VentureBeat » Dragon’s Dogma

The biggest gaming surprises of 2012

Evan Killham — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 18:00:42 +0000

We thought we were so smart back in January with our release lists and RSS feeds. We really believed we knew what was going to happen this year. “I can’t wait to play BioShock Infinite when it releases in 2012!” we said. We were so naïve back then. It doesn’t matter how closely you follow the news or how often you refresh your browser; some companies can still manage to catch the gaming public completely unaware.

Here are some of our picks for the biggest surprises of 2012.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Contributor Rus McLaughlin

I hated the first Black Ops. Hated. It. I even went back and replayed parts of it just to refresh every design misstep and weak idea in my mind before its sequel arrived. You’d better believe that I’d sharpened all my knives in anticipation of carving up Black Ops II like a particularly ugly turkey who killed my dog. And then it turned out good … like, really good.

It’s as if developer Treyarch, a company that consistently churned out the worst entries in the franchise for years, suddenly ditched their old playbook and started fresh. The flow and encounters hit a sweet spot that I haven’t felt from the series since the first Modern Warfare, which came out in 2007. The branching storylines — often based on your in-game performance rather than flat yes/no answers — lock in unless you replay the entire mission … and every mission after it.

Very nice. Sure, the real-time strategy chapters don’t hold up as RTS games, and it’s still the bro-tastic Michael Bay of video games, but I can’t deny that I’m actually excited about Call of Duty again right when COD fatigue had fully set in. Can Activision deliver at this level every year? I’m still skeptical, but at least now I know that the possibility exists.

Rediscovering adventure games

Contributing editor Stephanie Carmichael

This was a momentous year for point-and-click adventure games, and Kickstarter played a huge role in that. Fans donated more than $3.3 million to Double Fine Adventure, making it one of the most successful video game campaigns on the crowdfunding service, let alone one of the greatest outpourings for the genre to date. Luminary Jane Jensen raised enough money for her Pinkerton Road Studio and the upcoming adventure game Moebius. And Telltale Games launched one of the hottest titles of 2012 with The Walking Dead. Those are only a few of the promising or excellent titles that found an audience in the past dozen months. Who said adventure games were dead?

Street Fighter X Mega Man

Contributor Samir Torres

Street Fighter and Mega Man turned 25 years old in 2012, and that calls for a celebration. Street Fighter X Mega Man is a free, PC-only, old-fashioned Mega Man adventure game in which you battle Street Fighter characters instead of Robot Masters. When you beat them, you acquire their abilities. It came out on December 17.

The most interesting part is that Capcom is working with die-hard Mega Man fans to make the title — fans whom the developer has neglected in recent years with the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 and Mega Man Universe and the Blue Bomber’s omission in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

The PlayStation Vita

Intern Giancarlo Valdes

Though I only bought the Vita a few weeks ago, I honestly think it’s the best handheld I’ve ever owned — with its gorgeous screen and sleek hardware design, it’s also the prettiest. Games such as Gravity Rush, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, and Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack are great — even when I’m not commuting and just playing on the couch at home. The proprietary memory cards are still ridiculously expensive, and game-wise, the lineup doesn’t look too bright in 2013, but for now, I’m happy with just catching up with all the gems that came out this year.

Guild Wars 2

Contributor Rob LeFebvre

I quit playing World of Warcraft a few years ago because, meh, I thought the third-person fantasy massively multiplayer online genre was over, and I was tired of it. After messing about with Star Wars: The Old Republic and Eve Online, I figured that Guild Wars 2 would just be another WOW clone. Instead, it’s much more interesting and compelling to play, has many different ways to progress in the game, and made me an MMO player yet again. Not having a monthly subscription is a big factor as well.

Warlock: Master of the Arcane

Copy editor Jason Wilson

I hadn’t realized how much I had missed Master of Magic, the fantasy equivalent of Civilization from the 1990s. I didn’t realize that I had been yearning for a game like this until I encountered Warlock: Master of the Arcane. It isn’t as deep as Civilization — the focus is more on combat than in Sid Meier’s legendary turn-based strategy series — but in some ways, it’s more fun. The factions each have their own personality (I love the voices of the goblin units or the flying galleons of the Undead), and Warlock’s A.I. actually knows how to play its game. If you enjoy turn-based strategy that focuses more on combat than on expansion and empire-building — and dig fantasy — check it out.

Guild Wars 2

Intern Mike Minotti

I’m one of those MMO players. You know, the kind who plays World of Warcraft casually, sometimes tries something new, but always returns to the welcoming arms of Azeroth. I never thought I would find an MMO that I would genuinely like better than WOW, but Guild Wars 2 hooked me with its beautiful world and innovative quest systems.

The Phantom Pain/Metal Gear Solid connection

Editor-in-chief Dan “Shoe” Hsu

Every year, the best part of Spike’s Video Game Awards — meaning the good part of Spike’s Video Game Awards — is all the world-premiere trailers for upcoming titles. 2012′s show was no different, and the announcement trailer for developer Moby Dick Studios’ The Phantom Pain was the highlight of the evening.

Even more interesting is the fan-driven speculation that the title is secretly the next installment in Konami’s Metal Gear franchise. The evidence is circumstantial at best, but if you think back on it, this is exactly the sort of thing that we’d expect from the stealth action series.

Dragon’s Dogma

Contributing editor Rob Savillo

Capcom’s underrated action-adventure caught me completely by surprise. I’d heard nothing about it until a few weeks before release when then-Bitmob staff writer (now at PC Gamer) Omri Petitte published his “A Series of Epic Events” preview. Instantly, I saw Monster Hunter- and Dark Souls-style gameplay dancing in my head, and I wasn’t too far off once I got my hands on the disc.

