the same as hating a game.  All of the games I will list are fine games, they just left me feeling a little empty after beating them for one reason or another.

BioShock Infinite
The original BioShock was a revolutionary shooter that engrossed gamers in its environment unlike any game before it and few after it.  The impression left by the first BioShock set the bar high for Irrational's next entry in the BioShock series.  In trying to reach a broader audience, Irrational took BioShock Infinite away from the revolution it could have been and made it more of an evolution.  The setting of Columbia and the excellently programmed AI companion Elizabeth are Infinite's clear strengths, but the game is held back by a considerable amount of key flaws such as the last three hours of the game being a relentless slog of dispatching waves upon waves of enemies, the unnecessary additions of the Boys of Silence and Sirens, the shoe-horned stealth sections and the pretentiously convoluted ending.  The most aggravating flaw is how Irrational forgot the tenets of exploration and freedom that makes Infinite stand out from the all the other first-person shooters in the most crucial hours of the game.  Those last hours can make or break one's enjoyment with a game.  In BioShock Infinite's case, it severely derailed my enjoyment of the game.

The Last of Us
First things first, The Last of Us and I have never been on the same page.  While people were crying to the heavens that it was the best game showed at the Video Game Awards, E3 or whatever other video game show, it never impressed me.  I surely wanted to see what all the fuss was about, but it looked too derivative of Naughty Dog's Uncharted series.  When I saw all the excellent reviews The Last of Us got upon its release, I was caught up in the hype and wanted to see if Naughty Dog proved me wrong.  Well they did not.  Do not get me wrong, The Last of Us is a good game.  It is not the greatest game of this past generation that everybody has been labeling it.  The game has some good ideas and an incredibly emotional story, but those two strengths alone do not allow a game with considerable technical and pacing problems to get a pass.  As much as Naughty Dog tried to engross me in the post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us, I was taken out from my AI companions running head-first into the strongest enemies in the game, known as clickers, with no reaction from said enemies or hunting for the extremely small triangle button prompt to tell me which objects I can interact with.  While there were some great moments like the entire opening two hours and the Winter section of the game, I never felt much emotional attachment to the characters  or my actions in the game.  The Last of Us is more on par with Naughty Dog's efforts on the first Uncharted.  There is some good stuff in The Last of Us, but there needs to be more refinement before The Last of Us can truly grasp its full potential.

Project X Zone
One of the largest crossovers in video game history, Project X Zone was high on this writer's radar especially considering many never thought the game would release outside of Japan.  Mixing the biggest franchises from Capcom, Namco and Sega into one strategy game was mind-boggling.  Project X Zone's combat was incredibly unique.  While you moved units on a grid-like battlefield like any other strategy game, the combat was more in line with a fighting game where you choose different combos and juggle enemies to cause the most damage.  The combat along with the craziness of the plot gave me hours of enjoyment.  Sadly those hours of enjoyment did not last for the entirety of the game.  Around the 25 to 30 hour mark, the mechanics and story grow rather tiresome and repetitive.  The developers at Banpresto and Monolith Soft could have easily cut down the game by at least 5 hours or more because there are plenty of chapters that feel like padding.  Much like BioShock Infinite, Project X Zone's last few hours became a boring slog through an ever increasing amount of difficult enemies.  Thanks Project X Zone for disappointing me and killing the left trigger on my 3DS.

Sonic Lost World
Ever since the release of Sonic Colors, Sonic the Hedgehog has been on a roll.  The Blue Blur has been slowly but surely gaining back the gamers lost from the onslaught of horrible Sonic games released during the mid to late 2000s.  With the announcement of Sonic becoming a Nintendo exclusive, Sonic Lost World looked to be in a prime position to continue Sonic's upward trend.  All Sonic needed was the solid mechanics introduced in Colors and refined in Generations to be brought into this new Mario Galaxy and Sonic Xtreme inspired world of Sonic Lost Worlds, but Sonic Team decided against it.  What we got was a mixed bag.  Some levels exude creativity and bring the functionality to match it.  Other levels are exactly the opposite as they are poorly designed and can induce high amounts of frustration and possibly rage.  Sonic Lost World is not the total disaster the media paints the game to be.  Honestly, Sonic Lost World is an all-around decent game, but fails at improving the standing of Sega's mascot and it is hard to forgive the game for that major failure.  Lost World was Sonic Team's opportunity to show that the aging Blue Blur can still hang with the platforming giants of the modern era.  Sadly, Sonic Team missed their mark and Sonic fans are left with a decent Sonic game instead of a great Sonic game.

