2023 was one hell of a year in gaming with impact that will be felt throughout this generation. However there were some disappointments along the way. Here’s the RCR brightest..and dimmest from 2023.
GAME OF THE YEAR: MARVEL SPIDER-MAN 2 (PLAYSTATION/INSOMNIAC GAMES)
The follow up to 2018’s resurgence of Marvel’s most iconic character did not disappoint. Insomniac Games took on the challenge of telling a new spin on the classic alien costume saga in Spider-Man 2 and they delivered a masterpiece. Improvements may not have been full on generational leaps but the web wing soaring, added New York boroughs, and on the fly character switching gave the game just the right amount of evolution to call this a full sequel. Insomniac’s take on the Venom story was a powerful use of violence and exploring inner turmoil. Yuri Lowenthal’s dual performance as a Peter Parker exploring the seduction of power is great. The supporting performances by Nadji Jeter as Miles, Tony Todd as Venom, and Laura Bailey as MJ all added incredible depth in fleshing out this part of the Spider-verse. Spider-Man 2 may not be the best game ever but it certainly ranks among the top in this generation.
FAR FROM GAME OF THE YEAR AWARD: Modern Warfare 3
Modern Warfare 3 continues to be universally ridiculed for its lack of story depth and overall homework copy. Does it deserve it? Yes. Don’t get me wrong, we understand how hard it is to make video games. There is however, a minimum standard games should be and this COD doesn’t meet something with its blockbuster pedigree and resources. Sure it, looks good and functions but there’s not enough here to justify it’s full price. A blip of a campaign that’s more focused on shock than delivering story, maps that have no originality, and an overall lack of features from a series that’s supposed to be the gold standard of shooters adds up to a total disappointment of a game. We can only hope this instills the lesson Madden had to learn. Standards should not diminish annually.
BEST OF THE YEAR:
BEST SHOOTING GAME: ROBOCOP ROGUE CITY
Robocop: Rogue City is the sequel we’ve always wanted to the early Robocop movies. Alex Murphy the cyborg law enforcement hybrid of Detroit battles crime on the streets while also working to keep the evil OCP corporation from destroying people’s lives. The game is the most fun first-person shooter to play in 2023. It amps up the brutality and cheekiness fans of the Paul Verhoeven film know as you shoot your way through levels of bad guys truly making you feel like the overpowered tank at times. The story follows the narrative of the original 1987 film exploring the delicate balance of Alex Murphy’s mind in contrast to coming to grips with no longer being human and best of all Peter Weller reprises his role as the future of law enforcement. Robocop: Rogue City is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Best Action Adventure: Legend Of Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom
The sequel to Breath Of The Wild went to the one territory a game in 2023 has to conquer to be a mainstream success, memes. Tears Of The Kingdom not only expanded skyward but it added a building mechanic that gave the internet some of its best TikToks through hours of video featuring the outrageous and sometimes fallic creations of war terrorizing enemies of the kingdom. Even outside of all that, players got an adventure experience that somehow managed to raise Nintendo’s bar even further. The game delivered on many levels in terms of function, form, and fun factor it only misses the mark of game of the year by a hair.
Best New Hardware: PlayStation VR 2
The first PSVR released during the PlayStation 4 era brought early virtual reality gaming to a bigger audience by being more affordable than the competition such as Oculus at the time. Though it lacked many features and used archaic controllers, it definitely showed the possibilities of the genre. The PlayStation VR 2 is a gigantic technical leap forward. Not only is the PSVR2 the perfect compliment to the power of the PlayStation 5 console, on a technical level it is comprable to the high end experience of the Steam VR system. This new iteration of PlayStation VR is sleeker and more powerful. The OLED screens provide a resolution of 2000 x 2040 per eye and 120Hz smooth motion. Best of all there’s no separate cable box to connect to the console to use it. Making it the definition of true plug-and-play VR. Much like the first PSVR, the game library is a bit lacking with the only true killer app being Horizon VR: Call of The Mountain but playing that with this updated tech is a sheer joy for PlayStation 5 owners. For those wondering about the place of the PS Portal in all this, the biggest reason PSVR2 wins out over the PlayStation Portal is the the portal’s lack of being a true travel device. PSVR2 knows what it is out of the box and only needs more games to be a worthwhile investment.
Best Remaster: METROID PRIME REMASTERED
The best old game on new consoles is Metroid Prime Remastered. Bringing fans the Gamecube era classic you’ll play as the intergalactic bounty hunter Samus tasked with investigating a harsh alien world. Developer Retro Studios has done a fantastic job modernizing this old title without having to fully remaster it from the ground up. The game shows the potential of shooter games on the Nintendo Switch despite being from a few generations back. Controls feel in touch with Nintendo Switch joycons . Visual upgrades while not fully modern HD, have noticeably better lighting and effects. Ultimately, Metroid Prime Remastered still managed to be a great addition to the Nintendo catalog in 2023 when you consider we got Super Mario Wonder and Tears Of The Kingdom in the same year.
Worst Of the Year:
METAL GEAR SOLID COLLECTION VOL 1.
This was one I was excited for. The early PlayStation era classic games collected on one disc. The story of the legendary solider Solid Snake. The Hideo Kojima masterpieces. What we found was a collection that feels as though someone illegally downloaded it from the internet and sold it to us. There’s a minimum level of modernization needed and this collection chose not to put any resource into doing it. What we get is something that shows the age of the games in a negative way. Save systems are archaic, the birds eye view has become annoying in a world of true 3D games, while the series was never known for its great control schemes these games really should have made some improvements. Some of this could have been resolved by using the Gamecube’s “Twin Snakes” version of Metal Gear Solid. Even with all the added bonus art and BTS content this is just not a great way to commemorate classic games.
Redfall
There’s not much to say other than the squad vampire hunting game Redfall for current gen Xbox systems and PC was awful. This was the first game in a very long time that I just couldn’t bring myself to play anymore after about 45 minutes. Between boring enemies, horrible controls, derivative action, and a whole other laundry list of misses there’s just not much to enjoy about Redfall. Which is a shame because all the pre release trailers and promotional material painted a picture worth getting excited over. Xbox is getting to the point where it desperately needs a win and hopefully 2024 will be the year we get a steady stream of reasons to own an Xbox Series X.
That’s the best and worst of 2023. We look forward to bringing you gaming in 2024!
