Dragon Ball Z Uncensored

[FancyMichael]

Well, whatever makes your march towards oblivion easier to deal with, man.

[Fagzilla]

[Vinny]

I think I'm mostly attracted to games competitive online games where I eventually reach a point that after each match I'm one step closer to suicide.

Still, no fighting games on the horizon is bumming me out! I'm looking forward to Anarchy Reigns, which I doubt will have a big enough online community for me to murder myself, and Metal Gear Rising which probably won't make me murder myself much at all.

Aside from that, I could be tricked into buying Street Fighter X Tekken again if the 2013 patch is any good or if I get drunk enough while reading Jojo I might buy the CPS3 arcade game for fucking twenty dollars to try and connect to another player for 15 minutes, get destroyed by Pet Shop, and never play again.
_________________

[Vinny]

Here's my reviews of games I remember playing in 2012.

Street Fighter X Tekken: This game is pretty awful. It's extremely ugly, most matches end in time out, and overall plays like a really good Mugen game. I think I played this for about a month pretty solidly, sold it, repurchased it for $10 and bought the $20 DLC for Dudley, played for a few more days and traded it in for Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2: This game seems like a lot of fun! I probably played it for about a month almost entirely on single player because I never really learned how to play Tekken, made my dudes (Miguel and Steve) look super awesome, flamboyant clothing, and then quit.

Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown: This was a lot of fun and I was fairly decent at it. I bought the costume pack for BRAD and spent 50% of my play time designing pretty costumes for him.

Borderlands 2: This game was a whole lot of fun until right around beating it on True Vault Hunter difficulty, where it immediately became terrible. The end game is basically fighting a super strong boss over and over for the minuscule chance that an item will drop that will make it +3 easier to fight that boss again. Fortunately, if you have a specific shield and weapon combo, that boss (and everything else in the game) is extremely easy. The developers decided to rectify that situation by making all the bosses in the DLC content require using that overpowered combo to defeat them. And the reward for doing so is much, much worse shit than you got 50 hours before hand. The other two DLC packs could be neat, though!

Saint Rows: The Third: I rented this last year and couldn't really get into it. I gave it another shot after the THQ Humble Bundle and found it surprisingly enjoyable. I made my guy a black dude from a Guy Ritchie movie with the biggest penis that you could select and dressed him like a gold and purple, steampunk cowboy. I'm not really into the fucking around and causing chaos aspects of GTA games typically but my need to do repetitive tasks that raise my rank in something by one overshadowed that.

I played briefly with John Buis that ended up with him killing me easily with his super powered character, reviving me, and killing me again 30 times.

Black Mesa: I've never beat Half-Life 1 because in the first game I clipped through walls to get past a particularly difficult part and got lost somehow. I think I got to the exact same spot as before in this version and quit.

Hotline Miami: I agree with the things that most people say about this game.

Jamestown: Played four levels of this. Pretty good!

Shank 2: I quit in the first level because the mouse controls are shitty. I liked the first one, though.

Terraria: Did I play this in 2012? This was a fun eight hours or so with FTU budz.

Cave Story+: This was another game that was a lot of fun. I quit right before the final boss because I read that I missed my shot at getting the best weapon in the game.

Bastion: A pretty, shitty game.

Halo 4: Me and my old roommates play this game in a desperate attempt to recapture the joy of our college days, except we can only play one hour before someone has to leave. When the online isn't laggy it's actually pretty enjoyable. What little I briefly played of the campaign seemed pretty god awful, however.

If there's any other games that I forgot and then will later remember, I will put them in this list.
_________________

[Seru]

Games in the order of what I remember (Based on looking at the other lists in this thread and my participation in certain THINGS.).

Street Fighter X Tekken: Absolute horseshit. Basically everything Vinny said except coming from my fingertips. The fingertips of the most respected veteran member of FTU, so it carries far more gravitas. I played a Juri/Poison and Poison/Rolento team for the span of an entire long weekend before selling it. Next time just make the entire roster Poison. The distinct lack of Nintendo characters or lolita vampires also detracts from the quality.

Wild ARMs XF: A game that requires you to max out a very specific job class to overcome the challenge of ONE FUCKING LEVEL. And you never know when the next roadblock will come along so you can screw yourself over quite easily. Basically an FAQ game. The worst kind of Japanese Strategy Role Playing Game. Actually more of a puzzle game. Abandoned.

