Game of the year?

Everyone has their own favourites, and there will be many picks for game of the year 2013 from everyone, but he's my 2 cents. I would like to point out first that I have not played every big scoring game that came out this year, as I just don't have the time, also, I don't have a 3ds and my laptop is too old to play anything complicated.

For me, 4 games stand head and shoulders over everything else that has come out this year, which are in no order, GTA 5, The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider. Let's discuss in that order then.

GTA 5
  Ever since the first gta I've loved this series (well, gta 2 aside), for me, gta 3 at the time was the greatest game that i had ever played, and San Andreas may still be one of, if not my favourite game of all time, i found 4 a let down though, but then 5 bought back what i loved. The location was fantastic, a perfect mix of city and rural, of all types with lots to see and do. They bought back the ability to buy businesses like in San Andreas as a way to make money and add missions as well as add in a stock market which i thought was a great touch. The game play was great and I really enjoyed the story despite what some others think.

Then there's GTA online as well, which, despite a rocky start ended up being a great online experience, everything that gta 4 online should have been, and what's better rockstar are adding free content and not charging! Hallelujah!.

However, 2 main problems I see with GTA are that 1. it came out too close to next gen, by the time I'd finished it i only had a couple of weeks to play the online till my xbone arrived and now I've played it once since. And 2. Too much hype. Everyone kept saying how great it was going to be, the pinnacle of video games and so on, i don't want to say it disappointed in this respect, not at all, it would just be impossible for any game to live up to the hype that GTA 5 had been getting in the months before it's reelease. I didn;t want to get myself over excited for it, but i did, and i paid the price in that aspect.

THE LAST OF US
Now i for one am not the biggest Uncharted fan. I never played the first, enjoyed the second, but got bored during the third and didn't finish it. But how could i resist the last of us? All the race reviews, the post apocalyptic ending, stealth, action, the lot, i had to play it. I did still have some trepidation based on my thoughts on uncharted though, (but I did love the original crash trilogy, so...) but they were cleared almost immediately.

One of the best stories in games ever told, with great game play to boot, simple yet difficult, you were never really rushed and had time to look at one of the most beautiful game worlds of all time too. Character development was fantastic, and although I wasn't keen on the ending, it didn't matter that much because it was so good up until then, and it seemed to fit Joel's character anyway. I wasn't that keen on the online though, but to be fair, I only played 3 or 4 matches. I'm not sure I can think of any major negatives, but this doesn't automatically make it my game of the year. Plus, there's still story dlc to come!

BIOSHOCK INFINITE
Before this year, I had only played the first bioshock for about 30 minutes and couldn't get in to it. With this second sequel on the horizon and with such hype, combined with the original (and 2) going on some xbox marketplace sale, I felt the time was right to get the first one. I Can't believe I couldn't get in to it the first time, what was I thinking!? Anyway, I'm not trying to talk about how great the first bioshock was, but about how it's 3rd release was.

Another beautiful world and another of the greatest gaming stories ever told, bioshock infinite (out before the last of us) really showed what a game could do with storytelling. Perhaps the greatest video game ending ever, certainly as far as I can recall ad it had the nice little touches added in too. A return to rapture, a barbershop quartet beach boys number, there were lovely touches everywhere. There is a negative for this game though, in that the game play hasn't really advanced since the first one, and did feel a little dated.

There are also character similarities between tlou and infinite of course, playing as a male protagonist protecting ans young woman. Both have their uses, especially as the game moves on, and it certainly can't be said that by the end of either game there are many similarities left between Ellie and Elizabeth but on paper, they could look similar from the outset. Of course, Bioshock also has dlc coming, with some out already, and it's been good so far.

TOMB RAIDER
I was never a big fan of any of the old tomb raider games. Back when the first came out, they weren't really my type of game at the time, so I let them pass, and had never completed a single one of Lara's adventures before this, but I sure am glad I did now.

The game play here was exactly what it needed to be, again, just like every other game on this list, it was a beauty (not that I'm judging anything solely on graphics, but it is nice to have) and told a compelling story (not as compelling as tlou of infinite mind you). This game may be a case of had i played it last out of these 4, it may not be on this list, but I didn't, it was out first, so I played it first and loved it. It also cleared up the fears it was going to be full of QTE's that many of the trailers had me worried about going in, but of course, the big negative of this is that the multiplayer was horrible, not that it bothers me that much, except for the fact that they kept releasing multiplayer dlc for something no one was enjoying when they could have done something with single player. Oh well, them's the breaks.

So what is my game of the year? I can't decide, sorry, I probably would put Tomb Raider 4th, but after that, I can't choose between the other 3. 2013 was a great year for gaming, there were loads of other great games this year that didn't quite make the cut for me, and no doubt hundreds more I haven't even played, and now with next gen out, a tidal wave of creativity in the indie gaming scene and a vita in my hands, 2014 can only be better!

Edit four years later, it's totally the last of us.