GAMES
27. Knights in the Nightmare (PSP) - Maybe one of the worst games I've ever played. Holy cow, when the tutorial is better than the game you know there are problems. I still have no idea how I was supposed to play this, it's that confusing. I am hesitant to play another Sting game after this experience.
26. Soma Bringer (DS) - Might be OK with multiplayer, but alone it's really one-dimensional and the story's nothing special. Just play Xenoblade instead--it's clear Monolith was just getting their feet wet with this title and the fact that we didn't get it in the US is no big loss.
25. Great Greed (GB) - It's worth playing for a few minutes to see just how bad an RPG can be if it has no interesting ideas, but there's just nothing to this game. The translation is bad to the point of not even being funny.
24. [2013] Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (3DS) - Let's just rehash the same game again, somehow make dream worlds uninteresting, and have TWO annoying Navi characters to pester the player for the whole adventure. If you haven't played M&L at all you might get a kick out of this, but otherwise I would have to recommend M&L 1 and 3 first, and even those aren't that fantastic.
23. Shantae (GBC) - Yeah, I'm not feeling this as a lost classic. It LOOKS good, but it suffers from the same problems most Game Boy platformers have. Bad hitboxes on attacks, enemy placement that adds more difficulty than the game should actually have, etc, etc. As someone who grew up with this kind of game, I wasn't impressed by anything here.
22. Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland (Vita) - I'm not going to say this is a bad game, but it's not my cup of tea. Art style is disturbingly overcute and distracting, gameplay seemed to be mostly composed of finding loot, battles are brain dead simple RPG mechanics. Some people like this kind of thing, so more power to you.
21. Crimson Shroud (3DS) - The board game aesthetic of the game is nice, but it's so short that it doesn't have time to get interesting. In the end, I don't think it's worth the low price even. Kind of a let-down. Solid base, though, I must stress.
20. [2013] Plants vs Zombies 2: It's About Time (Android) - Thanks for ruining one of my favorite games with your greed and ridiculous changes, EA. The day after I reviewed the game, they updated it and completely threw off the mechanics of the game in ridiculous ways. It's clear the current developers just don't have the heart of the game in them, and it's sad.
19. [2013] Gone Home (PC) - For a two hour game, it's pretty great. I didn't get invested in the story, but if you don't mind something being more shallow than it initially appears you may enjoy it. The graphics are wonderful and if it had more to do and more to learn I might rate it higher.
18. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy (3DS) - No matter how much I love Nobuo, I can only tap my screen for so long before it gets old, and this did. I couldn't finish ANY of the battle themes on the hardest difficulty and don't plan on it. It was fun hearing all of the songs, but I have them all on my phone anyway.
17. Etrian Odyssey 4 (3DS) - I got to the fourth map before getting bored, so it lasted longer than any of the other EO games for me. Like with those, I enjoy the mechanics and the idea of the game, but it's very tedious and doesn't feel worth the investment since the plot is an afterthought. Still, if you like hard dungeon RPGs, it's worth a shot.
16. Donkey Kong Country Returns (3DS) - Decent platformer, lacking compared to other similar games (e.g. Rayman Origins). The controls are terrible in both versions of the game, especially if you are used to the SNES games. I think it's a worthy enough sequel to the original games, but not as fun to play as those.
15. Ni No Kuni (PS3) - Maybe the prettiest game I have ever played, but the gameplay is so easy and at times broken that I have no idea how anyone can think this is a 'great' RPG. The ally AI is so terrible it hurts. Seems like no matter what you give them, they won't use it the way you'd like. I did finish the game and enjoyed a lot of aspects of it, but it needed more QA.
14. Suikoden (PS1) - Great classic RPG, can't believe I never got in to this series. It's showing a lot of age, but wasn't a chore to get through and had some interesting dark story moments. Pulls off the 'tons of characters' thing way better than Chrono Cross.
