Box3ru13

XCOM: Enemy Unknown shouldn't exist. A turn-based strategy game set in the XCOM universe in 2012 shouldn't have played. And yet it managed to deliver the single best gaming experience I had all year. Firaxis did an amazing job balancing the game so newcomers (like myself) and old fans alike could jump right in and start blasting away at Sectoids and Mutons. Throw in the base building meta-game, multiple difficulties, and a fun if buggy multi-player and XCOM: Enemy Unknown showcases that everything old is new again.

This is how storytelling in games should be. Tell Tale learned from the likes of Heavy Rain and Mass Effect and managed to make choice feel meaningful even if in the end it turned out didn't greatly affect the overall plot arc. It speaks volumes about how successfully they made you care about the characters that when I lost one I wanted to reload and try to make a different decision. But it also compelled me to stick with my choices and play it out to the end. One of the best accomplishes in game story telling and one of the best of 2012.

I love the Max Payne franchise. Max Payne 1 and 2 scratch an itch that few games can. It was a third-person shooter that didn't need a cover mechanic or squad commands to be incredible. Max Payne also captures the Noir vibe in a way that last year's LA Noire could never even hope to achieve. Max Payne 3 adopts a cover system much to my dismay but Rockstar managed to capture the feeling of shooting that none of their previous games ever did. The story while largely separated from it's predecessors is still able to garner an emotional response from me and once it was over I was anxious to see what--if any--adventures are in store for Max.

The latest entry in my list. FTL seemed interesting but nothing I thought I couldn't live without. I was dead wrong. FTL is the perfect strategy companion to XCOM. Whereas XCOM is very much slow and deliberate, FTL is fast and frenetic. Even with the ability to pause the game at any time and set your actions, so much is actually taking place on screen. Worrying about the fire in your life support room that threatens to kill the entire crew while trying to eliminate the evil rebel scum that just teleported onto your ship can be overwhelming. But figuring out a strategy to deal with said problems and executing it is just as a rewarding experience as there is in gaming. Truly spectacular in all facets.

Hotline Miami at first doesn't seem like a deep game. You're left a cryptic message on your answering machine, go to the address given and murder every single person in the place. Its crude, bloody, and at a glance can be considered everything wrong with games today. But underneath the incredible soundtrack and trial-and-error murder there is some interesting commentary by the developers (all two of them) that while entirely unnecessary to enjoy the game adds just that much more to a game that was already dripping in style. Soundtrack of the year by far and a solid pick for my fifth best game of the year.

Poor poor Syndicare. It deserved so much more attention/sales than it got. Its a shame that the internet hive-mind turned against this game so quickly because the year's best shooter is without a doubt Syndicate. The campaign is fun and offers some exciting set pieces--including the best use of Skrillex--that bring a smile to your face. And it only gets better in coop. Sprinting at full speed while hacking an enemies gun all whilst dumping your magazine as quickly as you can then sliding and kneeing a dude in the face is just an example of how fast and fun the action gets in Syndicate. If only there had been DLC....

I love stealth games, sneaking around undetected and quietly taking out baddies is one of my favorite things to do in games. And completely sneaking and not killing anyone releases more dopamine in my brain than cocaine. Thankfully Mark of the Ninja lets me playing how I want. The UI system gives you all the information you need to set a plan and execute it as you wish. Not to mention all the in-level achievements and enjoyable--if not predictable--story beats make Mark of the Ninja the best stealth game in a long while.

This is probably the second most interesting game on my list next to Frog Fractions. Binary Domain looked to be another awful Gears clone from Japan that was doomed to be aggressively average at best and down right awful at worst (Inversion I'm looking at you). Instead the shooting and robot dismemberment is loads of fun and the story is proper anime-style fun with characters that are far more interesting than they ever had a right to be. By the third act I was fully investing it seeing how this melodrama played out and was satisfied with how it all came together. A feat that other third-person shooters this generation have largely bungled. Easily the winner of best surprise and worthy of a spot on my top ten.

Torchlight II is a weird one for me. As someone who didn't play the first until May of this year. I wasn't sure I would be ready for me Torchlight so soon. But the additions made the Torchlight II all add value and variety that the first one was in much need of. More pets (as a ferret owner I am pleased), more classes, and online MP break up the largely fun but monotonous experience that was the first Torchlight, especially towards the endgame. What makes Torchlight II special is its ability to keep me engrossed in its world and the combat is such an improvement that playing and experimenting with different weapons and spells is worthwhile. Another game that could very well have ended up higher on my list given different circumstances.

The most interesting game on my list is a flash game. Thank you Brad for telling me about this flash game that managed to make me laugh, cry, and generally be so happy that I want to shout it on the top of a mountain. By now most people have discovered this as well and the manner in which it subverts your expectations and then blow your mind in five different ways before the end credits finally roll. And it doesn't hurt that Go! Go! Foreign Emissary is stuck in my head constantly.

I haven't played a lot of Borderlands 2, hell I haven't even really reached any real milestone in the game but the little I have played tells me that Borderlands 2 is more Borderlands and if the DLC is worth anything it could very well be in the running for 2013's 2012's Game of the Year.

Originally to be in my top ten Mass Effect 3 is without a doubt disappointing. I could write a novel (and many have) about why I ultimately felt angry, disgusted, cheated and otherwise hoodwinked by Mass Effect 3 but there is a saying about dead horses and beatings that prompts me to forego such further talk about it. Which is a big bummer because there is still so much to like about the final chapter in Shepard's story. Even the MP was surprisingly fun. I can't think of a more divisive game in recent memory than Mass Effect 3, a legacy it'll not soon lose.