Final Fantasy XIII-2: Serah dies. Please look forward to Final Fantasy XIII-Lightning Returns.

Tales of Graces f: Great game with the most cliched FRIENDSHIP IS THE ULTIMATE POWER OF THE HEART Nippon storyline of all time. So I loved it. Also killed my Playstation 3 and remains entombed inside it for all time.

BioShock: Fuck yeah, video games!

BioShock 2: Fuck yeah, better video games!

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2: It's kind of great how all the GRRRYLZ have a hyper slutty character design. My favourite was the bitchy flat-chested redhead. Yeah. I did not appreciate subbing out the usual demons for aliens, though. Fuck aliens.

Persona 2: Innocent Sin: Possibly the most boring game I've played this year. Piss poor sprite art also turned me off. It was the Playstation era, dick faces. You could have shown a little effort.

Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millennium: A close second for the most boring game I played this year. And yet the sprites are pretty damn decent. I don't like how 90% of the enemies look like cancer ridden genitalia, though. A lot of tumor covered testicles in space.

Xenoblade Chronicles: I always tell myself I'm going to go back and finish this because it was amazing at the time. So yeah, look forward to seeing this on the list next year.

Lollipop Chainsaw: Should have just been a boss rush mode.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years: I could write a master's theses about this game. So many things to nitpick. Anyway, I've been at the last boss for months and there's no way I'm grinding my way up to beat all ten billion forms.

Persona 4: Arena: I hate Brooklyn accents.

Mass Effect: Fun! Then tedious. And slow.

Mass Effect 2: Fun! And much less tedious. Maybe throw a little more enemy variety in there, though. I was overjoyed to fight the Thresher Maw after spending ten thousand hours ducking behind crates.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards: I'm seeing a lot of Nintendo 64 nostalgia lately and it needs to stop. That system was a noxious garbage factory.

Mischief Makers: No, seriously! Garbage.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: FUCKIN' SERIOUS.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: I played this immediately after Majora's Mask to cleanse the putrid awfulness from my soul.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: And then I played this immediately after Twilight Princess because FUCK YEAH, GOOD ZELDA GAMES.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: Uhhhh, kind of sucks? Maybe I should wait five years like I did with the other three.

Catherine: Yawn-o. Neat art!

Dragon Age 2: Double yawn-o.

Gravity Rush: Dude, this anime chick is hot.

The Binding of Isaac: A god damn motherfucking time vacuum that dominated two months of my life and very nearly made me quit playing video games forever. Fo' realz. I even abstained from games for a month and half. Which it turns out is a really long time without something to distract you. It also happened to be the worst month and a half of my entire existence so we can forget all about that nonsense. So overall, 3.5 out of 5.

[FancyMichael]

FTL: Faster Than Light: Decent game, but I don't know if I have the patience for rogue-likes anymore. I got to the boss a few times on normal mode (and was destroyed), and I didn't feel like slamming my head against the game until I eventually won.

DayZ: This game is horrific shit and it uses one of the worst fps engines ever, but I was intoxicated by its premise and played it way way way more than I should have. It might be decent a couple of years from now, though, when it isn't in beta or alpha or whatever.

Street Fighter X Tekken: Yeah, this game isn't very good. Gems suck, Street Fighter characters have god-like normals that can be spammed (fuck Ryu), and the game looks terrible.

Persona Arena: I had fun goofing around with this one for a couple of weeks, but I just don't have the drive and motivation to really GET INTO a fighting game anymore. I pretty much blew my load on Marvel 3.

Sid Meier's Pirates!: This game held my interest for a couple of days. IT ISN'T BAD, I GUESS!

The high point of the game for me was the governors' daughters and their big titties.

Tera: MMOs suck ass. Especially Korean MMOs.

I'LL FINISH THIS LATER.

[Ryoko's Biatch]

These are in no particular order.

FTL: I don't get why this game is so well liked. I haven't put that much time into it, but it seems like the kind of rogue-like where skill doesn't matter nearly as much as luck.

Binding of Isaac: The good kind of rogue-like where I could actually feel my power level rising over time. According to Steam, I put 83 hours into it, which seems low compared to how much it seemed to dominate my life for a while. If I had to rank all the games I played this year, this would probably be in the top 5, if not top 3.

Lollipop Chainsaw: Not as shitty as I feared, but not as great as I hoped. PROBABLY the most playable Suda51 game of all time.

