Your GOTY 2012?

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I started this thread as a way for people to share their game(s) of the year for 2012.

I will start it off, I am going to share my GOTY and the runner-up.

My GOTY for 2012 is...

The Walking Dead

by Telltale Games

Platform: pretty much everyone know to man, including iOS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU25SUSzqqs

I just finished Episode 5 last night. I actually right away went and posted this on Facebook.

The Walking Dead video game by Telltale Games is truly a triumph.

It did something I was absolutely convinced the medium of video games would not achieve for quite some time, if ever. It made me tear up just like I was watching the end of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial or Forrest Gump or Watership Down. I was seriously, seriously choked up.

I just did not believe the medium of video games was there yet. Ironically the graphics, while beautifully stylized, are hardly the best the video game world has to offer either and are in fact the furthest thing from realistic. I actually believe this choice not to make the characters and graphics realistic helped them achieve the end result of being incredibly moving. If they "The Uncanny Valley" route, it probably would have made things way less believable and effective. Instead they relied on an incredibly moving story, which is all it really takes at the end of the day.

For those who may not know about the game, it is a dialog/decision based action adventure game in which your choices have consequences and affect the outcome of how the game plays out. The modern day equivalent of the choose your own adventure books that were popular, at least in my childhood. Another fairly new aspect of the game was it was broken down into 5 episodes initially, each one released about a month apart. Which really helped create the tension and cliff hanger aspect of both the comic book and television show respectively. However they just recently released all 5 episodes as one stand alone retail game for $30.

if you like video games, you absolutely have to play it. If you are a fan of the show or comic book and just a casual video game player, I think you still need to play it. It is available for the Mac, Windows, XBox 360, PS3, and iOS. Here is more info. Great game, and truly quite an achievement and advancement for the aspect of story telling in video games.

My GOTY for 2012 Runner-Up is...

ZombiU

by Ubisoft

Platform: WiiU

I already posted this in the ZombiU thread in the Nintendo console, so just reposting it.

I have to say from what I have played, it seems like for some awful reason this game is not being understood by some of the gaming press. I just cannot see how anyone could really give it a negative review. The game is pretty damn awesome IMHO.

The use of the WiiU's GamePad in this game is about as good of a use that I can possibly imagine a launch title having, and honestly I think it is probably going to go down as one of the overall better uses of the GamePad period. It is without a doubt an enhancement and an extension to the gameplay, and hardly ever feels gimmicky. The only corny use of it so far has been planks on doors, in which you have to tap to remove them. Everything else makes perfect sense. The inventory management element, you look down when you loot most corpses and cabinets, it also is the environment scanner... All of these elements really make great use of the GamePad itself. And they do add a level of tension to the game as well.

ZombiU is very much a CLASSIC survival horror game IMO as it is at times slow and deliberate. This to me is what makes it so damn good actually. It treats the genre as it used to be before it got taken over by trying to be action adventure games as well. In this regards it reminds me some of Silent Hill 1-3. It is also pretty damn brutal as far as just how easy it is to die. One misstep can and does lead to death. There are some infuriating instances early on you will probably die a whole lot in fact. It was those instances however that helped me change my overall approach to the game. This is another great aspect of the game to me. It makes no apologies for things. You do not move on until you figure out a better way. This is another nod to how games used to handle things... there really is not a whole lot of hand holding.

Perhaps the largest critique I read on the negative reviews was the combat felt clunky. This is no doubt the element I think some people are just not getting. The combat being "clunky" is very much deliberate. Call Of Duty style of gameplay this game certainly is not. It is, again, methodical. You are not powerful (at least not within the first 3 hours), and the combat reminds you of this fact. You have to be smart with things. Going in guns blazing so to speak is not going to work. You have to survey the situation, and actually come up with a plan. One that usually consists of things like finding the best area to fight from. And actually taking the time to close doors and barricade them. It is no doubt a thinking mans game, at least to get the most out of it.

I really feel this is probably one of the better survival horror video games to come out in quite some time. It is pretty damn unforgiving, and truly creates a tensions filled atmosphere where you are on edge most of the time.

So I realize not a lot of people will probably be able to even comment about playing the game, as it does not appear that we have a ton of people here on the forum that did pick up a WiiU. Only a handful. To that handful though, I strongly encourage you to pick up this game if you have not done so already. It is definitely a very unique experience overall, I also think for fans of the survival horror genre it is pretty much a must play, and it really is a great example of the WiiU's GamePad being used to enhance a game overall.

So those are my GOTY and Runner-Up. What is yours?

