The Eat @ Shrimpy’s 2012 Best of

I have combed through my reviews this year to bring you a best of list.  If you neglected my recommendation the first time*, follow the links to re-read the reviews and make some post-New Year’s purchases.  If I neglected something, or you think I ranked one too low, please let me know in the comments, we’ll start a dialogue.

*Where I have failed to provide a previous review there will be a small blurb as to why I included that particular thing.

Concerts:

1.         KISS and Motley Crue: The Tour

2.         Govt. Mule

3.         LA Guns

4.         Def Leppard and Poison

5.         Iron Maiden and Alice Cooper

CD’s:

1.         Slash – Apocalyptic Love

2.         KISS – Monster

3.         Nonpoint – Nonpoint

4.         Led Zeppelin – Celebration Day

5.         ZZ Top – La Futura

Comic Series:

1.         Punk Rock Jesus – Vertigo

2.         Think Tank – Top Cow

3.         Atomic Robo – Red 5 This comic is probably the most fun you will have reading this year.  It takes a fairly formulaic premise (I liken it to a Robot Hellboy) and uses science, both real and imagined to up the fun factor.  The dialogue is fresh, fun and hilarious.  I highly recommend picking this up in trade or otherwise as it can’t be missed.

4.         The Goon – Dark Horse 

5.         Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye – IDW (Look for the review coming this month)

Honorable Mention – Chew – Image  Best straight up Image book by far.  The art is great and you could spend a lifetime looking for all the little hidden phrases and easter eggs.  The writing is incredibly strong and keeps getting better as each new wrinkle to this 60-issue mega series is revealed.  Luckily we are only halfway there so there is still a lot to come.

Video Games:

1.         Borderlands 2 – I am still working on this game, and I doubt I am even halfway through, but it is turning out to be the most fun gaming experience I have had in a long time (and this coming from a guy that is pretty much anti-FPS).  Everything about the first Borderlands is replicated in the second, only better.  The graphics are great, the writing is better, and the whole premise just seems more epic.  I’m still looking for a vault, and still shooting psychos in the face with a multitude of sniper rifles, but it all seems bigger and better this time around. 

2.         Mass Effect 3 – A fitting end for one of the best franchises in modern video games.  The graphics and gameplay were what we have come to expect from Bioware in general and Mass effect specifically, but it was the scope of the story (we’re saving the Earth!) that still manages to fit in personal relationships and little nuances that have highlighted the series to date.  If you have yet to play a Mass Effect game, get started and remember when you are slogging through the mining portions of the first game that the payoff of continuing your story through 2 and 3 is well worth it.

3.         Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – I think Raven and I collectively dropped around 200 hours on this game in terms of play time.  And while the end boss fight was relatively anti-climactic especially once you knew how to do it, the lead up to that was some of the most fun I have had in a fantasy RPG in awhile.  That is what Dragon Age II should have been.  Unfortunately I don’t foresee a Kingdoms II in our future as the studio is no more, but we can only hope.

4.         Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

5.         Darksiders II – Huge in scope and not as repetitive and clunky as it’s predecessor, Darksiders II takes all the good from the first title and makes it faster and sleeker, while giving you more to do and more to find.  It has a more involved RPG-element to it that gives you a bit more control of the progression of Death, and is more satisfying than the button mashing of the first one.