2012 was a funny year for videogames. Despite the critical and commercial success of Mass Effect 3, Halo 4, Borderlands 2 and Dishonoured et al, this is a year it is being retrospectively viewed with a bit a ‘meh’ by nearly all of the gaming community. Blame it at the looming next-gen consoles or maybe current-gen fatigue, but for one reason or another, 2012 has did not ignite within the way that the previous couple of years have.

Still, while 2012 has lacked that something special, in retrospect, it has still proved a captivating year for the industry with some genuinely intriguing trends in both development and distribution. Some would argue that it is the year that download only titles have come to the fore and that the liberty that includes cheaper development has really shone through, but honestly, while a number of the XBLA, PSN and heck, even a number of iOS games have really delivered the products, 2012 still has to move down as a year within which the foremost blockbusters largely didn’t live as much as the hype.

Don’t get me wrong, a few of the megastar games were very solid (Halo 4 especially was fantastic), but excluding Dishonoured, the vast majority of the large name releases were sequels and, more importantly, only a few did anything particularly new or exciting…..which is where the indie/download scene came in.

While the indie/download scene was doing well for many years now, 2012 felt just like the year wherein the chances for experimentation and freer-thinking that include smaller development costs really began to shine. From the fantastically old skool design of Spelunky and the bright simplicity of Super Hexagon to the artistic nature of Sony’s, Journey and Telltale’s much celebrated Walking Dead series, 2012 has undoubtedly been an awesome year for non-retail releases.

Still, while most of the people will argue between the relative merits or smaller budgets and huge, blockbuster releases, I’ve actually found that it is the games that lie in-between which have brought me essentially the most joy this year. They are saying that the mid-budget game is dead, that Japanese game development is becoming less and no more relevant, yet, despite these somewhat damning claims, a lot of my favourite games of 2012 happen to be both mid-budget and Japanese…..go figure.

Now, i am not claiming these because the best games of the year; in truth, I reviewed a lot of these games and most people fall into the 7-8 category, but despite their individual faults, it’s these, greater than any that i glance back on with the foremost fondness and affection from the past year. Dragon’s Dogma, Asura’s Wrath, Lollipop Chainsawm, Binary Domain; these aren’t games I expect to look on too may ‘game of the year’ lists, but are games that undoubtedly overcame their individual flaws and, from a private perspective, managed to deliver something relatively unique while still having that enormous game mentality which I still crave.

Be it that uniquely Japanese visual style and sense of playfulness that I still think is lacking from many major western releases or the straightforward proven fact that few games can help you fight a chairman bigger than a planet; these are the games that stick in my mind most clearly. None of those games are perfect, heck, few are even great, but all of them have something unique about them that cause them to greater than the sum in their individual parts. Be it Dragon Dogma’s fantastic sense of place, Binary Domain’s brilliant art design, Lollipop Chainsaw’s irreverent and sometimes outrageous sense of humour or Asura’s Wrath sheer audacity, these releases all job my memory in a single way or another why i like videogames, why i believe Japan remains to be relevant and why their still an area for the 7/10 game.

Oh, and in case you’re interested or didn’t catch it at the latest episode of Brashcast – my game of the year (favourite, not necessarily best) is Dragon’s Dogma. In case you haven’t played it, it’s really worth giving a go…..and much more fun than Skyrim.

Yeah, I said it.