*Best read with a horizontal resolution greater than 1440*
1.
Dota 2 ; Return of the King. The undisputed leader in LoMas with depth as deep as the Marianas Trench, evoking boiling rage, crushing sadness and dizzying elation. Dota 2 is my digital crack. That feeling you get when you juke three players, catch out the entire enemy team in a Black Hole, steal that Ravage that your team so desperately needs... unmatched. This is a game where you savour every victory, because victory is earned. You live and die by your skills, and Dota is the purest distillation of that creed.
Dota 2 is probably the most mechanically robust game not named Dwarf Fortress. You've got a couple of dozen mechanics, most of which have some interaction with most other mechanics. Some mechanics are only available to a single hero out of the 100+ heroes playable, others are found on the 100+ items you can buy. With 10 heroes each holding 4 or more abilities and each possessing 6 item slots, factor in teamwork skills, individual player skill and a bit of luck, no two games are the same. Teamfights are controlled chaos, each person throwing their own piece of disorder in the pot and hoping they don't get burnt, with better players able to predict what will likely happen at a glance and act accordingly.
LoMas (or MOBAs as other people would know them) are very interesting to from a teamwork standpoint. You have a game with 5 or 6 main roles, with many different types of subroles under them. You put in 5 guys or gals who don't know each other and tell them to work together. Most of the time, the team can work seamlessly together without a word spoken or typed, because everyone knows their roles, how to perform them and how to maximize the effectiveness of the skills on their heroes. What other genre can bring about such cohesion? Of course that doesn't happen all the time, sometimes you just have to ride out an uncooperative teammate, but when it works it works like a well-oiled machine.
That alone would be enough, but Valve has done right with how it treats the game. It's F2P, but nothing you buy actually affects gameplay. It is the best way to put in microtransactions, bar none. On top of that, The International 3 was spectacular, and I caught as much of it as I could. Valve has also taken immense steps with curtailing the toxic portions of the community with a reporting system that actually works! What better way to punish poor team players than to make them play with each other and eat each others awfulness!
There is so much right about this game, I can't not give GotY to this game. A game that will truly last the ages.
2.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ; I bought the PC version of DMC4 because I never finished Bloody Palace, and in the process of beating it (and I did, I got the Steam screenshots to prove it!), I caught that stylish action bug again. I had my eye on Metal Gear Rising, being Platinum Games and all, but this new fever cemented the purchase. The purchase was followed up by my face getting continually blown off by the Platinum Games' brand of insanity for 50 or so hours.
The "cut anything" philosophy is what all games featuring a badass wielding a sword should aspire to. No pre-baked limb chopping here, you cut at a 167.5° angle, you get a poor cyborg/mechawolf/cyber-raptor/tree/missile/helicopter (but not a cat) bisected at 167.5°. Actual slicing instead of a weak flinches makes it feel like you're using a real sword, not a pool noodle.
And that soundtrack! Amazing, if a bit campy if you actually listen to the lyrics, but still amazing. This game is 95% about the boss battles and they're accompanying themes. And let's not forget that infamous quote, that encapsulates the Metal Gear mythos so succinctly. "Nanomachines, son!". Grade A camp, I love it.
That's not to say this game doesn't have any flaws, it has a fair amount of them. The game looks drab and the 60 FPS doesn't hold steady at times. The scoring system is overly harsh. The camera is the biggest screw up, especially in an action game. You will learn to fear walls because they make your camera go crazy, and corners are the absolute worst, pointing inwards to the corner so the only thing you can see is Raiden getting ripped apart by offscreen enemies.
3.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies ; (Downloaded from NA to Australia) This might just be pent-up demand, but this game. Dual Destinies had a lot to live up to, considering the franchise has been away for more than a few years. The move to 3D, while initially worrying, has paid off, with characters being more animated yet still retaining those jarring jumps to different animations loops gives it that 2D sprite feel. The animator really cared about their work, which extends to just about everything else in this game (except the translation. Ho ho ho so many typos). Music is fantastic, Athena is great, Apollo is... uhh less crappy I guess, Nick with his new found confidence (that is just a facade, he's still the same old Nick). The overarching story, while it doesn't hit the highs of 3, is still in the better part of the series, with a swerve that caught me by surprise. The meltdowns were excellent. There's not really much to say about it, it's just a great, well-rounded, complete package.
Which reminds me, I still haven't played the DLC case yet... I should get on that.
4.