Here’s a game that makes nighttime feel dangerous and isolating, not merely a moonlight-blue hued palette swap. Here’s a game with a detailed, skill-based combat model that encourages creative solutions. Here’s a game that makes exploration feel grand and of consequence such that smart preparation becomes a necessity. Here’s a game that blends asynchronous multiplayer into an experience that’s not turn-based or on a phone. Here’s a game that doesn’t waste your time with bland, boring, and ultimately useless dialogue from cardboard non-player characters. Here’s a game that’s not afraid to challenge modern design conventions and show them to be a poor way forward for the medium.

The PlayStation Vita

Intern Jasmine Rea

I was all prepared to dislike the Vita based on how woefully under-supported it was at launch and Sony’s silly choice to make a 3G-enabled model. Since I really wanted to review Persona 4 Golden, I knew I’d buy one at some point, and boy was I shocked by how much I loved it. The screen is mesmerizing, and the increased size and heft fixed all the problems that I had with the PlayStation Portable’s shape. Most of all, I didn’t mind forking over money for digital versions of PSP games that I already own. They just look so much better on that pretty screen. The Vita deserves more support, and if you like Japanese role-playing games, you’re sure to adore this flashy little handheld. Just don’t buy into the touch panel gimmicks, and I think you’ll love it, too.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare

Intern Evan Killham

Alan Wake, developer Remedy Entertainment’s Stephen King/Twin Peaks-fusion thriller with a dash of Lovecraft, was one of my favorite games of 2010. I was a little disappointed that the follow-up, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, was a bite-sized Xbox Live Arcade downloadable title, but I checked it out anyway because, hey, more Alan Wake. And you know what? It is glorious.

Remedy drops the first game’s moody tension in favor of a more action-based, grindhouse dynamic, and while such a drastic shift in tone might be the worst thing that could happen to a franchise, somehow it just works for Alan Wake. It could be because this is a series explicitly about storytelling and creativity, and as such, it can include any genre Remedy feels like throwing in there. And seemingly as a test of this hypothesis, American Nightmare is a time-travel story.

The game has three levels, and you play through them three times. You could assume that this is a clever way to reuse assets and keep the game XBLA-sized, and you would be right, but on each time through, the characters around Alan remember bits of information about their experiences in the previous loop. For example, one time through, Alan has to go out to a character’s car to retrieve an item; the next time around, she remembers that someone will need that object and has it with her when you first (second?) meet, saving you the dangerous trip outside.

It’s really clever storytelling that keeps the repetition from feeling, well, repetitive, and it also serves as a fascinating commentary on game mechanics in general. What are checkpoint restarts, after all, but a form of time travel?

Filed under: Games

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5 of the best original games of 2012

Stefanie Fogel — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 20:00:59 +0000

Who says originality in gaming is dead? Well, a lot of people do, actually. Every year, it seems store shelves are bombarded with licensed games and triple-A sequels, especially during the holiday season. Only 195 titles released on consoles and handhelds this year weren’t based on existing franchises, according to a recent article from Penny Arcade Report. PAR says that’s a 35 percent drop from 2011. Luckily, what 2012 lacked in quantity it more than made up for in quality. Here, in alphabetical order, are five brand new, non-franchise, non-licensed video games worth your time and money.

Dishonored

This stylish steampunk action-stealth game borrows heavily from titles like Deus Ex, Thief, and BioShock, but manages to feel fresh thanks to its atmospheric setting. The fictional city of Dunwall — brought to life by a celebrity voice cast (Susan Sarandon, John Slattery, Brad Dourif, and Chloë Grace Moretz to name a few), a soundtrack from Dexter composer Daniel Licht, and the creative talents of industry veterans Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith — is as memorable as BioShock’s Rapture or Half-Life 2’s City 17. Toss in an intriguing mission-based storyline of politics and betrayal and an emphasis on player freedom, and you have the beginnings of a bold new franchise.

Read our Dishonored review

Dragon’s Dogma

Capcom’s attempt at a Western-style role-playing game was one of the sleeper hits of 2012. Its blend of punishing hack-n-slash combat and asynchronous multiplayer in an open fantasy world full of gigantic monsters proved popular with both players and critics. It debuted at the top of the Japanese software charts, selling over 300,000 units on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 at launch and making it the fastest-selling new IP of this console generation, according to MCV. A sequel is already in the works, and Capcom is teasing the possibility of a player-generated quest system.

Read our Dragon’s Dogma review

Dust: An Elysian Tail

It’s easy to look at Dust: An Elysian Tail’s Saturday morning cartoon art style and anthropomorphic characters and dismiss it as too childish or too “furry.” But those who do are missing out on a fun indie 2D platformer. Dust features a mature story about war and memory. The combat has depth without being overly complicated, and the game world is full of secret passages and hidden items waiting to be discovered. But what’s most amazing about this game is its background: Professional animator and illustrator Dean Dodrill taught himself to program and spent nearly four years of his life making the game a reality. His hard work paid off. Dust is a beautiful, charming game that’s sure to please anyone who gives it the chance.

Read our Dust: An Elysian Tail review

Journey

The joy of playing Journey isn’t in its length (it’s incredibly short) or its challenge (there is none) but in exploring a beautiful game world — set to a Grammy-nominated soundtrack — with an anonymous online companion. For years, Thatgamecompany has sought to push the boundaries of interactive entertainment, and Journey is its best attempt yet, proving that you don’t need guns, blood, or explosions to create an interesting and meaningful experience. Sometimes, simply jumping, running, and sliding down sand dunes with a friend is enough.

Read our Journey review

Mark of the Ninja

A “tribute to silent badassery,” according to GamesBeat reviewer Evan Killham, Mark of the Ninja is a masterclass in stealth gaming. Like Dust: An Elysian Tail, it’s a downloadable 2D sidescroller with a Saturday morning cartoon art style, but the similarity ends there. This game is all about avoiding detection, executing silent takedowns, manipulating darkness, and other feats of ninja-y goodness. Plenty of stealth titles are on the market, but a 2D one that pulls it off so well is a rare treat.