Assassin's Creed III: I have mixed feelings about this game. There are parts that are really, really fun, but it kind of feels tedious to play sometimes. The naval combat is great, the Desmond parts are amazing, telling stupid people when to shoot their guns is awful. Basically, any mission that involves horses or participating in battles is boring or annoying. Probably not as bad as I make it sound, but not all that good.

Diablo III: Thumbs up, for the most part. There's a lot of stuff to like about it, but I got pretty burnt out on it. It tends to happen to me in games that encourage replaying, so it probably doesn't have as much to do with the actual game itself.

Borderlands 2: Fucking excellent. My favorite game this year, although, like Vinny said, toward the end of True Vault Hunter mode, it turns into a grind. So, I just start over with a new character. My GOTY.

Kingdoms of Amalur: This game was actually pretty decent. It's not mindblowingly original, but it gets the job done and I liked it.

Mass Effect 3: Everything up to the last 5 minutes is fuckin' great. But that goddamn kid ... The extended cut of the ending is pretty hilarious, though. It's like they frantically came up with some halfass answer to every complaint about the ending without actually fixing the horrendous writing, and in certain cases making it worse. Seriously, though, otherwise a really good game and the best one in the series. The ending still enrages me when I actually think about it more than briefly.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent: I couldn't really get into it. I'm assuming the good stuff comes after the point that I gave up, BUT I had a bunch of other games from the Humble Bundle that I felt like trying instead.

Lone Survivor: Probably okay, but it suffered from the same effects as Amnesia and the unfathomable power of Isaac.

Super Meat Boy: I can kind of see the appeal, but after the first boss, this game is stupid hard.

The Walking Dead: I really liked this a lot. It's a pretty good story, I liked the relationship between Lee and Clementine. The ending is one of the most powerful ones in any game I've ever played.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown: I've never played any of the other XCOM games, but this one was pretty cool.

[FancyMichael]

Oh yeah, I played KINGDOMS OF AMALUR. It has one of the most generic and boring settings I've ever seen in a video game, and I didn't beat it because it became tedious, but I did enjoy it for a while!

[FancyMichael]

Hmm, my post made it seem like I really disliked the game.

I did enjoy it!

Also, it was made by Curt Schilling's company (which went out of business and cost Schilling his fortune)!

[My Head Hurts 90]

Skyward Sword: Fuck motion controls! Jesus christ, what a trainwreck.

Melee: Played this till all of my GC controllers broke. Now I'm screwed.

DK Returns: I'm not shaking a god damn controller to do a ground pound.

Battletoads: The game's terrible collision detection makes this a chore. Had to use the 5 lives code to beat it.

Ninja Gaiden: All you need to make a good action game is have your guy move and act quickly, so this was pretty awesome.

[Roy]

Well Chris, your goal is to set the Donkey Kong world record, or at least get in the top 10, is it not? That's within the realm of possibility. It is not possible for me to become a Dota 2 player of note, because I'd have to defeat Chinese super saiyans who probably buy 5 couriers to scout the whole map, and still get every last hit in lane while simultaneously jungling with their Necronomicon summons.

[Fagzilla]

I will never get the DK world record. The record is an absolute nightmare now.

Though top 10 is maybe possible, and it would be neat!

[Ryoko's Biatch]

Yeah, Mike, I never finished it either. It's not a bad game, but it's not really compelling.

[Jason]

I misjudged the value of posting reviews, even though I know I wrote the most and mine are the most earnest (sorry).

January:
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
My affinity for the series has never been higher, nor my sense of accomplishment prouder than finally closing the book on Substance’s VR missions.
Sonic Generations
While my time with it was too brief to form a real opinion, the game has since been on my radar and seems to show some promise.
Katawa Shoujo*
Its mastery of the form is truly impressive, and I regret that the form itself is so turgid and off-putting to me that the loss of my original save makes it unlikely I’ll ever finish the admittedly intriguing story.
Final Fantasy VII
My misgivings at the end of 2011 subsided eventually and all I was left with was once more the adoration and familiarity I will never fail to experience in the hands of this game.
Final Fantasy XIII-2*
A less ostentatious and humbler affair than Final Fantasy XIII, for better or worse, with some interesting moments and never too many consecutive uninteresting ones.

