Community Service is a monthly article we do with out fans at Level Up Entertainment. Every month a question will be posed to YOU our loyal community and if you send in a response, you have a chance to be featured prominently here for all the world to see.

As one year ends and a new one begins, it's only natural to look back and see what was the best bits of last year. 2012 was an excellent year for gaming, with many quality titles being released consistently throughout! From major AAA titles to sequels to long running franchises to innovative indie titles, this year had something for everyone!

This month we ask: What was your favorite game of 2012?

Jack Martin

My personal favorite game of 2012 would have to be Borderlands 2. This game has such a different play-style compared to other modern day First Person Shooters and allows you to kill your enemies with any one of it's 87 bazillion guns, grenades, and even shields. The skill trees also had such amazing varieties allowing each character to adapt to your play style. My absolute favorite part however is that almost every part of the game either is or contains a homage to other games or other forms of media.

And this month's winner is:

Zach Archer

There were a plethora of fantastic video games that came out in 2012, but one stood far above and beyond them for me as my game of the year. That game is The Walking Dead. I have seen every episode of the AMC TV series and am looking to get into the graphic novels, but the video game by Telltale Games is in a realm of its own. Similarly to all forms of The Walking Dead, it focuses far more-so on the characters and their interaction than on the blood and gore of the zombie world, though the game still showcased plenty of that. Never, in all of my life, have I went through such an emotionally-pulling experience in video games.

Even though I am but 16 years old, I am very educated in gaming and it is one thing I know I excel in over most of my peers. Although most typical teenagers would probably find more enjoyment out of getting certain characters killed off than interacting with them, I am a rare exception that certainly appreciates when a video game especially pulls of such a difficult feat. Telltale Games not only perfectly revived the point-and-click genre through this unique, immerse experience, but they also changed how video games should be looked at forever. The character development was simply genius in the way that Clementine serves as not only a lovable little girl in the story, but also as a personified moral compass through all of the decisions you make in this cruel, post-apocalyptic world. Every decision that Clementine is a part of in any way shows how her fragile yet smart personality impacts your emotions, transcending the walls that most games form between fiction and reality.

Sure, a lot of the supposedly "essential" decisive points of the game mask themselves to appear as if they impact the world more than they actually do, but that's just another part of the brilliance. You, as the player of the game, surprisingly don't feel ripped of by this fact because you know you took every decision to heart and weighed your options, much as you would in your everyday life, but with the added element of this torturous zombie backdrop. What amazes me most is that this game, which is so critically acclaimed and has been bestowed with countless GOTY awards, really only has adequate gameplay, yet it totally deserves all of the praise it gets for its breath-taking story. The Walking Dead gave me the kind of feelings that prove to me that video games certainly can be art and that it is my favorite game of 2012.

Next month our topic will be: What was your favorite childhood cartoon?

Write up a paragraph or two description and send it to communityservice.lvlup@gmail.com.

The more well written your entry is, the more likely it will be chosen. The best entry will win a print of their idea done by Jen Tracy! Deadline is 2/28/13 at midnight EST.