March 2012: Best Release

BioWare's epic sci-fi shooter scoops the award for this month's best entertainment release!
March has been a bit of a mixed bag in some respects- Being Human and John Carter were particular disappointments for me- but as a whole there was one saving grace which really made all the waiting and anticipation that fans had gone through worthwhile: Mass Effect 3. Let's forget that ending and all the controversy surrounding it- why, you ask? Because quite honestly, it's not just the final ten minutes of a product that we should consider when attempting to review or rate it, but rather the journey leading up to them and the scale of which it is successful in building up tension and atomsphere, and it is in this respect that BioWare have shined so very brightly with their new RPG. Every single major decision that you have made in the past two entries in the series is taken into account here, having a profound impact on your playthrough experience to the point that no two recountings of the 'same' campaign will ever be the same thanks to the various murders, romantic affairs and genocides you have commited in the past thirty or so hours leading up to the finale that all come to fruition in some form or another. Better still, the shooter gameplay itself has been tightened up dramatically, refined enough that it blends vastly better with the cinematic tone of the storyline to the point that you might as well be playing through a twenty-hour blockbuster movie. Add to that a killer multiplayer offering sure to entice fans for months on end and some great Kinect features and you've got a quality package, but that BioWare are even considering manipulating or providing further clarification on the ending shows their supreme dedication to making their products the best that they can be, so I'm not even going to try to let my minor disappointment at the game's climax overwhelm my huge love for Mass Effect 3, a video game which is sure to go down as one of the best of its genre and its generation. I rarely pick a first- or third-person shooter for Game of the Year, but even so I have a feeling that this as close as one such entry in those genres will have ever come to scooping this award.
JANUARY 2012- SHERLOCK: THE REICENBACH FALL (RUNNERS-UP: WAR HORSE; SHERLOCK: A SCANDAL IN BELGRAVIA)
FEBRUARY 2012- THE MUPPETS (RUNNER-UP: KINGDOMS OF AMALUR)
MARCH 2012- MASS EFFECT 3 (RUNNER-UP: THE HUNGER GAMES)