2012 Community Game of the Year - And the winner is...

10) Diablo III - Online issues galore during the opening weeks put a damper on the fun, but I still had a great time rolling through the game 3 times on my Wizard, especially with the seamless drop in/drop out co-op.

9) The Binding of Isaac - Someone gifted this to me sometime last year. I'm not sure why I decided to finally give it a whirl, but I sure am glad I did. Beneath the twisted aesthetic is a deep game with a myriad of upgrades and secrets.

8) Paper Mario: Sticker Star - Simply delightful. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this one, as it had been described as more of an adventure game than an RPG. Thankfully, the evil Minarchist convinced me to take a chance and discover the game that would finally dislodge Super Mario 3D Land from my neglected 3DS.

7) Mass Effect 3 - Hey guys, this game is actually pretty good. It's not nearly as good as Mass Effect 2. There were an awful lot of odd choices with story progression and general game mechanics, but I still enjoyed seeing the finale play out for my Shepard. The multiplayer was also surprisingly good.

6) XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Amazing game that is brought down a few notches by an inexcusable number of bugs.

5) FTL - What a delightful surprise. Thank you Squee9 for gifting this to me a few weeks after release. I didn't even know what this game was until I booted it up, but it's largely responsible for the absence of Borderlands 2 from my list. I got them near the same time, and FTL was the one that kept luring me back in. I did not see that coming.

4) The Walking Dead - I just started this a week ago. If I had another week to get this damn list in, I could easily see this jumping even further up my list, but I only just finished episode 3 last night. I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said. Great stuff.

3) Johann Sebastian Joust - This game always sounded pretty cool to me, but I didn't have any way to actually try it. ENTER PENCON. Pencon was a great experience, but the 2-3 hours of JSJ we played was definitely the highlight of the trip. It looks pretty strange at first glance, but once you get out there with 4-6 other people and the glowing Move controllers, it all clicks, and hilarious competition commences. It was 2 hours of playful pushing, slapping, dancing, forming alliances, running like little girls, watching Minarchist ride atop Oily's shoulders to his near death, and so much laughing. Respect knuckles to Cyrax, Monochelli, and Pyro's gf for some stiff competition

2) Hero Academy - Uh... Why is there an iOS game at number 2? Well, it's there because it was easily the game I spent the most time with this year (besides League of Legends, which doesn't count here). 120ish games and counting. I think I topped out at 15 games simultaneously. I'm a bit sad that the GWJ player contingent for this game seems to have died down for the most part because I still get excited when my phone rings with the Hero Academy tone. Anyone still playing, hit me up for a game anytime!

1) Journey - Absolutely Incredible. The best 2 hours of gaming you could hope to experience. The only game that has ever actually gotten me to tear up. Easy pick for my GOTY.

Honorable Mentions:

Borderlands 2
Botanicula
Sound Shapes
Kingdom Rush
Dikembe Mutumbo's 4 1/2 Weeks to Save the World
Frog Fractions
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition
- I figured I wouldn't cheat and put this on my list, since it was my GOTY last year

Dyni wrote:

Dikembe Mutumbo's 4 1/2 Weeks to Save the World

Wait, what? Is that a real thing?

Yes, and it's reported to be incredible (haven't tried it myself).

LeapingGnome wrote:
Dyni wrote:

Dikembe Mutumbo's 4 1/2 Weeks to Save the World

Wait, what? Is that a real thing?

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/1...

It’s not 2013 here.

My disclaimer is my gaming time was WAAAY down this year, if it wasn't for PC my GOTY would be Netflix. I’m just saying, it was that kind of gaming year. On the flip side, the gaming I did do was mostly on PC and a lot of “catch up” gaming. So, because I know the suspense is killing, here is my GOTY list:

1. Kerbal Space Program (PC) - Design my own rockets, deal with orbital mechanics and interplanetary space flight? Yes, please. The game was pretty solid when I bought it earlier this year, and now with patches to add docking and plan orbital maneuvers, it just keeps getting better.

