Year in Review 2013: Games I Missed

Hundreds of games release in a year both physically and digitally.  It is impossible for one person to play every game that releases in a year.  You have to pick and choose which games to spend your valuable free time playing.  With this mindset, you will miss experiencing some great games.  As game releases slow after Christmas, it is an opportune time to pick and play those missed games.  While I did not get much or any time with the games on this list back in 2013, I hope get plenty of time with them in 2014.

Guacamelee!
Luchadors, wrestling moves and Metroidvania-style platforming.  Guacamelee is made for me.  Sadly, its early Sony exclusivity kept this writer from picking Guacamelee up until its eventual release on Steam.  Playing as an average Mexican farmer turned super powered luchador, the player is tasked with saving El Presidente's daughter from an evil skeleton.  Crazy story aside, Gucamelee looks to be a great extension of the classic Metroidvania formula.  Switching the classic weapon upgrades out for wrestling moves, adding a dimension-changing mechanic and focusing on melee combat are the ways that Guacamelee differentiates itself from other action-platformers in the Metroidvania vein.  I love this style of platformers and have put countless hours into many games in this sub-genre from Super Metroid to Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.  Once I get the chance to install Gucamelee on my computer, I predict much of the same with this game.

Ni No Kuni:  Wrath of the White Witch
This joint venture from the minds of legendary animation house Studio Ghibli and esteemed video game developer Level-5 originally released for the Nintendo DS in Japan.  A decent number of gamers heard about this unique collaboration through the media, but nobody thought Ni No Kuni would make it to our shores.  Thanks to Namco Bandai, the PS3 remake, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, came to North America last January.  Just as unique as the collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Level-5 is Ni No Kuni's gameplay.  A mix between the combat of Namco's Tales series and the monster collection of Nintendo's Pokemon franchise, Ni No Kuni has the player switching between human characters such as Oliver and his party members and monster-like creatures known as Familiars during enemy encounters.  This unique battle system along with the excellent 2D and 3D animation and art provided by Studio Ghibli make Ni No Kuni stand out as a quality JRPG in a generation that has seen more lackluster entries in this genre than standouts.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney:  Dual Destinies
My love for the Ace Attorney series has been well documented in the annals of Silver Bit.  Apart from Capcom's controversial decision to keep Dual Destinies as a digital-only release, the latest entry in the Ace Attorney series was easily among my most anticipated games of 2013.  Following the events of Apollo Justice, Phoenix Wright has returned to the courtroom to help the wrongly accused from awkward teenagers to killer whales from facing prosecution.  Even though Dual Destinies Mature rating, the game still looks to have all the comedic hijinks that fans have come to know and love.  Dual Destinies adds the Mood Matrix to Phoenix's arsenal, which replaces the psych locks and perceive system from previous installments.  The Mood Matrix allows Phoenix to gauge the emotions of a witness during cross-examinations in order to pick out contradictions.  While this writer is still holding out for a physical release of Dual Destinies, I will definitely pick up the newest Ace Attorney within the next year.

Puppeteer
Sony may have been hitting it out of the park on the hardware side of things in 2013, but their software has not gotten this writer as excited.  Sony's major releases consisted of unnecessary sequels such as God of War: Ascension and Gran Turismo 6 and over hyped new IPs such as The Last of Us.  The one game from Sony that got this writer excited was the one that got the least hype from the electronics giant--Puppeteer.  Puppeteer is an interesting platformer from Sony's Japan studio with a striking presentation as the entire game plays out as an actual puppet show.  Apart from the unique aesthetic, Puppeteer features a couple cool mechanics such as the ability for Kutaro, the player character, to switch heads for different abilities and Kutaro's pair of magical scissors which can be used to interact with the environment, fight enemies and traverse trails of string and paper.  From what I have seen and read about Puppeteer, I am excited to eventually spend some time with the PS3's most interesting exclusive of 2013.

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.

