Shenmue Dojo Game's of the Year

[Bluecast]

2012's 2011 GOTY Xenoblade( I got it in 2011 as an import)

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

2012's 2011 GOTY: The Witcher 2, I had the game the whole time but actually played it this year after the enhanced update and fell in love with the witcher universe all over again.

[Axm]

Looking at my games it seems I've only played and beaten 9 games from this year. I did beat Catherine and Yakuza Dead Souls but since they came out in 2011 in Japan I don't really class them as 2012.

3. Max Payne 3



It's rare that a third person shooter doesn't make you feel like a God that can take down an entire army without taking cover. Even if your in a room with one person you feel like you're in danger simply down to how easy you can take damage. I loved the tension in some scenes where you just had to take a chance and come out in bulletime and hope that you survive.

Another way you aren't made to feel like a God is the fact that Max is a loser. He tells you this quite a lot through the game. His just a simple guy from New York who's had a lot of shit happen in his life which has almost never worked out for him. Max isn't Master Chief or Marcus Fenix and you feel it in the gameplay as well as the story.

It was missing some of the charm that the first two had and I think that was mainly Sam Lake's writing. Other then that this game was still fantastic despite the fact I wasn't looking to forward to it. I'd be more then happy for Rockstar to make another Max Payne game and the fact they don't really milk their franchises is a bonus.

2. Journey



It left me feeling the way only a handful of games do. It's something I shouldn't explain and you should just experience.

1. Mass Effect 3



This has to be my favorite franchise of the generation. People bitch and moan about the last two hours but I felt the entire game was the ending for the series and a great one at that. It's hard to just make Mass Effect 3 my number one game of the year because the experience I had with the first two games influences why I love this so much.

OL once asked why people love Mass Effect so much. I really don't think anyone can tell him because at the end we all get a different experience. I don't know if I will ever play these games again because my story has been told. Even if I played it in a totally different way in 5 or 10 years time nothing will compare to how I felt having to make them choices for the first time even if it did have an outcome I wasn't happy with.


Other games from 2012 I played:

Kingdom Hearts 3D
Assassins Creed 3
Alan Wake: AN
Fifa 13
Binary Domain
Uncharted: GA


2012 Games I want to play:
Paper Mario 3D
Walking Dead
Gravity Rush
Halo 4

[MiTT3NZ]

Game of the Year runner up: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Game of the Year: FIFA 13


...they're the only games released this year that I've played.

[OL]

Oh shit, was Catherine released this year?
Fuck, I hadn't even thought of that. I mean, I didn't forget about the game itself (I absolutely loved it), I just must have thought it was last year.

[Absentia]

Game of the Year runner up: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Game of the Year: FIFA 13

I've been playing a lot of FIFA (A LOT) and I got to say it's the most annoying game I've ever played.
I started hating the game, since I had only played 11 before and the changes weren't enormous but were subtle enough to make me mad at times.

Now, I'm decent enough at the game, but there are times that the game just feels cheap. And to this day it's the only game to piss me off to the point of trashing a controller
I'm incredibly calm, I've only been mad or angry at something a handful of times throughout my whole life, but this game just pushes my button, dammit!

[Riku Rose]

Oh shit, was Catherine released this year?
Fuck, I hadn't even thought of that. I mean, I didn't forget about the game itself (I absolutely loved it), I just must have thought it was last year.

Europe got Catherine this year (Because they have to translate to made up languages like French) but the US got it last year. So it's not a 2012 game even for Europe.

[Takumi]

Best Xbox 360 game: NHL13 (Also because I play hockey)
Best PC game: Black Mesa: Source

BM:S was really the only game I played through in a single sitting this year. For a fan recreation, they did a bloody good job.

[Vyse Hazuky]

I think this was the year when I probably played less games in my life.

binary domain
BD confirmed how Nagoshi and his team could do this sort of game as well as any western developer, all the while taking it in new directions. Even if voice control didn't work 100% you can't fault them for trying - it still provided a fresh experience in a bloated genre, mixing proven core mechanics with a feel of japanese science fiction.

botanicula
Even though Botanicula is arguably a step-down in the evolutionary scale of Amanita Design's work, branching off of the Samorost series rather than Machinarium, it still proved how unique their sensibilities are, creating an approachable endearing experience unlike any seen this year.

journey
Journey, surprisingly, was much more closer to Flower than I'd ever imagined it'd be. A much more crafted experience, it still synthesized everything tgc's about: aesthetics, simplicity and message. It's groundbreaking use of communication in multiplayer made it that more special, as thousands, hand in hand, trekked Journey together. Length is its singular weakpoint, but the strength of what's there already more than makes up for it.

I was disappointed with Yakuza Dead Souls.

As for games from other years, I loved playing the Game & Watch galleries on the 3DS.

There are also some games which I haven't got/played yet that came out this year: Way of the Samurai 4, Catherine, Mass Effect 3, Dragon's Dogma, Under Defeat HD, Virtue's Last Reward, Asura's Wrath, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes and Miasmata, for instance...

[Who Really Cares?]

Screw it The Walking Dead is getting it from me.

[AnimeGamer183]

Xenoblade, there is nothing else that even comes close.

[MiTT3NZ]

Meh, I don't think it was all that. I still want to restart it though, but I'll be doing so on my PC if/when I do.

[Riku Rose]

Screw it The Walking Dead is getting it from me.

Have to agree with you there. Should have saved my original writeup for a week or two.

