Was 2012 kind of a bummer year for gaming?

The thing for me was that the games I was looking forward to the most disappointed me: Borderlands 2, AC3, Mass Effect 3, NFS single player. X-Com is the only exception, I loved that game

Games that were under my radar ended up awesome, though: Hotline Miami, FTL, Walking Dead, and Sleeping Dogs were games that I enjoyed way more than I ever expected.

So, I voted B, because I was really bummed out by being really psyched about games and then being completely underwhelmed, but it was also a year that had some damn quality games.

These poll choices are terrible. It was an average year. It may seem disappointing because last year was amazing, but not every year can be that good. Good games came out this year, it was fine.

I swear I have seen this post last week or something:

I voted C this year has been amazing thus far!

Far Cry 3, FTL, Torchlight 2, Guild Wars 2, Tera Online, Planet Side 2 (wait until optimization), XCOM (Despite the bus), Scribblenauts Unlimited, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, Hot Line Miami, and so much more~

You would be pleasantly surprised at how many games emerged in this one year, Day-Z being a prime example. Although it just exploded this year~

Crusader Kings 2 came out this year. Definitely not a bummer. Every game I played that was released this year was amazing.

So it was a pretty good year.

Is that a joke this year was pretty great

Its been pretty great all in all. I dont know why everyone has been so down on this year. I counted the other day and I've bought and played over 20 retail games this year.

DOA5, Walking Dead, Dishonored, RE6 (I know that like takes all my cred but I don't give a shit), Borderlands 2, P4A, and a bunch of other shit I loved the shit out of. This was a pretty damn good year.

There were good games but barely even 10 I can think of to make a list.

I had a lot of fun this year, so no.

2011 was a bummer too.

I enjoyed 2012. The first half was very dry with Syndicate and Mass Effect 3 the only notable releases, but the second half has made up for it.

Sleeping Dogs, Walking Dead, Far Cry 3, Hitman, Borderlands 2, XCOM, Dishonored, Forza Horizon, Most Wanted.

Those are all good games!

I haven't had as much fun with games as last year, mainly because the indie games didn't hit for me. I can see how Fez's meta puzzles are great, but I have the time to get deep into them. Hotline Miami so far feels like a bigger budget endless war flash game. FTL was fine for a few hours, but the unlock curve is really slow. I haven't played Journey, and think I have missed the boat on the multiplayer. Most of the AAA games all had serious flaws in some ways, none of them really seem like they came together as well as they could have.

On the other hand Sleepy Dawgs was a solid open world game. Trials was excellent, as is to be expected Binary Domian had a really interesting story (even if they throw away the best character at the end). Spelunky was the star of this years roguelites. Spec Ops is ground-breaking in story telling; I hope we see more big budget games with as much to say as Spec Ops. XCOM absorbed me for days, and I didn't see any bugs, except for a couple of crashes.

So overall it was OK, hopefully big games come back in a big way in 2013.

Diablo, Most Wanted, Walking Dead, apparently Sleepydogs is good. Not a bummer.

There were games I liked this year, but I feel like some of the games I was expecting to be amazing (Diablo 3, AC3, ME3) disappointed me in some form or another. But we still had XCOM, GW2, BL2, Asura's Wrath, among others.

XCOM, Sleeping Dogs, and The Walking Dead.

I feel like those three sum up the fact that 2012 was indeed awesome for games. Sure, there were floaters and disappointing sequels, but that's three new or revitalized series that are all uniquely great. Want good sequels? Well Soul Calibur 5, Guild Wars 2, Borderlands 2, and Mass Effect 3 were all great games.

That's not even mentioning Dragon's Dogma, Asura's Wrath, or any indie games. Yo dawg, 2012 was pretty good.

I think it's been a good solid year in gaming, probably not the highs we've seen in recent years, but pretty good overall.

But hey, we're on the internet, so either it's the best year ever or the worst year ever...

This year so far has been kind of a bummer for me personally because I have yet to find a game that really strikes me as an epic single-player experience with great gameplay and either a compelling story or rich world to explore, along the lines of Skyrim or Dark Souls. There have been many good/great games but none have struck that particular chord. Walking Dead is great but there's very little in the way of gameplay. XCOM is great but feels more like a series of disconnected missions rather than a game with a coherent story. Halo 4 is good but I feel like the story relies too much on knowledge of supplementary material and isn't told well in the actual game. ME3 is probably the most disappointing game I have ever played.

That said, it's still too early for me to decide if it really is a bummer or not, as I have yet to play Dishonored, Sleeping Dogs, or Spec Ops, and have seen a lot indicating these may have what I've been looking for.

@ll_Exile_ll said:

These poll choices are terrible. It was an average year. It may seem disappointing because last year was amazing, but not every year can be that good. Good games came out this year, it was fine.

