by berjiwhir
Showing 1-10 of 10 items
God. This game. The Walking Dead, along with Journey, proves that it's possible to have meaningful narrative and emotional experiences in video games. But while Journey is largely player-directed, The Walking Dead is completely linear and scripted. However, the amount of latitude the player has to interact with the characters in different ways and, in part, determine the course of events through their choices lifts The Walking Dead above its fantastic peers on this list. This game would be impressive without her, but it's the inclusion of Clementine, perhaps the most believable and important character we've seen in games, that makes this game truly remarkable. In a year of grizzly male military heroes, my most memorable character was an eight-year-old girl. I formed an attachment to her unlike anything I've felt in a game. The game forces you to make some truly awful decisions, and every time I felt stuck I would ask myself what was best for Clementine. She was my moral compass, the thing I was fighting for, and everything I did in this game was in service of keeping her safe. The first four episodes of the game are fantastic, but it wasn't until the final episode's conclusion that I was sure that, in a year of excellent games, that The Walking Dead was the most affecting game I played in 2012. It's incredible and the way it handles story feels years ahead it of its time.
Fez hit me at just the right time. I came into it a few weeks after the initial zeitgeist, after people had started to delve into the hidden depths that the game actually contained. What amazed me most was the tone of the game. On the surface, it's a bright, colorful, fairly nonstressful experience that harkens back to early platformers. But under that is a pervasive eeriness and sense of unease. The world's strange, almost surreal nature coupled with Disasterpeace's amazing soundtrack constantly left me feeling that something I couldn't put my finger on was wrong with with this world. I didn't go crazy with figuring out some of the game's more intensive, pen-and-paper-required puzzle systems, but I did manage to reach the game's first ending. I'm amazed that this game was basically made by two people. It's an incredible piece of entertainment, and an obvious labor of love and obsession. I'm in awe that this game exists, and it fell just short of being my favorite game of the year.
Mass Effect 2 might be my favorite game of all time. Mass Effect 3 subsequently was my most anticipated games of the year. The game was consistently an amazing experience that somehow managed to corral the dozens of important plot points and characters that have made up the series so far while improving the combat. Much has been said about the game's ultimate finale, and while I admit to being confused and disappointed by the very last moments, none of that completely obviated the fact that Mass Effect 3 concluded, with a few missteps, one of the most ambitious projects ever attempted in video games. I love this universe, and I've loved these games. Seeing it all end was a bittersweet experience. I wish the developers had had another six months of time to spend on it, but nonetheless playing Mass Effect 3 is one of my top memories of 2012.
What can be said about Journey that hasn't already been said? It's probably one of the most subjective gaming experiences ever. So much depends on the environment in which you play, the quality of the random companions you come across along the way, and how well the scripted moments play out for individual players. Journey is the first game I think that definitively puts to rest the question of whether games can be an art form. It evokes intense emotional responses using little more than cooperation, amazing music, and minimalistic instruction. The world is beautiful and the controls are just as tight as they need to be. It's a landmark achievement in video games, and one of my most memorable experiences of the year.
XCOM was the biggest gamble I took this year. I've never really played strategy games, and all of the coverage I watched about it seemed to indicate that, while it was a cool game, it probably wasn't for me. I was wrong. XCOM is a wonderful synthesis of a truly staggering amount of gameplay systems. At any given point it asks you to keep track of half a dozen pieces of information in the meta-game, say nothing about the stress of managing a squad of six soldiers with varying abilities in the tense firefights against seemingly insurmountable odds. I'm playing XCOM on easy, and I'm at a point now where my snipers are absolutely laying waste to fields of enemies. And yet, you're never more than a turn away from total catastrophe. XCOM is the rare modern video game that actually makes me feel accomplished for succeeding in. It's awesome.
I went into Borderlands 2 shortly after finally playing the first one. Because of that close proximity, the gulf in quality between those games was even more apparent. This game was the closest we got to a Saint's Row: The Third style adventure this year. The writing is almost always on point and clever, but not without a few groaners and forced jokes. I laughed out loud playing Borderlands 2 more than probably any game this year. It's lengthy, chock full of stuff to do, weapons to find, quests to complete. I played through the entire campaign cooperatively with a friend, and it never felt stale, never overstayed its welcome, and after I was done I farmed the final boss for loot before jumping into my second playthrough. I dropped a ton of time into Borderlands 2, and, as I write this, all I want to do is dive in for more.
Dishonored was one of two chances I took this year. Following the preview coverage, I thought the game looked neat, but I was unconvinced that it was a kind of game that I would enjoy on a mechanical level. I had the most fun when I was straddling the line between the game's two polarities of absolute stealth and absolute mayhem. The first-person combat was often too frantic for me to pull off consistently, so I found myself playing more methodically, staying out of sight and only engaging in combat when I had the advantage. The result was an empowering and satisfying gaming experience. I think the world of Dishonored is better than the story they told in it, so I'm glad that it sold well enough that we'll likely get a sequel. I would totally play another game set in Dunwall.
Halo 4 is a hell of an achievement. New studio 343 Industries proves themselves to be worthy curators of the beloved franchise. It was consistently fun to attack the various open combat scenarios in the campaign, and the writing finally made the relationship between Master Chief and Cortana into something meaningful. By the end of the game, I cared about those two, which is something I never expected to feel in a Halo game. The multiplayer, of course, remains one of the top experiences on the system. I prefer the Call of Duty style of multiplayer over this for solo play, but some of my favorite gaming sessions this year were with me and a lobby of friends playing War Games and Spartan Ops.
Black Ops two proves that there is still life in Call of Duty franchise, but maybe not much. The multiplayer is greatly improved by the Pick 10 load-out system, and the maps that Treyarch shipped are almost universally great. The campaign drags in the first half but concludes with an excellent series of levels that actual manage to tell an interesting, cohesive narrative, which is something that the Modern Warfare games struggled to achieve. As fun as it is, there is a palpable sense of sameness about this game. It's evolved and iterated the core concepts of the franchise to such a nuanced degree that I seriously wonder what's left to change. I'm having a blast with Black Ops 2, but if next year's game is a lot like this, I'll be disappointed.
I never bought Trials HD. The demo sat on my machine for over a year, and I played it over and over. When Trials Evolution came out early this year, I didn't hesitate to plop down the $15. It's one of the craziest, most difficult games I've ever played. It felt like an achievement to even unlock the most difficult tier of courses, say nothing about actually finishing them. I went back to this one again and again for its tight controls and inventive level design.