This list shall differ from my 2011 list in that the games will be listed in the order I complete them, whereas the 2011 list was in order of favorite to least favorite.
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Well, I certainly wasn't expecting this to be my first game completed in 2012. Not that it was a bad game; far from it. I just didn't see myself playing it until later in the year. That being said, I enjoyed this game very much. It was a bit on the short side, but it was great fun from start to finish. It's gotten me on a dual-stick shooter kick at the moment. I really thought I'd be finishing Trine 2 first this year, but Renegade Ops hooked me and wouldn't let go until it the ride was over. Sorry Trine 2. I love ya, but you're going to have to wait a little longer. :)
Here is my second game finished this year. 2012 certainly isn't going in the direction I thought it was in terms of games I'm playing to completion. Speaking of completion, I believe this is the third or fourth time I've completed this particular God of War Game. BUT it is the first time I've played it in 3D! I don't need to tell you how excellent this game is, as I'm sure you've read it all before back when it first came out on PSP. The HD remake doesn't disappoint. Next up: Ghost of Sparta!
I finished both the PSP God of War games this week via their HD re-release. I enjoyed Ghost of Sparta quite a bit, and having finished it I have now completed all God of War games; several more then once. Ghost of Sparta now occupies my #2 spot in my list of favorite God of War Games. The story was great, and the Arms of Sparta are probably the best weapon out of all the GoW games. There was one thing that was very frustrating about Ghost of Sparta though; and if you've played it, you know what I'm going to say: Keres Wraiths. Those bitches are hell until you get the upgraded Arms of Sparta, then you can just chuck spears into their sorry asses until they die. Still though, they are diabolically hard on the more difficult settings, and without the Arms of Sparta they are an absolute nightmare; especially in groups.
Man, what a disappointment. Klei very obviously was putting all their eggs in the Survival Mode basket, while leaving the single-player campaign tragically short. It's only 8 levels!! Although it was good throughout, and the mechanics are very solid, the brevity of the campaign is unforgivable. Survival mode is fun, but for someone who doesn't play online or co-op of any sort, the mode has little value. I'm very disappointed in how Shank 2 turned out, content-wise.
Jesus. (no pun intended) What a trip this was. Although I don't condone it, this game would probably be pretty good to play while getting high. It has some seriously trippy levels, and the story might even make more sense with impaired judgment. Overall, I thought the game was decent. I must admit that religious history is a favorite subject of mine, so I am a bit biased towards the subject matter of the story. The combat was kind of sub-par, and don't even get me started on the platforming. Still, it wasn't so bad that I couldn't get all the way through the game. Not a great a game, but decent. The art style and sometimes outright insane looking levels are this game's strong points.
A pretty good RPG with a muddled story and excellent combat. This is one of very few RPG's where I actually finished the main quest. In most open ended games and non-linear rpgs, I tend to never go for the main quest, instead opting to do the myriad of other quests and activities usually available in the genre. This game was an exception. It was mainly due to the fact that I didn't like any of the side quests (there were too many fetch quests and "go find this person" quests) but I did happen to do all the faction quests except the Travelers; which I didn't do because I wasn't playing a rogue character. The Warsworn (read: Fighter's Guild) quest line was actually quite good. Another reason I focused on the main quest was because there simply wasn't much else to do that interested me. The world is not open-ended in a traditional sense, so there is no Elder-Scrolls-like exploration to do. (plus there are no mount's to make travel faster, just a sprint button which only marginally increases your speed) Plus this game has one of video-games most annoying features: invisible walls. It also has "unnavigable terrain." (read: large rocks, small hills and valleys, logs, blades of grass that are just a little bit too big) So my usual go-to activity in these types of games was out. I did find a little bit of solace in the game's many Lorestones, but not to the extent that I find in other games. (check out my blog post for more about those stones) Anyways, the main quest was passable. It felt thrown together at the end, and most of the bosses were predictable and quite large pushovers. There were also no character's that I really felt connected to, with the possible exception of Arden. But just because he was a lovable drunk. No, despite having an impressive writing pedigree, this game fails to deliver in that aspect. Instead, the real star of the game is it's combat. It's not quite God of War level as some reviewers have stated, but it's far ahead of anything in the RPG category. It was a real joy fighting in this game, and oftentimes I actively sought out altercations just to experience more of it. Overall, despite having top-name talent on the writing and artistic fronts, the game falls short in those areas. Many comparisons have been made to WoW's art style, and I agree very much so. But I can forgive these missteps based solely on the game's excellent combat. This game is what you would call a "solid 8." And now, the calm before the storm that is known as Mass Effect 3.
Definitely not what I was expecting in the end, but overall a great game. I wrote a MASSIVE blog post about the ending, and the series in general which you can view if you want here: http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/poisonjam7/mass-effect-3s-ending-spoilers-for-all-games-in-series/30-92146/
Man, what a disappointing sequel. This game has been sitting on my shelf ever since it came out two years ago, when I happened to buy the collector's edition. I liked the first game quite a bit, and was hoping that the sequel would improve upon it. Boy was I in for a surprise. The story is terrible; the voice active is terrible; (even laughable at times) the combat feels worse; and it's incredible short, which might be a good thing considering how bad it is. It's like the whole game was made as an excuse to show you the (admittedly well rendered) cutscenes. The whole thing was an unmitigated disaster. I'm not sure what prompted me to play this game, considering the vast scope of my backlog of games, but I think it has something to do with having just finished Mass Effect 3 and being on a space/sci-fi kick. But anyways, this game was terrible but I'm glad to have it out of my backlog. Oh, there was one good thing about this game: It came with a cool little USB Flash Drive in the shape of Starkiller, which I still use quite regularly. So, thanks for that!
Continuing the streak of disappointing releases in 2012, we have Ninja Gaiden 3. I've been a fan of the series since the Xbox remake and could probably play through it on Master Ninja mode blindfolded, I've played it so much. However, I never did play Ninja Gaiden 2 for some reason. Anyways, while NG3 is drastically different from these two games, and overall several steps in the wrong direction for the series, it isn't as terrible as most sites make it out to be. It certainly isn't a 9 or 10 out of 10; probably not even an 8, but it certainly isn't a 4, and most certainly not a 2. I agree that the Tomonobu Itagaki-less Team Ninja made some terrible decisions and ultimately sullied the name of ninja Gaiden a bit with this release. That being said, everything isn't all bad. While nowhere near as hard as it's predecessors, it did have some challenging moments. However, a lot of these were challenging because of technical issues (I'm looking at you Kunai Climbing!) or poor design decision, not a genuine challenge. The lack of items; regenerating health after each battle; no weapon choosing; and the abundance of QTE's didn't help move the series in a good direction. The enemies were also quite generic, and the bosses disappointingly easy. All in all, if you're going into this game as a Ninja Gaiden fan, you're going to come out disappointed; but if you're going in as a fan of action games in general, you will still be disappointed, but slightly less so. I'm somewhere between the two.
I wrote a short story inspired by events I experienced while playing this game. You can read it here: http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/poisonjam7/a-journey-up-a-snow-covered-mountain-in-a-blizzard-short-story/30-92371/ Needless to say, I liked this game. ;)