February:
The ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection
Would love to experience the majesty and loneliness and aching ominousness of Shadow of the Colossus without every single boss becoming a matter of hoarse-throated fury, but at least the framerate was good.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
An overall disappointment; I truly, truly hope that Bethesda recognizes the ever-increasing slack left by their games’ characterization and story. What good is such a vast open world populated by nothing but husks?
Chrono Trigger
Glad to have forced myself to finished. A pleasant end, and not too long. I can understand why the game was so meaningful to twelve-year-olds, but let’s stop pretending it’s better than Final Fantasy in story, at least.
Mass Effect
I hear more and more arguments nowadays on why the first Mass Effect was the best of the series and they all sound compelling, so it’s a shame that I’ll never, ever, ever want to play the game ever again to see for myself.

March:
Mass Effect 3*
My opinion of this game is constantly wavering and has still yet to settle. In a single night I take indignation to the suggestion that it could draw an emotional reaction, then listen to its soundtrack in reverie. Curse it.
Mass Effect 2
Has come out worse for wear in retrospect? I do wish I could see it now with a fresh set of eyes, because I imagine I would be praising its approach to team-building and the finale, rather than blogging about Jack’s silence.
Journey*
Must have been the biggest missed targest of the whole year. In a game in which I never felt as though I knew what I was actually supposed to be doing, the worst thing that could be done is giving me a partner to hurry me.

April:
Hitman: Codename 47
Seems I simply came too late to this one. Of all the Hitman games, the first is by far the most inaccessible. If it is possible for me to find a rhythm with it and progress, I would still dread having to go through the tutorial again.
Lone Survivor*
A mistaken impulse purchase. The art is exemplary but the story does not grip, and I’m actually becoming rather offended by the amount of games inspired (read: excused) by Twin Peaks.
I Am Alive*
Actually refreshing, particularly in the way it treats combat like a puzzle. The difficulty is certainly trying, but never is it so oppressive that I felt as though I was not progressing either in the game or as a player.
The Witcher Enhanced Edition Director’s Cut
Went in hoping for something original and unique and found my hopes sinking within seconds on the first dialogue sequence. Little to no hope for my future with the game once I was in a position to be killed repeatedly.
Diablo III*
A bit of fun with friends but I would honestly feel guilty if I found myself deriving lasting appeal from it.

May:
The Walking Dead*
All but ready to write off Telltale games and certainly uninterested in The Walking Dead as a franchise, it took the right words for me to give this series a try. Allowing for some speed bumps, I couldn’t be happier that I did.
The Secret World*
While my interest was piqued before it launched, the beta proved it to simply be, of course, another MMO, and one with a baffling choice of controls at that.
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Watching a YouTube walkthrough of the first level confirms that while the second game in the series makes strides toward playability after the first, it is far from something I feel compelled to suffer through.
Hitman: Blood Money
Seemingly the pinnacle of the franchise, I expect to return at some point, perhaps when the thought of redoing the tutorial stage no longer bores me to tears. I remain steadfastly optimistic, though.
Alice: Madness Returns
While it frequently dragged and showed a monstrous disrespect for the player’s time in the length of its levels, its highs were often cathartic and its storytelling was a joy.

June:
Saints Row: The Third
A sublime example of making humor work in service to the world and the player’s connection to it rather than at odds to those elements. Excellent character customization, could genuinely have been twice as long.
Poker Night at the Inventory
Still a charming, quirky little piece of software, playing poker with a table of well-written fictional characters has the potential to become a warm, familiar experience if done well, while irrevocably dull compared to actual poker.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable
It was good to finally finish Persona 3. Nyx wasn’t actually so difficult, and Akinari’s final social link nearly made me cry. The female protagonist offered an interesting perspective, which may or may not justify a lack of FMV.
Sonic Adventure DX: Director’s Cut
Well, that’s done, then. I was never as taken by Sonic Adventure as I was with its sequel as a child, so it remains to be seen if that game as holds up as poorly when I’m inevitably conned into purchasing it.

July:
Xenoblade Chronicles*
Began promisingly; perhaps one day I’ll attempt it again after I upgrade to a computer with which I’ll no longer have to worry about the technical issues of the Dolphin emulator. But that can only be blamed for so much interest lost.
Crusader Kings II*
Never actually tried the real game, made this silly purchase merely to play its applauded Ice and Fire mod, which I was too simple to ever comprehend. How frustrating.
Portal 2
Reinstalled in order to breathe some new life into multiplayer; found user-made levels unsatisfying and the game’s levels unappealing to my shitty friend. I am not a man for multiplayer.
Spec Ops: The Line*
At time some truly agonizing combat sections can weary the player, but pieces of the story, particularly the ending, are excellent. Then, I was unimpressed with the game’s overall significance. I’ve since softened.

