Please Note:I'm going to do it differently this year because I didn't play many 2012 games across a range of genres,I mostly played RPGs,so I'm going to include 2011 games which I didn't play until this year.Also,I'm only going to give awards to games I've actually played but I will give games I haven't played honorable mentions if I think the game looks good.I also tried to add pictures to this blog but I can't.

Best RPG

The Last Story

The Last Story is one of the most complete RPG experiences I've ever had.It's story is very heartfelt,whether it's the love story,character backstories,the way some of the character personalities grow over time,the fact most of your party members are merencaries living day to day not knowing when they'll have their next job(will get paid next)or whether they'll die doing their job tomorrow,genocide and the way the story shows sometimes you can't be with someone you love to protect them.

It's battle system makes you utilize various commands,spell circles,stealth,cover mechanics,third person shooter elements,makes you make use of the dive button so you can dive out of the way of enemy attacks(kinda like on some of the Zelda games),as well as using a real-time battle system.

The graphics have a beautiful artstyle that mixes drearyness with bright colors.It's music is beautiful and it's delicate nature goes perfectly with the story.

Honorable mentions for RPGs of 2012

Final Fantasy XIII-2

FFXIII-2 is one of the best RPGs I've played from the 7th generation and was my favorite game of 2012 for a long time until I played The Last Story near the end of the year.FFXIII-2's love story is more heartfelt than the one in FFXIII and it's battle system feels better and I love visiting places in the world during different time periods to see what was happening in those places during different periods in time,whether it be a disaster or something.Kitase said he wanted to show more of FFXIII's world in FFXIII-2 and FFXIII-2 shows and explains the history of it's world very well.Besides the love story,Noel's story is quite an emotional one too and speaking of the love story between Serah and Snow,the way it uses time paradox concepts in their love story to make their love story emotional had a big emotional effect on me(I can't explain why without giving spoilers)but I will say I like how FFXIII-2 makes it look like Serah really does love Snow and is prepared to fight for their love,unlike FFXIII which showed Snow loving Serah in an overly melodramatic way but Serah acting like she didn't want to fight for their love.

FFXIII-2 has some beautiful locations too,such as the beachside town(I forgot it's name).

Tales of Graces

I like how the story shows the lives of certain characters when their kids as well as when their teens/adults which helps build up the romance in the story and the story has good character growth as well as interesting characters.I like how it's an old style JRPG at heart(lets you explore towns,talk to NPCs,explore a world map and has charming visuals).It's battle system is fun and keeps the fun Tales style battle system elements but makes you be more tactical.

Tales of the Abyss(3DS version)

It has an interesting story,builds up romance well,a likable main character and the old style JRPG elements such as towns to visit,charming visuals and NPC interaction and new 3DS effects.

Dragon's Dogma

Has a great and fluid real-time system and climbing giant enemies and then attacking them is cool.It's story has good plot twists.I found it's artstyle to be a bit bland but the gameplay is fun and the game has great music.

White Knight Chronicles 2

A bit of a disappointment as far as story and battle system go(it makes some improvements to it's battle system but it still feels slow and cumbersome)but the game has lovely,colorful visuals inspired by Japanese culture and it has LOTS of quests to do outside of the story and allows you to do some fun MMORPG style stuff such as building your own town and farming your own resources.

Persona 4 The Golden

Persona 4 is one of my favorite RPGs of all time and I love it's characters,and how it's story mixes humor,darker style story and has potential for a bit of romance and it's story can be quite emotional at times and I love doing the social link stuff and P4's characters(including party members and NPCs)have personalities that make them feel like real people).

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Best action game

Dyansty Warriors 7

Dynasty Warriors 7 has a surprisingly good and epic story and the way story elements come into missions make the missions feel more epic.It has fun hack n slash gameplay to begin with with a huge variety of weapons and character fighting styles and even though over the years the gameplay in the series started to feel old,DW7 freshens things up again with it's great story that's presented very well and mixes it very well with gameplay(missions).

Honorable mentions

Kid Icarus

I haven't played it but it looks awesome in how it mixes shooter and melee combat and has the Japanese/Nintendo charm.

Gundam Dynasty Warriors 3

It's gameplay is very fun and incorporates the abilities of the Gundam suits very well and brings gundams/pilots from many different series together to create some interesting matchups between pilots from different universes.I love the action in the game such as how your gundam will get swarmed by lots and lots of enemy mobile suits,as well as skilled enemy pilots in powerful gundams and sometimes you'll face these 2 elements at the same time whilst having to deal with ginormous enemy robots(I'm not sure if they're piloted or not) that can lift your gundam suit up with one hand and throw it as if it's a toy(and remember your gundam suit is already big enough to dwarf trees and buildings so imagine how big these giant robots are).