Fire Emblem Awakening ; (Downloaded from NA to Australia) The only other Fire Emblem I played was the one on the GBA starring Lyn, Hector and Eliwood (I think), so I'm pretty much a Fire Emblem scrub. Regardless, I went straight into Awakening on Classic Hard, because I wanted that Fire Emblem experience of getting mad over permadeaths and wearing my patience thin. Without grinding, most encounters were tough (with the philosophy of No Man/Woman Left Behind).
A contentious point of the game is the Pair Up mechanic, and I fall into the camp that likes it. I understand that pairing up greatly increases the power of a unit, and in doing so will limit the amount of actions your squad can take per turn, but I felt it gave an extra dimension to the combat. You still had to cover your weaknesses because even a stray -killer/-slayer weapon could outright kill a paired up unit or you missed an enemy with a Counter skill so it's not like this mechanic completely removed all challenge. Pairing Up felt more like a strategy opener to me because it allowed me to do things that I couldn't before.
I'm not sure as to the source of this, but I feel most of the maps are... lacking. They're mostly fields or a narrow maze, and usually both sides are planted at the start and it's up to you to make it to the enemy commander and kill them. There's not much scripting of unique events or presenting an objective that's not "Rout enemy forces" or "Defeat enemy commander". Only 2 or so maps feature terrain hazards, the volcano and the shifting maze, with a few more having interesting scenarios like getting shot at by mages with Mire. Also, damn reinforcements to hell, they should not be able to act on the turn they show up.
Another point I wish to address is the change in character art directions. I tend to be slightly on the dislike side, on the edge of being neutral. I understand why they did it, characters that didn't just look like another knight whose only distinction between each other is facial structure, hair style and colour and manner of speaking, but I really miss functional looking armour. Mages can dress up however they like though, they don't need armour or whatever (Hello Tharja!). It's a niggle in an otherwise great game, so I can overlook it (not that that's a problem for a lot of other people, the waifu wars in the OT were savage).
5.
Shin Megami Tensei IV ; (Downloaded from NA to Australia) I've always wanted to get into the MegaTen series but I've always lacked the time or the means. Not so with SMT IV, being released on the 3DS (which is a weird place to put your next mainline game), I was pushed over the edge with the Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei $30 eShop credit cross promotion (which I tossed towards Ace Attorney 5).
You start in the Kingdom of Mikado, a land that looks straight out of the medieval age complete with huge class inequality. But then during Samurai induction (Samurai seems like a weird term for a European looking civilization, as is the name Mikado) you're given a gauntlet which looks completely out of place since, as a person living in modern times, you notice how high-tech it is. If you thought the setting was a bit odd, this confirms it, and now you're intrigued (I'm sure SMT vets knew this was coming or this was revealed in promotional media, but I was on unintentional blackout). Reaching the bottom of Naraku was quite a shock, and at that point, I couldn't stop, battery willing.
The demon fusion has been streamlined a lot in terms of UI and convenience from P4. Perhaps allowing which skills to pass down was a tad too powerful, there's never a reason to not pass down an absorb, reflect or null damage type or a Tetrakarn/Makarakarn and due to that your entire team are extremely powerful. Add in a Spirit Drain or Energy Drain for infinite SP and you'll likely just faceroll over 98% of enemies, which is a shame. One reason I liked the combat system in P4 was how fatal it was, but with skill inheritance it really trivializes the difficult. The game is most brutal in the early game where your skillset is the most limited and you can't benefit from a long demonic skill lineage. But as a whole, I enjoyed putting together my own demonic party and leveling them up to get their skills and passing them down.
There are a lot of problems with the game, not telling you Estoma Sword works on the world map, not knowing what district is where, but a fine JRPG despite that presenting interesting concepts and themes centered on religion and morality.
6.
Spelunky ; (PC Steam Release) A platformer with roguelike elements. I know how overused "roguelike" as a term is, and I'm not entirely sure using it here is proper, but there is a load of randomly generated stuff in this game. The thing is, despite all the random stuff that happens, the game most of the time does not throw a no-win situation in your face, and it's possible to get through many bad situations without a scratch, provided you planned for everything and execute it flawlessly with deft fingers.
This game is easy to pick up and play, yet has a large amount of depth. The game demands constant decision making. The game is also relentless in its challenge, throwing more things to kill you with as you progress through the stages. Then when you get that Alien Rifle, the power instantly goes to your head. The game has trampled on you enough, time to pay it back! ...and then you blow yourself up. Again.
This game is a constant battle between misplaced bravado and knowing better.
7.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds ; (Downloaded from NA to Australia) I really liked this game, but not as much as other people it seems. Still, it's a very well made game, and I absolutely love the speed at which the game moves. Everything is fast, running is fast, slashing is fast, enemies are fast, menus are fast, transitions are fast. After playing and (subsequent dropping of) the plodding Skyward Sword, this drastic change of pace was most welcome. It's about time a Zelda game started quick.
