#10 - Diablo 3
Didn't keep me engaged for as long as I would have hoped, but I cannot deny the time I spent with Diablo 3 playing with friends was great fun. It feels a shame the game was in such a broken state when it first came out, I believe they have made some significant changes now which I would love to go back and try but its too little too late really. Still though, a fantastic game for the first 2 playthroughs, and amazing fun with friends.
#9 - Guild Wars 2
I still haven't had time to explore all of tyria, dat value for money.
Read more here
#8 - Quantum Conundrum
Puzzle game from people who made portal, of course it was going to be good. Similar to the original portal however, the game suffered from being about 1 hour long (or it felt like it was seriously short anyway). But, for the short time the main game lasted, it was great fun to play and one of the better 3d puzzle games out there.
#7 - FTL (Faster than light)
Indie roguelike goodness, where every enemy encounter has a reasonable chance of killing you and ending all progress you've made on that particular playthrough.
its great fun though, maybe i'm just a masochist. Read more here
#6 - XCOM
A surprise which came out of nowhere for me, installed after being urged by a friend. The game hooked me into its addictive SRPG bullshittery. I lost many hours to this beast and regret nothing. You can read more here
#5 - Max Payne 3
Max payne 3 is a sequel to Max Payne 2, major differences being the lack of comic book panels and max's hair. But everything else is intact, the dry wit, the clever writing, and all the satisfying slo-mo shooting one would expect. Max Payne 3 does nothing special, but what it does, it does so very very well.
#4 - Hitman Absolution
Probably a controversial pick, but I really enjoyed this instalment of Hitman.
Yeah sure it wasn't blood money, but guaranteed if it was, a ton of people would complain that it was too similar to the past game. I really feel like most of the complaints on this are completely unwarranted though, i've seen reviews saying 'you only assassinate 5 people' or whatever and these people are dumb as shit, you get to assassinate loads of people - and there is always the online 'Contracts' mode if you want to assassinate more, infact - the online contracts mode is probably the Blood Money most people were looking for. And to those complaining the game is too easy with 'instinct vision' (which lets you see people through walls and so on), try to play the game on hard or expert, then complain.
#3 - Sleeping Dogs
An overlooked gem, Sleeping dogs absolutely nails the open world sandbox genre, whilst stealing all of the good features from a ton of other games, the result is a game which seems to do everything right.
Fun melee combat, Fun and actually skill based shooting combat, Driving mechanics which dont feel awful, a level up system, clothes shopping, car shopping, optional races, a bunch of collectibles which arent forced upon you (and can be found on the minimap for those achievement hunting), and most importantly a Story which wasn't complete garbage.
#2 - SSX 2012
Winner of 'most underrated game of 2012' for sure, SSX was a blast to play, 80% of the tracks are a pure adrenaline rush to play when accompanied by the amazing soundtrack which suits the gameplay perfectly. The live audio mixing and visual feedback from linking a perfect set of tricks down the side of a mountain is as great to experience as it is to pull off. The online system is also fun and well thought out and the Single player story does well at keeping each set of levels fresh and challenging.
#1 - The Walking Dead
An easy decision here, and a well deserved win for The Walking Dead video game, whose great storytelling has already been recognized on sites larger than my own.
Though the game is a mediocre point and click adventure, its incredible characters and story will keep you glued to the game from start to finish. You can read more here
Honourable Mentions: Sniper Elite V2, Hotline Miami, Mark of the Ninja
Stuff which would probably be on the list if I had a chance to properly play them:
Assassins Creed 3, Far Cry 3, Zero's Escape: Virtue's last reward
Assassins creed in particular I feel has top 6-10 potential, and Virtues last reward could probably make top 5. I'll be getting the latter within the week I hope so I'll blog about it when I finish it.
End Note:
Its been a reasonable year for video games, and whilst sequel fever probably isn't going anywhere for a while (6/10 games on this list are sequels, 7/10 if you consider sleeping dogs was once intended to be part of the true crime series), its nice to see a few games changing it up.
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