Gamer’s Digest: 2012 Gaming Favorites
Faster Than Light | Black Mesa | World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
| FASTER THAN LIGHT | |
 If you’ve heard anything about FTL: Faster Than Light, you’ve probably heard that it’s ridiculously difficult. It’s true. The game drops you into a hostile, uncaring universe where one unlucky roll of the dice can wipe out all your progress in an instant. And with just a single auto slot for saving, all results are permanent. The game is balanced quite well, giving you a large variety of tools to take down your enemies. The more time you spend in the game, the better you will become at using those tools and prioritizing your upgrades; there is zero progression saved from playthrough to playthrough, so the only thing improving is your own skills.
FTL captures so well the wonder of space, the feeling of endless possibility that takes over as you jump from one randomly generated node to another. The minimalist presentation and variable story events push you to build your own narrative as a space ship captain on a journey through the stars. In that context, the game no longer becomes about winning but rather about creating a story. A story of heroism as you save stranded colonists from giant alien spiders or face down a heavily armed slaver in order to free one of their products. A story of friendship that crosses lightyears as you build your crew of up to 8 from a pool of 6 different races of aliens and robots. A story of close calls as you jump from battle to battle that leaves you with just a handful of hull points left. And, most importantly, a story of futility as, more often than not, some combination of adverse conditions and challenging enemies will result in your rag tag crew meeting its untimely death long before it reaches its goal. Every new FTL node in this journey is another chapter in your story, one that is, win or lose, a thrill to write. |
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| BLACK MESA | |
| Going on 8 years of development and still not complete, Black Mesa has done a fine job carrying on the Half Life franchise’s tradition of interminable wait times for releases. It had achieved a Duke Nukem Forever reputation, having become a running joke as a project that would never see release, which is why the release this year of the first 85% of the game (up to the point when you enter Xen) came as a surprise. Perhaps even more surprising is just how damn good this mod is. Originally pitched as a graphical upgrade of the original Half Life to Half Life 2 levels, it’s actually much more. First of all, since 8 years have passed since Half Life 2, the graphics have been appropriately upgraded to Portal 2 levels instead of just Half Life 2 levels. More significantly, Black Mesa isn’t just a graphical upgrade of Half Life, but rather a full on remakewith lots of subtle but significant gameplay balance and level design changes.
The core of Black Mesa is the same as the original Half Life experience. All the familiar set pieces are there, and the levels are 95% the same as from the original. The weapons work exactly the same. Visally, everything has been upgraded to meet today’s top-level PC gaming standards. The exciting set pieces and plot events you remember, such as the blind tentacle monster, are still there in mostly the same form. But small changes throughout the levels mean you progress through them in different ways than before. Some conversations between NPCs you overhear have been rewritten. Weapons and ammo are located differently – you get the crowbar much later and the revolver much earlier than in the original game. Half Life was an amazing game in 1998 and is still quite impressive now, but the graphics and gameplay design in the industry has evolved significantly. Black Mesa packages those 14 years of industry improvements into the original game, resulting in something that looks and plays a lot like what Half Life might have been if Valve had created it in 2012. It can’t match the magic of playing the original for the first time, but Black Mesa is the next best thing and something every Half Life fan owes it to himself to check out. |
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| WORLD OF WARCRAFT: MISTS OF PANDARIA | |
 So you have killed Deathwing over and over again on both looking for raid and with your guild, but maybe you are looking to progress your WoW characters? If so you should really pick up Mists of Pandaria. So what does this expansion give you anyway? For starters you can level up from 85 all the way to 90 while you explore the newest continent of Pandaria which is filled with lots of oriental looking themed zones. They even have a mini great wall of china that divides most of the areas until you hit 90 and unlock your flying mount of course, but what about brand new players? You have a few options to choose from like creating a super cool Monk aka the newest class that supports all three roles for tanking, healing or doing damage, but with any new WoW expansion you get another race to choose from! This time Blizzard gave players the option to roll a panda; however once you leave the starter zone around 12 or higher you get to decide whether you want to join the horde or the alliance which is really exciting! I should mention the raids because right now every raid area is unlocked right now for looking for raid or you can find 24 or 9 guild mates and form you’re a 25 man raid or go with just 10. |
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The combined forces of Metanorn and their buddy sites. We come together on special occasions to celebrate, discuss and share fandom love.
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 20 comments
now I really wanna play Spec Ops: The Line
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Pirate King with 1048 comments
Looks like I’ve almost pushed you over that edge. Now, I take my index finger and give you that last little push to try it out. 🙂
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 68 comments
“roll a panda”
Oh, You Fosh
Sadly, the games I’ve played are only on pages 3 and 7 ><
Still, they were good games and this a good review. Nice work guys!
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Rolling pandas are the best ever!
Yeah I plan on playing more PS3 games because my brother finally got one for his birthday! So that is cool now I can play all the games I missed <3
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
LOL. Looks like a perfect opportunity has presented itself to you, Fosh. Use it to get hands on as much games as you can. Just make sure you make a budget beforehand. We tend to lose ourselves when we see a sweet chance like that.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Playstation Vita: Being a fanboy of Sony since the original Playstation, I’m totally into the PS Vita and have a list of games I’d go after as soon as I get my hands on one (Gravity Rush, Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation). Jrow’s opinions on the system are just icing on the cake.