No, it was disappointing because a ton of anticipated sequels were incredibly disappointing.

I'll go with option D, "It was alright."

I thought this year was fine, but I also have such a sizable backlog that a lackluster year isn't the end of the world so for me it wasn't anything to sweat really. This year still had some stuff I enjoyed, I had good times with the following:

Max Payne 3, Lollipop Chainsaw, Dragon's Dogma (still need to beat this one), I Am Alive, Shank 2, Borderlands 2, X-Com, Dishonored, AC3, Halo 4, The Walking Dead.

Maybe I am easier to please, who's to say but I personally thought this year was fine thus far. I mean pretty soon I am getting Sleeping Dogs and everything I've heard of that game makes me way, way, way excited to get my hands on it. On a personal level, most years don't graduate from "yeah, it was pretty good man, or it was alright" unless it had a Fallout that year.

I honestly haven't played much games this year so maybe a personal bummer because I haven't gone deep into this year's releases. However, I'm looking much forward in playing XCOM and Sleeping Dogs if I get those games from Christmas.

Bummer year? More like BUMPER YEAR, HA HA....*runs away*

@BionicRadd said:

Oh this again......

Yeaaaah....

Seemed like a decent year to me. Persona 4 Golden, Borderlands 2, Hotline Miami, Torchlight 2, X-Com, Sleeping Dogs, Dishonored, Mass Effect 3, The Witcher 2 360, Persona 4 Arena, Diablo 3, Guild Wars 2, Mark of the Ninja, Walking Dead, etc.

Long story short, lot of decent shit.

Yeah this year was kind of a bummer. I think I can count the games I really enjoyed on one hand.

I thought it was a pretty damn good year. A lot of surprises. A lot of fantastic games.

@KoolAid said:

Max Payne 3, X-Com, the Walking Dead

And everything I hear about Far Cry sounds AWESOME!

Exactly what I was going to say :D

Though I didn't care too much for MP3, it was decent

@Begilerath: Oh man I could dissect every aspect of your post and tell you why you are wrong, but I am not going to since you only seem to rely on your opinion instead of actually analyzing the games you are playing, that's fine by me but I don't enjoy my entertainment that way. I understand opinions and taste, but I also understand critical analysis of video game mechanics and it's contribution to innovation in gaming as a whole. The thing is, I clearly ask more from video games than you do. You have lower standards than me. That's cool, most people enjoy games that way, I don't.

@Canteu said:

@Deusx: Hey guess what?! This year had Dark Souls too!

But "they" (people with bad opinions) don't count it man! How can some people not enjoy the best game released in the last 10 years! Oh well, it's not for everyone.

I think it will be a while before anything can beat the Epic year 2011 was.That said,i've been thoroughly entertained this year.what with "Torchlight 2","Mass Effect 3","The Walking Dead","Xcom EU","Hitman Absolution".Need The list just goes on.

@HerbieBug said:

@Karkarov said:

Where is the "No, it was a normal year" option? I love polls that force you to either agree or disagree with a statement.

PICK A SIDE! D:

Noooooo. How about that?!?!?!?! Seriously I don't feel 2012 was particularly great or bad for games. Most years aren't to be honest.

Your poll answers are incredibly stupid. So my options are:

1. Amazingly Terrible

2. Kind of Terrible

3. HOLY SHIT I JUST BLEW MY LOAD IT WAS AWESOME!

No real middle ground there, huh? I think it was fine. This was the year we realized we really are ready for a new generation of consoles. Halo 4 was mediocre. Black Ops 2 was mediocre. Assassins Creed 3 was mediocre. Diablo 3 was INSANELY mediocre. These are the three titles setup to be the big three essentially (outside of whatever sports titles) and they just did there job and nothing else. None of the three games I mentioned did anything for me like their previous titles did, especially Halo 4. Even Borderlands 2 is just better than average but not amazing.

Then again, I really enjoyed FTL, X-Com, Sleeping Dogs, Dishonored, and tons of others. Persona 4: The Golden is even amazing. Walking Dead was great as well. 2012 is the year retail games largely sucked and downloadable titles shined heavily.

It was the meh year.

I would say it's been a bummer. There have been some really amazing games, but most of the games I was looking forward to turned out to be kinda meh.

The Walking Dead so far has been the best game this year. At least for me.

I really dug 2012 as a gaming year. Sure, nothing truly massive came out, but there was a TON of really good stuff and some REALLY unique or different games as well.

I LOVEDSpec Ops the Line. I thought that game was brave, provocative, and it had messages to communicate. It's a "games as art" game for me. I put it up there with Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Bioshock for storytelling. Kudos to 2K for releasing that game (even with the tacked-on multiplayer). It's a game that made me feel things. It's a game that made me think. It's likely my game of the year.

Binary Domain was a quirky shooter that I'm glad I bought. It's pure fun. It's serious and not at the same time. It's just a really interesting, creative, and good time.

