Telegraph video game awards 2012 Best script Gary Whitta, Mark Darin and Sean Vanaman for The Walking Dead (above) The journey of Lee and Clementine across zombie-plagued America hits all the right notes throughout the first season of Telltale's The Walking Dead. Each character that joins your ragtag bunch is fascinating in their own right, with their own motivations and flaws, while the pacing of the script is superb: by turns frightening, funny and heart-wrenching. The writing must be pitch-perfect in order for your decisions as a player to carry the weight they do. A watershed moment for video game writing. Runners-up Vince Twelve for Resonance A wonderful, grounded sci-fi adventure with an excellent cast of characters. Surprising twists and some fantastic dialogue helps to make Resonance one of the year's best adventure games. Christine Love for Analogue: A Hate Story Christine Love's tale of romance, patriarchy and spaceships is once again of the quality we've come to expect from the visual novel author. Emotional, haunting, an exemplary story that stays with you months after experiencing it. Jonas Kyratzes for The Sea Will Claim Everything A surreal, intelligent adventure blends magical fantasy with a dash of realism. It takes an exceptional writer to weave absurdity and believability together to create such a vivid tale, and Kyratzes manages it effortlessly. R. Michalski for The Cat Lady The Cat Lady tells the story of Susan, a 40 year old woman with depression. It's equal parts revenge fantasy, superhero tale and intelligent, relatable discussion of mental health. A fantastic example of existential horror. Best level design Dishonored (above) It might seem a contradiction, but for freedom in video games to work, often the playgrounds you are released into must be designed with utmost precision. Dishonored understands this better than most, with each level focussed but ripe with opportunity for improvisation. With multiple paths and several kill options, each assassination mission allows you to approach it in your own manner, utilising everything in your supernatural skillset. Runners-up Mark of the Ninja Mark of the Ninja's 2D level design is precise and exciting, with each area having the aura of a puzzle while allowing room for skill and improvisation. New Super Mario Bros U Familiarly brilliant. Nintendo's inimitable 2D level design at its joyful best. Lego Lord of the Rings Bringing a Lego twist to everything from Weathertop to Mount Doom, Lego LOTR's levels are varied, constantly entertaining and often challenging. Darksiders II With some fantastic sprawling overworlds and excellent, puzzling dungeon design, the thoughtful structure of Darksiders II really shines. Best acting performance Michael Mando as Vaas Montenegro (Far Cry 3 - above) Far Cry 3's psychotic poster boy Vaas creeps under your skin from the moment you meet him from within your cage. Canadian actor Mando's phenomenal performance in both voice and motion capture brings some terrific dialogue to life. Tics and explosions of temper during monologues about the nature of insanity giving indications of a frayed, dangerous man. He's used sparingly, but his presence lingers throughout the game due to such memorable, memorising appearances. Runners-up Melissa Hutchison as Clementine (The Walking Dead) In a game full of terrific performances, it's 37 year old Melissa Hutchison who steals the show as 9 year old Clementine. Your inspiration, conscience and objective, you hang on her every word. James McCaffrey as Max Payne (Max Payne 3) McCaffrey revives his role as deadbeat drunk cop Max Payne. A throaty rumble that conveys pain, anger and resignation in one belligerent utterance. Nolan North as Martin Walker (Spec Ops: The Line) The ubiquitous North brilliantly subverts his usual matinee charm as Walker descends into madness among death and war in a ravaged Dubai. Danny Wallace as The Narrator (Thomas Was Alone) Wallace is the unsung star as Shaun Hastings in Assassin's Creed III, but his funny, amiable narrator in Thomas Was Alone brings its shapely story to life. Best art direction Journey From the broad brush strokes of the environments you struggle through, to the finer details --a scarf fluttering in the wind, sand delicately shifting beneath your feet-- Journey is a staggeringly gorgeous video game. Its beauty is integral to you pilgrimage too, as thatgamecompany pit you against sand, snow and water. Each area having its own intoxicating vibe. Runners-up Dishonored Arkane Studios and Half Life 2 artist Viktor Antonov provide a fantastic, filthy steampunk city with the weathered working class and the haughty aristocracy clashing brilliantly. Catherine (above) Disturbed, cel-shaded excellence as the nightmares of an adulterating wastrel are brought to life. Sound Shapes Sound Shapes colourful, abstract visuals shift throughout the game, each level distinctive but tied together with a fantastic sense of consistent style. The Unfinished Swan What starts as a blank canvas soon opens up into a beautiful, storybook world of stark contrasts. Childlike simplicity meets exquisitely thoughtful art. Best sound design Journey Whether it's a whisper on the wind or a companion's sing-song, Journey's delicate