2. XCOM: Enemy Unknown (PC) - Growing up TFTD was the first X-COM to catch me. I replayed the demo over and over until I was able to save up and buy the actual game. I was skeptical about this going in, but respect Firaxis so I pre-ordered. I really enjoyed what they did with the game and LOVE the fact it was also on consoles. MOAR turn based console titles.

3. FTL (PC) - Space. Also, FTL reignited my desire for rougelikes, which is awesome. See #10.

4. Crusader Kings II (PC) - This was my surprise of the year. I heard enough talk after it released that I picked it up really enjoyed it. There is enough room in it that I can really create a story in my mind and play out a dynasty. I didn’t get enough time but really want to get back into it, I could see this game moving up the list if I revisited it after letting the 2012 game experience ferment more.

5. Civ 5 Gods and Kings (PC) - Kinda cheating to put it here but the expansion was enough to bring me back into Civ 5 and I liked the implementation of religion.

6. Skyrim (PC) - I only put a fraction of time into this that I wanted, but enjoyed the world enough that it makes the list.

7. Minecraft (XBLA) - Also kind of a cheat since my main push was on the PC last year, but the port was good and I got enough time playing MP with the kids that it warrants consideration.

8. Unity of Command (PC) - I’ve always been very interested in the Hearts of Iron games (and other wargames) but my schedule (actual or perceived) hasn’t allowed me to learn the systems required. UoC is “light” enough that I can pick it up and get up to speed quickly.

9. Fez (XBLA) - It’s a cross between art style, platformer, and unique gameplay the get this on my list. Probably higher if I played it more.

10. Dungeons of Dredmor (PC) - An accessible rougelike. I bought this last year, but didn’t get around to playing it until FTL got me back into rougelikes. I’m cheating and including it because the Conquest of the Wizardlands DLC came out this year. Also, rougelikes are great. Rougelikes.

Honorable mentions - These are games I liked but didn’t include in the top 10 because I feel a bias from either just finishing or currently playing them:
Primordia
Deponia
Cargo Commander
Skylanders Giants
Trials Evolution

Unknowns - The games I wish I had time to play before making this list:
Hotline Miami
Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers
Unmechanical
Warlock Master of the Arcane
Resonance
Borderlands 2
Tropico 4

Let downs - Just not feeling these games:
The Walking Dead - Admittedly, I’m only about half through the second episode. I can see why people like the game, but there is something about it that I don’t like. Maybe it feels too scripted?

Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD - It just didn’t work for me this time, it felt dated. I suppose the problem was more with my expectations than the game itself.

Diablo III - Just meh. Same as above, I suppose the problem was more with my expectations than the game itself.

1. Mass Effect 3 hands down. Warts and all I loved this game and this series gets my vote for best series of this generation.

2. Bastion. This game managed to channel so much nostalgia without letting me down like so many of the games I actually have nostalgia for.

3. Borderlands 2. Not sure how I have managed to put like 6 days of real time into this game but I have.

4. The Walking Dead. Now that I have played some of it my god wow. I am late to the party but at least I decided to give it a shot even though I generally hate point-and-click adventure games.

5. Halo 4. Like Bastion this invoked a lot of nostalgia for me. Glad to see them bring it forward a little bit but still lots of of classic Halo stuff that I would like to see modernized.

6. Far Cry 3. I vote for Vass as villain of the year. I really wish he had been in the game more.

I really can't come up with more than that. The only other new games I played I think deserve to go on the list (The Darkness 2, Darksiders 2, Prototype 2... i.e. the Terrible 2's).

P.S. These are all Xbox all the time.

Sneaking this in under the wire, hopefully, if 1:18 am counts as "midnight-ish"!

1. FTL (PC)
2. Diablo 3 (PC)
3. Mass Effect 3 (PC)

I have updated my list last minute. If it is too late no worries.

Rykin wrote:

I have updated my list last minute. If it is too late no worries.

There's still 4.5 hours until the whole planet has entered 2013, so yeah, plenty of time.

