List items
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Last year the first game I finished was Ghost Trick, a game that I put on my Top Ten of 2011. Even if it had come out in 2012, I don't think that I'll be able to say the same for Terminator Salvation. This game is the embodiment of mediocrity for the shooter genre. The only saving grace I can give this game is that I played though it with my Dad in co-op during my Christmas vacation. Of course the achievements are easy. Another 1000GS added to my score. 100,000GS here I come.
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Still on the hunt for easy achievements to push my gamer score over 50,000. Lego Star Wars 3 is one of the more full featured Lego titles. It includes the usual co-op, but also piles on a couple new features with competitive modes and tactical ground battles. Sadly those new features aren't extremely compelling and the game itself I found far less interesting than past Lego titles. Maybe I'm just getting burned out with Star Wars, but the story mode in this is the least compelling of the Lego titles thus far. I'll be playing Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 soon, so I can put my tolerance for legos and movie licensed games to the test.
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This one has been sitting on the pile-o-shame for a while. It really is too bad that it took me so long to play this title, but I'm glad I finally did. I cranked the difficulty up to hard and had a great time. It isn't the most complex or deep game to date, but it hit a strong nostalgic note with me. Mini Ninjas serves as a great reminder of a time when a video game could just be a video game and not some high production, super serious, set-piece-after-set-piece type experience. Also, this game totally put me over 50,000GS. Huzzah!
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I bought Defense Grid: The Awakening and all of the subsequent DLC recently during the XBLA Deal of the Week. I'm not the biggest tower defense guy, but I do find some appeal to the genre due - most likely - to my love of strategy and puzzles. Any game that allows me to find clever ways to work out the most efficient route to victory is instantly an obsession with me. If you are curious about the tower defense genre or you've taken a break from it, Defense Grid seems like a pretty solid title to try. I know I enjoyed it far more than I expected. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go get gold in all of the You Monster (Portal themed!) DLC.
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Journey is probably not my Game of the Year, but it will be one of the most unique and enthralling experiences that I've had so far this year. The sense of alone-ness, coupled with the joy of running into one other actual person to make your journey with is almost magical. I was shocked at how emotionally impactful it was when my co-op buddy stopped following me as we climbed the snow-covered slopes that would lead to some very windy cliffs. The guy I met in the desert and survived attacks from flying-things with, simply kneeled and turned to dust. At that moment I felt very alone, more so than in any other game since maybe The DIg. I made the rest of the way by myself and had a real bittersweet vibe to my Journey's end. Perfect.
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I loved Mass Effect. While Mass Effect 2 had some small things that I didn't care for, I still very much enjoyed it as well. Two of the best games this generation.<br><br>
Mass Effect 3 started off to be a strong finish for a great trilogy - and then came the actual end. By the time I finished ME3 I had already heard the Internet's rage over the 'terrible' ending. While I understand a lot of the anger - I even think that some of it is justifiable - it was taking a toll on my enjoyment of just playing the game. I shut myself in a room and powered though it, determined to form my own opinions. After all, how bad can it actually be?<br><br>
Sadly, Jeff's comments on the Bombcast were spot-on. The ending made so little sense that it made me not want to play any more Mass Effect for the foreseeable future. It was a mostly amazing ride, with a painfully executed belly flop at the end. I would still tell anyone who enjoyed ME 1 & 2 to play it, but brace yourself for a painful finale.<br><br>
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A fun, if somewhat excessively complex, puzzle game with some decent platorming elements. I really didn't know what to expect out of Fez. It seemed at first like a game that could possibly lean far too heavily on a gimmick. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it doesn't just lean into the 2D/3D gimmick, it embraces it and makes integrates it into the core so deeply that it feels natural after a couple puzzles. It is a pretty amazing experience, but do yourself the favor of just beating the core game first and then come back to dig deeper into the new game plus features.
