What was your personal game of the year in 2012?

[SoBe Clock]

A bit late for this thread, I know, but I am interested to see what games you guys enjoyed the most in 2012.

For me, personally, Guild Wars 2 is my GOTY by a mile.
Rather than the typical MMO style of combat where you pop all your half hour buffs before combat, then press buttons and let the random-number-generation do the work, Guild Wars 2's combat feels like something I'd expect out of a well made single player RPG. Animation based attacks, not RNG. 8-10 second buffs/debuffs that require precise timing, not half hour ones. The dodge rolls, weapon based skills, rather extreme class flexibility for an MMO, and other things make the gameplay great. It never ended up feeling like a grind for me because of the very generous leveling system and the fact that all the end game gear is essentially equal stat-wise. Even the really hard-to-get stuff is really just a cosmetic upgrade to the easy-to-get stuff. The world is one I enjoy exploring every last inch of thanks to the event system and the fantastic art style of the entire game. A soundtrack by Jeremy Soule never hurts either. This is only the second MMO I've managed to hit the level cap and still want to continue playing, the first being GW1. I've had a great 4-5 months with GW2 and I'll definitely still be playing it this year.


I'd also like to point out that if Diablo 3 had launched the way it is now in the upcoming 1.0.7 patch then it would have been a contender for my GOTY as well. It had serious problems at launch even if I did like the underlying game I knew was hidden in there. With this upcoming patch they will have fixed just about every major concern I had with the game (sans terrible story) and it's actually in a rather fun state now. It's a shame it was such an absolute mess at launch because I know there are a lot of people who won't touch it again after that.

[TequilaClock]

I din't play many new games in 2012, but I think I will go for Hotline Miami.

It's not just a "little indie game" as I have felt for many these few years that make me feel as if I were combing through Newgrounds because so very few actually stand out. Most of the time I see an indie game with "8-bit" sprites in it, I am too reclusive to even try it because it makes me feel like the artist was relying too much in nostalgic factors, but this game makes a great combination of visuals with it. The late 80s pop art aspect is something I want to see more of in other games.

Hotline Miami has a lot of thrill combining to have a lot of power and being too vulnerable as well. Its violence is also more brutal than I expected which gives the whole experience a pleasing and yet gruesome tone on it.

I still haven't beaten it yet, so the game really makes it for me on the gameplay and aesthetics aspect.

[Thor]

If major expansion packs count, it is without a doubt Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition. Tons of great new content and PC compatibility on one of my favorite games of all time.

For stand alone games, I enjoyed Dragon's Dogma to spite it being a deeply flawed game. For multiplayer games it would be Chivalry

[NintendoClock]

Honestly, I was disappointed by a lot of games last year.

Diablo III - Had fun with it, put over 100 hours into it, but it wasn't as good as it's predecessor Diablo II. At first I thought well maybe it's just the nostalgia goggles that are blinding me from what is ultimately a solid game. In reality it was much more than that. The story was dumb, the music was lacking, the atmosphere wasn't dark and gothic enough. If it wasn't a Diablo game, I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more but as it stands, I can't help but feel disappointed with it and wonder what could have been had Blizz North had the opportunity.

Mass Effect 3 - Much better than it's predecessor (ME2) but the ending and the unfortunate fact that a lot of major choices made in previous games really didn't matter was way too disappointing for me to give this GOTY. Up until that ending I was really really enjoying this game. Mars, the revamped presidium and citadel, Javak's story and the prothean reveal, all top notch stuff. Then that ending... At the end of the day, ME3 can be seen as nothing more than the final nail in Bioware's coffin. No wonder the two doctors left.

Guild Wars 2 - This is an amazing game. I loved it while I was playing it but ultimately I ended up getting really bored with it. It's not GW2 itself but rather the MMO genre as a whole just feels stale to me. After thousands of hours with WoW, SWTOR, LOTRO, and FFXI i'm just tired of the genre in and of itself. Thus I can't give this GOTY either (despite it probably deserving the title) because I really didn't get that far into it. I also dislike the idea that if I want to look like a bad ass I have to pay extra money for content that probably should just be free. GW2 does a lot of things right and undoubtedly it is the best MMO on the market right now.

