So 2012 is just about done, and while it is only a matter of hours until we are all undoubtedly eradicated by whatever cruel fate the Mayans predicted for us over a hundred years ago, I thought "What better time than this to jot down what matters most?" Obviously, it would be my top 10 video games released this year!
Now I wouldn't exactly call this a stellar year for gaming, as least for me personally, but there were still a number of stand-out titles, a few of which I feel strongly about, and some which I liked enough to use to pad out this list. Some simply left a feeling that can only be described as 'meh', and there are a couple that were downright disappointing. But here are my:
Top 10 Games for Two-thousand and Twelve
10. Hitman Absolution
I never really got as into the Hitman series and much as some may have, but I have always appreciated it. Most of my experience with it comes from Hitman 2 and a good chunk of Contracts. Maybe that's why some of the changes in Hitman Absolution don't bother me that much. For something I wasn't even originally planning on playing, I enjoyed a lot of this game, and there are plenty of classic Hitman moments to satisfy. Even though it has a dumb story, awful checkpoint/save system, and some occasionally bone-headed AI, Hitman Absolution, surprsingly (and just barely) makes my top 10. 
9. Journey
I purchased a PS3 over the summer and while I really haven't played a ton of games on it, Journey was near the top of my list of games to check out. I have only played it once, and I'm not sure if I will ever play it again, but it was a beautiful, unforgettable experience unlike anything else I've ever played. I spent most of my playthrough with one other person and over the course of the game, we developed that strange bond that everyone spoke of. We went through a lot together, but in the final segment, we somehow lost each other and I became legitimately upset over this. Journey is a really neat experiment that gave me something I never expected out of a game, and for that it makes my list. 
8. Dust: An Elysian Tail
This game caught my eye from the first time I saw it. It proved not only to be (by far) the best of the Summer of Arcade titles, but one of the best games to come out this year. I enjoyed almost everything about it. The beautiful art style, snappy combat, fun collectables, and emotional story come together to form as pure a gaming experience as you can ask for. The only real knock against it would be some of the rather grating voice acting, but it does little to detract from the overall product. It offers a hefty amount of content for the price, too, and 100-percenting it ends up being a good time. What it lacks in replayability it makes up by leaving a lasting impression the first go around. 
7. Mass Effect 3
Say what you will about the ending but the rest of Mass Effect 3 is pretty good. While still not up to genre standards, the gameplay is much improved from its predecessors. There are a host of memorable missions and emotionally resonating moments, so that has to count for something, right? I had long accepted the fact that this game represents a whole bunch of squandered potential for what should have, by all accounts, been the best game trilogy of all time well before I reached the end. The end is still a massive disappointment, but I was left feeling pretty indifferent about it which, considering how invested I was in the series previously, is almost worse than simply hating it. Still, it's a pretty quality game that I feel is worthy of the top 10.
6. Silent Hill: Downpour
Maybe it's just because I've been a huge Silent Hill fan since the original, maybe it's just because I've been desperately wanting another 'true' survival horror game for the longest time, and maybe it's just because I'm insane, but I loved the hell out of Downpour. Even through all of it's problems (and they are certainly numerous), this game stands out to me because it feels like an honest attempt to do something new with the series. Making the town truly 'open' and throwing in weird side-quests that you can stumble across is the most logical direction this series could've gone, and for the most part, that stuff is pretty cool. The game is rich with atmosphere and offers some good scares. And the puzzles! I love me some contrived survival horror puzzles, and this game has plenty of them. They're pretty great, too. There's a reasonably interesting story with some good voice-acting to back everything up. Downpour's biggest downfalls are its actively annoying combat and bland creature design, not to mention the infuriating final level...but man, there are some absolutely brilliant set-pieces and isolated moments, and I simply can't ignore the terror and pleasure this game brought me through that stuff. 
5. The Darkness II
The switch in developers initially had me worried about what this game would become, but seeing it in action quickly turned those worries into furious excitement. I loved the original, and in some ways it is superior, but the more focused and faster pace of the sequel works in its favor. The combat is simply a joy and the game dishes out buckets of gore by way of some very...let's say 'inventive' executions. The game is about 5 hours at the max, but it manages to feel just long enough while managing to squeeze in a really engaging story that had me hooked through to the end. The Darkness II is a game you can just feel really good about. 
