Now that 2012 is almost over...

[MetalMagpie]

1. Borderlands 2
2. Torchlight II
3. Crusader Kings II

Honourable mention to Warp, as that's the only other 2012 release I've actually played!

I've only just realised how rarely I play games in their first year. I've played loads of games this year (mostly thanks to Steam), but those four are the only ones that were released this year. I'm generally too much of a cheapskate to buy especially new games without being super-excited about them. Borderlands 2 and Torchlight II I was madly anticipating, so I got them week one. The other two I snapped up in a Steam sale many months after they were released.

Of course, it's possible XCOM (which I hope to get for Christmas) will invade this list at the last minute!

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

If that list is all inclusive then I've apparently only purchased 4 2012 games thus far. I wouldn't put 3 of them on a 'favorites' list either, so I'll just say:
Dishonored

 

[JLML]

Well, I can't tell you my top 3 as I don't really compare games to each other unless they're very similar (like comparing Killing Floor and Left 4 Dead) or if they're from the same series.

But I guess I can figure out some games that I've spent a lot of time playing, and (probably) enjoyed the most.

Let's see now. . .

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

-Borderlands 2

-Planetside 2

Total War: Shogun 2 (Fall of the Samurai)



Honourable mentions to good games that simply didn't manage to catch my attention/entertain me enough:
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams
Mass Effect 3
Orcs Must Die! 2
Darksiders 2

Lots of 2's for me this year. . . <.<

 

[Quick Ben]

My Top 3:
1. The Walking Dead (Made me care oh so much... *sniffle*)
2. Crusader Kings II (Great fun. A game to last for many years)
3. Spec Ops: The Line (I felt so shitty, and then it got worse... That's an accomplishment)

Honorable Mentions:
- Mass Effect 3 (Pushed off by Spec Ops because of ending)
- Total War: Shogun 2 Fall of the Samurai (Did guns even better than Napoleon: TW)
- Dishonored (Good new IP. Lots of fun, if a little too short)

I consider this a very good year.

 

[DustyDrB]

My top ten for the year:

10: Assassin's Creed 3
9 : FTL: Faster than Light
8 : Natural Selection 2
7 : Tribes Ascend
6 : Sleeping Dogs
5 : Mass Effect 3
4 : XCOM: Enemy Uknown

Spoiler: 3

Torchlight II did everything I want an ARPG to do. It improved vastly on the first game by adding co-op and spreading the dungeons out over a large area rather than making them all part of one mega dungeon. The classes in the game are distinct and pretty flexible in how they can be built, providing more incentive to play through again and again in a game that already provides a ton of content. The mechanics are fun, the locations are varied, the aesthetics are nice (I love the effects on the Berserker's attacks especially), and the challenge is definitely there on higher difficulties (and I'd say it's actually harder when you bring friends in the game with you). I'll be playing Torchlight II for a very long time.

Spoiler: 2

I don't know what it says that I loved Darksiders 2 so much despite having never played the first game. The game wasn't really even on my radar until I saw TotalBiscuit's "WTF Is.." of it (and he wasn't even gushing over the game). I can point out only two thins that bothered me about Darksiders 2: (1) The Earth section was just horrible and tedious and (2) Normal enemy variety was somewhat lacking. Outside of that, this game was fantastic.

As a Zelda fan, I found much familiar in Darksiders 2 and gladly so. The game really is a darker Zelda with a more epic feel to it (mix the Zelda formula with God of War's spectacle, and you'll come up with this). There are dungeons with puzzles and arena-type challenges, and also with great bosses at the end. There is a brilliant soundtrack [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yIwPovQKxQ]. There are smooth and satisfying combat mechanics. There's a surprisingly good story with some memorable characters. Darksiders 2 is a fantastic game, and it provided me some of the most memorable moments in gaming this year for me.

Spoiler: 1

One moment describes why I love Mark of the Ninja so much. I encountered a group of guards patrolling an area I needed to get through. I could have simply sneaked past them, but I felt like toying around with them. So I took out one guard and strung up his body on a lamp post (then I went and hid back in the shadows). Two more guards walked near the post. The first one saw the body and panicked. He turned around, saw his fellow guard immediately behind him, became startled and shot the other guard dead. Now alone, he nervously walked back and forth, shooting at anything he found suspicious. Finally, overwhelmed by anxiety, he pointed his gun at himself and pulled the trigger.


You don't have to handle the game in this way, though. You can go through the whole thing and kill no one. It's a remarkable stealth game, honestly. It's certainly the best I've played in a long, long time. And it's all the more remarkable because it's done in a 2D environment. You can sneak your way through everything. You can kill everyone you see in a straight up fight (though that is very, very difficult. One or two bullets will kill you). You can terrorize enemies into taking each other out. And you can simply disable them temporarily with some of your tools. Each of these methods are fun. If you enjoy stealth games, Mark of the Ninja is a must-play.

I had to make cuts in that top ten, and there are games I haven't played but really need to (Dishonored, Journey, Spec Ops: The Line, Crusader Kings 2, Orcs Must Die 2, and probably more). 2012: My favorite year for gaming ever.

 

[Davidm4]

1.Xenoblade Chronicles
2.Xenoblade Chronicles
3.Xenoblade Chronicles


Game of the Year all years.

Thats the last game out of operation rainfall I have yet to play. Really enjoyed Pandoras Tower. Liked The Last Story. Maybe I've saved the best for last.