soundscape adds its own considerable impact to the game's rich tapestry. The ambient sound is beautiful and understated, but its the simple form of wordless communication that impresses most. Companions sing to each other in order to boost each other's jumps, or simply to hash out approximations of tunes. Runners-up Sound Shapes (above) Landscape and soundscape become one and the same, as you construct the musical score as you progress through each level. ZombiU ZombiU recognises the importance of silence in horror, only dropping in sounds that warn or terrify: the moan or shuffle of a zombie or the telltale bleep of your motion scanner emanating from your Gamepad. Max Payne 3 A lot of effort went into making Max Payne's blistering sound design make sense at full throttle or in the midst of the game's trademark bullet time. Beat Sneak Bandit Most rhythm action games rely heavily on music matching, while Beat Sneak Bandit terrifically blends soundtrack and sound effects to make one of the best examples of the genre. Best original score Health for Max Payne 3 (above) Commissioning an experimental rock band from California with the soundtrack for a noir thriller set in Brazil doesn't sound like the most obvious concoction. But Health's raw, melancholy synth accompaniment to Max Payne's violence and its anti-hero's descent into a drunken hell is a revelation. It forms part of a phenomenal soundscape of bullets and destruction, never overbearing but always notable. Different, impactful, brilliant. Runners-up Austin Wintory for Journey Wintory's beautiful work on Journey is so good it has become the first video game soundtrack to be nominated for a Grammy. Clint Mansell for Mass Effect 3 Golden Globe nominee Mansell provides the perfect score for the closing chapter of a gigantic sci-fi opera: epic, sweeping, powerful. Jesper Kyd for Darksiders 2 Filled with epic swells and eerie, pondering refrains, Jesper Kyd's rousing score for Darksiders II is yet another fantastic entry into his discography. Various Artists for Hotline Miami Dripping with 80s cool, Hotline Miami's blistering soundtrack features music from the likes of M.O.O.N., El Huervo and Jasper Byrne. It's also available to listen to free right here. Technical achievement PlayStation Vita (above) In the battle to keep dedicated portable consoles relevant, Sony threw everything at the PlayStation Vita: motion control, cameras, front and rear touchscreen, OLED screen, GPS, twin analogue sticks, home-console rivalling power. It could have been a mess, frankly, but it's an impressive feat of engineering that the machine's plethora of features were incorporated so neatly and successfully. It's a terrific console... it's just a shame so few developers have capitalised on its technical excellence. Runners-up Rocksmith The natural evolution of rhythm-action games, connect your real guitar to your console, take lessons, tune your instrument or simply use your console as an amp. Works perfectly. Wonderbook On a basic level, it's a big AR card, but in tandem with the PlayStation Move motion controller, Wonderbook is the best, most intoxicating use of augmented reality yet. ZombiU Ubisoft show phenomenal technical skill in utilising the Wii U's Gamepad controller in interesting --and terrifying-- ways. Halo 4 343 squeeze every inch of visual splendour from Microsoft's seven year old Xbox 360. Best developer Traveller's Tales for Lego Batman 2 and Lego Lord of the Rings (above) Traveller's Tales phenomenal track record for its Lego games continued in 2012 with not one, but two of the best games the studio has ever produced. The building blocks of the Lego series may remain familiar from game to game, but there is an incredible amount of skill that goes into the crafting of each entry. Making games for children is no easy task, and making games that appeal to all generations is even more difficult. This is what the Lego games achieve, and the respect and adoration they reserve for their licences for each game --Potter, Batman or Lord of the Rings-- is an equally commendable feat. It's this that makes this year's output not only great Lego games, not only great Batman and Lord of the Rings games, but great games full stop. Runners-up Firaxis for XCOM and Civilization V expansion pack Not content with just releasing a fantastic expansion to 2011"s Civilization V, Firaxis also revived the XCOM franchise with a superb, gruelling new entry into the series. Telltale for The Walking Dead The Walking Dead is a well-deserved breakout hit for the consistent champions of the adventure genre. thatgamecompany for Journey Journey's beautiful construction is another feather in the cap of a developer famed for pushing the boundaries of video games. Arkane for Dishonored A studio of industry veterans working at the very highest level, Dishonored is a terrific achievement and the exciting vanguard for Arkane's future. Best publisher Ubisoft It's been a fantastic year for the giant French publisher. It's output has been strong, varied, sometimes brave, always confident and willing to straddle technology and genre. Two of 2012's best triple-A franchises in Far Cry and Assassin's Creed, two of the best digitally distributed console games in I Am