I remember my first couple of hours with this game, fumbling about, throwing rocks that bounced back into me. Result: death. Then standing on a ledge carrying a rock tip: always carry something , standing too close to a ledge, going off-balance and falling off, hitting the ground and having the rock falling on top of me. A new enemy, what does this one do? But many many, many, many hours later, the same red-turban-wearing spelunker is tactically leading the crazy shopkeeper to his death, stealing his gear and luring the Giant Ghost of Instant Death over gems to hike up their value.
Whilst still dying constantly. There's a steep learning curve for sure, and even when you have four players who know what they're doing tentatively but efficiently working their way through the levels, it still always inevitably goes to pot at some point, yet you'll be laughing and screaming throughout in the best possible way.
Brilliantly designed. Perfectly mixing roguelike and platforming elements. Also angry shopkeepers! I have played it and played it and played it and barely scratched the surface. Simple to understand but with oceans of depth and endlessly fun moment-to-moment gameplay. Plus it's super cute. Just perfect. I have not completed it yet just got to the Temple and most likely never will.
However, the sheer amount of fun of just starting a run and seeing how far you can get is fabulous. The randomisation of levels gives the game an unmatched reply value. No doubt in my mind, the best game released in What we said: "Life presents you with a number of crossroads, Catherine suggests, and it's only in choosing a way forward that you gain an identity. In Vincent's case, it's the difference between being a mere protagonist and a hero. Even though Catherine is very story-driven it's also a game in the purest sense of the word as it's all wrapped around this amazing series of block puzzles that make for one of the most unique and mature games I've ever played.
Proof that Japanese gaming isn't dead. Hunam wrote: "A game about drinking as far as I could tell. You get rewarded for mixing drinks. You get rewarded for getting hammered every night. I think there was also something in there about the importance of perspective on your own life too, but mostly it was about getting hammered.
Discalceaterabbit wrote: "Watch entire days dissapear as you watch your dynasty slowly extend their tendrils throughout Europe. Starting as the King of Scotland but eventually weaselling my family line to be the heads of all of Scandinavia is a personal highlight. OrgasmicMutton wrote: "I'm never usually one for grand strategy games but the epic stories this game results in won me over.
One of the few games where everything going wrong feels so right. What we said: "Ubisoft Montpellier has indisputably crafted a delightful, playful, occasionally exhilarating platformer.
But while this is a game whose visuals point to a bright, alternative future, its systems too often rely on the dusty past. Half of a classic, then. It's the Vita's go-to platformer, but I mostly played it with my non-videogaming partner on the PS3. DrDamn wrote: "Works very well on Vita and the only title which challenges, and in many respects surpasses, the mighty Mario. The beautiful landscapes, quirky animations and fluid controls make for one of the most elegant and charming 2D platformers of all time.
Where Mario is becoming stale, Rayman feels fresh and unique. It looks and plays absolutely fantastic on the Vita screen. What we said: "More than a few Dota 2 players practically spit in each other's faces. Like the original Dota, Valve's Source Engine update has no sense of sympathy.
That's not what you play it for. Nor is it what you expect from the remake of a game whose beginner's guide is simply titled 'Welcome to Dota. You suck. Even though it hasn't been released.
Hugely entertaining game. And yet the community might as well be a giant quivering pile of gelatanous urine for the trash talk. It gets you annoyed and incensed when you see people mouthing off - and then all of a sudden you too are doing it because you see the mistakes in your team. Their build choices and item decisions and tactical awareness.
You have the best of intentions of telling them where they've gone wrong but somewhere between your mind and your hands you tend to freak out and end up mashing the keyboard with obscenities and trollish repetitive comments that seem to never get old. What's worse is you don't feel bad about it either. You feel justified. This one person is ruining something you have to experience for the next 40 minutes because they were too inept to simply read up on how the character or role should be played and put that into practice.