Furtivespy wrote:

7. Secret of the magic crystals
8. Hotline Miami

Voting is now closed. Expect results in the next couple days.

I hope I won.

I hope no one voted for a third party. If you did you wasted your vote.

Any interest in a game of the week club to roll through the top 10 a week at a time and discuss it in IRC or Vent at the end of the week?

I realize that, following all these recent sales, I own most of the good games that came out this year and I've played... well, pretty much nothing. Now that the girls are going to bed earlier, I should be able to pull myself away from watching Supernatural to roll through some games.

With only a week to play, most of us won't finish the games on the list but I'm betting most of us have already played some stuff on there, so that will give everyone a free week here or there. Then there are games like the Walking Dead which I think would need to be played slowly. Blowing through that game would ruin a lot of its impact, probably. Plus, Clocky will already have the games in order. If we start with 10 and work our way down, we'll know when the discussion date for each game is long in advance.

What do you think? If people are interested, I'll get a thread going.

oilypenguin wrote:

Then there are games like the Walking Dead which I think would need to be played slowly. Blowing through that game would ruin a lot of its impact, probably. Plus, Clocky will already have the games in order.

Eh, I played from the start of episode 2 to the end in four days, I think it did exactly what it was supposed to do.

demonbox wrote:

I hope I won.

I voted for Minarchist. You can't vote for yourself and he was the only other correct person here.

Blind_Evil wrote:
demonbox wrote:

I hope I won.

I voted for Minarchist. You can't vote for yourself and he was the only other correct person here.

IMAGE(http://bittersweetdistractors.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/respekknuckles.jpg)

Doh, I forgot about this thread while on vacation.

Thankfully Kerbal Space Program got at least a vote or two. It has definitely been my number one game of the year.

[size=20]DayZ[/size]- I said when it was released that this would be my GOTY. No other game gave me so many different stories to tell and no other game made me feel like I was fighting for my life. The amount of different empotions this survival game is simply unbelievable. Nothing is more exciting/ terrifying than seeing another player. This was until the hackers came and killed it. I am very much looking forward to the stand alone game.

Planetside 2- Best when played with tons of people this game really brings out global persistant warfare like no other. I am addicted.

The Walking Dead- Best story in a game

Dishonored: Even though I havent finished it yet it deserves my vote. It's amazing.

XCom: I got super addicted to this game but stopped playing halfway through Classic Ironman. It kicked my as too much to move on. I loved the difficulty and the 1 more turn addiction.

Dang! I missed this thread because I was too busy playing Guild Wars 2 which would have been my GotY vote if I hadn't been busy having a great time playing!

oilypenguin wrote:

Any interest in a game of the week club to roll through the top 10 a week at a time and discuss it in IRC or Vent at the end of the week?

I realize that, following all these recent sales, I own most of the good games that came out this year and I've played... well, pretty much nothing. Now that the girls are going to bed earlier, I should be able to pull myself away from watching Supernatural to roll through some games.

With only a week to play, most of us won't finish the games on the list but I'm betting most of us have already played some stuff on there, so that will give everyone a free week here or there. Then there are games like the Walking Dead which I think would need to be played slowly. Blowing through that game would ruin a lot of its impact, probably. Plus, Clocky will already have the games in order. If we start with 10 and work our way down, we'll know when the discussion date for each game is long in advance.

What do you think? If people are interested, I'll get a thread going.

I'd be down. It'd give me a plausible excuse to not play something I own besides League of Legends.

Yahtzee named

Spoiler:

Spec Ops: The Line

his #1 game of 2012? Mmkay.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vide...

Squee9 wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:

Any interest in a game of the week club to roll through the top 10 a week at a time and discuss it in IRC or Vent at the end of the week?

I realize that, following all these recent sales, I own most of the good games that came out this year and I've played... well, pretty much nothing. Now that the girls are going to bed earlier, I should be able to pull myself away from watching Supernatural to roll through some games.