Also be sure to check out the Neogamr podcast this week on Tuesday night, it will be a Year In Games 2012 episode.

[Arceles]

...................................... Max Payne 3, and then Deus EX HR. Enough said.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

...................................... Max Payne 3, and then Deus EX HR. Enough said.

(Y) Max Payne 3 is pretty much my next pick after Zombi U. Great, great game as well.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Game of the Year

Dishonored

Other honourable mentions

The Walking Dead series

Mass Effect 3

FarCry 3

Lone Survivor

MaxPayne 3

Halo 4

[+virtorio MVC]

Top 3:

1. The Walking Dead is mine.

2. Spelunky (XLBA version)

3. Trials: Evolution

If I had a WiiU ZombiU might be on that list.

[123456789A]

Angry Birds Space!

[sanctified Veteran]

Mass Effect 3 and Max Payne 3

I also loved the walking dead episodes.

[PGHammer]

Okay - my own choices:

Game Of The Year - Diablo III (PC/Mac) - Developer/Publisher - Activision Blizzard

For once, a AAA-list game for PC (and OS X) that does NOT require the latest and greatest PC or Mac hardware; not only can it be played on recent or non-recent PCs or Macs, it is even playable on most "Hacks" out of the installer - which can't be said about even most AA-list OS X titles. (Also, how many AAA-list titles are not merely Ultrabook-friendly, but friendly to notebooks and legacy laptops?)

Honorable Mention - Guild Wars 2 (PC/Mac) - Developer/Publisher - ArenaNet

MMORPGs aren't everyone's cup of tea - that much I get. However, the followup to a previous GOTY winner (Guild Wars: Prophecies) rewrites the rules on what to expect from a pay-just-once MMORPG (a genre it founded). While not as hardware-friendly as Diablo III, it's not a hardware-melter, either - even a relatively-recent notebook (or most Ultrabooks) should be able to handle this MMO decently.

Alternative Mention - DC Universe Online (PC/PS3) - Developer/Publisher - Sony Online Entertainment

Free-to-play MMORPGs are loathed by the fans of traditional MMORPGs (though most of them started AS traditional MMORPGs); so far, only two traditional MMOs that have slid into the F2P space have not merely survived, but thrived - and this is one of them, and the only multiplatformer to be thriving as F2P. DLC (though paid) comes out at a decent pace, and, even better, does not detract from the main story one whit. (Even better, it's not pricey - each DLC pack is a mere $10USD.) Still, even the core game sans DLC is a blast to play.

[Lingwo]

1. Borderlands 2

Improved on the original in every way. Writing was great, was actually laugh out loud funny and voice acting was some of the best i've seen in a while. The double rainbow easter egg still cracks me up.

I really wanted Assassins Creed 3 to be goty. Since it was first announced it had its name on it. Then they dropped the ball big time on it.

[Jose_49]

Halo 4 :D

[qdave]

Mass Effect 3!

Other fav games:

Dishonored

Far Cry 3

I see a lot of people liking max payne but i didnt enjoy it as much :(

[Blackhearted]

My favorite game of this year would probably be Xenoblade Chronicles. One of the best RPGs i've played and definitely worthy of the glowing reviews it got.

[Setnom]

I don't really have a favorite game this year. But the one that surprised me the most was Walking Dead, and the most fun I had was with Borderlands 2.

[n_K]

Hacknet - http://www.indiedb.com/games/hacknet

[Phouchg]

I have been rather out of loop lately due to not having a decent gaming card anymore, failing to manage time and, frankly, having lost passion for yet another thing in my life, actually - gaming; run of the mill PC AAA title worship as it has been. I will say, though, that of what I have seen or played this year, nothing has managed to surprise me so positively as to even award the GOTY.

Excuse me if I pass Mass Effect 3. It's a great interactive movie of which I'm a fan beyond healthy reasoning, with not half-bad shooting segments, but has too many annoyances still. Starting with brainless multiplayer that was and still is being given an unfair amount of attention. Endings are what they are - endings. Didn't bother me nearly as much as, for example, the readiness meter, Jersey Shore and "Ramirez, do everything" now being too... impertinent, feeling like a chore already. Closest runner up, but not quite there.

Excuse me if I pass Max Payne 3. It looks great, but the railroad was too much to bear. I didn't even bother to play past Chapter 11.

Excuse me if I pass Far Cry 3. It looks great, Vaas takes the best character of the decade award, but there's just too much annoyances otherwise.

Excuse me if I pass Codblopstwo - I haven't even played it. Now, first Blops was the only modern COD I kind of liked, so I might be robbing myself here, but the same can be said about its price if it turns out to be shyte.

