The people out there who say that 2012 was a ho-hum year for gaming are complete morons. I think this was an absolutely incredible year, with some of the standout games of this entire console generation. Developers have really started to hone their craft at this point, and that has allowed them to deliver us outstanding games that take full advantage of everything the current consoles have to offer.

What’s even better is that independent developers are really coming into their own, and now more than ever, there are numerous ways for them to get their games out to the public. Four of my top five games all come from indie developers, and that is pretty shocking for me considering I don’t typically play indie games. I like the glitz and glamour of triple-A titles, and don’t typically go for low-budget indies. I guess that all changed this year.

Let me just say that my top 10 list is by no means going to surprise anyone. There are a couple of standout games that didn’t make my list, like Dishonored and Far Cry 3, simply because I didn’t have time to play them. That’s something I hope to rectify in 2013. For how though, I hope you enjoy my list for my favorite games of 2012.

#10) Darksiders 2

If you have followed me on twitter in 2012, you would think that Darksiders 2 was my most hated game of 2012. All I seemed to ever do was complain about how buggy it was, or how the level design was boring and uninspired. The truth is though I really enjoyed this game, so much so that I played it through to completion twice. I really enjoyed the art direction, the combat, and the weapon creation system. It also had some of the best boss fights of 2012. All of that helped it just edge out Mass Effect 3 and make it into my top 10 list.

#9) Assassin’s Creed 3

This is another polarizing game for me, which I both hated and loved. I hate that the game started extremely slowly and that Ubisoft still hasn’t nailed the Assassin’s Creed gameplay, even though this is the 5th game in the series. For a game about stealth, I feel like it’s next to impossible to be stealthy, which drives me insane. I also feel like there are too many overlapping gameplay systems in place, and Ubisoft needs to cut things back a bit. However, the story was engaging, the visuals were breathtaking, and there were a ton side missions which kept me coming back for more. The world was also incredibly realized, and full of life. I loved just hanging out in Boston and New York and seeing what life was like in those cities. Let’s not forget about the boat missions, which were some of my standout gaming moments of 2012.



#8) Diablo 3

There’s no other game on this list that I can say I beat a total of 7 times this year. Diablo 3’s ability to crank up the difficulty, forcing you to completely relearn and reevaluate how to play the game, made me constantly want to come back for more. My favorite part of the game though was the 4-player co-op, which took the game to a whole other level. People who played Diablo 3 solo did not really get to experience this game proper. Sure the solo gameplay was serviceable, but it paled in comparison to the fun of teaming up with others to take down the hordes of enemies Blizzard throws at you.

#7) Borderlands 2

If it had not been for a large list of standout indie games that really captured my heart this year, I am pretty sure Borderlands 2 would have been #2 on my list. It is by far the best FPS of the year I played. The weapons were absolutely fantastic to wield, the levels were beautiful to look at and immense in size, and the enemies were very smart and tough to kill. It also had one of the best main bad guys in 2012. This game essentially improved on every single aspect of the original Borderlands, and I probably would have played it more if it weren’t for the other games on this list.



#6) Dust: An Elysian Tale

This 15+ hour game was made by a single person, can you believe that? I sure can’t, and I also can’t believe how in-love with this game I fell. I truly believe this is one of the least appreciated games in 2012. The gameplay was fast and furious, the hand drawn visuals were absolutely gorgeous, and the story was dark yet very touching. There aren’t enough Metroid-vania style games out there, so when one comes along that has such high production value, people need to take notice. Go out and buy this game people. It’s worth your time and your money.

#5) Fez

When I first started playing Fez I thought it was a cute little platformer with a unique 2D/3D gameplay system in place. I didn’t fall in love with it though until I had that eureka moment where I realized it’s actually so much more. Solving puzzles in Fez and figuring out all the hidden secrets were some of the standout moments I had in gaming in 2012. This is also the only game this year I actually pulled out pencil and paper for and started jotting things down to help me play it. I could have gone to the internet to figure things out, but I was determined to do it on my own. Sure I cheated a couple times, but it was so much more rewarding when I figured things out on my own.