Dishonored - Fun for awhile but ultimately disappointing. The story was lame, the art style was shitty, the colors oh god the colors. The setting sucked, the music sucked. Just really didn't like this at all. While a bit different, Deus Ex: HR is very similar in terms of emphasis on stealth  and I personally feel it was a much better game. You want stealth? Play DXHR instead.

Far Cry 3 - Was really impressed with this game. Had no expectations for it but like dishonored and Guild Wars I just simply got bored with it. The gameplay gets a bit repetitive with the standard climb the tower--reveal the map (a ubisoft staple apparently?), clear out x number of base camps to open up more territory, some dumb fetch quests etc etc. The story and the memorable cast of villains are easily the highlights but after that there really isn't much to do. There's some cool things that can happen such as a random animal coming out of nowhere and interrupting firefights. The AI is really dynamic and will keep you guessing. There's some emphasis on stealth and some loose RPG elements as well. The setting and map is huge, comparable to TES or FO3/NV but i'm not really a fan of the whole jungle setting. Graphics are top notch but don't expect it to look as good on consoles as it does on PC. The multiplayer is incredibly disappointing so don't buy this if you're expecting any sort of decent fragging online. Ultimately it's worth playing, realy thought about giving this GOTY but simply couldn't.

I'm probably going to catch a lot of flack for this but i'm ultimately going to pick

Halo 4
Why? Because It revived my faith in a franchise I had simply lost intrest in. The campaign (while short, but then again what FPS doesn't have a short campaign these days) was a lot of fun. The story was filled with lore that only the most hardcore of Halo fans will understand and I appreciated that a lot. Halo has always had a really interesting lore and backstory. This isn't to say it has the BEST lore but still, it's nice to see them flesh out the universe in a meaningful way. I was a bit worried about the franchise changing hands from Bungie to 343 but at the end of the day it really was the best thing that could have happened to a series that I ultimately left for dead. 343 really put a fresh coat of paint on Halo and perfected the gameplay. Sure you can sit there and say "ALL THEY DID WAS MAKE IT COD" and you couldn't be more wrong. Yes you can sprint, yes there are loadouts and ordinance drops but unlike COD you're not aiming with the left trigger or getting a one hit kill with melee or noobtoobing. No, instead you're playing halo. You're throwing grenades, you're jumping from platforms to rooftops, down ontop of your foes and assassinating them from behind. You're running them over with Tanks, ghosts, Banshees, Wraiths, Warthogs etc etc. The sandbox gameplay is still there.

Halo 4 is also hands down one of the best looking games I've ever seen on a console. Now I know a lot of people will argue that there is a heavy use of what is known as the bloom effect in the game but I barely noticed this outside of the first few levels. They may very well have used it but it's important to remember, this game was developed for 7+ year old hardware. Facial recognition like that found in games such as Heavy Rain and LA Noire is in here and really makes the cutscenes look pretty damn impressive. The music is also rather good despite Marty O'Donnel's absence. The sound effects are FANTASTIC, all the guns sound amazing and feel really fucking good, I can't stress this enough.

I never liked Firefight, so Spartan-ops is a welcome addition. It's a sort of additional side story that occurs in various episodes. Really adds to the story and was very enjoyable. If you found the campaign to be too short, here's your compensation.

Dumb advertising campaigns, doritos and mountain dew aside--Halo 4 is the complete package and my GOTY.


Excuse the book but 2012 really wasn't an easy year to pick a GOTY. It's a shame that everything good seemed to be a sequel in franchises that are frankly getting really old. Here's hoping 2013 is a bit more exciting.

[Thor]

Honestly, I was disappointed by a lot of games [last] year.

This is my feeling too. Most of the games I spent time on were older releases. All the games that I was close to calling great had some glaring flaw that ruined it, like Dragon's Dogma had a horrible fast travel system and too much walking to make their map seem bigger, and Dishonored was just way too easy and linear.