The community also manages to be the best community found in a MOBA game, with a newbie friendliness that's almost strange to find a game like this. It has changed our view of multiplayer gaming. Never have we had to work so much as a team. What we said: "Ambition is the word that best describes Black Ops 2 - and that's remarkable enough in itself.
This is still Call of Duty, with all that entails, and anyone who has resisted the series so far likely won't be won over this time either. For the fans, though, Black Ops 2 offers the rare sight of a series at its height choosing to experiment and change rather than stay loyal to a proven, but tired, formula. It may be a small victory in the battle for fresh blockbuster thinking, but it's a victory nonetheless. Those hoping to see Call of Duty knocked off its perch will have to wait another year.
I didn't really get along with Modern Warfare 3 and the story, maps, and small changes to this game have provided me with hours of shooting people in the face. If I feel like some mindless fun where I don't have to concentrate too hard, usually after a crappy day at work, this is the game I turn to.
Lamentation wrote: "The best COD yet. The Create-A-Class and scorestreaks are amazing fun to use. Little improvement to Zombies and an average campaign, but the very balanced multiplayer can hardly be improved upon. What we said: "It's another small step forward for the series, but that's not quite enough to dispel the suspicion that Codemasters' F1 team doesn't have the resources to create iterations compelling or different enough to justify the annual churn.
F1 is a good game, but it's some way off from being the classic it could be. Interested to see what Codies can do with F1 next-gen Codemasters is inches away from the perfect F1 experience this year. McPhilen wrote: "Easily my favourite game to drive a car on. It feels fantastic to hook up a perfect lap on F1 , which is something I don't normally get from a racing game. It requires some serious precision and car control, and it really is a good game.
What we said: "If the first Torchlight capitalised on the continued absence of Diablo 3, the second feels like a genuine alternative to it. It's a colourful, heartfelt and well-judged spin on one of the most reliably engrossing genres knocking around.
Pick a class, choose a pet and set a course for Plunder Cove. Nanonine wrote: "Outshone Diablo 3 with its colourful and easygoing world. Best co-op experience this year.
A larger world full of a much wider variety of areas and enemies. Tons more loot to be whored. Pitch-perfect combat of an incredibly satisfying nature and four very distinct classes to enjoy. Runic absolutely nailed it and this is a game I'll be going back to long after ends. Torchlight 2 is a major improvement on the original Torchlight with better loot, more varied level and monster design and a commitment to the community that many developers could learn from.
What we said: "Hitman: Absolution is a slick, responsive and mechanically confident game - and on occasions it's one of the most satisfying stealth games in a year that already includes Dishonored - but a range of compromises to Hitman tradition mean it's still going to rub some people up the wrong way. Ferral wrote: "The series needed this boost and a slight change in design for the better.
Instead of huge open playgrounds you get big chunks of a level to work through. This game does upset the series purists. I have been playing Hitman since the first game many years ago but have enjoyed Absolution and the way they have done it. It is a decent new point in the series that will bring loads of new players to the world of What we said: "You can always choose PES instead this year, because after a few years of rebuilding it now offers a credible alternative.
If you do go with FIFA 13, however, then you will find more ways to play it, all of them detailed and engaging, than ever before, and you will probably still be playing it when we're back here again in a year's time for the next instalment. Fully realises the promise of Impact Engine and, more importantly, it's lots of fun. Holzbeck wrote: "Not much to say about this. Added some nice new features to the Career modes. The First Touch Control feature can make you pull your hair out, but apart from that can't fault it.
All the small changes has made this the best football game ever. TC wrote: "Such a complete, well-rounded footballing package, not a single male in the world can resist its lure.
I sprinted for 15 minutes into town to make it to the midnight launch on time. What we said: "This is largely about the thrill of zipping through the sky, spotting a distant building, and wondering what Sony's magpie artists have put up there for you to find. Kat may be a superhero, but it's telling that she spends a lot of her time behaving as a tourist. Hekseville's a great place for a holiday, in other words, and Gravity Rush makes for a wonderful return ticket.
