My personal choice for 2012 GOTY, by considerablely large margin. Does a better job of telling it's genuinely engaging story than most every other idiot's choice for GOTY (The Walking Dead), and goes a step further by actually having fun gameplay. The fact that almost no major "gaming journalism" outlets so much as game this game a MERE MENTION in their GOTY deliberations [while cumming praise all over Walking Dead's face] goes to show how fucked the whole of the gaming industry truly is.

People shouldn't have to compromise on gameplay in order to effectively tell stories. Max Payne 3 is the proof.

Style over substance... except the style is fucking played out, and the substance is an unwieldy fucking mess.

When asked why I find this game infinitely more enjoyable than Left 4 Dead - which PAYDAY does share many techinical similarities to - I cited a true emphasis on co-operative play. In L4D, teamplay basically amounts to "shoot this zombie off of me please." In PAYDAY, you will find yourself assigning specific tasks to teammates who are all specializing in specific roles. There's a genuine sense of accomplishment for completing heists, knowing that your role was essential in the completion of said heist and the survival of your teammates. Compare that to L4D, where your only goal is to make it to Point B and your teammates are as expendable as you are.