2012 has been one hell of a year, especially for gaming. We've had some great sequels, a few surprises, disappointments, and some major stinkers. I'm gonna take a look back at some of my favorite games from this year and one game in particular that disappointed me to no end.

Biggest disappointment of this year:

Resident Evil 6

I had high expectations of Resident Evil 6 before it came out and the trailers made it look amazing, but after popping in the game on my PS3, low and behold I was in for a big disappointment. The game allows you to pick between three campaigns, all made up of five chapters for each character, not including Ada's which you have to unlock. I didn't mind Leon's campaign so much and felt it was the highlight of the games, but the quick time events and button presses really got on my nerves especially in the fight against Simmons. That damn rope climbing sequence was a pain! It didn't help that the other campaigns felt lacking especially Jake's. I really thought they could have done better, but the constant button mashing, difficulty spikes, even on normal made me hate this game. Capcom, Resident Evil is officially dead! Leave it alone!

Great games I played this year:

Assassin's Creed III

Assassin's Creed III was one of those games I also had high expectations for too and unlike Resident Evil 6 it mostly delivered on them albeit there were a few problems with the game. I was wondering who they were gonna do the game after finally letting Ezio rest and the new protagonist Connor didn't seem like a good fit, but he still held my interest. The game was set during the American Revolution and follows Connor as he tries to help the Colonies get their freedom. It was a surprisingly good take on American History and kept with it while craving out it's own identity to help Connor establish his own story. The game took everything that made the other Assassin's Creed games great and expanded upon them, but the only thing that really held back the game was sometimes the tasks you were to accomplish and the game bugs. Thanks to the new engine, the game suffered from numerous bugs that ruined a lot of missions and forced you to restart them. I did not like that one bit, but otherwise Assassin's Creed III was a solid game.

Darksiders II

Darksiders II was one of those rare games where I actually had no interest in it despite completing the first game. I thought the first game was well done, but had its share of problems and Darksiders II addresses all those problems quite well and turned out to be one of my favorite games of this year. You control Death as he tries to clear War's name for what he did to humanity. The story can be muddled at times, but the fun combat and looting system kept me coming back and let's not forget the numerous side quests you could do. That more than made up for the sometimes easy bosses and surprisingly lackluster ending. I hope maybe we'll get another game in the series tie up some of the loose ends in both games. Overall another solid games and definitely a stand out among the sequels that came this year.

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead came out of nowhere this year and surprised me very much. It's an adventure game, but it's laced with a few action sequences here and there. The puzzles aren't hard, but they do require a bit of thinking to solve them and once you do, you feel great as you're treated to the next exciting part of the game. I usually don't get that excited for adventure games, but The Walking Dead did things differently by introducing characters and choices that made you feel like you were part of the actual game even if controlled Lee Everett. The decisions you made either helped out in later episodes of the game or came back to bite you on the ass. The game also presented a more emotional bond that some games did because of Clementine and how you had to look after her, but what did it for me was the ending of the game, probably one of the best in gaming and quite emotional too. I'd definitely consider it game of the year if not for another game on my list.

Max Payne 3

What can I say about Max Payne 3? It was one of the biggest surprises of this year to me and it's definitely my game of the year pick not only for it's story, but improved game play and smoother controls. Rockstar proved that despite not having Remedy help them, they could create an amazing experience involving anti-hero Max who's still fighting his inner demons and coping with the last of loved ones. It's story telling at its finest and the cast do an amazing job of bring each character to life. The ending definitely sends a message that Max has moved on and if Rockstar is smart, they'll let Max have his peace and not make another game. It's another home run for Rockstar games and one of the best, if not, greatest game I played this year.