August:
Borderlands: Game of the Year
Stimulating at its peaks and fun when in a functional group, but a flat, shallow, muted chore when these conditions aren’t met. I don’t have a problem with the final boss, though.
Batman: Arkham City
My opinion of it rose upon playing it again, as the gameplay remains undeniably gratifying. Its poorer design choices still bother and the future of the series is dim, but in its time it shone incredibly brightly.
Alpha Protocol
An example of true brilliance in narrative design, such a shame that the industry constrained the team at Obsidian to make the game about their broken stealth and gunplay instead of pouring all time into their transfixing dialogue.
Far Cry 2: Fortune’s Edition
While it’s possible to appreciate what it does differently in theory, in practice it becomes merely a nettlesome shooter which does not even deign to allow the player to travel to its tedious missions without catastrophe.
Persona 4 Arena*
The visual novel and the 2D fighter fuse to take one of my most cherished titles and turn it into something which oscillates between head-achingly dull and leg-punchingly infuriating. It hurt to abandon it, it hurt worse to play it.

September:
Alan Wake
It takes its time in doing so, but eventually settles in a place wherein the game has charmed sufficiently that the action is not simply to be tolerated until one reaches the next well-designed interior section. Music is a highlight.
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City*
It took approximately two rooms, or ten minutes, of play before I realized what an utter misstep this was for the series and for me and decided to uninstall it and simply wait for Resident Evil 6. Then Resident Evil 6 came.
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare*
The best of the series. The combat system is perfected and its villain, while trite, is worth following the story for. I expected to find the reiterated plot repetitive, but actually found it worked quite well.
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition*
Utterly impenetrable and so lacking in personality that at times its conversations feel like an affront to the player. Perhaps one day I’ll try it again with a keyboard and mouse and less determination to side quest.
Trine 2
I do not know if the puzzle design of Trine 2 was changed substantially from Trine or if my friends and I were too dense to see what made the first so brilliant. I found our bumbling hysterical but I cannot say the same for them.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD*
A nostalgic waste of money, yes, but not an altogether unplayable one. Perhaps I am an apologist, but only some things about the game are inexcusable, not the overall game itself.
Sid Meier’s Civilization V
An anomalous urge reinstalled the game just long enough to reassert that whatever spark I had with Civilization IV had gone before V’s release. Each session begins with hopeful economics and ends with desperate military defeat.
Tokyo Jungle*
Its cuteness and novelty wanes, of course, when under the pressure of the clock to complete the tasks in a survival run. There is depth to the game that it’s a pity I didn’t get to under the obligations of the story.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
At no point did I feel as though I fully grasped its systems, nor do I recall a single room of perfect stealth, even early on. Fortunately, the campaign was short, hobbled as it was by Sam Fisher’s drunken voice acting.

October:
Metro 2033
Interesting, but its gameplay felt a mess and I could not spare the time to improve at it. Like Far Cry 2, oppressive and depressing, which are not qualities which should dismiss a game out of hand, but do when it is unplayable.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown*
Does an excellent job of helping the player tell his own personal story in his first game, which is then brought to a halt by some nonsense. Then it does a good job. By the time you’re on the twentieth game, story doesn’t matter.
Dishonored*
A feeling of constantly being overwhelmed and underpowered. Should not be categorized as a stealth game, as trying to play stealthily feels like juggling. Should not incentivize non-lethality, then limit non-lethality so completely.
Sleeping Dogs*
An engaging open world which begins several story threads that never seem to properly end, particularly with regards to romance. The crime drama is adequate or better and gameplay is very good.