All aboard? Vallaurian wrote: "A quirky gem that held my attention for many weeks. Beautiful visuals and an unforgettable score added to the feeling of becoming a real superhero. Surely no game has done flying so well. The steampunk world was refreshingly different and only the truncated ending prevented Gravity Rush from attaining true greatness. Brilliant story, likeable characters and mind-bending anti-gravity shenanigans!
Apaar wrote: "A unique treat with the best female lead in any game ever. Superb art design and wonderful music. Kangoo wrote: "A perfect example of what the Vita is capable of. Looks beautiful on the Vita's screen, brilliant design and unique use of the touch-screen. But nothing can match the creation of Kat, a genuinely lovable character who deserves a sequel.
What we said: "Diablo 3 is more than slick, and more than deep. It's a turbo-charged romp through the conventions of action, role-playing and online games that plays to the gallery but tears up the rulebook on the sly.
It has been awfully compromised by its launch and by the lack of an offline mode, but it deserves better than to be remembered for that. And I'm certain it won't be. DjFlex52 wrote: "Despite its overblown shortcomings, Diablo 3 was as addictive as any game I've played the last few years. After all the patches it also managed to add a lot of substance to the endgame, but well before that the journey to inferno was already the best dungeon romp you could find, and the Hardcore mode offers emotions not found in any other game around.
Phattso wrote: "There's a lot wrong and, especially living in Asia, the online requirement is a massive problem, but this is still an amazing achievement. It has that click-kill-loot loop down to perfection. This is the only game I played for nearly three months of this year. Hats off to Blizzard for supporting the Mac day-and-date with Windows as well.
Rack wrote: "Diablo 3 turned building a character into a whole game. I have my character who stuns enemies before pelting them with AoEs, but what can I do with a skill that reflects all damage dealt to me? The whole game right until level 60 was a delightful journey of discovery, and when you were done? There were another four classes to try out. Turn off the real-money auction house, find yourself a nice crossbow and quiver, and watch your Demon Hunter blast through hordes on minions like a hot knife through butter.
What we said: "It tries to do something special, and it tries to create something memorable and something strange. In Dubai itself, it genuinely succeeds, perhaps because the reality of the place is already so gaudy, so cloyingly, oppressively weird, that it provides a good hard shove in the right direction before the first bullet's been fired.
There are such a lot of shooters these days, and so many tend to blur into each other if you're not careful. This one won't, however - and that's quite an achievement.
War is horrible and it's about time a game reflected that. The way it plays is as a bombastic third-person man-shoot. What it does with that is everything it can to mess with your head. In an industry currently dominated by jingoistic military shooters The Line is a subversive little gem.
Marjin wrote: "An incredibly brave experiment in interactive storytelling, an indelible descent into madness and an unambiguous condemnation of every other military shooter on the market. Are you not entertained!? What we said: "The inclusion of an enormously detailed track editor - the same tool developer RedLynx used to make the levels you're paying for - means that talented amateurs will be able to drag more life out of the game than you initially get for your Microsoft Points.
But in truth, Trials Evolution is already fantastic value for money. It offers simple, one-player gameplay that uses leaderboards to provoke excitement and competition among strangers, and in this sense it has a lot in common with the original Xbox Live Arcade games. The way that it makes its challenging content accessible to a majority of players, however, is what singles it out as one of the best. I am always blown away by what the community has come up with when I load up Track Central and, even though I met my difficulty wall, I can still dip in and have fun in new levels any time.
AnsemsApprentice wrote: "Creatively, one of the best arcade games out there, with wonderfully varied level design made more wonderful by a thread of childish humour throughout, covering everything, even death, in a warm fuzz.
What we said: "PlanetSide 2 is much like Guild Wars 2 - a game that will live or die based on its ability to keep its server populations buzzing. For now though, give or take some nasty server problems, it's worth putting those fears on the back burner. There'll be time enough tomorrow to worry about the grand game and its future. Great graphics and gigantic continents to run around and kill each other in. PlanetSide 2 is everything PlanetSide 1 wanted to be and the bump in technology really does help.
