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Hunter5024

I'm cheating this year, GOTY is going to be a little late so I can play more games.

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GOTY 2012

I hate to be that guy but looking back on 2012, this was a pretty disappointing year for games. A lot of the titles I was looking forward to the most were delayed, a lot of the games I expected to be awesome were really disappointing, and the stagnation of the current consoles has led to a lot of boring reiteration. However because of these things, this year a lot of the smaller and less conventional titles were given a chance to take the spotlight, and I had time to play a lot of games that I'm not sure I would've given the attention they deserved had it been any other year. So rather than characterize 2012 as a disappointment, lets look at it from a different perspective and say that it was an interesting year that's nothing like we normally see. A year where story based games thrived, while blockbuster action titles grew stale, a year where indie games came out in force, and triple a franchises flopped. Here are the ten games that I enjoyed the most in this special year.

List items

  • In a year where most of the franchises and studios I expect great things from let me down, Namco released one of the best games in one of my all time favorite series. So for me Tekken Tag 2 was like video game comfort food. Between crazy endings that repeatedly made me laugh out loud, an enormous cast of characters that included every Tekken fighter I could have ever hoped for, a soundtrack that used awesome remixes of classic Tekken songs I didn't even realize I was nostalgic for, a tag based fighting system that offered a refreshing change of pace from the latest Tekken games, an obscene collection of modes, and a DLC plan that actually showed appreciation for their fans, Tekken Tag 2 delivered an experience where I couldn't stop smiling throughout, and it held onto me for a lot longer than most games on this list managed to do. For that Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is not a game I'm going to forget, or stop playing, anytime soon.

  • It's not the first game to get me so emotionally invested, it won't be the last, but goddamn the characters in this game grabbed me by the heart and didn't let go until the ride was over. It's certainly not without its faults, but the things The Walking Dead does right, and the examples it sets for other story based games in the future, are far too important to ignore. Things that studios still struggle with like the point of choice in games, dialogue systems that allow you to feel like you have agency, and the line between player and character are some of the best examples the medium has to offer. Even if it's not the first game to do these things right, I think it's the first time that all of these elements have worked so well together in a mainstream game that everyone played, and in that respect I think it's the first time that a large audience has actually proven how important these things are to games, so I truly hope that other developers learn from the things Telltale has done moving forward.

  • Xcom is one of those rare games that simply executes its base formula so well right out of the gate that it's difficult to argue against its quality. The strategic gameplay is some of the best I've seen this side of Fire Emblem, the progression of both your units and the base makes an excellent argument for the relevance of choice and RPG mechanics in the increasingly tunnel vision world of modern games, the familiar alien tropes sets an interesting tone for the universe, the writing involved in the weapon descriptions, alien autopsies, and other narrative goodies hidden throughout the game are always novel, and the mission and enemy designs frequently set up for each map to work as a unique and interesting encounter that no two players see the same way. It may not have done anything new to me, but on every level Xcom functions as strategic gaming excellence at its finest, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for this franchise.

  • I can't stand that this game has been so inexorably linked to it's development story (a problem that I am perpetuating right now and- GRAGH!). So let me just be clear in saying that I don't care how this game was made, and I am not using any qualifying statements to put this next line into context: Dust an Elysian Tail is an amazing game. Not because of the way it was made, but because it delivers a beautiful, engaging experience that had me invested in both the gameplay and the story throughout its run. Exploring the colorful world of Dust and interacting with its characters reminded me of some of my earliest most magical experiences in games, because it offered me a world to explore that I simply hadn't seen before. Maybe it was because of the uncompromising art style, or the delicate balance between light hearted and emotionally heavy tone, but for whatever reason Dust managed to create an experience unlike one that any other game has for me, and for that alone it makes this list.

