Editorials
Here Are The Best Games Of The Year, As Chosen By The Bloody Disgusting Staff
It’s that time of the year! 2012 has thrown everything it had at us, including a bevvy of highly anticipated games like Diablo III, Resident Evil 6, and Silent Hill: Downpour — but we made it. Many of us lost friends to the foggy town of Silent Hill, the demon-infested lands surrounding Tristram, or the eerie, deserted town of Night Springs, Arizona. It was tough, but the important thing is we survived. Sure, our social lives took a beating and our wallets are looking particularly thin, but the good news is we have about a month to save up before things pick back up.
In a continuation of our celebration of the glorious year for gaming that 2012 definitely was, the Bloody Disgusting staff has chosen our favorite games of the year. Check them out after the break.
Adam Dodd
Game of the Year: The Walking Dead (360, PS3, PC)
Gamertag: Baby Colada
I can’t say enough good things about Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead. It’s difficult to believe the first episode released way back in April, but what Telltale has done since then for storytelling in games, the adventure genre, and episodic gaming as a whole easily makes this my Game of the Year. This has been a great year. 2012 brought us games like Dishonored, Diablo III, and multiple installments in the Resident Evil and Silent Hill franchises, but choosing this was a no-brainer (pun intended). I can’t wait to see what Telltale does next.
TJ Taraszka
Game of the Year: Minecraft (360)
Minecraft 360. I know, with a lot of heavy hitters that came out this year, why Minecraft? 143 hours, that’s why. The only other game that comes close is 50 something hours put into Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer, and that is still low compared to Minecraft. There is something about the game that’s magnetic to me. When I’m sitting around thinking of what game to play, and I’m clueless, I always turn to Minecraft. Endless hours of pointless building makes me feel like a little kid playing with Legos and I love it.
David Harley
Game of the Year: Journey (PS3)
Claiming that Journey is merely a game is a huge disservice to thatgamecompany’s follow-up to Flower. From the moment your faceless, hooded character stands up in the desert until the end of your beautiful – and occasionally perilous – trek, Journey is an experience that encourages exploration and discovery and is the closest you will ever feel to living inside a painter’s masterpiece. It’s a game that needs to played multiple times, both with and without a partner, to enjoy everything it has to offer; single player provides a “stop and smell the roses” playthrough without the possibility of a randomly assigned, experienced partner rushing you to the level’s meditation point, but there is nothing more satisfying that chirping your way to your destination while solving puzzles and soaring through the air with a friendly, unknown companion. Using only four buttons, Journey provides a deep and emotional experience that will stick with you months after you finish.
Honorable Mentions: Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS), Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)
Brad Miska
Game of the Year: NBA 2K13 (360)
NBA2K13 left my Xbox only for Halo 4, but soon returned. The graphics are a huge step up from previous years, and without a lockout all rookies were ready to go on opening night. The new version also tells you about new additions as you log in, and has a pretty cool professional mode where you can build your own character’s career. By buying it early I also got the All Star Weekend DLC that has an awesome Slam Dunk competition that plays out like Guitar Hero. And while last year we got all of the legendary teams, this year players can peg the 1992 Dream Team with the 2012 Olympic Team. Who’s the best? Duh, of course it’s any team with Michael Jordan on it… And a quick final note, Aliens is my most anticipated game of 2013. If its not my pick next year, I will be incredibly disappointed.
Tom Owen
Game of the Year: Halo 4 (360)
Gamertag: T4CO 2000
I’m sure this is a pretty typical pick and ends up at the top of many “best of” lists for 2012, but I’m going with Halo 4. Halo 2 was the first game I ever played on XBOX Live and for a long time was the foundation for many nights of excessive pizza and mountain dew consumption with friends. During these nerd fests we also made use of one of mankind’s greatest inventions, the Pizzazz. Halo 4 brought the return of all of it, even the Pizzaz was dusted off and put back in service for the first time in years. It’s far from perfect, but Halo has always been my go to game for casual n00b killing, no scoping, tea bagging, stress relieving fun, and I’m glad to have it back.
Jonathan “Sexiest Man O’ The Year Who Also Has A Luxurious Pelt” Barkan
Game of the Year: Silent Hill: Downpour (360, PS3)
Gamertag: Biz Rizzle
I’d have to go with Silent Hill: Downpour, simply because I didn’t really buy a lot of games this year. However, it was also a really solid game that I enjoyed a great deal.
Want more? Check out our FEAR Awards hub! If you’re still patiently waiting to choose your favorite games of the year, stay tuned, as voting for our fourth annual FEAR Awards will open very soon.
Have a question? Feel free to ever-so-gently toss Adam an email, or follow him on Twitter and Bloody Disgusting.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
You must be logged in to post a comment.