Game Room: Top 25 Video Games of 2012

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Dec 14, 2012

Game Room: Top 25 Video Games of 2012

NCAA Football 13

NCAA Football 13 captures even more of the pageantry and glory of college football, and boasts more realistic gameplay than past versions.

Sound Shapes

Sound Shapes combines clean, crisp visuals and a clever soundtrack to produce a side-scrolling good time.

Kid Icarus: Uprising

Kid Icarus's return is marked by an innovative and imaginative experience well tailored for the Nintendo 3DS.

Far Cry 3

Being stranded on an island with a warlord and his nut-job minions hunting your every move is shockingly enjoyable in the lush and dangerous world of Far Cry 3.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted

Most Wanted's intense arcade-style racing delivers with a fantastic sandbox environment and a healthy dose of evading the po-po at break-neck speeds.

Unfinished Swan

The Unfinished Swan is an offbeat, first-person puzzle game that guides the player, in the guise of a young boy who has lost his mother, through a world of secrets in one of the paintings she left behind, channeling the puzzles of Portal 2 through the melancholy aesthetic of Braid.

Uncharted Golden Abyss

Uncharted Golden Abyss is another great Nathan Drake adventure with a solid campaign and visuals that impress on the PS Vita.

Lumines Electric Symphony

Lumines is an easy to learn -- but tough to master -- puzzle game that any PS Vita owner will love.

Assassins Creed 3

Assassin's Creed 3 -- actually the fifth major release in the series -- wows with a new main character, a welcome change in locale to the Revolutionary War-era United States and a potent reimagining of the franchise's parkour-derived combat and evasion.

NHL 2013

NHL 2K13 may be the only hockey that fans see this season -- fortunately, it's an enormously crisp, detailed, half-sim-half-arcade rendition of the sport that delivers hard-hitting action, a new skating engine and controls that can get as complex as fans could desire.

Rayman Origins

Imaginative visuals and clever level design make Rayman Origins one of the best side-scrolling platformers in years.

Max Payne 3

Max Payne 3's super-stylized world is gritty, gruesome and entertaining with its combination of good storytelling and great use of bullet-time mayhem.

Journey Collector's Edition

Journey is a beautiful game that's very short, but still manages to draw you in with intuitive controls and a singular grace that makes you care about the outcome of events in the game.

LittleBigPlanet Vita

LittleBigPlanet Vita does its PS3 sibling one better, adding the fledgling handheld's full complement of features -- tilt, touch, wireless -- to the franchise's well established combination of whimsical platforming and wacky aesthetics.

Forza Horizon

Our favorite racing game of the year pairs a stunning open-world environment with a host of beautiful vehicles and intense action behind the wheel.

MLB 12 The Show

The Show continues to dominate all hardball comers with excellent graphics and well-tuned gameplay.

FIFA Soccer 13

FIFA 13's improved player controls keep the beautiful game flowing, and keeps EA on top with the best soccer game in the world.

NBA 2K13

NBA 2K13 continues the franchise's overwhelming domination of videogame basketball, offering life-like graphics, detailed animations and a presentation that integrates real-time, real-life NBA game data into the interface. A staggering package for hoops fans.

Dishonored

Dishonored succeeds as the most ambitious new franchise of 2012: a steampunk world of action and stealth, equal parts BioShock, Assassin's Creed, Thief and Deus Ex, wrapped up in an irresistibly novel and playable package.

New Super Mario Bros. U

Nintendo's iconic Super Mario finally makes his high-def debut in the Wii U's first must-own game.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 powerfully bridges the gap between Hollywood action movie and first-person shooter with a complex plot, memorable set pieces, top-tier production values and multiplayer modes that will keep fans in thrall until well into 2013. Also, zombies.

Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2 is a slick first-person shooter that boasts fantastic visuals, dynamic action and a well developed open-world campaign.

Mass Effect 3

The end of Commander Sheppard's sci-fi trilogy adventure validates the Mass Effect series as one of the best RPGs ever.

Madden NFL 13

Madden's new physics engine makes each play feel and look unique with better tackling animations and more realistic passing.

Halo 4

Master Chief's latest adventure is our Game of the Year thanks to a great single player campaign and story, strong graphics and amazing multiplayer action.

Game Room: Top 25 Video Games of 2012