The sun may be a distant memory, lost beneath the clouds and the blanket coverage of rictus-faced sportspeople doing things which would cause normal humans to explode into clouds of gristle and vertebrae, but you can still tell it's summer: there aren't any new games to play.
The last thing worth hitting the shops for was Spec Ops, now there's nothing but a Summer of Arcade that's only fractionally better than the real-world version we're currently experiencing, and dubious retail releases like Ice Age 4: Continental Drift: Arctic Games, which is being passed around the team like a warm dog turd as everybody contrives to come up with reasons not to review it.
But fear not: this year has been better than many, and there are many fine games in shops and on Xbox Live that are well worth your time. We've picked our current top ten.
1. Spelunky
This deceptively cutesy-looking platformer is the single most infuriating, most sworn-at game in OXM's history. And yet it's the game we all still play every lunchtime. The magic is that you don't learn the levels, which are randomly generated every time you play, but the mechanics you use to get through them - so while you'll lose your progress with every death, you gradually learn how to handle every one of each level's myriad insta-death enemies. Apart from spikes. Spikes can do one.
9 comments so far...
Clanger67 on 2 Aug '12 said:
Totally agree with most of them especially Minecraft,BD,DD.The best is still yet to come with Minecraft.After playing demos of some of them only i would say Trials is very good but think The Darkness is better than two.Still not sure with ME 3 as i wanted another character from two first so still to really get into it.Think you will be able to add Sleeping Dogs to that list in a fortnight.Plus hoping that the end of the year you could also add FC 3 and Dishonoured.
msbhvn on 2 Aug '12 said:
Haven't read the article yet, but the rest of 2012 is pretty bare for me. I've got Sleeping Dogs and Darksiders 2 on pre-order and I might get Dishonoured. Doom 3 BFG Edition is a possibility, but I've got about five shooters already that I haven't played because I'm crap at them.
Other than that, everything else that interested me ran off into 2013. I'm taking it as a sign from the gaming gods that I should save up for a monster gaming PC to replace my current one that is, to use the words of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a "pezzo di merda".
EDIT: Damn, forgot to mention Borderlands 2, have that on pre-order as well.
YoungTobias on 2 Aug '12 said:
I don't know if this was in any order, but I'd have put ME3 at number one despite how atrocious and offensive the ending was. If anything, the utter abject failure of the ending only served to show just how astonishingly good the rest of the series was.
Lancer Armstrong on 2 Aug '12 said:
Darkness 2 really is everything a good shooter should be.
Haven't experienced such wonderfully creative ways of killing enemies since the first time I played Halo. And it's one of the few shooters that actually feels like it has a real story, not just some plot outline that merely serves to connect a bunch of action set pieces.
Best shooter of the year so far (maybe a tie with Ghost Recon: Future Soldier).
Bezza89 on 2 Aug '12 said:
So far... ME3 and Minecraft (and MGS HD but that's not new ) are my favourite games this year. I've played some others but not found them brilliant, and in some cases I hated them. Not been too good this year tbh for me, but it looks to be quite a good second half; sleepy dogs, borderbords, hitman, halo and far cry are on my list and could surpass ME3 and minecraft. 2011 is winning though, closely followed by 2008.
Decent_Jam on 3 Aug '12 said:
To be honest all anyone really needs is the next load of Battlefield DLC, that will certainly be eating up my time
Oh and Left 4 Dead 2 with its new DLC. Job done.
bamozzy on 3 Aug '12 said:
I haven't bought many new games at all this year so far.
However and in no particular order I have bought
Mass Effect 3 - A great game that provided a lot of game time and despite a week ending I still thoroughly enjoyed it - only need the Insanity achievements for completion.
Max Payne 3 - Visually stunning and good story - a bit linear but none the less I enjoyed playing through this. The Multi-player was a surprise - I didn't expect it to be as good as it is. It is also fun and a completely different change of pace from the Single Player.
Lego Batman 2 - A fantastic game - Not visually stunning but it is Lego and it is the best looking(if not the best) Lego Game. It has Humour and is a lot of fun to play with a lot to collect and do.
Trials: Evolution - What can I say that hasn't already been said. Fantastic game and puts a lot of full price retail games to shame. So much to do and with all the user generated tracks/games etc there is always something new to do even if you have completed all the standard ones - you can also create your own too.
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - To me of the 5 games I have bought this is the weakest. That's not to say that it is bad game but it certainly isn't the best looking, doesn't offer the best campaign and I actually prefer Max Payne 3's multi-player
The past 7 months have not been the greatest in terms of game releases but the next 5 is looking quite good and I wonder how many of these games will still be in the top ten at the end of the year.
We still have Sleeping Dogs, Darksiders 2, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Medal of Honour, Black Ops 2, DIshonoured, Assassins Creed3, Far Cry 3, Halo 4, Forza: Horizon, PES and Fifa 2013 editions to name a few...
I will say I am looking forward to 'Armoured Kill' and 'Aftermath' amd no doubt they will eat up a lot of time for me as well. Doubt I will get the Left for Dead 2 DLC though...
Also Max Payne 3 will be adding a bit of FREE DLC in August too
smjenkins77 on 3 Aug '12 said:
I would add the very much underrated Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning to the list.
It was everything Fable 3 should have been.
schwepterbrowser on 3 Aug '12 said:
I only have 3 of those: The Witcher 2 and Dragon's Dogma, both of which I find a bit dodgy, and The Walking Dead, which is awesome. Not currently interested in any of the others – it’s been a crap year on Xbox thus far for me.