GOTY 2012

Well, here we are again. I look forward to GiantBomb's game of the year stuff more than I should: I listened to all five deliberation bombcasts from last year recently, and the mature viewpoints, counterbalanced by the raw humour always make valuable listening. The guys really lend a weight to videogames as a medium, leaving no stone unturned in their critique, but also embrace a wild and joyous celebration of videogames that is hard to find these days. If there is such a thing as restrained abandon, the bombcast has it.

This is my list for 2012, and as in previous years, it's PS3-heavy, because that's my console of choice and my PC is very old now and I can't afford to replace it - Civ 5 was the first game that made CanYouRunIt? say 'Dude, you are crazy thinking this will run here.' Maybe next year. I've nothing against the 360 personally, I just don't like the idea of paying for online in this day and age, and I've also been something of a PS loyalist over the years.

List items

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  1. Mass Effect 3

  Might as well get it over with! This was my game of the year for many reasons, and this year it wasn't even close for me. Mass Effect 3 was a no-brainer for the top spot. Was the ending mishandled? Yes it was. Was it offensive? No, not for me. It was just flat. But the real resolution in Mass Effect 3 was seeing the genophage-plot play out, seeing the Quarian/Geth conflict resolved one way or the other. It was seeing this galaxy all become victims to a larger force and get it together in spite of overwhelming odds. But more than that, the multiplayer was a complete surprise, and I sunk more hours into the online in this game than just about anything else this year; and still do so. While my friends were ploughing through the campaign to see the ending, I took a break halfway, turned on the multiplayer just to see what it was like and was hooked instantly. I eventually went back and finished the campaign and thoroughly enjoyed it, but the online was what kept me coming back. This was a joy to play, and even with the flaws, Mass Effect 3 still towered over all other games for me this year.

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  2. XCOM: Enemy Unknown

  Another surprise, I bought it because I was curious, but the Quick Look had me wary - did I really want to commit to something that seemed like it was just going to troll me? Been down that road before (Mortal Kombat lured me into thinking I was competent and then had its way with me) and did not want to do that again. As it turned out, the game was challenging, but totally manageable and a ton of fun. Naming my soldiers was a hoot, and made you curiously attached to them throughout. It missed the top spot because, well, Mass Effect 3 was just too good, but also because the higher difficulties were just not fun at all, with all of the odds tipped far too heavily in favour of the aliens.

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  3. Journey

  I did not immediately buy in, seeing it as barely a game, and having been burned by Flower, one of the worst games I have ever played. But when the inevitable PS+ discount rolled in, I took the plunge. Each year, I try to play two or three games that I would normally avoid like the plague, and this was one of them. My goodness, what an experience. It all just comes together emotionally, musically and visually. A game you want to show others, but that you also want them to experience.

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  4. Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten

  My two great addictions, RPGs and Tower defense, came together in this little-known package and I am still having a blast with it. Simplistic graphics mask a very deep system, where positioning your guys is key, and how you level them playing a critical part in the outcome. Great music, amusing writing, and gameplay that never seems to get old make for a compelling game. For $10, this is a steal. Not quite as good as Defense Grid, the best TD ever made, but it's very close indeed.

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  5. Binary Domain

  I'm hoping this will make it onto a few lists, but for me this was 2012's greatest game that I never finished. Awesome shooting and a genuinely compelling and introspective storyline are unfortunately smothered in poor voice-acting and technical jank all over the place. The game is also not great at telling you what you have to do in spots, but the overblown dialogue, awesome set-pieces and thought-provoking plot means this game deserves a much wider audience that it probably will never see. This year's cult classic.

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  6. The Walking Dead

  Again, the demo didn't sell me. The GIGANTIC crosshair broke the immersion for me and the inability to invert the control of it was intensely frustrating. Unusually for the site, I also found Giantbomb's coverage of it to be too much of a circle-jerk, lavishing it with praise whilst simultaneously acknowledging that it was all just smoke and mirrors. And come on guys, none of the choices were THAT hard! But again, the first 2 episodes for free through Plus made me give it another shot, and the dialogue and general arc were enough to keep me entertained, and I genuinely wanted to see where Lee's journey ended, even if it was barely a game at all. It made my list because the story triumphed over my problems with the gameplay, and I have rarely known that to happen for me. I cursed the controls all the way through, but the ending was deeply satisfying.

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  7. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

  I'm just a big Transformers nerd, but this game got just about everything right for me in terms of fan service, and did enough in terms of being a game to keep me entertained. It looks great, and is tremendous fun to stomp around as one of these giant bots, or sneak around as one of the smaller guys. Online was also a treat, and even though I am not that good, a smart levelling system which gives you points for contributing to the team in ways other than killing the other guys means that even mediocre players such as myself can feel like progress is being made. Two or three painfully-hard difficulty-spikes in the campaign mar the memory somewhat, and once again, the developer keeping fan-favourite characters behind DLC is hard to forgive. And how they portrayed Shockwave is just terrible.

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  8. SSX

  The return of my favourite PS2 series was a welcome one, and they largely did not mess it up. Smart online, great presentation and a fantastic challenge. At the same time, the specific mountain hazards could be a pain and not including Tricky's control scheme is unforgiveable. Still a ton of fun, but something of a missed opportunity. As someone who had written to EA, begging for an SSX HD, I was just happy to see it come out.

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  9. Papo & Yo

  A bold experiment, beautiful art design and the best story of the year for my money. Props to Sony for putting this out there in the first place. It's a very simple and short game, and the mechanics are far from refined, but it has a deeply purposeful charm and commitment to exploring an issue that few medium are willing to address sensibly. The story was touching, painful and heartfelt, reaching out to the player in unexpected ways.

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  10. Need for Speed: Most Wanted

  It says something about the quality of a Criterion game that even a mis-step like this is still awesome. The online is everything you loved about Burnout, and then some, but it is genuinely let down by the 'campaign', which is flat, uninspired and simply too hard in spots to be fun. Total riot online, which made it worthwhile for me to sink many many hours into.