The Escapist's Game of the Year 2012

[Varrdy]

ME3 was 99% awesome and 1% sucky ending - after the EC it was more like a 99.5% / 0.5% split - for me at least. As much as the ending was focused on (and still is) by many people, myself included, I like to think that we didn't forget the sheer awesome that the rest of the game was!

 

[Owlslayer]

Was hoping that The Walking Dead would snatch first place, but i guess a close second is good enough. And great to see Spec Ops: The Line up there, as well. Tho I admit, i was really surprised to see ME3 winning, after all those threads about it. I mean, there were a LOT of threads about it. But yeah, i guess I´m all okay with the results!

 

[BrotherRool]

I'm disappointed ME3 won. It was a good game all the way through (I liked the end) but it does not compare to The Walking Dead or Spec Ops or Journey.

Imagine the writing wasn't bad(along with very very good bits) all the way through, that most of the exposition hadn't been told through three people standing around a table and that they'd given you a reason to care about earth other than it being Earth. Then it still isn't game of the year material because it didn't using it's gameplay innovatively. Here is a question, what do the RPG mechanics convey in ME3? In KotoR and KotoR2 they were about powerful people slowly rediscovering power from isolation and represented an increased connection with the force. In Planescape levelling up was about becoming stronger as you understood your person. In FFX levelling was about Tidus growing more used to the world and more capable in it (FFX is a great example because each characters ability in battle reflected thier personality, Auron was a heavy hitter, Wakka a fun loving guy taking down lighter foes, Yuna a healer, Rikku couldn't fight well but was fast and had flexibility). Even FFXIII understood this and levelling was about giving in to the Fal'cie and excepting more of their gift.

But in Mass Effect? Levelling is just a thing that games have.

Whereas The Walking Dead and Spec Ops understood everything about their mechanics, what every choice, every hint, every screen flashing red meant and used it to enhance their goals and the narrative.

I reckon ME3 won because more people played ME3 and most people won't vote for a game they haven't played

 

[thanatos388]

ME3 for the most part is a good game, but when you have a horrendously botched ending, that should have excluded it as GOTY.
No, its just not a bad ending, its a horrendously botched ending.

The ending was fine stop whining it was still better than about 95% of games endings. Also if you want to complain what about the side-quests in the citadel or the bugs. The game didn't feel complete in just a technical sense.

 

[marurder]

Proudly voted for Spec Ops. I might have gone for Mass Effect 3 if I had played it. I am pleased that BLOPS2 came last. But it wont change anything, there will be another next year and it will sell more than last... (as time has proven)

 

[Yureina]

Bah. Oh well.

I'm still not sure what my personal GOTY choice is. I'm currently playing through Spec Ops: The Line. o_o

 

[babinro]

Mass Effect 3 was a great game but it just didn't stand out as exceptional to me.
The game had a major tone shift taking it from Indiana Jones in space to something far more serious and depressing.

Not a poor choice for GOTY by any means though. Mine is easily Diablo 3.
A game which doesn't deserve the award from a critical standpoint but earned it though my 800+ hours of devotion.

 

[schtingah]

Well I know my vote (The Secret World) wasn't gonna get many votes. My second choice would have been between ME3 & Walking Dead so i'm happy still .

 

[Sigma Castell]

I've loved every game I've played this year
And ME3 obviously wasn't [i/]that[/i] bad, otherwise it wouldn't have won

 

[SNCommand]

Mass Effect 3 was a great game but it just didn't stand out as exceptional to me.
The game had a major tone shift taking it from Indiana Jones in space to something far more serious and depressing.

Strange, I never got that feeling playing the series

The series always was very serious and could be vary dark at times, for me the thought really started in the first one where the vast empty and barren planets made me feel so small, especially in a universe apparently inhabited with eldritch abominations older than anything else in the galaxy

 

[Edl01]

Sorry I'm on the side of the walking dead. I like the mass effect series, but I have always felt it was a bit over-rated personally.

 

[RJ 17]

People who enjoyed things rarely bother to post on forums about it, unless they have something unusual or unknown to discuss.

That's pretty much how it was with me back in ME3 came out. I was disappointed in the ending being so abrupt, not out-right raging like a number of other players though. I didn't necessarily try to defend the game, but rather just tried to get people to see that it wasn't as bad as they were making it out to be, and that the ending certainly didn't negate the fact that the rest of the game was damn good.

Though I did write an essay 6 days after the game was out in which I extrapolated possible logical outcomes of the three endings...and I'll be damned if the Extended Cut didn't come out and prove everything that I guessed to be dead-on accurate. That above all else was why I voted for ME3 as my GOTY.

Seriously, check the record, on March 12th I made a post in which I predict the EC endings before the EC was even being discussed! >

But gloating aside, I must say I'm VERY surprised that this game won, I thought for sure that it would likely be somewhere 11-20 at best. But like Kross said, evidently there's a silent majority (though a very small one, going by that graph) that fully enjoyed ME3 compared to the vocal minority that didn't. Or another way to look at it is that the ME3 fans are simply the largest minority of the various fandoms this graph represents.

 

[Dead Seerius]

I voted for The Walking Dead but I can't be too disappointed with the winner considering I've never played it.
In fact, I only played two of the games in the top 5 (Dishonored being the other).

Too many games. Just too many games.

 

[Doom972]

ME3 for the most part is a good game, but when you have a horrendously botched ending, that should have excluded it as GOTY.
No, its just not a bad ending, its a horrendously botched ending.

To be fair, most games in recent years have botched endings. It was just more upsetting in ME's case because it's a story in which the player develops a character and a story over three games and can get very invested in. My 2011 favorite, Deus Ex: Human Revolution also had a botched ending. If you want to see one of the worst endings in recent years, check out Rage's ending - that one made me angry.

I guess AAA studios have problems sticking to the schedule and budget, and since apparantly only 20% of the people who own a game will finish it (I still wonder where that statistic came from), the ending gets botched. At least Bioware fixed ME3's ending post release.

OT: I voted for X-COM but I don't mind ME3 being GOTY. I think more people should play FTL though.

 

[lechat]

am i the only one who seen mass effect as a generic cover shooter with tacked on superpowers?

 

[IronMit]

very disappointed that ME3 won....but then I looked at the other games visibly readable on the chart and realised I had not played any on them. Not the best year for games. ME3 had an edge because they most people played it, the blend of shooter and rpg attracts many gamers. I'm sure walking dead was great but I never played it so would not vote for it.


2011 games I played this year I loved were skyrim and dark souls. I also replayed deus ex:HR (2010/2011?= doesn't matter). Next year we have last of us & metal gear solid. A year to look forward to!

2012 represents ME3 and Hitman being ruined for me. And also 007 and batman being disappointing. Pretty shite year

 

[Zeraki]

Ooooh, this should be gooood. I'm gonna go get the popcorn.


I'm honestly surprised that it won. What with how much the game is derided on these forums and all.

 

[kortin]

This is just sad. Dishonored was millions of times better than ME3, Spec Ops, and Walking Dead.

 

[GiantRaven]

Mass Effect 3? Meh. It really doesn't hold up on second viewings.

Upon reflection, I feel that it having a catastrophically bad ending ended up being better for the game. People focused on that way more and the general averageness of the rest of the game looked much better by comparison.

 

[-Samurai-]

"Vocal minority" my ass. Exactly how big do you people think this community is?