Game of the Year 2012

Assassin's Creed III – Game of the Year 2012

Platform(s): PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii U

Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Before you get far into this text, scroll down and take a glance at the list of runners-up, then come back up here. As you can see, this is the most heated the competition has ever been. There wasn’t any real stand-out that simply deserved the award so much more over the rest. This far into the generation, development is on a very even playing field, and it shows by the level of quality we’ve seen across the board. Each year the Game of the Year selection process is a difficult one, but no year has ever been this challenging. It led to arguments (I kid you not), lots of back and forth, and plenty of reasoning. In the end, the dust eventually settled on honoring one single game.

Nearly every runner-up for Game of the Year earned an award of its own—they’re all deserving in their own way. The staff had a lot of love for Spec Ops: The Line, but agreed it didn’t do quite enough to merit such recognition. Borderlands 2 has earned one hell of a fan-following for good reason. Dishonored provided choice and a new IP in a year filled with sequels.

Sound Shapes dared to make music a level-creation tool. The Walking Dead proved that digital, episodic content could leave us begging for more. No game was more controversial than Mass Effect 3, earning plenty of love and hate. Far Cry 3 taught us the definition of insanity and impressed in nearly every aspect. Halo 4 showed that a fresh set of hands couldn’t hurt a franchise so strong and so loved. And Journey, while the easily the most meaningful and groundbreaking of them all, was short on content, keeping it from longevity.

That leaves but one: Assassin’s Creed III. Very few franchises with annual release models do much to improve upon the formula. And none have done so nearly as much as Ubisoft has with ACIII. Connor’s tale is one of bravery, hope, and deceit. The dynamic relationship between Connor and Haythem, the Assassins and the Templars, the Colonists and the British, even Desmond and Abstergo, helps to drive an unforgettable story. A story that is layered over America’s early history, rich with authentic heroism.

It’s not perfect—as no game truly is—but in the end, the wealth of content and the quality and attention to detail found throughout the experience, earned Assassin’s Creed III GameRevolution’s prestigious Game of the Year award for 2012.

Runners Up: