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mesoian

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The Best of the Best of 2012

We'll, that's it. No more releases. Video games are done for the year and there's nothing left to do but sit back, bask in our free time, surround oursevles with loved ones, and play some damn good games.

And I'm sure we all played a lot of games this year, in good times and bad, as relaxation or competiton. But what were the finest specimens that we came across? What should we continue talking about as we place the games of this year upon the shelves and look forward to the super crowded mess that is the final fiscal quarter of the year? Well let's run it down.

List items

  • What is Journey? It is a 3rd person platformer in a world devoid of enemies in which your sole goal is to travel to an end point. Why is that important? Because no game has ever made me experience a wealth of emotion that Journey has been able to. The game’s dialog free nature allowed me to write a story in my head that would change every time I played through it. The multiplayer of the game where players simply drop in or out of your game without your knowledge provide just enough change each time to shift how I perceived this world of sand at a fundamental level. Communicating through nothing but gesture and chirping, you discover that without words, you can still speak volumes. The puzzles you solve and the emotion you can express with one note is awe inspiring. And this game is nothing short of bewilderingly beautiful. There were more than a few moments where I simply stopped what I was doing to look around, literally dumbfounded by some of the vistas offered. Journey has done what no other game has managed to do, reach me on an emotional level without the use of heavy handed tropes or common archetypes. Or speech. Or language. It simply tells you a story that you are making up in your head as you go along. And it is the only time I have ever received a message thanking me for traveling with someone. Journey shot to my “required playing” list before I even finished it, and it has settled there quite comfortably. Everyone, and I mean everyone, should play this game.

  • Persona 4 Arena has a very strange background, but in the end, revealed itself to be the full package. Arcsys Works have created a 2D fighting game is absolutely beautiful, and completely accessible. Providing beginners with a course of action they can take until they naturally elevate themselves to more complex strategies is something I’ve never seen a fighting game do. P4A effectively eliminates the sink or swim nature of the fighting game, a challenge which every fighting games attempts, but generally fails. Attach a full on 20 hour visual novel which serves as the canonical sequel to Persona 4 (and golden), an online mode who’s netcode can provide lag free matches across the entire planet, a teaching mode which not only reveals combos but explains why natural occurrences like whiffing or just-blocks are important, and a super difficult MARS mode for the hardest of players, and you have literally everything that a fighting game should be in 2012. Persona 4 Arena has set the gold standard for what a fighting game should be in this modern day age, and everyone making a game right now should take notice.

  • I cannot tell you how many times I have played through Mark of the Ninja at this point, I’ve lost count. The Shank boys at Klei have always been on somewhat rocky waters as far as quality has been concerned, but they really found their footing here. It’s hard to say what I don’t like about this game; the narrative is amazing and keeps you guessing until the end, the animation is unparalleled and the art style feels completely unique in and of itself. It allows the player to chose how to finish a mission not only in terms of body count, but actual objective; and most of all, it makes you want to replay it immediately. The secondary missions the game provides keep you returning again and again, trying to get that perfect run where you are truly the ninja, your objective finished without a soul knowing you were ever there. Personally I found the optional fear suit the most fun, taking out enemies and stringing their corpses up to effect the psyche of other soldiers, causing them to panic and steadily take one another out in fearful abandon. Everything about this game feels so tight and so good; figuring out other ways to play through it feels like a joy instead of an optional course of action.

  • The Walking Dead is hardly a game. The best parts of it take place when you aren’t hitting any buttons, and as far as adventure games go, it’s easy and short. What the Walking Dead is, however, is the best visual novel I have ever experienced. It is an exceedingly tight narrative which leaves every loose end and possible caveat in the hands of the player. The choices placed in your hands as you make your way through the 5 chapter story leave you guessing whether or not they had any massive impact, but still tailors an experience unique to you. There were moments where I was actively yelling at my television about the event that just transpired, but unlike Mass Effect or XCOM, I was content in my decisions and always watched how they played out opposed to reloading an old save. It’s sad, it’s emotionally draining, it’s stressful and without hope, and you always want to know what’s going to happen next, and I cannot wait for Season 2.

  • XCOM is hard; often frustratingly so. It has a lot of bugs, and those bugs can cause you to stop hard in your tracks. Said bugs will often impede your way and punish you for employing good strategy. But all that being said, man is XCOM fun. It’s genuinely remarkable how far the game pulls you in when it leaves you in charge of the world’s defense during alien invasion. Arguing with world nations for funding, deciding who of your crack team will go on missions when there’s a good chance none of them will return, choosing what to research or purchase knowing that the next paycheck is a long 30 days away; it’s stressful in the best way possible. It’s rare when I can sit down for 12 hours and just play without realizing where the time has gone, but XCOM did that to me multiple times. It’s a shame the game hasn’t been patched at this point, but there’s something about beating a game that you know is actively cheating that really gives you a sense of accomplishment. XCOM is a mean game, but it is damn satisfying when you conquer it.

