I guess I’ll have to check out XCom now, damn … better than Dishonored?!
I recommend Aetius CLassic Rebalanced mod: Aetius Classic Rebalanced at XCOM Enemy Unknown Nexus - mods and community
I’m surprised Spec Ops didn’t place higher with all the praise heaped on the story. Two of my votes made the top 5, and the rest were relegated to the “Eclectic Taste” category – I need to get better opinions for next year’s vote!
I’m a bit surprised that Waking Mars and SoaSE: Rebellion weren’t a bit higher, though I didn’t vote for either, so I can’t really complain. FTL and XCOM were both higher than I expected them to be, as I thought each had some pretty major flaws (though in the case of XCOM, “higher than expected” still means I thought it would be at/near the top, just not 100 points ahead). AC3 should also be a bit higher, but in this case, I completely get it: it’s got some pretty major flaws as well, and while I’m pretty certain it’s a top 15 or so game this year, it’s definitely not a top 5, and that hurts it with the way these lists are put together.
(Also, I picked up Eador: Genesis this week based on its presence on the lists of a bunch of people who seems to share my general tastes; I had never heard of it before this week, and now I’m kind of excited about spending some time on it if I get the chance this weekend.)
About XCOM I think that given a simple poll, “Is XCOM the game of the Year,” most of the voters would say no. What I am guessing lead to its success is that it was on so many of our lists. We had a variety of tastes but alot of us would have that one game in common so it would rack up those points. So perhaps it does deserve some accolade for at least striking a chord with so many.
Tom M
EDIT: I thought Guild Wars 2 was going to get the top spot for that reason. I should have paid more attention.
I think XCom is like that girl that everyone marries being the nice girl and such but she’s not the bad girl you’d like to go frolicking with!
Yeah, it wasn’t my favorite game this year but it was great fun and I look forward to finding more time for an Impossible playthrough. Frankly, every game I played this year had flaws of one sort or another, so I am curious to hear exactly what perfect game folks played that I somehow missed out on. It does not appear to have made the top ten.
Awesome, I got a copy of Xcom for Christmas, I need to bust that thing out! Except that I also got Forza Horizon and Sleeping Dogs, plus I am playing Need for Speed Most Wanted and replaying Walking Dead, and there’s all these Steam games, and oh boy.
Super Hexagon is a perfect game.
Lots of surprises on that list.
I bought XCOM during the GMG sale last week and have been playing it regularly. I love the look and feel and how they make me nostalgic for the original while at the same time being light years better. The game does need some more randomization and about three times the maps it currently has to make replayability better, but it is a fantastic game on that initial playthrough. That first playthrough also lasts long enough that I feel you are getting your money’s worth out of it in a dollars for hours ratio. All that said, it wouldn’t be my #1 pick for GOTY.
Guild Wars 2 would probably nab that honor from me, which is ironic since I stopped playing it around Halloween. I think it deserves GOTY because of the game design and how it turns so many conventional MMO apects on their heads and creates a totally new dymanic for online gaming. Couple that with the fact that there is no monthly fee and the micro-transaction stuff is completely voluntary and tucked away where you only see it if you want to, and it’s brilliant.
I am really happy to see Dragon’s Dogma come in only 2 places (11 points) behind Diablo 3. Dragon’s Dogma is another one of those games that wins points on sheer design qaulities, and while Diablo 3 is the sleek and sexy AAA title everyone expected, Dogma is a surprise out of left field that I think people will really like once word of mouth gets the game into more hands. I hope it’s been successful enough to merit a sequal.
The only game on the entire list which I think is crazy is Diablo 3, which I feel was basically a disaster and should make Blizzard look at their lives, look at their choices.
Ack. I totally forgot about Warlock: Master of the Arcane when making my list.
TBS game of the year and a solid #2 or #3
I’m a bit surprised Borderlands 2 finished so far behind.
I just realized I forgot about Stacking. It should be at third place for me, I think…
Sure thing, bro.
XCom was my choice so I can’t complain. I have had family members (both of my brothers) who have been away from PC gaming of any kind for a decade each buy a new system just to play this game. That may be a little hard to appreciate for most of us – but I assure you it is true. The game and the brand strikes a deep cord in a segment of the market and is capable of bringing back gamers into the fold.
I have a lot of games. Most of them barely survive an hour of play. A minority get ten hours+. A handful make me want to play them to conclusion.
It was clear after 15 minutes that I would finish X-Com. And I did just that, after playing it pretty much flat out over successive evenings. This is not something I have had the pleasure (and motivation) to do for quite some time. While I cannot disagree with the opinion that the replayability factor in X-com is lacking, I’m more than hungry enough for the sequel or expansion for that experience, so I’m grateful.
Another vote of appreciation for Torchlight II. When GUTS, the mod editor for Torchlight II finally gets released, I am hopeful we will see some innovation that has been absent from the PC scene for seven years+. Torchlight II is in many ways preferable to Diablo III. For the price, it is very hard to beat Torchlight II.
I still think the real game of the year wasn’t a game at all – it was the delivery system. True, Steam didn’t arrive this year – but it sure as hell shifted into 3rd gear and tromped on the gas. Steam EXCELLED in 2012. While console gaming is down, PC Games sales are significantly UP, and some real bona fide hits are being sold exclusively online (principally, through Steam).
Valve is doing almost everything right and piracy seems to be receding greatly. At this rate, I genuinely believe that Triple A PC Titles are going to make a bit of a come back. It may not be ever be the year 2000 again, but I’m not worried about the Domedness of PC Gaming anymore (although the Domedness of PCs seems a more valid concern in the longrun).
They really aren’t. It’s good, and the best system out there, but when we are seeing issues of games like The Pinball Arcade getting declined and forced to go through Greenlight while the War Z just shows up broken, I’d say they have some serious issues still to sort out.
I think the ranking of D3 is a desaster in itself.
WTF is Eador: Genesis?
Anyway, glad to see that XCOM and Dishonored made the top 10. I don’t get how Sleeping Dogs didn’t even end up in the top 20–it’s amazing (and a Steam daily deal today).
Any system in which human discretion is applied will sometimes get it wrong. Rather than focus on the few problems (and there are some, no argument) I think the overall success of Steam as the go-to Storefront for the industry is difficult to disagree with.
The promise of Steam that has widely been hoped for and lauded in the past outright delivered on its promise in 2012.
This. Meanwhile, Eador: Masters of the Broken World is a remake with new visuals/UI and is currently in beta.
Ooooh. Thanks for this. It was my game of the year and I think it is more replayable than others do, but it does seem to be lacking some X(COM) factor that the original had. Here’s hoping the next DLC is a map pack.
I don’t know that I agree with that, but Big Picture has definitely been delivering to me lately.