Best PS3 games of 2012

The Playstation 3 has seen some pretty big-name releases this year, and while the year’s not quite over yet, we still think it’s fitting to have a look at what stood out on the big black box.

The following games are the highest rated games on Metacritic and GameRankings, respectively, on Sony’s form-changing console.

Journey (92; 92.46)

Who would’ve thought a small downloadable title would be one of the big hitters of 2012?

From ThatGameCompany, the people who brought us Flower, Journey is a unique title which captures the feeling of discovery and adventure by allowing online players to experience the game anonymously without traditional communication.

While Journey isn’t a conventional game in terms of gameplay ideals and difficulty, it more than makes up for it with beautiful visuals and a soundtrack which will rival that of a Hollywood orchestral score.

Mass Effect 3 (93; 91.73)

PS3 gamers will be happy that BioWare’s epic space adventure made its way to Sony’s console eventually, as the climax to the Mass Effect trilogy lived up to the hype this year, and ME3 was acclaimed by gamers and critics.

The third instalment in Commander Shepherd’s adventure proved that BioWare could up the scale and action, even after the phenomenal Mass Effect 2.

Borderlands 2 (91; 90.50)

The PS3 proved to be one of Borderlands 2’s strongest platforms, and the game is crammed full of expansive and varied areas to explore, with the promise of even better weapons and loot to drive you onwards.

It’s that evil trap that just wants us to keep coming back for more and more.

Critics praised everything Borderlands 2 had to offer, and MyGaming’s editor James agreed in his review:

“If your trigger fingers have been itching for more of the Borderlands open-world, over-the-top, looting and shooting action, then picking up Borderlands 2 is a no-brainer.”

Far Cry 3 (91; 89.53)

Everyone was expecting a lot from Far Cry 3, but Ubisoft Montreal managed to blow away expectations with ease.

Far Cry 3 improved upon the bugs from its predecessor, and made itself bigger and better in every way.

A deep and involving storyline, edge-of-your-seat action, and more freedom than anything in the genre, Far Cry 3 stands out among the best PS3 games of 2012.

Okami HD (90; 90.14)

A re-envisioned PS2 classic made its way to PS3 this year, and with great results.

The HD remaster of Okami features 16:9, 1080p pretties, PlayStation Trophies, and support for the PlayStation Move controller, making this perhaps the first game ever that seems appropriate for the Sony magic stick peripheral.

It’s also officially named Okami Zekkie-ban in Japanese, which apparently translates to “Okami Magnificent Version”, so you know exactly what you’re getting here.