Nintendo Direct 6.21.12 Impressions

Nintendo Direct is a mini-conference where Nintendo announces new and exclusive Nintendo announcements and showcases their upcoming games.  Nintendo Direct serves as a way for Nintendo to keep Nintendo fans up-to-date on the newest happenings in the Big N directly from them instead of through video game websites or magazines.  It is a very cool idea and personally these videos have always been fun to watch.  Last night, Nintendo hosted another Nintendo Direct that focused mainly on Nintendo 3DS, but had a little section to showcase a game or two for the Wii.

First and foremost, I really did enjoy this Nintendo Direct as it did wrapped all the information about 3DS and Wii into one concise 20 minute video that flowed perfectly.  My one big grip is that a lot of the big announcements that Nintendo shared with us should have been at E3, not this 20 minute mini-conference.  The major announcements of the Nintendo 3DS XL and Namco Bandai helping develop the new Smash Bros. games along with the reveals of Fire Emblem and Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask should have been showed E3 because it would have definitely improved Nintendo's okay showing at the event and it would gotten out to more people than just this little mini-conference that usually is only viewed by Nintendo fans and video game journalists.  While I can criticize Nintendo's decision to omit a lot of this huge announcements, the Nintendo Direct did what it was suppose to do.  It got Nintendo fans excited for the next wave of 3DS games and the Kirby Dream Collection for Wii.  I would have liked if Nintendo gave a concrete release date for The Last Story, but that is just minor.  We got a price and date for the 3DS XL, a rundown of all the third-party 3DS games, looks at New Super Mario Bros. 2, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Kirby's Dream Collection, Fire Emblem, Pokemon Dream Radar, Pokedex 3D Pro and Pokemon Black 2 and White 2.  One of the other big announcements for me at least was the 8-Bit Summer initiative for the Nintendo eShop.  If any of you have read some of my On the Download posts, I have been crying to the heavens about the lack of Virtual Console games on the eShop.  It seems somebody at Nintendo of America has heard my prayers.  There will be two Virtual Console games released each week in July starting July 5th including Kid Icarus: Of Myths & Monsters, which should of come out alongside Kid Icarus: Uprising in my opinion.

All-in-all, this Nintendo Direct mini-conference was very good.  It was packed to the brim with great content and announcements.  While some of this stuff should have been at E3, I cannot fault this mini-conference for Nintendo's obvious gaff.  If you want to check it out, I have provided the video for you to watch below.  Enjoy and have a nice day.

Launch Station: Ridge Racer Unbounded

I honestly thought Ridge Racer Unbounded was delayed until this coming fall.  So I was pretty surprised to see reviews popping up across the net and retailers continuing to advertise it's March 30th release date.  A big blunder on Namco's part for not promoting the newest entry in their arcade racing franchise to the point that those interested in the series such as yours truly though it was delayed.  Well after some confusion, Ridge Racer Unbounded is dropping on store shelves this Friday.  Let us take a look at a racer that will definitely fly under most gamers' radars.

Following other Japanese developers lead, Namco has given Finish developer BugBear Entertainment, the studio behind the FlatOut games, a chance to inject new life into the Ridge Racer franchise with Ridge Racer Unbounded.  Instead of a standard Grand Prix mode like in other Ridge Racer games, Unbounded has a story mode for players to enjoy.  You play as an unnamed racer who joins the Unbounded street racing gang.  Test your skills against rival gangs in the city of Shatter Bay, Ridge Racer Unbounded's setting, to gain respect and expand your gang's turf.  With Ridge Racer Unbounded, BugBear created a whole new physics engine and effects that allow players to damage the cars and the environments.  While you have all of Shatter Bay to race in, BugBear has added a City Creator mode, which allows players to create their own tracks to race on and share with others online.  Speaking of online, you can race with your friends or other gamers through Unbounded's online multi-player.

