Game(s) of the Year 2012?

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SomebodyNowhere

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Mass Effect 3 - I enjoyed the campaign as a whole and I've been constantly going back to play the weekend operations. It is the game I have played the most of this year.

Borderlands 2 - It is everything the first game was, but better. The thing I think I enjoyed best was the improve writing in the game.

FTL - I got this for $9 right around when it was released and I have received more than my money's worth. It can be a tough challenge at times and unlocking new ships is a chore, but when you do a run that actually goes well it feels all the more fulfilling.

Still deciding: XCOM - I just got XCOM last week and despite its flaws I have been enjoying it, but I'm not sure just yet if I'd put it past the other 3 games I mentioned. It is more of a wait and see at this point.
 

JEBWrench

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shrekfan246 said:
[ul]Winner of "Best Expansion":
[li]World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria[/li]
Not that it has much competition.[/ul]
Dungeons of Dredmor called. It wants to remind everyone that Conquest of the Wizardlands came out this year.

Communism is skill for great Kanadian Socialist Healthcare!
 

JEBWrench

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TizzytheTormentor said:
Second place is *puts up flameshield* Final Fantasy 13-2! I dunno, I had more fun with that game than I thought possible, after my huge dislike for 13.
I played the demo for that and it was good. Then I bought Final Fantasy XIII, because I figured I should at least play through the first one before getting the sequel.

Then I played Final Fantasy XIII. The pain is still too recent to try XIII-2.
 

shrekfan246

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JEBWrench said:
shrekfan246 said:
[ul]Winner of "Best Expansion":
[li]World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria[/li]
Not that it has much competition.[/ul]
Dungeons of Dredmor called. It wants to remind everyone that Conquest of the Wizardlands came out this year.

Communism is skill for great Kanadian Socialist Healthcare!
Yeah... I guess I need to also put in a big header that [HEADING=1]it's only about games I've played?[/HEADING]

Never been a big fan of roguelikes, and I didn't even know it had a DLC/Expansion released.

EDIT: Apologies if that comes across as rude, by the way, because of the header. I certainly don't mean it to be.
 

AzrealMaximillion

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Faster Than Light- Best twist on a roguelike in a while. And the roguelike is getting to be another overdone indie genre, right up there with platformers.

FTL actually sucked me in for Hours at a time, and has plenty to unlock. Customization of your ship is great. It's challenging without being annoying or cheap. Something games need to work on.

Hotline Miami- It saddens me that no one on this thread has mentioned this game. It has to be one of the most fresh take on a puzzle/action genre in a very long time. And its soundtrack is amazingly orgasmic. A top down view of the levels and 16 bit graphics makes it seem like ol' school GTA, but it plays nothing like it. Let me just say this, doors are my favourite weapon.

Legend of Grimrock- A throwback to the Dungeon Master games, this game is another challenging yet fun game. An action RPG in a very true sense that involves investigation of almost every nook and cranny of the dungeon in order to get through it. It's magic system is neat as well.
 

verdant monkai

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My Goty would probably be Halo 4 and I dont care if it's too triple A for all you game hipsters, who seem to avoid high budget games like the plague. I like it,it isn't fantastic or massively creative and the story is... fweh. But me and my friends have had hours of fun with it.

It would have been Mass Effect 3, I even spent more time on it's multiplayer, but that ending was unforgivable.

I played very few new games this year, I spent most of it playing stuff like FF9 as I bought a PS2. So I am not really qualified to suggest a game of the year 2012.
 

fenrizz

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I've got a few, but the order is random.

1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
2. Quantum Conundrum
3. Diablo III
4. Legend of Grimrock
5. Football Manager 2013

All in all, it's been a great year so far.
 

EmperorSubcutaneous

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Well, since almost half of my top-10 list is now populated by games from 2012, I can't pick a clear favorite. And making a list of favorites feels cheap to me. I also can't even make a "best of by genre" list, since the only two genres represented are Adventure and MMORPG, as usual.

So instead, I will make my own kind of "best of" list:

*Most fun: Guild Wars 2 (also wins the lifetime award of "most bang for your buck")
*Best story: The Walking Dead
*Most transcendent: Journey
*Most delightful: Botanicula
*Best re-release: Okami HD

I haven't played Spec Ops: The Line, but I know it would win something.
 

JEBWrench

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fenrizz said:
I've got a few, but the order is random.