Read our Mark of the Ninja review

Filed under: Games

The best games of 2012 (GamesBeat staff picks)

Jason Wilson — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 18:00:40 +0000

It’s cliché to say that 2012 was “the best year ever for video games.” Some folk say this about every year. Yet it’s difficult for us not to look back at 2012 with such love and fondness.

If 2012 has shown us one thing, it’s that video game development is truly in the “crossover era.” GamesBeat’s 2012 Game of the Year, The Walking Dead, was first available as a downloadable title, not a retail release. Other downloadables, such as indie-developed darlings Journey and Faster Than Light, garnered plenty of votes as well. And in our staff’s and contributor’s top games of the year lists, we even see mobile releases — like Fieldrunners 2.

Gaming has changed, and it’s nice to see that it’s more than just big-budget console and PC titles that have earned Game of the Year attention. Here are the top games as chosen by GamesBeat staffers and contributors. Let us know what you think about our picks in the comments — especially if you feel we’ve left something off our lists!

Editor-in-chief Dan “Shoe” Hsu

XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Firaxis Games

Little green men — yesteryear’s poster boys for mysterious invaders from outer space — are about as menacing as Oompa Loompas armed with toy guns. XCOM’s little gray men, however, are scary as hell. It’s not the ashen skin, bulbous eyes, or creepy-crawly walk. It’s what these Sectoids represent: a greater threat that we are simply not equipped to handle.

In the strategy game XCOM: Enemy Unknown, we mere humans bring dull knives to plasma gunfights. And just when we start to catch up in weapon technology, the bug-eyed bastards bring bigger guns and meaner friends. These jerks even cheat with mysterious mind-control powers. Meanwhile, we’re barely keeping the checkbook balanced between research, manufacturing, facility construction, aircraft, and an ever-decreasing budget due to world nations pulling out of the program if you can’t keep them safe (and you can never keep them all safe).

It all adds up to an incredibly exciting and stressful experience. Each decision — whether it’s which tree to hide your assault trooper behind or which whiny country gets your last airspace-monitoring satellite — feels monumental and permanent. Humanity’s existence is at stake, and we just want to make it to the next month, when a few more pennies come rolling in and a few more traumatized soldiers get out of sick bay.

It’s a desperate fight. And boy will we celebrate when those little gray men are dead.

Shoe’s other picks for best games of 2012: Fieldrunners 2, Dishonored, Journey, Fez

Lead writer Dean Takahasi

The Unfinished Swan
Platform: PlayStation 3 (PlayStation Network)
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Developer: Giant Sparrow

The Unfinished Swan is one of the most creative titles yet for the PlayStation Network. It’s an interactive fairy tale where you lob blobs of black paint at a white screen. As you do so, you uncover part of a 3D space hidden within the white scene. Uncovering each scene is a mind-bending task, as you have to navigate perplexing puzzles. You explore the unknown, and as you do so, you uncover a new segment in a fairy tale about a boy who loses his mother. It is a touching story that will remind of you of the zany Alice in Wonderland. Ian Dallas, the game creator, feels that a child who is abandoned is like an unfinished work of art. But just when you think that the game has become predictable, it changes. In some ways, the story seems unfinished. But the title is a wonderful first effort for Giant Sparrow, a new studio bankrolled by Sony.

Dean’s other picks for the best games of 2012: Halo 4, Far Cry 3, Journey, Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Culture editor Sebastian Haley

Hotline Miami
Platform: PC
Publisher: Developer Digital
Developer: Dennaton Games

Indie sensation Hotline Miami is best described as the film Drive, but in a retro, pixelated and somehow even more violent form, with subtle hints of Rockstar’s Manhunt sprinkled on top. The short-but-sickeningly sweet levels allow you to carefully orchestrate your symphony of murder and mayhem, filling the floors with maimed corpses and spraying the walls with crimson, all while its surreal, Miami Vice-inspired soundtrack beats in the back of your mind. Basically, if you own a Wii or like looking at livestreams of kittens, this is not your kind of game.

Sebastian’s other picks for best games of 2012: Trials Evolution, Far Cry 3, The Darkness II, Final Fantasy XIII-2

Staff writer Jeff Grubb

Mark of the Ninja
Platform: Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade), PC
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Developer: Klei Entertainment

For these Game of the Year summaries, we’re supposed to look above and beyond the individual parts of a game. We’re supposed to write about why it is important, but in the case of Mark of the Ninja, it’s those parts that make it so special. Developer Klei’s 2D stealth action game for Xbox Live Arcade and PC is a master class in well-executed gameplay mechanics. Whether it’s a soundwave that ripples off your ninja’s feet to indicate how much noise he’s making or a vision cone that indicates where an enemy is looking, Mark of the Ninja is constantly communicating with the player. It then provides the player with a great controlling character to poke and prod the world with.

It’s not rare that a game makes you feel like a badass, but with Klei’s game it’s not about how powerful you are — it’s about how in tune with the environment your character is. You have so much visual and aural information that every moment is an opportunity for experimentation. You can spend 10 minutes laying out a detailed plan that involves deadly traps, or you can play the entire game without a sword.

In video games, we don’t usually get a lot of new ideas, we just get different takes on old ideas. Stealth is an old idea at this point, but Mark of the Ninja distinguishes itself by executing the concept better than any other game before it.

Jeff’s other picks for best games of 2012: The Walking Dead, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Trials Evolution, FTL: Faster Than Light

Copy editor Jason Wilson

FTL: Faster Than Light
Platform: PC, Mac, Linux
Publisher: Subset Games
Developer: Subset Games

I’m low on fuel. My crew raced around my starship like a colony of ants, hastily putting out fires as doors opened to the cold vacuum of space. The Rebels are closing in on me. Do I take a chance and see if I can gain more fuel in the next nebular cloud, or do I make a mad dash for the next sector and hope to find friendly forces instead of angry adversaries? These are just some of the choices the player faces in FTL: Faster Than Light, the indie roguelike that’s swept upon a number of Game of the Year lists in 2012 (including ours!). What makes FTL so compelling to players is that a take on Civilization’s “one more turn” addictive nature — but instead of furthering your game, you’re driven to see if your next attempt takes you closer to escaping the pursuing Rebel forces. And it’s this that makes FTL one of the most interesting, fascinating, and, yes, best games of 2012.

