Games OTY 2012

Finally, my own bit of Best Of:

- Game of the Year: Mass Effect 3 --BioWare's efforts to polish the game with respect to the two previous editions (close combat, evasion, weapon upgrades, planet scans...) reflect very positively, as well as the different game modes (role, action) and the new multiplayer, and a whole load of additional DLCs. Moreover, the game looks good on all platforms, including the recent Wii U launch edition. --All in all a very complete game rounding up this all too memorizable sci-fi saga.

- Shooter: Black Ops II --Well, I am not anti-COD, and it is a compact game whose impacting nonlinear story justifies a very heterogeneous gameplay

- Adventure: Dishonored --Simply a masterwork, in all aspects

- Action: Asura's Wrath --A highly entertaining mix of science fiction and Asian mythologie

- RPG: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning --I had a special liking for this one, its lovely graphics and Combat moves

- Racing: Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed --A refreshingly different though less realistic looking racing game, pure fun

- Fighting: All-Stars Battle Royale --To me the most appealing of 2012's fighters

- Platforming: Epic Mickey 2 --Perhaps not he best one, but hey I am an ol' Disney fan

- Strategy: XCOM: Enemy Unknown --Great in its class, though there are some issues with X4 PCs

- Sport: FIFA 13 --A classic, just like Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona, nothing to justify here

- MMO: Star Wars: The Old Republic --Victim of its infortunate release date: too late for 2011's GOTY, and too early for the 2012 one, as well as, perhaps, for its severe critics; now free-to-play and with same-sex relations, SWTOR's sound BioWare-ish narrative structure and great design make it yet one of the greatest

- X360: Halo 4 --A longstanding fan of the Halo series, I couldn't miss out on this one

- XBLA: Hybrid --Really fun multiplayer sci-fi shooter, try it out if you didn't

- PS3: Journey --Unique in its way, a bit sad

- PSN: Tokyo Jungle --Created through a team of young developers, this is a really original, Darwinist game

- PC: PlanetSide 2 --Great sci-fi MMO, and free to play

- Graphic Design: Max Payne 3 --Extraordinary movie-like action and design choices

- Narrative: Spec Ops: The Line --Great asphyxiant atmosphere, inspired through Joseph Conrad

- Music: Black Ops II - Jack Wall --Liked it without knowing he was also behind Mass Effect

-Re-edition:Jet Set Radio Future --Has aged well: Loved the original one on Xbox

- Platform of the Year: Wii U --Surely suited for an entire family, though I don't plan to buy one in the moment

- Most undervalued game: Inversion --Interesting story and gameplay options, a bit in the vein of Bulletstorm and Gears of War

- Blockbuster of the Year: Angry Birds --1,000,000,000 downloads! (they'd better grin like piggies now)

- Gaming Pro of the Year: Gabe Newell --Has been anticipating Windows 8 "being the end of PC gaming" --and potentially that of Microsoft itself, Xbox 720 going to be a Windows 8-PC equipped with blu-ray reader and Xbox gaming pad...

Finally, my own bit of Best Of:

- Game of the Year: Mass Effect 3 --BioWare's efforts to polish the game with respect to the two previous editions (close combat, evasion, weapon upgrades, planet scans...) reflect very positively, as well as the different game modes (role, action) and the new multiplayer, and a whole load of additional DLCs. Moreover, the game looks good on all platforms, including the recent Wii U launch edition. --All in all a very complete game rounding up this all too memorizable sci-fi saga.

