What is your favorite and most hated game of the year?

I spent the most time this year playing assassin's creed 3, but this is the year I finally got burnt way out on both the multi and the singleplayer. My favorite goes to Binary Domain, because it's just damn good in no ironic way. Binary Domain is just complete delight. Now my most hated game is without a question Dishonored. It's a shitty bioshock type game, with a terrible story and the a silent protagonist the cancer of videogames. I beat dishonored so don't even say I didn't play it.

You didn't play dishonored, liar.

I don't really hate games in general, I guess the most hated would be Call of Duty but not because of Call of Duty just because so many idiots bought it. Was a pretty crappy year so even I as a person who doesn't play a whole lot of Indy games have mostly indy/small dev team games at the top of my list.

Que hatred for mass effect 3 and love for FC3

Favorite game this year would probably be Halo 4 or XCOM. I like them both a lot. My most hated is easily Fez. That was just one of the most boring games I have ever played and I don't regret buying a lot of games but I regret getting that crap.

ME3 or Borderlands 2 are a toss up for me this year as my favorite game of the year. The one game I had high hopes for and just did not like at all was Max Payne 3. And I loved the first two games, so that made it all the more disapponting.

Favorite was Wargame: European Escalation. I think Eugen systems is really onto something good in the strategy genre, and it's just a fantastic game overall.

Least favorite - hated, I suppose - was probably Hotline Miami. A really repetitive & obnoxious game that I didn't enjoy at all.

My favorite was either Far Cry 3 or Mass Effect 3 and really didn't like Borderlands 2, not a big fan of how repetitive it is to me.

I'm not sure yet; I've been thinking a lot about it these days. I think my favorite game is Mass Effect 3. My most "hated" game is Mass Effect 3.

My favorite game this year is definitely Dust: An Elysian Tail, that game is superb.

Least favorite game, or most hated, as you want to call it, is Medal of Honor: Warfighter. Most hated game I didn't play is Resident Evil 6.

Forza Horizon

Favorite is probably XCOM. I didn't really like Torchlight II much. For everyone saying how much better it was than DIII, I thought the entire combat system felt sloppy and unsatisfying in comparison. I stopped playing at the second act. Big disappointment.

Favorite, probably The Walking Dead. Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward is pretty sweet too. Most disliked? Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. By far. What a steaming pile of shit.

It's been a year of pretty big disappointments for me. Assassin's Creed III, Mass Effect 3, Far Cry 3... I haven't played Hitman: Absolution yet, but from what I've heard, it's not as good as previous entries in the franchise.

My favorite was pretty close between The Walking Dead, and Mass Effect 3. Both were excellent, save for ME3's ending, of course.

Only game I played this year which I really disliked was Dear Esther, if you can even call it a game. I got what they were going for, but I just didn't think it worked. The world design was nice, the soundtrack was good, but it just felt very pretentious, and I say that as someone who likes a LOT of games which people dislike for being too pretentious. I dunno, I just felt like it thought it was smarter than it actually was.

"Hate" is a strong word. I did not at all "hate" any of the 2012 games that I played. However, out of the ones I've completed, Mass Effect 3 seems like the one I liked the least. I just didn't enjoy my time with it much, I felt like it was full of holes as far as the plot goes and the gameplay, while occasionally pretty good, never could make up for that. Especially when other third person shooters like Gears of War 3 exist.

However, note that Darksiders 2 is also a bit of a letdown as far as I'm concerned. I haven't beaten it yet but it seems like they've replaced finding fancy new items with loot. I didn't think they would do that. Still, I do not think either of those games are downright bad, I just think that both hardly live up to their predecessors.

On a much brighter note, Sleeping Dogs is undoubtedly my GOTY. I had a whole lot of fun with it and I really liked the story, the characters, the gameplay, the mechanics, etc., it all just came together very, very well and I definitely plan on slipping into it like a nice pair of old shoes several more times.

