December 23, 2012

• Top 5 Games of 2012

  Fig 12.23 – “…”

  Harvest Moon: A New Beginning (3DS)
  At long last, we have a Harvest Moon game worthy of standing on the same pedestal as Magical Melody and Friends of Mineral Town. It does so many things right that I’ll have a hard time fitting them into a paragraph. The big thing for me was how it sets goals that are both challenging and reasonable. Most of the new Harvest Moon games I end up quitting shortly after getting married, but this one actually makes me want to keep going in order to complete all of the challenges. It also does a great deal to simplify the tedious chores that would normally take absurd amounts of time. With this game, you can water multiple fields at once (it eventually opens an area where the fields are watered for you), chop down trees with one strike of an ax, and complete an entire day’s worth of mining in a few in-game minutes. This one truly feels like one of the greats in the series.

  XCOM: Enemy Unknown (PC)
  I hesitated at first when hearing about this game. I never got into turn-based strategy outside of the Civilization franchise, but when I heard XCOM had a base-building mechanic, I was intrigued. In spite of myself, I ended up having a lot of fun. The game may be hard at times, but it hurts because it loves.

  Katawa Shoujo (PC)
  I can almost guarantee that this will be the only time a visual novel will appear on one of my Top 5 lists. Don’t judge it too harshly because it was made by a bunch of 4channers. This game is totally legit and definitely tugs on the heartstrings at times. I can’t think of a way to describe the premise without sounding like a total creeper, so I won’t even try. Trust me; it’s good. Did I mention it’s free? It’s a free game.

  Mass Effect 3 (PC)
  Yeah, yeah. I’m one of the people that complained about the game’s ending. In spite of that, I had a great time playing the game itself. It had that same character driven feel to it as the other games and tied together several of your previous decisions. Also, I finally got to see Tali, my love’s face. That’s worth a crappy ending any day.

  Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams (PC)
  What’s this? Two hipster indie games on Jimbo’s list? Yes. Yes there are. If you don’t like it, then you should play them and like it. This game was something I happened to stumble upon when browsing GOG.com. It looked like a simple, old school, gem-collecting platformer. And you know what? That’s exactly what it was. And I loved it for that. One word of advice: if you’re going to play it, play it with a control pad. All the jumping, spinning, body-swapping shenanigans are just insane on a keyboard.

  Honourable Mentions

  Dishonored (Xbox 360)
  Reason for not making the list: Liked Mass Effect 3 better

  Spec Ops: The Line (PC)
  Reason for not making the list: Only recently purchased it and haven’t given it enough time

  Lollipop Chainsaw (Xbox 360)
  Reason for not making the list: Low replay value

  Mario Tennis Open (3DS)
  Reason for not making the list: Less of a difficulty curve, more of a difficulty fjord.

  Team Fortress 2 (PC)
  Reason for not making the list: Despite the fact that I probably played this game more this year than any of the above games combined, this game came out in 2008.

  Currently Workingman’s Dead By Grateful Dead see related

  • 10:06 am
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