The biggest change of the game is tackling the dungeons in almost any order you want. I appreciate this change of direction, but it does present a few problems that I have to address. Due to the fact that there's no set or assumable dungeon order the designers cannot develop a progression of ideas or puzzle challenge, and this necessitates the design of a dungeon around only one or two items. This makes each dungeon's theme or gimmick quite distinct from each other, but the ideas are cut off before they have a chance to evolve. On top of that, enemy strength will be out of whack if you take an unorthodox order. If the Zelda team continues with this direction, might I propose having tiers of dungeons? Basically dungeons are grouped in triplets, a pair of dungeons that must be completed to move on to the third, that is harder and incorporates ideas and difficulty from the prerequisite dungeons. So you'll have 6 dungeons that can be done in any order, and a further three that requires a pair of the previous tier to be completed.
Another outstanding part is the music. Some of them are remixed from aLttP, but that doesn't change the fact that it sounds amazing. I love listening to the Dark World theme, it's so out of character for a Zelda game. It's upbeat and energetic despite being attached to a destitute world. Great music, not something you would ever hear from a game made nowadays, has a "'90s feel" to it, a product of its time.
My other gripes is Hero Mode should've been unlocked from the start, or failing that, removing all the tutorials and explanations for your second go around. Also wish I could turn off those treasure chest build-ups, I know they're a staple but ehhhhh I could do without, it stops the flow of the game.
A great outing in the Zelda franchise and it represents a step towards experimentation, but Majora's Mask is still the best Zelda game.
8.
Volgarr the Viking ; A 2D action game that's pretty similar to the Ghosts and Goblins, right down to losing power each time you get hit, fixed trajectory jumps and ball-busting difficulty (supposedly). A game that makes design decisions with conviction, backed up with great level design and balanced around Volgarr's limited moveset. Every piece of a level was placed with gameplay intent, and as a result levels are packed with puzzle after puzzle dressed up as combat encounters, platforming challenges or a combination of the two.
Enemies are dead simple in behaviour, made dangerous by level design. Draugr are slow and easy to kill, but if the lower half of their bodies are attacked, the top half comes flying off to strike an unsuspecting player. Easy to deal with alone, but then you throw in skeletons, who hold up a shield that blocks all attacks and can only be struck from the bottom half. Then you put in uneven terrain. Juggling enemies that can only be hit from the bottom, ones that are dangerous when hit from the bottom, crows that come swooping across the player from the top half, and spiders that charge at you from the bottom half, while jumping between unequidistant platforms with your fixed trajectory jump all at the same time? Good luck.
9.
Tales of Xillia ; I think the Tales of series is my go-to for console JRPGs now, which is a shame since it's due to the loss of identity and quality Final Fantasy has suffered. Hopefully XV turns out good, but I digress. There's a lot to like about Xillia, but also a lot to dislike, but the things it does right get me good. I reckon more people should've picked up this game over Ni no Kuni but that's just me, that game seems archaic in the worst ways.
I think I'll start with the bad first. The biggest flaw of the game is the fields. To give an overview of how the world is stitched together, think of Xenoblade with its massive areas connected to each other by a short and narrow corridor. Not truly open world, but the feeling is there. Now take those expansive fields and shrink them down to 10% of the size and make them homogenous and devoid of anything and you've got Xillia's world. There are little distinguishing features in Xillia's field, just cliffs, trees and identical naturally (or unnaturally, really) formed crawlspaces and a shitload of monsters (monsters wander around the fields, and battle only commences when you touch one of them. No random battles here).
Behind that, copypasta ports. The kind that docks seaborne ships. Every port in the game is literally the same. Literally the same. Not literally as in figuratively, literally as in literally. I'm not gonna foul up my posts with images of that shit, but you can ask any of Tales-Gaf and they'll say the same thing.
On to the good things, the characters are range from tolerable to fairly likeable. The hero Jude isn't a complete dumbass and isn't angsty (he does for about 10 minutes but just grit your teeth through that). The heroine Milla is Lord of the Spirits and not a human, which can lead to a lot of fish-out-of-water comedy, and she's generally direct and headstrong. Alvin is the best character, a laid-back troll though you'll justifiably hate his guts a couple of times. Leia is superfluous to the story and a Pollyanna. Rowen is an old guy playing everyone for fools because he's not as senile as he looks, a trickster and a gentleman. Elize is the token little girl and dour in personality, but the only thing you'll remember about her is "Go Teepo! Sharing is caring!".