The Walking Dead ahead of Mass Effect 3, XCOM, FTL, Halo 4, Spelunky

I don't think I played any shitty games this year (or really almost any year)

Favorite: Littlebigplanet vita

Most 'hated': Dirt showdown

loved Mass Effect 3 and I really didn't get into dishonored.

Favorite: The Walking Dead

Hated: (S)Hitman: Ab(Shit)solution

@JZ said:

a silent protagonist the cancer of videogames.

this is something a crazy person might say

Favorite: Dust: An Elysian Tail

Less hated, and more of a disappointment: Dishonored

Spelunky was my favorite.

My favorite? Probably Fez. Maybe Mass Effect 3.

Least favorite? Easily Syndicate. Fuck that game, nine ways to Sunday. Runner-up would be SimCity Social.

Favorite: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It's been a long time since an RPG grabbed me and wouldn't let go. Even when I was starting to get bored, the third act kicked in and got me all enjoying it again.

I enjoyed all the games I played from this year so I don't have a hated one.

Favorite: Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition

Disappointing or .. "Hated" : Street Fighter x Tekken

Favorite was definitely Halo 4.

I was super disappointed in Max Payne 3 though...

Mass Effect 3 was my favorite and Dishonored was my most hated (disappointing) game.

Though to be fair I played ME3 after the release of the extended cut, so that's probably why I love it so much. I also want to point out that the concept, artwork, voice acting and overall mechanics of Dishonored was awesome but it could have been iconic if done correctly. It was flat most of the time and the atmosphere was pretty plain maybe even boring. IDK.

I love Xcom and Spelunky. I didn't play anything that I didn't like.

I wasn't a huge fan of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

Favorite would have to be either Mass Effect 3 or XCOM.

Favorite would either be Spelunky, XCOM or Far Cry 3.

Least favorite? Max Payne 3, Syndicate or Dust. Did Catherine come out this year?

You hated Dishonored for weird superficial reasons, well, I'm sorry for your loss :(

My favourite: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Most hated: A Virus Named TOM

Favorite: Persona 4 Arena

Hated: Mass Effect 3. It destroyed A LOT of the love I have for that series.

Loved mark of the ninja. Fez was a complete waste of time.

Favorite - Dishonored -- I felt like it was the only game this year that blew me away (although I will reserve that thought until I play Far Cry 3 which I will buy within the next month).

Most Hated: Deadlight -- I thought it was a cool game and a fun platformer but man, that ending, wow, literally made me absolutely despise the game. And the ending has to be pretty damn bad in order for you to absolutely despise a game because of it. Side note - I still haven't played ME3. =P

Favourite is probably Dota 2.

Most hated is Diablo 3, I actually enjoyed it in the beginning but the more I think about the game the more I hate it and not in the "I hate Super Meat Boy (<3)" way.

@Giantstalker: Haven't even heard of this game, thanks for the recommendation. I like me a good strategy game from time to time.

Favorite: The Walking Dead

Most Hated: I guess Resident Evil 6 due to how disappointing it was. Operation Racoon City was worse, but I expected that to be bad. I was hopeful for RE6. It's too bad that it ended up how it did. At this point, I believe Capcom has to reboot the Resident Evil series.

Favorite: Dota 2

Hated: Assassin's Creed. It killed all of my appreciation for that series. I even liked RE6 more.

@NoobSauceG7 said:

My most hated is easily Fez.

Same here, brother. Playing Fez was like doing homework.

C'mon guys "Hate" is a strong word.

Favorite that I have played so far is Max Payne 3 or TWD. From a gameplay perspective, Max Payne 3 easily, but TWD's story was quite amazing. However, I haven't played Sleeping Dogs, Dishonored, Far Cry 3, or finished Mark of the Ninja, any of which could take that spot. As for most hated... I don't know. I have barely played any 2012 games. I guess Borderlands 2 by default since that's the only other game I can think of that I played enough to come to a conclusion about whether I like it or not that has released this year (5 hours into AC3 so far. Seems better than Revelations but ehhh.) I did enjoy the 18 hours I put into it, but I don't think I'll ever touch it again.