#4) Mark of the Ninja

I can say, without a doubt, that Mark of the Ninja is the best “stealth” game ever made. It constantly relays information to you to let you know exactly how stealthy you are being, allowing you to become a deadly assassin killing everyone in his path, or a silent ninja who moves through the shadows never killing a single soul. This is the one game this year I played over and over to try and perfect every level. The challenge of trying to kill every enemy without ever being seen, or get through an entire level without killing a single enemy, was invigorating. There are a lot of things that games like Dishonored and Assassin’s Creed could learn from a game like Mark of the Ninja.



#3) XCOM: Enemy Unknown

I just need to play this game for one … more … turn. That’s how I feel every time I sit down to play XCOM: Enemy unknown. It does such a good job of always keeping you on the edge of your seat, wondering if you can continue to hold everything together as the alien invaders are constantly trying to bring everything around you crashing down. Countries are panicking and threatening to pull their funding, some of your best men are out injured because of a damn alien grenade blast, and you are just days away from finally finishing construction of a new fleet of alien fighter jets, when suddenly a report comes in of multiple alien abduction sites all over the world: WHAT DO YOU DO!!!! Situations like this are why XCOM is one of the best games of the year. Oh yeah, did I mention the turn based strategy gameplay is absolutely outstanding!

#2) Journey

More than anything, 2012 was a year about how I felt when I played games, and almost no other game exemplifies this more than Journey. I played this game from start to finish in one two hour sitting, and in that time I felt loneliness, companionship, sadness, joy, I laughed, I starred on in disbelief, I yelled, and I almost cried. That’s a lot of emotions to experience in a two hour period, and I experienced them all with someone who I never even met, and never got a chance to talk to. The only communication we ever had was the small chirps I could use to express whatever emotions I was experiencing at the time, including my enjoyment of one of my favorite games of 2012.



#1) The Walking Dead

I find it funny that my favorite game of 2012 was played entirely on my iPad. How far have we come when one of the best games of the year can be experienced on everything from a PC, PS3, and Xbox, to an iPad and iPhone. These are truly great times to be a gamer.

What can I say about the Walking Dead that hasn’t already been said? It has won Game of the Year honors at multiple websites, including Destructoid and it’s changed the way people view story telling in games forever. I feel like I have nothing else to add to the discussion, except to tell you my personal experience with it.

One of the best things about Walking Dead for me was that my wife was playing it at the exact same time as I was, experiencing her own version of the story. We would always argue over who would get to play each new episode first, but we would never spoil it for the other person. Whenever we were both done we would then sit down and discuss what happened in our versions of the story, describing the different choices we made and why we made them. These discussions became my favorite gaming moments in 2012, and they didn’t even happen in a game. That is why The Walking Dead wins my award for the best game of 2012.

Games I didn’t play I wish I had: Guild Wars 2, Dishonored, Far Cry 3, FTL, Sleeping Dogs.

As soon as I saw the “10 Things you didn’t know” meme start back up again, I knew immediately that I needed to write one up for myself. Actually, this will be the second one of these I’ve ever written. If you’re really interested, you can read the original 10 Things You Don’t Know about Dragons blog that I wrote three years ago. That blog was mainly video game related. I’ve decided instead to make this blog a little more personal. I hope you enjoy.

1) I actually started the original “10 Things you don’t know about ..” meme.

Yeah I bet you didn’t know that one did you. I wrote the original blog entry that kicked this entire meme off. To my misfortune, I decided to do this on a weekend when I was doing the Cblogs recaps. I had to recap the majority of the meme myself. It took forever to do, but was so worth it. You can find the original meme recap here.

2) The thing I want most in this world is to have a big family of my own.

I grew up in a huge family, with lots of uncles, aunts, cousins, and second cousins. Ever since I was a kid I always knew that I would want to have a big family of my own, with lots of kids and grandchildren. That might seem a little sappy, but I don’t really care. It’s a dream I’ve always had, and hopefully one day my wife and I will be able to make it a reality.

3) I’m obsessed with working out and I’ve lost 30+ pounds in the last 3 years.

When I first met my wife I weighed the most I ever had in my life. Going out to nice lunches everyday and not working out will do that to you. When I met her though, I decided it was time for a change, so I stopped going out to lunch and started working out and bringing in healthier lunches instead. I now work out 4 days a week, which includes weight lifting, running, and playing basketball, and since then I’ve lost 30+ pounds. It’s something I’m extremely proud of.



4) My favorite TV show of all time is Babylon 5.

I’m not afraid to admit it. I’m a complete Babylon 5 junkie. I own every single episode on DVD, including all the made-for-TV movies, and I think I’ve seen everyone one at least 4 or 5 times. The characters and the story are just so incredibly good. Other shows like Deep Space 9 and Battlestar Galactica have come to close to what Babylon 5 did, but neither of them could top it.

5) I had a chance to meet Felicia Day at E3 2010, but I chickened out!

She was standing 10 feet away from me with a couple of her friends and all I had to do was walk over, say hello, and tell her how awesome I think she is. Instead I pussied out like the chicken I am. It was a low moment in my life that could have been an awesome one! There’s a lesson to be learned from this kids … I think.

6) I own every episode of Sex and the City on DVD.

It’s a good show damnit and that’s all I’m going to say about that!

7) I’m the longest running Cblog Recapper left.

I started doing the CBlog recaps back in 2008, and I haven’t quit since. That’s almost 4 years for those of you keeping count. Destructoid has changed a whole hell of a lot in those 4 years, and lot of great community members have come and gone, but I still love this place. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be a recapper, but I’ll keep reading them if you keep writing them.

8) My wife is better than me at Mario Kart.

I’ve never admitted this to her, but I need to admit it to someone. We actually played Mario Kart together on our very first date, and I lost to her badly then. I’ve only continued to lose to her since. I’m good at games damnit, especially racing games, but she is just better at me at Mario Kart. It’s time to stop denying the truth and just admit it to myself.



9) I collect dragons.

I bet this one comes as a real shocker doesn’t it. If I’m out shopping and I see a cool dragon statue, or a cool stuffed animal dragon, I buy it. I’ve been doing this for about 10 years now, and while my collection isn’t gigantic, it’s getting larger every day. I’m really picky though, and I’m not willing to spend tons of money, so it has to be a dragon that really catches my eye for me to pick it up. The picture above is of the collection of dragons I have in my office at work.

10) I play the bagpipes.

No I’m not Scottish, but I have been to Scotland. I started playing the bagpipes when I joined the Boy Scouts. My troop leader always had this dream of starting his own pipe and drum band, so he decided to turn his Boy Scout troop into a band. We all started out playing when we were only 10 years old, and the band just blossomed from there. We toured all over the east coast, performing at community events, in parades, at Boy Scout camps, churches, weddings and private parties. Our biggest performance was playing in front of 100,000 people at the 1994 National Boy Scout Jamboree. If you must know … I do own a Kilt, which I would wear proudly today if I could still fit into it.

Three years ago I sat down and wrote a Christmas song dedicated to the entire Dtoid community which I entitled “The 12 Days of Destructoid Christmas”. It's a spin of the famous Christmas song we have all heard many times before, but my version has a Destructoid inspired spin to it.

Next, I got the crazy idea to actually record myself singing this song. I’m not sure what I was thinking, because I do not have the best singing voice. Well afterwards I took the song and turned it into a music video and presented it to the entire community.

Ttwo years ago I made a few slight changes to the song and posted it again for all to see. Well it's once again Christmas Day, so I’ve decided to bring it back one more time to share with all of you once again. Since a lot of you weren’t around the last three years, this will be your first time hearing and seeing it. I really hope you all enjoy it. I put a lot of love into this song to give back to a community which I enjoy so much being a part of.

MERRY CHRISTMAS DESTRUCTOID!

***The contest signups close today at 12pm EST***

This year I’ve decided to resurrect the Unofficial Destructoid March Madness Tournament Bracket Competition that I originally started two years ago. Last time I threw this together at the last moment, and it didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked. Well this year I’ve taken some additional time to plan the competition, and it should run a lot better. Also, I do have an official prize this year for the lucky person who wins.

Now some of you might be asking while I’m throwing a basketball contest on a video game website. While I know we all love video games, this is an opportunity for those of us who love college basketball to share another passion with members of this great community. It’s also an opportunity for people who aren’t big basketball or sports fans, to maybe become fans.

How do you Sign Up?
I have set up a Dtoid group on the Yahoo Sports tournament bracket site. Click this link to sign up for the tournament and create and submit your own personal bracket. You’ll need to sign up for a Yahoo account if you don’t already have one, so make sure you do that first. I don’t think it should ask you for a password to enter the Destructoid group, but if it does, the password is dtoid. Please note that the last time to sign up will be 12pm EST on Thursday.