Jason’s other picks for best games of 2012: The Walking Dead, Crusader Kings II, Torchlight II, Dragon’s Dogma

Contributor Rus McLaughlin

Far Cry 3
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Something visceral. Something primal. Most shooters don’t have these. They settle you into a safe, comfortable role. Veteran soldier. Seasoned cop. Career criminal. A hero … or an antihero. But Far Cry 3 makes you run blind through the jungle while murderous pirates hunt you like a piece of prey. You’re just a terrified kid. Never held a gun before. Never seen anyone die before. Now you’re covered in your own brother’s blood and getting high off the giddy thrill of mere survival. Then you’re turned lose to roam two amazingly rich, open-world islands where you can really start enjoying yourself, slowly and cautiously picking your tormentors apart. Before you know it, the elation you get from destroying a criminal empire hardens into a different kind of drug: revenge.

That’s when Far Cry 3 surpasses the standard shooter fare. An aimless twentysomething becomes a killer of killers, as feared as the insane warlords he wants dead. Between coolly tense stealth play and straight-up gunfights, you become the predator, stalking intruders in your jungle and murdering them at will. It all culminates in a moment where you must decide just how much you enjoy that particular power fantasy. Enough to abandon your humanity? Maybe.

Far Cry 3 goes there. Solid gameplay — minus a weak-tea multiplayer — and incredibly detailed environments lift it far enough, but its secret weapon lies in how it takes you into that dark, primal place. And then it dares you to ignore your basic animal instincts.

Rus’s other picks for best games of 2012: The Walking Dead, Fez, Halo 4, Journey

Contributing editor Rob Savillo

Lone Survivor
Platform: PS3, PlayStation Vita, PC, Mac, Linux
Publisher: Superflat Games
Developer: Superflat Games, Curve Studios

Jasper Byrne’s psychological thriller clearly owes a debt to the Silent Hill series’ mysterious and surrealist approach to narrative, among other things. Lone Survivor weaves a tale of intrigue, always making you second guess your choices while silently tracking your every decision. The latter shows an appreciation for an Eastern European take on storytelling (as seen in The Witcher 2 and Metro 2033) that flows more naturally than Western developers’ tendencies to employ contrived morality systems.

Lone Survivor also smartly reinvents the survival-horror genre by undermining the common trope of item scarcity, which games such as Resident Evil and the aforementioned Silent Hill have used in the past to create tension. Instead, Lone Survivor relies on its narrative sleight-of-hand to keep you on the edge of your seat.

For these reasons, Lone Survivor moves storytelling forward in the medium without falling back on “gamey” concepts such as light/dark paths. At once affecting and engaging, the narrative blends almost seamlessly (aside from an archaic death mechanic) with the interactive elements of the work, elevating the game above its peers in the big-budget, triple-A space.

Rob’s other picks for best games of 2012: XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Tokyo Jungle, Armored Core V, Dragon’s Dogma

Contributor Rob LeFebvre

Gravity Rush
Platform: PlayStation Vita
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Developer: Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Studio

Gravity Rush is the superhero game I’ve always wanted to play. Even without the traditional Western comic book tropes like spandex and capes, Kat functions like any other neophyte comic-book character, only gradually coming into her full power as the story progresses. Her ability to control gravity is disorienting in the best way, as it echoes resonantly with the thematic elements of the story. Kat is as off balance as we are, as we move her about from place to place, finding ever odder, more unlikely spots to land on.

The world breathes with delightfully artistic colors; the environments are a treat to look at while playing. Gravity Rush encourages exploration of every gorgeous spot, with hidden power gems located all around, on top of buildings, under bridges, and the like. Characters pop off the screen with cel-shaded goodness, and fairly glow within the expository comicbook-style sections.

Touch and motion controls are subtle and make sense within the world, but what really makes Gravity Rush sing is the power of flight. Soaring across the various city sections, landing on floating urban debris, flinging objects and even Kat’s own body at the odd-looking creatures during fights is just thrilling, and never once loses its charm.

For me, Gravity Rush is the best title for the PlayStation Vita, showcasing the power and tech of the handheld gaming device to the highest degree I’ve seen yet.

Rob’s other best games of 2012: Guild Wars 2, Dishonored, Journey, Borderlands 2

Contributor Stefanie Fogel

Mass Effect 3
Platforms: Xbox 360, PC
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: BioWare

So much sound and fury was made over Mass Effect 3’s controversial ending that it’s easy to forget the final installment of BioWare’s space opera really is a damn fine game. It told a grim tale of galactic war, yet found time in between the dire exposition and bombastic action set pieces to bid fond farewell to characters Mass Effect fans have come to know and love over the last five years. It’s those quieter moments — the shooting match with Garrus, Mordin humming the Major-General’s song as he sacrifices himself, your final conversation with Captain Anderson — that stick with you months after putting down the controller. Mass Effect 3 also (mostly) fulfilled the series’ promise that in-game decisions would matter, paving the way for other morality-based titles like Spec Ops: The Line and our Game of the Year, The Walking Dead. By the time the credits rolled, I had completed every side mission I possibly could during my playthrough because I hated the thought of leaving that world behind, which I believe is one of the highest compliments you can pay to a game developer.

