Best of 2013 Awards: Top 10 Best Games

Better late than never, eh? Our long-awaited countdown of 2013's finest video games!
In all of the ruckus involved with entering a New Year and with the plethora of news updates that 2014 has offered in its first month alone, the issue of our Best of 2013 feature series' final instalment fell under the rug somewhat for a while. Never fear, however- we're now ready to sweep that same rug from under your feet, and in doing so, to reveal our picks for the Top 10 Best Games of 2013.

As has been the case with several of our other related features, we'll first outline the latter half of the shortlist with brief summaries of why each title ranked where it did and earned itself a spot on the shortlist. After that, it'll be the turn of our Top 5 Best Games to take centre-stage, building towards the revelation (finally!) of our Game of the Year 2013 victor. Without further ado, then, let's insert our 10p coin into the arcade machine, take control of the joystick and plunge right in...

#10-#6
#10: ANGRY BIRDS STAR WARS II- Say what you will about the Angry Birds franchise, but its popularity evidently hasn't waned in spite of the frequency of Rovio's output and the uncanny similarities between each new instalment. Angry Birds Star Wars II, however, accomplishes the rare feat of justifying the colossal hype- it builds upon that which came before in the first Star Wars adaptation, and yet somehow the sequel transforms many of the solid gameplay mechanics present in the original to sublime effect. Disillusioned series veterans who've taken a break from flinging birds at pigs in recent times may just find that this is the (still free-of-charge) release which convinces them to engage in further bouts of touch-screen chaos!
#9: SUPER MARIO 3D WORLD- It would take a downright arrogant Nintendoite to make the assertion that the WiiU wasn't in sore need of a system-seller last year. At the same time, any opponents of the console who retained their scepticism of its potential come November clearly didn't play Super Mario 3D World. Sure, it wasn't quite on a par with Galaxy or its masterful follow-up (the latter of which earned our Game of the Year award in 2010), mainly due to its retaining of many of the series' key narrative elements and its writers' refusal to manipulate the plot in any noteworthy manner, but 3D World was a worthy successor to both of those titles and the 3DS-exclusive 3D Land, at least ranking up in the higher echelons of the franchise's prolonged output even if it doesn't quite sit atop its oft-coveted throne...
#8: DOCTOR WHO: LEGACY- This reviewer will gladly partake in any of BBC Worldwide's licensed Doctor Who video game efforts, but seldom have such releases managed to impress on the same level as the industry's greats- until now, that is. Launched on iOS amidst the show's 50th Anniversary celebrations last November, Legacy is going from strength to strength in its ever-expanding incorporation of elements from both the classic series and its more familiar modern continuation. Add to that a hugely addictive RPG puzzler set-up and a refreshingly engaging overarching narrative, and Seed's first notable handheld project has become not only the best Who gaming experience so far (which, granted, wouldn't have been a particularly challenging task), but one of 2013's most memorable video game products to boot.
#7: ASSASSIN'S CREED IV: BLACK FLAG- Judging by the phenomenal sales figures attributed to Ubisoft's buccaneering adventure, evidently a pirate's life is for a substantial number of other players than just yours truly. Black Flag's broadened mainstream appeal comes in its potent mixture of classic Assassin's Creed mechanics with a host of gameplay features only teased in the decent-but-flawed ACIII. Here we have a far more rogue-ish and daring protagonist for the player to sympathise with, not to mention one of the series' finest open-world settings and a storyline which (while not on a par with Ezio's experiences in ACII and Brotherhood) deviates from its predecessors substantially enough to achieve a powerful dramatic impact upon its spectators. Even if the franchise remains confined to its nautical surroundings in future instalments, odds are that it'll be smooth sailing from here on out!
#6: LEGO MARVEL SUPERHEROES- Here's a growingly apt question that you might well think on before we go any further- can Travellers' Tales do any wrong these days? Not since their woeful LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues in 2009 has a single effort from TT Games come and gone with anything less than a warm reception from the general gaming public, and the studio's take on the Marvel Cinematic Universe was no different in that regard. Packing over 150 characters deriving from both the vast array of big-screen superhero instalments and the comic-book universe itself, Marvel Superheroes may have held a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mantra with regards to its engine, but the stellar visuals, the reference-crammed narrative and the near-endless array of fan-appeasing side missions available beyond its main campaign make it an absolutely essential purchase for True Believers.

