My favorite games of 2012 (released in 2012). This list is comprised solely of games I've finished, so there are some obvious big contenders that are missing (e.g., XCOM, Dishonored, Darksiders II, Far Cry 3, etc.). That pile mountain of shame is ever-growing, but I will conquer it! Yeah, right. By the way, I did finish Black Ops II and Assassin's Creed III, but they will not be appearing on this list.
While I understand the point of those who question just how much of a game TWD is, based on its interactivity (or lack thereof), it was my favorite game of the year simply because I have never before been so emotionally rocked by a game. Clementine is an emotional manipulation tool. I understand that. The thing is, she's an incredibly effective emotional manipulation tool. Also, I think videogames are generally not very good at telling stories, and this is one of the rare, if not one of the first, instances where I thought a videogame outdid both a television show and the original (graphic) novel at creating fleshed-out characters and compelling drama. There's also the bit with Duck. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't let him run around and play detective with me earlier in the episode. I was looking down those sights through a veil of tears, I'll tell you what.
There really isn't one thing that makes Sleeping Dogs stand out to me; it's a combination of everything that's just done well. The mechanics are solid (and frankly, I think this game plays better than either Saints Row or GTA), the setting is fresh, the main character is likable, the graphics are great and the story is satisfying. Why Activision thought this game wasn't worth finishing is beyond me. I also love how Wei throws food on the floor when he's done eating, like he's saying, "I ain't got time for garbage cans; there's too much shit to do."
It's a great game, and I thought the original ending (I chose red) was better than the extended ones, which nerfed the consequences of Shepherd's actions, but at the same time made the player look like a real asshole if he/she didn't pick the synthesis path. I wish the DLC that explained everything about the Reapers had been in the shipped game, though. I guess I'll have to play through this again someday. Lady Shepherd will return in Thunderball!
I'm not sure what to say here. 343 sure made a Halo game! I do appreciate how they moved more of the storytelling to cutscenes rather than in-game dialogue that I'm not paying attention to while blasting aliens, but there are still a few things I didn't get, if they were even mentioned: Why are humans fighting the covenant again? How did humanity go from being nearly extinguished to becoming the bad motherfuckers of the galaxy in four years? How is Dr. Halsey alive (could've sworn she died on Reach)?
The cartoon may not hold up these days, but damn if I don't love me some G1 Transformers! This game capitalizes on all my nostalgia for the 1986 movie in great ways too. Transforming from a robot into a helicopter will always be awesome in my book, and that Grimlock level is the very definition of a power fantasy. This game starts off kind of bland, but by the time it reaches the incredibly hectic final level, I was completely sold. 'Til all are one!
I still maintain that this is an awesome third-person shooter, but a bad Max Payne game. As soon as the early previews showed Max in Brazil, I made peace with this and figured I would just enjoy a quality game, which I did. However, I am glad Max didn't die. It seemed like they were driving the story down that path, and we already had enough Jesus allegories for protagonists this year. Oh yeah, who knew bullet-time could work in multiplayer too? I was as shocked as anyone.
I don't care if it's mostly quick time events, the shit that happens in this game is so crazy, I love it. I kept wondering how much angrier Asura could get, and I definitely got an answer in every chapter. It's just a shame Capcom had such consumer-unfriendly DLC strategies this year. I ended up watching the true ending on YouTube rather than spending another $7 to complete the game.
I only started watching wrestling consistently about a year and a half ago, so I don't have any deep nostalgia for the Attitude Era. Still, it's fun to go through those matches and live the history presented by that timeline. I also appreciate that they let you handle the historical specifics of most of the matches yourself rather than last year's "press Y/triangle to see the winning cutscene" bullshit. I felt kinda shitty putting the sharpshooter on Bret Hart in Montreal, but maybe that's the point. Beyond the Attitude Era stuff, the game is solid, if unspectacular. I prefer this game to the N64 ones people always gush about (seriously, guys, let them go), though there's still one thing that really irks me. Why is it so damned hard to put a guy through a table?!
Perhaps some context is required here. I played this game right around the time I watched the movie this summer. The movie was a huge disappointment to me, which probably made the game look better in my eyes than it really was. Regardless, I remember this game very fondly as a fine open-world superhero game. Maybe I was just in the right frame of mind for an easy game with decent mechanics and high production values. Thwipt!
I have no previous experience with the Syndicate franchise, so the change of game type didn't bother me. This was just a good first-person shooter with a cool concept, some unique mechanics and Rosario Dawson (fine, and Brian Cox). The only thing I actively disliked about this game was that the multiplayer didn't seem to scale the difficulty to the number of players very well.
