RecSpec's 2012 GOTY Awards: Day One
By recroulette 1 Comments
This year is almost done, and to give credit to games that do certain things well, here are 20 random awards. These range from basic to very dumb. I don't believe on singling a certain game out for anything bad, so there won't be "Worst" awards. Games don't deserve recognition for doing something bad. I have split these awards into four sections (five every day) so I don't have to write all of these at once. Each award has a winner and two runner ups, if I couldn't find two runner ups for a topic, then I didn't include the award. I'll probably write about those over at Really Bad Future (I really want to write about Far Cry 3's intro). Anyway, here are the awards for tonight. We have Best Soundtrack, Best DLC, Best Guest Appearance, Honorable Mention of 2012, and Favorite Character. Here to help present the awards is Virtue's Last Reward's star and everyone's favorite AI Rabbit, Zero III.
Best Soundtrack: Rhythm Heaven Fever
Rhythm Heaven Fever had an amazing soundtrack, in both English and Japanese. Tsunku did a great job creating a bunch of different types of music for each type of minigame. There are a ton of songs that will end up stuck in your head, with the sound effects, without them, it doesn't matter. They will be stuck there. The best thing about this soundtrack is that there are two versions of each song, the music by itself, and the version with all of the sound effects.Runners-up: Dust: An Elysian Tail, Hotline Miami
Best Guest Appearance: Joan of Arc, Warriors Orochi 3
The Warriors Orochi series is a huge crossover between the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors universe. The third entry in this series had characters from other Tecmo and Koei games show up (Ryu from Ninja Gaiden, Ayane from Dead or Alive), but my favorite was Joan of Arc showing up from Bladestorm. Bladestorm is a game which had some great ideas but never really went anywhere, so it's good to see Koei showing that they remember it.Runners-up: Sir Dan Fortesque in PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale, Meat Boy in Dust
Best DLC: Act IV, Asura's Wrath
The DLC front was pretty thin for me, so this was a struggle at first, but then I remember Asura's Wrath's final act. I wasn't sure whether or not to vilify Capcom because of them releasing the true ending after the game launched. Don't get me wrong, releasing the ending after is a poor choice, but man. So many loose threads tied up in this. The true identity of the golden spider, the end of the rivalry between Asura and Yasha, and the new evil that shows up. It's all pretty great. Just when you think it's over, it continues and gets even crazier, and it's all fantastic. Also, the post credits sequence. Make that into a game, and I'm there on day one.Runners-up: Uncharted 3's Taunts, Theatrhythm's additional music.
Honorable Mention: Far Cry 3
This category is dedicated to games that might have had a legit shot to break my top ten, but I haven't put enough time into these. Far Cry 3, my god that game is great. Playing it on PS3 (I don't have the reference point, and it's not that bad) and I'm having a blast! I wish the skills weren't tied into story quests, otherwise I would just explore the world full time. I feel like I've put 15 hours into the game and I've only covered 10 percent of the map. I've always prefered Fallout 3 to Oblivion (guns) so this is a great game for me. Also, the world just seems a lot deadlier than in other open world games. The world feels alive, and one wrong move will end you.Runners-up: Sleeping Dogs, Dragon's Dogma
Favorite Character: Zero III, Virtue's Last Reward
Based on the pictures, are you really surprised? There have been a lot of great new characters this year, but my favorite is Zero III, hands down. Zero is completely psychotic and a complete jerk to each of the characters. There is a method to the madness, and Zero sets the tone for the grim atmosphere of Virtue's Last Reward. From the moment this rabbit shows up to the last time you see it, Zero is always condescending and does a great job of being crazy without becoming annoying. I think the reason Zero stays great is because it disappears fairly early into the game. It doesn't feel that way because of how Virtue's Last Reward works. Cindy Robinson did a fantastic job, portraying this crazy rabbit, and is a big reason why Zero was awesome.Runners-up: Handsome Jack, Borderlands 2; *Mute, Analogue: A Hate Story
That's all for tonight, thanks for reading, and tune in tomorrow when I reveal the biggest surprise, biggest disappointment, and my favorite sidequest of 2012. For more of my random nonsense you can follow me on Twitter and check out Really Bad Future, where I post my other random nonsense.