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Home News Most Surprising Game 2012

GAMING NEWS

Most Surprising Game 2012

Posted on Wednesday, December 19 @ 12:00:47 Eastern by


Sleeping Dogs - Most Surprising Game 2012


Platform(s): PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: United Front Games

We did not anticipate so many nominees for Game of the Year in 2012, but this just means that the quality of triple-A games have improved and become more consistently high. Of course, there were plenty of surprises along the way.

No one expected Spec Ops: The Line to have a serious inward look at the impact of war on soldiers. While we always expect great things from thatgamecompany, Journey seriously made us ponder what makes for Game of the Year material. Who knew that Rayman Jungle Run would be as delightful as a Hawaiian luau on the iPhone? And who really anticipated Guild Wars 2 becoming a worthy contender to World of Warcraft?

But the most surprising game has to be Sleeping Dogs. Sure, it was a bit surprising that it featured an Asian male protagonist and it turned Hong Kong into a legitimate open world, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Sleeping Dogs, when it was called True Crime: Hong Kong, was dropped halfway through by Activision, devastating United Front Games and forcing it to scramble for a publisher, until Square Enix picked it up under its current name. Usually when something like this happens, the game is indeed a load of crap, but the quality of Sleeping Dogs struck us like a roundhouse kick to the back of our necks. In fact, Game Revolution is still confused as to the reason why Activision abandoned the game in the first place. Perhaps they weren't awake.

Runners Up:
  • Guild Wars 2
  • Rayman Jungle Run
  • Spec Ops: The Line
  • Journey
Click here to see the rest of GameRevolution's Best of 2012 Awards.
Related Games:   Guild Wars 2, Journey, Rayman Jungle Run, Sleeping Dogs, Spec Ops: The Line
Tags:   Best of GR


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Comments
  • cheesegod99
    cheesegod99
    Joined: Jun 2007
    Posted: Dec 19th, 2012 at 12:42 pm
    Wow, I thought Spec Ops had this one in the bag. I guess Sleeping Dogs is surprising because it isn't bad despite it's tortuous development, but literally EVERYONE thought Spec Ops was going to be a generic boring shooter, and it turned out to be one of the cleverest indictments of the genre I've ever seen.
    0 1
  • tinymhg
    tinymhg
    Joined: Jun 2011
    Posted: Dec 19th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
    All Hail The Cheese!
    0 1
  • Anthony_Severino
    Anthony_Severino
    Joined: Oct 2010
    Posted: Dec 19th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
    This was one of our most difficult awards, actually. Both Spec Ops and Sleeping Dogs were loved by the GR staff, but because of the history behind Sleeping Dogs, we felt it more surprising that it turned out so well.
    0 1
  • Chunibrow
    Chunibrow
    Joined: Mar 2010
    Posted: Dec 19th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
    How about the Walking Dead? Usually when I hear a video game based on aTV show based on a graphic novel is coming out I don't expect GOTY.
    2 4
  • Kakulukia
    Kakulukia
    Joined: Nov 2005
    Posted: Dec 19th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
    Why can't I like more than once?!
    0 1
  • Lien
    Lien
    Joined: Feb 2008
    Posted: Dec 19th, 2012 at 3:26 pm
    It's cool i did it for you. Now i need someone else to do it for me.
    0 1
  • R_Hillenbrand
    R_Hillenbrand
    Joined: Jul 2012
    Posted: Dec 19th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
    I expected it to be good, but when I played it was great. Blew me away really. Loved the gameplay, cared about the plot and the characters and that soundtrack oh man! My favorite soundtrack in a game ever. GTA 3 held that top spot for a long time for favorite soundtrack.
    0 1
  • MarcioTheGreat
    MarcioTheGreat
    Joined: Jan 2007
    Posted: Dec 23rd, 2012 at 7:09 pm
    Gem of this generation! Loved it from start to end
    0 0

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