Namely, that all other multiplayer FPS games are utterly pathetic by comparison. When you storm down a hillside with hundreds of allied infantry by your side, or roll ominously towards an enemy facility in a column of 50 tanks, or make a swooping bombing run on a bridge stand-off between hundreds of players, you can't help but think: why aren't all games like this?
JonnyCigarettes wrote: "I played PlanetSide 1 and miss the hacking and the jammer grenades. And combat engineering. And my Vanu mosquito. And the Lancer. And a coherent lattice system. And base drains and an inventory. And warp gates that actually warp and having 10 continents to choose from. I also miss the sense that I'm playing a game rather than electively bailing out an ailing Sony with every begrudged upgrade. PlanetSide 2 is still an astonishing experience. For the Vanu! Deletys wrote: "At this moment PlanetSide 2 is one third the game I expect it to be someday.
Regardless, even at its present form, it is incredibly promising and fun experience. What we said: "This is a supremely tight version of a classic game that gracefully navigates the limitations of its platform.
The pad controls are taut, fast and logical. The Xbox 's small memory and the lack of dedicated online servers means the worlds created in this Minecraft are smaller, and can never live online independently of their creators. On the other hand, it has never been simpler to share your Minecraft creation with a few friends; there's support for split-screen local multiplayer a potential killer app for some fans , and simple toggles dictate whether your game will be online and open or invite-only.
It has everything - collecting, surviving, creating You can build a fortress and fight off hordes of zombies, or play a calming game with friends and just build a wonderful world. And it still proves innovation will always triumph over shiny graphics. MysteryLamb wrote: "The defining sandbox game - and a generous one at that which keeps improving. One marathon hour gameplay session later, I understood completely. Their first experience with the Ender Man was hilarious and heart-warming.
Was cool to share my hobby. What we said: "Even now [May ], with DayZ as laggy, unstable and awkward as it is, it's immediately apparent that something special is being discovered here. Something that taps into the same zeitgeist as Dark Souls or EVE Online whose subscriber numbers have been growing for almost a decade ; that desire for heroism to be heroic, for villainy to be villainous. I'm not sure when the AAA developers are going to start heeding that desire, but it'll be a great step for gaming when they do.
Cosquae wrote: "Created a whole new genre, a million and one stories of death defiance and catapulted an old soldier sim to the top of the Steam charts all summer long. Not bad for a mod. Great tension in the music.
Spend all night trying to team up with your pals to get some good gear then paaachunnnn it's all over Well, until it loads again anyway! The ultimate apocalyptic nightmare. When the social contract's no longer binding what will you do? Who will you be? Roamer wrote: "OK, fine, I haven't actually played the game. But the countless hours spent watching emergent gameplay on YouTube has convinced me of its magnificence nonetheless.
What we said: "Developed by the two-man team of Subset Games, it's a simple yet nimble creation that creates bite-sized scenarios on the fly that will unite Star Trek and Star Wars fans in swooning joy. You're the captain of a Federation starship. You're on the run from vicious Rebels who are sweeping through the galaxy. You've got to deliver important data to the rest of the Federation fleet to turn the tide of the final battle.
That's it. DanForinton wrote: "A Kickstarter success and a brilliant game to boot. Hopelessly frustrating but it possesses that special magic that demands just one more go. LockeTribal wrote: "Great spaceship-based roguelike. Keeps pulling you back for another go.
I'm sad to say I still haven't gotten to the last sector, but I'll keep trying. Brilliantly economical design. JonnyCigarettes wrote: "The most charm and complexity for the least bluster I've ever seen in a game. Oh god there's a hull breach. Oh god we've been boarded. Oh god the life support has been knocked out. Oh god I beamed my crew onto an enemy ship and then blew it up. Oh god I opened all the doors by accident.