Favourite Games of 2013 So Far

The first half of any year has a good amount of new releases to play.  Not as many as what will be releasing this holiday season, but a good amount nonetheless.  With June in the rearview mirror, we enter the second half of 2013.  Before we look ahead to all of the games releasing during the summer and holiday seasons, it is time to look back on the past six months and all the great games that are already available to play.  The games will be listed by order of release and only the games that this writer has beaten or played a considerable amount of before the writing of this article will be included.

Fire Emblem Awakening
What has this writer not already said about Fire Emblem Awakening?  Easily the greatest game to grace the 3DS, Awakening packs well over 100 hours of content into such a small 3DS cartridge.  There is even more hours of content to download through the 3DS' SpotPass functionality or DLC for the game.  The amount of content does not matter if the gameplay does not entice you to play for all those hours.  Awakening has the already superb tactical gameplay of the Fire Emblem series, but with a couple key improvements to the support system.  For Awakening, the support system is brought to the forefront as it allows the player to strengthen bonds, improve stats in battle and even have characters marry, which allows you to recruit their children later in the game.  Fire Emblem Awakening is easily the frontrunner for this writer's Game of the Year.

Bit.Trip Presents Runner 2:  Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
Do not overlook Runner 2 for its incredibly odd title because you would missing out on one of the most enjoyable downloadable games of the year.  The Bit.Trip games were retro-inspired rhythm games that made a name for themselves on Nintendo's WiiWare service.  Runner 2 is a sequel to the gruelling Bit.Trip Runner.  The difficulty may be scaled back for gamers of all ages to enjoy, but that does not mean Runner 2 is a walk in the park.  Runner 2 will put any gamer's hand-eye coordination to the test in trying to rack up the most points, collect all the secrets and Perfect+ every stage while listening to the incredible ever evolving soundtrack.  Odd name or not, Runner 2 is pure unadulterated fun.

Tomb Raider
It was a long wait for Crystal Dynamics' new direction for Lara Croft to reach store shelves, but it was well worth it.  Tomb Raider takes the iconic and pristine image of Lara Croft and throws it in the mud.  The mature tone of this new Tomb Raider is a breath of fresh air for a game series that seemed a little dated this generation especially competing with Sony's action-adventure giant, Uncharted.  Tomb Raider does an excellent job of placing gamers in Lara's shoes, which makes her much more relatable than in past entries.  Apart from the story, the gameplay is phenomenal as the interplay between the gunplay and stealth is well balanced, the puzzles are always engaging and the optional tombs and collectables offer a lot of opportunities to traverse the interconnected island of Yamatai.  The multiplayer may not be the greatest, but it is still a fun diversion for those who cannot get enough of Tomb Raider's combat.  Since Tomb Raider's release, the game has not gotten as much attention as it deserves.  Hands down, Tomb Raider is one of the best games of this year and should not be overshadowed by some games in this writer's honest opinion are extremely overhyped like BioShock Infinite and The Last of Us.

Lego City Undercover
On the surface, Traveller's Tales first original Lego game may look like just another clone of Rockstar's immensely popular Grand Theft Auto games, but it is a fun and charming experience that gamers of all ages can enjoy.  The gameplay is the tried and true Lego formula of breaking and building Lego objects to collect studs and open up new objects to interact with that many gamers are well too familiar with.  Even with this tried and true formula, Traveller's Tales has added on a simple combat system similar to that of the Batman Arkham games, various disguises to switch between in order to reach different areas or interact with certain objects and the freedom of an open world to explore at will that all keep this Lego game fun and engaging.  The gameplay may be great, but it is the personality and charm that exudes from Lego City Undercover that make it a standout.  Hilarious dialogue, amazing pop culture references and one wacky story keep a smile on your face at all times even through the excruciatingly long load times.  Young or old, Lego City Undercover is a game that everybody can enjoy.

Luigi's Mansion:  Dark Moon
The first Luigi's Mansion was a launch title for the Nintendo Gamecube.  Being a huge Nintendo fan, yours truly was very eager to play Luigi's first big adventure.  After breezing through Luigi's Mansion in a week, this writer was very disappointed with the end result.  While length does not determine the quality of the game, Luigi's Mansion felt a more like a tech demo than a full-fledged game.  The mechanics were never fleshed out enough to feel rewarding in the mid to late hours of the game and there was not much to do in the mansion after capturing all the ghosts other than collect more money.  After revisiting Luigi's Mansion about a year ago, I enjoy the game a little more than my initial reaction, but it still was not a home run.  Well Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is that home run.  It improves on everything the first game lacked.  The bite-sized mission structure sets an excellent pace for the game, the multiple mansions offer more places to explore, the length of Dark Moon is two to three times the length of the original and the Poltergust 5000 is so fun to use with the upgradable suction, stunning white light and secret-finding dark light.  Also there are tons of secrets to find and Boos to capture and there is a full-on multiplayer mode to boot.  This writer can go on and on about everything great about Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, but this article will run far too long.  In summation, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is one of the premier experiences on the 3DS and definitely worth owning a 3DS just to play.  Do not miss out on the greatest ghost-busting game on the market.

