"Ahoy sexy," will be your reaction to Ubisoft's latest, especially, on your shiny new PS4 or Xbox One. The year is 1715, the setting the Caribbean and thar be plenty of ships to pillage and plunder when not scaling old church towers with the series' signature parkour gameplay. The pretense of Part III (read: boring) has been replaced with a great sense of humor. If you own either next generation console set sail for this one.
A sequel of sorts to SNES classic A Link to the Past (1991). The look and feel is mostly played from a traditional top down 2-D POV. Newbies be warned: Since this is the Zelda many fans have been waiting decades for it's also harder than the recent console-sized titles.
This exclusive for Xbox One is as grimy as the hundreds of undead you'll decapitate, mow down and just plain shoot in the head. That's OK though as the story and the numerous activities more than make up for it. Plus, all those I-can't-believe-I-caused-all-that-mayhem-while-wearing-a-bull-costume moments are the best reason to say "Xbox: Record that!" and then Upload for fellow gamers to see.
Down on his luck agave farmer Juan Aguacate, becomes wrestler luchadore when El Presidente's daughter is kidnapped by an evil skeleton. Like Outland, this 2-D side-scroller switches players back and forth between dimensions, but only in Guacamelee! is the "other world" Day of the Dead awesome.
The long-awaited follow-up to 2007's landmark Bioshock, Infinite takes place in alternate America circa 1912, where religious leader Comstock has seceded from the U.S., building a city in the clouds held up by massive balloons. The greatness was not the gameplay—pretty much a simpler version of the original—but a man named Booker DeWitt (you) and a gal named Elizabeth. Race relations and fundamentalist Christians are woven into a story about how none of us, can ever really escape our past.
A year after launch, Nintendo's Wii U finally has a killer app. Unsurprisingly, Mario graces the cover, but the fluffy yellow catsuit sure is. For the first time since the NES days, the plumber shares the spotlight with brother Luigi, weirdo Toad and Princess Peach. If you acquire a new pair of cherries-ups the characters multiply, becoming two, four and so on. In stunning HD, the Mushroom Kingdom is pure eye candy. Armed with the controller of your choice (the bulky gamepad, a Wiimote, or the pro one) up to four players can make with the butt-stomps. Did we mention that adorable catsuit?
The return of the short shorts wearing adventurer reimagines Lara Croft as gal who now wears pants. Developer Crystal Dynamics didn't stop there: The retconned origin of the woman who "hates tombs" strands Lara on a not so deserted island with a serious Lost vibe. As you traverse cliffs and shoot arrows to off numerous baddies, Lara's skills evolve. So does the fun. Once the story is completed there are still all those tombs to raid. We're saying it, Lara's latest is more addictive than Uncharted 3.
Set in the '90s on a dark stormy night, Kaitlin returns home from her first year of college to a lonely dank dwelling. Her family is gone. All Kaitlin can do is rummage through the big craftsman house searching for clues in this very un-shootery first person adventure. There's no action to speak of, no monsters to kill. Reading numerous old magazines and listening to grunge is more fulfilling than a dozen Call of Dutys.
Turns out the Liberty City of GTA IV was just an appetizer for GTA V. Controlling three characters changed the game. Career criminal Michael, nut jobTrevor and everyman Franklin are the dream team of opportunities for the thief in all of us. The Michael Mann-inspired heists are some of the most outlandish and clever moments in gaming history. Los Angeles, we mean, Los Santos never looked better. The Hollywood stuff was, as expected, spot on satire. The outback teaming with meth labs was as shocking as maniac with a heart Trevor. In any other year, this would be controllers-down game of the year.
By far, the most memorable interactive experience to be had this year was this brutal, heartbreaking and just-sweet-enough take on the post-apocalyptic tale. Joel survives the end of the world only to find not much worth surviving. Until, that is he agrees to take 14-year-old Ellie on a cross-country trip that is so engaging and so intimate you'll forget you're merely "playing" it. Along the way, we get to know Joel a man who knew the world before, and Ellie who can't imagine it. A giraffe that the duo comes across marks one of the most hopeful moments in gaming.
NEXT GALLERY: Best of 2013: Biggest Stories of the Year