With the 2012 gaming calendar all but wrapped, there’s only one thing left to do – celebrate the year’s best titles spanning a variety of genres. However, PSU.com has this year decided to inject a little twist into the proceedings. Instead of deciding on things ourselves, we’ve given you, the PSU community, the keys to the castle so to speak, with the list of nominees and ultimate winners decided entirely by our loyal readers. Whether it’s Sports, RPG or Action/Adventure, you guys have been voting manically for the past seven days or so, deciding the cream of the crop among 2012’s gaming greats. Simply put, this is YOUR Game of the Year Awards.
So, without further ado, let’s crack on with our look at the Best Fighting Game of 2012, as decided by you lovely chaps and chapettes.
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Beat-‘em-ups have become quite ubiquitous in the past 18 months or so, largely thanks to Capcom and its milking of the Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom universes with countless add-ons and expansions. However, this year has seen less incremental updates and more full-blown sequels, with fresh entries in three fighting juggernauts: Dead or Alive, Soul Calibur and Tekken. To add to that, we also saw the ambitious punch-up that is Street Fighter x Tekken, the first in a Capcom/Namco collaboration that pits these legendary franchises together in the ring for the first time. Then of course we have Sony’s foray into the mash-up market with the aptly titled PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. While fighting fanatics were spoilt for choice in 2012, it was clear to our community that there was only one victor from the get-go..
And the winner is….
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Winning by a country mile – with Tekken Tag Tournament 2 coming a distant second – PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is the love letter from Sony that gamers have been waiting for. Packing a 20+ roster featuring some of the PS brand’s most iconic characters, from Parappa the Rappa, Nathan Drake to Kratos, Battle Royale offers instant pick-up-and-play appeal and oozes replay value as you scrap it out across a multitude of vibrant locations plucked from 15 years of PlayStation history. And the best part is, it’s not over yet, with more characters due via DLC. Fight!
Read a snippet of our review below:
"PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is a triumphant nod to nearly two decades of memories and amazing experiences. SuperBot Entertainment absolutely understands what makes PlayStation special, and has succeeded in marrying emotionally-charged fan service with a suitably deep fighting experience that will likely evolve for months and years to come. Inconsistent narrative direction and ho-hum presentation aside, PlayStation All-Stars might just be the most pure fun I’ve had all year. And as a lifelong PlayStation fan, the wait was worth it."