Written on January 1st, 2014 by

2013 Reviews in Review

Posted in Editorial

Kairo Featured

So this was a pretty intense year for me. A whole lot happened both inside and outside of the gaming realm. While not everything was good, there was certainly a lot of exciting events that occurred this year. In regards to gaming, I was able to attend both E3 (again) and IndieCade for the first time. These were experiences I hope to continue in the following years! But if not, I’m glad to have had them at all.

Last year, I was writing primarily for Game Podunk (where I am a Managing Editor) but was also found on a few other sites. Game Sparked was one such site and I still write for them in a freelance-style capacity. However, I also began writing for Hardcore Gamer Japan. Unfortunately, that did not stick around but then I was brought into the Hardcore Gamer fold, which was quite an exciting event!

2013 also marks the start of this very site – Pixel Pacas. It was born out of a need to write about any games I want and in any way I see fit and so far it has achieved those goals. I also found myself wrapped up with playing any and all indie games that came across my plate in hopes of giving the site a great deal of regular content. Upon reflection, I do feel I overdid it somewhat, but thankfully never ended up feeling like it was a chore.

First, and of most interest to me, is seeing just how much I contributed to each of these sites via game reviews. Overall, there were 194 reviews penned by me between the four. Of course, this doesn’t include previews or reviews of non-game media such as anime, manga, or books. In order from least to greatest, there were nine reviews written for Hardcore Gamer, 16 for Game Sparked, 63 for Game Podunk, and 106 for Pixel Pacas. My reviews on Pixel Pacas are made to be more brief and to the point than anything I write elsewhere, making this statistic slightly less disturbing.

2013-1

 

What else is worth looking into? Oh, how about what platforms I focused on this year. Although I’ve enjoyed indie games for a while now, this year proved to be especially fortuitous for this community. I did my best to reach out to independent developers whether they were on Steam or not to provide coverage of their games. It shows with 154 of my reviews being of games on PC. Xbox 360 and PS3 came in close second and third, but nowhere near PC’s dominance.

2013-2There’s still stuff I wanted to know. Figuring out what genres I focused on seemed like a good idea. As it turns out, my tastes definitely play into things, with point and click adventure games taking a huge lead over anything else. Puzzle, platformer, and shooters also ranked highly. It’s worth noting that “shooter” means along the shmup/arcade lines and not FPS. I did play some FPS games this year but didn’t review them (if you don’t count Grand Theft Auto V –  and I don’t).

2013-3Finally, there’s one thing that game fans seem to love: Review scores! After converting all scores to a 10 point scale, I took their average. As it turns out, the average score I gave was a 6. This is lower than last year where the 7 was king. Do I dislike games more? No, but considering the vast amount played, it makes sense that I encountered far more terrible to average games.

The very lowest scores were for old games (0 day Attack on Earth, ARKANOID Live!, Vida). However, some modern games were a part of the 2 point club. These included Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman’s Mine, BlackSoul, and Montague’s Mount. Some other low rankers included Contrast, Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi, Gomo, Iron Soul, Outlast, and Tiny Brains. Hey, they can’t all be winners! And just because I don’t like them doesn’t mean that no one is allowed to enjoy them.

What did I absolutely love? With 16 games receiving a highly-coveted 9, it’s proof that some things can still impress me! Some of the favorites were 7 Grand Steps, The Cat Lady, Cook, Serve, Delicious!, Gone Home, Kairo, Rogue Legacy, and SteamWorld Dig. In a huge surprise to myself, I finally gave my first “perfect” score as well. It went to Tale of Tales’ Luxuria Superbia! Wow!

Overall, it was an incredibly strange and exciting year. My 2012 stats (which were broken down in much the same way) can be viewed at this link. Finally, I will link all my game reviews of 2013 that were not on Pixel Pacas. If you wish to browse what has been written here, simply take a look at the review database!

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