Showing 1-10 of 27 items
The ending of a trilogy that has hooked me from the very beginning. While I absolutely hated the original ending, I feel like the extended cut and subsequent DLC have led to a game deserving of the top spot on my list. Additionally, the multiplayer is great (who would have thought?). Is ME3 objectively the best game of 2012? Probably not. But for me, I just can't place it anywhere else.
This game surprised the heck out of me in the best possible way. While the learning curve is pretty steep, once you get into this medieval dynastic simulator, it is both incredibly rewarding and tremendously entertaining. The stories that come out of this game are fantastic. It honestly feels as though you're creating your own version of history; a unique experience that I really enjoyed this year.
Sleeping Dogs is a game that stands out in its awesome attention to detail. From its beautifully rendered setting to its interesting story and characters, the game's presentation is phenomenal. Add to that some really solid fighting mechanics and you have a game that will get into my top 10. So why is it number 3? Well, let me provide a brief anecdote: As is the case with most open world games in modern settings, commandeering cars is vital in Sleeping Dogs. In this particular instance, I had taken control of a Hong Kong taxi and was driving it to the start of a quest. As I was plugging along (on the left side of the road - simple, authentic, different, great!), I got an email in the real world. I pulled over in virtual Hong Kong. As I was reading the email, I heard something happening on the screen. I looked up and saw a man get into the back of my taxi. Huh? The man then proceeded to shout a destination, to which Wei (the main character) responded "do I look like a taxi driver to you?" The terrified man jumped out of the cab and ran away. What a fantastic little moment that I got to experience completely on accident! The game is full of these brief, cool moments. Overall, just a joy to play.
To me, this is a pretty much perfect Halo game. The pacing is fantastic, the visuals are great, the characters and story are actually interesting (a first for me in a numbered Halo game), and the combat mechanics remain tight and clean. And there's no Flood (Hallelujah!). After playing 4, this is the first time I've actually been excited about the overall direction of the Halo franchise. I enjoyed almost every second of this game from start to finish. It's a truly high quality experience. Kudos to 343!
First things first; Firaxis is my favorite development studio on the planet. The number of hours I have sunk into Civilization, Alpha Centauri, Sid Meier's Pirates, and SimGolf over the years is staggering. As such, there was never a doubt in my mind that XCOM would be a good game. But it's even better than that. It's brilliant! The way Firaxis managed to make really deep mechanics this accessible and intuitive is pretty stunning. Granted, the game has its quirks (hence why it's not higher on this list), and I would've preferred a few more customization options; but overall this is a fantastic game that I will likely be playing for years to come.
Far Cry 3 is...uh...different. I'm not sure I was prepared for just how weird this game would be when I popped it in the tray for the first time. I suppose that bizarre e3 demo should have cued me in, but in any event I was quickly educated. This game is on this list for 2 reasons: 1) It's an enormous and enjoyable open world FPS of which there are very few. 2) Emergent gameplay. There are some super cool, super crazy things that happen in this game, most of which involve wildlife of some sort. At times, you just have sit back and smile as sheer madness unfolds on the screen in front of you. The game also benefits from what I call the 'Elder Scrolls Effect.' That is, even when the game breaks in front of you, the bug is generally either so amusing or so utterly bizarre that it actually adds to the experience. Couple of downsides: I HATE most of the characters. Yes, Vaas is cool and Sam is the man, but the Americans? Ugh. Even the main character is awful. I can't stand playing as the guy. He's a dickish frat guy who speaks like Crispin Glover and seems to consider himself a modern-day William Wallace despite being on this island for only a few days. At some level, I actually wanted Vaas to win. That's how annoying I found Jason.
As a preface, I should say this: I hate zombies. In general, I find them to be uninteresting, overused, and the concept to be just plain dumb. That said, The Walking Dead worked for me because it wasn't really about zombies. You're not trying to fly in and save the day from a mutating virus while everything around you plays for gross shock value. Instead, you're just trying to survive. You're a real person in (kinda sorta) real situations with real drama. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the zombie apocalypse is just the backdrop that the game uses to place the characters in interesting situations. In this endeavour, I think it succeeded brilliantly. Where I don't think the game was as great was in some of the "gameplay." I played the 360 version (on-disc) and the whole thing felt a bit clunky. Some of the more adventure-gamey aspects of the first episode were frustrating (for example, everything surrounding the "find/install the batteries in the radio" bit felt really tedious and unnecessary), and some of the other actions just didn't feel quite right. Basically, the more traditional "video game elements" of The Walking Dead just didn't do it for me. The dialogue, story, and atmosphere though definitely did.
I found this game terribly disappointing in a multitude of ways. My main issue with it though is that it is too unfocused. There are a million game mechanics in here, but many of them just aren't fun. Ubisoft could take a lesson from the Sid Meier school of game design: put it in, mess around with it, but if it isn't fun, take it out! Case in point: the sewer fast travel system. Who in their right mind thought this was a good idea? Going through a damned maze for 2 hours to unlock points that will probably save an average of 2 minutes time per trip. The concept is terrible, the execution is abysmal, and its inclusion in the game is entirely unnecessary, yet because it's in there, it detracted from my overall experience and impression of the game. Other points of contention: the main character is painfully naive and amazingly boring; the cities all feel basically the same; the platforming bits are more irritating following the elimination of the A-button from the free-running system; the chase scenes *were (seem to have been patched) frustrating as hell; and there are tons of small annoyances (running extremely slowly in snow may be accurate but that doesn't make it fun). Oh, and the ending feels like it was stuck on there merely out of necessity at slight expense at the last minute. All that said, I did derive enough enjoyment out of this game for it to merit inclusion on my list. Almost all of that enjoyment comes from the Templars. It's difficult to elaborate on this without spoiling anything, suffice to say, I love Haytham. Indeed, a lot of the characters are really great (Ben Franklin, Achilles, and Israel Putnam were particular standouts for me). Unfortunately, this doesn't mean all that much in the end as Connor is just so stinking flat. I think I could find a pet rock with more of a personality. Anyway, overall: mixed feelings but still good enough for the list.
I really wanted to put Forza Horizon higher on this list. The game starts out brilliantly. From the very beginning, it establishes a great aesthetic, introduces some cool characters, and sets out some trappings of an actual story. The sense of potential that the first hour of the game establishes is immense. Unfortunately, after that it just kind of settles in to a typical open world racer. The characters are reduced to one-liners at the start of each race that repeat after only about 3 events (really, guys?), the animation for getting each wristband is identical (again, really?), the events themselves start to feel repetitive (racing a plane is cool the first time, but the novelty wears off), and eventually it all just wears a bit thin. Sure the driving mechanics are great, the graphics are fantastic, and the soundtrack is terrific; but there are plenty of other racing games that look and feel good. Heck, if I want that I can just put in Forza 4. What I wanted from Horizon was what it seemed like I would get from the initial part of the game. What I got was a very good racing game that lost sight of its uniqueness somewhere around the halfway point and never quite regained it.
Borderlands 2 does what it does very well. Unfortunately, I just don't really enjoy what it does all that much. Playing multiplayer (pretty much a necessity in this type of game) resulted in other players skipping of much of the dialogue (really unfortunate given the quality of a lot of that stuff), and I really have no desire at all to go through it again in singleplayer. Fetch quests and grindy kill quests with additional levels as the only incentive aren't really my cup of tea. That said, quality-wise this game is just too well put-together not to be here.