4. Far Cry 3
Far Cry 3 manages to fix virtually every major problem with Far Cry 2 while only sacrificing a bit of the game's realism and immersion for the sake of making it more fun. It has a colorful, lush open world teeming with life, much of which wants to end yours. It's one of those games that where its multiple systems and mechanics can work together in unexpected ways that lead to unique and often hilarious experiences. Sadly, the extremely promising first act of the story only sets one up for the disappointment to come. The wasted potential is almost maddening. Many of the main characters are portrayed and voiced so well that it just adds insult to injury. The game's villain, Vaas, is perhaps the most criminally wasted asset, as he comes across as a genuinly menacing, evil dude. In the end, Far Cry 3 still serves up enough chaotic gaming bliss that I just can't help but love it. 
3. The Walking Dead
I don't think I could say enough good things about Telltale's The Walking Dead. Granted, there are a small handful of bad things I could say, but they are so far outweighed by what it achieves that they kind of don't matter. The story and characters development are executed with a level of precision and care that hasn't been seen before in this medium. I was engrossed from the opening of the first episode all the way to the game's soul-crushing finale. I found myself caring about characters in a goddamn video game more than I even thought possible, enough for when those unspeakably awful moments happened, they stuck with me during the month-long waits between episodes, and the end of this first season is unforgettable. Now, I don't want get into the whole "it's barely a game" discussion but, really, it's barely a game. At least in the sense that it offers any kind of memorable gameplay experience. Apart from choosing dialogue options, there are some very light puzzles and wonky QTE action sequences, and that's kinda it. That's really what keeps it from being higher on my list. Even so, The Walking Dead is a landmark achievement in gaming and should not be missed by anyone. 
2. Borderlands 2
I can safely say that after putting several hundred hours into the first Borderlands, that it is one of my all-time favorites. Borderlands 2, honestly, is more of the same, although basically every aspect of it is vastly improved giving it the appearance of feeling totally fresh for awhile. Most notably, it not only has an actual story, but a pretty good one with one of the most memorable villains in years. The action is insane and nonstop and the weapons are even more varied and fun to use. Thanks to the strong writing, there are a good amount of really funny moments to offset the ones that don't quite work, and there are seemingly no bounds to how bizzare some of the characters can get. Like the original, Borderlands 2 has personality and charm in spades making it hard to resist for those looking for something more light-hearted than what the FPS genre usually offers. The poorly balanced single-player and the frustratingly bad loot drop rates reveal themselves after awhile, and that stuff is a real bummer, but it's not enough to keep the game from being high up on my list. 
1. Max Payne 3
The first two Max Payne games are something special and they will always be near and dear to my heart. God only knows how much time I spent playing them growing up. Rockstar's take on the series might not be a pill everyone can swallow (har har), but for me, it works on every level. I started out being annoyed by it due to the weird and imprecise console controls, but once I messed with the options and got a hold of it, I was having an incredible time. The combat is some of the most brutal and impactful I have seen in a long time. The Bullet Time mechanic is still fun to use and makes you feel like a complete badass, even if you do have to use it more sparingly than you did in the past games. I found the story and presentation to be utterly enthralling, which is helped further by some brilliant voice acting. James McCaffrey reprises his role as Max and gives what is easily my favorite performance of the year. He has more great character moments than I can count on both hands, and his almost-nonstop commentary and self-deprecating remarks kept me fully engaged in the experience. I played through Max Payne 3's campaign three times since it has come out, and that is something I will rarely ever do anymore, but I felt compelled to re-experience the greatness this game has to offer over and over, and it delivered every time. Max Payne 3 is not without its faults, but I feel pretty secure in calling it my favorite game of this year. Biggest Disappointments
Resident Evil 6
Resident Evil, what am I going to do with you? I've been something of a RE fanboy ever since I played RE2 upon getting a Playstation for my eighth birthday. Resident Evil 4 was such a huge departure for the series, but I loved it regardless and consider it one of my favorite games of all time. Resident Evil 5 took the series in an even more action-oriented direction, and while it was still a pretty fun game, it left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. When the first RE6 trailer was released, I was giddy as a school girl going to a One Direction concert. I thought that Capcom had finally gotten it right, that all my worries could be put to rest. Oh man, how wrong I was. RE6 is a disaster on nearly every level. It controls like garbage, with some of the most unwieldy shooting and movement mechanics I've witnessed in quite a while. It doesn't help that the camera feels like it's losing its fucking mind and working against you on a regular basis. There are also constant QTE's, most of which feel unnecessary and out of place. They can require inhuman reaction times that leave you dead if you miss your ever-so-brief opportunity. The game is always ripping control away from the player at the worst moments. Some of the boss fights are so incredibly drawn out that you question if you're even doing the right thing to progress the fight, but due to the lack of any feedback about anything, you're left guessing and using all of your ammo until hopefully something happens. There are just absolutely awful design decisions every step of the way, leaving me wondering how much, if any of this game was play-tested. A very lazy, nonsensical story that does nothing to enhance the ridiculous-but-charming fiction of the RE universe is the creamy frosting on this shit cake. Some fleeting moments of what could be construed as "fun" aren't enough to redeem what surrounds them. But hey, at least it looks pretty, right? Resident Evil 6 is not only my biggest disappoint of the year, but the most disappointing game I've ever played.