Saint Seiya Sanctuary

Saint Saiya Sanctuary was a fun game but it's not something I can play for hours although admittedly I haven't watched it's anime.It's combat has a surprising about of technical depth,especially against the bosses on harder difficulties and it makes you utilize evasion,blocking,combos,various special attacks etc.The gameplay and environments feel repetitive quickly but it's fun to play for an hour or so.I guess it will appeal strongly to the fans of the anime/manga.

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Best action/adventure game

Gravity Rush

Gravity Rush wins on default simply because it's the only action/adventure game I've played in 2012 however it's a great game nonetheless.It has unique gameplay elements such as manipulating gravity for platforming and aerial combat.It's story is somewhat intriguing and it's artstyle is beautiful and reminds me of some anime movies.

Honorable mentions

Sleeping Dogs

I own a copy of Sleeping Dogs but can't play it because my PS3 is in another country.I think if I did play Sleeping Dogs this year it would be my favorite action/adventure game of 2012 because of it's atmosphere and I love Asian culture and Hong Kong style police/crime drama and I used to watch infernal affairs and I've watched many Hong Kong crime movies.Seeing the screeshots for this game makes me want to explore it's city environments and play this game badly.

Way of the samurai 4

I've never played any games in the Way of the Samurai series but this game looks very funny and fun.

Incase people ask why I didn't give Dishonored an honorable mention,it's because I don't like first person view or first person game mechanics.

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Best adventure game

To The Moon

To The Moon can can be labeled as virtual drama but a journey into the mind of a dying man and witnessing key and emotional moments during his life is quite an adventure I think,especially if you're the one who's trying to alter his memories so he can have his final wish of going to the moon but not too much to throw off the timeline in his memories otherwise it could stop him meeting certain people.To the Moon has one of the most emotional stories I've experienced in a game,it's love story is very powerful and the way it presents certain moments in his life is done beautifully and delicately and some of this moments are events many of us can relate to.

Honorable mentions

Journey

I haven't played Journey but have seen enough of it to know it's going to be a spiritual and artistic journey.

Deponia

It's artstyle and world look so charming it makes me want to explore it's world.Its story has romance and is funny too.

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I didn't play any 2012 platformers but the one I want to play the most is Sound Shapes because it's artstyle looks great and the way it's platforming gameplay utilizes timing from music(which sounds great)makes it look very fun.

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I've played 4 third person shooters in 2012,one of them is Uncharted Golden Abyss and two of them are Resident Evil Revelations and Dead Space 2 but I'm going to count RE Revelations and DS2 as horror games and I have another award section for horror games below and I've also played Shadows of the Damned.

Best Third person shooter

Uncharted Golden Abyss

I found Uncharted Golden Abyss to be a very enjoyable experience because it has breathtaking scenery(especially of waterfalls and when you're high on mountains and can see the jungle below)and it has good shooting/cover mechanics,stealth kills are easier to do using touch screen.Characters have lots of personality.

Honorable mention

Mass Effect 3

I count the Mass Effect games as third person shooters and not as RPGs and I dont want to argue about that on this blog.Anyways,I love Sci Fi and the Mass Effect series but I haven't played Mass Effect 3 but it looks fun and deserves an honorable mention.

Honorable mention

Shadows of the Damned

Shadows of the Damned is regarded by some as a cult classic,it has a dark,humoristic vision of evil and I love it's gameplay ideas such as being able to shoot bombs and then being able to shoot them again to explode them,being able to shoot grenades and you can use weapons equivalent of a shotgun,handgun,automatic weapons of course but I like how the weapons are powerful but you're not too overpowered because lots of enemies will swarm you and I like how you have to deal with being in dark areas that drain your life energy and you'll need to shoot goat head lights to make light come back whilst dealing with enemies/bosses and the game's visuals have a nice style.

Honorable mention

Max Payne 3

I've never played a Max Payne game but the reason this game interests me is because Max seems to be an interesting character and some of the scenery in the game looks lovely.Usually,the only TPS games I like are ones with a good story or unique mechanics and like I said Max sounds like an interesting character and the ability to slow time isn't unique but at least it's gameplay mechanics are not generic.

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The only FPS game I've played this year is Homefront and even though I think it's a decent game I wouldn't call it a great game thus I don't want to give it my personal FPS of the year award on default.However,I like it's story ideas such as how North Korean invades the U.S and the way they can make it happen is an interesting concept and the way the North Korean soliders shoot dead American civilians on the street in cold blood is chilling but then again the North Korean army have killed many of their own people for small reasons so imagine what they'd do to American civilians especially since their country's leader hate America.

I don't like many FPS games but if I had to choose one to play out of all the 2012 FPS games it would be Far Cry 3 because it's tropical environments look lovely and you can do lots of exploration and other things besides shooting enemies.

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Best schmup

I didn't play any shoot em ups in 2012 but I guess Akai Katana looks like it's worth an honorable mention and I love it's colorful,Japanese anime style.