Excuse me if I even mention Spec Ops: The Line. Of course, it's a brown, dumb as a bag of hammers shooter on rails, not worthy of any kind of titles. But it did do one thing right - it managed to tell that war is not a pretty picture, neither if seen nor if just being imagined in one's head. Mindfsck enging helps, too. For that and that alone I feel it's being neglected.

I flat out refuse to even consider any game which has zombies as its center theme. It probably was annoying well before I was born and it is borderline vexing now. Or do people by chance feel they have so much common with zombies? I don't care if you package it with the lore that rivals the whole Greek mythology and emotions of... whatever - I'll deny and condemn them all out of principle.

Excuse me that I award my GOTY to last years' Twitcher 2. I'm not a great fan of its ARPG mechanics, nor does its lore strike me (in pacticular, because it actually is dark, uncomfortably so at times). But - CDPR continues to play on my "PC Master Race" strings masterfully - free of charge updates to what now is 3.1.2.0, much needed UI mod incorporated into an official update. Couple it to what was a solid game to begin with - the comparatively insane level of graphics detail, the careful manevouring around fantasy classic and D&D gameplay cliches, free of DRM, free little DLCs... this is the one Dragon Age 3 should take a boatload of notes, and not from the overhyped lackluster turd that Schkyrim was and continues to be.

[Arceles]

Excuse me if I pass Max Payne 3. It looks great, but the railroad was too much to bear.

Excuse me that I award my GOTY to last years' Twitcher 2. I'm not a great fan of its ARPG mechanics, nor does its lore strike me (in pacticular, because it actually is dark, uncomfortably so at times). But - CDPR continues to play on my "PC Master Race" strings masterfully - free of charge updates to what now is 3.1.2.0, much needed UI mod incorporated into an official update. Couple it to what was a solid game to begin with - the comparatively insane level of graphics detail, the careful manevouring around fantasy classic and D&D gameplay cliches, free of DRM, free little DLCs... this is the one Dragon Age 3 should take a boatload of notes, and not from the overhyped lackluster turd that Schkyrim was and continues to be.

You live in another dimension. First of all I'm pretty sure that Max Payne 3 is no rail mode third person shooter, being the case that I already finished it 3 times, there are action over the rails scenes, but they at best last 1 minute... I'm pretty sure you quit this game because it get's really difficult (and annoying to today's standards even on "normal" difficulty) and you gave up on it. Skyrim is nowhere near as you describe either, is very big that's for sure and while I don't think I will ever finish that game it really gave me a good and big walk, kind of making it unique.

[Phouchg]

You live in another dimension.

I do. Wait, I'm nominating Twitcher 2 here and you call me out on finding a game difficult? Which it rather was, and it was one of things good about it, because the depressing sashole actually died several times when I wasn't pointing and clicking rapidly enough at the baddies popping up on the inaccessible rooftops, among other ridiculous things. In fact, I'll go as far as stating that it had Max of Duty 3: Rooftop Warfare written all over it, just to try and troll you so hard that you'll have to resort to taking pills and drinking ****water while recounting monotonic monologues for the rest of your life as well.

I do realize in your dimension and wherever the f* everyone else seems to be residing in it's the local customs, the avowed policy and the only thing everyone usually does regardless of policies lest they appear to have caught a certain terminal sickness of suddenly making sense, to appear uselessly picsed off that someone else isn't totally in love with whatever foul-smelling shyte they happen to be totally in love with. I won't magically put pants backwards on my head tomorrow and start enjoying it because you've just declared that it's totally not what I think it is, but it's a complete opposite - flip switch, swing and a miss...

Next thing I'll hear is that Dorksiders 2 is a GOTY title. Oh wait, I've already heard that crap aplenty...

[JaredFrost]

Really? The Walking Dead? That game is so lame and boring, it's a game on rails, basically a story.

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

The game I got most enjoyment out of this year... Is a difficult choice.

Dishonored was great but far too short, and it didn't interest me enough to want to play it again. Max Payne 3 had brilliant cut scenes but the rest of it wasn't that fun. Darksiders 2 was pretty fun but it was lacking in depth I thought. Mass Effect 3 was a bit anticlimactic also.

Skyrim and Deus Ex: HR are amazing games but they were released in 2011, so they don't count.... Hmm. Not sure at all.

I would say Borderlands 2 is the most likely to win all the awards, as it's very accessible, fun (although a lot of the jokes fall flat) and isn't too short.