1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
*snip*
All in all, it's been a great year so far.
Not to rain on your parade, but that was from last year.
 

fenrizz

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JEBWrench said:
fenrizz said:
I've got a few, but the order is random.

1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
*snip*
All in all, it's been a great year so far.
Not to rain on your parade, but that was from last year.
Ah, indeed.
Oh well, the rest of the list still stands.
 

CommanderL

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First Place goes to FTL: faster then light Heck I stayed up all night just so I could buy it as soon as it went online for sale
second Place Xcom Enemy Unknown -have yet to buy it No piracy a friend lent me his pc when he went on holiday as he didnt have a laptop so we swapped my pc for my laptop- I have played a lot Of it never Finished a game though I always wait to long to do something

Third place Planetside 2 I dont know why but the game just captures me and pulls me in and I am not even a huge fan of shooters

and an a mention To wait would have been the game of the year and the epic finale of one of the best gaming trilogy's Mass effect 3 with so many great moments that just tug at your heartstring and so many moments that make you smile it would have been easily Number 1 But then They cocked it up if they ended it with the scene with Anderson telling me I did good and then did a clip show of what happend to my peps perfect but some how they manged to ruin my whole intrest in the franshise in under five minutes
 

JEBWrench

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JEBWrench said:
No love for Crusader Kings 2? Nobody?

That's my number 1. Followed closely by X-Com: Enemy Unknown, FTL, The Walking Dead (which could go higher once I get around to actually buying the rest of the sodding thing), and Mass Effect 3.
Well, that changed fast. Mass Effect 3 falls out, and Scribblenauts: Unlimited is in.

Because thieving penguin with a jetpack.
 

Ieyke

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I'll admit that I've been too busy to keep up with games properly this year, so my list is going to be mostly speculative and based on me being just generally well- informed about games, how they've been reviewed by people whose opinions I trust, and what I've seen of them.


Assassin's Creed 3 - this one I HAVE played.

On the overall scale of video games, it's an excellent game. The graphics and animation improvements are beautiful, the addition of brachiation is right at home in the controls for the series, naval warfare is frikkin' AWESOME (best thing about the game, easily...except that there's not nearly enough of it), rope dart is nifty for hanging people (completely broken otherwise), and the story, as per usual, is batshit crazy....and will either end up being completely fantastic when all is said and done, or it will get "LOST stupid".

On the scale of Assassin's Creed games, it's.....mediocre.
They removed all challenge from the game by making you
1) slightly too deadly,
2) have regenerating health,
3) making it so that the window for countering is about an hour long and IN SLOW MOTION,
4) your armor can no longer break,
5) you no longer have to stealthily work your way around the city desperately trying to find a doctor before alerted guards spot you again,
6) all of the climbing puzzles where you had to work to reach the peaks of the highest monuments or climb/jump around in the rafters of huge tombs/dungeons/cathedrals/etc to reach treasure have been rendered moot be now you have a GORRAM AUTOPILOT BUTTON that simply finds the paths for you, and makes it impossible to accidentally make a wrong jump....

They removed all sense of personal growth/evolution/progression/accomplishment/discovery from the game by
1) removing your ability to buy new pieces of armor to upgrade yourself, making all weapons available to you in the very first shop you enter, instead of having blacksmiths gain new inventory over time,
2) making all costume dyes, weapons, and items available from all stores everywhere, instead of making you seek out specialists for certain things, and having certain colors/items be exclusively found only in certain locations,
3) from basically the very start of the game you have all of the combat abilities you're ever going to have. You never learn new blocks, counters, attacks, skills, tricks, ANYTHING after Connor becomes an Assassin. The most you get is that you can still buy vaguely better weapons.....most of which are useless to you, since you can buy the best ones right away, and even then the difference between the best and worst is almost imperceptible, due to how mind-bogglingly easy combat has become,
4) the fact that nothing anywhere is inaccessible to Connor, ever. Right off the bat he has all of the movement skills he will ever get. No having to earn the ability to Leap-Jump to reach far away hand holds, no parachutes to safely escape high up areas (ironically, this game is probably better suited to parachutes than any of Ezio's games), no hook blade to catch far-off ledges and rapid climb onto rooftops (again, ironic, since Boston and New York have roofs much further apart than is good for an Assassin's Creed game, so that hook blade extended reach could be damn useful here), no learning to use zip lines to travel the vaaaaast horizontal distances all over New York and Boston, they didn't even have the good sense to let Connor use his snazzy new Rope Darts as grappling hooks to climb buildings, swing in the trees, OR BOARD ENEMY SHIPS DURING NAVAL BATTLES....talk about a missed opportunity....