Alive and Trials Evolution, one of the Wii U's most exciting launch titles in ZombiU, one of the most fascinating uses of technology and music in Rocksmith and even one of the best mobile games in Rayman Jungle Run. Many are produced by its own studios too, making Ubisoft arguably the most exciting publishing and development house in the industry today. Shame about UPlay though, eh? Runners-up Nintendo A new console and a plethora of great games, Nintendo's year-on-year consistency has no equal. Sony While Sony may have lacked a true killer exclusive for PlayStation 3, it's been a brave, experimental year for the Japanese giant. A new handheld console, the fascinating Wonderbook and further commitment to artistic games such as Sound Shapes, Journey and Unfinished Swan. 2K Big strong year for 2K Games, The Darkness II, Spec Ops, XCOM and Borderlands all impressing. A great source of traditional tubthumping video games. Warner Bros. Warner continue to make in-roads in the industry with its leviathan licenses and occasional willingness to push eccentricity. The fabulous Lego games provided the former this year, while Lollipop Chainsaw provided the latter. Best independently published game FTL One of the biggest Kickstarter game successes, FTL: Faster Than Light is an indie roguelike that excels with its inspired vignettes and gameplay. Your mission brief is always the same: escape the Rebels through a space pathway of nebulas, but the mission itself is forever changing - each playthrough different to the next. You'll need to manage your ship - fighting off Rebel cruisers, disposing of unwanted boarding parties and keeping your fuel stocked up - as you cross alien species, derelict ships, planets and more. Runners-up Natural Selection 2 NS2 brings FPS and RTS together in one brilliant strategic shooter. The level of thought behind this game's balance and pace is matched only by it's brilliant, encouraging community. Hotline Miami As wonderful as it is frustrating, this ultraviolent top-down game refuses to be pigeonholed into any one genre. Part shooter, part puzzle game, steeped in 80s cool and murder by the glow of neon lights. Resonance This excellent, intelligent near-future sci-fi adventure game from WadjetEye and writer Vince XII features multiple playable characters, some excellent puzzle design, and some brilliant plot moments. The Cat Lady A dark, chilling horror story in more ways than one, The Cat Lady is a wonderfully bleak adventure game focusing on Susan, a 40 year old woman with depression. Frequently adult, often violent, but consistently smart and intelligent, The Cat Lady is a great example of properly mature horror. Best integration of online Dragon's Dogma As well as being a fantastic RPG overall, Dragon's Dogma's exciting Pawn system lets you create and share sidekicks. As others use your Pawn, he or she gains knowledge; of foes, quests and areas. A creative, fantastic exploration of the potential of online connectivity, and an example of how you can encourage people to play together without a direct connection to one anothers" game. Runners-up Miiverse Nintendo's cheerful, friendly community accessible at the push of a button is the best innovation for a company notoriously shy of online. FIFA 13 (above) Constant squad updates reflecting form, Ultimate Team, weekly challenges. Few games get as much mileage from online as EA's brilliant football game. Journey The introduction of another random player into your game is a simple but integral part of Journey's brilliance. Need For Speed Most Wanted The Autolog has become a staple of the NFS series, and it's once again used to great effect. Your friends" times, challenges and more appear in real-time, adding an extra layer of competition to this excellent racer. Game of the year The Walking Dead (PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, iOS) The Walking Dead is a zombie game that's more concerned with the living. Rather than shuffling monsters, it's the relationship between protagonist Lee and 9-year-old Clementine that drives this game on, casting you as paternal protector to a lost young girl amongst the madness of a zombie apocalypse. As the pair make their way across an infested America in search for Clementine's family, they meet a eclectic bunch of survivors. Every one of them is memorable in their own way, written and performed with sharpness and sympathy. While a story that betters the TV show and comic book that served as its inspiration will grab the headlines, The Walking Dead's true brilliance comes in how that script is weaved into an interactive narrative that values our every input. Dialogue options and integral, heartbreaking decisions are heavy with the burden of responsibility. Action scenes, meanwhile, are few and far between but are tense, terrifying affairs that place emphasis on frantic survival rather than focussed aggression. The Walking Dead is also the first video game to truly capitalise on the advantages of television-esque 'episodes'. Each of its five episodes are brilliantly paced and have their own story to tell, while constantly pushing on the game's main narrative arc. It's a phenomenal, important piece of work and a clear choice for 2012's best video game.