Who says there’s never anything surprising in Game of the Year lists? For this year’s best shooter, the TSA staff’s collective hive mind has chosen to celebrate a PlayStation Vita game that we were warning you was going to be brilliant since June when we played it at E3, Killzone: Mercenary.
This was a very close category, with just over one per cent separating the winner from second place.
In that second place was the much loved BioShock Infinite. Irrational’s third BioShock game was perhaps not as strong in its shooting mechanics as some others in the category but it had an engaging story and a well-realised world.
In third place was the PlayStation 4’s flagship launch shooter, Killzone Shadow Fall. With stunning visuals and some great level design later in the game, Shadow Fall was a great game to launch with the PS4 and it cemented the series’ importance to the PlayStation family.
That was, of course, further indicated by the winner of this category. I first played Mercenary in a hot, quite dark press room at E3. I grasped the tethered Vita with a degree of trepidation, having played a number of fairly weak shooters on Vita. Within seconds, I was awash with relief. Mercenary was not only good to look at, smooth and crisp. It was also great fun to play, with some useful implementation of the Vita’s touchscreen and a smart core design that broke it up into manageable, commute-friendly chunks.
Killzone Mercenary is TheSixthAxis’ Shooter of the Year 2013.
Vallon
I’m probably going to combust into flames, but I don’t get all the Bioshock Infinite love – I thought it was good/different but when I see some of the reviews I think I must have missed something :/
I played COD Ghosts on the XBOX and thought it was v entertaining while it lasted, pretty much the same as all the other COD games. Missed out on Killzone Mercenary (almost bought it when it was on 12 deals of Christmas) but I’ll pick that up at some point.
Shadowfall was beautiful but flawed in many ways. I’ve found the multiplayer pretty good fun though so I’ve kept hold of the game, and I’ll probably play through the single player campaign again at some point.
Eldaveo
I agree about Infinite. Loved the original Bioshock but I thought Infinite was very tedious and a chore to finish. Way too much focus on being an FPS which, as said in the article above, has never been Bioshock’s strong point.
damoxuk
I’m like 10 hours through it now and it’s good fun but not a masterpiece at all.
Vallon
Wow I thought I’d be a silent minority! Hehe. Don’t get me wrong I did enjoy it, but personally I enjoyed ghosts way more.
bigchrissyc
I agree. I didnt particularly like the story of Bioshock, the shooting mechanics were so poor aswel.
AddictedAndy
A well deserved win, reminds me I need to go back and do those timed challenges!
Tuffcub
Excellent. Well done Guerrilla Cambridge!
tonycawley
I agree with kz mercenary in top spot purely for the technical marvel that it is. A full console shooter experience on a handheld really is an achievement. Looks as good as most ps3 games and plays brilliantly. Only wish would be for more than 8 players online.
In terms of bioshock in 2nd place, I only played the original and while I enjoyed the story I thought the gameplay was meh.
I’ve been surprised by how good cod ghosts is, but also how bad I am at it. I think all the hardcore cod players bought a ps4 or something. Everyone seems to be ridiculously good at it.
Vallon
Blame wallhackers and lag mate ;)
tonycawley
I’ve had zero lag at all on ps4, very impressedby that.
What is a wallhacker?
Forrest_01
Simply put, someone who applies hacks so that they can see through walls in online games.
Does what it says on the tin! :)
parryman
Got mercenary for Christmas and have been playing it online at every opportunity!
Love it
Starman
Surprised how little votes BF4 got, though Killzone vita is a worthy winner for how on par it is with the console versions.
hol
I’m not surprised by the lack of votes for BF4, it launched broken (again) and still isn’t completely working properly.
KZ:Merc is fantastic on the Vita & a well deserved winner :)
nofi
Mercenary is great. Definitely a better single player than Shadow Fall by some margin.
Foxhound_Solid
THRILLZONE!
Forrest_01
Were there really that little 3rd person shooters this year that DS3 was the only one listed??
Blimey, says a lot.