Man, reading this thread just makes me realize i haven't played hardly any games from this year. I haven't played Mass effect 3, Dishonored, Far Cry 3, x-com, Borderlands 2, Assassin's creed, sleeping dogs....

I wanted to play all of these games and i have played NONE of them. Ah well there's always next year.

Favorite is a three way tie between Sleepy Dawgs, AC3, and Max Payne 3.

Most hated is Borderlands 2. It was not only extremely repetitive but also super boring.

Edit: Haven't played Far Cry, Hitman, or Spec Ops so my opinion may change.

Hate is far too strong, but I didn't like Zeno Clash at all.

Loved: The Walking Dead and Virtue's Last Reward.

Hated: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes.

My favorite was unquestionably Starfarer. Despite the sandbox campaign basically having none of its main planned features implemented yet- it was still more of an addicting blast than most everything else I've played this year. The combat and ship AI are both already surprisingly sharp.

Smite takes a close second- with Hawken taking a respectable third.

As for your latter question... I really can't answer that- as I haven't outright hated any 2012 release that I've gotten my hands on.

Christmas might end up changing that though- we'll see.

my favorite game this year was journey for sure

Are we having the "add to Top 10 list" (in games page) option this year?

Most loved game... Hmm, a toss up between ME3 and The Walking Dead.

I don't think I hated any game this year.

Favorite: Dark Souls

After laying down the console version last year in frustration, I picked up the PC release and had a blast with. Played through it several times on PC, went back and platinumed it on PS3 and bought Demon's Souls and played through it a couple of times (thinking about platinum).

Hated: Borderlands 2

In no way did i hate the game overall, but if there was one game that has made me curse out loud several times because of stupid shit it's this one. Almost every change they made going from BL1 (which I absolutely loved) made this game less enjoyable. I don't know how many times I got pissed off by the monster-closets (didn't help that I played Zerker), the mission scaling sucked and their general MMO and difficulty focus was just not what I wanted from that game. Spent well over 100 hours with the game, but in the end the high-points just couldn't carry all the frustration anymore. Also, going to their forum and seeing many other sharing the same perspective constantly being met with "this is nothing compared to Dark Souls" (due to close release it was still in everyone's mind) just made me wanna vomit.

If you're looking for me to answer both with one entry, it would have to be Mass Effect 3. It was amazing, except for the last twenty minutes or so.
 MORE LIKE ASS EFFECT 3 M I RITE?
Same thing holds for Assassin's Creed III. Both games had to payoff amazing story setup, and both failed. But the first, oh I don't know, five hours of ACIII sucked from a gameplay standpoint, where as the last twenty minutes sucked from a story one. Rest of the gameplay, and the Connor story, were pretty great though. But you know, I think I'm the only person out there who was really, really, hell of into the Desmond stuff.
MORE LIKE ASSASSin's CREED M I RITE? CAUSE THAT ONE HAS DOUBLE ASS
 
As for the real answers:
Spec Ops: The Line was my favorite game this year. Maybe this generation. Maybe ever? 
And the worst game? I don't know. I only play games that have been reviewed well, for the most part. I research before buying. Maybe Dishonored? I found the whole experience to be "meh".

@Redbullet685 said:

Favorite: The Walking Dead

Most Hated: I guess Resident Evil 6 due to how disappointing it was. Operation Racoon City was worse, but I expected that to be bad. I was hopeful for RE6. It's too bad that it ended up how it did. At this point, I believe Capcom has to reboot the Resident Evil series.

This, and I agree, while Operation Raccoon City is definitely even worse than RE6, that's just some stupid spin-off. RE6, however, was the next mainline game in the series, and not only did it fail as a Resident Evil game (as expected), it was also just a bad game overall, regardless of the name.