[OL]

Okay, fuck it.
I was working on a video for this, but it's just turning into too much work for something that only has relevance within a very small window of time.
So screw it, I'll just post them here and continue working on a different vid.

Runner-Ups

Asura's Wrath
Over-the-top, unrelenting, cinematic as hell, and oh so pretty, Asura's Wrath really made an impression on me. While it could almost be said that it's only half-gameplay with the rest of it being "interactive cutscenes", it still amounts to something incredibly fun and appealing as an overall package.
It's like the fight anime I've always wanted, with fantastic animation, beautiful design work, crazy-ass plot developments, and literally some of the most well-choreographed and inventive action I've ever seen.

The Darkness 2
The first Darkness game was a favorite of mine. Not that the gameplay was anything amazing, and it certainly wasn't much to look at. The real clincher in the whole thing was the story. As a previous fan of the Darkness comics, I pretty much already knew how things would play out from the onset of the game, but the writing and development of it all had a really nice charm that almost made it even more affecting than the comic could ever hope to be.
Following up something like that would be a difficult task, especially when you don't even have the same developer working on the sequel. But with the return of Paul Jenkins in the writing spot, the final product actually turned out as a technically better product. The writing and plot development retains the charm of the original while still moving it a little closer to its comicbook roots, and the overhaul in gameplay and art style was nothing but an improvement on all fronts.
While I still have a huge soft spot for the original (the only game this generation that I've played to completion five times altogether) I can't help but praise the sequel as an overall better game.

Binary Domain
Initially Binary Domain doesn't seem like anything different. Upon first inspection it may just feel like another samey third-person shooter, with all the standard military-type characters, shooting from cover, lobbing grenades, etc.
But then you see the enemies, an army of robots that can be shot apart, piece by piece, sometimes with tactical advantages (headshots scramble their AI and make them attack their allies). Then you see the gigantic boss battles which really move the game into near-"epic" territory. Then you notice the excellent sense of humor and personality that it has, making the characters all feel incredibly likable and appealing. Then you experience the insane plot twist late in the game that actually brings a new perspective on the usually-cliche "nature of humanity" themes that robot-centric stories tend to cover.
With all of that taken into account, it then dawns on you: this game is something special.
Hoping on a sequel eventually.

Armored Core V
Armored Core V gained a good amount of unfavorable reviews upon its release for one primary reason; repetitiveness.
People complained that the missions are never much more varied than "destroy everything".
Granted, that is true. But at the same time, the fact that it does this just makes it even more admirable in my eyes.
See, Armored Core is a series with a very hardcore fanbase attached to it. And up to this point, From Software have been careful not to "betray" them in any way by making the games any more like everything else out there. So in this age of QTE's, cinematic setpieces, mission variety, and wisecracking main characters, From have opted to keep AC the way it's always been, with any changes only present to individalize it from others in the series, and to make it a better game overall. The game still revolves around all-out action, the main character is still a silent avatar for the player, and the real name of the game is still the incredibly deep, multi-functional customization options.
Changes have been made, such as the robots being more tank-like compared to AC4's fast, anime-style ones, the graphical presentation being far more atmospheric, and the primary story missions being much larger and more spread out than before. The game also has a very deep, functional multiplayer component as well, but it's completely skippable if you choose to ignore it.
Basically, Armored Core V is... more Armored Core. But even bigger than ever before.
Heh. That rhymed.

Game of the Year

Gravity Rush
Gravity Rush is a platformer.
Many might choose to disagree, since on the surface it may appear to be an open-world action game. But the fact is, the action is only a small part of it. The real star of the show is the means of traversal that the game presents. Which, in my eyes, makes it very clearly a platformer. The thing is, the "platforms" in question aren't quite like they are in any other platformer.
Basically, the main character's primary means of traversal is her ability to fall. It may look like flying it first, but she's actually falling through the air. She just has the ability to change the direction of her fall.
And because she can do this, it essentially turns every wall, every ceiling, and everything else in the game world into a "platform" for her to travel across.
It's an aspect that automatically makes the game unlike anything else I've ever played.
And this ability is helped along by the fact that the game's open environment is quite possibly the most 3-dimensional world ever created in a sandbox game. You find yourself exploring a floating city, and because it's floating, you have the option to explore not only its top side and everything stretching out from that, but also its underside and interior.
The storyline is also incredibly endearing and likable, playing out like a sci-fi/fantasy superhero comic, and unfortunately ending on a note that isn't necessarily a cliffhanger, but does leave just about every major question left up in the air for a sequel to come along and hopefully answer.
Along with all of this, the game also has just about the greatest videogame soundtrack I've heard in quite a long time (which is really saying something, what with all of the great vg tunes out there these days) and an unmistakable and beautiful visual style and design sense.
This is exactly the kind of game that I play videogames for. Hell, I bought an entirely new system just for this. Which, in a way, means that I payed around $300 for Gravity Rush alone.
And I don't regret it in the least.
Other games will of course come along on the Vita, and I'll no doubt enjoy many of them, but it's going to take a helluva lot to topple GR as the absolute system-defining game that I consider it to be.
I loved everything about the game. Seriously, aside from the unanswered questions, there's practically nothing I could fault the game for.
So it is, very easily, my favorite game of the year.

[Yokosuka Martian]

Game of the Year runner up: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Game of the Year: FIFA 13


...they're the only games released this year that I've played.

I'm surprised you haven't played AC III yet.