2013 has just about wrapped, and it’s that time of year again when the staff and community at PSU.com cast a reflective glance back at the last 12 months of gaming goodness. Yep, it’s our annual Game of the Year awards, where we scrutinize titles across a broad range of genres in order to determine the cream of the crop of titles from 2013. Whether it’s RPGs, action/adventure, racing, beat-’em-up or the coveted Game of the Year award itself, you have been voting in your dozens over the past week or so, and the results are now in.
So, let’s crack on with the awards. For our latest article, we pick our Best Fighting Game of 2013.
Beat-’em-ups have become notorious during the PS3-era as becoming cash cows, with Street Fighter in particular having churned out numerous iterations of the same title with added bonus content. Fortunately, 2013 proved quite refreshing on the brawler front, with little in the way of rehashes. Superhero fans had reason to celebrate with the excellent Injustice: Gods Among Us, while Tekken went down the free-to-play route with the surprisingly solid Tekken Revolution, a game that is still benefiting from numerous updates. Then there’s the venerable Dead or Alive franchise, which bounces back into the limelight in the form of the Ultimate edition of 2012’s sequel. There’s plenty of new content to tuck into though, and fans and newcomers alike will find plenty here to enjoy following its PS Vita release earlier in the year.
And the winner is…
Despite some decent competition, NetherRealm’s Injustice takes the crown as your Fighting Game of 2013. The Mortal Kombat developer has successfully brought together some of the superhero genre’s most iconic heroes and villains into a single arena, where solid storytelling, stunning scenery and crazy weapons combine for an action-packed beat-’em-up that makes great use of the license at hand. The gameplay mechanics themselves are rock solid and you’ll get a rush pitting the likes of Superman against the Joker and see who comes out on top in a display of each character’s own unique attributes, making for some incredibly varied bouts. If you haven’t already picked up Injustice, be sure to snag the Game of the Year Edition for PS4 now.