2012 has no doubt been a great year for gaming, I think it may have even topped 2011 with the overall quality of some the releases.
Journey, Dishourned, Mass Effect 3, Guild Wars 2, Borderland 2, The Walking Dead, Assassins Creed 3, Halo 4 and no doubt a host of other titles which I have forgotten to include have all entertained us in spades this year. There has been however, a lot of criticism in regards this seeming being a “year of sequels”. I can agree with this, simply by looking a the list I started this paragraph with. However there has been a lot of simply sublime originality with some of this years titles, just look at Journey and Tokyo Jungle. Both titles which stunned most with just how entertaining and unique the gameplay was. But importantly these titles along with critical acclaim sold relatively well, which should hopefully mean this trend will continue into 2013 😀
Unfortunately this blog won’t be one of those websites choosing that amazingly original title as “game of the year”. I’m choosing a title which fundamentally does nothing really new. However what it does have is pure and unrestrained scope….
I heard rumbles from friends in the industry that this game was shaping upto be incredible. I didn’t believe it due to my overwhelming disappointment and slight hate of Far Cry 2. But then the reviews came, 9’s, 10’s and meta-critic simply going into overload with all the praise this title was getting.
I decided to give the game a try, and by a try I decided to rent it…within the first 20 minutes I knew this title was something else. I’m quite bored the FPS genre in general so was not holding out hope on having this grab me. How wrong was I? The amazing intro, great gun play, fun characters and the island itself culminated into a game which in some way managed to move me.
I just can’t remember a game I’ve played, where every play through has been completely different and not in a scripted way. Genuine random events from the wildlife attacking me and my enemies to blindly walking into a war between both factions on the Island. This game to me borders on perfection, sure it has a few problems (what game doesn’t) but overall, this title completed another stellar year in gaming for me and reminded us all that even on their last legs, these generations of consoles still have something to give.
BTW, Ubisoft sure have had a great year right?
And Finally…
I started this blog as nothing more than project to entertain my graduate boredom last year. However the last 12 months have been simply out of this world, an increase in hits, actual blog comments, PR folk chasing me and of course that GMA nomination. I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to everybody who took their time to give this little blog some love and the amazing folk on twitter who have made this year such a treat, with some of the amazing banter! (most of it not video game related)
Fingers crossed 2013 will be another good year 😀
