Itchy//Tasty
Member
Relatively bad year, very few masterpieces and lots of overhyped and ultimately flawed AAA games.
1. Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss ; Manus terrified the shit out of me, but going up against him with two other guys AND a certain NPC was my favourite gaming moment of 2012. Amazing, chaotic, tense boss fight, and the rest was fantastic too. I still find myself firing it up to help guys kill Kalameet, even months after release.
2. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath ; Simply one of my favourite shooters ever, and now it's on a handheld. Praise be to JAW.
3. Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale ; Put more time into this one than any other, and with a load of people playing it at work it became a nightly obsession the way only competitive games can. Only the horrendous amount of Kratos spamming online held it back, but it was super-satisfying owning them all with the bumbling, slow-ass Sir Dan. Smash Bros. clone? I'm sorry, I must've missed the HD SSB game with silky-smooth online and an identical, free handheld version.
4. The Walking Dead ; Not a dry eye in the house at the end. Can good writing alone make GOTY material? Lee and Clementine's journey was enough to melt gamer hearts and even penetrate the horribly commercialised VGA's. I would love it if the world had more games like this.
5. Gravity Rush ; An endearing main character, a great progression of her powers, lovely music and art style, and generally just a wonderful new IP.
6. Journey ; Short and perfect, like a sonnet. Artistry, music, unbelievable graphical finesse, the merest sprinkling of multiplayer, some standout set-pieces, and a spectacular, emotionally resonant finish. In other words, everything that makes gaming great, condensed into an hour or so.
7. Final Fantasy XIII-2 ; Injected the content back into FF, a move that made me unable to put it down until getting the platinum trophy. Generally just loved all the side-questing and fragment gathering, clock puzzles aside. People cite the insane story, but much like Metal Gear, great characters you can't help but care about get you through all the Japanese craziness, and it gave us all the things XIII sorely lacked, primarily a great villain.
8. Far Cry 3 ; Hated the story and banal dubstep, but seiging bases and hunting animals was enough to make me pour hours and hours into this. Truly superb open world design. Couldn't tell you what the story was about.
9. Kingdom Hearts 3D ; Not as good as Birth By Sleep, but absolutely massive worlds and great combat/traversal. Symphony of Sorcery - probably my favourite world in the series.
10. Sleeping Dogs ; Glorious, confident open-world gaming, and a real surprise this year. Succeeds at almost every aspect.
Honourable mention 1: Assassin's Creed 3 ; Those naval battles - some of the best gaming of 2012, sitting nice and tidy in the middle of a messy game. I enjoyed Connor/Kenway's story as well as the ship parts enough to earn this a spot, but the main game was buggy and disappointing. I really wish this game was better than it was. Better luck next gen, Ubi?
(Dis)honourable mention 2: Dishonoured ; Loved most of what they were trying to do, seemed like a nice alternative to Bioshock. What held it back for me personally is...I'm just so fucking BAD at it. Every mission was a complete clusterfuck, right up until the end. Every attempt at stealth ended in chaos, and I don't know wether to blame the design or my own skill. If I was any good at it, it might've ended up high in my top ten, but my strategy for every level began as Thief, and devolved into Doom II. Methinks first-person stealth is NOT my forte, at least now I know. My fave thing about it was actually just pointing the Heart at people.
Game of 2011: What else but Dark Souls? Arkham City a close second.
1. Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss ; Manus terrified the shit out of me, but going up against him with two other guys AND a certain NPC was my favourite gaming moment of 2012. Amazing, chaotic, tense boss fight, and the rest was fantastic too. I still find myself firing it up to help guys kill Kalameet, even months after release.
2. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath ; Simply one of my favourite shooters ever, and now it's on a handheld. Praise be to JAW.
3. Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale ; Put more time into this one than any other, and with a load of people playing it at work it became a nightly obsession the way only competitive games can. Only the horrendous amount of Kratos spamming online held it back, but it was super-satisfying owning them all with the bumbling, slow-ass Sir Dan. Smash Bros. clone? I'm sorry, I must've missed the HD SSB game with silky-smooth online and an identical, free handheld version.
4. The Walking Dead ; Not a dry eye in the house at the end. Can good writing alone make GOTY material? Lee and Clementine's journey was enough to melt gamer hearts and even penetrate the horribly commercialised VGA's. I would love it if the world had more games like this.
5. Gravity Rush ; An endearing main character, a great progression of her powers, lovely music and art style, and generally just a wonderful new IP.
6. Journey ; Short and perfect, like a sonnet. Artistry, music, unbelievable graphical finesse, the merest sprinkling of multiplayer, some standout set-pieces, and a spectacular, emotionally resonant finish. In other words, everything that makes gaming great, condensed into an hour or so.
7. Final Fantasy XIII-2 ; Injected the content back into FF, a move that made me unable to put it down until getting the platinum trophy. Generally just loved all the side-questing and fragment gathering, clock puzzles aside. People cite the insane story, but much like Metal Gear, great characters you can't help but care about get you through all the Japanese craziness, and it gave us all the things XIII sorely lacked, primarily a great villain.
8. Far Cry 3 ; Hated the story and banal dubstep, but seiging bases and hunting animals was enough to make me pour hours and hours into this. Truly superb open world design. Couldn't tell you what the story was about.
9. Kingdom Hearts 3D ; Not as good as Birth By Sleep, but absolutely massive worlds and great combat/traversal. Symphony of Sorcery - probably my favourite world in the series.
10. Sleeping Dogs ; Glorious, confident open-world gaming, and a real surprise this year. Succeeds at almost every aspect.
Honourable mention 1: Assassin's Creed 3 ; Those naval battles - some of the best gaming of 2012, sitting nice and tidy in the middle of a messy game. I enjoyed Connor/Kenway's story as well as the ship parts enough to earn this a spot, but the main game was buggy and disappointing. I really wish this game was better than it was. Better luck next gen, Ubi?
(Dis)honourable mention 2: Dishonoured ; Loved most of what they were trying to do, seemed like a nice alternative to Bioshock. What held it back for me personally is...I'm just so fucking BAD at it. Every mission was a complete clusterfuck, right up until the end. Every attempt at stealth ended in chaos, and I don't know wether to blame the design or my own skill. If I was any good at it, it might've ended up high in my top ten, but my strategy for every level began as Thief, and devolved into Doom II. Methinks first-person stealth is NOT my forte, at least now I know. My fave thing about it was actually just pointing the Heart at people.
Game of 2011: What else but Dark Souls? Arkham City a close second.