All three of Gaming Blend's contributors has written their own Top 5 list. Read Pete's list and Ryan's list to find out their picks.
2012 sucked for gamers. It really did. There were so many franchises with their balls cut off that a dog pound full of neutered chihuahuas had more intestinal fortitude than many of the games that shamefully filled the shelves of retailers this year. But nevertheless, there were a few highlights that saved what otherwise would be known as the ball-less, corporate, wallet-raping year of gimped ideas and half-arsed attempts at milking an otherwise grand hobby. So without further ranting on the greedy douche bags and shareholding-pricks that ruined endings to amazing trilogies, quick-time evented one of the most recognized franchises in the industry and DRM'ed, dumbed-down and removed everything that made us fall in love with gaming – as well as move the industry backwards by catering to fickle focus groups – here are the only games that I felt managed to hit the market running without feeling like they were entirely soulless entities whose sole purpose was to try and separate me from my cash.
#1: DayZ
The surprise hit of 2012 easily goes to DayZ. It's a game that came out of nowhere and, in a way, isn't even a game on its own...yet. Led by design contractor Dean “Rocket” Hall, DayZ started as a small time concept mod for Bohemia Interactive's Arma II and eventually evolved into a beast that pushed more than a million sales for Arma II, as gamers clamored to get in on the thrills of the first post-apocalyptic, open-world, zombie-survival game. The harsh conditions of perma-death, getting sick, scavenging for food, weapons, staying warm and finding shelter made DayZ a standout blast from all the safe-as-safe-can-be blockbusters that flooded the market this year. While the mod was riddled with one glitchy bug after another, the overall experience was a huge breath of fresh air and a clear direction of the zombie genre that hasn't been fully explored yet.
Given that the full DayZ is set for 2013, it stands to reason that this game could be on the Top 5 list for next year as well. Without a shadow of a doubt, though, DayZ was the only risk-taking game of the year that had (and still has) people talking about their zombie-apocalypse journeys, trials, tribulations and encounters. The video game social experiment of 2012 was an easy pick for the number one spot.
#2: Journey
While Journey didn't break any new ground in the way we play games, it did break ground in the way we experience the journey of playing a game. Oftentimes there's someone to defeat, someone to stop, something to overcome in order to accomplish greatness...but what happens when there's nothing to overcome except the journey itself? What does that mean? Thatgamecompany's Journey is the game that puts players in the position to answer the question via actually playing. The object is to wade through century-torn wastelands in order to ascend a seemingly insurmountable mountain, where salvation waits at the top.
Journey is a short, thrilling, tear-jerking, thought-provoking and engaging game because it doesn't force you to view it as a traditional game. You're not mowing down hundreds of people while claiming to be a good guy; you actually help (or get helped) by nameless others who will come and go from your journey with seamless ambition. There's nothing to overcome but the journey itself.
I thought Journey was a profound experiment in the zen sub-genre, and the timeless, goosebumps-inducing score from Austin Wintory helped put this game into the category of being a historical achievement in the artful realm of video game design. Both the soundtrack and the game are worth experiencing over and over again. A true masterpiece of 2012.
#3: Sleeping Dogs
After a rocky departure from Activision, United Front Games and True Crime: Streets of Hong Kong looked to be out of the loop for good. However, Square Enix stepped in and picked up the property and gave it a much needed title-makeover, calling it Sleeping Dogs. The game is 2012's rendition of Grand Theft Auto and the only open-world action title this gen that lets you play as a badass Asian dude. The game is a solid title all the way around, although I'd have to say that this makes this list out of the novelty of being an open-world game that's just above par as opposed to being anything ground breaking for a 2012 release. In fact, if this were any other year where there were games worth playing that pushed limits one way or another, Sleeping Dogs would have been left sleeping in the cold.
Still, this is a game that doesn't shrink its gameplay into a series of sporadic QTEs, and instead focuses more-so on a series of combination gameplay elements including a fleshed out martial arts combat system, intense Hollywood chase sequences and Hong Kong-inspired shootouts. A few non-traditional mini-games tossed in for good measure and a great representation of modern day Hong Kong is what makes Sleeping Dogs one of my top 5 titles of 2012.
#4: The Unfinished Swan
Originally, this was reserved for the upcoming terraforming, sci-fi space adventure game, Edge of Space. However, given that Edge of Space is still in a sort of pseudo closed-beta state, I decided to give this to a highly underrated but truly artistic and beautifully designed game from Giant Sparrow, The Unfinished Swan.
The start of the game is rather static and mute, with the player tasked with throwing blobs of black paint to uncover the white-washed world, but soon thereafter things begin to pick up and the world, the story and everything else begins to expand. Heck, even the gameplay mechanics evolve in a boundless and fun fashion as this family-friendly story takes shape.
While it doesn't tell a profoundly wide-spanning story of life and death like Journey, I think the more personal and tangled tale of family ties, and a minimalistic approach to interaction and exploration, helped give the game an identity all its own. This is not to mention that the sparse but airy soundtrack from Joel Corelitz fused with a very creative and smile-inducing ending is the sort of thing that leaves gamers with a smile on their face and a tear in the eye. While I doubt the game will maintain a strong historic presence, it certainly deserves a lot more attention than what it received...hence, why it made this list.
#5: Borderlands 2
Gearbox Software's sequel to the 2009 smash hit, Borderlands, proved to be both unsurprising and well-welcomed. While the sequel stayed relatively safe and could barely explore much more than it already did on the technical fronts due to aging console hardware, what we ended up with was a slick sequel that gave us fans more of what we already enjoyed from the original game.
While the humor may or may not be to everyone's liking, the main character of Borderlands 2 has always been the gun selection. Unlike the first game, gamers with a gun fetish get a much more varied and original cast of weapons in Borderlands 2 that range from sci-fi space-age weapons, to old-school style shooters like double-barreled shotguns and western-themed revolvers. What's more is that rocket launchers actually work this time around! Oh yeah, and it has four-player co-op...what's not to like about looting and shooting with friends?