Stefanie’s other best games of 2012: The Walking Dead, Persona 4 Golden, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Dishonored

Contributor Kat Bailey

Halo 4
Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Microsoft Studios

Developer: 343 Industries

Even compared to the normally high stakes world of triple-A publishing, Microsoft and 343 Industries had plenty on the line with Halo 4. If it ended up being mediocre — or worse, an outright flop — the brand as a whole would have a hard time recovering. With that in mind, the sighs of relief throughout Redmond, Wash. must have been deafening when the top scores started coming in, with even diehard Halo fans giving their emphatic thumbs up.

Halo may not be the be-all, end-all shooter anymore, but it remains quite relevant in the world of online gaming. A lot of that has to do with the distinctive blend of action the series brings to the table — shield management, tagging foes with grenades, and properly using the small but multidimensional maps. 343 Industries seems to have a keen understanding of this action, and it’s perfectly replicated it for Halo 4, throwing in a few of their own twists along the way (the Starhawk-like Dominion Mode is a favorite).

That 343 Industries understands the “recipe” for a good Halo game is only part of the story though. With new modes like Spartan Ops — a series of free downloadable microcontent — they are putting their own stamp on the beloved series. For that reason, the air of skepticism surrounding 343 Industries has largely been replaced with one of legitimacy. Now we’ll see if they have the wherewithal to use that currency to make something truly special.

Kat’s other best games of 2012: Xenoblade Chronicles, The Walking Dead, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Persona 4 Golden

Intern Mike Minotti

Guild Wars 2
Platform: PC, Mac
Publisher: NCSoft
Developer: ArenaNet

World of Warcraft is king of the massively multiplayer role-playing game. It’s probably going to sit comfortably on that throne for years to come. But 2012 brought us Guild Wars 2, the first MMO I played since 2004 that I actually preferred to Blizzard’s take on questing on adventuring.

Guild Wars 2 doesn’t reinvent online adventuring, but it’s littered with smart design choices that make you smack your head and yell, “Duh! Why hasn’t it always been like this?” Turning in quests? The hell with that! Guild War 2′s adventures happen organically and painlessly, without having to talk to multiple townspeople with exclamation marks hovering over their heads. Want to visit an unexplored zone that’s designed for players at a lower level than your own? Guild Wars 2 scales your character down so that you can still have a challenging time tackling each area’s trials.

It doesn’t hurt that its world, Tyria, is a beautiful land that’s fun and rewarding to explore. Oh, and the lack of a subscription fee? Yeah, I like that, too.

Guild Wars 2 is not only more accessible than a lot of its competitors, but it’s frankly a lot more fun than just about any other MMO out there.

Mike’s other best games of 2012: Gravity Rush, Borderlands 2, Assassin’s Creed III, PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale.

Intern Evan Killham

Slender: The Eight Pages
Platform: PC, Mac
Publisher: Parsec Productions
Developer: Parsec Productions

Technically, I’ve never lost a game of Slender … because I’ve never actually finished one. I’ve always quit when the cold sweat broke out.

Developer Parsec Productions’ free horror game is one of this year’s most surprising titles (in every sense of the word). Starting with a simple premise — collect the eight manuscript pages hidden in these spooky woods before eponymous monster Slender Man catches you — Slender uses its too-long arms to yank players into a hell of panic attacks and abject terror.

This game is relentless. Everything you see and hear is designed specifically to unnerve you, and it gets worse with every page you pick up. Even more spectacular is the disconnect between playing this beast and watching someone play it. If you do a YouTube search for “Let’s play Slender,” you risk losing an entire evening in the grips of sweet, sweet, schadenfreude. Boot it up yourself and you will regret ever laughing at those videos.

In a year that gave us two Silent Hill titles and three additions to the Resident Evil series, gaming’s horror genre was desperately in need of some new ideas. And then Slender showed up and made us afraid of the dark again.

Evan’s other best games of 2012: Max Payne 3, The Walking Dead, Borderlands 2, Silent Hill: Downpour

Intern Jason Lomberg

Dishonored
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Arkane Studios

Stealth games have never been my cup of tea. Metal Gear Solid 2’s brain-dead guards annoyed the piss out of me, and I usually ended up going “Rambo” in Metal Gear Solid 3, running through danger rather than sneaking stealthily past it. But Dishonored nails it – the sense of danger, the thrill of the hunt, and the exhilaration that comes from successfully pulling off one of Corvo’s many gruesome kills.

As GamesBeat writer Rus McLaughlin points out, Dishonored plays exactly the way you want to play it. You can tear through the City Watch like a Steampunk version of Chuck Norris (minus the roundhouse kicks); you can destroy every living thing in your path with merciless impunity. Of course being a one-man army with a thirst for cold steel and magical spells of destruction makes the game that much harder. But it’s one option.

You can also play the pacifist and refuse to take a life. Or you can utilize the cover system and take out the guards like a silent assassin. Near the beginning, a pack of man-eating rats block your path, and the solution involves drawing them away with a dead body — that’s about the time I realized I was playing something unique and special. The ways to get from point A to point B are endless and never less than thrilling.

Jason’s other best games of 2012: Sleeping Dogs, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, Journey, Mass Effect 3

Intern Giancarlo Valdes

Journey
Platform: PlayStation 3 (PlayStation Network)
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Developer: thatgamecompany

Journey is a game that doesn’t feel like it’s made out of textures, wireframes, or lines of code. The glistening sand dunes, the subterranean fortress, and the snow-covered mountaintops feel like real places, inspiring a magical sense of wonder and fear as you explore the unknown. That’s why the bond you form with your anonymous online companion is so powerful: It’s the two of you against the world, a nonverbal pact that is implicitly forged the moment you meet each other.

I didn’t realize this until I saw my partner collapse from the harsh winds during Journey’s climax. I desperately tried to nurse them back to life, but it was no use. I felt a slight pang of sadness as their body perished seamlessly with the natural elements, timidly coming to terms with the fact that I had to face the rest of the game alone. I only lingered on this for perhaps a minute or two, but just the idea of a game making me feel and think this way is a testament to how expertly crafted Journey really is.

