2012: The year intelligent old-school gaming struck back

How the best new stuff on consoles was old stuff

Words: David Houghton on December 31, 2012

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jackthemenace - January 7, 2013 9:58 a.m.

It's great to see that smarter, more thought-provoking games are taking off, but all that amounts to nothing if no-one plays them, and unfortunately, as far as the gamers I know go, most of them would never play some of the more mature, intelligent titles unless they were entires in already existing series. Like, if The Walking Dead, even if it was exactly the same game, was called something different, most of the gamers I know would have dismissed it instantly.
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D0CCON - January 2, 2013 5:40 p.m.

It feels weird having this article come up after 2011, which remains my favorite year of titles yet.
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AlbVega - December 31, 2012 1:48 p.m.

Any person who disliked AC3 -one of the greatest revenge tales in gaming, ever- is obviously an idiot. Also, you keep talking about "storytelling" in The Walking Dead, which is ridiculous when you compare it to AC3's tale of revenge, honor and hope. So, shut up.
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MetroidPrimeRib - December 31, 2012 1:50 p.m.

Where is Charles Lee. Where is Charles Lee. Where is Charles Lee. Where is Charles Lee. Where is Charles Lee. Where is Charles Lee. Where is Charles Lee. Where is Charles Lee. Where is Charles Lee. Where is Charles Lee.
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garnsr - December 31, 2012 4:49 p.m.

I never completely understood how Charles Lee became the focal point of AC 3. You weren't after the Templar you'd think you should have been after, in fact you team up with him, and for some reason you spend half the game trying to get Charles Lee, who doesn't end up being that hard to track down. The best part of AC 3, for me, was when I got to New York and was free to spend hours finishing the undergrounds, picking up Homestead tasks, chase pages, and just doing stuff that didn't need to be done.
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RebornKusabi - December 31, 2012 4:57 p.m.

I dislike Assassin's Creed 3 for a lot of reasons and it sure isn't storytelling problems only. Shitty controls, terrible characters, annoying game design all wrapped up in a game containing very little assassinations in ASSASSIN'S Creed 3. So no, we won't shut up.
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christian-shaffer - December 31, 2012 5:40 p.m.

Yes. Obviously, anyone that doesn't agree with your opinion is obviously an idiot. Everyone but me is such a fool. Bit of a narcissist are we?
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winner2 - December 31, 2012 9:41 p.m.

Are you trolling? Because last I checked AC3 was shit. The most fun you could have in that game was climbing the trees.
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pl4y4h - December 31, 2012 11:56 p.m.

I've said it once and I'll say it again, AC 3 had a lot of problems
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ranivus - January 1, 2013 12:36 p.m.

Wow dude you almost sound like you know what you're saying but in reality and sadly, you don't. Putting things in quotes and referencing the 6th game in an annoying series that will never end as a great story just makes me sad about humanity and how ignorant they really are. Bravo sir, bravo.
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ZeeCaptain - January 1, 2013 3:27 p.m.

Well yea it was one of the best games of 2012 story wise, but the game play felt tired, they haven't been able to fix that since ACII, that's why they introduced the menu training and mission giving in Brotherhood, that's why they introduced tower defense in Revelations, and that's why they introduced the sailing mechanics in ACIII, they made a great game in ACII but after another three games that play the same and add one new gimmick after the other it's pretty obvious they know that they can't find the secret to eternal youth for this series, so if they do forge ahead with a game where Desmond is in the future killing the Templar then I don't know what to expect maybe a Tetris mini game to solve puzzles or a Bejeweled Blitz where they have little heads of Templars.
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BottleBank - January 3, 2013 3:03 a.m.

Some people are easily pleased i guess...
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BottleBank - January 3, 2013 3:04 a.m.

...and i don't mean David Houghton
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wantsumcandi-psn-id - January 10, 2013 5:15 a.m.

Any person who disliked AC3? I really don't like the AC series, so I guess I'm an idiot, because I have my own opinion. I always thought people who used hyphens, instead of commas, to separate phrases we're idiots. (look above)
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taokaka - December 31, 2012 11:55 a.m.

I'm going to have to disagree a bit with the article, it comes of as far too one sided in favour of the somehow more "intelligent" games with gameplay concepts that were created a while ago and died temporarily due to action games that were new and innovative for their time. You keep using medal of honor as your benchmark for modern game design and give games who have roots in old school games as much chance as possible. You didn't mention games like borderlands 2, halo 4 and farcry 3 which have amazed critics and been commercial successes due to their brilliant takes on the FPS. Mass effect 3 and max payne 3 have done exactly the same with third person shooters. In terms of sales XCOM didn't even make it into the top 100 games sold this year globally while the ps3 version of medal of mediocrity is at 95, the download sales may totally change that but we'll never know (source: http://www.vgchartz.com/yearly/2012/Global/ ). Overall I just think the simplest way of putting it is the market changes and companies do whatever to differentiate their products whether it be look backwards for ideas or forwards to innovate, or in some cases make their product as bland and mainstream as possible and what we really need is the variety these games offer to keep us interested. Sorry for the long wall of text and I hope this makes sense to you as I am really tired at the moment.
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Dauthi693 - December 31, 2012 2:33 p.m.

I agree with taokaka the articles points aren't balanced but i agree with the point this article is making, also i think your example of borderlands 2 for FPS sucks as it felt to me like to succeed in spite of being an FPS not because of it. That said Games like Fez, Mark of the Ninja, Natural Selection 2, The Walking Dead, FTL, Journey, Hotline Miami, Spelunky, Asura's Wrath Binding of Isaac and Dishonored Show he has a point about intelligent design and/or the implementation of seemingly archaic old school mechanics. Then games like Persona 4 Golden, Planetside 2 and Tribes and X-Com and Betas for Mech Warrior Online and Hawken show that in this age of annual franchises old can just as easily be the new new.
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Edias - December 31, 2012 11:35 a.m.

The year started off relatively slow, but it definitely picked up later on. 2013 is looking to be a pretty solid year as well.
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MetroidPrimeRib - December 31, 2012 11:06 a.m.

Hitman Absolution and ZombiU, really?
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Mooshon - December 31, 2012 7:37 a.m.

Great article Dave. Going to be really exciting to see what pans out. Next gen arms race of RAM and vid cards will inevitably generate a huge round of AAA recycling. Saying that, possible digi distribution revolution could mean cheaper dev and rise of indie style experimentation. Fingers crossed. Happy NY
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Clovin64 - December 31, 2012 4:37 a.m.

Nice to see the more inventive games getting more of a mainstream audience nowadays. That said, most of my gamer friends were still all OMG BLACK OPS 2 this year, but still...
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