Justin Calvert's Top 10 Games For 2013

There were a number of popular games released this year that I haven't found the time to play just yet, not because I haven't been devoting the vast majority of my finite free time to gaming, but rather because the games that I did play (and in many cases continue to play) couldn't easily be put down after a week or three. Take Animal Crossing: A New Leaf and Pokemon X for example: I've put upward of 200 hours into each already, and while I don't know that I'll be revisiting the former, I suspect I'll keep returning to the latter for as long as it takes me to catch 'em all.

FIFA 14 is another game that just keeps on giving; I'm still only two seasons into my career mode with Bolton Wanderers, but having gained promotion to the English Premiership and signed some promising youngsters, there's no way I'm going to quit my job as manager without seeing how their careers pan out. Come to think of it, Animal Crossing might be the only game on my list that I'm not still playing in 2014. Even State of Decay, which dominated 100 percent of my gaming time from the moment I downloaded it on Xbox Live Arcade until I'd finished it with every achievement, is sure to get another play now that its Breakdown downloadable content has been released. Piledriving zombies has never been so much fun.

The most noteworthy game that didn't quite make my list in 2013 is undoubtedly Battlefield 4. Historically, I've always preferred Call of Duty, but that's definitely not the case this year, in part because that's not the case for several friends that I enjoy playing with. At the time of writing, Battlefield 4 is invariably the first game that I play when I get home from work, and despite the fact that I can't claim to be good at it yet, I'm having a blast. The reason Battlefield 4 didn't make my list, then, is simply that I get unceremoniously booted back to the Xbox One home screen so often during or between matches that, in my frustration, I almost always end up playing something else instead after an hour or so.

As I'm sure you'll agree, and as evidenced by the nominees and winners of our annual awards, 2013 was a great year in gaming. My top 10 list could easily have been a top 20 or 30, and as we head into 2014, I'm hoping that I can find the time to finish games like Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Tomb Raider, and Fire Emblem: Awakening before they have to compete for my attention with the likes of Watch Dogs, Destiny, and Bravely Default.