BioShock Infinite Review

Irrational Games’ sequel to the revolutionary BioShock, BioShock Infinite, has been one of the most highly anticipated games in years.  With such a great amount of anticipation, there was a lot of pressure on Infinite to be as good as or better than the original BioShock.  Living up to that pressure seems like an unenviable task, but BioShock Infinite does not falter under the pressure for the most part.  As much as BioShock Infinite succeeds at creating an excellent world, very satisfying combat and a compelling AI companion, there are a good number of areas that hold this game back from being one of the premier first-person experiences of this generation.

“Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt.”  A simple sentence that is muttered at the very beginning of BioShock Infinite reverberates throughout the entire story.  A story which follows Booker DeWitt, a former Pinkerton agent, as he is sent on a mission to free a young girl by the name of Elizabeth in order to wipe away a debt as it seems.  Booker’s mission will not be without hardship as this hired gun gets caught up in a conflict between warring factions and chased by a mechanized creature known as the Songbird.  While Infinite’s story is what motivates gamers throughout the game, it is the setting of Columbia that will keep gamers engrossed in the world of BioShock Infinite.  It is evident that Irrational Games put a lot of time and care into creating Columbia.  From the silent movies to the 1920 covers of hit 80s pop songs hidden throughout the game, Columbia is rich with American culture.  So much culture in fact that the setting becomes a character of its own.  Columbia represents American culture taken to the utmost extremes.  The traits that Columbia takes on, while very twisted and demented, compel the gamer to move forward and discover the history behind this dystopia.

The world of Columbia is just one of BioShock Infinite’s strengths.  Another one of these strengths is the combat.  The combat revolves entirely around experimentation.  The player is given a ton of options to deal with the seemingly overwhelming enemy forces from guns to vigors (Infinite’s version of plasmids) to flying around the environment on Columbia’s skylines.  While guns and vigors are familiar to BioShock and FPS vets, the skylines are a brand new mechanic in the BioShock series.  By using the Sky Hook, the player is able to traverse each environment at breakneck speeds.  The Sky Hook and skylines open up new ways to approach combat as it offers a quick escape when firefights get too out of hand or the ability to reach areas and items that the player cannot easily access. A few hours into Infinite, the player meets up with Elizabeth.  While Elizabeth plays a central role in the story of BioShock Infinite, she also serves as your constant AI companion.  Unlike many AI companions in other games, Elizabeth does not need to be tirelessly babysat by the player.  Elizabeth is able take care of herself and the player.  Elizabeth will toss weapons, ammo, health and other useful items in the thick of battle and she is able to open tears in the fabric of time which offer more options in combat such as cover, turrets and extra weapons to gain an advantage.  From her character to her uses during combat, Elizabeth is easily the crown jewel of BioShock Infinite’s gameplay.

While there is a lot to praise BioShock Infinite for, there is a good amount of flaws that hold it back from achieving the moniker of greatest first-person shooter of this generation.  The biggest flaw with Infinite is the last three or so hours of the game.  Instead of focusing on the experimentation and freedom that the combat was built on, the last three hours of BioShock Infinite devolve into nothing more than any other generic first-person shooter.  The inherent strategy found in the combat gets lost for just shooting everything and anything that moves.  The late of additions of two new enemy types, the Boys of Silence and Sirens, feel absolutely unnecessary considering both only show up on three separate occasions and become more annoyance than a pleasure to fight.  Along with the Boys of Silence, Irrational tries to shoehorn stealth into BioShock Infinite in order to offer some new gameplay, but this attempt ultimately fails due to a control scheme that is designed for a fast-paced FPS, not a slow-paced stealth game.  Other flaws that hold BioShock Infinite back from being the masterpiece it could have been are the lack of penalty for death, the lack of an actual final boss (seriously getting sick and tired of developers trying to pass waves of enemies as final boss encounters), the confusingly convoluted ending and the excruciatingly horrible underuse of the Songbird.

