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asmo917

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GOTY 2012

One of the things that drew me to Giant Bomb was the 2009 Game of the Year deliberations. I struggle with concepts like Game of The Year; is the game of the year the best game? The most interesting? The one I played the most? The one I had the most fun with? The most challenging? Even though this is an ordered list, each game is on here for a reason, and that order would change if there was a more strictly defined rubric for what Game of the Year means. As it stands, these all made an impact on me in 2012.

List items

  • The Walking Dead used conventional point-and-click adventure game mechanics to tell a story in the Robert Kirkman-created universe where threats manifest themselves as "walkers," other survivors who may be friend, foe, or something inbetween, and ultimately your own conscience. Choices carry weight, and the story beats elicit genuine emotion. The episodic nature made the heavy moments easier to digest over time, and built anticipation for the next episode.

  • I loved the original Borderlands, and I saw three ways Borderlands 2 could turn out: Not enough changed from the original resulting in disappointment, major changes that missed the mark and fundamentially changed the experience for the worse, or improvements where needed that made this another great experience. Borderlands 2 features a far more fleshed out, impactful story than the original (not that the bar to clear was that high) and fosters more connection to your character via customization options. The bazillions of guns distinguish themselves through clear manufacturer specific traits, enabling the same kind of loot lust that fueled the original. This is, without a doubt, the game I have played the most in 2012 and will probably win that title again in 2013.

  • Journey's anonymous cooperative play and stunning visuals were rivaled only by how it made me feel while playing it. I felt real danger in a cave with a dragon-like enemy, and again on snow covered mountains. I felt a rush of adrenaline sliding and slaloming along sand dunes and hills that can't reasonably be called dunes. And I felt sheer exhilaration and euphoria during the game's final sequence, which I don't want to spoil for anyone yet to experience it. The truth is any one of The Walking Dead, Borderlands 2, or Journey could be my Game of the Year for 2012.

  • If a game landed in 2012 with more baggage, I cant't think of it. And 2012 saw some games with serious baggage. XCOM is a reboot of a beloved classic PC game, optimized for console control, in a genre that ITS OWN PUBLISHER called not viable in 2012. Turn based strategy came back big thanks to Firaxis and this title, which was fresh and new while being true to the roots of the franchise. If you want to succeed, you have to be thoughtful and careful, but this game plays more fair than the classic which I saw take out my entire team with rockets immediately upon landing. XCOM also proved that the vogue concept of "emergent gameplay" wasn't limited to big, open world games. I can't wait for XCOM: Enemy Unknown from the Deep.

  • Dishonored's success made me dub 2012 The Year of Stealth. Mark of the Ninja, this, Assassin's Creed 3, and Hitman: Absolution brought stealth gameplay back to the mainstream and made it more accessible than it had ever been. Like XCOM, emergent story telling was a draw here, along with a visual style that was evocative of Bioshock but still original.

  • Spec Ops: The line is a perfectly competent third-person cover-based modern military shooter. Where it stands out is in cribbing its narrative from Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now and asking players to consider the nature of violence and responsibility. Sure, there are times when homage to the source material hits a little too close (see the Hopper-inspired/stolen Radioman) but if a AAA title encourages its players to think about something bigger than "left trigger, right trigger, repeat," I'm all for it.

  • I don't play a lot of online competitive multiplayer, but Black Ops II's "Pick 10" custom class streak helped encourage me to play a lot of Black Ops II. I enjoyed the campaign, even if the Strikeforce missions were half-baked and the story was DUMB. I took it as dumb in a kind of self-aware way - you don't use Oliver North and Manuel Noriega as a character and plot device without knowing you're edging up on absurdity. I can stomach that a lot better than the self-serious Michael Bay-esque Modern Warfare series. If the system of mutliplayer unlocks and leveling is starting to feel stale, this was a suitable way to either see it end or a jumping of point for something new.

  • I love hockey, and this will likely be the only NHL action I get this fall or winter. I can't talk about this any more.

  • I played this to completion in the month it came out. I didn't hate the ending. Not only did I not hate it, I thought it was fine. I didn't even dislike it a little. I did feel like the time spent gathering war assets felt like it was oddly unrushed given the fact that Reapers were tearing the living hell out of Earth, but I could put that aside. Where this stood out to me was in the resolution of stories from the rest of the series; the resolution of Thane and Mordin's stories really stood out. And by "stood out," I mean "mad eme cry because I felt so connected to them from Mass Effect 2." Don't judge me.

  • Knowing that only the top 10 of this list will be included in community aggregating presents me with a dilemma around Max Payne 3. I played Max Payne 3 and loved the story; Rockstar can tell adamn good story focused on likeable (or not, I guess depending on your point of view...) anti-heroes. My problem with including Max Payne 3 is that I HATED actually playing it. I struggled with using cover vs. bullet time, feeling like I was in cover when I should be diving and diving when I should be in cover, all to the same effect of frequent frustrating deaths. Ultimately, my shortcomings as a player shouldn't outweigh the enjoyment I eventually got from the story.

  • Hands down the best game from Ubi Montreal this year, and it's not even close. This tied with XCOM in my mind for the title of "Game I Most Often Wished I was Playing When I Was Doing Something Else, Including Playing Another Game." It also taught me two valuable life lessons: Komodo Dragons always travel in packs, and NEVER assume there's not a tiger right behind you. Valuable lessons in video games and life.

  • The catalyst for the Year of Stealth!

  • I'm a sucker for a fully imagined world and detailed codex entries. Add in potentially complex combat, interesting characters, and the freedom to play in a style that suits me, and I'm all-in. Forget about the business circumstances around

  • Notable to me for being more Diablo clicking and looting, for getting me to build my first PC and getting me back into PC gaming. Also let the record show I NEVER had a log on problem, and I'm interested to see how monetization thorugh the auction house proliferates into other games, or doesn't.

  • The ending of Year of Stealth! I don't understand the hate for the game itself - but I also don't have the background with the series. I find it perfectly accessible and enjoyable.

  • Use your airlocks.

  • I've played about 20 minutes of Hotline Miami and enjoyed it a lot - this is a game I really want to spend more time with. But it has to be included here for its soundtrack alone. I swear, I'm more productive with it playing quietly in the background, subliminally urging me to either murder people or complete the data analysis in front of me.

  • If you're a male in your 30s, this is a must play. And if you try to tell me you DIDN'T grow up watching some kind of wrestling? No. I call bullshit.

  • If this were ONLY a puzzle platformer with a retro art and music style, it would have made my list. Everything else that went along with it and got me back into cryptography was just icing on the cake.

  • I've only just started this since it released this week, but it's a fun free-to-play time waster, but with the Double Fine sensibility and sense of humor on top of it. this will entertain me for hours, broken up into commercial break-sized chunks.

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