I have a bunch of "best of" posts planned for Sketchy Details that I'm going to break down into shorter, more digestible features in the coming weeks. First up are video games. 2012 was a sort of renaissance for indie, low-budget, and online gaming. That is not to discredit the merits of the Triple A titles that came out. It's just the reality of a market that has quickly embraced independent productions. Each major console now has a fully functional online marketplace, including handhelds, and Steam allows for easy download and trial of PC games.
Mobile gaming has continued to grow, as well. The tablet market exploded and smartphones are gaining a larger portion of the market every day. Social networks are somehow able to attract high quality games based on big Hollywood properties. And user-generated sites like Newgrounds are still holding on as a testing ground for larger releases.
Here are the Top 12 games of 2012.
12: Marvel: Avengers Alliance (Facebook)
Marvel: Avengers Alliance is a Facebook turn-based RPG inspired by The Avengers, both the film and the comics. You play as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent tasked with leading the superheroes into battle. You start with a small arsenal of characters battling Marvel enemies from all eras and quickly earn points to recruit seemingly any character that ever joined The Avengers.
It's a whole lot of fun to watch She-Hulk, Wolverine, and your gun-toting S.H.I.E.L.D. agent battle Loki, The Wrecker, and The Enchantress in an ever-expanding series of missions. The PVP tournaments and character customization are a nice touch. You level up your superheroes until you're allowed to reassign abilities (there's a rock/paper/scissors or Pokemon-styled trumping system that adds a nice twist) and enhance with a variety of technology.
The only downside is that the resources are quite limited if you do not convince all of your friends to play. Free to play on Facebook often means "until you run out of resources, then give us money" and, sadly, Marvel: Avengers Alliance is no exception.
11: Silent Hill HD Collection (PS3)
Silent Hill HD Collection is part of the reason why these remastered ports of earlier console games have a bad reputation. Originally released in March 2012, the compendium of Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 had big technical issues. The graphics were not loading properly on Silent Hill 2 and the audio quality was terrible.
After the patch was released, though, there was no excuse for a horror gaming fan not to own the collection. The updated release is beautiful and haunting. There are creaks in the graphics--you can only do so much when fog was originally created with rectangular sheets of moving sprites--but overall they're effective.
The choice to play with the original remastered audio and an alternate new audio soundtrack increases the replay value. Silent Hill was always about the sound and created a paranoid state in the gamer and with this collection two of the best games in the series have never been more horrifying.
10: Orange Roulette (Newgrounds)
Orange Roulette has a very simple premise. You are an imprisoned orange forced to play Russian Roulette to win your freedom. You can fire, shoot your opponent, or spin the cylinder in head to head match-ups against CPU characters.
The genius of Orange Roulette is the twist on starting a new game. Long before the media got hyped up about "this life is your only life" in ZombieU, this little flash game randomly assigned you a new inmate from the last hundred years with a new story every time you played. This leads to the haunting realization that there is no escape for these characters.
That is the great strength of Orange Roulette. It makes you actually empathize with anthropomorphic fruit convicts. They wouldn't be in jail if they didn't do something wrong, yet forcing them to fight to the death in a twisted game of odds doesn't sit right at all.
Original post on Orange Roulette.
9: Rhythm Thief & The Emperor's Treasure (3DS)
This is one of the more innovative rhythm games to come out in years. You play as the notorious thief Phantom R, stealing artifacts from all throughout Paris in your quest to find your father. By chance, you meet a lovely young lady with a beautiful violin that is being chased by what appears to be Napoleon's guards.
The rhythm games in Rhythm Thief & The Emperor's Treasure offer a wide variety of challenges to great music. The main storyline is all about evasion (ducking behind statues in time to the beat), combat (fighting off enemies in different rhythm patterns), and blending in (dancing in time with other people in Paris to infiltrate or escape a situation. There are optional games that offer far more challenge, such as training dogs or cooking food, and even puzzles based on pitch recognition and patterns to unlock more story.
The only weakness is the random coin capturing element which has you click all over the screen for funds. There is no rhyme or reason to the placement and it's a foolish mechanic to have kept in when the rhythm games themselves are so polished.
8: Pokemon Black/White 2 (DS)
Yes, Pokemon Black/White 2 are sequels to last year's Pokemon Black/White. They are, however, vastly different games. The refinements of the most innovative handheld Pokemon release are worthy of praise.
The field of Pokemon has been culled to a far more manageable and, dare I say, aesthetically pleasing set. For the first time in the history of the series, you're catching Pokemon from all the different generations from the first time you step into the field. The dream of a Snivy/Psyduck/Growlithe starting line-up is realized before you get your third badge.
