GOTY 2012

Here we are again at the end of the year, duders!. Time to reflect upon all the awesome virtual experiences we had over the past 12 months.

Getting this list down to just 10 games was excruciating, since I apparently beat 110 games this year. Some of them are not from this year...but still, that's a lot!

Honorable mentions

• XCOM: Enemy Unknown: I played enough of this game to know that I really really enjoyed it, even in spite of never playing the original. I got past the first big alien base encounter, but then got distracted by the deluge of fall games, and never got back to it. I was tempted to put this on my list, but couldn't with a clean conscience since I hadn't played enough. But the fact that it almost got on my list (and how much everyone seems to be singing its praises, deservedly so) should tell you how much I enjoyed it.

• Sleeping Dogs: I was surprised how much I enjoyed this! A pretty standard open-world action game, in terms of its design, but it had a very tight combat system and an engaging story. Borrows from a lot of other games, but it works!
• Rhythm Heaven Fever: The second most amount of fun I had on my Wii this year (behind Xenoblade Chronicles)! Thank you, Nintendo, for putting out this ridiculous rhythm game. Great music, great style.
• Asura's Wrath: Who would have a thought a game that was mainly QTEs and cutscenes would be so ridiculously awesome? A more intense revenge tale you will never see!
• Witcher 2 (360): In the choice-based action RPG realm, Witcher 2 definitely beat out Mass Effect 3 for me this year.

Disappointments

• Assassin's Creed 3: I never thought I would be saying this about an Assassin's Creed game, but I have not been having fun with this. I have almost no desire to play anymore of AC3. There's way too much of a lead-up/tutorial/intro - I shouldn't have to play 5-6 hours of your game before it opens up. The part with Haytham was interesting, but far too long for what they were trying to set up. The story missions are mostly boring, with a lot of repetitive stuff like eavesdropping. The bevy of side missions you could do were slightly more interesting, but all seemed pointless. The things that they contribute to your character progression or the world itself are either nonexistent or negligible. Seems like they had a lot of pieces, parts, and mechanics that they couldn't figure out how to make into a cohesive game. I've ran into a handful of glitches that have caused me to have to restart a mission or even quit all the way out to the main menu and re-load. Such a bummer.

List items

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  1. Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

  It's the sequel to 999, and fixes all the issues I had with that game (which was on #9 my 2010 GOTY list), while also having an even more batshit insane ending. I also lost 12 hours of progress to an unfortunate save game bug on the 3DS version, and it's STILL top of the heap. Need I say more?

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  2. The Walking Dead

  A truly gripping emotional rollercoaster of a story, in spite of the fact that its gameplay is pretty thin. The first time I've cried at a video game in a loooooooong time. The Walking Dead will be remembered for years to come as an exquisite example of storytelling and player choice.

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  3. Tokyo Jungle

  In the lead up to this game's release, I think that was most excited I had been about a video game in a long time. I was overjoyed to see that Japanese weirdness that I feel like we've been missing in games as of late (see: Mr. Mosquito, Gitaroo Man).

  Tokyo Jungle sure did deliver on that! But it's so much more than just its oddball setup. Buried beneath is a surprisingly well-designed and funny game with a story mode that has such a great payoff at the end. The survival mode is also quite replayable with a whole bevy of animals to choose from. It can be a bit of a grind occasionally, but that didn't stop me from playing it over and over.

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  4. Mark of the Ninja

  Mark of the Ninja is probably my favorite stealth game of all time. Its 2D presentation and ingenious design allows the game to present information to the player in a clear and straightforward way, allowing it to overcome many of the normal pratfalls of the stealth genre. Multiple upgrades and ways to complete levels coupled with a New Game Plus mode offers myriad reasons to replay everything.

  I wasn't expecting much from the Klei team after the just okay Shank games, but they brought their A-game here. I think the only complaint I could lodge against Mark of the Ninja is that its story is pretty straightforward, but other than that, it's perfect from top to bottom.

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  5. Dust: An Elysian Tail

  I can't believe that (approximately) one dude put this whole game together! A fine example of the Metroidvania genre with some beautiful art (debatable, apparently), fun combat, and a surprisingly touching story.

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  6. Forza Horizon

  I loved Forza 3, and then bought Forza 4, played a bit, and said "Yup, this seems pretty good too." and stopped. It was just way too similar, and didn't quite hook me. Fast forward to Forza Horizon, and man, did this game ever suck me in. The open-world Colorado setting does so much for this game, making it a pleasure just to drive around. From a gameplay perspective, it's just the right mixture of arcade and sim-style racing, and the single-player provides a large array of events to compete in, all while keeping the customization and tuning aspects from previous Forza titles.

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  7. Journey

  What can I say that already hasn't been said? A short but sweet transcendent experience, just like this comment.

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  8. Spelunky

  Yes, I know this technically has been out on the PC for a while, but this XBLA revamping is 2012-style! I guess I haven't technically beaten it after about 150 runthroughs, but I still find myself booting this game up from time to time. It's the kind of fair but tough punishment that I find myself coming back to over and over. Contrast that with everyone's roguelike-like darling of the year, FTL. FTL was interesting, but relies too heavily on randomness for my taste (which tends to be my issue with the genre, even though I enjoy it), and its final boss is soul-crushingly difficult, so I have no will to go back and play it again. Spelunky, on the other hand, is an excellent platformer with random elements that doesn't let the randomness become the main focus, and I've gotten dangerously close to beating a handful of times. Also, the music is super rad. Most certainly the best roguelike(-like?) I have played, with pretty much infinite replayability.

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  9. Xenoblade Chronicles

  RPGs are one of my favorite genres, but being an adult with limited time, as well as someone whose gaming habits tend towards playing a wider variety of games rather than spending a ton of time in any given game, they can be frustrating. So many RPGs are these epic 60-100 hour games that I have trouble sticking with, but Xenoblade pretty much ruled my gaming time over the summer. To be truthful, I still haven't finished it (but I've spent 80 hours with it, and I'm pretty close to the end, I should take care of that), but it got its hooks into me. The combat is so fast-paced and dynamic (I am told it takes the best parts of MMOs), and I found the universe and story to be quite interesting. There's some obvious filler with some of the quests (again, an MMO thing), but there are so many of them at all times, you can pick and choose what you want to do. The fact that I spent so much time with this one game is truly a testament to its excellence.

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  10. Gravity Rush

  Gravity Rush was a late-year entrant, with me purchasing a Vita over Black Friday, but I was blown away by how much fun I had with this game. The combat is a little simplistic (which seems to be a common thread among the reviews), but everything else about it is great. For an open-world game, having a fun mode of locomotion is key, and Gravity Rush delivers in spades. Flying around the city is so much fun, and uses the Vita's hardware in some cool ways.

  The game has some excellent art design, from the graphics themselves to the motion comics introducing each chapter. The music is phenomenal, and Kat is a fun and well-written main character. More Vita games like this please!