Top Ten Games, 2012 Edition

Another year of video game blogging has come and gone - actually, my first full January-to-December year doing this. Fifty-two weeks in a year and one review per week (skipping last week) means I've played 50 games to completion this year. But wait, that's not quite true - January was indie month at 3 games per week, and I played some games I didn't review, so that puts me well over 60 this year.

Anyway, if you remember my list from last year, the purpose is not to talk about the best games that came out this year. I don't play games soon enough after launch to do that kind of a list. No, this is simply my 10 favourite games I played this year.

And so, with no more ado, and in alphabetical order, here we go!

Black Mesa

Post-Launch Review

Black Mesa

Developer: Black Mesa Modification Team

Released: September 14 2012

About

Black Mesa is a (near-) complete remake of Half-Life, originally released in November 1998. Black Mesa brings the aging game into the current iteration of the Source engine with upgraded graphics and tweaked gameplay. It follows the now-classic story of Gordon Freeman, a physicist working for the Black Mesa Research Facility, caught in the middle of a catastrophic dimensional rift and the military response to the event.

Mechanics and Narrative: FPS

Last time we looked at how narrative and mechanics are intertwined (or not) in horror games, and today we'll take a look at first-person shooters.

At first glance the mechanics of FPS games don't seem to be terribly linked to the narrative except for the fact that you shoot things, which means that the story tends to be about shooting things. That's pretty much a given - they are called first-person shooters, after all. It's kind of like saying that horror games are about scary things.

The interesting thing about FPS games is the camera angle. 

The FPS camera simulates your character's eyes. You see what the character sees, from their perspective, and control where they look. The strength of this camera angle is the sense of immersion it can provide - you're not following some guy around, you are that guy. So, generally speaking, the FPS mechanics that have the greatest impact on the narrative are the ones that affect your sense of immersion.

Tips: HL2E2 Little Rocket Man

In Half-Life 2: Episode Two, there's an achievement for escorting a garden gnome to the end of the game and launching him into space. This sounds hard - and it is - but with a few tricks, it gets a lot easier. Also keep in mind the one extremely important point which you'll find at the end of the article.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

Post-Launch Review

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

Developer: Valve

Released: October 10 2007

About

Episode Two follows up Episode One (obviously). Gordon and Alyx have escaped from City 17 with the stolen data and travel to the resistance outpost at White Forest. But the Combine are hot on their heels, and the resistance hopes to launch a satellite in time to prevent a massive new portal event that would make Black Mesa seem tiny in comparison.

Half-Life 2: Episode One

Post-Launch Review

Half-Life 2: Episode One

Developer: Valve

Released: June 1 2006

About

Half-Life 2: Episode One continues immediately after the ending of Half-Life 2 without so much as a break for physicist Gordon Freeman. Alyx and Gordon race through City 17 with valuable stolen information, hoping to escape before the Citadel explodes and vaporizes the entire city.

Half-Life 2

A Very Post-Launch Review

Half-Life 2

Developer: Valve

Released: November 16 2004

About

Half-Life 2 is the sequel to the original Half-Life. In eastern Europe's City 17, nearly 20 years after the original game, theoretical physicist and badass Gordon Freeman is awoken from stasis by the mysterious G-Man and turned loose. The Black Mesa Incident resulted in a massive invasion of Earth by the alien forces of Xen, who are now running the place. Gordon joins up with some old friends from Black Mesa, as well as City 17's resistance movement, in an attempt to free the city.