In January, the release list for 2013 did look quite promising. Now, 9 months later, for me most games were disappointing. Either they were broken crap, or they didn't live up to the hype created by increasingly obnoxious marketing campaigns.

Here's my subjective summary:

The good (well, better than expected)

- Splinter Cell Blacklist - actually much better than I had thought.
- Dragonborn DLC for Skyrim - nice enough, at least better than that Vampire DLC

The let-downs:

- Crysis 3 - didn't even bother to finish, watched the final two "Boss" fights on YouTube to get story closure
- Far Cry 3 - nice setting, beautiful graphics, good mechanics. But incredibly lame (!) and annoying Frat-Boy story, and no additional content to use that beautiful sandbox. I had the most fun liberating those outposts.
- Bioshock Infinite - good story, exceptional atmosphere...but IMO outdated gameplay. I have moved beyond mindless shooters on rails.
- Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 - ok, didn't expect much in the first place, but still: lots of wasted potential. But not altogether bad.

The unspeakable:

-Rome II Total War - ugh! What a mess. Buggy, unfinished, released at least 6 months too soon. And even if the technical issues were to be fixed eventually, the gameplay is extremely dumbed down, and the design decisions are...interesting. Should have been called "Total Arcade - Call of Rome" instead. One word to explain this mess: Sega.
- Sim City 5 - no need to say more
- Aliens Colonial Marines - again, Sega.

Games still "on hold" (haven't had time to check out yet):

- Civ 5 Brave New World
- Dead Space 3
- Metro Last Light
- Saints Row 4
- XCOM The Bureau

Seems to me, overall the publishers should allocate more funds away from marketing towards actual game design. They seem to be hell-bent on getting the pre-orders and impulse customers, and forgetting that a happy customer is a returning customer.


Still looking forward to Watch Dogs (!!!!), Arma 3, and GTA V (should it be released for PC). Batman Arkham Origins could be good, too.

AC4, CoD Ghosts, Battlefield 4 are maybe's.

I'll hold off on R:TW 2 after it's been patched a few times and it goes on sale. I'm in no rush to get it.

Far Cry 3 I did enjoy for the most part but eventually the gameplay got repetitive.

Alien Colonial Marines I wouldn't touch with a 100 ft stick.

I don't play any of the games I bought in 2013.

In fact I have gone back to Killing Floor (2009) for my MP and IL2 (2001) Dark Blue World for my SP.

I have my eye on BoS and X Rebirth and that's about it.

Civ 5, Brave New World: Okay. Added a few new ideas and such, but nothing overly amazing. Still a good game.

I would say that Europa Universalis IV was a definite success story.

I've also played through a number of Kickstarter games that have proven to be somewhat less than stellar (Expeditions: Conquistador or Don't Starve come to mind). Not bad, just meh.

Overall: Agree. Nothing except EUIV has really gotten me excited this year.

Oh, forgot to mention Dead Space 3. That was a very good 2013 purchase for me. The game is worth getting for the excelllent story-driven cooperative mode.

GTA V probably won't be released for PC till this time next year. Rockstar likes to milk it for all its worth, getting all the PC users to buy a console version and then a year later they buy the PC version too.

Considering the massive budget for GTA V I'd say that Rockstar HAS to milk it.

Far Cry 3 was good to start with but became repetitive when you get to the second island, I did finish it though but I had to make myself.

Really like SC: Blacklist, still playing.

Rome 2 is a lost cause. As you say, even if they patch the technical issues away the gameplay is dumbed down and horrible. Last TW I will ever buy.

GTA V. Need I say anymore? Game of the decade, hands down.

I wonder why R TW2 was dumbed down? Shogun TW 2 had no dumbing down at all.

There were rumours that it was because they wanted to port it to console and a lot of the gameplay changes would make sense if that is the case.

Consoles have a lot to answer for

There are rumors floating around that Sega wants to port the franchise to the upcoming "next-gen" consoles, so they had to simplify the gameplay (hence the completely redesigned in-game UI - reminds me a little of Windows-8-like panels).

This might also explain the capture point flags even on normal battlefields (like those implemented in sieges, but right smack in the middle of a battlefield, making using terrain features or other tactics to, for example, win against a superior force, impossible).

Or CA/Sega wanted to "broaden their customer base" by making the game more "accessible" for casual players.

*Mace beat me to it

Is GTA V out already? or reviews?

Nope I'm calling it lol

So when it turns out to be a big steaming pile of dog doo you can all go round to Mace's house and say hi

That shall not happen!!! It will be the greatest ever!

Heheh LOL, thanks for confirming Mace.

I'm trying to keep my GTA V hype in control... I was hyped for GTA IV but never got hooked on it (despite owning it on XB360 and then again on PC hoping it would hook me now with antialiasing) as well as LA Confidential but alas no, and I sadly also just recently fell for the Rome TW 2 hype even after having been burned on Empire TW and swearing I would wait for Steam sale this time

Trying to stay hype-less this time until I see glowing reviews which make me run out and buy it

Hype makes the world go round.

I'll tell you one thing. If CA want to port their Total War series to consoles then they'd better buck up their ideas and sort their s**t out, because if they think they can rush out a buggy mess of a game on console, like they all too often do on PC, they are in for a big surprise. I'm not saying console games are perfect, but Microsoft and Sony are a lot less forgiving about killer bugs on their console games than the open PC market is.

My take on it:

Good:
Tomb Raider. Except for a lot of crashes to desktop. Only Tomb Raider game I've liked.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Really surprised how much I liked it.

Civ 5:Brave New World. Got me playing Civ 5 again after a long break.

Shadowrun Returns.

Sid Meier's Ace Patrol. Simple turn based WW1 air combat game. Port from the IOS. Good casual game.

Expeditions:Conquistador. One of the surprise games of the year for me.

Eurotruck Simulator 2. Better than it sounds.

War Thunder. I actually like the arcade battles.

Borderlands 2.

Disappointing:
Bioshock Infinite. Loved the style and voice acting, but gameplay was "meh". Story was OK, but I'm still confused about what political message some of it was trying to get across.

Dead Island Riptide. Not really any improvement over original Dead Island.

Far Cry 3. Technically a 2012 game but still...

Metro Last Light. I keep dying when getting lost and running out of gas mask filters.

Saints Row 4. I loved Saints Row 3, but after the intro to SR4, I'm just not feeling it.

Total War Rome II. Not sure what I really expected to be honest. I don't have the hate for it that others do, but it's hard to get myself to play more of it.

ARMA 3. Technically not released yet, but the game suffers from some questionable design choices, and they're admittingly releasing it in an incomplete state. (no campaign on release, to be drip fed to us in the coming months)

Crysis 3. Meh.

Grid 2. Meh again.

Defiance. Had several fun hours with this one, then got repetitive and I haven't been back for months.


BAD:
Hotline Miami. Just awful, but I'll admit I don't like crappy little indie games. Got it cheap on a Steam sale.

Marvel Heroes. Free to play, but boring to play.

Neverwinter. Another free to play, but felt really out of date and lame.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. Dull 3rd person alien shooting.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. Just isn't much fun, arcade flight game.

Sniper Ghost Warrior 2.


If it isn't mentioned, I either forgot it, or didn't play it. Only included games I actually played.