13. Back to the Future {Telltale} (PC) - Not as good as The Walking Dead, but it feels like a legitimate BTTF4, and is so faithful to the movies that I couldn't help loving it the whole way as I'm a big fan. Controls are an issue, but workable if you love BTTF.
12. Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS) - The most accessible Fire Emblem game for new players, and in general it's a good one. Pair Up feels extremely broken. I still like Fire Emblem 7 more, but Tharja is my waifu so this is #2.
11. [2013] Ace Attorney 5: Dual Destinies (3DS) - Another great Ace Attorney game. If you've played up to now you know what to expect here. Excellent graphics and music. Case 5 had some real shocking moments, and even the DLC case was good. This was the first AA game since AA3 that I thought had no bad apples as far as cases go. Loved Athena, hope she sticks around.
10. [2013] Pokemon X/Y (3DS) - Solid Pokemon games. I enjoyed Black/White more since the game felt more focused, but the huge variety of available creatures helped to make this game feel open ended. Graphics are amazing, music is the worst in the series, Team Flare plot is terrible, but hey, it's Pokemon.
9. Dragon Quest III (SNES) - The last DQ game I finished, and it was a good one. Love the map design, loved the level of challenge, looking forwarding to replaying it some day.
8. SpaceChem (PC) - Awesome puzzle game, but extremely difficult without any kind of guide. I'm not done with it but take cracks at it now and then. The concept is frankly amazing and keeps me coming back.
7. [2013] Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS) - Strong RPG for the 3DS. I would rank it about evenly with Nocturne. The world map in the game is among the worst I've ever seen, but doesn't detract enough to make me dislike the game. Good demon pool, being a magical beatstick was fun. The second half of the story was about as poorly conceived as in the other mainline SMT games, but the atmosphere was good and made up for it.
6. Thief 3: Deadly Shadows (PC) - The least good of the Thief games, but that isn't saying a whole lot because I enjoyed it almost as much. The hub area paid off sometimes and didn't other times.
5. Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (Vita) - Great sequel to 999. Interesting characters, an innovative method of storytelling, and excellent voice acting.
4. Dishonored (PC) - Felt like a spiritual successor to Thief, which is good for me because I love Thief. Challenging and engaging if you take the nonviolent route, probably fun and more diverse if you go for kills. The world is extremely well thought-out and detailed. It's cheap on Steam sales, so give it a try if you haven't.
3. [2013] The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS) - Total shocker to me. I have hated every Zelda game released post-Minish Cap until now. This game isn't just a good sequel to LTTP, it's a great game in its own right. I love nonlinear Zelda, loved the new stamina bar, loved just feeling like a kid enjoying Zelda again. A must-own for the 3DS. GOTY 2013.
2. Demon's Souls (PS3) - Note: This game has shot up a lot in my estimation since I beat it and reflected on it more. Tough, rewarding, and with a lot of variety in approaches to enemies. The atmosphere builds and grows on you as the game goes on, and by the end I was floored by how real the world felt. Not many games trust you to get better at them, but Demon's Souls does.
1. The Walking Dead (PC) - GOTY 2012, easily. Maybe the greatest adventure game ever made, with fantastic characterization, a good art style, visceral scenes, and real emotional payoff. It puts the show and the comic book to shame.
MUSIC
11. Julia Holter - Loud City Song: Yawn
10. The Flaming Lips - The Terror: This band has completely lost it over the years. It's less of a chore than Embryonic, but that's not saying a whole lot.
9. Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest - It cracks me up that people are actually excited about this record. Middle of the road ambient slosh, nothing special about it whatsoever. People who don't listen to video game music or post-rock seem to have wildly different opinions of instrumental works, I guess.
8. OCRemix - Final Fantasy 6: Balance and Ruin - Incredibly spotty, but it has some songs that are of much higher quality than normally seen on these remix albums. The overabundance of dubstep is really embarrassing. I wish the people organizing these things understood how to make an album flow a little better.
