Category Archives: assassins of kings
[GOTY] Tim Keenan’s Top Games of 2012
Editor’s Note: We thought it would be fun if we got some of the wonderful people in the industry to tell us their thoughts on this year’s games. Some of these people are developers and, yes, we have reviewed their games. After all is said and done, we hope you enjoy this series of GOTY articles.
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Tim Keenan is the developer of A Virus Named TOM. You can check it out here.
Tim Keenan
GOTY 2012
Making a list of my favorite games of 2012 is tough, since I spent half of my 2012 making a game, which leaves precious little time to play others. But enough excuses, after all, that’s what the hours of midnight to 2am are designed for.
Endless Space
Launching ‘A Virus Named TOM’ on Steam inadvertently brought me back to PC gaming, something carpel tunnel and a wife that wants to cuddle killed years ago. I hadn’t played a 4X strategy game since the original Masters of Orion and I stared at Endless Space since it launched, damning it for having no demo. I bit the bullet and purchased it during the autumn sale and found myself going to bed at 4 A.M. regularly, and I’m not in college anymore. The interface is intuitive and playing different races results in different strategies. I even got my brother involved and played with him online, a new experience for me in 4X games. If you dig 4X strategy games, it’s a solid title.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Keeping on a turn-based strategy theme is XCOM. When Tal Blevins (editor over at IGN) told me the original was his favorite game of all time it raised an eyebrow (I can’t compete with his moustache). I never played the original, but love this current cut so much I just may have to try it. A great mix of squad-based strategy without getting too bogged down in minutiae, then layer in several areas of meaningful decisions in equipment, construction, and air defense, and you have a fun experience that feels tailored to you. I say feels because I’m not far enough to know if it really affects things dramatically down the road
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings & The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Time to lose even more hours than strategy games take… epic RPG time. These two have contrasting styles of RPG-ness. I feel The Witcher 2 is more action-oriented while Skyrim is more atmospheric and has a larger, more open feel to it. Don’t tell me Skyrim came out winter 2011 and The Witcher 2 came out before that, I couldn’t fit Skyrim into a month and bought The Witcher 2 on Xbox which was only available in 2012, so back off!
The Unfinished Swan & Basketbelle
For me, these games exemplify new thinking in how art & storytelling can push games in new directions. I’m sure there are games pushing harder, but I found these maintained an interesting gameplay experience that wasn’t simply hijacked by the artistic style or storytelling. They’re the kind of games that, even if you don’t end up loving them, are worth a try just to take a chance at broadening your pallet.
FTL: Faster Than Light
I constantly feel like I’m still “feeling out” FTL, but I find myself playing it night after night. I haven’t played many roguelikes, but I feel that perhaps this is a great execution of the genre. Each time I die I feel like I do in a tower-defense game, where I’m excited to try out a new strategy. Except the variance in the events adds to a unique feel for each play through, which makes the infinite loop acceptable. It really feels like it should: odds are stacked heavily against you and your little ship making it far, but you’ll be damned if the rebel fleet is gonna take you without a fight!
WarGames: WOPR (iOS)
This is the only mobile title in here, and it’s a type of match 3 variant, so what’s the deal? It’s a curve ball I’ll admit, but there’s enough strategy and RPG-type leveling up in WarGames that it kept me going. Actually it may be the first mobile title that I’ve ever “beaten.” Add the voice of WOPR/Joshua, and a cool soundtrack (seriously), and it’s a solid time suck.
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