Pokémon Black & White 2: The first continuation to an arc for the Pokémon series is, indeed, a first and it’s not bad. What is different about the franchise since the original Black & White are that the use of TMs have now become unlimited and you’ve become very susceptible to status effects during the battles (Poison, burns, paralysis). And the twists for Black & White 2 are that there’s a gym in the player’s home town and the impression of fusion Pokémon with Black Kyurem and White Kyurem on the cover art.
Virtue’s Last Reward: One of the games on my list for PS Vita. I’m not sure what the game is about but it looks interesting.
Assassin’s Creed III: I’m also a big fan of the franchise and have played all the previous installments. The announced flaws seem so small compared to the good parts of the game so I’m hardly worried about enjoying it when I get the chance. The notable thing about the franchise is its variety of lead characters being Assassin ancestors of different nationalities and Connor Kenway is the most unique being half British, half Native American.
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 22 comments
Conner wasn’t a bad character, but he just wasn’t all that interesting. The best part of the story was when he was interacting with his father, but that ended with a flop not a bang. His story was too much like Ezio’s, but he didn’t have the same personality and charm as him. He would’ve been more interesting if there was more of a twist with his character or maybe he could’ve been more revengeful which lead to bigger more steep consequences due to the revenge he was seeking.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
I can’t say much since I’ve only played Assassins Creed 3 from start to finish (I helped my bro out from time to time with 1 and 2 but I wasn’t playing the games myself).
Conner to me didn’t feel like a great protagonist at all. The reasoning behind him joining with the Assassins was mainly due to revenge than to protect the world from Templars. In a way, his actions at times felt like “I don’t care about the world, I just want to get revenge”. It was too selfish in my eyes and maybe because Conner got away with it more easily than I’d expect (like what Steev mentioned), his development as a character is still raw.
Also, the story felt… short. In a way it felt rushed and there are multiple times where they could’ve expanded certain scenes for better character development. There was one scene between Conner and his father where they talk about his mother and the whole confusion “oh I didn’t know that” kinda situation. Instead of expanding on it, the story moved on and forgot about it… there was potential, but it wasn’t harnessed.
I like how they included the ship battles and the tree climbing but everything comes at a price. The fighting has been made to feel ‘too’ simple, where you can win the game with the weapons you start off with. Actually, there’s hardly any weapons to get and the whole armor thing? That’s just for appearance now. There’s also a tunnel system I’m pretty sure no one uses. In other words, the content was lacking and was way too simplified compared to the previous installments but as negative as this comment is, overall I still enjoyed it for the fighting. The game didn’t reach my expectations but it was still a fairly fun game.
Best if you try it out yourself because a friend of mine keeps harping on about how great it is (only… he harps on about the ship battles and tree climbing…)
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Pirate King with 1048 comments
There’s two camps for Gravity Rush: Those that enjoy it and those who think it’s just awful. It seems like people are on one side or the other of whether or not Gravity Rush was a good game. I know myself & Amuro enjoyed it and got used to how the game handles gravity.
But yeah, when you get that Vita man, you’ll run that battery dry from so much playing of it.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Thanks for this detailed list guys. I am sure, this will be helping a lot of people during holidays and in general selecting the games that they might have missed for 2012. ^^
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Pirate King with 1048 comments
Sure thing. Somehow my amateurish HTML and graphics stuff worked out alright, though this is merely me adopting design styles of you & steev.
Also, March 5th. Tomb Raider. F YEAH!
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I used to be such a big gamer, and I’ve played none of this besides WoW. I’ll probably play Halo 4 after Christmas, but all in all, FPS games don’t interest me, big time investments don’t interest me (cause I’ve already got the time allotted to other things), and I just have other things to do.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 207 comments
I’ve heard of all these games! Too bad I’m poor so I haven’t gotten a chance to play all of them! Only some… DX
Playstation All Stars Battle Royale – It is seriously one of the most funniest games played with other people all the way! I get so intense when playing that game! Usually I use Nathan Drake or Dante lolz. Mostly I was just sad there weren’t any Square Enix characters. Such a fun game still, though I too hope that we get DLCs with Cloud and Lara too! XD
Persona 4 – Golden and Arena??? I just want both now with my Fsteak.
Though I really want to play everything else, especially Journey, so Beautiful 0-0
I really want to play most of those games though! Especially
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 207 comments
…Journey so Beautiful 0-0 (Sorry for the cut-off)
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 207 comments
Ah crap sorry I meant to say was to delete the bottom aghh >.>
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Pirate King with 1048 comments
Lara Croft would be fun DLC, so would Cloud. I’m looking forward to when Kat comes out as DLC and the new levels get released.
Golden/Arena are awesome. Arena deserves fighting game of the year mentions and Golden is no doubt the best game you can buy for Vita today.
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 27 comments
Thanks for inviting me to throw some words together here. It does the body good to stretch that muscle every now and again. You know, the one responsible for making with the writing and what not.
