I Don’t Agree With Time Magazine’s Game Of The Year List, But Goddammit I Respect It

11 years ago

December 7, 2012 at 9:15 am

For a mainstream magazine, I really think Time Magazine does a good job with its end of year top 10 list. It’s personal, unique and it feels genuine and authentic. I don’t think I could disagree more with Time Magazine list for 2012, but at the same time I sort of respect the fact that it exists!

1. Guild Wars 2
2. Xenoblade Chronicles
3. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
4. Dishonored
5. Assassin’s Creed III
6. Papo & Yo
7. The Last Story
8. LittleBigPlanet
9. Halo 4
10. Torchlight 2

You can head here for a more in-depth look at the list, including the reasons why each game was included. I do have to note the omission of games such as Journey and The Walking Dead — mainly because I expect those games to clog up a majority of lists this year but, besides that, I have to congratulate Time on putting together such an idiosyncratic list.

Comments

36 responses to “I Don’t Agree With Time Magazine’s Game Of The Year List, But Goddammit I Respect It”

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whitepointer

December 7, 2012 at 9:23 am

Xenoblade Chronicles definitely deserves to be there (even though it was released here last year).

Strangely enough though, I haven’t actually played any of the other games on that list.

Reply
thom

December 7, 2012 at 9:24 am

Not my top 10 either, but unlike a lot of these lists, I think every game on it is very good.

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djmattyg007

December 7, 2012 at 9:25 am

I’d put Journey and The Walking Dead on a top 10 for this year purely because they went places very few other games have dared to go, and did them so well.

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BennyTr

December 7, 2012 at 9:25 am

How can you not agree so strongly when you haven’t even played those games? What a joke.

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inkk_412

December 7, 2012 at 9:30 am

I’d be very interested to see if the people who voted GW:2 as number one are still playing it now.

There was a lot of hype for the first couple of weeks but wow (pun intended) did that bubble burst quickly.

Reply
1. B
  
  January 12, 2013 at 1:41 pm
  
  I voted and still play it. So does my wife and the 100 + in my guild. We have been from the start.
  
  Reply
M_2123

December 7, 2012 at 9:31 am

Odd that they mention Littlebigplanet on VIta, without mentioning the original or number 2.
It seems quite randomly selected, some good, some meh with very generic back of box descriptions.

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mrtaco

December 7, 2012 at 9:33 am

Whoa, both Xenoblade and Last Story on there. Nice.

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tofu

December 7, 2012 at 9:41 am

It makes me so very happy to see papo and yo in there … although they don’t exactly give reasoning for the placement of the games, just a brief run down of what the games are about.

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ic-1101

December 7, 2012 at 9:43 am

“For a mainstream magazine, I really think Time Magazine does a good job with its end of year top 10 list.”

Define “mainstream”, because you use it with similar sentiment in quite a lot in your articles.

Also, Kotaku is mainstream.

Reply
1. 35
  
  December 7, 2012 at 9:51 am
  
  Mainstream in this instance would probably mean a magazine that is not dedicated to games, and/or a magazine that has a wide-ranging audience of gamer, non-gamers, and everything else.
  
  also yeah, Kotaku is a pretty well-known gaming site.
  
  Reply
2. redartifice
  
  December 7, 2012 at 9:52 am
  
  Non-industry specific? Generalist?
  
  Reply
phlaiman

December 7, 2012 at 9:45 am

I’m not sure if AC3, TL2 or LBP should be on this list but apart from that it’s actually a pretty great list and will probably look completely different to everyone elses lists.

Reply
1. thom
  
  December 7, 2012 at 9:54 am
  
  I kind of agree with the others: but Torch Light 2? It was awesome!
  
  Reply
  1. phlaiman
    
    December 7, 2012 at 10:44 am
    
    Yeah I was really looking forward to TL2 but when I played it I just didn’t enjoy it that much. That said, I guess I am not really into that genre.
    
    Reply
    1. thom
      
      December 7, 2012 at 11:10 am
      
      Fair enough – I’m not really into that genre myself, but I enjoyed it enough to put in a few hours. It seemed to be exceptionally good for what it is.
      
