Games, games, games. We’re all into playing games … of one type or another, anyway. And even though some folks will openly claim sports, politics or emotional manipulation as their play du choix, many will readily point to video games as the thing they do when they’ve got some extra time on their hands. And there were definitely a lot of new video games cranked out in 2012.
Before we dive in to listing a few of my favorites, though, I probably ought to point out a couple of things I always try to think about when I evaluate games for Plugged In, because there’s clearly more than just the quality of craftsmanship to consider. Some shooters or RPGs may be incredibly well made, but we all need to focus on the other stuff that’s packed into the dozens of hours of button-crunching and trigger-pulling. So I like to find titles that are not only crafted with quality but also incorporate the kind of good clean fun you wouldn’t mind your kid sister seeing if she walked in the room. In fact, how about games that your kid sister could join in and play too?
I also appreciate games that can be broken up into reasonable chunks of play time. You know, ’cause sleeping once in a while is a good thing.
Anyway, with that reasonable set of criteria (and a nod to the preamble Paul Asay already established in his “Television Tops” post), here are the five (or six!) games that stood out to me while reviewing more than 50 of them in 2012 (listed in alphabetical order):
Civilization V: OK, right out of the gate I have to cheat just a bit. This game actually came out in 2010. But an expansion pack called God and Kings arrived in 2012. And it’s a good enough game that I just had to include it here. Onscreen, you’re given the task of building societies and defending the land against marauders and barbarians. And the Gods and Kings addition adds in a number of extra civilizations to choose from. It also tinkers with what the impact of spreading religion around the world might be—with great food for spiritual thought wrapped into that. This one can suck up some time—Rome wasn’t built in an hour, after all. But if handled wisely, the world-building is a brain-teasing joy.
LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes and LEGO The Lord of the Rings: Second on this small list is a twofer. For those who are just itching to play their favorite Hobbit or superhero, you can’t beat the fun and frolic of a LEGO game. Batman 2 sets Bats and the Boy Wonder into action against a teamed-up Joker and Lex Luther—and even brings playable Justice League members into the fun. And for the first time the characters all talk. The Lord of the Rings in LEGO clothing somehow packs all three of the LOTR flicks into one game—minus the really scary stuff. In both games, play is cheery and captivating enough that the superhero/hobbit fanboys and fangirls are already scheming about how they can be make their own outfits out of connectable blocks.
NCAA Football 13: There are a lot of sports titles out there, and many are winners. In fact, when it comes to football everybody will likely think Madden. For my football gaming buck, however, I prefer the NCAA games. They’re actually a little less complicated to jump into for the uninitiated and just a little more fun to play for those who don’t care about Madden’s gameplay minutia. Here you get to play and recruit for any college team you want … and then take your favorite handpicked Heisman-winner into the Madden pros if you so choose.
Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure: This kid-friendly game melds digital fun with collectable plastic critters with their own built-in memory chip. The puzzle-solving fantasy game adventures are cheerful and cute, and the onscreen fireball and lightning battles are never messy or overly violent. Some of the game’s magic and witchy characters are a bit creepy, but easily avoidable if you simply don’t buy them.
Super Mario 3D Land: For the Nintendo handheld set, Super Mario packs in tons of platforming joy and all the tanooki-suited Bowser-bopping you could hope for. Levels can actually get more complicated than you might guess as you progress, but that’s all the more reason for dad or mom to show off some of their old-school skills.
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