7. Deltron 3030 - Event 2: Man, disappointment of the year. I don't have much else to say. Del's flow is tired, the songs aren't as interesting, and it just seems dated. Maybe if they had released this ten years ago it would have been fresh, but nothing about it excited me.
6. My Bloody Valentine - m b v: While it's nice that MBV finally got it together and released something else, it's also clear their ideas are worn out and they were kind of a one trick pony. I'd never recommend this over Loveless and it felt gimmicky to me. Won't be making my collection.
5. Arcade Fire - Reflektor - Hey, it's better than their last two efforts. Still, I'm thinking Funeral is the only Arcade Fire album I'm going to be hanging on to long-term. I actually liked the new disco sound, but they didn't do enough with it to hold my interest.
4. They Might Be Giants - Nanobots: Has a bunch of dumb filler songs, but the strong material is generally better than on their last album. I'm a long time fan of this band and their music has had its ups and downs over the years, but it's good enough if you're still in to them. They need to stop trying to recreate the magic of old stuff that worked and keep pushing forward.
3. The National - Trouble Will Find Me: I think this is their most mediocre album so far (no idea how it's scoring so well on other lists) but again, as a fan of The National, I still enjoyed this. It's very samey, which works against it. Still, if you wanna feel sad and miserable in 2013, here's your jam.
2. Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady: It's a lot more shamelessly pop than The ArchAndroid, but it's still Janelle Monae, and it's still an awesome record that's grown on me since I first spun it. I am glad she hasn't really blown up on the radio; it's helped to keep her from compromising her wacky personality, I think. The best R&B I've heard since her last album, I guess.
1. Sigur Ros - Kveikur: Easily my favorite album of the year, and the best Sigur Ros has done since 2005. Deliciously dark, moody, and has an energy that's been lacking in them for a while. I liked last year's Valtari more than the general consensus, but this album is destined to be remembered as one of their best. Never listened to this band? Kveikur is a good start.
7. Deltron 3030 - Event 2: Man, disappointment of the year. I don't have much else to say. Del's flow is tired, the songs aren't as interesting, and it just seems dated. Maybe if they had released this ten years ago it would have been fresh, but nothing about it excited me.
6. My Bloody Valentine - m b v: While it's nice that MBV finally got it together and released something else, it's also clear their ideas are worn out and they were kind of a one trick pony. I'd never recommend this over Loveless and it felt gimmicky to me. Won't be making my collection.
5. Arcade Fire - Reflektor - Hey, it's better than their last two efforts. Still, I'm thinking Funeral is the only Arcade Fire album I'm going to be hanging on to long-term. I actually liked the new disco sound, but they didn't do enough with it to hold my interest.
4. They Might Be Giants - Nanobots: Has a bunch of dumb filler songs, but the strong material is generally better than on their last album. I'm a long time fan of this band and their music has had its ups and downs over the years, but it's good enough if you're still in to them. They need to stop trying to recreate the magic of old stuff that worked and keep pushing forward.
3. The National - Trouble Will Find Me: I think this is their most mediocre album so far (no idea how it's scoring so well on other lists) but again, as a fan of The National, I still enjoyed this. It's very samey, which works against it. Still, if you wanna feel sad and miserable in 2013, here's your jam.
2. Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady: It's a lot more shamelessly pop than The ArchAndroid, but it's still Janelle Monae, and it's still an awesome record that's grown on me since I first spun it. I am glad she hasn't really blown up on the radio; it's helped to keep her from compromising her wacky personality, I think. The best R&B I've heard since her last album, I guess.
1. Sigur Ros - Kveikur: Easily my favorite album of the year, and the best Sigur Ros has done since 2005. Deliciously dark, moody, and has an energy that's been lacking in them for a while. I liked last year's Valtari more than the general consensus, but this album is destined to be remembered as one of their best. Never listened to this band? Kveikur is a good start.
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