There weren’t many great strategy games this year! It was really hard just finding five of them that were worth Game of the Year for Strategy. I had to resort to nominating expansion packs! What makes a great strategy game is great tactics, that is the core component. A solid UI that isn’t confusing, great AI, and even great multiplayer. Graphics usually come last, as well as a story, but they help.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
This probably doesn’t surprise anyone, XCOM was really the only anticipated strategy game this year. The UI is very streamlined, nearly revolutionary, and the small squad allows for some intense tactics. The research you do is really helpful, but the game’s only fall back is that it is relentlessly difficult. The deep tactics and the comeback of a 10-year-old game win it over the others.
Runner-Ups
Total War: Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai
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Civilization V: Gods Kings
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Endless Space
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FTL: Faster Than Light
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My game of the year (and in fact, my favorite game of all time) is The Walking Dead by Telltale. While it may not have been the most fun I have had in a game, I guess it touched me in a way a game has never done before (and it made me a zombie-junky). Every single day I think about the character’s in this game as if they were real people, and usually dedicate a few minutes of my day every day to see if there is any new news on the sequel. I played it without ever having read TWD comics or watching the show, and after beating it I started reading and watching both of them. I guess it’s my obsession with story and characters which led me to this. I thought of the characters as so real that I never tried to do anything to hurt them and could never kill anyone part of our group because I know in real life I would never be able to. Kenny and Carly were probably my favorite characters (not including Lee and Clementine, of course) and for some reason Kenny always hated me even though I liked him.
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TWD is my favorite adventure game of all time. It was a hard pick between Journey, AC3, and TWD. Telltale is currently working on Season 2, but won’t be out until the end of 2014. Right now Telltale is working on The Wolf Among Us which is based off the Fables comic series. It uses the choice system that was seen in TWD. I read the preview in Game Informer and looks very interesting and I will give it a try. I have been gaming for 21 years, so I have more than just one favorite game of all time, lol. My favorite SERIES of all time is Mortal Kombat. Mainly because that was the first game I ever played when I was a kid.
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Trust me, I know a lot about TWD Season 2. It’s actually coming out Fall 2013 later, not 2014 (a journalist accidentally wrote that). They are also gonna release some “dlc” thing in between. I wasn’t around in the time of arcade Mortal Kombat, so that’s why I don’t have many franchises I am “rooted” with. Telltale’s next game is actually Poker Night 2 (or 3, can’t remember) which I don’t care for even though it has some awesome gaming characters like Glados in it. Wolf Among Us is probably being made side-by-side with TWD.
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Sorry, I don’t know how this got in the strategy section (lol).
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