The series staple skits are back. Skits are characters depicted as portraits talking to each other about various topics not necessarily related to the main plot, and are there to flesh out characters and relationships. Most of them are pretty humourous as well, and they're voice acted (translated Tales games only started dubbing skits from Vesperia onwards, and they make a huge positive difference). It's essentially an outlet for shooting the shit with friends. Skits are one feature I wish were sown among more games, and I greatly enjoy them.
The combat system has a fair amount of depth, and it's in real-time AND you can play 4 player co-op, but that's not recommended for the following reason. This game has a Link system, you link up to a party member mid-battle and they will cover you, combo enemies with you and provide character specific perks. The problem is linking with a party member turns them into an AI, so it will boot any friends playing that character. Without getting into it, I think the Link system is poorly thought out. On another note the boost to TP gain on hit you can spend more time using Artes rather than relying on basic attacks to conserve TP. Bosses can be pretty unfair. Sometimes they'll use a Mystic Arte (super flashy attacks that have anime cut-ins) out of nowhere and could deal some serious damage to your entire team because one of your AI buddies stupidly got caught by an opener.
10.
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger ; I feel like I'm reaching with the inclusion of this game. It tells me this year wasn't really that great, but that's not to denigrate what Gunslinger has achieved. This game has absolutely nailed the feeling of shooting a gun (a Hollywood gun, not a real gun). Each time you pull the trigger, whether on a six-shooter or a rifle, results in the most satisfying crack to reverberate through the air. These guns feel like they can draw ghastly holes in the unfortunate and paint the back wall in bright red.
To keep the player shooting, Silas can both Cheat Death and concentrate to slow down time. This allows him to keep shooting without constantly hiding behind waist-high walls. I appreciate the inclusion of those two mechanics as it cuts down on down time.
The narrative device is sublime, it tells a story that doesn't conflict with silly game conventions. The gameplay portion takes place as flashbacks as Silas tells them to a group at a saloon. Since Silas isn't exactly reliable and is prone to embellish his stories, it gracefully avoids the clash between gameplay and story. The saloon group can also interject their thoughts in to the tales, changing the world on the fly. An interesting concept and executed well enough.
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Honourable mentions will only have short comments since I'm nearing the character limit.
x.
Candy Box ; A game that continually one-ups itself in the possibility space.
x.
The Typing of the Dead: Overkill ; I learnt from this game that I type like shit.
x.
Ys I & II Chronicles+ ; Adol Christin, you're friendly neighbourhood god-slayer, doing his thing to the sounds of hair metal.
x.
Risk of Rain ; A 2D roguelikelikelikelike with Binding of Isaac's item system with multiplayer. Had a lot of fun with my friends.
x.
Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby ; ROBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!!!!!!
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2012.
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward ; This was the game that got me to buy and import a 3DS. A strange game to be a killer app and I agree, but after the absolutely fantastic 999 I needed more. Certainly, this is a visual novel, but this game definitively requires a player making decisions. The game literally cannot be done as a movie, string of cutscenes or a traditional novel without losing 80% of the impact (same as 999 really). A great example of leveraging the medium's unique feature--interactivity--to tell its story.
The core driver of the game's plot is the Ambidex Game, a variation of
the Prisoner's Dilemma. It confronts you with how much of a bastard can you be. The Ambidex Game is the in-game "game" that the characters are playing. The interaction and agenda of each of the characters revolve around the Ambidex Game, which allows them to show their personalities when they otherwise wouldn't.
From the Ambidex Games, the story can spin off in a dozen different directions, starting from a common point. But there's a reason those branches exist, and you'll have to play the game if you want to find out. While mostly self-contained, the story feels like a part one of a two-parter. There are a lot of plot points open that will be resolved in the next game, far-in-the-background points but still points that beg answers.
The voice acting is
phenomenal, especially Zero III. One of the biggest reasons I imported a copy is that in Australia (and other PAL regions), we get a copy that doesn't have dubbing. The dubbing is something that you shouldn't turn your nose up at, it's genuinely superb. An excellent game with a great story (behind 999), everyone should play this (after 999 of course).
Games that might've made my list had I played them: Bravely Default, Wonderful 101, Super Mario 3D World, The Stanley Parable.
Gif credits:
Dota 2 - Purge
MGR - Giant Bomb
PW
D - Capcom
FEA - Pheonixmaster1
SMT4 - OmegaEvolution
Spelunky - Me
LoZ: ALBW - packattack04082
Volgarr - Me
ToX - OmegaEvolution
CoJ - Giant Bomb
VLR - Sagemaster15
