1.
Dragon's Dogma ; Dogma is some wild ish. Look at the Devil May Cry gone fantasy combat system. Fire off an arrow and guide it right to a cyclops' eye. Summon a tornado on top of a gang of lizard monsters. Or gut-punch a goblin in the air, splash him with explosive powder, then light his ass up. The kooky characters that populate the world and the story that moves along when it feels like it are understandably not for everyone, but I found this stuff too silly to not like. There were Elder Scrolls ambitions here, but they took a very wrong turn somewhere and ended up with something clearly insane and, frankly, more enjoyable. Like, right from the hype theme song alone, you know this ain't any old sandbox adventure. This isn't even mentioning the post-game content, climbing over dragons, or the absurd romance bit. God, this game is so damn Capcom. After over a hundred hours logged, something I never do for any game these days, there was only one spot Dogma could possibly take. Shine on, you crazy diamond. Shine on.
2.
Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown ; The rich keep getting richer. Been with VF since day one and I'm still blown away by how much Sega can eek out of three buttons. This is a game with depth. Depth and flow. No other manfighter moves like this. Every fight feels like it can just suddenly end - damage is high, not absurdly so, but it's enough to keep you on edge even at full health. You never know when a spinning
woooosh kick will connect with your face, leaving your opponent to either set you up for a new combo, juggle you out of the ring, or pin you up against a wall and rob you of your health bar. It is that rush you get when you dismantle someone that really works for me though. No other series in the genre makes you feel like such a beast when you're on the offense and your opponent can't keep up.
3.
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition ; Boy, am I glad I waited to play this on PC. For the obvious reasons, even if those obvious reasons needed help from Durante, but also because it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out how on Earth I was supposed to descend Blighttown. I fell, and fell, and got invaded and kicked off, then fell some more. I'm dumb. Attach that to a 15fps framerate and I'd have sold the game. Which would have been an enormous loss, as Dark Souls really is something special. It's so carefully constructed. The way sections weave around and connect back as you progress doesn't get enough praise. Brilliant level design. The Demon Ruins / Lost Izalith / Gwyn's Ashtray Playground (forgot the name, fuck it) outro was rather unfortunate, but I broke it up by going through the Artorias of the Abyss content. Relentless boss fights, haunted scenery, subtle but effective storytelling, delicious secrets. How was this stuff left out? DS is uneven, but man, its peaks were as thrilling as anything else last year.
4.
Analogue: A Hate Story ; Equally cute and cruel. Christine Love got my imagination running with Analogue, putting my own images to the dead and their tragedies as I read through letter after letter. Though never gratuitous, she isn't afraid to hammer the player with some incredibly ugly reveals. The mysteries here are carefully wrapped and slowly peeled back too, making everything hit that much harder. Love does flirt with some anime tropes, but there was little else I could see through. I struggled a lot with this. With describing it without giving too much away, with explaining well enough why it registered so much with me, but also with where to put it on my list. So many action-flavored games and I value that sort of thing way more than a visual novel, even if this one is uniquely structured and different from its peers. I had to include Analogue though. It wasn't being left out.
5.
Tokyo Jungle ; This game is a trip. Kind of an action game, kind of a stealth game, kind of a platformer, all set in a kind of sandbox environment. Kind of! Although the campaign is surprisingly good, Tokyo Jungle really works best in survival mode. It looks simple, but you'll be at for a bit. You have to learn the city's layout, objective and item spawn points, and how to deal with deadlier animals. Some you can take out, some you can't, some you really shouldn't go near but attack anyway only to realize he has a gang behind him. It's always a risk. This is all to get up to that 100 year mark, which is essentially game over even though you can keep going. TJ feels like it was plucked from the early 2000s. It'd rest on your shelf right next to Samba de Amigo and Katamari Damacy. Maybe because you can put a schoolgirl outfit on a polar bear, maybe because you can smang females for extra lives, or maybe because it looks only marginally better than those games. Not sure. Effortlessly charming and quirky as hell, TJ's addictive and a joy to play.
6.
Binary Domain ; Binary Domain is delightfully dumb. The cast is lovable with a neverending supply of silly one-liners that had me seriously cracking up. Mechanically though, this TPS is actually pretty sharp. Enemy placement is smart, it feels fresh battle to battle, despite not having a lot of enemy types to work with. Dismemberment isn't just gratifying - unload on a robot's head and watch it disintegrate, bits and pieces flying all over the place with each bullet - it's also a key tool. You can handicap enemies, blowing out legs to keep them from storming you (they'll still slink around though, be careful). Gunplay feels extremely tight, too. Strikes just the right balance between "realistic" heft and the more arcade-y variety of shooters. All this and hard mode is a finely tuned, honest challenge, because Nagoshi loves me so. Favorite moment? The gorilla boss. A hulking monster who isn't too tough. Until he enrages. Strings of ground punches come out alarmingly fast and are always just
right behind you, no matter how fast you run. That is a hell of a fight, and this is a hell of a game.