      Reply
diaglyph

December 7, 2012 at 9:47 am

I’m so glad Xenoblade is #2 🙂
Such an enjoyable experience

Reply
mawt

December 7, 2012 at 9:48 am

The list of omissions seems more telling than the list itself. At a glance it seems Palo & Yo has been included to fulfil some niche requirement; “must include one Indie game, one Japanese game, and one portable game”.

Reply
35

December 7, 2012 at 9:54 am

I’ve only played 3 of those games, but I’d rank all 3 of them in my top 10. & the other 7, I’m sure are worthy of their spots. Goes to show two tings :
– its been a pretty good year for games
– top 10 lists are totally subjective

Reply
jem81

December 7, 2012 at 10:06 am

My list would be completely different however biased toward 360 as that is the only platform I play on other than my android devices – but that is not really gaming.
So really – I am not one to be able to judge this list.

Reply
dan

December 7, 2012 at 10:12 am

I don’t think I’ve played 10 2012 titles this year.

Reply
1. 35
  
  December 7, 2012 at 10:31 am
  
  thats cool. you can compile your top 10 of 2012 list in 2013 when the games are a bit cheaper.
  win-win situation.
  
  Reply
greenius

December 7, 2012 at 10:15 am

Wow, so much Xenoblade love in here <3

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Bilben

December 7, 2012 at 10:22 am

Would love to know what games on that list Mark has actually played.

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shpeshal_ed

December 7, 2012 at 10:33 am

That’s actually probably the most accurate Top 10 out there.

Just remove Assassin’s Creed 3 and LBP, and replace them with Mark Of The Ninja and The Walking Dead and you’re golden.

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awesome_jeevs

December 7, 2012 at 10:48 am

Xenoblade. Best game evar!! woohooo!!!!

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rickybobby

December 7, 2012 at 10:57 am

Lets be serious for a second.. Dishonored sucked, Torchlight2 was great though

Reply
1. lillee
  
  December 7, 2012 at 11:18 am
  
  Says you… Dishonoured was awesome…
  
  Reply
  1. ashley
    
    December 7, 2012 at 1:27 pm
    
    The way I see it, Dishonored was a great demo for Dishonored 2.
    
    It was basically just long enough to be a proof-of-concept for a great game engine.
    
    Reply
lichbane

December 7, 2012 at 11:05 am

Good list. I haven’t played the console games listed, though from what I know of them, they are quite respectable games.

GW2 deserves top billing though. Best game this year.

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dangeralley

December 7, 2012 at 11:08 am

Glad both Xenoblade and The Last Story made it, both are awesomely enjoyable experiences but I was worried that because they’re on the Wii no one would pay them any attention outside of dedicated JRPG fans.

Reply
lillee

December 7, 2012 at 11:17 am

6. Papo & Yo ??? IGN 4/10….

Reply
1. ashley
  
  December 7, 2012 at 1:28 pm
  
  But IGN is usually full of crap…
  
  Reply
2. benj
  
  December 7, 2012 at 1:32 pm
  
  If all you judge a game on us what IGN rate it, then you’re missing out on a lot of good games.
  
  Reply
benj

December 7, 2012 at 1:30 pm

Good to see Xenoblade and The Last Story on there. Also good to see Papo & Yo, even though from a gameplay perspective it wasn’t all that strong.

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Basso the Boxman

December 7, 2012 at 8:58 pm

Hahaha this list is a joke right ?

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drunken-hutt

December 9, 2012 at 5:13 pm

Despite the pretty visuals and other fluff, Halo 4 does not deserve a spot on that list. While certain aspects of the campaign were noteworthy, 343 relied too much on genre-tropes to bring the story forward. The delivery method of Sparton Ops is somewhat innovative, but the actual content is insipid and boring. And the multiplater (while enjoyable) brings in, and removes, certain unnecessary features.

As mentioned before, it’s a shame Journey didn’t make that list. That could’ve easily replaced Halo 4 or Papo & Yo.

Reply

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I Don’t Agree With Time Magazine’s Game Of The Year List, But Goddammit I Respect It

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36 responses to “I Don’t Agree With Time Magazine’s Game Of The Year List, But Goddammit I Respect It”

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