There were a lot of fighting game releases in 2012, but most of them are rereleases with minor changes (Jojo's Bizzarre Adventure HD, Virtual Fighter 5: FS, Blazblue Continuim Shift Extended), uninspired sequels that bring nothing new to the table (Soul Calibur 5, Dead or Alive 5, Naruto ShippÃ...«den:UNSG), or just cheaply made, worthless garbage (Street Fighter x Tekken). Skullgirls and the Persona fighting game look pretty good but I haven't gotten a chance to try them out yet. As a huge fighting game fan, it was a pretty disappointing year on that front. I still end up going back to SSF4:AE when I want a fight.


Overall, I'm excited for games in 2013 though. There's a lot of awesome games on the horizon this year.

[d u m p y]

but I think I will go for Hotline Miami.

[Thor]

Hotline Miami was fucking amazing, but it was too short. I wish it had more content. I did everything there is to do in that game, got A+ on almost every level, and found all the hidden items on every level and got the secret ending, and I only ended up spending 10 hours total on it. I've spent more time than that playing TF2 this week alone.

[Slurpee]

I still haven't beaten it yet,

what
dude get on it, it's like a six hour game, tops.

I honestly wanted to say Hotline Miami, but, to be pretentious about it, the game, though fun, failed to marry its excellent gameplay to a truly meaningful thematic underpinning. I was smitten with the artistic direction, if not necessarily the in-game aesthetic (which was a little Robotron 64 for my tastes) but the story felt half-cocked, and there's a few jarring disconnects in terms of the player-avatar relationship both in terms of maintaining a meaningful connection between the two to keep the player invested in the character's struggle, and establishing a meaningful connection to the story such that the player can take something away from the game as a whole. WHICH IS NOT TO SAY IT WAS A BAD GAME IT IS GREAT AND EVERYBODY SHOULD PLAY IT.

[d u m p y]

what
dude get on it, it's like a six hour game, tops.

I honestly wanted to say Hotline Miami, but, to be pretentious about it, the game, though fun, failed to marry its excellent gameplay to a truly meaningful thematic underpinning. I was smitten with the artistic direction, if not necessarily the in-game aesthetic (which was a little Robotron 64 for my tastes) but the story felt half-cocked, and there's a few jarring disconnects in terms of the player-avatar relationship both in terms of maintaining a meaningful connection between the two to keep the player invested in the character's struggle, and establishing a meaningful connection to the story such that the player can take something away from the game as a whole. WHICH IS NOT TO SAY IT WAS A BAD GAME IT IS GREAT AND EVERYBODY SHOULD PLAY IT.

all of your nerdy, hipster nitpicking aside, the story for that game was a fucking super-cool marriage of action and surrealism and you know it

[SageClock]

The two games I played the most this year were Dark Souls and Skyrim by a landslide.

For games that actually came out this year, it'd probably have to be Dishonored. I didn't stop playing until it ended, and I immediately started another playthrough so I could play it differently. I don't think I did that with any other game last year.

Assassin's Creed 3 was pretty good too, although unlike Dishonored, I actually stopped playing it before I finished and won't have the urge to pick it back up over Skyrim or some recent purchases for awhile, probably. Kind of a shame, since it was really the only game I was really looking forward to this year.

Halo 4 looks really solid, but I'm waiting to get a copy until I can get it for like $35-40.

[TequilaClock]

Halo 4
Why? Because It revived my faith in a franchise I had simply lost intrest in. The campaign (while short, but then again what FPS doesn't have a short campaign these days) was a lot of fun. The story was filled with lore that only the most hardcore of Halo fans will understand and I appreciated that a lot. Halo has always had a really interesting lore and backstory. This isn't to say it has the BEST lore but still, it's nice to see them flesh out the universe in a meaningful way. I was a bit worried about the franchise changing hands from Bungie to 343 but at the end of the day it really was the best thing that could have happened to a series that I ultimately left for dead. 343 really put a fresh coat of paint on Halo and perfected the gameplay. Sure you can sit there and say "ALL THEY DID WAS MAKE IT COD" and you couldn't be more wrong. Yes you can sprint, yes there are loadouts and ordinance drops but unlike COD you're not aiming with the left trigger or getting a one hit kill with melee or noobtoobing. No, instead you're playing halo. You're throwing grenades, you're jumping from platforms to rooftops, down ontop of your foes and assassinating them from behind. You're running them over with Tanks, ghosts, Banshees, Wraiths, Warthogs etc etc. The sandbox gameplay is still there.