By the end, I had experienced an entire range of emotions in a medium where most games have a hard time just trying to invoke one.

Giancarlo’s other best games of 2012: The Walking Dead, Tokyo Jungle, DayZ, Spec Ops: The Line

Intern Jasmine Rea

Persona 4 Golden
Platform: PlayStation Vita
Publisher: Atlus
Developer: Atlus

Few Japanese role-playing games in the last few years have made me want to replay them quite like Persona 4. When developer Atlus announced Persona 4 Golden for the Vita, I knew not buying Sony’s new handheld was completely out of the question.

While it is by far my favorite Vita release this year (and arguably the best game on the platform), Persona 4 Golden is a shining example of how much Japanese RPGs have evolved in the last 10 years. It mixes an intense, emotional story about a group of high school friends with an ongoing murder mystery so well that you sometimes forget about all the supernatural happenings.

Persona 4 Golden’s most powerful element is that shows how everyone has a part of themselves they don’t want to admit exists, and the only way to live freely is to accept that fact. Even though you can’t summon your “true self” to fight for you in the real world, we can all learn a thing or two about accepting ourselves. Persona 4’s relatable characters will show you how.

Jasmine’s other best games of 2012: Resident Evil: Revelations, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, Tales of Graces F, Lollipop Chainsaw

Intern Sam Barsanti

Borderlands 2
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Gearbox Software

It would be easy to explain the appeal of Borderlands 2 by describing it as a cheap way to satiate your hunger for constant rewards. It may be obvious, but the best part of every firefight in the game isn’t the moment-to-moment excitement of rampaging through a horde of bandits, it’s the few seconds after when you get to pick over the loot. The combat is just a means to an end. What really drives you to do anything in Borderlands 2 is the hope that with the next enemy you take down you’ll find a new weapon that is more interesting than your current one. I mean, who can resist an experience that treats every five minutes like a combination of Christmas, your birthday, and a Steam sale all in one?

Of course, to only talk about loot would be too reductive and dismissive of everything else that Borderlands 2 does well. The combat and millions of guns make it a good game, but the cleverness of the world and all of the things in it are what make it one of the best of the year. I won’t remember every bad guy I killed, but I won’t forget being openly mocked by the antagonist or helping one of the characters think of stupid names for local creatures, because those moments were unique (and well written). See, the appeal of Borderlands 2 isn’t the combat or the loot — it’s the gleeful, wacky fun of the whole package.

Sam’s other best games of 2012: The Walking Dead, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Max Payne 3, Mass Effect 3

Filed under: Games

Report: The most-played games of 2012

Rus McLaughlin — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:36:59 +0000

Game networking service Raptr released its annual Raptr Report detailing the most played games of 2012, and it carries a few surprises about how gamers spent their time in the last 12 months. The data is based on Raptr’s gameplay tracking feature and a user base in the 15 million range. Games on the Wii U and PlayStation 3 didn’t factor into these numbers due to data-capture restrictions.

The overall most played new intellectual property? That goes to Dishonored. Developer Arkane Studios’ stealthy, steampunk actioner narrowly edged out Sleeping Dogs’ kung-fu treachery by a slender 6 percent. But split the numbers out to total playtime per player, and massively multiplayer games still led the charge. Korean heroic fantasy The Exiled Realm of Arborea (aka TERA) commanded a strong 14 percent lead over its nearest competitor, Dragon’s Dogma, with the average player logging 40 hours in the first month alone.

Meanwhile, Xbox Live Arcade’s biggest hit turned out to be a PC game. Minecraft drew 350 percent more playtime than the second-place finisher, Trials: Evolution. According to Raptr, XBLA games tend to max out at roughly 10 hours of use in the first month. Minecraft players averaged just over 20 hours.

Raptr also notes that 27 percent of Minecraft players have tried to ride a flying pig.

The most played game of 2012, however, won’t come as any shock. It’s Call of Duty: Black Ops II with a comfortable 11-point margin, followed by Borderlands 2, Halo 4, and Minecraft.

But it turns out gamers are far more devoted to something other than Black Ops II.

Breaking the data into individual playtimes handily negates Black Ops II’s vast sales advantage. More people bought the latest Call of Duty, but on a person-by-person basis, gamers spent far more time trolling through Borderlands 2′s Wasteland. A lot more.

The average player spent 49 hours in the Wasteland … nearly 50 more than the average Black Ops II player in their respective opening months.

Possibly, the 11 percent of players who completed every side quest added to those numbers. Raptr also reports that players spent an average 80 hours to reach the level 50 cap. Borderlands 2 also topped the list of nonannualized game sequels with double the overall time that was spent on Diablo III. In that same category, Guild Wars 2 took honors for the most individual playtime.

On the MMO front, switching to a free-to-play model worked out well for a pair of high-profile titles. Star Wars: The Old Republic saw a 136 percent increase in overall playtime in just two weeks while Star Trek Online bumped its population a whopping 266 percent in playtime per day.

And the numbers clearly solve the age-old argument between those hardcore followings. Star Wars beats out Star Trek’s playtime numbers by 168 percent. The top three The Old Republic players have shown serious devotion, each logging over 250 hours in the game.

But for Raptr’s coveted No Bathroom Break award, which honors the longest average play sessions, a few new fighters entered the ring. Mass Effect 3 just barely missed toppling Borderlands 2, with XCOM: Enemy Unknown following not far behind. Halo 4, Black Ops II, and Dragon’s Dogma rounded out the list.

Raptr’s methodology uses a proprietary formula based on key statistics that include total hours, average session length, and average playtime per person. To create equal footing for comparison, all games are compared based on the same time frames, typically defined as the first month after release.

Filed under: Games

Capcom reveals clever new approach to sequels: Make more, and make ‘em faster

Sam Barsanti — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 19:18:34 +0000

Capcom, publisher of such long-running franchises as Mega Man and Resident Evil, has recently released its annual report, and it contains some interesting information on how the Japanese company intends to alter its game-development cycle going forward. Basically, it’s hoping you’re a big fan of such long-running franchises as Mega Man and Resident Evil…because it plans on releasing more games in these series.

