eGamer Mini-Awards 2012: Best Glitches

With each new year’s worth of games comes a new wave of glitches, bugs and interesting foibles. 2012 was no different with plenty of technically sound games but also a few that produced some interesting technical malfunctions. Often enough these frustrate beyond belief but they also have the ability illicit a laugh or two from you, much like senile motorists.

 

Glitches are something of an art form in their own right and as such it’s an impossible feat to pick a winner from the pool but we’ve done so anyway, with a bit of help on accomplishing the impossible from Tom Cruise on stilts. We’ve selected games that embody the spirit of glitches this year but also a few that merely displayed glimpses of bugged brilliance. These are the most glitched games of 2012, and also the games with the most intriguing glitches of the year. It’s a composite award because splitting hairs is for the more serious awards.

 

Assassin’s Creed III

A game that some would say was nearly unplayable on consoles without that day one patch and the subsequent patches, Assassin’s Creed III took the concept of a glitched game and really pushed the medium forward in that respect. I may even go so far as to say that this game will be looked back upon as genre defining where bugs are concerned. I jest, mostly, but one of the game’s standout features is certainly its technical issues. From pop-up characters and environments to horses getting stuck, inventory disappearing, arbitrary space jumps and more, this game has it all. What you see above is merely the very tip of a fractured and imperfect iceberg.

 

Far Cry 3

Well would you look at that, another Ubisoft title, they seem to be gunning for this award. Far Cry 3 is a beautiful and, for the most part, technically sound game except for that crucial day one PC patch which prevents your game from crashing regularly. That’s not why it made it onto this list though. No, it’s here because of one glitch and the knowledge that there are more like it lurking somewhere on the Rook Islands. This dancing wonder is better than any zombie Call of Duty, The Walking Dead or even Michael Jackson can serve up.

 

FIFA 13

With each new FIFA title comes some new engine, or system, that is bound to be riddled with bugs. FIFA 13 is no different, although it cheats a little by stealing a few of its predecessors bugs. But that’s alright, because we operate on Eurpoean rules which means that cheating is encouraged. You’ve got players spinning comically after a collision, being shifted 20m off the ball and even engaging in intimate moments with other players, all thanks to the beauty of EA Sports’ coding. To be fair, it’s got some complex engine, so it’s impossible to weed out all the issues.

 

This one was squarely between Assassin’s Creed III and FIFA 13, but in the end there could only be one winner. It was a tough decision, where the winner seems rather obvious when you think about it. Head on down below to find out the inevitable.

 

The WINNER of eGamer’s Best Glitches Award of 2012 is.. (click to reveal)