6-Splinter Cell:Blacklist

GAMEPLAY! The thing as gamers we say we value the most yet I sadly didn't see this game anywhere! From the main campaign to the co-op to the return of the glorious Spies vs Mercs, this game took over the month I bought it and get showering wonderful moments in its gameplay. Most the story missions have great level layout to give you the chance to play completely stealth and no killing, ranked as Ghost in the game, lethally taking out targets while being silent, Panther, or killing everything in sight like Rambo, Assault, which was the weakest of the three play styles when compared to the fun of keeping out of site and taking out unsuspecting targets. The Spies vs Mercs online play kepted me hooked for hours on end with thoughtful map design that forced a constant ebb and flow between the quick, back stabbing yet weak spies and the slow, but automatic rifle touting mercs. As mercs, your constantly checking ledges and corners for any spies that will instantly kill you with a takedown and as spies your dashing for cover in dread of being caught without cover to a merc who will make swiss cheese out of you with their rifles. It's really an ingenious multiplayer mechanic that made Chaos Theory so well remembered to gamers. With all this great gameplay, its sad that the story and characters feel like a ho-hum episode of 24 with lots of military jibberish and espionage tropes that leave me feeling about as excited as staring at dry paint. Post-9/11 military stories have been a long string sterile, yawning trip to me though a couple moments of the game are note-worthy to make it stand from absolute military trudge like CoD MW2. If it had a honest to god emotional, riveting story, this game would be top 3 easily on my list. Yet for gameplay, this is one game I had unadulterated fun with.

#5-Gone Home

Now for the opposite reason SP:B is on this list, Gone Home is here completely held up by its story, characters and atmosphere with nothing above average point-and-click gameplay. It's very difficult to explain why I loved this game since it relies so much on you experiencing the story and characters through your eyes and being only 3-4 hours long, going into detail would really ruin the game and it's atmosphere completely. Will sadly have to chalk it up along with Journey that its a game you must play for yourself to understand why it made its way on my list. Emotional, touching, scary, enlightening and another sterling case that video games are well on their way to becoming legitimate forms of high art and thought. Only negative I could think was I wished it would have been longer and a few key characters don't get fleshed out as much as I would have liked. Please give this game a try, I guarantee you'll get a strong reaction from it.

Honorable Mention: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Queen

Good. Sweet. Lord. I wanted to love this game so damn much. No, even when I was forcing myself to grind through the dull fighting system, I would not allow myself to stop one second. I really felt heavy hearted when I came away so wanting from this game, especially when some elements of the game lived up to be the stuff of JRPG legends. The graphics are astoundingly beautiful, the music grand and masterful, Drippy (yeah he's feckin' wonderful) and the tender love Oliver has for his mother and his willpower to save her is indeed touching and wonderful. It's such a shame that the game is then weighed down by nice but oatmeal-boring characters except for Drippy, a predictable plot and a battle system that mixes pokemon and ABT into a system that feels clunky, non-rewarding and overall boring. It's a cake that has the finest garnishes, icing and presentation but its filled with unflavored greek yogurt. But I'll be damned if that icing isn't heavenly.