Looking back on 2013 with a special Game of the Year edition of the Free Agent

Hello readers and thanks for joining me. I know it turns your world inside out and causes you to question everything you knew to be true, but we are indeed breaking our bi-weekly tradition to bring you a special episode of the Free Agent. That's right, it's that magical time of the year, when we sort through all the games we've played and admired throughout the year and summarily crown the Game of the Year.

If you missed ZAM's first six categories be sure to check out yesterday's 2013 Game Awards, as well as the final six categories going live tomorrow. But enough about that, you're here for the Free Agent and I'm pleased to say that I've been given the honor of handing out a special award today, The Free Agent's Game of the Year Award.

But before I go right out and spill the beans let's talk briefly about what this award is all about. I purposely wanted to avoid calling it the Free-to-Play Game of the Year because, let's face it; Free-to-Play isn't a genre unto itself, but rather a marketing trend that encompasses a wide assortment of genres.

In 2013 we covered sixteen different games, ranging from MOBAs, Shooters, Combat Sims, Action RPGs Strategy Games and, of course, ZAMs specialty, MMOs. Here's a quick recap of the games featured on the Free Agent since Episode 1 went live on April 16.

TERA Rising (MMORPG)

Smite (MOBA)

Warframe (Action/Shooter)

Star Conflict (Combat Sim)

Marvel Heroes (ARPG)

Dust514 (FPS)

Stronghold Kingdoms (Strategy MMO)

RIFT (MMORPG)

Astra Battles (Strategy/TCG)

Banner Saga (Strategy)

Hawken (FPS)

Dragons Prophet (MMORPG)

MechWarrior Online (Combat Sim)

The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot (ARPG/Strategy)

Path of Exile (ARPG)

World of Warplanes (Combat Sim)

From among these sixteen titles our award should represent not just the most enjoyable or most popular game, but rather the game that represents the best bang for your buck.

As the Free Agent I would never discredit myself by spending real money on any of these games, but I fully realize that many of you will. As such it's my solemn responsibility to point you in the right direction, to the game that best respects you, the gamer’s wallet.

Of course, fair and equitable monetization is still worthless without engaging gameplay and entertaining content. Metrics such as those are highly subject to personal preferences so in order to ensure an unbiased result I polled some of our ZAM staffers for their picks as well.

Unfortunately, we couldn't all agree on a clear winner, so we also added some votes from our readers (a big thanks to everyone who messaged me with their picks over the last week).

Drum Roll Please...

Now without further ado, I'm pleased to present the 2013 Free Agent's Game of the Year.

Winner: The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot by Ubisoft Entertainment

Okay just hold on a second before you start raging. Yes I'm fully aware that this game is still in closed beta. However, when we covered it on the free agent (see Episode 15) it was as a direct result of the Halloween Open House Event, which was effectively a week of open beta that anyone could enjoy.

In the case of The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, enjoy is an understatement. The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot was an absolute to riot to play, offering something for just about everyone with its mix of action RPG style castle looting and strategic castle-building defenses.

Of course don't forget about the sheer joy of watching replays of your friends wandering haplessly through your death trap of a castle over and over again, only to eventually suffer a hilariously gruesome death. It's amazing how creative you can get, when it comes to protecting your hard won loot.

Not it was apparent to us back in October that this title still had a lot of content development and balancing issues to address before it was ready to go into a full release, but I have no doubt that Ubisoft is on track for success. In addition it is very in tune with its community and has promised some enticing changes based on player feedback, as indicated in its Dev Chat Roadmap from last month.

Not only is Ubisoft providing us with something a little different than what we're used to, it is also offering it at the very reasonable price of absolutely free. Or if you so desire you can enrich your experience with what is a very reasonable monetization plan.

But regardless of which path you choose, you'll have an equal shot at your share of other people’s loot. In fact, keeping up with your pay-to-play comrades is about as easy as keeping up with whatever social media floats your boat these days.  The absence of hidden pay to win schemes, or shameless price gouging for what should be standard features is what really stands out to me, and is most definitely award worthy.

If you want to check it out for yourself, keep your eyes peeled for the next open house event, or for the eventual open beta announcement.

Let's not forget the runner up!

As I mentioned, it was a close contest for the first ever Free Agent's Game of the Year award, but sadly there can be only one winner. Fortunately for our runner up, it’s already secured ZAM's Action Game of the Year Award, so hopefully it can proudly accept our Free Agent's Honorable Mention.

Honorable Mention: Warframe by Digital Extremes

Congratulations to both The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot and Warframe for being shining examples, amid a sea of blunders, of how free-to-play can be done right. Thanks for bringing us enjoyable games that don't coerce us into spending our life savings on video games; because really, we can do that all on our own.

Thank you readers for a great year. I look forward to returning to our regular schedule in the New Year. Stay tuned to ZAM and Twitter over the holidays to learn our next featured title.

See you next time on the Free Agent.

Robert "Caergan" Gray

               Follow me on Twitter @Caergan