Game of the Year 2012 - Genre Awards
What were our favorites in each genre in 2012?
Forza Horizon - Winner
Before its release Forza Horizon looked like a wreck waiting to happen. The racing sim was being converted to something that would appeal to arcade racing fans and was being handled by a brand new team. Little did we know that the team in charge was comprised of vets who worked on the Project Gotham, Burnout, and Dirt series and the changes they were making would provide a platform for both arcade and simulation fans to enjoy.
Forza Horizon represents an unbelievably successful merge of two disparate subgenres of racing. Each and every facet of the game can be customized or tweaked to best suit your tastes. If you like Arcade racing, you can use automatic transmission and anti-lock brakes and allow the game to choose how to upgrade your vehicle. Make a bad turn? Kick on time reversal and try it again. As you play the game more, it will slowly improve your abilities, making you capable of simulation-style racing.
Combine these incredible mechanics and level of customization with excellent track design, a plethora of objectives, and the open world design of the game and there's no question that Forza Horizon earns its place as Racing Game of the Year.
Write-up by Nick DiMola
Need for Speed: Most Wanted - Runner Up
Need For Speed: Most Wanted is a slick hybrid of EA’s highly popular Need For Speed and Criterion’s ultra-fast racer Burnout. The last entry in that series, Burnout Paradise, was a beautiful open world racer set in a fictional city. Need For Speed: Most Wanted is, in almost every way, shape and form, a successor to Burnout Paradise. It takes the same open world concept, injects Burnout's lightning fast speed, and disguises it under the Need For Speed brand with official licensed vehicles.
This formula makes for a Need For Speed game that is faster paced than other entries and arguably more visually striking than any other title in the series. NFS: Most Wanted boasts beautiful graphics with highly detailed vehicles and a fully realized city to cruise through. The roads, buildings, and detours are masterfully crafted – something the developers were clearly proud of as every race starts with an abstract video showcasing the city’s attention to detail. The blinding light of the sun and the distracting dust effects breathe an extra ounce of life into the presentation. Backed by a diverse, fast tempo soundtrack ranging from rock to rap to dub step, your adrenaline stays high with every moment spent in Most Wanted.
Most Wanted packs a lot of entertaining goodies. If you’re bored of collecting cars and racing in main events, you can drive aimlessly around the city, jump off of ramps into billboards, reach in-game milestones, and track high speeds through the open streets. All of the game’s content is backed with Autolog, a system where you can see how you compare to friends. This creates a huge element of competition where you will constantly try to one up your buddies everywhere you can to leave your mark on the city. Beyond all of this is a fully realized multiplayer mode with a campaign modeled similar to the single player mode. The main difference is that there are new milestones, new races, and all of which you play against other online players in real time.
The point is that there are a ton of races to complete, nooks to explore, and friendly competitions to keep you occupied for a very long time. The game is a no brainer for Burnout fans, a must have for Need For Speed lovers, and anyone even remotely interested in racing should give it a try. EA and Criterion have a gold mine on their hands and are sure to keep the Need For Speed brands strong as long as they work together.
Write-up by Vic Roman
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