5 Underappreciated Games of 2012

I'm almost a month late with a game of the year post. And really, it seems to be somewhat unanimous what the top five games were with most sites. You are almost guaranteed to see X-Com, Journey, and Walking Dead in that list. I decided to instead make a list of games that I felt deserved some recognition. So here is my top 5 games that I feel were pretty good, but probably not GOTY material.

5.Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier

Intimidation was always one of the factors for me to play a Tom Clancy game. They always felt less gamey and more about strategy with bad controls sprinkled in. At least from my small experience with some older games. But Future Soldier was able to make me finish the game by doing the reverse and making it more gamey and less about strategy. The strategy is still there, but it's far less important. And while the story isn't something I cared to follow and sending your teammates to do everything can make you sail through the game, I still found fun in the different items and weapons available while being able to use them with ease.




4. Gotham City Imposters

Gotham City Imposters has found a lot of comparisons to Team Fortress 2. Perhaps its the way the players run around, maybe how they handle, even how they look. But there is one thing that really makes it stand out to me as a fair Team Fortress 2 type game: I am god-awful at it. I'm lucky to pull off one single kill. Not to say I didn't have fun jumping into the Batman universe in this way, but I stink.Yet, the gadgets and customization of this game really make it what it is not to mention it's a competent and enjoyable shooter. But I think the greatest accomplishment of this game was that it wasn't the pile of crap people were expecting. A first person shooter set in Gotham where you don't play as Batman or the Joker, but normal people playing on their "sides"? I don't think anyone expected this game to be any good, but it proved them all wrong.



3. Final Fantasy XIII-2

This might be where you decide to ignore everything I post. Yes. I was a fan of Final Fantasy XIII-2. Hell, I was a fan of FF XIII. And while the sequel isn't quite the lengthy tutorial the first game is, it still has it's faults. The story is about as convoluted as one can expect in a Final Fantasy game, there's still a linearity to it that the creators don't seem to understand what the fans really want, and a chunk of the characters make you cringe; but the gem of this game is the battle system. Whereas past FF games were slow paced, the recent additions have sped everything up while making it more strategic with your paradigm shifts and just more engaging in general. Add in my 90's fascination with "collecting them all Pokemon-style" nostalgia that forced me to run through the world and find the best monsters to add to my battles, and this became one of the favorite games of the year.


2. Binary Domain

I loved Binary Domain more than Gears of War. There. I said it. I didn't think I would, nor did I think I would find a game that would ever leave my lips as a game you should play. But going in expecting to find a barely functional Gears of War clone, I was pleasantly surprised to say I found a really good Gears of War clone. But instead of creatures, replace them with robots that are more fun to shoot with characters that have more personality and humor. For the most part at least. Plus, they have a French robot. But if that's not enough, perhaps you should know there is actually a story worth experiencing and it gets completely bat shit crazy near the end. It doesn't make much sense, but how much of video games actually make any sense? I wasn't expecting it (nor would anyone more than likely), but what a reveal. And while it set up for a sequel, lack of sales would suggest this will be the last time you'll see this game.


1. Asura's Wrath

I was hesitant to put this game on the list. Every outlet seems to have someone on staff who adores this game, but in the end, it doesn't quite reach the top 10 of game of the year status. Which is understandable since the gameplay moments boil down to mediocre third person fighting, some rail shooting, and quick time events. This game should be written off as a game. But ignore the first two, because they are not good, and focus on the quick time events. They work. They provide a sense of importance that no other game does. So when Asura is having a finger the size of a continent come down on his head, that quick time event is something you want to do because you feel connected in the fight with Asura. Which brings me to the story, the real reason to play this game. It's nothing new. A godlike being who has the love of his life taken from him by other gods, so he seeks revenge. But it's the incredible art style, the amazing voice work, the sheer lunacy that happens in the story, and even to an extent the quick time events; everything adds up to make Asura's Wrath a game that should have been full of cliche's, but instead stands as a game that I had the most fun with this year. No other game even comes close to how eager I was to finish this game. Which sadly, I haven't. If only because the real ending of the game is behind paid DLC. And that is the worst thing about this game.