7.
Akai Katana ; Nobody does STGs like Cave. Their work shines. Akai Katana really shines. The scoring system, while taking a little to get used to, is clever. The mechanics are unsurprisingly airtight, and you're given some neat stuff to work with (the 'pushback' system is particularly cool). The art is super lush, pretty. Both the amazing character portraits and the backdrops. Think it was the fourth stage where you start out underwater and end up above the clouds. Beautiful. Music though, wow, is it bad. A Guwange-ish soundtrack would've worked so well here. Still, I can't be mad at a Cave shooter, especially one where bosses summon in warships.
8.
Ys Origin ; Listen, no other game in 2012 did bosses like this. Tick the difficulty up and your ass will be whipped. They are all of the old-school
learn my patterns fast, sucka variety. You will die, and die a lot, but there isn't a single "cheap" attack to be found here. Random example, the giant centipede fight. It tosses poisonous spores, drops lightning bolts while crawling around a tower, spits lightning while on the ground, then eventually goes into wheel mode and tries to run you over because why not. There's a ton of bosses here, and pretty much any of them could be selected as a highlight. The character designs and story are awful, but the latter isn't obtrusive, at least. Multiple characters, fat-free pacing, flawless controls, and excellent Japanese buttrock also help make this an exciting action adventure. A Link to the Past on HGH.
9.
Tribes: Ascend ; 100 miles and gunnin'. Maybe I'm just getting older, maybe they're just sucking more so than ever, but competitive FPS doesn't do much for me these days. Thankfully, Tribes: Ascend exists. Sneak into an enemy base and slap sticky grenades on some dumbass' back, blow up his generator after he dies, then restealth and wait for the next goofball to roll in. Or ski down some snowy mountains, giving chase to the dude who just grabbed our flag. Puh-TUH ... ching! This Thumper DX don't play, son. Tribes almost feels made for me. The varied classes, the speed, the big maps, the goofiest voice commands for me to spam since Counter-Strike (yes, this is
important). The XP stuff being so slow to accrue is kinda gross, keeping this from being too high on my list, but I found myself addicted to a multiplayer shooter for the first time in ages.
10.
Sleeping Dogs ; It's Grand Theft Yakuza with Arkham Asylum's combat and Infernal Affairs' script (although it's a lot closer in tone to The Departed, admittedly). There's even a vault over cover and shoot in slow-mo mechanic, ala Vanquish. Basically, Sleeping Dogs doesn't have a single original idea in its entire head. That's okay! It's all pretty well executed. The combat system is a bit less automated and has a satisfying crunch to it, so I kinda prefer it over the Batmans, even if it's still too easy. The cast is a fun, lively group, lead by my favorite main character all year, Wei "Wei Shen, motherfucker" Shen. The city, if a bit small for my taste, is gorgeous, atmospheric, and a pleasure to drive around in. Hong Kong is perfect for this sort of thing, so much so you wonder how we only got to it now. I could nitpick the ending or the lack of a decent electronic station, but it's all good. Glad Squeenix went dumpster diving for this one.
x.
Katawa Shoujo ; More sincere and delicately handled than any 4chan-spawned game involving disabled girls has the right to be. There's a genuine warmth here that made me happy. One VN was enough for my list, but this was still adored and appreciated. Bonus points for A) Hanako (◡‿◡✿
and B)
Fripperies.
x.
Torchlight 2 ;
Oh God loot.
x.
Resonance ; Wadjet Eye are consistently dope. Here's another ace point and click none of you played.
2011.
Catherine ; Real quick, shout outs to Yakuza 4 and Hard Corps: Uprising. Not just two of last year's finest, they're also two of the best from each franchise. Manly games for manly men, and I, naturally, missed out on the manliness. But my 2011 pick goes to a game I
did play, if only for a bit. Back near its release, Catherine just didn't "click." Found Vincent to be something of a clown, found both girls too extreme to be likable, found myself having zero fun. I had a suspicion I didn't give this a fair shake though, and hey, here we are now. Catherine is a fantastic ride. It is extremely rewarding to conquer these daunting stages. Completing puzzles hasn't been this gratifying for me since, well, ever. That includes Portal 2, which I gave my top pick to last year. There was always a smile on my face after reaching the top, a total "I did it!" feeling. So few games hit you with an honest challenge, and even fewer feel this satisfying to beat. The story, too, whoa. So many
yo, whaaat moments, and this time, I ate it all up. Catherine is now a favorite of mine this gen. Full C route all the way, by the way~
Last year's list. Having played much more of 2011's games my vote would be very different now. Way more even with Western v. Japanese stuff and Deus Ex being erased altogether. I played the majority of what I wanted to from 2012 so I doubt I'll look back on this and regret my picks, but who knows. If I made any mistakes anywhere feel free to call me out. Will fix this post up tomorrow. I need a drink right now though.