Considering the horrible job Namco did of informing gamer's and press that Ridge Racer Unbounded was coming out this Friday, it is their fault if the game tanks.  From the little I have read and seen on the game, it looks like BugBear has built a Ridge Racer that can compete with the top games in the racing genre.  Personally no Ridge Racer since Ridge Racer for the PSP has really appealed to me.  They all felt like more of the same rather than a step forward.  Ridge Racer Unbounded looks to be that step forward this series has needed for a long time and I am looking forward to try it for myself.  It is sad that Ridge Racer Unbounded will definitely fly under the radars of most gamers due to the lack of promotion and of blockbuster releases that have come out in the last few months.

Launch Station: Street Fighter X Tekken

Here we are.  The biggest week for video games in the first quarter of 2012.  GDC is talking place in San Francisco and a huge amount of games are releasing this Tuesday.  Tomorrow will see hardcore gamers, fighting fans, RPG fans, baseball fans and gamers of all kinds flocking to their nearest EB Games, Best Buy, Future Shop or possibly Wal-Mart to pick up at least one of the games that will release tomorrow.  Personally I will be at my local EB Games when it opens at 9:30 to pick up my Mass Effect 3 Collecter's Edition.  While Mass Effect 3 is a big game, it is not what I will be previewing in today's Launch Station.  That honour goes to the biggest fighting game since Marvel vs. Capcom 3 released last year, Street Fighter X Tekken.

In the past Capcom has joined forces with the likes of Marvel, SNK and Tatsunoko to create some great fighting games.  Now Capcom has joined forces with Namco to bring together the fighters of Capcom's iconic 2D fighter, Street Fighter and Namco's iconic 3D fighter, Tekken for two games, Street Fighter X Tekken (a 2D fighter developed by Capcom) and Tekken X Street Fighter (a 3D fighter developed by Namco).  Street Fighter X Tekken releases tomorrow for consoles while nothing for Tekken X Street FIghter has been showed off yet.  Street Fighter X Tekken uses the Street Fighter IV engine meaning that all the characters and environments share the same beautiful cel-shaped aesthetic that Street Fighter IV has. Each match in Street Fighter X Tekken is a two-on-two tag match.  The first player to have one of their fighter's health be reduced to zero loses the round and the first player to win the best two out of three rounds is declared the winner.  With each match being a tag affair, you can tag between fighters on the fly, which can lead to some incredible combos and special moves.  There are two new mechanics in Street Fighter X Tekken that can change the tide of battle for some.  The first new mechanic is the Gem System, which allows players to equip up to three gems that boost different stats.  There are six types of gems that you can equip; attack, defense, speed, vitality, assist and Cross Gauge (the name for Street Fighter X Tekken's super meter).  The second new mechanic is Pandora Mode, which can only be used when one fighter on the player's team has less than 25% health remaining.  You can sacrifice that character to activate Pandora Mode, which gives the remaining fighter increased strength and infinite Cross Gauge with one catch.  That catch being that you have to defeat your opponents before Pandora Mode runs out or you die.

I have never been that great at fighting games, but I have always loved them.  While Street Fighter X Tekken has pimped my interest, I am not going to run out and buy it.  Also I am going to wait a few months or so to see if Capcom plans on releasing an updated version of the game with all the DLC characters like they did with Super Street Fighter IV and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.  If you are a fighting fan that has waited years for the chance to see Ryu fight Kazuya Mishima or Chun-Li fight Nina Williams, Street Fighter X Tekken is definitely that game for you.

Launch Station: Soul Calibur V

Final Fantasy is not the only big new release that lands on store shelves today.  After four years, Namco hopes write another successful chapter in the tale of souls and swords.  With the fighting genre on the rise, Namco's newest weapon-based fighting game, Soul Calibur V could not come at a better time.

