Quantcast
Chris’s 2012 Games of the Year Picks | PSNStores

Chris’s 2012 Games of the Year Picks

Posted by on January 4th, 2013 | 0 Comments | Tags:

2012 has been a pretty great year for PSN, and an awesome one for PSNStores.com. We saw just over 500,000 visitors last year, which was double what we saw the year before. Most of that was thanks to all the great games below. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have anything to talk about. So here are my favorites from last year, in no particular order.

My Top Games From 2012

Sound Shapes

I was pretty much hooked on Sound Shapes the day I got it. I wanted to try and take it slow and savor the campaign, but that just didn’t happen. I tore through it like a little kid opening up presents from Santa. But thankfully the game had a lot to offer besides that. The community that has formed around Sound Shapes is excellent, with quality levels being made daily. I know at pretty much anytime I can turn on my Vita and just get lost in a level or two.

If you haven’t checked out Sound Shapes in a while, you are definitively missing out on some great stuff. Here are some of my favorite Sound Shapers: Daftbomb, TheBeejAbides, and TonyTough. Hearting any of these guys will fill your game with some of the best stuff around.

Velocity

Futurlab seems to understand what it takes to make a slick and intensely addicting game. Velocity is really a showcase for what a small team can do with PlayStation minis. They took what they learned from Coconut Dodge and created an incredible vertical shmup with Velocity.

I especially liked all the little easter eggs too. Did you know there is a fully functional calculator or a full game of Minesweeper hidden away in the menus? The game already looks incredible on Vita, and with a native Vita version coming later in 2013… we might be seeing Velocity again this time next year.

Tokyo Jungle
Tokyo Jungle is insane. You want to fight a tiny little dog versus an alligator? Sure it is possible in Tokyo Jungle, just don’t expect to win right away. It offers up a depth that I originally didn’t even know the game had, with stats transferring from generation to generation. The best parts of Tokyo Jungle were always just those random encounters that you have. You are poisoned and low on health.

You rush through one zone and BAM you happen to run into a bunch of dinosaurs. You are screwed, but you will come back for more time and time again. I didn’t even mention the story for the game. I don’t wanna spoil it, but you will find out why everyone on the planet is missing. And yes it is totally insane. I will say one thing, Bullet-hell robot dog boss battles.

Closure
Closure was another one of those games that I inhaled. What I really liked about it is how it didn’t hold your hand at all. I was really glad I got a chance to play this before there were gameplay guides and YouTube walkthroughs. I think that the majority of the fun I had with the game was in solving those puzzles.

In the end, Closure really is all about those puzzles. Bending light to create platforms and shadow jumping really makes this one of the most inventive puzzles games I have played in years. It also gets a spot on my list for the “Very Scary Stories” art style.

Some Honorable Mentions

Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack
This was the first game I played when I bought my Vita, and it is still a great pick up for anyone who loves platforming. The score chasing and finding the fastest ways to complete the levels held me over during those slow months. Not to mention I am in the game, look for me in the first world!

PlayStation Mobile
There were a handful of great games that got released this year on PSM. So I will just list a few here that you should definitely own. Bullion Blitz is free and is probably the best puzzle game on the platform. Aqua Kitty is a great shmup, with a crazy story and tight gameplay. Surge is a frenetic, million miles per hour match 3 game from Futurlab. And lastly Rebel, think of it as the ultimate game of jailbreak.

PixelJunk 4am
No so much a game, but it was fun while it lasted. I give Q-Games props for trying something totally different with 4am. The part music creation tool, part visualizer for a time gave PS3 owners a free internet radio player comprised of different people grooving out with their Move controllers. I still use it from time to time as a visualizer, as it offers up some of the best I have ever seen, but it is sad to see that hardly anyone is using the creation/performance part anymore.