Thursday, January 2, 2014

What were the best (and worst) reviewed games of 2013?

I'm not a big fan of review aggregator sites like Metacritic for making my game-purchasing decisions. Games are a subjective art form, and many of my favorite games have terrible review scores. But review aggregates are good for assessing the state of the industry as a whole. So let's take a gander at the best-reviewed games of 2013, and see what that says about the publishers and console manufacturers. Note: I'm using GameRankings.com, my preferred review aggregator. I'm only counting games with at least 20 reviews.

10. Rayman Legends - Wii U/Xbox 360/PlayStation 3

9. Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut - Wii U

8. The Stanley Parable - PC

7. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD - Wii U

6. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - 3DS

5. Fire Emblem: Awakening - 3DS

4. BioShock Infinite - PC/360/PS3

3. Super Mario 3D World - Wii U

2. The Last of Us - PS3

1. Grand Theft Auto V - 360/PS3

So much for the Awesome Next Generation of Console Gaming, rite? There are exactly zero Xbox One, PlayStation 4, or PlayStation Vita games on this list. But wait! The newest generation of console gaming isn't totally unrepresented: There are four Wii U titles and two 3DS games. According to the internet, though, Nintendo has already "lost" the Console Wars.

The remainder of this list is comprised of last-gen Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games... and The Stanley Parable? One of my favorite games of the year! I'm surprised it got enough mainstream reviews to put it on this list. Just goes to show how far indie games have come.

Just for funsies, let's look at the worst-reviewed games of the year:

10. Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded - PC

9. Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel - 360/PS3

8. Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 - 360/PS3/PC

7. Flashback - 360/PS3/PC

6. LocoCycle - Xbox One

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows - 360/PS3/PC

4. Star Trek - 360/PS3/PC

3. Time and Eternity - PS3

2. Aliens: Colonial Marines - PC/360/PS3

1. Fighter Within - Xbox One

Let's see... a bunch of angry games about shooting people, a bunch of shameless cash grab movie/TV tie-ins... and the Next Generation of Xbox Gaming. Two Xbox One launch titles. Sounds about right.
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1 comment:

  1. Raul RosadoJanuary 2, 2014 at 12:01 PM

    it's going to take at least a year before developers really figure out how to use the system to its potential. We got better and better games on both the 360 and ps3 in both terms of gameplay and graphics as the years went on. Expecting the system's killer app at launch is just silly!

    And of those Wii U titles on the top rated list, two of them are remakes, and one is another Mario platforming rehash (Rayman came out for more than WiiU so you really shouldn't call it a WiiU title).

    You're basing "losing the console wars," solely on reviews according to this article. Gotta consider sales numbers too, a game could be awesome but if no one buys it because of poor marketing or something than it doesn't matter. THAAAt being said, and with some quick googlefu, ps4 is going up and up in sales and is "projected" to surpass WiiU sales in the spring. Xbox one isn't dong so hot, I'm sure the price tag is a deterrent. WiiU sits in the middle....for now, it was uncontested in the "next gen" until now.

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