Austin's Fave Five Games of 2012

5*. Street Fighter X Tekken

SFXT takes Street Fighter's two dimensional fighting game mechanics and combines that with Tekken Tag's multiple fighter system, meaning it's a 2 vs. 2 fight but the round ends after one character is knocked out. Nothing is incredibly groundbreaking despite arguably the two top fighting game developers working in conjunction, but inter-company crossovers are always exciting.  In a word, it is familiar, so there is something for the hardcore fighting game community as well as casual appeal. 

I like me some fightan games. I would even like to believe I possess at least mediocre talent on the sticks (I prefer a Dreamcast controller though), yet this title appears with a major caveat. The co-op mode is perhaps my favorite innovation in the tag fighter genre.  As previously stated the game doesn't push the boundary and the latest Capcom fighting games haven't tickled my fancy, but the co-op mode is something I greatly enjoyed.  The addition seems rather simple but it drastically improves the experience when you are physically gathered to play the game.  A feature like this has allowed my brother and I to utilize the team of King and Cammy like a true tag team as we Frakensteiner and Kinniku Buster all comers.