Darksiders II
I loved the first Darksiders. Like, a lot. I've never been a Zelda fan in the slightest, so perhaps it was the satisfying character action combat that helped pull me into this sprawling apocalyptic adventure of epic proportions. The art, environments, bosses, puzzles...all that stuff was great. The game also did a great job of setting up an interesting fiction with some cool characters. It did a better job of hooking me that I had anticipated. The game also has one of the best endings I've seen in a game. It's one of those fist-pumping "HELL YEAH!" endings that leaves you dying to find out where it goes from there. Sadly, where it went was not what I had hoped. Darksiders II, while not a bad game by any means, still leaves so much to be desired by the end that I can't call it anything other than a disappointment. The fact that it was a prequel was already enough of a downer to me that I went into it with some trepidation, but remained hopeful that Vigil knew what they were doing. Turns out, they didn't. Or they did and just didn't give a shit about telling a good story anymore. The easiest way to describe this game is 'bland'. The dungeons, puzzles, exploration, all bland. The story is insipid as well, which reflects perfectly on the dull and forgettable characters. The last act finally starts getting interesting, but is ruined by a mix of wasted cameos and characters that are introduced as fast as they are taken away. Also, this may be the first game that I would say has too much content. A lot of the side stuff feels like filler and serves to only make the already-poor pacing of the main story even worse. The only true improvement over the original is the combat, and there are times where even that is debatable. Combat is fluid and responsive, but at the same time feels less impactful than it did in the first game. It's good enough to carry the game, however. The inclusion of a loot system is a welcome idea, but it isn't implemented too well and you end up using only a handful of weapons throughout the game.
The end is was really gets me, though. Forget Mass Effect 3 when it comes to upsetting video game endings. The original game's ending showed immense promise that Darksiders II does literally nothing with. It wasn't enough that the final boss is a pathetic anti-climactic pushover. They had to go ahead and make it feel like your entire journey was merely a side story that really had no benefit to being told. I sincerely hope Vigil gets a third shot at the series, because the idea of a four-player co-op game with all four horsemen makes me salivate wildly.
My 2012 '2011 Game of the Year'
Battlefield 3
Even though I'm just a lowly console gamer, Battlefield 3 is one of my favorite multiplayer games of the generation. I love the feel and sound of the guns, the constant progression, and sense of true teamwork the game gives. The game did come out late last year, but I feel like even if it came out earlier, I still would've poured in just as much time into it this year. It's an easy game for me to obsess over for about a month and put down for another month or two before coming back to it. The prospect of experiencing one of those "Battlefield moments" is too alluring for me to stay away forever. 2012 Games That I Didn't Get to Play But Would Still Like To
- XCom: Enemy Unknown
- Hotline Miami
- Binary Domain
- Spec Ops: The Line
- Sine Mora
- I Am Alive
- Sleeping Dogs
- Black Mesa
- Mark of the Ninja
- Torchlight 2
- Dishonored
- Scribblenauts Unlimited
- ZombiU, but I will likely never play this on account of me not really giving a shit about the Wii U.
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