It’s the end of the year and you know what that means: the world as we know it is about to end!
On December 21st 2012, the Mayan Calendar reaches its conclusion and swift apocalyptic cataclysm is an irrefutable certainty.
But before hellfire starts raining from the sky and the undead rise to feast upon the flesh of the living, we should take a look at our team’s choices for: The Best Games of 2012.
MkaY’s Choice:
Never before have I seen a video game used so well as a storytelling medium.
It has to be The Walking Dead series by Telltale Games.
Never before have I seen a video game used so well as a storytelling medium. In addition, I’ve never seen so much humanity in a zombie infested world. Every aspect of the game works to its favor and simply put, there is nothing not to like.
The game has it all: an intriguing plot, characters that you really care about and a decision making system that really alters the outcome of the game.
It is the best tale told of 2012.
Related Articles:
The Walking Dead Review by GideonKain
BOG: Game Out Loud Podcast 14 – Walking the Dead! by Game Out Loud Podcast
GideonKain’s Choice:
…all told I’ve probably paid about 16 cents per hour of fun
For me it has to be, Guild Wars 2. I often measure a game’s worth by how much time I’ve sunk into it. I like to calculate my approximate “fun per dollar” ratio. In Guild Wars 2 I’ve played untold hundreds of hours, easily eclipsing the 160 hours I put into Skyrim, my last “long term relationship”.
All told I’ve probably paid at maximum 16 cents per hour of fun.
($50.00 /300 hours played = $0.16)
Here you have a game that after purchasing it will provide you with a massive and surprisingly friendly user community, an ever expanding world to explore and the right to play it anytime you want for it’s entire lifetime. It has no subscription fee and each and every class is a bold departure from the typical tropes you find in many other MMOs.
Related Article:
10 things I love about Guild Wars 2 by GideonKain
Stretch’s Choice:
Pandora is a deceptively gargantuan wonder.
Borderlands 2 surprised the hell out of me.
The world of Pandora is a deceptively gargantuan wonder. It is filled with engaging missions and characters that interested me more than any other game I’ve played.
Lighting bugs on fire, following a treasure map, luring a bandit to a tea party, blowing up a bridge, putting a robot’s ‘brain’ into a radio and shooting a guy in the face, to name a few, are all extremely dynamic, and includes a story that, as I said in my review, feels too good.Borderlands 2 is an experience I gladly lost myself in.
Borderlands 2 is a barrel of fun, laughs and explosions, and is the only game this year that was good enough to pull me back for a second playthrough after reviewing it. Oh, and the guns are badass too.
Related Articles:
Borderlands 2 Xbox 360 Review by Stretch
BOG Humor: Dishonored, FTL & Borderlands 2 by GideonKain
Conner42′s Choice
…uses its mechanics to not only tell one of the most engrossing stories in a video game ever, but it also deconstructs the whole modern shooter genre…
Spec-Ops: The Line is… –oh, you haven’t played this game? Fix that! Describing the actual gameplay of this game will probably make your eyes roll so hard that they might fall off your face. But even though it’s a cover based shooter, the game manages to be more than just a Gears of War/Call of Duty/Modern Warfare game.
In fact, putting Spec Ops: The Line as a comparison to those games is quite insulting. There has never been a game that has punched me in the gut this hard emotionally. For those who’ve played the game, you know what I’m talking about! It’s one of the most painful, grueling experiences I’ve ever played through in a game, and, in this case, I mean that as a compliment.
The game uses its mechanics to not only tell one of the most engrossing stories in a video game ever, but it also deconstructs the whole modern shooter genre by making you feel bad about what you’re doing in the game.
Unfortunately, it’s one of those games that you absolutely need to play, but I can’t tell you why, because that would be spoiling the entire game. But, suffice it to say that the game somehow manages to be engaging while also making me feel like the worst kind of person to even play through this game.
This game didn’t do terribly well in the sales, but the game looks like it’s destined to be a sleeper hit if word of mouth can spread on what a unique game this is.
This has been a pretty drab year with not a whole lot going on, but this glowing gem of a game makes up for that by being what looks like is going to be one of the most important games of this generation.
Related Articles:
Spec Ops: The Line Xbox 360 Review by Stretch
BOG: Game Out Loud Podcast 12 – BLOPS 2 Needs You! by Game Out Loud Podcast
BOG: Game Out Loud Podcast 13 – The Next Generation by Game Out Loud Podcast
Rob’s Choice
Everything about it is effortless.
Journey is a game about places and feelings. Tons of attention was given to ensure that its world is something that can be explored on the player’s terms, without any obtrusive interface elements cluttering up the experience. Everything about it is effortless – from its somber setting to the way it gently compels anonymous players to work with each other (and even bond).
Journey is elegantly, refreshingly simple. And it’s the best game I played this year.
Related Article:
Journey PS3 Review by MkaY
Vault101′s Choice
It’s not often you get a game that gets such a strong emotional reaction from so many people…
My pick would be Mass Effect 3.
It was the most controversial game of 2012 without a doubt.
While it has its share of faults and that ending is an entire issue of its own, I think it deserves credit where credit is due. It’s not often you get a game that gets such a strong emotional reaction from so many people, and it’s not often that people are so invested in a games story and characters to the point where they are arguably more important than the game play itself.
Hopefully, it goes to show that story can matter in a game and that it’s something that shouldn’t be treated like an afterthought (that and endings are kind of important too). For everything it did wrong ME3 did a lot of things right. The combat was better than before with more options for weapons, all our favorite characters were back in action (with maybe one or two memorable additions).
We got to see our Sheppard actually show some vulnerability for once and when the galaxy was on the brink of destruction it really felt like it, never have the overheard conversations of NPC’s felt so tragic. It’s also not common for games to try a serious attempt at romance, let alone same sex romance and while adding the option in the 3rd game may have seemed “too little too late” for some, it was a risky move and I think one that deserves recognition.
Related Articles:
Mass Effect 3 Xbox 360 Review by Stretch
Mass Effect 3′s Ending & Shepard Indoctrination Theory by Stretch
The Extended Cut Fixes NOTHING by Stretch
So there you have it, our picks for: The Best Games of 2012.
Instead of huddling in your basement with your loved ones and enough spam and bottled drinking water to survive five years in isolation, we at BOG suggest you go out and pick up at least one of these great titles and play it before the End of Days officially kicks off!
Heck, why not pick them all up? Money will be worthless once our new alien overlords arrive.
Bonus Material
Ryan DeBraal
Loading ...
