As promised,
2012 really has been quite a year for the video gaming industry. Sure, we’ve
suffered a good few delays here and there- Tomb
Raider, BioShock and GTA V the
most notable- but on the whole there have been plenty of great new instalments
to commence the countdown to the climax of this current generation. We’ve come
to that point in the year when it’s time, then, to rank the best of the best,
the cream of the crop, the titles which we will likely go on to remember most
fondly in years to come. The Top 10
List you see below encapsulates a handful of developers who strived to be
better and more innovative than any of their competitors in 2012 and who
succeeded with a bang. Perhaps some of the entries will be controversial for
the gamers among you, yet for me each of these ten games represents the
industry at its absolute best this year, just under a dozen quality experiences that you can
afford to miss. So just what is On-Screen’s Game Of The Year 2012? Find out
below…
10. FORZA HORIZON- Playground Games had no small task in
revitalising the Forza franchise in
the shadow of Turn 10’s colossal realistic efforts, yet with Horizon they gave us a beautiful
open-world to roam and a compelling narrative to partake in. Sure, the streets
can seem a little sparse for AI, and the car visuals may not be quite as breathtaking as in the main
series, but all the same this spin-off remains 2012’s defining tour de
excellence of racing on the small screen.
9. TRANSFORMERS: FALL OF CYBERTRON- Against all the odds, High Moon Studios
provided the best licensed game this year since Batman Arkham City. Yes, there are one or two minor niggles we can
make of Fall Of Cybertron, however
these are far outweighed by its self-assured representation of the Hasbro
license and the glorious potential on offer here for future instalments.
8. LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS- Travellers’ Tales got off to a kicking
start with LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes in
the Summer, but it was with their adaptation of Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings film trilogy. From
the Mines of Moria to the Dead Marshes, from Smeagol to Tom Bombadil, the
attention to detail in rendering the series lore here was incredible, providing
the ultimate LOTR experience ahead of
the much-anticipated The Hobbit: An
Unexpected Journey.
7. SPEC OPS: THE LINE- How do you make a shooter ‘relevant’
nowadays? This is a question that’s still plaguing franchises like Call Of Duty and Battlefield, and yet 2K Games made it same painstakingly easy with
the fantastic new Spec Ops sequel The Line. Adapted from Joseph Konrad’s Heart Of Darkness, this
thought-provoking thriller had all of the scale and shocks of a blockbuster
films and indeed the solid gun-play engine to match, making for a memorable
third-person jaunt that eclipses everything else in its genre.
6. MAX PAYNE 3- Another shooter with an edge, Max Payne 3 was an ever-impressive new
outing from Rockstar Games. It could be argued that in its reliance on linear
shoot-outs and a tight storyline, this one lost some of the open-world magic
that made Grand Theft Auto IV our
Game Of The Year 2008. However, what it lacked in freedom this stunning shooter
more than compensated for with dazzling visuals and near-perfect gameplay
mechanics.
5. MASS EFFECT 3- It’s safe to say that as 2011 drew to
its climax, I was predicting the final entry in the hit Mass Effect science-fiction RPG trilogy to be the Game Of The Year
2012. Although that didn’t turn out to be the case, it was still a tight
margin- where character relationships weren’t quite resolved perfectly; we
instead got the perfect representation of the final Reaper War, a
controversial-but-epic ending and a breathtaking set of DLC missions that
successfully expanded this concluding masterpiece.
4. HITMAN ABSOLUTION- Before this year, I hadn’t played a Hitman game. The franchise had always
seemed too intimidating for a shooter-hardened player such as myself. It’s
saying so much, then, that Hitman
Absolution lands so high on this Top 10 list, as this new entry is both
accessible for newcomers such as myself and a redefining experience for series
veterans. Combine a stunning narrative and main campaign with a Contracts Mode
that has near-limitless replay value and here you get one of the best overall
video game experiences of 2012 by a long way.
3. ASSASSIN’S CREED III- Ubisoft’s latest Assassin’s Creed game felt to me like The Avengers of the games industry for 2012. Combining the biggest
and best elements of the Ezio trilogy and the Altair original into one massive
finale, ACIII brought us a storyline
that wrapped up the apocalypse narrative of the main trilogy, while opening new
plot threads just as Joss Whedon did with Thanos (but no ending spoilers
here!). Better yet, the gameplay was at its absolute finest, with a stunning
rendition of Revolutionary America that remains among my favourite open-worlds
of all time in a masterful video game experience.
2. HALO 4- Back in 2007, Halo 3 won our Game Of The Year award with little challenge bar Super Mario Galaxy. This year, the
competition has been far more immense, so 343 Industries’ first effort narrowly
misses out on the award. That said, it would be impossible to go on without
commending the new developers for producing the best entry in the saga yet,
fitted with an accessible and comprehensive storyline, innovative game-play
that finally rids us of the same Covenant battles and the best graphics ever
seen on a current-generation console.
GAME OF THE YEAR 2012: DISHONORED- I’m very glad to announce, then, that
a completely new IP has stormed to the top of this list to become our Game Of
The Year 2012. Bethesda and Arkane Studios had their work cut out topping Skyrim in the form of their new
steampunk RPG Dishonored, yet they
have actually managed to do the impossible and accomplish just that task. From
its incredible set of nine huge, open-ended levels with infinite replay value
to the amazing levelling-up system and set of powers our hero Corvo is equipped
with, there is no limit to the level of sheer quality Arkane have endowed their
finest project with, and indeed thus to the limit of engagement the player can
have with it. You owe it to yourself to play Dishonored, and if you don’t now, then you’ll only be missing out
on seeing the foundations of a colossal new franchise begin to be built here,
and one day regret playing the first instalment earlier when you find yourself
catching-up for the inevitable sequel. Dishonored
truly is a game for the ages, a golden final gem for the current-generation
that will never be forgotten.