 

[mParadox]

1) Borderlands 2
2) Dishonored/Walking Dead
3) Far Cry 3

Ye Gods it was a good year for games and gaming.

Honourable mention goes to XCOM and Hitman Absolution.

 

[blackdwarf]

The Walking Dead
XCOM: Enemey unknown
not a clue.

maybe Tekken TT2 or natural selection 2, but not really sure.

 

[TwoHeadedBoy]

Looking back, it's been a great year for gaming.

My personal top 3:
1. Mass Effect 3 - A fine conclusion to the best sci-fi blockbuster series in recent years.
2. Spec Ops: The Line - Purely because it's given the "realistic" shooter genre a kick up the backside.
3. The Walking Dead - I was not expecting this to be here at all.

Honourable Mentions
1. Lone Survivor - Seriously, if you haven't downloaded this yet, do it soon(even if you don't like the idea of a 2d survival horror adventure game, do it for Jasper Byrne - he's a really nice guy).
2. Dishonored.
3. Spelunky

(Have yet to play XCOM or Far Cry 3, hopefully one of them will be good enough to usurp one of the games above).

 

[Gearhead mk2]

1) Spec Ops: The Line. Great story, great characters, good gameplay, has an astounding anti-war and anti-spunkgargleweewee message along with several really deep and interesting interpriations.
2) The Walking Dead Season 1. Amazing characters, interesting plot, good gameplay, massive freedom of choice, and really, REALLY emotional. I think this could be the new Mass Effect.
3) Halo 4. Great gameplay, great score, good characters, and brilliant multiplayer. The Spartan Ops are really good too, and I like they humanised the Master Chief a bit.

 

[s0meNo0b]

From what I've played thus far...

#1 - Borderlands 2 because it's been a joy for me to play.
#2 - Katawa Shoujo for being very enjoyable to go through.
#3 - Guild Wars 2 as I have not been able to put it down since I bought it last month.

Honorable mentions to the following games.
- Persona 4 Golden
- Dragons Dogma
- Assassins Creed III

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

I feel like I've posted this before...

1. Journey
2. Guild Wars 2
3. The Walking Dead
3a. Botanicula

This isn't cheating, because I said so.

Still need to play/complete: The Unfinished Swan, To the Moon, Spec Ops: The Line, Lone Survivor, and Okami HD.

 

[scorptatious]

1. Journey

2. Fallout: New Vegas

3. Xenoblade Chronicles
Honorable mentions:
The Last Story

LittleBigPlanet 2

XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Haven't finished yet, so it might still have a shot at the top three)

Katawa Shoujo

 

[Random berk]

Hmm... I actually rarely get games when they've just come out. I've played a handful of 2012 games, so from those...

3- Mass Effect 3. Sad that It only makes it to 3, considering I was a massive ME fanboy, but really, they just didn't put the effort in to match up to the first two. Still a high class of game though.

2-Prototype 2. It was fun, but again, I liked the first one more. Really this is just filler...

1- The Walking Dead. That ending, that was some seriously powerful stuff. A lot of people don't like The Walking Dead and this one definitely had flaws, but it did a better job of making me care about the choices I made than any other game I've played.

Special Mention- XCOM: Enemy Unknown. I haven't even played this yet, but I love the concept, every review I've heardof it has been amazing, and I fully expect it to take second place, and quite possibly first on my list.

 

[Uriain]

ugh.. only 3 eh..

1) Mass Effect 3
2) Darksiders II
3) Spec Ops: The line

Honorable mentions:
Assassins Creed III
Halo 4
Black Ops 2 MP
Darksiders I
Battlefield 3
TF2 Mann vs Machine
Skyrim PC

 

[regalphantom]

My Top 3:
Borderlands 2
Halo 4
Darksiders 2

Yes, I haven't played that many new games this year, and all the ones I've listed are big name titles, but the only indie games I've played this year have been extremely disappointing (Fez and one other I can't remember).

 

[sanquin]

1: Skyrim PC. It's just the type of game I really like. A bit less open-world and blandness and a bit more story and linearity would be great, but still.

2: Guildwars 2. It's hard to believe that such a great mmorpg came out without a subscription fee.

3: Dragon's Dogma. Such an underrated game, considering what it does.

Close 4th: Mass Effect 3. I really love the game as a whole. Even the multiplayer is fun every now and then. But the ending made it come just short of my top 3.

As you can tell, I'm a huge fan of rpg's.

 

[CityofTreez]

1. The Walking Dead
2. Dishonored
3. Far Cry 3

Honorable Mentions:

Journey
sleeping Dogs

 

[Zeraki]

-Mass Effect 3
-The Walking Dead
-Borderlands 2

Honorable mentions to Torchlight 2 and Darksiders II.

 

[babinro]

1) Diablo 3 - winner by leaps and bounds.
2) Borderlands 2 - Disappointing game as it feels like an expansion. But the world is still hilarious and the gameplay is a lot of fun.
3) Civ 5: Gods and Kings - More reason to revisit a great game. It's probably more deserving of number 2 slot in the long run.

Runner Up:
Mass Effect 3 - While many people hate the ending I actually dislike the games tone.
ME3 really took to a more dramatic tone instead of a fun adventure with high stakes.
This direction soured the experience for me more than a shoddy ending ever could have.