A year is a long time, and in a year I can easily play 50+ games, so to help me remember the games that deserve to be mentioned at the end of the year I'm going to make a handy list
So here we are, the end of another year, and even though we are still running heavily into sequels, I was pleasently surprised this year by a number of titles. So, as usual here is my annual top 10, for more (including the rest of the list feel free to visit my GOTY2012 list to see which other games almost made it.
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Simply put, this game is incredible. I had high hopes for Journey going in as I'm a huge fan of flower and it didn't disappoint for one second. This short 2-3 hour experience packed more emotional punch for me than almost anything else this year. With both beautiful visuals and music it really is a treat for all senses and left me feeling a kind of joy for gaming I haven't really felt since I started playing games over 15 years ago. To say something for it's appeal as well, my girlfriend who is one of the pickiest gamers I know and will put a game down forever for one tiny flaw, has never really replayed anything and yet even she has played through this multiple times and still to this day goes back to it when she feels an urge. It's ability to not only tell a coherent story with no written or spoken words as well as to create an incredible bond with players from across the world with nothing more than a simple chime noise speaks volumes for this game. It's not just a game, it's an experience and not only does this game take the number 1 spot on my GOTY list it very easily makes it way to near the top of my top 10 of all time.
What can be said about The Walking Dead that hasn't already been said? Going in I wasn't expecting anything nearly as emotional or as moving as the story that Telltale managed to tell over 5 episodes and yet I felt a connection with Clementine and would of done damn near anything to keep her safe. In an industry that is keeping my interest in games for a progressively shorter amount of time I can safely say I was glued to this from start to finish. I can't wait for next season.
In a year of surprises comes possibly one of the biggest. Having followed this game since it's days as True Crime: Hong Kong, I was disappointed when it was cancelled initially. Not because I was expecting anything great (after all, I did play True Crime: LA.... sigh) but an open world sandbox crimegame set outside of the USA is something I've wanted for a very long time. The game that ended up coming out however was not True Crime: Hong Kong, it was Sleeping dogs, and it's it's own beast. Sleeping Dogs is really great, it combines some of the best aspects of GTA with the hand to hand combat system of the Batman Arkham series, without it feeling tact on or out of place. The first time your driving a super bike and accidentally jump off the back at full speed, as the game slows down and Wei Shen reaches for his pistol, giving you full control to either shoot car wheels around you, bad guys or to simply shoot the tank of your bike and send a ball of fire flying into your enemies you realize you are playing something a little special. I'm not crazy enough to suggest that Sleeping Dogs would ever be able to take the GTA crown, but in a year without GTA it was really enjoyable and I spent many an hour reaching 100%, something I'd happily do again.
Far Cry 3 was something of a shock for me, having played Far Cry 2 and become frustrated by it's active hatred of the player and design choices that simply wanted to eat away at your enjoyment at every opportunity I had already written this game off long before it came out. However with every review praising it pre-release my interest grew until I decided to take a punt. What I found was a great game that was both exciting and interesting, with great characters (including the psychotic, yet enthralling Vaas) and systems that allowed the player to solve problems their own way, want to drive into a camp of guards, run over as many as possible before diving out and shooting like a madman? Go ahead! Fancy hiding in the bushes, shooting guards in the head from range with a bow? Just as viable an option!
For some reason Dishonored was another game I managed to avoid a lot before release, and maybe that is why I enjoyed it so much when I did eventually get my hands on it. Whatever the reason, Dishonored is a great game that takes the best parts of stealth gameplay and mixes it with what essentially are cheats, to make the experience a lot more forgiving and fun. Blinking around the environment became second nature to me after an extended period of time with Dishonored, and I loved this game so much that I even achieved the no skill upgrades, no kills, no being spotted playthrough on the hardest difficulty. Combining the gameplay with a really beautiful art style that I haven't seen in many other places helped as well to bring the world to life. I don't know if I would ever want to see another Dishonored, I imagine it would only be a disappointment compared to this great first outing, but I know full well I wouldn't be able to not play it.
Gravity Rush is beautiful. Unless you've played it I really can't articulate how great this game looks and plays. The city you find yourself flying/falling through is a huge one, that feels both fantastical in design but surprisingly realistic in terms of it's layout. For a game that has very few reasons for you to explore every nook and cranny other than to find collectible orbs I found myself looking everywhere as every road and balcony is full of some great (yet simple) geometry and some brilliant level design. The actual gameplay of Gravity Rush is pretty good to, flying around the city is very easy to get the hang of and you'll soon find yourself doing crazy trick moves, such as falling very fast and navigating Kat through gaps in buildings only slightly bigger than she is, or landing softly after a crazy run. The only downside really to Gravity Rush is that towards the back third of the game the only real way they find to make the game more difficult is to simply throw more enemies at you, which has the effect of simply revealing some of the games faults with the combat systems to you. Overall though it's a great game andI'd love to see the city rendered on a powerful next generation console rather than the Vita. If you own a Vita you owe it yourself to play this game. It is the single best thing on the system (no persona 4 golden in europe yet D:) and if you don't, well it's almost worth it alone.
Having never played the original X-Com my only real experience of this type of game has had to come from the Disgaea series, while they enjoyable enough it's nice to finally see the real deal. X-Com is a great game that while difficult is still rewarding. Apart from the occasional dice roll that makes me want to flip my desk in frustration I've lost many an hour to this and I anticipate I will lose plenty more.
It's probably worth mentioning before I start with this one that I do technically work for Sega, so if you decide my opinion on this is invalid then fair enough although I don't exactly give them any special treatment. Sonic sucks e.t.c :D Binary Domain was a surprise for me this year, I only gave it a chance because despite my better judgement I've always had a soft spot for the Yakuza series and hearing this was to be made by the same people, well I couldn't pass it up. The game I ended up playing was surprisingly fun. With an interesting plot that kept me guessing at all the right places Binary Domain oozes with the style of Yakuza, from the overly dramatic plot, to the painstakingly paced cutscenes. I also found myself enjoying the gameplay, which is essentially a gears of war clone more than gears of war itself. It may be down to the tone of the game, or the faster paced action it delivers, but shooting robots in Binary Domain did more for me than fighting any locust hoard in Gears ever has. The robots fall apart with such a fiercity that it really does feel like your responsible for it. The icing on the cake for me however was the conversation system, it's safe to say that not once did I try the voice commands, but the controller prompts were enough for me and the game even caused me a few awkwards moments where I would have to chose between impressing the ladies or going full bromance with Big Bo.
Mark of the Ninja is a really enjoyable stealth game that can be both difficult and empowering, it manages to strike the balance almost perfectly and for me I think it's because of how well it shows the user its systems. Nothing is hidden, every system the game uses for detection is made apparent to the user which helps a long way in clearing up what could be frustrating moments of being seen by guards and not knowing why. In Mark of the Ninja, if you get seen, it's your fault, and you know why.
Borderlands 2 is great! But I can't shake the feeling while playing it that I've done it all before. Still, it makes my top ten due to the way it has expanded upon what made the original so great in some smart ways. Oh, and Tiny Tina.