As described in the annual report (and analyzed by GamesIndustry International), Capcom outlined its plan to release 15 games over the next 10 years. To accomplish this, it’s shortening the time between sequels from an average of three to four years to only two and a half, with multiple DLC offerings in the intervening years. This means you’ll most likely be picking up a copy of Resident Evil 7 in March of 2015, so you might as well preorder it today.

Another facet of this shortened cycle is smaller development teams. Capcom is limiting the number of in-house developers working on a major title to 100, which frees up more staff to work on more sequels. The idea is that smaller teams mean better teams that make better titles. Of course, if that doesn’t work, another game will be coming out in a few months…and it will probably be a sequel to something.

But it’s not all about sequels, as Capcom has also decided to allocate 20 percent of its development funds on new games. Obviously wanting to avoid turning into nothing more than a company that makes constant sequels, this decision enables Capcom to leave the door open for original titles (like this year’s Dragon’s Dogma, which should have a sequel coming in November 2014) to come in and build a fan base of their own. Except that Capcom explicitly states in the report that it’s doing this to make more sequels: “The reason is because popular games have a solid fan base, and when they become a series, there is a high probability that users and retailers will purchase and stock the sequel based on past game content and sales performance, which, in turn, increases the likelihood of a string of hits.”

Sequels for everyone!

You can read Capcom’s report here, but there will probably be a sequel soon anyway.

Filed under: Games

20 ridiculous fan-made screenshots from Dragon’s Dogma

Evan Killham — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 18:04:59 +0000

Dragon’s Dogma, developer Capcom’s new fantasy role-playing game, includes a feature in which players can take a screenshot any time they want. They can upload these images to an online database to show off how cool their characters look…or just share some random shit that they saw in the game.

The below gallery showcases the more outlandish pictures we found, along with our best guesses as to what the hell is going on in them.

You can find more silliness, as well as some truly impressive shots, at the Gran Soren Times community site.

Filed under: Games

Resident Evil 6 demo goes live: Take all three heroes for a spin

Sebastian Haley — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 19:41:08 +0000

A demo for Capcom’s Resident Evil 6 has been made available to anyone with a Xbox 360 retail copy of the publisher’s recently released Dragon’s Dogma. A code for the demo can be found in the Dragon’s Dogma game manual.

The demo features three missions, each of which Capcom unveiled at last month’s E3 convention. Players take control of Leon S. Kennedy in one mission, Chris Redfield in another, and lastly, series antagonist Albert Wesker’s kin, Jake Muller, who is accompanied by an older Sherry Birkin from Resident Evil 2.

While it’s exciting to see so many legendary Resident Evil characters all together in one place, I worry about how much of the game we’ll actually get when it releases on October 2, and how much extra we’ll have to pay for the “full” experience.

If you’re on the PlayStation 3, the demo won’t be available for another 60 days, so here’s a gallery of every Resident Evil 6 screenshot ever to hold you over.

Filed under: Games

GamesBeat Weekly Roundup

Jasmine Maleficent Rea — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 18:33:22 +0000

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly checkH our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best games stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling calls out the governor of Rhode Island for damaging remarks, Activision settles lawsuit with former Infinity Ward heads West and Zampella, and Trip Hawkins resigns from Digital Chocolate.

You’ll also find previews LEGO: Lord of the Rings, Hitman Absolution, Metro Last Light, and Rock Band Blitz. GamesBeat also reviewed Go Ninja, Dragon’s Dogma, and Mad Riders.

GamesBeat:

The DeanBeat: What to expect at E3

Machinima scores partnership to promote highly anticipated Hawken game (exclusive)

Warner Bros. to bring online battle arenas to consoles with Guardians of Middle-earth

Warner Bros. confirms LEGO: Lord of the Rings video game (preview)

Just what kind of game is Star Wars: 1313?

Hitman Absolution lets you perform hits in giant crowds (hands-on preview)

Konami Pre-E3 2012 event: More Castlevania and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Go Ninja is like Canabalt with gore and swords (review)

Activision settles lawsuit with former Infinity Ward heads West and Zampella

Battlefield 3 gets numerous tweaks and fixes, just in time for new $50 “Premium” service

Intel Video Superstars competition calls for gaming filmmakers

Sony next-gen console almost used download-only format

4 celebrities (other than Curt Schilling) whose games failed

The Nordic Game Program matters to everyone

TERA publishing VP reminisces starting a company, westernizing an MMO, and a little friendly competition (exclusive)

Mad Riders is beautiful but flawed (review)

Metro Last Light fights shooter fatigue with deeper single player (hands-on preview)

Dragon’s Dogma is an ambitious open-world action fest (review)

Rock Band Blitz trades peripherals for pandemonium (preview)

THQ attempting creative math to maintain NASDAQ listing

Investigating something wicked in The Secret World

Nvidia demos upcoming Hawken mech game using cloud graphics (video)

VentureBeat

Robert Bowling dishes on his move from AAA to Indie (exclusive)

Game pioneer Trip Hawkins was forming a “rebel alliance” among indie game developers (exclusive)

Kixeye expands to mobile games, creates Australian studio

Microsoft says it has sold 67M Xbox 360s, 19M Kinects, and generated $56B in game revenues

Leisure Suit Larry creator wants “infringing” Kickstarter campaign taken down (exclusive)

Badgeville raises $25M to break out from the pack in gamification

Struggling publisher THQ names game veteran Jason Rubin as president

Gaming pioneer Trip Hawkins resigns from Digital Chocolate

Curt Schilling dings Rhode Island governor for damaging remarks on 38 Studios

5 Hit Points: We quiz the creators of You Don’t Know Jack

Filed under: Games

Dragon’s Dogma is an ambitious open-world action fest (review)

Omri Petitte — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:00:11 +0000

Heroes crave freedom. Send a willing warrior into a trackless landscape ripe with challenge, and he or she handles the rest with ambitious enthusiasm. Open-world epics such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 3 empower gamers to carve individually unique experiences within a role-playing framework, and Dragon’s Dogma presents another grand adventure in this mold while sculpting some added flair.

