Ah, Game of the Year. No other award inspires as much controversy, vitriol, fanboyism and hatred (the Oscars? What are those?). Game of the Year is the pinnacle, the prime degree of awesomeness, the proof in the pudding, and the most prestigious award any single title could achieve. Sure, sales are important and catering to the fan’s expectations and paying your dues and hustle, loyalty and that other stuff, but Game of the Year. It stays with you and puts you in hallowed company. Half Life. Uncharted 2. The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. Halo. Any game that can stand in the company of these legends is a big deal indeed.
This year was pretty interesting when it came to games, as not only did we see a fair amount of innovation but a bevy of returning titles and franchises which succeeded their predecessors. However, it’s easy to see which game stood out the most: Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead.
Awarded Game of the Year at the Spike Video Game Awards 2012, The Walking Dead was also chosen by Yahoo! which called it “the most captivating video game experience of 2012”; Wired, which stated that it was “the game that defined 2012. There was nothing else this year like it. I don’t think there’s ever been anything like it at all”; VentureBeat, which said, “what it lacks in technical polish it more than makes up for in emotional, stress-inducing storytelling”;
and Destructoid which said, “If you haven’t played it yet, you’re really missing out on something great”. They’re not the first to say as much, and they won’t be the last.
From there, it was a competition for second place and two games have tied for now: thatvideogamecompany’s Journey and Bioware’s Mass Effect 3. Game Informer and The Globe and Mail sided with Bioware’s epic while IGN and Entertainment Weekly side with thatvideogamecompany. The venerable EDGE decided to stay aloof and vote for the short but nonetheless stellar Dishonored from Arkane Studios.
Stay tuned for our GamingBolt’s Game of the Year Awards 2012 to find out our topic picks for the title of year!
(Special thanks to NeoGAF)