2012 Games of the Year - GAMES MAGAZINE

**Charlie Davis** · 10-08-2011, 10:57 AM

Edited from GAMES MAGAZINE online:

2012 Games of the Year and Other Awards

As part of our annual Buyer’s Guide to Games, we present our annual awards for Traditional Game of the Year, Electronic Game of the Year, and Best New Game in various categories. Here are the most recent winners, announced in the December 2011 issue of Games Magazine. Previous years’ winners can be found on our site.

Traditional (Nonelectronic) Games
Game of the Year: Tikal II: The Lost Temple
(Asmodée Editions; designers: Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling)

Best New Abstract Strategy Game: Confusion: Espionage and Deception
in the Cold War
(Stronghold Games; designer: Robert Abbott)

Best New Advanced Strategy Game: Die Burgen von Burgund (The Castles of Burgundy)
(Alea/Funagain; designer: Stefan Feld)

Best New Family Game: Lemming Mafia
(Mayfair Games; designer: Michael Rieneck)

Best New Card Game: Hey Waiter!
(R&R Games; designer: Anthony Rubbo)

Best New Strategy Game: Glen More
(Rio Grande Games; designer: Matthias Cramer)

Best New Party/Manual Dexterity Game: Funfair
(Eggertspiele/Funagain; designers: Inka and Markus Brand, Peter Eggert, Philipp El Alaoui, Friedmann Friese, Michael Rieneck, Martin Schlegel, Stefan Stadler, Tobias Stapelfeldt, and Birgit Stolte)

Best New Puzzle: IQ Twist
(Smart/Tangoes USA; designer: Raf Peeters)

Best New Word Game: Pathwords
(ThinkFun; designer: Derrick Niederman)

Best New Historical Simulation Game: Command and Colors: Napoleonics
(GMT Games; designer: Richard Borg)

Electronic Games

Game of the Year: Portal 2
(Valve, Xbox/PS3/PC, Rated: E10) Read review.

Best New Action/Arcade Game: L.A. Noire
(Rockstar; 360/PS3; Rated: M)

Best New Adventure/Role-Playing Game: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
(Square-Enix; Xbox/PS3/PC; Rated: M)

Best New Sports/Driving Game: Dirt 3
(Codemasters; Xbox/PS3/PC; Rated: T)

Best New Strategy Game: Shogun 2: Total War
(Sega; PC; Rated: T)

Best New Mobile/Handheld Game: Cut the Rope Series
(Zeptolab; iOS/Android)

**Charlie Davis** · 11-21-2012, 10:52 AM

How about some thoughts on these games with Christmas right around the corner. First, please remember that I love strategy games and play them all of the time. I like deeper thoughtful games but do play some lighter games. I will note those that are better for families and those that are better for above average teens and adults.

Tikal II: The Lost Temple
Very good game. Light enough for most families but still has lots of ways to score points.This was a Premier game at CharCon in 2011.

Confusion: Espionage and Deception in the Cold War
This is a 2 player abstract deduction game. This is for people that like chess and other abstract games. It is excellent for the type of game it is but it is not for everyone. Very thinky.

Die Burgen von Burgund (The Castles of Burgundy)
Excellent game. My favorite on the list. You roll dice each turn and use the pips showing to take your actions that turn. Smart kids can play but there are a lot of choices each round so this one is not a game to play if you are not familiar with strategy games.

Lemming Mafia
Good hidden identity game. You are trying to get your favorite colored lemmings (you have a secret card) into the scoring spaces at the game end. Everyone has different secret lemmings so it is a challenge. Kids can play.

Hey Waiter!
Interesting strategy game of stacking and unstacking ingredients (chips) to fulfill recipes.

Glen More
Very good adult strategy game. You build a village and collect resources. It has an interesting movement system around the board. The player in last place in the next to go. Because you can move almost completely around the board, sometimes a player may take several actions in a row.

Funfair
This is a box of fun. Each game is made up of several carnival games. This changes each time you play. Some are memory games, some are dexterity, and some are other things. All of the individual games are not great but the concept works very well.

IQ Twist
I know nothing about this one.

Pathwords
I know nothing about this one either.

Command and Colors: Napoleonics
This is the same system that includes, Battle Cry, Memoir "44", Command and Colors: Ancients, etc. so this gets a big thumbs up from me. This is mainly a 2 player game but you can play teams. Kids can play any of these with a little help.

I don't know anything about the electronic games so you are on your own. Happy holidays.