All-in-all, BioShock Infinite is a great game.  The excellently crafted world of Columbia, largely experimental combat and incredibly useful AI companion Elizabeth are the highlights of this game.  Sadly in trying to appeal to a larger audience during the most crucial hours of the game, BioShock Infinite forgets the freedom and experimentation that separates it from the plethora of first-person shooters that permeate the industry nowadays.  This devolution in those last few hours along with some other considerable flaws really holds BioShiock Infinite back from standing out in the overcrowded FPS genre.  No matter the flaws, BioShock Infinite is a game worth experiencing at some point.  Just do not go in expecting a revolution.

Bit by Bit: April 28 - May 4

It has been a busy last couple weeks with things picking up on the job front that I have not got around to writing as much.  With completing Darksiders II last week and Luigi’s Mansion:  Dark Moon this past week, I am hoping to get a few more reviews up in the coming weeks.  I also have a review of BioShock Infinite that I am still working on to put up.  It should be a busy couple of weeks of working at my jobs, writing reviews and playing a bunch of games.  Before we get onto the meat and potatoes of this week’s Bit by Bit, let we wish everybody a May the 4^th be with you.  Now let us get on with the show.

Game of the Week

Even though I played enough of Luigi’s Mansion:  Dark Moon this past week to beat the game, my Game of the Week goes to Ace Attorney Investigations:  Miles Edgeworth for the Nintendo DS.  I have been looking for Ace Attorney Investigations for a long time now.  I did not get the chance to pick this game up when it first released back in 2010 and it has been next to impossible to find used.  So when I came across a new copy of Ace Attorney Investigations for 30 dollars at my local Microplay, I could not pass it up.  It was a 30 dollars well spent as I have finally completed my Ace Attorney collection for DS (aside from the currently Japanese only Investigations 2) and Ace Attorney Investigations may be the most unique entry in the series.  Currently, I have spent close to three hours with the game.  From my time with Investigations, I can say it is a very good and also different entry in the Ace Attorney series.  Aside from playing as Phoenix Wright’s rival Miles Edgeworth, the game uses a much different perspective than your normal adventure game.  You actually control Miles Edgeworth as you investigate crime scenes, collect evidence and piece together more evidence using the Logic system.  Not everything you can interact with yields evidence, some things yield little logic notes that Miles must connect using the Logic system in order to progress.  In Investigations, you never step foot in a courtroom.  All the gameplay takes place at the crime scene as you piece together the crime through interacting with the environment and talking to suspects in a similar cross-examination system to the other Ace Attorney games.  These observations come from playing through the very first case in the game.  There is still much more to experience and I look forward to playing more Ace Attorney Investigations:  Miles Edgeworth in the near future.

Most Anticipated Game of the Week

Apart from the slew of information Nintendo has been providing gamers on upcoming releases for Wii U and 3DS, there is one game Nintendo has said little to nothing aout these last few months.  That game is The Wonderful 101, the first game developed through Nintendo’s new partnership with the incredible Platinum Games.  Everything shown so far looks amazing.  I am just itching for Nintendo to give us an actual release date because I am planning on asking my family to get it along with Pikmin 3 for my birthday.  So hopefully we get some sort of confirmation soon because it is suppose to be out sometime this Summer.

Video of the Week

While I am loving my time with the Rayman Legends Challenge App, it still hurts that I along with many other Wii U owners could have had this game two months ago if it was not for Ubisoft.  Earlier this week, Ubisoft released a new trailer for Rayman Legends to help make the suffering more manageable or aggravate fans by putting salt in the wound (you be the judge).  Nevertheless, this trailer is pretty awesome as it showcases another one of the excellent music stages that will be included in Legends.  Most people will notice the tune found in this level even with it being performed by a mariachi band.

Games for the Summer

When new game releases start to slow during the spring and summer months, many gamers get very impatient.  Instead of a steady stream of new games to play, they are left with a little trickle.  One option for gamers to turn to during this drought is the realm of downloadable games, which release more frequently during the summer.  Another option is for gamers to resort to their backlog.  For those gamers who rarely trade their games like yours truly, we have accumulated a massive library of unfinished games to work on.  During the spring and summer, most older gamers (ages 19 and above) have much more time on their hands to dedicate to gaming.  This list below are the games that I personally want to dedicate a significant amount of my gaming time to with the ultimate goal of beating these games.

BioShock
After playing the great yet somewhat disappointing BioShock Infinite, I have had an urge to go back and experience the very first BioShock.  Having missed out of the revolution that the original BioShock was, I impulsively picked up Infinite just so I would not miss out on experiencing the revolution again if BioShock Infinite actually lived up to the hype.  While I did enjoy my time with BioShock Infinite, I was left wanting to experience that revolutionary first-person shooter that could possibly give Half-Life 2 some competition for my favourite FPS game.  Considering I own BioShock, it is finally time for me to really experience this game more than an hour.  Time to fight splicers, get scared crapless by the Big Daddies and learn about the underwater dystopia known as Rapture.