Soul Calibur V takes place 17 years after the events of Soul Calibur IV.  This jump in time has allowed Namco to create a new batch of fighters to fight alongside returning fighters such as Ivy, Voldo and Siegfried.  While half of the roster is made up of newcomers, these new characters are related to characters found in previous Soul Calibur games.  Carrying on tradition, Ezio Auditore da Firenze from the Assassin's Creed series is a guest fighter for this entry in the Soul Calibur series.  At least the assassin from Renaissance Italy fits more into the story and setting of the Soul Calibur series than the likes of Darth Vader, Yoda and Spawn (guest characters in past Soul Calibur games).  As with each new fighting game, developers effortlessly tweak features to make it the most balanced and satisfying fighting experience yet.  The same goes for Soul Calibur V as Namco has tweaked everything from super moves, now known as Brave and Critical Edge moves, to character creation to give both old and new players a reason to pick up this entry in the Soul Calibur franchise.

From what I have seen and read, Soul Calibur V seems like more of iteration than reboot in the Soul Calibur series even with the time jump.  New fighters seem more or less based off of fighters from previous entries in the series.  It could be another stellar entry in this great fighting series, but Namco really has not given fans like myself (who owns Soul Calibur II, III and IV) much incentive to pick up this new entry in the series when they can go back and play older entries in the series.

On the Download: January 15-21

The steady stream of downloadable games continues on with the release of some games from the past and the first demo for the 3DS.  It has been a solid week for downloads.  Apple just released the new iTunes U app which provides hundreds of free courses for people to take.  Apple also updated the iBooks app, named iBooks 2, which adds textbooks to Apple's online bookstore.  Two very useful apps for current and future university and college students such as yours truly.  Now let us rundown the biggest download games and demos of the week.

After weeks of waiting, demos have come to the Nintendo eShop.  The first demo available for 3DS owners is Resident Evil: Revelations, which is set to release in a few weeks.  Interesting thing you will notice once you download this demo is that you have a limited amount of times to play the demo.  You are given 30 times to play the demo.  From my playthrough, you will only have to play this demo once.  It was rather short as I beat it in 18 minutes.  The demo highlighted the feel of playing Resident Evil on the handheld, the return to Resident Evil's more plodding pace and a brand new item.  The controls will take a little while to get use to especially when fighting baddies.  They do make you feel like you playing an old Resident Evil game as Jill moves like a tank.  In my 18 minutes with the game, I did jump a few times as enemies seemed to pop up when I least expect it.  You feel very tense wandering the halls that this demo is set in.  The last thing I want to touch on is the new scanner.  It is such a great tool that I used anytime I could to find hidden items and other scannable objects.  I would have liked to have had a little more time with Resident Evil: Revelations to get a better impression on it, but I am still looking forward to playing it sometime later this year in preparation for Resident Evil 6, which I am very excited for.

Like many other games before it, Soul Calibur has been ported to the ever popular iPod and iPad.  Namco has brought this fighting classic originally for the Dreamcast, but not without a few modes taken out of Soul Calibur.  Soul Calibur for iOS does not have multiplayer or story mode, but Namco hopes to soften the blow by making the game universal.  I am not a fan of fighting games for iOS.  The touch controls are not responsive enough to work for a genre that focuses on precise controls.  The removal of two key modes for any fighting game does sting as a lot of people are not going to want to play Arcade, Time Attack and Survival over and over again.   If you are craving a fighter for your iDevice, I will not stop you.  At 12 dollars, Soul Calibur for the iOS seems more like a quick cash-in for Namco as we quickly approach the release of Soul Calibur V later this month.

By now, you all should have figured out that I am a huge Sonic fan and love to talk about anything involving my favourite Blue Blur.  This Thursday saw the release of Sonic CD and Sonic 4: Episode 1 for the PC via Steam.  If you somehow missed out on these great games when they were released for XBLA, PSN and iOS before, then pick them up.  Both are great platformers that you should have a lot of fun with even with a keyboard.  Trust me, I have played a good number of Sonic platformers on the PC and they have controlled just fine.  At 5 dollars and 10 dollars respectively, this decision should be a no-brainer.  Also every other Sonic game on Steam is 50% off for this weekend only.  So jump on it and download some great games at 50% off the regular price.  You will not be disappointed.