2012 was a great year to be a PS3 and/or Xbox 360 player!
While we’re obviously very excited about the potentially great games that 2022 will bring us, this year also marks the ten year anniversary of some of the biggest / most popular / most talked about games of all time.
Here are ten absolute behemoths that landed on our respective gaming consoles in 2012…
Mass Effect 3
Platform: Xbox 360
Release Date: 6 March 2012
The recently-released Legendary Edition of the trilogy made our list of the the ten best releases of 2021, but it is also a full decade since the trilogy-capper initially arrived. It likely will forever be mentioned among conversations of Worst Endings Of All Time, but everything leading up to that final scene was brilliant.
Journey
Platform: PS3
Release Date: 13 March 2012
Generally considered to be one of the most beautiful and atmospheric games ever made, this indie adventure story allows you to play alongside a total stranger, with no way of communicating with them except for a little musical chime. The sense of scope, isolation and then companionship is unique to this title.
Spec Ops: The Line
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: 26 June 2012
What initially appears to be just another military third-person shooter slowly evolves into a complete dismantling of the genre. The usually-mindless action behind Call of Duty and Battlefield games is called into question, resulting in a genius narrative rug pull that still manages to shock ten years later.
Borderlands 2
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: 18 September 2012
It would be another seven years before Gearbox would give the world a threequel entry, which is probably why the eye-popping misadventures of Handsome Jack still linger with players in this landmark first-person shooter.
Resident Evil 6
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: 2 October 2012
The thing about the Resident Evil series is that it needs to endure a bad entry before the creative folks set it on a new and improved path. Resident Evil 3 was kinda samey, so they rocked the boat with the immediately brilliant Resident Evil 4. And they wouldn’t have gone intensely creepy first-person horror in Resident Evil 7 if it weren’t for the bloated mess that was Resident Evil 6.
Dishonored
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: 9 October 2012
Arkane Studios continue to annoyingly go under the radar for most, with 2017’s Prey and 2021’s Deathloop not getting the massive fanbases they thoroughly deserve. That also applies to their first blockbuster outing, this steampunk ‘n’ magic first-person shooter set in a plague-ridden world.
Assassin’s Creed III
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: 30 October 2012
Before they started going back to Ancient Egypt or getting lost in Norse mythology, the Creed franchise stayed closer to our own time (and often ventured into the not-too-distant future). For those who have been playing since the beginning, this American Revolution outing is usually considered one of, if not the best in the franchise.
Halo 4
Platform: Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: 6 November 2012
Bungie, the developers behind the initial Halo games, jumped ship to make Destiny, leaving 343 Industries the unenviable task of following up their monumental trilogy. Turns out they had nothing to worry about, as Halo 4 is considered a highlight of the series. But the less said about Halo 5 the better…
The Walking Dead
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: 20 November 2012
The first season of this games series was released in five instalments throughout 2012, with the decisions you’ve made in each chapter – and the characters you helped keep alive or chose to die – impacting the events of the next chapter. Rarely has a single decision felt this powerful, allowing you to feel accomplished or absolutely gut-wrenched.
Far Cry 3
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: 29 November 2012
This was when Far Cry realised they needed a charismatic villain in each game to keep proceedings juicy, and FC3 gave us Vaas, the pirate lord on the Rook Islands. While some of the subsequent baddies have left their mark, none of them have managed to be as memorable as Vaas.
Clips via Ubisoft, Capcom, Xbox and Bethesda
