Lots of really cool really great games this year...nothing mind-blowing, like a Gears of War 1, Uncharted 2 or a Mass Effect 2, but there were a TON of really cool games this year.
Special nods to Halo 4, Borderlands 2, Syndicate, Darkness 2, Binary Domain, Far Cry 3
I still haven't started DOA5 and I've only scratched the surface of Imagine Sleepy Dawgz.
Wonderful story with the perfect amount of player agency. It's clear that you cannot control the world, you're not even leading this group. All you can do is exist in this story and try to sway Lee in one direction or the other. It's a great ride.
Great exercise in telling a story that only a game can tell. It's not just a good story made your own by player agency, there are story beats that can only be sold by the interactivity of the medium. Fourth walls break. Insanity surrounds you. You're in control of yourself but stuck on a hellish version of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.
I did things that were godawful but felt justified in the moment. It's a wildly emotional experience with a message about war, death, video games, the human psyche, and more. I played this game in one sitting. The next night, I played through it again. I've never done that before and likely never will again.
The ending worked perfectly for my Femshep. Stop yer whining! While I have misgivings about parts of the ending, the DLC ending, and the DLC after the end of the game, I still loved the last chapter in this ambitious trilogy.
I theorize that this game is the fever dream of a new father dealing with a difficult newborn. Maybe it's just speaking from my own experience a few years back, but that popped into my head and never left.
Either way, as a man who dislike's anime, this spaghetti western flavored piece of QTE wonderment was a unique and awe inspiring experience.
I heart this game and need more like it.
An awesome old school strategy game with loads of oomph and wow factory. I have kids. I work long hours (as low as 50 as high as 60) in soul-sucking office environment. This game had me stay up FAR beyond what I'm capable of. I was awake, alert, and leading my team to victory. Great game that really captured my mind.
I need more non-broken euro-RPGs. Great game, great story, great privilege to be able to play this on a console this year.
I don't care about Resident Evil. I enjoyed what I've played. The old games controlled like crap then and control worse now. I think the first and third RE movies were pretty fun. So I'm NOT invested in this universe.
RE6 was a popcorn movie for me. I played through the game in co-op with a friend and we had a blast. Laughing with it or at it, it was some of the most fun I've had this year.
This game sucks for about an hour. I get the camp. It's cool. But you need to buy some moves to make this game enjoyable, which is a shame. Even then, it's kinda dial-a-combo-ish. I found it fun, witty, and sophomoric. The soundtrack fits perfectly.
I played so much that I climbed up to the single digits on several of the game's leaderboards.
My knife=wielding stealth lady was awesome. I loved the main quest in this game. The faction quests were good, the side quests were garbage. But those main quests were great. Best playing RPG of the year.
Man on Fire.
Also, I LOVE that Max Payne 3 PLAYS like an old Max should play like. You want to dive around. You want to be spry young Max. But you can't. You're not him. You're old addict Max. You can dive here and there, but you won't get up quickly. It's a great meld of old Max and his run n gun days an old Max, his busted body, and modern conventions.
Favorite Rockstar game ever.