  • The dark, mature, psychologically complex narrative of Spec Ops: The Line can stand amongst some of our mediums finest works as an example of why video games should be taken seriously as stories and art. I know its a common sentiment that its story is to be enjoyed in spite of its gameplay rather than in conjunction with it, but personally between the impressive burying and sandstorm mechanics and the responsive squad commands, I found the combat perfectly satisfying despite belonging to such a stale genre. There's no other game I've played where I actually had to morally justify my actions to myself as I mowed down my enemies, and that alone is a perfect example of how such a well worn genre perfectly complemented the story they were trying to tell. Between that and all of the interesting things they do with things we take for granted in games like world dialogue, loading screens, choice, and use of music, Spec Ops is a game that crawled inside of my brain and stayed there, and it doesn't seem to be leaving any time soon.

  • There's no other game that I was more conflicted about putting on this list, and it will be a little difficult to justify without giving too much context, so bear with me for a second. I had no hopes for this game, I was incredibly put off by the gameplay in Mass Effect 1, didn't really care about Mass Effect 2, was sorely disappointed in Bioware after Dragon Age 2, and honestly had no desire to play this game except to see the crazy ending everyone was bitching about. And so I did play it, and I was surprised as could be to find that suddenly the shooting finally clicked for me, I had emotional investment in characters I totally didn't even realize I did (I had no right to be as happy to see Jack as I was), for the first time I felt like Bioware's art team managed to create worlds that lived up to the imagination on display in the codex, and I finally felt like I got to have my say in the Mass Effect world. But at the same time, this game is so wrapped up in some of the pettiest most disgusting practices I've ever seen from a video game, between releasing a barely finished game, holding back the highest points of the experience for DLC, creating a pay to play model in a game that you already bought (using addictive gambling methods that are actually illegal elsewhere), and holding back content from a single player game in order to force players to interact with content they have no desire to see. In fact because of the extended cut, I essentially played a game with a different story from most people. In the end though, I have to honor the games that I got the most enjoyment out of, and I'm not going to diminish their accomplishments for the shitty business surrounding them. Fuck you Mass Effect 3, I think you're awesome, and my sixth favorite game this year.

  • I expected very little out of the follow up to Final Fantasy 13, but Square took a lot of Final Fantasy 13's criticisms to heart. They may not have fixed everything that's wrong with Final Fantasy, but they showed a genuine commitment to let their audience be heard, and this game shows that they were. While I don't think the story really justifies itself until the final hour or so of the game, that final hour is truly pretty amazing, and the experience before that tells some awesome mind bending time travel adventures, is filled with some pretty great RPG combat, finds inventive new spots to show holes in clothing, and takes me to some genuinely interesting places. Also this- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEUOOgNzOv4

  • This game acted as an introduction to a genre I don't particularly care about, but managed to hook its ninja claws into me anyways. I've never felt like such a badass in a game before as when I threw a frightened guards so much I could make them shoot each other. While ultimately I don't feel like Mark of The Ninja really transcends its mechanics it doesn't need to, because when paired with its stellar level design, surprisingly awesome visuals, and ninjas, it creates a unique experience that begs to be played over and over again.

  • Asura's Wrath makes no apologies for what it is, and for its unbridled furious and crazy nonsense it had to make my list. I can definitely see why an anime quick time event game wouldn't be for everybody, but there were a dozen moments throughout this game where I either wanted to pump my fist into the air, or laugh out loud, and there's never been a quick time event before this one that had me invested enough to pound my poor controller quite like the beating I gave it during Asura's Wrath. It's also got great visuals, a dope soundtrack, and the angriest facial expressions of gaming history. BURST!

  • There is no game that's ever given me an experience quite like FTL. A ruthless game about a harsh galaxy that's begging to be explored, with mechanics that are actually quite simple despite their fierce difficulty. I could go on and on about how the random elements and vague flavor text make such a unique and engaging experience, but really the reason this game is on the list is because no matter how absolutely crushed I was when my crew died, and my space ship broke apart into chunks of debris, I always booted up a new game to see what else the galaxy had in store for me.
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