TOP 5 BEST GAMES OF 2013
#5: THE WALKING DEAD: GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION- Surprisingly enough, this list features only one video game release which might prove to be a slight bone of contention for the gamers among you. The Walking Dead Season One did indeed first retail on digital marketplaces in the latter months of 2012, and this reviewer only got around to experiencing the five episodes (and 400 Days) in their entirety a year later via its retail compilation, but for them to have gone without recognition on one of our Game of the Year shortlists would have been criminal. In short, Season One is an exhilarating, breathlessly emotional campaign filled to the brim with morally-challenging decisions and not shy in the slightest in terms of depicting the devastating consequences those choices have upon its ongoing narrative. Telltale's point-and-click approach may come off as outdated to the untrained eye, yet allow this stunning package the chance to stun and it'll do that in vast measure from the word Go!

#4: TOMB RAIDER- The search for the reasoning behind Square Enix's election to commission a next-generation Definitive Edition of their reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise requires no great leap of intellectual faith: the game in its original incarnation was by far one of the past year's most compelling action-adventure titles. Tensions may have arisen from the original E3 2012 trailer's apparent teasing of a violent sexual attack upon a vulnerable, younger Lara Croft, and yet in reality, this was but a misinterpretation of one of several chilling personal setpieces which solidify the sense of a new direction for a previously-wayward series. Now that the task of offering Xbox One and PlayStation 4 owners the opportunity to correct their error of passing this one up is complete, though, can we please have more campaign DLC or perhaps a sequel in the near future, Square Enix? Don't worry, we'll be waiting right here...

#3: RAYMAN LEGENDS- Upon its release in 2010, it felt as if Rayman Origins was missing a minor yet all-too-important special something, and the absence of that abstract element was what held it back from entering the big leagues. With Rayman Legends, then, Ubisoft Montpieller managed to discover that aforementioned hidden treasure, refining the already-remarkable platforming experience into far superior territory with their integration of musically-themed and rhythm-structured levels at the end of each of the six worlds. If any true testament to Legends' brilliance is necessitated, then it's only in our concluding, admittedly greedy, desire for more adventures beyond those which the studio presented to us in September. For now, though, we'll cherish what we've got, a bold and consistently wondrous tour de force in the enduring strengths of side-scrolling platformers decades on from their inception.

#2: BIOSHOCK INFINITE- "Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt." Credit where credit's due, most fans of the original BioShock struggled to imagine how its first sequel could possibly top the franchise's critically acclaimed first chapter. The reality of that matter? It couldn't, hence why 2K's BioShock 2 lies buried at the bottom of the ocean (of our memories, that is) beside the ruins of Rapture. With Irrational's return to the helm, however, came a spellbinding reinvention of the status quo, culminating in the narrative masterpiece which is Infinite. Even if its FPS gameplay is rooted firmly in that which has come before, such an occurrence was all-but-inevitable in light of our sustained foreknowledge of what to expect from the genre on a mechanical level, and the intricate, subversive and utterly captivating central science-fiction storyline compensates in abundance anyway. Few of us are likely to forget the time that we spent in Booker and Elizabeth's company last March, nor the marvellously complex and replay-begging climax which left internet forums in stunned silence for weeks after its début. If Game of Thrones represents the current pinnacle of televisual storytelling and Gravity its most recent cinematic equivalent, then BioShock Infinite fulfils that same role for the most versatile and diverse entertainment medium of them all.

GAME OF THE YEAR 2013: GRAND THEFT AUTO V- The borderline-superlative praise which I've given BioShock Infinite above may initially leave readers justifiably confounded as to why Irrational's latest has failed to acquire our Game of the Year crown for 2013. In which case, I'll clarify the situation- where Infinite excels primarily on the basis of its visionary, engrossing narrative and the manner in which it is conveyed to the player, Rockstar Games' incredible Grand Theft Auto V succeeds not only in this realm, but in countless others besides. Whereas the team's 2008 masterpiece GTA IV was an exercise in darkness and moral corruption, its successor's protagonists revel in their antiheroic status, relishing their lot in life and taking down any of the dozens of satire-infused figures who stand in the way of their enduring reckless lifestyles. To focus on any of the three lead characters at the helm of this glorious modern epic in isolation would be to craft a hilarious, morally-eschewed and innovative video game experience, so by shifting their focus to include all of these delicately-crafted constructs as playable avatars, Rockstar have taken their entire beloved saga two steps further than ever before. Appropriately enough, the developers appear intent on keeping their latest masterclass in open-world gaming confined to the current-generation of consoles, and why not? In doing so, they'll ensure that Grand Theft Auto V will forever be remembered as its genre's finest hour yet, not to mention the greatest title ever to grace the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (and make no mistake, that is saying something).