Halo 4 is also hands down one of the best looking games I've ever seen on a console. Now I know a lot of people will argue that there is a heavy use of what is known as the bloom effect in the game but I barely noticed this outside of the first few levels. They may very well have used it but it's important to remember, this game was developed for 7+ year old hardware. Facial recognition like that found in games such as Heavy Rain and LA Noire is in here and really makes the cutscenes look pretty damn impressive. The music is also rather good despite Marty O'Donnel's absence. The sound effects are FANTASTIC, all the guns sound amazing and feel really fucking good, I can't stress this enough.

I never liked Firefight, so Spartan-ops is a welcome addition. It's a sort of additional side story that occurs in various episodes. Really adds to the story and was very enjoyable. If you found the campaign to be too short, here's your compensation.

Dumb advertising campaigns, doritos and mountain dew aside--Halo 4 is the complete package and my GOTY.


Excuse the book but 2012 really wasn't an easy year to pick a GOTY. It's a shame that everything good seemed to be a sequel in franchises that are frankly getting really old. Here's hoping 2013 is a bit more exciting.

I was honestly considering Halo 4 as well, it made me feel oddly nostalgic for my middle school years playing Halo 2 at my friend's.

[NintendoClock]

Halo 4 looks really solid, but I'm waiting to get a copy until I can get it for like $35-40.

I believe it is around 40 bucks now. They lowered the price in early December.
 
If i'm mistaken theres always ebay or amazon.

[Slurpee]

all of your nerdy, hipster nitpicking aside, the story for that game was a fucking super-cool marriage of action and surrealism and you know it

killer7 was a super cool marriage of action and surrealism. pistol opera was a super cool marriage of action and surrealism.

hotline miami is pretty good.

[Thor]

The actual plot of Hotline Miami is actually kind of stupid if you actually take the time to see the true ending.

Spoilers about the ending:
It says in the ending that the guys calling out the hits are just normal people who did it for fun, but if they're just janitors how were they able to afford all the expensive computer equipment? How were they able to convince people to do hits for them? How do they find people willing to do killings for them? How do they know where the Russian Government is hanging out? Why are you able to find their computer password by wearing an owl mask? They never give any explanation for that. They also never explain who the guy that works at all the store is, or why he gives you free stuff, or why he is murdered. It's also implied that everything after the fight with Helmet is just a dream, but if that's the case why are you able to find and kill the guy in the prison? The plot is full of holes.


Another major problem with the is the low quality graphics and engine bugs. This isn't really the game makers fault; it's the horrible game engine they used. They did the best they could with what was available, with those awesome psychedelic menu screens and awesome music, but in the end they were extremely limited by the crap engine. Even if you think the graphics are awesome, they bugs can not be defended. It crashed many times on me, and I got stuck outside the map and had to restart many times. Also, if you get too close to a dog or an enemy with a gun they bug out and can't figure out how to attack you. They just stand there and spin in circles.

The game was made in Game Maker. Seriously, fucking Game Maker. I've programmed in Game Maker before. It's garbage. It is pretty much impossible to make graphics that AREN'T super pixelated in that engine. It wasn't a style choice to make it look retro, it was forced on them by the horrible GM limitations.


Anyway, that's just why it's not my "game of the year". It's still a really amazing arcade game and I suggest anybody buy it.

[TequilaClock]

Ok.

[SpongeClock SquarePants]

I think Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

[BBQBEEFBURGERMAN]

Hitman absolution was pretty damn dope. Then again it was pretty much the only game i bought last year.

[FLOUNDERMAN_CLOCK]

I didnt really play any games released in 2012 but my favorite game I played that year was this



It can be pretty difficult but its really good. I can see why SMT fans are so elitist about it.

[buttplug]

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die, DotA2

[MonsterMunch]

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

I've had a mixed past with turn-based and managerial games but I loved this game.

I like to be treated like a challenger not a retard being shown a light show. I've seen a lot of people complaining about it being too hard. But fuck those people.

A close second would be Dishonoured (Yes I spelt that right! Fuck off yankie-doodle!).