- Shooter: Black Ops II --Well, I am not anti-COD, and it is a compact game whose impacting nonlinear story justifies a very heterogeneous gameplay

- Adventure: Dishonored --Simply a masterwork, in all aspects

- Action: Asura's Wrath --A highly entertaining mix of science fiction and Asian mythologie

- RPG: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning --I had a special liking for this one, its lovely graphics and Combat moves

- Racing: Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed --A refreshingly different though less realistic looking racing game, pure fun

- Fighting: All-Stars Battle Royale --To me the most appealing of 2012's fighters

- Platforming: Epic Mickey 2 --Perhaps not he best one, but hey I am an ol' Disney fan

- Strategy: XCOM: Enemy Unknown --Great in its class, though there are some issues with X4 PCs

- Sport: FIFA 13 --A classic, just like Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona, nothing to justify here

- MMO: Star Wars: The Old Republic --Victim of its infortunate release date: too late for 2011's GOTY, and too early for the 2012 one, as well as, perhaps, for its severe critics; now free-to-play and with same-sex relations, SWTOR's sound BioWare-ish narrative structure and great design make it yet one of the greatest

- X360: Halo 4 --A longstanding fan of the Halo series, I couldn't miss out on this one

- XBLA: Hybrid --Really fun multiplayer sci-fi shooter, try it out if you didn't

- PS3: Journey --Unique in its way, a bit sad

- PSN: Tokyo Jungle --Created through a team of young developers, this is a really original, Darwinist game

- PC: PlanetSide 2 --Great sci-fi MMO, and free to play

- Graphic Design: Max Payne 3 --Extraordinary movie-like action and design choices

- Narrative: Spec Ops: The Line --Great asphyxiant atmosphere, inspired through Joseph Conrad

- Music: Black Ops II - Jack Wall --Liked it without knowing he was also behind Mass Effect

-Re-edition:Jet Set Radio Future --Has aged well: Loved the original one on Xbox

- Platform of the Year: Wii U --Surely suited for an entire family, though I don't plan to buy one in the moment

- Most undervalued game: Inversion --Interesting story and gameplay options, a bit in the vein of Bulletstorm and Gears of War

- Blockbuster of the Year: Angry Birds --1,000,000,000 downloads! (they'd better grin like piggies now)

- Gaming Pro of the Year: Gabe Newell --Has been anticipating Windows 8 "being the end of PC gaming" --and potentially that of Microsoft itself, Xbox 720 going to be a Windows 8-PC equipped with blu-ray reader and Xbox gaming pad...

OTY LISTS!

You have too many categories. They become meaningless at a point.

How can WiiU be platform of the year based on a supposition, a very questionable supposition?

Maybe I'm just tired of GotY lists....

@bluefish: Well, I don't think it becomes meaningless, at least not for me; you are not obliged to share opinions with me. And my judgement of the Wii U is not based on a mere supposition, I just don't consider buying one for myself, at least not in the moment.

@VintAge68 said:

- Platform of the Year: Wii U --Surely suited for an entire family, though I don't plan to buy one

Say what? The Wii U has struggled to impact a large number of markets, sales numbers have been disappointing (especially compared to the Wii), general responses have been tepid at best and all these things are in large part because the console (unlike it's predecessor) is NOT suited for an entire family.

Also, PC is the clear winner of Platform of the year.

This kind of list format i'm not really big on, it seems a little arbitrary and confusing. How can Journey win best PS3 game but lose best PSN game? Are there really enough Strategy games you played this year for XCom winning to mean anything? Why give the WiiU an award when you don't even own one? If this post is opinion-based, why would you give an award just for a game selling well? It might be more interesting if you actually made points about your chosen winners, rather than just saying Max Payne's graphic design was "extraordinary" and nothing else.

@SharkEthic: This list reflects MY opinion, to me Wii U looks great, and PC is too individually varied with regard to both hardware and OS to being considered a mere platform here.

@LackingSaint: The list is not more "arbitrary" than is personal opinion in general: other people have other preferences. I "awarded" the Wii U since I consider it the best platform released this year, which is legitimate. Journey did not "lose" anything but I preferred to attribute PSN to Tokyo Jungle, and PS3 to Journey, instead of using PSN twice here, my personal decision (actually there were less "pure" PS3 titles this year, no Killzone, Resistance, God of War or the like). And I did not consider it necessary praising Max Payne 3 here, its movie-like action and design choices are evident to everybody playing it; but okay.