With 2013 nearing its final fleeting
moments, now is a good opportunity to reflect on what we’ve reviewed here at
Trophy Unlocked, both the good and the bad. Below, in no particular order, is
my list of the top games, movies and disappointments from the year. This time,
I’ve also not only resurrected a category I had hoped never to use again, I’ve
introduced yet another that I hope not to use (the result may surprise you (or
not)).
Top
Movies of 2013
While Pixar has been known for making
nothing but hits in its heyday, Cars 2 began a downward spiral that the studio
seemed to only begin recovering from with the release of Brave. However, Monsters University is a noticeable return to form despite being a prequel to Monsters,
Inc. It manages to capture the spirit of the original very well, though not
perfectly, and has a good balance of serious and comedic elements. Though not
perfect, I am, for the first time in a couple of years, actually wondering if
Pixar will be able to replicate the success of this film with their next one,
Inside Out; I now have a newfound hope for their future.
Metalocalypse is one of my favorite
animated shows and, as a result, Dethklok is one of my favorite Death Metal
bands. Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem – A Klok Opera has a very ambitious
goal: Tie up many of the loose ends from Season 4, but present it in the form
of a rock opera. Not only does it live up to its promise, it has great music,
plenty of laughs and the best animation I have seen from the show yet. I can’t
wait to see what Brendon Small has in store for the future of Metalocalypse.
Admittedly, this movie only just barely
qualifies to be on this list since it achieved immediate cult status through
its source material and choice of Director, but it makes it here because I am a
huge fan of the original book (it is my second favorite one) and I greatly
enjoyed seeing it in movie form (also it was theatrically released in 2013).
While there may be a couple of missed opportunities here and there, and the
finished product will definitely not appeal to everyone, watching it was a lot
of fun and it was clear that Don Coscarelli had fun making it as well. It’s
thought-provoking, funny and a little gross all at once and is a ride worth
taking at least once (and perhaps only
once if you are not familiar with David Wong’s literature but know a friend who
is and has this movie on DVD/Blu-ray/VOD).
Top
Video Games of 2013
I’ve been a fan of the gameplay of the
Devil May Cry series since Devil May Cry 4, but I have since played every other
game and liked them (save the second one). When I first saw DmC Devil May Cry,
specifically the new interpretation of Dante, I was a little thrown off by some
of the choices they made, but almost immediately afterwards I gained a sense of
optimism that only grew stronger as I saw the better elements refined and the
worse ones forgotten; I even cosplayed as DmC Dante a few times. In the end, I
saw that my optimism was not misplaced and thoroughly enjoyed the final result.
Yes, the combat could have used a little more work, but it makes a necessary
step by combining the abilities of both Dante and Nero (DMC4’s protagonist) to
give a better sense of speed to the character. Story-wise, I actually liked the
newer Dante as he showed compassion, empathy and a good deal of character
development in a single game. While he isn’t completely perfect in his actions,
nor is he able to provide the same testosterone/confidence boost from playing
as him, this new Dante is still a character I can really get behind and I hope
that a sequel can be made despite what you hear from the vocal minority.
Not only do I read Penny Arcade every
time it updates, I own all of the book collections and have found the
Rain-Slick tetralogy of games to provide an experience unique and very worthwhile
to play. I really don’t mind that the combat is similar in nature to Pokémon
because it managed to take the good elements of that franchise and refine them
greatly, including the ability to have all of your monsters, whether they
actually fought or not, gain EXP and level up at nearly the same rate. The
final entry in the series manages to expertly combine serious and humorous
moments together in a way that I will remember for years to come.
Within the past year, I’ve played nearly
every Metal Gear game (at least among the main entries), so I was looking
forward to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance based on its premise alone: a Metal
Gear game set after Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and focused on
Raiden as the main character. Not only is Raiden a total badass in this game,
the game also delivers on its tagline, “Cut What You Will”, by allowing you to
cut just about anything with physics that react exactly to where you cut an
object. On top of that, the story isn’t that bad either and the soundtrack is
one of the best I’ve ever heard (I even own a physical copy of Vocal Tracks).
Even if you don’t care for the story, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was a
total blast to play through and a worthy entry into the Metal Gear franchise.
Developed by Naughty Dog, known for the
Jak and Dxater franchise, The Last of Us is their attempt to create a more
mature game, and thus a new IP, for the PS3 that wasn’t an Uncharted game. They
not only succeeded, but managed to create one of the most emotional games I’ve
ever played, accomplished by managing to push the “father” button in me even
though I don’t have kids. While I can see some points brought up regarding
character interactions, and some plot points were a little more obvious to me,
I still found myself drawn in and unwilling to let go until I was done. I found
it hard to express my full opinion in this small blurb, so I encourage those interested
to give it a go and see what you think of it.
The Stanley Parable is a game whose true
purpose is so thought-provoking that my review of it was deliberately void of
information about what the player can hope to discover. Still, The Stanley
Parable is worth playing for the funny, but subtle commentary. You might find
the time to money ratio a little off, but I hope you can trust me enough when I
say that the time it takes to play really has no bearing on the price of
admission and that exploring every possible thing is an act that you should not
only know to do, but feel inclined to do as its temptation of choice is so
overwhelming that you’ll find yourself lost for hours on end. Its enlightening qualities
are what help it qualify for this list as one of the best games I’ve played
this year.
