Video games can be many things to many people, so the idea of proclaiming a single one as the best of 2012 strikes us as a little limiting. This year, instead of screaming at each other for hours in a sweaty, smoke-filled room until we emerge with a handful of winners, your friends at 1UP have decided to forsake categorization and write about the experiences that brought us the most enjoyment this year -- and that's the point of playing video games, isn't it?

Games can fill a lot of roles in our lives. If we want to immerse ourselves in a good story, The Walking Dead can step up. The social lubricant of an online experience allows us to connect with friends via World of Warcraft and Call of Duty. If we're seeking nostalgia, Nintendo has the entire Virtual Console library at our disposal. We can make a bus ride go faster with Tetris, or reflect on our lives with Braid. A versatile medium, indeed.

So what role does Thirty Flights of Loving play in my life? Well, it reaffirms my decision to dedicate a large portion of my time and energy to writing about video games. It's a frenetic and mesmerizing 15 minutes proves the term video game is difficult to define and impossible to pigeon hole. Brendon Chung's follow-up to the stylish Gravity Bone presents a world still residing in that specific kind of '60s chic. The air is smoky, the drinks are substantial, and transportive music resonates throughout the atmosphere. All of these traits are accomplished through the use of exaggerated characters and impeccable mise en scene. But look past the superficial layer of style, and you'll see that Chung has told a story in a way that our medium has never really seen.

Thirty Flights uses jump cuts and plays with the concept of time in presenting the story of a trio of bandits. You'll experience their heist from pre-inception to fiery completion, but not necessarily in that order. Upon meeting a character, you'll be shows a quick montage of their past, present and future, and Chung trusts the player enough to let them piece the story together. To go into further depth would be a disservice to the player, but just know that that I've never played anything quite like Thirty Flights, and I bet you haven't either.

I can't, in good conscience, finish up this post without mentioning Chris Remo's phenomenal music. It complements the visuals and design with unerring perfection. Though only a few minutes in length, I haven't been able to get it out of my head for months. Again, the topic of brevity comes up, and the length of Thirty Flights is something that I wish more creators would embrace. Sometimes you don't want to sit down for hours on end, only to make a small dent in a sprawling adventure. Sometimes you want to experience a game that delivers you its mechanics and narrative in only a handful of minutes. Like a short story by Raymond Carver of J.D. Salinger, Brendon Chung has created something with the utmost respect for our precious commodity of free time.

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