The story itself continues the maturation of Black/White. The game is set two years after Team Plasma failed to free all the Pokemon in the world. Now, they're attempting to take over the world by capturing legendary Pokemon Kyurem. It's a dark turn on a story that already forced you to reconsider your relationship with your Pokemon in the last game.
7: dys4ia (Newgrounds)
dys4ia is a brilliant game that attempts to force the player into the mindset of game creator Anna Anthropy. Anna is a transgender woman who faced a lot of red tape and push back when she decided to begin hormone therapy. Society, the doctors, even her own family seemed like obstacles on her journey to her true self.
dys4ia is a game, though it is limited in its technical execution. You advance no matter how well or poorly you do. This is an intentional device to force the player to experience even a fraction of the frustration Anna herself went through when she began her transition. The result is a strong, thought-provoking game that pushes the boundaries of interactive storytelling.
6: Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 (PC/XBOX Live)
The third entry in Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is the strongest yet. Gabe and Tycho are once again tasked with staving off the rise of the Great Old Ones as a muscle-bound thief beats them to important defensive artifacts at every turn. They travel through dimensions--including a hilarious Star Trek parody world--fighting with the power of dinosaurs, cobblers, and total slackers.
The game is a blend of wit and strong turn-based RPG elements with plenty of room to mess up and try again. You're encouraged to mix and match abilities until you find just the right combination to make your team work for you. It's just a really fun, slick presentation with alternate endings and unexpected twists.
5: Dishonored (PC/PS3/XBOX 360)
I didn't know what to expect with Dishonored. I knew it was a period stealth/action game where you infiltrate a fictional empire. What I did not expect was a user interface and control scheme easy to pick up but difficult to master.
Dishonored lets you choose how you want to play. Will you burst through, brandishing your weapons, and kill everyone? Will you sneak around and find just the right moment to get the jump on your target? Or will you summon plague rats to destroy your enemy in a most brutal fashion?
You can, conceivably, beat the game using only one of these techniques. But where's the fun in that? Climb from chandelier to chandelier, summon some rats as a distraction, then fulfill your big budget action hero fantasy. You set the tone based on how you want to play.
4: Dear Esther (PC)
Dear Esther finally got a commercial release this year after starting out three years ago as a mod for Half-Life 2. You play as a man wandering a deserted island and slowly piecing together the last few years of your life. As you explore the mountains, valleys, beaches, and caves of the island, you stumble upon notes you left for yourself that trigger your memories.
I, for one, think Dear Esther is clearly a game. You use a keyboard and mouse to interact with an environment in order to advance a story. The puzzle/challenge element comes from figuring out which path is the right path and how to navigate when you and your character have no idea what is going on.
The story of Dear Esther is beautiful and thought-provoking. To spoil any of it would be a disservice to the game. The poem that defines your life and the increasing amount of evidence of what really happened is enchanting. This game casts a spell on you and refuses to let you go until the credits roll.
3: The Walking Dead (iOS/Mac/PC/PS3/XBOX 360)
Who would have ever imagined that The Walking Dead would spawn an innovative adventure/survival horror game? You navigate through various episodes inspired by the TV and comic book series where you're forced to make quick decisions on how to proceed.
Do you save the child or the man? Do you hunt for medicine or fight against the hoard at the door? Is it better to fight back immediately or let the zombies get to you while you find a better weapon?
You only have a few seconds to make every decision in the game. Your choices directly impact how the story moves and in short measure there is no longer a clear right or wrong choice. Everything you know is thrown away when the world as we know it no longer exists. The Walking Dead is a living comic that you define with your actions.
2: Journey (PC/PS3)
I already wrote a lot about Journey just last week. Suffice to say that the experience is one that I've revisited many times already. It is just such a beautiful and expansive game based on such a simple premise.
If the goal is build a world where cooperation is encouraged by the realization that the scarves are alive, Journey succeeds in every way imaginable.
1: Super Hexagon (iOS/Mac/PC)
Super Hexagon is one of the most addictive games in years. You are a triangle attempting to avoid a fast-moving series of walls that will crush you instantly. There is no winning the game, only improving on your high score. The levels are randomly generated and get harder with each time-cued stage.
Want more of a challenge? Faster modes are unlocked by succeeding in slower modes. Playing a faster mode for a little while can be all you need to go for the high score board on a slower level.
Who would have thought touching a screen or the left/right arrow keys could be so thrilling? Even weirder: how did they manage to make what could easily be a frustrating experience something so fun and rewarding?
Original post on Super Hexagon.
Thoughts on the year in games? On my choices? Sound off below.