November:
Just Cause 2
Lost me in a single session. Found the chaos an unplayable mess and nothing properly explained, from the controls to the story to the objectives. Maybe if I gave it another try I’d like it, but too much else.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Certainly dragged in places and incensed in others, but those were oddly forgotten with a good ending and some rewarding platforming. A fitting way to experience a seminal game.
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
Finally hit its mark for me after several tries; while I went through in a constant rush and was always waiting for the end, I came out of it pleased with my experience and appreciative of its place in the timeline of gaming.
Darksiders
Possibly the most derivative and insipid garbage I’ve ever played. The only good thing to say of it is that it plays well, but the thought of suffering through its adolescent story and unoriginal, languid design is unbearable.
To the Moon
Too poorly written to be worth finishing despite knowing I could in a single afternoon. Would make a pleasant Flash animation with its music and art, but its characters’ stomach-churning “comedy” shatters any mood it achieves.
Binary Domain*
Ridiculously mishandled implementation of voice commands aside, its story is engrossing and its characters deserve some credit. I haven’t explored the possible variances in its plot too deeply, but there is promise there.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II*
The most fun with and respect I’ve had for a Call of Duty yet. The story is a bit difficult to follow, as transient as their plots are, year after year, and it is frustrating to see the best outcomes slip away, but still commendable.

December:
Crysis
I intend to come back to it, but its initial area did not grab me, particular as my early attempts at stealth were arbitrarily thwarted. I suspect it will appear even less forgivable in light of Far Cry 3.
FTL: Faster Than Light*
Relentlessly addicting and only minimally unfair. A perfect game to play on routine and a wonderful substitution when fed up with XCOM’s bugginess. Possibly the best thing to come from Kickstarter yet? I wish I’d donated.
BioShock
It finally clicked, after three times. The level design’s depth worked for me and the combat was rewarding. I couldn’t put it down. What a tremendous, beautiful game.
The Last Express
Really quite captivating. It leaves me wondering how much I didn’t see, and I’m glad it didn’t go on for too long. Puzzles are archaic in design and I hope I wouldn’t have been ruined if I hadn’t glanced at a walkthrough.
BioShock 2
Not as groundbreaking as the first creatively, but completely unafraid to step up to the plate where it had to and produce a daring and better-playing game that responded to every criticism the original received. Truly excellent.
Far Cry 3*
While there are times when things go awry in the ways that first person stealth does that is profoundly annoying, the game does more to alleviate that than any other I’ve played and by the end tells a rich, fulfilling story.
Thirty Flights of Loving*
As Gravity Bone was essentially all game and no story and this is (nearly, not entirely) the reverse, it would serve for Brendon Chung to reach a middle ground. As it is, however, still a work of art, with some edifying commentary.
_________________
Last edited by God on Fri Apr 05, 33 4:00 am; edited 1 time in total

[Jason]

10. Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Very cleverly implemented choices and a carefully constructed villain do wonders to keep the series fresh, no matter how much damage the post-credits makes the latter endure.
9. Final Fantasy XIII-2
While there are yawning chasms here and there, and a few unfortunate spots of actual aggravation, there are also moments of true, unmatched splendor.
8. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
The bugs in this game are inexcusable, especially on greater difficulties, and keep it from its rightful position higher on this list. Upsetting that others look past them.
7. Binary Domain
A well-told story and a futuristic aesthetic not normally reflected in games make up for some elements of sheer misjudgment on the design team.
6. Spec Ops: The Line
The anti-war war game takes great strides to get its message across and while at no point can it ever completely succeed, it astonishes.
5. Alan Wake’s American Nightmare
Revisiting locations while being taunted by Mr. Scratch and reacquainting with the three dream women all has a certain charm; my favorite form of a series I came to appreciate this year.
4. FTL: Faster Than Light
A deep space-farer still being updated with plenty left for me to unlock. A perfect way to spend minutes or waste hours as I find my strategies constantly improving.
3. Far Cry 3
While I see its story unanimously criticized elsewhere, I find something rather spellbinding about these deplorable characters, underrepresented in games, tossed into the boiling pot. And a pleasure to play besides.
2. Mass Effect 3
I am shocked to find this game placed so highly on my own list. Its ending was atrocious, its DLC practices unforgivable. Yet the trilogy was a leap forward, and the possibilities actually impressive. I cannot deny it that.
1. The Walking Dead
There was nothing else in gaming this year so thoroughly human and enchanting as this. It was flat at times, occasionally disillusioning; but more often than not, its choices were real, the pain was genuine, and I was there.
_________________
Last edited by God on Fri Apr 05, 33 4:00 am; edited 1 time in total

[FancyMichael]

Dark Souls: PREPARE TO DIE EDITION: It was alright. I wasn't as taken with this game as others (as in, I didn't play new game+ or really get into the multiplayer), but I enjoyed it nonetheless (shitty word).