Developer/publisher Capcom doesn’t bill Dogma as a by-the-tome role-playing game. Its development crew drew from the company’s top talent: Devil May Cry veteran Hideaki Itsuno assumed the director’s throne and producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi worked on the Resident Evil franchise since its inception. Both men’s influential game-design philosophies blend Dogma’s RPG roots with snippets of Capcom calling cards — hack-n-slash, survival horror, and ungodly levels of inventory management. The result: a satisfying yet mechanically rough action-RPG hybrid bursting with player-driven, that-just-happened moments.

WHAT YOU’LL LIKE

A world unleashed
Sure, fully explorable environments come stock for this genre, but Dogma nails the upjumped scale right from the start. It’s as if The Lion King’s Mufasa draped a fatherly paw across my shoulders and solemnly said, “Look, my somehow human son. Everything the light touches is accessible.”

As befit for a game touting copious amounts of nonlinearity, Dogma doesn’t gate its lands behind progress checkpoints. If a new area presented itself during my travels, I simply walked to it. Such a straightforward feature kept desires of wandering beyond the well-worn roads of the duchy of Gransys at a feverish high. Hours clicked by on the clock from simply romping through the countryside, and Dogma’s impressively detailed climes provided such playgrounds as rocky crags, windswept ruins, and shrouded forests.

Still, trudging turns tedious after a while. Thankfully, the game’s stable of bandits, goblins, monsters, and other enemies pepper the scenery for on-demand action whenever the urge to hit something becomes unbearable. And you’ll want to seek out scraps, because once the steel or spells start dancing, Dogma truly dazzles.

Do-it-yourself moments of glory
Capcom’s Japanese gaming origins jolts combat away from boring repetitiveness. Aside from accompanying small-fry thieves, spiders, and goblin packs — all entertaining victims to a degree — Dogma’s lumbering mythical creatures pack the biggest risk for the biggest reward.

Beasts such as ogres, griffins, golems, and cyclopes not only tower with appropriate immensity, but they’re also all climbable. It’s easy to spot the Shadow of the Colossus references here, as latching on helps melee characters reach critical weak spots. Plus, hanging onto a griffin’s feathery wing for dear life after taking a running leap off a crumbling archway beats whacking at shins any day.

Multiple time sinks
Take a straight shot through Dogma’s main story, and it’ll cost you close to 50 hours of playtime. For hapless completionists like myself, however, that figure easily balloons past the 100-hour mark thanks to the sheer volume of weapons, armor, upgrade materials, and combinables that makes the Library of Congress look like a tabloid stand. The loot-itch became a loot-rash while homing in on tantalizing chests and constantly checking vendors for updated wares. A multi-class leveling scheme and the opportunity to learn and swap between each class’ ability pool adds plenty of variety and flexibility for any situation.

Single-player focus
Some RPGs thrive without the “massively multiplayer” prefix attached to it, and Dogma excels at keeping its quests a strictly solo affair. It escapes tacked-on-itis by implementing a cleverly non-intrusive online functionality via its Pawn system.

Pawns are player-created, computer-controlled companions acquired from visiting Rift Stones within towns and encampments. Up to two Pawns can join your party, with the third slot reserved for your own handcrafted main Pawn. Simply resting at an inn uploads the latter’s stats and equipment to Dogma’s server, and searching for and filtering Pawns by class, level, usage, and ability type . The entire process is seamless, simple, and most importantly, it properly utilizes a multiplayer mechanic without diminishing single-player’s appeal.

WHAT YOU WON’T LIKE

Limited camera controls
Gransys possesses a mixture of natural and deadly beauty. Items and sacks of gold litter the ground as if a medieval pinata exploded somewhere. That cyclops wants to cave in my face with a fist the size of a house. All three elements necessitates a higher degree of camera control, a feature Dogma somehow skipped entirely.

Because of the restrictive degree of zoom, avoiding giant foes flailing with crushing force often involves whether I rotated the camera around in time to get my bearings. A Demon’s Souls-esque lock-on system would work wonderfully here, but barring that, the lack of zoom controls doesn’t make sense.

No fast travel
By the leathery wattle of the Great Dragon, this is the most frustrating drawback. Quests often demand a lengthy trek from one desolate corner of Gransys to the other, and lacking a fast-travel hop between landmarks means hoofing it on foot everywhere, devolving into a taxing battle with boredom during lengthy strolls.

Purchaseable Ferrystones zaps one back to Gran Soren, the capital, and valuable Portcrystals changes the stones’ destination when placed — but that involves even more walking to the desired transportation point. Capcom obviously intended players to poke around the wilds as long as possible, but the snails-pace walking handicap severely hampers long-term mobility.

Loading…loading…loading….
Entering and exiting areas and cutscenes arrive laden with lengthy loading times. Really, at this point in the current console generation’s unnaturally long cycle, developers should know the limitations and capabilities of the hardware. I often encountered loading screens for asinine things such as two-second cutscenes, a shot of a door opening, and other loading screens.

CONCLUSION
Pencil in Dragon’s Dogma as another success for Capcom. Though lacking polish from a mechanics standpoint, it nevertheless presents an awesomely addicting cornucopia of exploration, epic combat, and loot-chasing for hours upon hours of fun. Trading Pawns with other players brings an interactive edge, and I can see this game occupying the disk drives of many consoles for a very long time.

Score: 80/100

Dragon’s Dogma released on May 22, 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. An Xbox 360 copy of the game was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Filed under: Games