  • It’s rare when a game makes you feel smart. Even in the most established puzzle franchises, pushing through most challenges can feel like a real slog. FEZ excels in leaving enough clues within its vast pseudo 8-bit world to allow the player to pick up on patterns and symbols, allowing puzzles to be solved naturally, opposed to sticking you in a room and saying “solve this or you don’t progress”. At times, FEZ can feel like a metroidvania, leaving subtle hints and clues implying that you need to return at a later time once you understand how things work a little better. “Ah,ha!” moments are abundant In this game and solving code or recognizing routines makes you feel genuinely intelligent, rather than having it feel as if the game is competing against you. It’s the first time in years where I’ve had to pull out a piece of paper and run a little cryptanalysis on the etchings I found on a tree. There’s barely any story to speak of, it’s more about the journey than anything else. You’ll want to get all 64 cubes and get your 109.3% completion rate because then you’ll know you've seen it all. And there’s a lot to see.

  • I had never heard the term “oilpunk” before this game was released, but it seems to have caught on in a big way. Dishonored plays like a magical side story to THEIF, allowing you to use the powers of the Outsider to cut your own path through a dirty, grimy world full of dilapidation. I’ve played through the game 3 times now and have been able to find different and unique methods of completing each mission each time. Whether you prefer to go in guns blazing or stick to the shadows, the game gives you free reign how to deal with your foes and remove your targets from the mortal coil. The story doubles up on itself in the end, and if you’re truly interested in what kind of world you’re in, you’ll find yourself reading books and listening to audio tapes which inform you to what sorts of shades of grey you’ll be dealing with when it comes to friends and enemies. Most importantly, once you get a sense of what’s going on, the game never stops being fun to play through its narrative issues and figuring out new ways to manipulate the dirty city of Dunwall never gets old and more importantly, never gets frustrating.

  • The negative buzz surrounding Syndicate prior its release is just another example of how people expecting something from our yesteryears can ruin an experience. Walking into Syndicate with no expectations other than a competent shooter and not a top down strategy game, I was presented with a wonderful juxtaposition of a gritty world hiding under a super clean façade, and an interesting tales of warring corporations dealing with the haves and have-nots. Manipulating the world using the DART system was easy and effective and it always made you feel like the superman the game played you up to be. And while the ending of the game was rather lazy and somewhat unsatisfying, the game keeps you hooked in with an inspired online co-op multiplayer mode which demands teamwork over bravado. Due to this game not being what people were demanding, it never got a fair shake and sold absolutely terribly, but If you have some time and 15 bucks in your pocket, you’d do yourself right to pick this game up.

  • I’ve made it no secret that I loved Skyrim to death, it being my 2011 game of the year; and when Capcom, of all people, said that they were looking to cash in on that demographic, I and I think a lot of us openly guffawed at their claims. Well, it turns out that they were headed down the right path, because Dragon’s Dogma is a blast to play. Touting the best open world combat in a game to date, Dragon’s Dogma takes the idea of exploration and makes it a harrowing, dangerous, nerve wracking experience. The world is woefully small and the game does have trouble keeping it filled here and there, but from purely a gameplay stance, it cannot be beat. The Pawn system works absolutely perfectly and creates very little AI frustration, unlike other games of Dragon’s Dogma’s ilk. The story is absolutely terrible, and the seams of where cuts were made show like plastic surgery scars, but it almost doesn't matter since the game is so much fun to play, even when you know what’s going to be around that next bend every time you reach it. And if you stick it through to the end, you have one hell of an amazing, if not befuddling, ending awaiting you.

  • A lot of fighting games of questionable quality have been released this year, many carrying a new level of behind the scenes baggage. Whether it’s DLC woes, publisher issues, internal backbiting or simply rousing the ire of the fanbase, the only universal constant seemed to be that, while everyone was trying to make their game appealing for mass consumption, no one was actually making anything new. In this sea of sequels, spinoffs, remakes and dream matches, there was only one original IP in the fighting game circuit, and it turned out to be one of the best times I’ve had behind the sticks. A game created by fighting game fans, for fighting game fans, this CvsS2 style fighter places emphasis on a small, well balanced roster rather than having a million different characters and their mothers to chose from. While the experimental infinite-guard was eventually broken and some balance tweaking was, and still is, required, focusing on tightening the game’s fundamentals made for an experience that was both exciting to watch and play, a feat very few games achieve. Using GGPO as its online backbone allowed for low lag matches across the world, and always provided a practice partner while the fired irons were still hot. If you can look past its perhaps controversial sexualized art style and deep, sometimes intimidating complexity, you’ll find an amazing game waiting for you.
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