I guess my biggest problem with the game is that a lot of its CONTENT (THE SECRETS) is tricky and unintuitive to get to. You can miss so much without the aid of a faq.

Legend of Grimrock: This was fun until I realized that the combat in this game is about abusing the monsters' shitty ai and doesn't really involve any sort of skill or intelligence.

DOTA 2: Do you like brutal learning curves? How about completely nonsensical and unintuitive game mechanics (killing your own troops, never auto-attacking enemy creeps)? DO YOU WANT TO IMMERSE YOURSELF IN ONE OF THE WORST COMMUNITIES ON THE INTERNET?

Fuck.

There's a part in the movie Rollerball where this old white dude is explaining to James Caan that ROLLERBALL was designed so that it was impossible for a person to truly excel at it (duhh the futility of individualism). The game was about PEOPLE LOOKING AWKWARD, FAILING MISERABLY, and DYING IN BRUTAL AND SPECTACULAR WAYS. DOTA 2 is a lot like that. Except it's even worse because you also have legions of assholes heckling you and calling you a faggot for every single one of your mistakes.

Anyway, good game. 5/5 stars.

Tribes: Ascend: This is a horrific grind like all free-to-play titles, but at least the game itself is sort of fun. Lots of sledding, jumping, and stuff.

[Mike Dunn]

I'm a casual gamer to the point of practically not gaming at all, so there's really no reason for me to post in this thread, but what the hell. Here is the full list of games I played in all of 2012:

Catherine
Marvel vs. Capcom 3
No More Heroes
NBA 2K13
Marble Madness (NES)
Blades of Steel (NES)
Gradius (NES)
Top Gear (SNES)
Samurai Shodown (SNES)

And they're all great! Marble Madness was a beast at first but I quickly got the hang of it. No More Heroes was probably the best overall, although pretty much strictly for the boss battles. The world exploration, mini games and hack-and-slash parts got old really fast, but the boss battles were consistently unique, challenging and fun.

[johnbuisthegreat]

What I have been playing (Should we create a new thread with an updated year? I will leave that up to Jason to decide)

PS3

ICO HD (not touched Shadows of Colossus yet)
Spiderman Shattered Dimensions
Zone of Enders HD

PC

Mass Effect 3 MP
Diablo 3
Saints Row 3

[Seika]

Jesus I don't know how some of you guys have the time to play a mountain of games in a year

Shit I recall playing this year, in no particular order:

Katawa Shoujo
Best free game everrrrrrr

Kid Icarus: Uprising
I'll probably never play this again due to weapon-cloning cheater faggots online but I got a lot of playtime out of it the first half of the year.

Kid Icarus (3D Classics)
It's no Metroid.

Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
Still no Metroid.

Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy
Novelty wore off a lot faster than I expected. Where the fuck is Elite Beat Agents 2?

Rhythm Thief
See previous entry.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask
The top-down Zelda-esque chapter was pretty awesome, but other than that it seems I'm actually getting bored of playing a fine English gentleman who has to finish a couple hundred puzzles to solve a mystery.

Virtue's Last Reward
luna is mai waifu

Code of Princess
Well there's this, this, and this. Unfortunately the humor tries way too hard half the time, online play is some of the worst I've ever encountered (Juggernaut spam, you actually have to get the highest rank online of anyone who's ever played online to get one of the items, etc.), and $40 for a story that can be finished in two hours doesn't seem like a good investment.

Persona 4
Fuck you, Shadow Kanji, for keeping me from beating this game for years.

Persona 4 Golden
those new endings

Persona 4 Arena
Hey, a fighting game even I can play!

Persona 2: Innocent Sin
persona persona persona Giving this another try, it'd be a lot more tolerable if you didn't hit a random encounter every five fucking steps.

Xenoblade Chronicles
Didn't play this enough to really get anywhere, wasn't too impressed with the combat system but maybe it gets better.

Kirby 64
Yeah, glad I didn't pay $30 for this at the used game store.

Lollipop Chainsaw
zzzz, give me No More Heroes any day.

Final Fantasy XIII
Pretty great! Won't ever platinum it but still, pretty great!


Top 5:

5. Kid Icarus: Uprising
4. Persona 4 Arena
3. Virtue's Last Reward
2. Katawa Shoujo
1. Persona 4 za gordenu

[Roy]

Why are people suddenly playing Kirby 64? I discovered that this game was shit over 10 years ago.