With only a week to play, most of us won't finish the games on the list but I'm betting most of us have already played some stuff on there, so that will give everyone a free week here or there. Then there are games like the Walking Dead which I think would need to be played slowly. Blowing through that game would ruin a lot of its impact, probably. Plus, Clocky will already have the games in order. If we start with 10 and work our way down, we'll know when the discussion date for each game is long in advance.

What do you think? If people are interested, I'll get a thread going.

I'd be down. It'd give me a plausible excuse to not play something I own besides League of Legends.

I'd have an interest for the exact same reason as Squee. Far too much league.

BadKen wrote:

Yahtzee named

Spoiler:

Spec Ops: The Line

his #1 game of 2012? Mmkay.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vide...

Yahtzee is very unconventional in what he ends up liking, and ultimately narrative seems to be what takes the lead in his tastes.

Given his past love of adventure games and other games with traditionally lacking or bad gameplay but great stories, I'm surprised he didn't name Walking Dead #1. Let's watch the video and find out!

IntangibleFate wrote:
Squee9 wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:

Any interest in a game of the week club to roll through the top 10 a week at a time and discuss it in IRC or Vent at the end of the week?

I realize that, following all these recent sales, I own most of the good games that came out this year and I've played... well, pretty much nothing. Now that the girls are going to bed earlier, I should be able to pull myself away from watching Supernatural to roll through some games.

With only a week to play, most of us won't finish the games on the list but I'm betting most of us have already played some stuff on there, so that will give everyone a free week here or there. Then there are games like the Walking Dead which I think would need to be played slowly. Blowing through that game would ruin a lot of its impact, probably. Plus, Clocky will already have the games in order. If we start with 10 and work our way down, we'll know when the discussion date for each game is long in advance.

What do you think? If people are interested, I'll get a thread going.

I'd be down. It'd give me a plausible excuse to not play something I own besides League of Legends.

I'd have an interest for the exact same reason as Squee. Far too much league.

If we have the same crew for this as we do for League, discussions will certainly be... interesting =)

I'll start it up when Clocky gets the list done and she posts it. Should be a good time.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Voting is now closed. Expect results in the next couple days.

noooooo!!!! ..... .gif

Oh well, Dark Souls is already contender for my 2013 game of the year having only played 2.5 hours instead of cooking dinner when I was really hungry. It was so good I forgot I was hungry until ravenous hunger overcame me 5-10mins after quiting out of the game - at 10PM. I really went into the game thinking it would be not my thing at all given oh so many variables. Now I'm pretty sold on the game.

Crap! I missed my chance to vote this year

Ah well, The Walking Dead and XCom were going to be my #1 and #2 respectively. It looks like these two top a lot of other lists, so I don't think my choices would have changed anything.

BadKen wrote:

Yahtzee named

Spoiler:

Spec Ops: The Line

his #1 game of 2012? Mmkay.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vide...

As he says, it may not be the mechanically best game of the year, but it really should be played. Very meaty narrative.

Sonicator wrote:
BadKen wrote:

Yahtzee named

Spoiler:

Spec Ops: The Line

his #1 game of 2012? Mmkay.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vide...

As he says, it may not be the mechanically best game of the year, but it really should be played. Very meaty narrative.

You know I am a big fan of games with really good narratives and I will put up with a bit to experience them but the game-play has to be at least a little interesting. Spec Ops wasn't even as good of a shooter as Mass Effect 1 from what I played of it. I think I would be better served just watching the cut-scenes on YouTube.

I'm kinda mad at myself now because due to a clerical error I forgot that SSX came out this year. Man, that would totally be in my top 3, at least. Love that game.

Minarchist wrote:

I'm kinda mad at myself now because due to a clerical error I forgot that SSX came out this year. Man, that would totally be in my top 3, at least. Love that game.

Inflict moderate wounds! Wait, I meant cure! Cure!

Anyway, I like Yahtzee's style a lot. He has strong opinions and sticks to them. His tastes in games are way different than mine, but he makes great observations and holds all games to his standard.