Everyone is welcome to enter. Only 1 will win.

Scoring System
You earn points by picking the winners of each matchup. The farther into the tournament you get, the more points you get. You also get bonus points for picking lower-seeded teams correctly. If you correctly choose a lower-seeded team, you will earn a bonus of the difference between the seeds. For example, if you choose a 10th seeded team over a 6th seeded team, you’ll earn 4 bonus points. See the chart below for the regular number of points you get for picking the correct team.

Round 1 - 4 point for a correct pick
Round 2 - 4 point for a correct pick
Round 3 - 8 points for a correct pick
Round 4 - 8 points for a correct pick
Round 5 - 8 points for a correct pick
Round 6 - 16 points for a correct pick

Bonus Points - Correctly choosing lower-seeded teams will earn you bonus points equal to the difference between the seeds.

The person who has the most points in the end wins

What do you win?
This year the winner’s prize will be a blu-ray copy of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Please note that I can only ship to people in the continental United States, so please do not enter the competition if you live out of the country.



So please feel free to join and compete. Everyone is welcome. If anyone has any problems signing up, or any questions let me know. Please note that the last time you can sign up is 12pm EST on Thursday (that's TODAY!!!)

This year I’ve decided to resurrect the Unofficial Destructoid March Madness Tournament Bracket Competition that I originally started two years ago. Last time I threw this together at the last moment, and it didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked. Well this year I’ve taken some additional time to plan the competition, and it should run a lot better. Also, I do have an official prize this year for the lucky person who wins.

Now some of you might be asking while I’m throwing a basketball contest on a video game website. While I know we all love video games, this is an opportunity for those of us who love college basketball to share another passion with members of this great community. It’s also an opportunity for people who aren’t big basketball or sports fans, to maybe become fans.

How do you Sign Up?
I have set up a Dtoid group on the Yahoo Sports tournament bracket site. Click this link to sign up for the tournament and create and submit your own personal bracket. You’ll need to sign up for a Yahoo account if you don’t already have one, so make sure you do that first. I don’t think it should ask you for a password to enter the Destructoid group, but if it does, the password is dtoid. Please note that the last time to sign up will be 12pm EST on Thursday.

Everyone is welcome to enter. Only 1 will win.

Scoring System
You earn points by picking the winners of each matchup. The farther into the tournament you get, the more points you get. You also get bonus points for picking lower-seeded teams correctly. If you correctly choose a lower-seeded team, you will earn a bonus of the difference between the seeds. For example, if you choose a 10th seeded team over a 6th seeded team, you’ll earn 4 bonus points. See the chart below for the regular number of points you get for picking the correct team.

Round 1 - 4 point for a correct pick
Round 2 - 4 point for a correct pick
Round 3 - 8 points for a correct pick
Round 4 - 8 points for a correct pick
Round 5 - 8 points for a correct pick
Round 6 - 16 points for a correct pick

Bonus Points - Correctly choosing lower-seeded teams will earn you bonus points equal to the difference between the seeds.

The person who has the most points in the end wins

What do you win?
This year the winner’s prize will be a blu-ray copy of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Please note that I can only ship to people in the continental United States, so please do not enter the competition if you live out of the country.



So please feel free to join and compete. Everyone is welcome. If anyone has any problems signing up, or any questions let me know. Please note that the last time you can sign up is 12pm EST on Thursday.

Two years ago I sat down and wrote a Christmas song dedicated to the entire Dtoid community which I entitled “The 12 Days of Destructoid Christmas”. It's a spin of the famous Christmas song we have all heard many times before, but my version has a Destructoid inspired spin to it.

Next, I got the crazy idea to actually record myself singing this song. I’m not sure what I was thinking, because I do not have the best singing voice. Well afterwards I took the song and turned it into a music video and presented it to the entire community.

Last year I made a few slight changes to the song and posted it again for all to see. Well it's once again Christmas Day, so I’ve decided to bring it back one more time to share with all of you once again. Since a lot of you weren’t around the last two years, this will be your first time hearing and seeing it. I really hope you all enjoy it. I put a lot of love into this song to give back to a community which I enjoy so much being a part of.

MERRY CHRISTMAS DESTRUCTOID!