The best Captain Janeway simulator ever! What we said: "So many games are really good at one or two things, or they're full of lots of good ideas that you respect individually, and their qualities arrive in your head with great fanfare, like a county parade trailing down your high street. Hotline Miami isn't like that. It only works as a whole, and it doesn't hit you like a flavour; it builds up in your system like an intravenous solution. If you took away the masks, or the blinking colours, or knocking over guys with doors, or the stuff about answerphone messages, or the DeLorean, or the wobble on the screen, or the super-fast movement, or walking back through what you've just done, you probably wouldn't understand why it stopped working, but it would definitely stop working.
Fortunately, it doesn't, and that's why there's only one number to dial. Then Hotline Miami came along, employed both kinds of violence perfectly, and made this ambivalence not only a powerful tool, but essentially the entire point of the game.
With a narrative that screams 'write essays about me! The immaculate gameplay graphics and audio were almost like icing. This is a game I have fallen deeply in love with and possibly the first where I haven't needed to suppress any of my personal beliefs and politics to do so. It's just all so bloody, bloody good. TheBlackBandit wrote: "Bloody and nasty and fast and difficult and oh my goodness far too much fun. What we said: "Ambitious, grand, at once derivative and pioneering, Dragon's Dogma may not be a classic but it's an important title nonetheless - the first example of a blockbuster Japanese RPG attempting to marry its own heritage with contemporary Western expressions.
Notallowedhere wrote: "Gobsmacked this came out of nowhere and is easily my most played game of the year. The best combat in any RPG and a range of character classes that genuinely feel new and fresh not easy in a field as competitive as it is. FladgeMangle wrote: "When I first heard of this I thought it was the game of my dreams and it didn't disappoint me in any way.
Sheer wonder and pure visual thrills and the best gaming experience I've had this year by quite a wide margin. While the story and questlines all revolve around 'go here, kill that', it's the AI and animation of the monsters that make it for me. The way the hydra moves like a giant cobra waiting to strike, bodyslamming it's prey with whiplike reflexes, or a manticore bounds around the field, hunting the player and attempting to shake off its attackers, the combat is just sublime.
Better monster-hunting than Monster Hunter. What we said: "The game's unique artwork, its perspective-shift mechanic, its nostalgia for the bit years and its bewitchingly strange setting all exist in total harmony and make a single, deliberate statement. Maybe it's about perception, reality and subjectivity, like the old man said.
But I think it's about something else: what games were to us in their charged infancy, what they've expanded into in the 30 years since, and how to fold those things together into a single, beautiful whole.
It's the mint imperial of indie gaming. It gave me the pure joy of being deeply addicted to a video game. The music is amazing and one of the best game soundtracks ever.
It boggles the mind to think that one man designed this. Calex30 wrote: "Eh Oh I see Where did this come from Strange symbols I'm gonna need a pen and paper, aren't I? A flashback to the 8-bit days with even more mind-bending complications. What we said: "It's still not quite cool, but its luscious sensory rush overcomes any resistance: the sweeping scenery, the tactile handling, the throaty exhausts, the insistent thrills of the throbbing Rob da Bank soundtrack.
Forza Horizon is a big, exciting game that finally brings car enthusiasts together with the realistic open roads they crave. Romeric wrote: "They delivered the game we all expected. Beautiful, fantastic handling - the lot.
A shame the online was so lacking or this would still be in my disk drive. Percinho wrote: "Finally the best driving engine available is freed from the track. Who'd have thought just taking a car for a drive would be so much fun? MD wrote: "If ever there was a feel-good racer, then it's Horizon. Playground Games have arrived with a buzzing festival-themed open-world, an amazing selection of cars and the best licensed soundtrack in games in a long time.
What we said: "When a game is so clearly intent on being a follower of trends rather than setting them, it's hard to feel much passion for Sleeping Dogs' vanilla retread of established ideas.