As for the list of games, it really makes me look back on 2012 in a more positive light. It’s easy to say that it was a weak year for gaming, but there was plenty of great stuff. It’s also the year I got my Vita and finally ditched my fat ass launch 60gb PS3 for the new hotness of the 500gb Super Slim PS3. I even made the jump to PS+ and I’m not looking back. Will next year be the advent of Sony and Microsoft’s new consoles? Who knows, but if next year can surpass 2012 in gaming goodness, then it will truly be an exemplary year.
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Pirate King with 1048 comments
It did seem to me that 2012 wasn’t an amazing year prior to us doing this post, but 2012 was just fine by the end. I do think because there was a lull around summer time where no real AAA titles were coming and that it wasn’t like 2011 where good games were coming out once/twice a month, that my initial thought of 2012 was a very “7.9” situation… I’d rate it higher now in retrospect.
I do think that when DmC, Bioshock and Tomb Raider come out in Q1 of 2013, people like me will have already declared 2013 > 2012.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Not a bad year, indeed! Xenoblade and P4G alone made it worth it for me. It’s easy to forget what actually came out during the year until you actually look at a list. I had to be reminded too.
…2013 does look pretty damn good though. I’m already excited for DmC and Ni no Kuni :3
POWUH: 700-799 and Horror Expert with 701 comments
@Overcooled, would you say Last Story is worth the pricetag for an RPG fan? The negatives you mentioned seem to outweigh the positives (especially the lack of real strategy), and though I love RPGs the linearity seems kind of boring. OTL
I was really excited for the game originally, but now I don’t know if I still want to get it. Oh the indecisiveness!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I can see how some people would really like it, but I’d hesitate to say it’s worth the money. You might wanna hold off on this one. :/
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I’m a huge RPG fan so I’d say every RPG is worth it (I buy most at full price at release). But it’s on the Wii and I hate the Wii, so I haven’t had the chance to play either The Last Story or Xenoblade Chronicles.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 151 comments
Great overview of 2012 in games. Definitely agree in Borderlands 2 being Game of the Year, I had already accumulated almost 120 hours in the main campaign. Dishonored being a close second favourite of mine but sadly it has been a slow year in gaming compared to previous years (for me at least). Let’s hope that 2013 gives us a much better offering.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 304 comments
So I bought Xenoblade over the summer and IT’S SO FREAKING GOOD. I adore it. It’s my favorite game ever. The environments are tremendous and beautiful, the soundtrack is amazing, and the story and characters are great too.
I don’t think I can even pick a favorite place in the game. Eryth Sea at night during a meteor shower was probably the most beautiful to me, but Bionis’ Leg was probably the most fun for me to explore. Either that or Makna Forest.
My favorite team was Shulk/Dunban (shirtless of course)/Riki with me controlling Shulk. I also really liked controlling Melia. That girl can deal out some damage. The characters are so great. I love them all, but Dunban (especially when he’s not wearing a shirt) is my favorite.
I really have to thank your post in Spring for this, OC. I had been interested in the game before, but you absolutely convinced me to buy it.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I’m so glad you liked Xenoblade! It’s the best game on the wii and one of my new favourite RPGs. Words just don’t do it justice because it does almost EVERYTHING right.
I love all the game areas. Eryth Sea during a meteor shower was a rare treat, but I have to say Satorl Marsh took my breath away. During the day it’s pretty ugly, but at night it’s phenomenal. Seriously, the level design is absolutely fantastic!
Looks like we have the same team set-up, although I preferred to control Rikki since his HP was through the roof. I actually never got the hang on Melia…mostly because I rarely ever use mage characters. I hear she’s supposed to be crazy strong, but I just couldn’t do it lol. Topless Dunban is always great. I love how he climbs up freaking walls with only one hand.
Ahhhh, thank you~ So far I’ve gotten about 2 or 3 others to play Xenoblade thanks to my post nudging them (and their own drive to buy it, of course) and it seems to be overall really well-liked. Not many people have played it, but those who have tend to love it. It deserves all the advertising it can get.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I agree with the DLCs for ME3 – they were great, especially seeing all the back story of the Prothean race. Actually, the strong suit of ME is the rich characters and their history as well as the excellent script/voice actors.
I enjoyed all parts of ME1. ME2 was great to play, but the ending was just horrible. Seriously? It’s like a trailer for an upcoming movie than an ending. And don’t get me started on ME3’s ending. It was utter crap in my eyes, but I went in knowing that ME endings were horrible and the play experience is what makes the series worth it, so I wasn’t totally surprised.
In that entire list I’ve only played ME3… I’m so far behind in my games ><
Currently playing Disgaea 2, Torchlight 2, Devil Survivor 2, Pokemon White 1, and Xenosaga 3. I think only Devil Survivor 2 and Torchlight 2 was released in 2012, haha. I really have too many games in my backlog (I'm still clearing out my PS2 games – I got some PS1 games I've always wanted to play last year and haven't got around to them… FFVIII, Tactics Ogre, and FF Tactics). Sigh.