[Max Norris]

For me, it would be Mass Effect 3, with Dishonored and Torchlight 2 being close runner-ups.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Really? The Walking Dead? That game is so lame and boring, it's a game on rails, basically a story.

And it is exactly THE story that makes it the game of the year IMHO. I take it you do not ready anything else I said if this is your reaction.

Indeed, there is not all that much gameplay within the game itself. And it is not challenging to play even in the slightest. That is not what makes it so damn good.

What they were able to achieve with their story was fantastic, and there is no reason other more action based games could not do the same if they choose to do so.

It elevated the art of story telling in the video game genre to another level. For that reason alone it is worthy of GOTY, again IMO.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Walking Dead came close for me, definitely Tell Tales best yet, but I wish the decisions hadn't been as smoke and mirrors. I understand when you go crazy with decision paths you end up with tons of work and potentially loose ends/certain paths being weaker than others, but it could have been a little more varied. Most All decisions really ended up with the same end result...

Season 2 should have a higher budget and will IMO make it better for that - Besides more money to spend on the good things, the technical side of things was a little weak in Season 1, at least on the PS3 (stuttering, crashing and bugs).

As for my GOTY, still undecided (loving Borderlands 2 with GF right now), 2012 hasn't been that powerful for me, at least on the retail front. Lots of good downloadable games, I loved my short experience with Journey. I think 2013 will be better, The Last of Us and Beyond are by far two of my most anticipated titles of this generation. The Last of Us because ND proved themselves with Uncharted and have moved to a new more adult orientated IP (not stuck being the 'uncharted studio' anymore). Then Beyond because as flawed as parts of Heavy Rain were it essentially gave us The Walking Dead and other not so successful 'clones', but different experiences to the run of the mill nevertheless.

And let us not forget MGS Rising which I have played (it rocked), Bioshock Infinite, and possibly MGS5. Definitely more excited about 2013.

[JaredFrost]

And it is exactly THE story that makes it the game of the year IMHO. I take it you do not ready anything else I said if this is your reaction.

Indeed, there is not all that much gameplay within the game itself. And it is not challenging to play even in the slightest. That is not what makes it so damn good.

What they were able to achieve with their story was fantastic, and there is no reason other more action based games could not do the same if they choose to do so.

It elevated the art of story telling in the video game genre to another level. For that reason alone it is worthy of GOTY, again IMO.

I disagree, but that's ok, not everyone likes the same stuff, I found the story and gameplay tired and boring.

Personally I can't really think of anything that deserved GOTY this year, Halo 4 was ok, but not GOTY good

I did get Max Payne 3 and Skyrim but I've yet to play them, so I can't say, I guess therein lies my problem, I am still playing

catch up with previous years games. I need more time......

I did put countless hours into Minecraft, I really enjoyed that, even though it was released on 360 this year

I wouldn't call it a 2012 game.

[Arceles]

I do. Wait, I'm nominating Twitcher 2 here and you call me out on finding a game difficult? Which it rather was, and it was one of things good about it, because the depressing sashole actually died several times when I wasn't pointing and clicking rapidly enough at the baddies popping up on the inaccessible rooftops, among other ridiculous things. In fact, I'll go as far as stating that it had Max of Duty 3: Rooftop Warfare written all over it, just to try and troll you so hard that you'll have to resort to taking pills and drinking ****water while recounting monotonic monologues for the rest of your life as well.

I do realize in your dimension and wherever the f* everyone else seems to be residing in it's the local customs, the avowed policy and the only thing everyone usually does regardless of policies lest they appear to have caught a certain terminal sickness of suddenly making sense, to appear uselessly picsed off that someone else isn't totally in love with whatever foul-smelling shyte they happen to be totally in love with. I won't magically put pants backwards on my head tomorrow and start enjoying it because you've just declared that it's totally not what I think it is, but it's a complete opposite - flip switch, swing and a miss...

Next thing I'll hear is that Dorksiders 2 is a GOTY title. Oh wait, I've already heard that crap aplenty...

You're talking with a man that has seen all console/pc generations to come by and I can see you are clearly biased. MP3 was a great game, I'm wondering if you ever played the first two to really know what has really been with this particular character max, seeing how hateful are in your speech you seem to be a bit spoiled, therefore any game that doesn't fulfill any of your expectations is bad and that good sir is completely subjective, far more than other opinions expressed here and therefore not useful at all.

[S00N3R FR3AK]

If I cut out the ending ME3 can have GOTY, otherwise that was such a terrible way to end the series that I have to take it away. So for now my GOTY goes to Halo 4.