Our Personal Games of the Year

[Retehi]

Surprise of the Year: Saints Row The Third: This series REALLY didn't look appealing to me. AT ALL. Even up to the third game, but another friend got it for me(Yeah I'm so poor that all of my games are free/gifts from awesome people) and MAN was I caught off guard by the sense of humor, the game even makes fun of it'self. Even if sometimes sandbox games can present simple gameplay, it's a sandbox game, there's a lot to do. I'd say it's missions are as fun as GTA4 minus the 2354235 sometimes game breaking glitches. The humor alone keeps me playing.

I was gonna say SR3 was my GOTY but that came out last year. Though it is awesome enough to be GOTY every year.

I mean, any game that makes me like Kanye West has to win some kind of award.

[.Rusty.]

Saints Row The Third was a pretty awesome game and in some ways surprisingly progressive. Kinda worried about whats gonna happen to the series now that THQ has gone bankrupt.

[RavenTW]

Game of the Year: Mass Effect 3. I don't care what you think about the endings, the rest of the game was solid and beautiful, and I was content with my ending until the extended cut came along and removed all of my lingering plot threads. Dialogue was the best in a game ever, combat was decent, progression felt new and interesting, and the story was, as always, stellar.

Surprise of the Year: Rayman Legends. Music-based levels that aren't rhythm games, but running along the stage and performing actions that just happen to synch up with the music? Genius. Getting licensed music to do this? Beautiful.

Disappointment of the Year: Soul Calibur 5. Beat story mode in one day. Half of the character I love have been replaced with knockoffs, the revamps to Critical Edge are perhaps even more pointless than the instant-finish attacks, and the only new fighter I was interested in has a ridiculous learning curve. Character customization wasn't enough to keep me interested.

[Akaimizu]

Zombi U is actually one of the best Survival Horror games in the past several years. Key word, survival horror. Definitely serves it up better than any Resident Evil game has done since the Dreamcast years. Even one of the best Res evils in recent years (Revelations) seems like an non-scary action shooter by comparison. To a degree, it combines great suspense-filled survival horror with a rogue-like twist. Maybe not for everyone expecting today's Resident Evil, but I could easily see it earning a few rewards. Nobody else, save a couple of PC indie titles did Survival Horror right, lately. They may be good games, but I think they're getting labelled wrong. I don't consider Action-adventure/Action-shooter with a horror theme, survival horror.

[RenzokukenZ]

GOTY: Hotline Miami: Bomber AKA lolethan got me this on xmas, it reminds me a lot (and is apparently influenced.) "Drive" one of my most favorite movies. And the sound track and art style alone features my favorite is extremely 80's theme, which I'm surprised people even knew 80's electro/house even exist. So those two things alone were a red flag that I was going to love this game. Also Animal masks are fucking awesome.

But then the game play itself, it's like so violent, but it has so much stealth and strategy and replay value. It's a really hard game but not bullshit hard, more like non-frustrating fun challenge hard. You'll either be laughing at your own deaths, Or sometimes almost jumping out of your seat during them. I'd say the game as a whole... It's like a combination of GTA 1&2, pacman, Metal gear solid and Drive(I swear not enough people have seen this awesome movie.)

Even though this is "just" an indie game, I haven't had this much arcade/classic like fun since... super nintendo was considered new.

Then you'll be happy to know that they're making a sequel. Was gonna be DLC, but then they decided "Feck it, let's make a second game!" So expect some more hot pink and teal electric boogaloo in the near future.

Also, holy balls did this place explode while I was gone. But yeah, this is the place for our personal games selections, so obviously someone will like game X and someone else won't. This isn't really the place to argue about it, so no point trying.

[Polly]

Then you'll be happy to know that they're making a sequel. Was gonna be DLC, but then they decided "Feck it, let's make a second game!" So expect some more hot pink and teal electric boogaloo in the near future.

I loved Hotline Miami to bits, but I do hope they leave the sequel in the oven JUST A BIT longer to iron out some of the AI and control issues. I think the "game jam" mentality played against that game, and a month or two extra of polishing it down would have made it damn near perfect.

And concerning Game of the Year lists I posted a more comprehensive list of awards based on everything I played this year, not only stuff released in 2012. Ya know, if anybody cares about that kinda thing.

[NoiseHERO]

Then you'll be happy to know that they're making a sequel. Was gonna be DLC, but then they decided "Feck it, let's make a second game!" So expect some more hot pink and teal electric boogaloo in the near future.

Also, holy balls did this place explode while I was gone. But yeah, this is the place for our personal games selections, so obviously someone will like game X and someone else won't. This isn't really the place to argue about it, so no point trying.

Yeah I heard about this.

Was also gonna look into other games this guy made, he apparently made a lot.

and yes. over the years my taste in music and style has made me like pink. *_*

[Kaziel]

Persona 4 (Golden). A little late, but just got around to playing it.

I always get sucked into the SMT style games.

I'd have to say that Planetside 2 was the most disappointing with no metagame whatsoever.

[Enforcer MKV]

Game of the Year: Borderlands 2. They took everything from the first game and expanded upon it. It's all just...so...so sexy. The only thing I DIDN'T like was not being able to shoot my teammates with my rocket launcher and heal them. Oh! And rocket launchers in this game are actually useful! Wootness!

Surprise of the Year: Resident Evil 6. This game...wasn't nearly as bad as the reviewers pegged it, I thought. Admittedly, I'm not a lifelong fan of the series, and I see plenty of areas for improvement...but I genuinely liked this game. And with No Hope Left mode? My friend and I are being very, very cautious. And it feels great.

Disappointment of the Year: Spec Ops: The Line. I so wanted this game to rock. I so wanted it to. But the more I heard about it, the more I just...no, just no. Ugh. It hurts too bad. I picked it up on Steam for $10 and am finally playing through it after playing the Xbox demo a few months back, and...It's....It's not a bad game. It just feels like it was rushed. Not enough polish, and a multiplayer component that was just shoehorned in because it was a modern shooter. Bleh. You know your multiplayer sucks when the head of the developer hates it and curses the publisher for forcing them to add it. I expect the story to be interesting, and I'll enjoy it...but I already feel like this game could have been so much better.

Worst game of the year: I'm torn between RE: Operation Raccoon City and ME3. Both kinda failed kinda hard in my mind. Operation Raccoon City was just bad on a mechanics level: Clunky controls, shite hit detection, buggy sections, bad camera (an RE Throwback? *cymbal crash*) stiff animations, and so little polish it was just...ugh. And ME3? Oi-vey, this...this is the reason people rage at EA. They turned this into Micheal Bay in space. I get it, the universe is literally playing host to hostile takeover, but...did you really have to gut everything good about the series? I mean, the little bits of customization feel more like a bone being thrown to old time fans than something that was wanted in the game by the people making it. The nice thing about the first game was that it was both an action game and an RPG. Yes, the fighting did need work; it wasn't polished at the beginning of the series, but the third game..it just feels like there's too much action game, not enough RPG. At least the story held up until the end. The actual story-telling was good, as per usual. And the CO-OP...that was a very pleasant surprise.

[darkante]

Yeah, i´ve a hard time getting back into BL1 since its slower and all. (still great though)
And BL2 have so many different ways to approach it also loot farming ftw.
Have so many awesome weapons.

I just hope they release a new level cap soon (hell a third difficulty wouldnt be bad either)
Eagerly awaiting the Sir Hammerlock DLC as well.