Lollipop Chainsaw was bananas and got pretty good when you unlocked some moves. It suffered the same way that Resident Evil 6 (which I had a ton of fun with) did. The initial experience was busted. Lollipop had crap combat due to a lack of moves. RE6 hid all the cool stuff you could do with the baffling lack of a manual or valid tutorial ANYWHERE.

Asura's Wrath was the perfect kind of bonkers. That Yasha boss fight was perfect top to bottom.

Then there was a slew of good to great games that I checked out (Halo 4, Mass Effect 3, Witcher 2, Kingdoms of Amalur, Darkness 2, Syndicate, Walking Dead, Max Payne 3, Borderlands 2, Dishonored, Assassin's Creed 3...

...and I still need to play Sleeping Dogs, Dead or Alive 5, XCOM, Sniper Elite V2, and whatever else is sitting on my shelf in shiny Black Friday deal wrapping...

Kind of a bummer pulls it out! Huzzah.

Sleeping Dogs

Lollipop Chainsaw

Max Payne 3

The Walking Dead

Hotline Miami

Persona 4 Arena

Tekken Tag 2

Dishonored

I am playing through Halo 4, Black Ops 2, and ACIII

And games I haven't played like XCOM, FarCry 3 (I know it's not out yet), Splunky, Dust I know there is more that I am forgetting. I think it's been a pretty kick ass year for games.

I think it was an amazing year for games. X-Com was fantastic, Borderlands 2 is a blast, I had a great time with Diablo 3, there were plenty of fantastic indie games like FTL, Hotline Miami, and Legends of Grimlock. There were plenty of more great AAA games and other hidden gems.

It wasn't great for me, but that's because I didn't get around to buying many new releases. I think the lineup was pretty good aside from that.

@PixelPrinny said:

So you have "Totally bad", "Kinda bad" and "AMAZING" as choices.... what about "It was okay" or "It was good"?

This is the internet. I'm surprised the choices aren't "best year ever" and "worst year ever."

2012 has seen quite literally some of the greatest downloadable games ever created, especially on XBLA and PSN. As far as retail, there has also been some great stuff, but the end of a life cycle naturally means fewer big budget games as devs are working with the new consoles.

I picked B because it was kind of a bummer in terms of what relates to my personal tastes. Max Payne 3 and Dishonored were stellar though, and I still need to check out X-COM and The Walking Dead.

ACIII is leaving a sour taste though. I bought it out of franchise loyalty and have been playing it in small chunks, while I devour most games in a week or two.

Perhaps for boxed retail games but possibly the strongest year ever for the downloadable scene.

I was really disappointed by this year. I came into it thinking it was going to be awesome, but as we're approaching the final month it looks like all the games I was excited for were either delayed until next year or didn't live up to my (reasonable) expectations. Last year I had the opposite problem, I thought the year was going to be terrible but ended up checking out some games I normally would not have and was pleasantly surprised by almost all of them (Saints Row 3, Child of Eden), and even the games I expected to like exceeded expectations (Gears of War 3, Bastion, Pokemon). But this year even the pleasant surprises are basically the only games I like, and I have pretty significant problems with all of them (The Walking Dead, Xcom, FF 13-2).

There are still some games I'd like to get to before I declare this year a total bummer (Spec Ops, Dust, Asura's Wrath), but as it stands I don't even think I'm going to write a 2012 top ten list if Lollipop Chainsaw is going to end up in the top 5.

@Hunter5024 said:

I was really disappointed by this year. I came into it thinking it was going to be awesome, but as we're approaching the final month it looks like all the games I was excited for were either delayed until next year or didn't live up to my (reasonable) expectations. Last year I had the opposite problem, I thought the year was going to be terrible but ended up checking out some games I normally would not have and was pleasantly surprised by almost all of them (Saints Row 3, Child of Eden), and even the games I expected to like exceeded expectations (Gears of War 3, Bastion, Pokemon). But this year even the pleasant surprises are basically the only games I like, and I have pretty significant problems with all of them (The Walking Dead, Xcom, FF 13-2).

There are still some games I'd like to get to before I declare this year a total bummer (Spec Ops, Dust, Asura's Wrath), but as it stands I don't even think I'm going to write a 2012 top ten list if Lollipop Chainsaw is going to end up in the top 5.

Dude, get on Mark of the Ninja! Best stealth game in near a decade, and also very accessible.

I went with B, as sleeping dogs was amazing, plus the year hasn't ended yet. It wasn't the best year ever but not the worst by a long shot.

A new Max Payne came out. One that I absolutely loved. That's all I need for 2012 to be amazing.

However, when you add Alan Wake (PC), Dishonored, a new Hitman, a new Assassin's Creed, a new XCOM and many other games, 2012 is a great gaming year.

No because we got The Walking Dead.