The world is not properly suited for hosting an Assassin's Creed game. America simply doesn't have the monumental structures to explore/climb, and the towns are entirely too horizontal and spread out to make for proper free running and vertical adventuring.

As you can see, I have a LOT of issues with this game, but as I said, they all only amount to it being a mediocre Assassin's Creed game, which is still enough to make it a fantastic game in general.
And I recommend it to everyone.
===================================

Dishonored (have not played it yet):
Dishonored looks great and looks as tho it combines several of my favorite things - Assassin's Creed, a grim BioShockish world, and steampunk fantasy.
By most accounts it's a very good game, though perhaps a bit short.
I can't imagine this not making it into my games of the year once I play it.


Journey (have not played it yet):
Looks beautiful, love the idea, great reviews, and I really appreciate those games that come up with a new concept and really try something different.

Guild Wars 2 (been watching my brother play it):
Holy shit, that's a pretty game, and it's pretty much the only MMORPG I've ever seen that made me want to play around in it.

Diablo 3 (beat it):
I love Diablo games. It's a cool world, cool designs, cool story, etc etc etc.
Diablo 2:LoD is still way better. That's really D3's biggest downside IMO - it makes me want to play D2! >_<
On its own accord tho, it's a great game. Nothing new or super revolutionary, just super well put together and highly polished.

Walking Dead (not even very familiar with it):
Been hearing great things about this game. Not sure how any format of The Walking Dead could disappoint me.

FTL (have not played yet):
This is one of hose games where I LOVE the idea, but the execution of the idea is maybe not exactly how I would've done it, and, to be honest, it might be the type of game I simply can't muster the concentration to play anymore, much like RPGs and RTSs.
All the same, I really look forward to giving it a try.

Natural Selection 2 (have not played it yet):
I have been waiting for this game for YEARS. I love the hell out of NS. If this really is the modern, improved, sequel to NS that it certainly seems to be...HOLY SHIT! FINALLY!
Seriously, I dunno how this game could not be awesome, unless they seriously messed up some fundamentals.
As soon as someone makes a Space Marines VS Tyranids skin for this game....I may never play any other team vs team shooter again...

Primal Carnage (have not played it yet):
If this game is half as awesome as the videos I've seen for it look....SWEET.
I love class-based shooters, and Left 4 Dead...and dinosaurs.
This game looks like Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 combined in a dinosaur format.
I have a hard time seeing how this could go wrong.
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,
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So......yea. Those get my "not always completely informed" votes.

I also hear XCOM is awesome, which intrigues me a bit, but for some reason I can't seem to make myself care.
 

bossfight1

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5. Mass Effect 3; in spite of the shit ending, the gameplay, other 90% of the story and multiplayer were phenomenal... too bad the ending brings everything in the franchise down with it.
4. Journey; amazing graphics and great music, very emotional.
3. XCOM: Enemy Unknown; Amazingly optimized for the controller, great squad gameplay, highly replayable.
2. Borderlands 2; Great story, hilarious writing, epic gameplay (Mechromancer is my current favorite) and nice graphics.
1. The Walking Dead; I cried at the end of the fifth episode. Any game that can make you cry deserves a place among the best games of all time.
 

xPixelatedx

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As much as I liked Borderlands 2 (I have three level 50 characters) and Halo 4 (hit the cap already), they just come off as the same kind of experience I can get from any game this gen (albeit in better quality). I am just so tiered of this stuff, Dust: An Elysian Tail was a HUGE breath of fresh air. The Adventure Time: Hey ice king why'd you steal our garbage would be my pick, if only it was more combat oriented and less of a cluster **** of fetch-quests.

So:
1.Dust
2.Adventure Time
3. ...I honestly can't think of anything else.
 

BoredAussieGamer

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I haven't played that many games that came out this year, but here's the two that currently tie for my GOTY:
-Spec Ops: The Line. Amazing story, underwhelming gameplay
-Max Payne 3. Utterly sublime if the story had reached it's full potential.
 

Tropicaz

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I've played a few games on and off this year, I have a few I'll probably power through at christmas when my housemates arent about and I'm bored but the only game I've taken serious time to play is the Walking Dead, it was awesome. SO that is my nomination.