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Best horror game

Resident Evil Revelations

It brings back survival horror to the RE series and it has a chilling atmosphere and you'll need to be conservative with your ammo otherwise enemies can kill you(unlike RE5 and RE6 where you can carelessly spray bullets everywhere).Savage mutants will sneak up on you and the game has some very gorey scenes.The game has parts which are action oriented and you can shoot lots of mutants dead with lots of ammo for a bit of variety but I appreciate the survival horror elements being returned to the series.

Honorable mention

Dead space 2

It didn't scare me but it's fun nonetheless.

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I didn't play any real puzzle games in 2012 but Pushmo and unmechanical look like they're the types of puzzle games I'd enjoy.

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Best music game

Hatsune Miku Project Diva f

The only music game I've played in 2012 is Hatsune Miku Project Diva f but it's good enough to win on default because it's a great music/rhythmn game because it's songs are fun to listen to and it's CGI's are beautiful and I love vocaloids and it's presentations and environments are colorful and have a nice flashy Japanese style.

Honorable mention

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

I haven't played Theatrhythmn Final Fantasy but it's got music from the Final Fantasy series and the Final Fantasy series has some of my favorite video game music and the game tries to incorporate the rhythmn gameplay in a way so it feels like you're fighting enemies/bosses and it has RPG elements such as leveling up,buffs,item use etc.

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I didn't play any stealth games in 2012 but Mark of the Ninja looks like one I'd enjoy

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I don't like racing games,thus I didn't play any in 2012.

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Best story

The Last Story

It's story drew me in so much because it's so heartfelt,I really cared about all the characters and the fact most of your party members are mercenaries living day to day and they don't know when their next job(source of income will come) and they know they could die today or tomorrow whilst doing their job and at the start they are not trying to be heroes and are just trying to survive.I cared about every character because it might be because of their personality or their backstory.The story has romance,actually it has 2 love stories in it,one of the love stories in the game is a more mature type of love story that builds up over time and shows sometimes you can't be with the person you love in order to protect them.The other love story is the more quaint,charming type of love story but it's funny and nice to experience.The story has genocide and the way it's shown may break your heart and the story is presented in an exciting way and some of the characters grow over time such as how one character might be a jerk but it's for a reason and later he'll turn out to be a decent person who's prepared to risk his life for the greater good.The story has lots of political corruption and shows how some of the good royals/royal servants have to deal with this and find inner strength to overcome this while trying to limit the damage their corrupt fellow royals/royal servants do and then waiting for the right opportunity to put an end to the political corruption that's responsible for genocide,heartache,loss of freedom etc.The story makes many of the gameplay elements more exciting and the story(especially the heartfelt romance scenes blend beautiful with delicate piano music).

Runner up for best story

I had to at least give To The Moon are runner up award because it has one of the most heartfelt and best stories I've experienced in a game and if The Last Story wasn't released this year I would be giving To The Moon the best story award without doubt.

To the Moon is about how an old man named Johnny is on his deathbed and the technology exists in the world to give people artificial memories to give them a final wish before they die.Johnny wants to go to the moon and 2 doctors want to give him his wish but to make the artificial memories of him going to the moon be possible they'll need alter some of his existing memories and they try to do it so they don't interfere too much with his real memories(such as meeting a certain girl who he fell in love with etc.)but they experience problems and have to dive deeper and deeper into his past and the 2 scientists debate about what they should/shouldn't change and you'll experience emotional moments from his life that are painful or heartfelt that many of us will experience in our lifetimes.What I love about the game is Johnny and his girlfriend/wife are like real people with real problems.It's hard to explain why the story for this game is so good without giving away spoilers but it's a very spiritual and emotional journey and if you can appreciate a good story you need to play this game.

Honorable mentions for story

Final Fantasy XIII-2

I like the love story in FFXIII-2 between Serah and Snow because it has events that are very emotional and I like Noel,Caius and Yeul as characters because they have interesting/emotional backstories.The story does a good job of not being black/white and mixes Sci Fi and mythology well.

I've already explained why I like the stories for the other honorable mentions I'm going to mention below:-

Tales of Graces F

Persona 4

Tales of the Abyss

Dynasty warriors 7

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Best technical graphics

Far Cry 3 for it's realism and detail during gameplay.

FFXIII-2 for it's beautiful and spectacular CGI's.

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Best artstyles

The Last Story

Deponia

White Knight Chronicles 2

Journey

Hatsune Miku Project Diva f

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Best music

The Last Story

To The Moon

Dragon's Dogma

Journey

Hatsune Miku Project Diva f

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

Uncharted Golden Abyss

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Best atmospheres in games from 2012

Journey

The Last Story

Gravity Rush

Far Cry 3

Dragons Dogma

Uncharted Golden Abyss

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Game of the year

The Last Story

I've mentioned why it's such an incredible game already,I'll say once again it's one of the most complete RPGs I've ever played in terms of great story telling,artstyle/visual presentation,great and innovative battle system and beautiful music.

Runner up

To The Moon

It's story is so incredible I couldn't stop thinking about the characters in the game when I wasn't playing it.