Darksiders II
I have put a good amount of time into Darksiders II, one of my favourite games of 2012 and currently my most-played game for the Wii U.  Even though I have invested 20 hours into this game, I have not finished the game.  That is what usually happens when a game gives me a massive open world and numerous side quests to complete.  I am in no rush to complete Darksiders II because I am loving it.  Although to move onto newer games, you have to beat your older games.  Eventually, my time with Darksiders II will have to end and I want to make it this summer.

Half-Life 2:  Episode 2
I love Half-Life.  Valve has easily created the greatest first-person shooters on the face of this planet in the Half-Life games.  While I have still yet to beat the very first one on PC (I hit a random bug that completely halted my progress and I have not picked it up since), I tore through Half-Life 2 and Episode 1 on the 360 edition of the Orange Box a couple years back.  I was about to get into Episode 2 and then I stopped.  I cannot remember why, but I have not played it since.  When thinking about games to work on these next four months, Episode 2 just sprung up right away as I game I have to finish.  Not only in preparation for whenever Valve decides to grace us with the next instalment of Half-Life, but just for my own gamer pride.

Pokemon White Version 2
Before Fire Emblem Awakening sucked up all my game time on the 3DS, Pokemon White 2 was taking up most of my game time.  Currently 28 hours into the game, there is still quite a bit to do in my second trip through the Unova region.  More Pokemon to capture, trainers to defeat and evil forces to stop.  Especially with the worldwide release of Pokemon X and Y this coming October, I want to finish Pokemon White 2 so I will be able to dedicate most my game time this Fall to the next Pokemon game.

Rayman Origins
While Ubisoft ripped my heart out of my chest, and repeatedly stomped on it with their delay of Rayman Legends just a couple months back, there were a couple good things that came from this heartbreak.  One was having some more money to spend on games during the game rush that was March.  Another is now having time to finally beat Rayman Origins before playing Rayman Legends.  I have been working my way through Origins for a while now, so I know I am closing in on the end of the game.  This summer is just the right time to make one final push to beat this game in preparation for the September release of Legends.

Bit by Bit: Q1 2013

Freedom at last!  Finally my first year of university is over.  Now with a little more free time on my hands, I can dedicate much more time to blogging.  As the season transitions from winter to spring to eventually summer, the release of games slow significantly.  While game releases slow, game news starts to pick up with big announcements leading up to some huge conventions like E3, Comic Con and PAX Prime.  The slowing of game releases for the spring and summer help with working on the immense backlog that has been building since last Fall.  Along with a few new games I am looking forward to in the next four and a half months, there are quite a few I want to work on this summer break.  I will get to those games in my blog tomorrow.  Before we look to the future, it is time to look back at the best of the first quarter of 2013.

Game of the Quarter
Even with the busyness that is university, I did make some time to pick up and play a good amount of new releases.  The games I picked up this quarter were Tomb Raider, Lego City:  Undercover, Luigi's Mansion:  Dark Moon and BioShock Infinite.  All these games are great and deserve your time and money, but none of them could compete with the 3DS's masterful strategy epic that released this past February.  Yes, Fire Emblem Awakening is the best game of the first quarter of 2013 and quite possibly could go to be this writer's Game of the Year.  Intelligent Systems has produced many great games over the years be it strategy, role-playing or even puzzle games, but Fire Emblem Awakening stands as their crowning achievement in this medium.  The countless hours of content, great story and vastly improved support system are the stars of Awakening bar none.  Combining these elements with the excellent tactile battle system and challenging yet fair difficulty that this series is known for easily makes Fire Emblem Awakening the best game in Nintendo's venerable strategy series, on the 3DS and of this year.  Personally, I have put just over 100 hours into Fire Emblem:  Awakening and I still have a handful of sidequests and DLC levels to play and plenty SpotPass teams to fight with tons of more content being uploaded daily.  Fire Emblem Awakening is a game that no 3DS owner should pass.  It is the 3DS's killer app.

Video of the Quarter
One moment in the past three months captured the hearts and minds of gamers around the world and put Capcom in a much better light after the hellaciously bad 2012 they had.  That moment was the reveal of DuckTales Remastered at PAX East.  Nobody saw this reveal coming, but when it happened jaws dropped.  Gamers have been clamouring for another DuckTales game for years now and finally got their wish when Capcom showed this trailer.