The end of the world year is here and it’s time for me to wrestle in my brain to try and figure out what my top 5 games of the year are. Surprisingly enough it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would. For one, the year was ruled by sequels which more or less turned out to be about as good or slightly better than their predecessors. Secondly, a bunch of potentially top 5 games were delayed to 2013 like Bioshock Infinite, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and Tomb Raider. There were some standout games but I feel strongly about my top 5 games, I definitely could not switch one out.
5) Kingdoms of Amular: Reckoning
It’s pretty fucked up what happened to 38 Studios just months after the release of their first game. Kingdoms of Amular: Reckoning is probably looked at as the reason to the demise of 38 Studios due to it failing to receive a wide audience but those who played it found something to like from it. I came out loving this game for its deep and understandable RPG elements and its easy to use combat system. Sometimes an RPG game can have too many stats to keep a track of that it becomes overwhelming and confusing, Amular simplifies all that and it doesn’t lock you in to a specific characters class. It lets the player dictate how they want to play and I appreciate that. It’s a shame what happened to the guys at 38 Studios but at least they left after dropping one heck of a game.
4) Diablo III
Before the year started I had never played a Diablo game before, actually, I had never even played a Blizzard game before. I’m just not a huge PC gamer and RTS games aren’t my thing. But as Diablo III’s release date got closer I found myself interested to play the king of all loot games……with coop. Once my hands adjusted to playing with a mouse and keyboard, Diablo III had me hooked for a straight month. My brother and I ran through the campaign in a day and a half, then proceeded to do it all over again. Did it get repetitive? Yes, but before it does you’ll swear that it’s the most engaging game you’ve ever played. Just thinking back makes me want to find some rare items. I love loot.
3) Halo 4
Those who know me closely know that Halo 4 was in my top 5 before I had even played the game. I LOVE HALO!!! With a new developer behind the franchise, Halo 4 continued to deliver the blockbuster experience we’ve come to expect from Microsoft’s triple A title. Master Chief returns, along with Cortana to bring us their most personal and humanizing moments yet. The campaign reminds us that Master Chief is human after all, and the multiplayer reminded me just how much I love this series. I have a blast playing online with my friends and will continue to do so for months to come.
2) The Walking Dead
There’s are several reasons everyone has highly regarded The Walking Dead this year. It’s the most engaging, intriguing, enthralling and a whole slew of adjectives I can’t think of now, piece of work this year. It made me care for a little girl named Clementine and it got my angry when other survivors acted like complete assholes. Making the gamer care is a tough thing to do but Telltale Games achieved that with ease.
1) Borderlands 2
No other game this year was as much fun for me as Borderlands 2 was. I had a blast playing this game beginning to end with a full group of four and once again doing it all over again for that sweet sweet rare loot. I completed all of the quest’ the game had to offer, picked up what is regarded as the games most rare items, and maxed out my level cap. The only reason I stopped playing was because I’m waiting for Gearbox Software to update the games level cap. When that day comes I will be back on Borderlands 2.
