#3 Star Wars: The Old Republic
Released in late 2011, Star Wars: The Old Republic is Bioware's first attempt at bridging traditional dialogue-based CRPGs with a massively multiplayer universe. The game is set not in the Star Wars of the movies, but three thousand years before the movies take place, in the age of The Old Republic.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is the first MMORPG to use a fully fleshed out dialogue system not too dissimilar from Bioware's other single-player RPG, Mass Effect. Through their actions and dialogue choices, players can choose to join the light side, or turn to the dark side. Thanks to the hundreds of thousands of man-hours put into the game's development, the story given plays out as if it were unique to the player alone.
The rest of 2012 will see if The Old Republic manages to topple World of Warcraft, or at least hold its own against the juggernaut.