Top
Disappointments of 2013
Though Die Hard has had entries both
good and bad, I still enjoy watching most of the movies. I liked Live Free or
Die Hard, so when I heard about A Good Day to Die Hard, I was hoping for
something that would continue the spirit of the franchise in a way similar to
the other films. Instead, I got treated to a boring slog of a movie that
ignored even the most basic conventions that one would expect from Die Hard,
down to complete mishandling of John McClane’s catchphrase. If this is the end
of the franchise, as the sixth entry is in limbo, then it’ll be sad to know
that it went out with a whimper.
I’m not really a fan of Superman, since
I haven’t really read any of the stories and he just didn’t appeal to me, but I
was willing to watch Man of Steel to at least stay current with superhero
movies and know what everyone would be talking about. When I finally saw it, it
met my low expectations as it is not only a retread of Superman’s origin story,
but it tries a bit too hard to emulate the Dark Knight trilogy in both tone and
style, leaving behind the optimism that I admit I think Superman is supposed to
embody. If this is truly supposed to be the new way the audience is supposed to
see Superman, I think they got off on the wrong foot.
Reboots provide a rare opportunity to
create an entirely new universe with completely original characters and stories
(though it’s fair to want some familiarity as well for veteran fans). The 2009
Star Trek film was able to capitalize pretty well on said opportunity, but Into
Darkness continues this baffling trend where those in charge feel a need to
retread earlier stories, but slap a new skin on it. In this case, it basically
has the cast reenacting The Wrath of Khan, except Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal
of Khan is nowhere near as memorable as Ricardo Montalbán’s and the film has
more of a pessimistic attitude about the future, partly due to the 9/11
conspiracy theories thrown in. It would be more understandable to revisit
earlier stories if the movies came out at a quicker pace, but since the next
one won’t be around for quite a while, it comes off as a decision they’ll
probably regret later.
Let me say right off the bat that
BioShock Infinite is only on here because of the story, as well as how I feel
that I am in a small minority for liking its gameplay more. Gameplay-wise, I
consider the latest entry in the BioShock series to be somewhat of an improvement
over the previous games during combat, though I will also admit that even that
has its shortcomings. The story, on the other hand, feels like something
cobbled together as it constantly abandons interesting plot threads to the
point where I cared less for the protagonists as time went on, constantly
changes the direction of the story and manages to retroactively erase any
potential conflict from the choices made throughout the game (in a series
explicitly about choice). I was
excited at the prospect of being able to to finally dry off and get away from
Rapture, but after seeing the ending, it’s very disappointing to know that both
the fans and the developers (looking at you, Ken Levine) can’t seem to get over
the fact that this franchise needs a game with a new setting, not one where
Columbia, temporally speaking, is Rapture in disguise.
As a huge Deadpool fan, to where I have
an effective monopoly on Deadpool books at my local comic book store and I can
see a framed image of the character from where I’m typing this, I really looked
forward to him finally have his own video game. Unfortunately, despite the
laughs, the gameplay felt unpolished. Daniel Way isn’t the best writer, but his
script for the game was filled with plenty of laughs and a few good cracks at
game development in general, but I wish I could play a Deadpool game where
combat isn’t a tedious grind. I hope this game gets a sequel so that I can play
a game that does the character better justice.
Worst
Movie of 2013
I’ve been a fan of My Little Pony:
Friendship is Magic for quite a while now, since a good chunk of the way
through Season 1, though my status has gone from curious (Season 1) to Brony
(Season 2) to wavering fan (Season 3); My Little Pony: Equestria Girls certainly
didn’t help. From the get-go I had very low expectations and no amount of
trailers was able to raise them any higher. If I had to explain my reaction to
seeing the movie to someone, as well as why I consider it the worst film of the
year, then I’d say that with A Good Day to Die Hard I expected something and
got nothing, I expected nothing from Man of Steel and got nothing and with
Equestria Girls I expected nothing and got a negative result. What didn’t help
was the audience I saw the movie with in the theater (but who goes to theaters
anymore, right?), a group of Bronies so visibly obnoxious about their love for the
franchise that not only did they treat the theater like their den at home, they
also gave every other fan (including myself) a bad name. The edited TV version
didn’t really improve on anything either, but I will never forget how awful
that movie was or how awful my audience was (also, I will never forgive whoever
yelled “wingboner” (for the uninitiated, it’s a fandom meme (one of many) that
I don’t find funny) in a crowded theater with a little girl present in the audience).
Worst
Video Game of 2013
Adventure Time is a very fun show with
interesting characters in a unique setting with gradually deeper themes and
stories. You’d think then that there would be a lot of potential for a great
video game to come out of it, one that would take advantage of the unique world
and take full advantage of the various RPG tropes and D&D-like environment to
create a game that would be fun and interesting for even the uninitiated,
right? Wrong. Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don’t Know! doesn’t
do any of those things, instead choosing to be a boring, repetitive and broken
mess that only got through because Adventure Time was slapped on top of it. The
only reason to play is for a shocking, canon, reveal at the end, but you could
easily save yourself $40 and just look it up on the internet or even wait for
the show to give the same info. I really hope the reins are handed over to
another developer so that we can get a good Adventure Time RPG in the future,
but until then, this is unfortunately all we have to work with.
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