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I have been putting off writing anything about this one, because I wasn't sure how I felt about Diablo 3 after I finished it. I loved Diablo and Diablo 2. I whittled away many an hour clicking on loot piñatas with friends in Diablo 2 and its expansion. After a decade of absence from the Diablo franchise I was more than ready to jump back into the original click-fest.<br><br>
Diablo 3 is gorgeous. Blizzard knows how to craft an attractive game, not to mention the superb soundtrack. Unfortunately I never got that loot lust fever that was so intrinsic to the former entry. I also found the story pretty hard to care about, which frankly wouldn't have been an issue if the drive for better loot had been there. Never having used the auction house I can't say that it would have actually changed my opinion of the game. If anything being able to just buy loot instead of finding it kills a large portion of the excitement. I guess this is my biggest disappointment of 2012 thus far.
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The first LEGO Batman was a decent LEGO title, a real breath of fresh air for the franchise after the not-so-great LEGO Indiana Jones. This entry marks a real ambitious step forward the LEGO franchise. With the addition of actual voice acting and an open world hub that connects levels in a more organic fashion, this is probably the best LEGO title yet. There's a Lord of the Rings LEGO game coming later this year that I'm certainly looking forward to now. Since LEGO just picked up the rights to Marvel's super heroes, here's hoping for a LEGO Marvel Heroes.
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So, I recently realized - after completing LEGO Batman 2 - that I never played the copy of LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 that I purchased in November. Over the past weekend I set out to correct this mistake. I'll be honest here... after the buggy mess that was Years 1-4 I was less than excited to get into this sequel only to have some random glitch break the game for me. There where many times that I would stop to figure out if what was happening was normal jank or if the game was about to break. Luckily, it never actually broke and I managed to 100% the game.<br><br>
So, better than the first LEGO Harry Potter, but still not as good as some of the other LEGO titles in my opinion. Something about the way the Harry Potter games play is a little too unwieldy. Maybe it is all of those characters that really aren't needed. Most of them seem like they are there just because they could be.
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<b>Episodes 1 - 5</b><br><br>
Without a doubt season one of The Walking Dead is one of my favorite games this year. I haven't played a game with a story this compelling since Red Dead Redemption (a game that I would still argue has one of the best endings ever). After the profound disappointment of weak ending to Mass Effect 3, it is strange to think that this year also delivered one of the strongest stories as well. Endings are hard and the journey as well as the conclusion make The Walking Dead a fun ride. I can't recommend this game enough. It has the least amount of traditional gameplay of any of the games on this list. TWD is light in interactivity, even for a point and click adventure title, yet no other narrative has resonated with me this year quite like this one.
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Got all of the achievements and sank several hours (more than I care to admit) into the Xbox 360 Edition. Don't know that I'll go back to it now that I have all of the achievements since I own the far superior PC version. Hopefully, Mojang will patch this version to include the missing features sooner rather than later, because aside from being extremely limited in content the controls and interface are surprisingly solid. I'd call this one a good gateway to the PC version or a decent substitute for those that might not have access to a PC to play games on. Otherwise, I'd say stick to the original.
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I waited a while prior to posting my thoughts on Spec Ops: The Line. I had to wait a while you see. I needed time to let what had happened in my time with the Captain Winters and crew. I nearly played the entire game in one sitting - not that hard considering it isn't all that long - yet I had to take a break at nearly the end of the game. Not 5 minutes away from seeing the conclusion and the momentum was completely broken for me by a suddenly ramped up difficulty and poor check pointing. I came back to it the next day refreshed and ready... It still made me angry. But once the anger subsided and I had reached the end I was impressed with what this game tries to be, and almost is. It isn't quite Apocalypse Now, but it is a step in the right direction for videogame narrative.
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Nice to have something low impact after navigating the twisted wreckage of Captain Winters mind in Spec Ops: The Line. I played this mostly for the achievements, but I'll admit that I find the cases a little interesting as well. Not much to say here, but an easy S-Rank for those that care.
