Alright, so with every game site doing their own personal game of the year awards I thought, we, the fine folks of MMO-Champion could band together and come up with our own game of the year list. So, here's how this will be done. Post your top 5 games, 1 being the best of course. I will count how many times each game is mentioned and take the 5 that were on the most lists. Then, I will average the position of those games on that list.
There are only 2 rules to this: 1. It has to have been released in the year 2012. 2. It has to be a video game. That's it. It can be a remake, a console port, whatever. Just make sure that it has been released in 2012. Also, feel free to give some feedback as to why the game is your game of the year.
So, I'll start it off.
5. Torchlight 2: An absolutely fantastic ARPG. The gameplay was fluid and it really brought me back to the days of playing FATE when I was little. My only problem with the game was the drop rates. Maybe it was my own luck, but I could go 10 or 15 levels without upgrading a certain piece. Torchlight 1 also had this problem and I found that by the end of the game my gear was so terrible that I starting taking major damage from the enemies and sometimes even being 1 shot. The balance wasn't as bad as Torchlight towards the end, but it could be improved.
4. Pokemon Black and White 2: I know some people will disagree with me on this one, but this is some of the most fun I've had in a Pokemon game since Soulsilver. The amount of endgame stuff to do is phenominal. Usually after I beat a Pokemon game, I usually set it down for a little while before diving back in to catch all the Pokemon, but I found myself searching for the team to do the Pokemon World Championship. I loved the appearance of all the old gym leaders. Not to mention that the game had a nice level of difficulty to it. It has an incredible amount of replayability to it, even more so than its predecessors.
3. Halo 4: Halo 4 is a game that I feel somewhat guilty for having on my top 5 list, considering it's pretty much more of the same, but I loved it. The campaign (albeit short) was probably the best of the series. The emotion in the story was pretty well done. They made Master Chief look like more of a human than a mindless soldier like in previous games. Spartan Ops is also a great feature. Getting a group of 3 friends and playing through the new missions is alot of fun and it gets you looking forward to the next chapter. The multiplayer is pretty much more of the same, but honestly Halo has some of the best FPS multiplayer around, so you can't really ask for more.
2. The Walking Dead: I struggled with deciding whether to make this my #1 or not, but honestly I can't bring myself to do that. This game has one of the most heart-wrenching stories I have ever seen in a video game. So much so that I was in tears at the end, but it's hard to give it my "game" of the year award. The shooting sequences are atrocious and the puzzles actually become an annoyance towards the end of the game. The main attraction of this game is your interaction with the characters. I have NEVER felt more of a connection to a character than I have with Clementine. The writing and character development is incredible. The only thing that I'm disappointed with is that your choices don't have a major impact events of the story. If someone is meant to die, then they will die regardless of what you do. This is like the Suicide Mission in Mass Effect 2 where you choices affect who dies. The same characters will always either make it through an episode or they won't. Now, don't get me wrong. The reason I am so critical of this game is because I love it so much. In my opinion it is a MUST PLAY game and will probably be one of the most memorable games I'll ever play.
1. Dishonored: Arkane Studios. I just have to give them a gigantic round of applause. At the end of a console generation we fall into sequelitis. Not many new IPs are released, but Arkane not only released a new IP, but an incredible one. Dunwall is such an interesting and well thought out city. It's mystique is akin to that of Rapture in Bioshock 1 and 2, but it's unlike anything I've ever explored. The gameplay is incredible as well. The variety of abilites makes it to where you can kill enemies and hundreds of different ways and sneak around using your various tools. I tip my hat to Bethesda for believing in and supporting this new IP and to Arkane Studios for creating such an interesting game.
---------- Post added 2012-12-29 at 05:43 PM ----------
Also, I want to add that there are still alot of games from this year that I haven't played through of am currently playing through. This year has been incredible for games and coming up with a top 5 was a tough decision.