When compared to his open-world peers, Wei Shen's stoic promise to do 'what I always do' ultimately feels more like an apology for low ambition than a rallying cry. A perfect balance of driving, shooting, fighting and other activities. TC wrote: " Sleeper hit? The Hong Kong vibes really sucked me in. Driving on the left means instant GOTY contender. Story, setting and mechanics were all fantastic and I found it to be a brilliantly fun game with not a dull moment in the 20 hours I spent with it.
What we said: "You can't escape the feeling that Rockstar just isn't as good at a pure third-person shooter as it is with the open worlds of Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption, and in this linear context it's much harder to put up with its usual missteps in mechanics and difficulty.
Boy was I wrong. It turned out to be a wonderfully told adventure of brutal Bullet Time with superb graphics and challenges that kept me coming back. Less said about the multiplayer the better though. As a long-time fan of the series I loved the story of his descent to rock-bottom and his attempt to turn things around. The best third-person shooter around. OscarTangoBravo wrote: "An excellent addition to the series that really showed that Rockstar knows how vintage IP should be treated.
What we said: "The Witcher 2's timing is prescient. As Game of Thrones dominates the television ratings, just as Skyrim has dominated the game charts in recent months, the cultural appetite for fantasy is as high as it's ever been. Despite the competition, however, The Witcher 2 has an air of unique wonder about it.
There's a weight and detail to the mythology that is beguiling, but CD Projekt's skill has been in making this relevant and meaningful to the player.
Even the console version was a masterpiece. XanderFish wrote: "Completely took me by surprise, I played the first one but never managed to finish it. Thought I would give this a chance and it completely blew me away with the depth of characters and the story. What we said: "Assassin's Creed was once a fascinating mystery wrapped around a fun action-adventure - remember when you first loaded up the original game and it began in the Abstergo offices and you had no idea what was going on?
That's more true than ever in Assassin's Creed 3, where you're a hunter, a ship captain, a silent killer, an entrepreneur, a swashbuckling sword-fighter and many other things besides. It all serves to make this the biggest and richest Assassin's Creed game to date - maybe not the best, but a place where, for want of a better expression, everything is permitted.
Interesting new time period as well. The best lead character, the best setting, and of all the games in the series it features the best implementation of historical persons and events into the game's story.
MaybeLater wrote: "AC3 is the cream of the crop of open-world games. The ship combat alone achieves what so many other games have tried to do but never quite managed to get right. Maybe for the first time, Rockstar North is going to have do something pretty spectacular with the next GTA if it wants to maintain its hallowed position at the top of the tree.
Kantor wrote: "The ending was dreadful, but the main story gameplay was excellent, and the naval battles were a great innovation.
The multiplayer is as good as ever, too. What we said: "It's not the levelling, it's the taking part that counts. That's what makes Guild Wars 2 great. Almost every aspect of its design serves the individual player and whole community equally, and there's a breezy willingness to put the content ahead of the grind throughout. Spekingur wrote: "Only new MMO this year worth mentioning. Get the full MMO experience without paying a monthly fee.
Chromie wrote: "ArenaNet has maanged to spoil me with their combat system. I can no longer enjoy having to worry about action bars on screen at any given time. Combat is fast, fun and offers alot of diversity. The world is gorgeous and huge. I can spend hours just exploring looking for mini-dungeons or jumping puzzles. ArenaNet really listened on what GW1 fans wanted and went crazy with it.
Gorgeous to look at and listen to. Good gameplay that maybe is a little harder than it should be in places. Best played on quiet servers so to avoid the dreaded overflow!
Limath wrote: "A great stab at evolving an MMO enough to make it fresh while still maintaining a familier gameplay vibe. The developers did a great job of providing players with a world that felt far more alive than certain other, more aged but brill MMOs. While enjoying it. What we said: "There are some few entertainment experiences that rise above mere amusement, and the world of Lordran is one of them: an endless feast to be chewed over and digested, each morsel swallowed with lip-smacking relish before returning eagerly for the next.
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