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I love the Assassin's Creed franchise. I really enjoyed the first one, even with the largely repetitive nature of it. AC2 blew me away and Brotherhood was the crowning achievement for Ezio. Then there is AC: Revelations... It isn't bad - at all. I rather enjoyed the game, but I had this feeling that it was more like a mid season filler episode. It didn't really add a whole lot to the story, but the very few actual revelations that it impart are at least quite interesting. It isn't the greatest AC game to date (I'm hoping that honor goes to AC3 later this year), but I enjoyed my time with it. Not really great for casual fans of the series, but if you are a die hard fan like myself, then dig in and enjoy.
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Not a lot to say that wasn't covered in the Quick Look. It is a colorful and fun indie puzzle game. It is pretty relaxing. So much so that I burned through it in one sitting.
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I never played Mafia, but from what I hear it is something I should try. I liked Mafia II well enough. The world, while well rendered, felt somewhat empty between missions and the ending was far too abrupt for my tastes, but the core of the game was what it needed to be. At today's heavily discounted prices I see little reason to not give it a shot if you are at all interested.
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Confession time. I've never played a Hitman game before. I bought Blood Money years ago and just never got around to playing it beyond the tutorial. With Absolution coming out soon and all of the hype from fans around it, I decided it was time to dig into Agent 47s latest title. Simply put, I really enjoyed it. It is obviously somewhat dated, but the gameplay mechanics still shine. As what amounts to a level based action puzzler it is very comfortable in its format. The sheer amount of freedoms you are give to complete each task given to you by your handler is impressive. I expect big things from Absolution, but I can't think of a better game to get me excited for this years release then Blood Money.
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P.S. Getting the White Rabbit ranking in the A New Life level was quite satisfying while reading the post-level newspaper article about the mysterious assassin.
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This is a time consumer. I started playing Viva Pinata back when it was released in 2006 (I think that's right), then took a break for quite some time. I only recently got the urge to wrap this one up. I'd chalk this one up there with Civilization, SimCity, and MineCraft for fun ways to throw away hours of your life. Rare really nailed the Just One More Turn idea, but with constant possitive reinforcement of doing just one more task.
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After I've had time to recover and play through some other newer releases, I plan on trying out the Trouble In Paradise follow up title. I'm real curious how they improved and added to the original.
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Indie games are all the rage these days and with good reason it seems. Papo & Yo tries to blend a personal story about an abusive alcoholic father with the gameplay of a puzzle platformer. In most of the game it does so with great effect, but occasionally and usually around the middle segments of the game, it falters somewhat. There are a few puzzles in the game that seem to lose the thread of the story, but it quickly takes it home in the final stretch to an ending that can only be described as bittersweet and heartbreaking. If you are in the mood for something truly unique in style and spirit, give Papo & Yo a try. For $15 it is a pretty low risk and you might just enjoy the ride.
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Sleeping Dogs is a Kung Fu flick wrapped in GTA-style open world gameplay - and I dig it. I went into this not really knowing what to expect. The True Crime series was never one I really liked and the troubled development history of Sleeping Dogs set off all kinds of warning bells, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. I'm thankful I did. Sleeping Dogs may not be as lively as a Saints Row or GTA city, but there is plenty going on and the missions provided are solid. After completing the story, side missions, fight clubs, car/bike races, and gambling on chickens and majong tiles I felt like I had more than gotten my money's worth. A good game and a surprise sleep for me this year.
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Mark of the Ninja may just be the best downloadable title I've played this year. It might even be my favorite digital only game to ever grace XBLA (and now Steam). Featuring multiple paths and play styles is always a welcome thing in my book. Being a ninja that can either be a blood-thirsty murder, a silent shadow that's never seen, or a mix of the two is just too much fun to be missed.
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I loved Borderlands. I really like Borderlands 2. That's the best I can describe it. Returning to the franchise is like hooking up with that old flame - the one that got away - after being apart for a few years. It is more of the same and better in all the places it needed to be, but the magic just wasn't there. I'm not sure what it was. Gearbox seems to have gone down the list and checked every box with a big ol' upgrade, but I felt really fatigued by the end. I've been playing the DLC as it comes out and co-op makes everything on Pandora better. Maybe I'll come around to loving Borderlands again, but for now we are just really great friends.
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