Lets finish off 2012 shall we.
MOST SURPRISING GAME OF 2012
Sleeping Dogs
My most surprising game of 2012 would have to go to Sleeping Dogs. The story, the game play, the characters were all unexpected. When i heard that Sleeping Dogs was created from the ashes of a True Crimes game, I fought with myself deciding rather i should buy it. Square has been touch and go with there games as of late, and i didn't want to risk spending 60 dollars on another crappy game. Lucky for me i happen to watch Totalbiscuits WTF is Sleeping Dogs as it gave me a general view of what to expect from this game. As with all videos i watch on YouTube, I took TB's advice on Sleeping Dogs with a pinch of salt. TB enjoyed his time playing the game, so much so that his WTF is of it was over a hour long. Which is rare for a WTF is video.
When the game released, I quickly found out why, as i put all other games on hold to play this. Though at time the story line was predictable, the characters were dull, and the game play could have used improvements. The over all quality of the game was assured by it's difference in style. Sleeping Dogs wasn't just about shooting random thugs in the face. The story was about as much as you could expect from a scripted game based off a Hollywood movie of a under cover cop who eventually goes rogue yet never forgets he is a cop. What makes this different is that guns don't play a major role, as a matter of fact they are hard as shit to come by if your not doing a mission. There are no gun stores that i saw, which means you wouldn't want to waste ammo in street fights. On top of that, guns are loud, they attract attention, unless you wanted to be in a shoot out with the local authority, I'd suggest keeping your partner holstered till your in doors, or in a mission.
The games finest point is in the hand to hand combat, clearly the high light of this game. Where as in the true crime series focused more on bad gun play, and horrible driving. GTA focus's on good gun play, sub standard driving, and some hand to hand. Sleeping Dogs focus's on extremely good hand to hand combat, at the cost of it's gun play, and yes substandard driving. (What about Saints Row? BURN IN HELL, I'M THROUGH WITH SAINT'S ROW, SAINTS ROW THE THIRD WAS HORRIBLE.) Sorry about that were was I? Oh yeah. Sleeping Dogs puts so much on melee that you find yourself frustrated in shoot outs, due to the fact that you could put them down in a more satisfying way. A flurry of punches and kicks, A series of different martial arts moves, and a block and counter technique make fighting all the more fun. Not to mention the more you get hit, the more blood shows up on your body and clothing. I constantly found myself trying to avoid getting hit in fights so i could walk away looking like a bad ass.
This game certainly wins it for most surprising game of the year for me. Only thing stopping it from being on my top 10 best games of 2012 is that i could have been so much better. The story was to scripted it, i would have loved to actually be given the choice to go rogue and join the triad leaving behind my job as a cop, or vice versa. It would have added some different twist to the game, some that weren't so predictable. It also would have made the game longer, and made it re-playable. There are some major character development holes, the story was too predictable, it felt like somethings, like the girl friends in the game just weren't finished, the driving was horrible (on PC without a controller), and the bullet time was a nice feature but i could rarely use it. The face meter was a nice addition, sadly it shouldn't have been tied to me purchasing clothing, as it just didn't level up fast enough for me to get the clothing i wanted. While it had interesting side missions, some of them were repetitive, and there weren't enough of them to matter. Lastly for a game that focus's on hand to hand combat, i would have loved to see more fight clubs, and a larger map with a better taxi system. I had some minor hang ups with the game, but they fall short in comparison to those i just mentioned.
Most Disappointing game of 2012
Mass Effect 3
While Mass Effect 3 DID make my top 10 best games of 2012, it is easily the most disappointing game i played in 2012. I expected so much from this game, and i just didn't feel like i was given all that i was promised. I'm not just talking about the ending here folks, we all know that i hated it the ending. What i hated was Bioware's cash grab schemes. Cutting out relevant game content forcing me to pay for it (which I didn't, and I won't.) I also didn't like that i was forced to play multi player. What is it with games forcing me to play with other people. If i wanted to play a multi player game I WOULD HAVE. Yet Bioware, for what ever reason, decided that it would be a great ideal to tie your success rate in the final battle, to how prepared the galaxy is. That would be great, if you didn't have to play multi player to get each sector to 100 percent.
Just picture it, a bunch of rookies who have never played multi player in their single player games, being forced to join in with the pro multi player gamers who take their shit seriously. You can already see this isn't going well, these aren't gamers who want to learn how to play, they are gamers who are being forced to try Multi player content because they want 100% game completion. What makes it worse, is Bioware's in game store, in which you can buy items that help you in multi player... Really Bioware. First you force me to play your horrible multi player, then you think I'm going to spend money on it. BITCH DRINK BLEACH. Oh but that isn't the worst part, the worst part is that rather you get 100% or not, i didn't see it make much of a DAMN DIFFERENCE AT THE END OF THE GAME. So not only are you lead to believe it matters, if you played Mass Effect 3 as many times as i have, you'll eventually find out IT DOESN'T MATTER. Way to slap fan's in the face Bioware. I am not even getting into my issues with the ending, I'm sure you can search Mass Effect 3 ending and see the controversy over the ending. Honestly part of me was mad that shepherd died, till i found it he might not be dead. The rest is over the actually Ending and shepherds indoctrination theory. It is by far the biggest reason why this game was disappointing. Swing by Angry Joe's video and check it out, hopefully you will understand why i don't want to get into it on this simple blog. I'd be typing for hours, and you probably wouldn't want to read the whole thing lol.
As for the last one, I actually already did that, My best game of 2012 is Guild Wars 2, which i talked about in my top 10 games of 2012. I don't really see a reason to rehash that. I could but I'd be wasting your time and that's not fair to you. So I guess that's it for this post, keep a eye out for my first impression on DMC Devil May Cry, (as that file was saved on my external hard drive) as well as my final thoughts of the game. (yes i beat it.)
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