Coolest pc games 2012

It's a game that offers many different ways to play -- stealthy, aggressive, or some combination thereof -- and presents a decent selection of cool powers and gadgets to fool around with.

Arkane Studios has crafted a unique sandbox that may show its borders more than most games, but is well worth checking out for its uniqueness. What we said: " Journey is an uplifting, ultimately joyous exploration of what games can accomplish and convey. It is a celebration of the medium and its myriad possibilities, and a gift of great and singular beauty to players — all players.

Thatgamecompany 's unique visuals alone are enough to recommend it, but the way in which the game kept us engaged from beginning to end was simply mesmerizing. If ever there was a case to be made for games as art — a claim critic Roger Ebert loves to refute — this is it.

Looking back on what brought us to that point is a powerful realization in and of itself. Why you should play it: Beyond the controversial ending, some abandoned story threads and the subsequent Extended Cut DLC release, M ass Effect 3 is a phenomenal game. From the combination of gunplay and biotic powers to the moving cut scenes, very few games pack as much content as a BioWare title, and this was a case of that development team firing on all cylinders. Had that ending delivered this game would be 1, but that soured many fans' moods.

However, the fact that fans were so disappointed by the ending only further proves how important this trilogy-ender was, and why even onlookers would be wise to play it themselves. What we said: " Halo 4 is the game that fans were hoping it would be. Why you should play it: Halo 4 might just be the most complete game. It boasts a memorable single-player campaign featuring the return of Master Chief that supports co-op, an additional constantly evolving cooperative experience Spartan Ops , and a unique and improved take on that classic multiplayer.

What we said: " Far Cry 3 is a near-perfect example of what shooters are capable of on the current-gen platforms. There are a solid 30 hours of single-player fun in this game that redefine the franchise and raise the bar of what players should expect from shooters and open-world games.

Why you should play it: The easiest way to describe Far Cry 3 is to say it's Skyrim with guns. The sheer amount of tasks the game presents the player is dizzying enough -- from hunting, to crafting, to outpost looting -- but on top of that is a beautiful looking game that works on many levels.

It's just so much fun to play -- regardless of what the player is doing -- that it doesn't matter the story fails to come together in a completely satisfying way. And Vaas is one of the best villains of this generation. It is a game played in a perpetual state of anxiety. A mind-blowing series of options lure the player from one goal to another, providing weight to the carelessness needed to accomplish them by shoving police cars into our bumpers and flipping our car relentlessly over the cliff, leaving us to sit and think, if only for a few seconds, about what we have done.

Despite how akin to Diablo II and therefore, Diablo III the game is in its story and act structure, the change of pace and environments helps make it like a larger and grander experience than crawling around in a dungeon and returning to the same town over and over. Developer : Giant Sparrow Publisher : Sony Platform : PlayStation 3 The charming would-be storybook Unfinished Swan explores a few interesting ideas within the well-populated world of puzzle platformers.

With an open character development system and an in-game ARG framework, The Secret World just might be the smartest contemporary adventure game and the biggest financial risk of the year. The company has steadily been working towards creating hour films in video game form. With GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption , that meant breaking up open world driving, riding and shooting with extensive dialogue scenes that demonstrated voice work and cinematography a cut above the industry standard.

Developer : PlayStation C. The addictive animal-based action RPG Tokyo Jungle allows me to craft personal narratives for each playthrough while shooting for a high score. Developer : Blendo Games Publisher : Blendo Games Platform : PC In Thirty Flights of Loving designer Brendon Chung trades overbearing clarity for emotionally true moments, capturing something in a moment or expression that most games clumsily try to do with entire games.

Consider the characters. They look cartoonish. Chung is confident: Thirty Flights of Loving makes space elastic and hopscotches through time, from years to hours to seconds. It embraces the core ideas—parkour, historical drama, conspiracy theories, derring-do—and pushes them further. If you have loved those things in the past, you will love them even more here.

If you hate the sci-fi infused framing story with its flickering digital artifacts, or the repetitive objective based action, or the slow-burn multiplayer, well, there is a lot more to gnash your teeth over. It requires thought, strategy and patience. Trials Evolution is a sadistic bitch of a game, forcing players to earn every inch of progress. Reaching the finish line is a feat in itself. With no faults, at a gold medal time? Developer : thechineseroom and Robert Briscoe Publisher : thechineseroom Platform : PC, Mac, Linux and OnLive Dear Esther uses the immediacy of the first-person perspective commonly employed by shooters to minimize the distance between player and story.

As he moves forward, the landscape becomes less and less grounded until, at its most fantastic, he is finally able to deal with his relationship to the monster that represents his father.

Developer : Blizzard Publisher : Blizzard Platforms : PC and Mac With Diablo III a lot of the social joys of the series are gone, but the feeling of taking down a nightmarish group of special enemies remains unmatched. Deftly blending the supernatural abilities of Bioshock, the rooftop-running parkour of Mirror's Edge, and the badass stealth takedowns of Batman: Arkham City, there's something in this first-person masterpiece for everyone.

No one creates living, breathing worlds better than Ubisoft, and no Ubisoft game has been as successful at doing it than Far Cry 3. It's a game of dynamic unpredictability--if not absolute reality--where a randomly generated narrative unfolds in a unique way for each individual player.

Round a corner, and there may be a gang of ruffians having a shootout in the streets. Come back later, and the surviving gang may be fending off, unsuccessfully, a jungle tiger. Far Cry 3's emergent narrative is matched by its equally enthralling scripted narrative, one that delves into the nature of insanity with fresh characters and real insight. Yes, the remote island locale can be absurd, and the lead character's latent gifts of Rambo-ism leave no room for disbelief, but it's hardly important.

Exaggerating a point often brings it into sharper focus, and in this way, games have the most potential. Far Cry 3 capitalizes on that potential. In a world of increasingly grey, increasingly narrow shooters, Halo stands firm as a proud guardian of the old ish ways. Its colourful vistas remain vast and awe-inspiring.

Its battles remain wide and resolutely free-form. Its weapon-set is defiantly varied and creative. As for those fears of franchise decay as a result of the mantle-pass from Bungie to Industries? The new studio has smashed any doubt into a tiny crumpled heap and kicked it into the path of a charging Spartan Laser.

And for all the authenticity, Halo 4 is a real fresh start for Master Chief. With a stunning new engine, it blows away any preconceptions of what the aging Xbox can do. And beyond the surface level, has achieved the seemingly impossible by humanising the Chief without reducing his stoic badassery by one iota. Halo 4 is a damnably exciting game in itself, but as a promise of whats to come its absolutely thrilling. Agent 47s skills arent limited to his ability to kill without remorse.

His real strength, the thing that makes him more than a hired gun, is in being adaptable. Regardless of the situation, 47 is immaculately professional, faultlessly creative, and wholly capable of finding the perfect way out of any position. Its here that Hitman: Absolution shines: in giving 47 more tools he needs to accomplish anything. With the addition of Instinct Mode, youre able to find your way into places that otherwise might be impossible to get to, and thanks to Point Shooting a group of impassable guards is simply another hurdle 47 can leap.

New stealth missions might seem out of place at first as 47 moves through crowded train stations or apartment buildings, but they help to flesh out the interesting, stylish plot that makes past games narratives seem sterile in comparison.

Give Journey three hours, and you'll see the future of the industry. An emotional tour de force, thatgamecompany's masterpiece marries sight, sound, and movement in a way that no other game has and all other games should.

It sets a new high-water mark in narrative design, innovating in realms as disparate as online connectivity and color theory.