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bruno0091

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Top 10 games of 2012

This is the year that has reminded me what I love about games, and getting this list down to 10 has been a brutal process at times, but, I've managed it.

2012 has been an interesting year, this has been the rise of the 'downloadable' game, where smaller developers have proven that not only can they match, they can exceed the big budget, AAA games and manage to do so with a fraction of the resources.

2012 has also seen a rise in PC gaming, in particular, people moving their PCs into the living room and attaching them to the TV, which was been aided greatly by the release of Steam's 'Big Picture' mode. This has been helped by the fact that developers are finally giving the PC versions of the their games the proper attention they deserve, making them better looking and better performing than their console counterparts. Almost every major multiplatfrom release this year had the best version on the PC.

2012 has also been the year where stories in games have finally taken a big step forward, where, as an industry, they've started touching much darker and gritty subjects and handling them as well as any movie or TV show would. Some people like to write off stories and characters in games, to those people, I'd say the winds are changing and you should start giving them more attention. Look at characters like Vaas, from Far Cry 3, who is once of the best villains I can recall from any medium in years. Look at some of the story areas touched on by The Walking Dead, or Dust, or Spec Ops. Those games cover subjects that no game would have dared to go near a few years ago (or if they did, would have been handled terribly), yet, largely, they deal with them exceptionally well.

I'm looking forward to what 2013 has in store and what new opportunities the new consoles will provide.

List items

  • Dramatic, engrossing, depressing, heart-breaking.

    Brilliant. You can argue that the choices don't really matter, that, if you go look, you'll see how the core of the game doesn't actually change that much, no matter what you do. You can argue that the technical issues that some people have experienced spoil the game (and in the case of the save bug that some suffer from, I'd agree).

    I would say this in response to all of those comments: I. Don't. Care. This game touched me in a way that no game ever has before, to genuinely love and hate fictional characters in the way this game made me, to make me perform some of the actions it does, is remarkable and will stay with me for a long time.

  • XCOM doesn't have a story, in the traditional sense, what it does have is a personal story, unique to you. The characters don't have a personality, at least not set by the designers, but they do develop one, by their actions, by the nicknames the game assigns to them based on how you play them, by what you invest into them.

    When I lost Yeti, my heavy, who'd been with me from the start, with over 50 combat missions under his belt in the last level, it almost broke me, I seriously almost reloaded my last save, which was almost 3 hours previously, just to keep him alive. That's the kind of thing this game is capable of. Firaxis have done a very special thing in bringing this game to modern audiences, but keeping the core of what made the original so special.

  • I'm over here! Or am I over here? Oh, I'm here sticking a sword through your face. Sorry.

    Mark of the Ninja is a special game, it has given the stealth genre the modernisation and the freshness it needed, to keep it relevant in the modern world. All of the design is deliberately chosen to reinforce the fact that stealth should make you feel POWERFUL, you shouldn't fear the darkness, you should embrace it, it should make you strong and your enemies should be terrified of it and what it might hide. The visual cues, to identify guards vision lines, the expanding sound circles to clearly show how loud each action is, the tightness of the controls, all combine to make a game that, once mastered, you can flow through, seamlessly going from sneaking, to brutal murder, to wall jumping agility within seconds.

    For all this to be done in a game that costs about £12 is stunning and fully deserves to be played by everyone.

  • Blink. Blink. Blink. Stab.

    This game, like Mark of the Ninja, takes stealth and makes it enjoyable, it doesn't go quite as far as MotN does, but it's enough. The art style is striking, with an oil panting like look to the world and the characters, that allows some of the cracks that would show with a more 'realistic' design, to be covered up. Dishonoured is, like other games in this list, a game that has an interesting story, even if you see one event coming from a mile away, but like Half-Life, it's a world that doesn't spoon feed its story to you, it's weaned out from the world, from overheard conversations, from fading posters, from the boarded up buildings and the rat packs that scurry around the streets.

    Plus, Blink is one of the best mechanics in a game since the portal gun.

  • A truly gorgeous game, that manages to tell its story without words, as well as capture the sense of loneliness and joy that's found when you encounter another faceless being, leaping and exploring together, communicating via simple musical notes.

    When I lost one of my travelling companions, I waited for 5 minutes, hoping they'd catch up, running around, chirping out musical note plaintively. It's a game that should be experienced, turn down the lights, turn up the sound and play it in one sitting, with no distractions. You'll thank me afterwards.

  • This is a game that, if the story had gone in a better direction, could have been one of the best FPS games of this generation, if not the best. Sadly, that didn't happen, but what's left is still an amazing game. Visually stunning at times on the PC, a huge open world to explore, with plenty to find and do to keep you busy. It takes all the best bits from the original Far Cry and Far Cry 2, and blends in inspiration from some of the best games of this generation.

    Plus, Vaas... *shudders*

  • Dust is beautiful. I'm not sure I've ever seen a game with animation this good, it helps that it plays wonderfully and has a story that touches a surprisingly dark subject, that you don't see many games, or any other form of entertainment for that matter (with a few exceptions) touch.

  • Hello face. Meet air conditioner.

    A game that feels like the best aspects of GTA and Saints Row, in one game. Plus it looks amazing on the PC.

  • It's Halo. Yes, I'd have liked it if they'd taken a more drastic direction with the story, maybe not leaned back on the Human V Covenant angle so much, but, at the end of the day, it's still a Halo game. And Halo games are among the best FPS games ever, which is enough for me.

  • Spec Ops has its flaws, the combat is average, it has moments that seem oddly chosen, but the story... the story is something special, something that I hope more developers look at, and say 'Yes, we can do this kind of thing in games now. We can tell mature stories, without resorting to mindless violence and sex'. The back third of the game is some of the best time I've spent with a game in the last few years. Stick it on easy, and enjoy.
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