War Of The Roses is a brutal and bombastic take on 15th century warfare, a heady blend of pure skill and silly, often outrageous fun. However, it certainly isn't for everyone. If you've been sitting on the fence, you can now get good and bloody with a free trial version that gives players full access to online battles, but doesn't include any unlocks or progression.

We described War Of The Roses as "a gloriously chaotic 64-player experience" in our 8/10 review, so there are probably worse ways to spend a Thursday evening than carving your way through Yorkists Lancastrians like a hot knife through butter. Or pollaxe. Or lance.

There were too many games to count that offered up a superlative multiplayer component this year, particularly with persistent social MP features proving ubiquitous. There was an overwhelming barrage of titles to choose from for this list, with the process made even harder by the advent of the Wii U and its asynchronous delights. That the likes of Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Forza Horizon, FIFA 13, Far Cry 3, Assassin's Creed 3, and Mass Effect 3, New Super Mario Bros. U could only muster Honourable Mentions serves to show just how packed this category was with quality.

Any of the following would have made worthy winners, albeit perhaps for different reasons. Again, the sheer variety in multiplayer offerings this year only further underlined how brilliantly we gamers have had it this past twelve months...

NB. Click on the thumbnails for price comparisons and the game's title for the relevant review where available.

	Title	Description
	Black Ops II	As usual, Call of Duty delivered another comprehensive multiplayer component this year, with Treyarch making tweaks here and there to expand ad enhance rather than overhauling. Reliably excellent fun as always, the simple -yet brilliant- revolution of giving players total freedom to tailor their loadout made Black Ops II a joy to play. Not many new modes to speak of, but existing party favourites, deathmatch options and shiny futuristic boomsticks will made it a surefire online MP hit.
	Borderlands 2	We described Borderlands 2 as "the best co-op shooter of its generation" and it still holds true to that accolade. Outstanding AI, superlative scripting, one of this generation's finest villains in Handsome Jack, and more loot than we knew what to do with, Borderlands 2 was a huge step up from its predecessor. Not that Borderlands 1 wasn't great, it's just that its bigger, badder, bolder brother was so very pleasing.
	Halo 4	343 Industries were up against it, the pressure must have been huge. Yet, with Microsoft's biggest frnachise in their hands, they pulled off the incredible: not only did the match up to Bungie's predecessors, they even managed to surpass some of them. Halo 4's campaign was excellent, but it was in the multiplayer modes that 343 really pulled out all of the stops. War Games is still giving us tons of fun, with expanded loadouts and greater gameplay variety than ever before. And then there was Spartan Ops: yes, there were examples of some lazy content recycling, but we've simply been having too much fun to care. An utter blast.
	Journey	Thatgamecompany provided us with something utterly unique this year: a game with completely anonymous, completely non-violent, non-communicative, barely interactive multiplayer. It sounds like it shouldn't make sense, and there might well be many for whom Journey was something of a throwaway experience. But for us, it was something truly special, unlike anything else this year, with shared expeditions to the mountains summit providing some of the very best gaming memories of all time. Yes, we just said that.
	Nintendo Land	As a collection of minigames, Nintendo Land was never going to be groundbreaking. But what it is, is a game that is inviting, engaging, rewarding and so full of polish that it sets a very high benchmark for this type of game. What it set out to do was showcase the WiiU potential. What it provided was not only a glimpse into a future for a console which most definitely has potential, but it also reminded us where some of gaming's finest moments lie, and brought local MP back with emphatic delight.
	PES 2013	PES 2013 mkes the list over FIFA 3 because it gave complete control over to the player, meaning that when you played another human being, you knew absolutely that it was a hardcore test of skill, dexterity, strategy and execution. With FIFA feeling a little too fast, and a little too slick this year, PES was on hand to deliver a footballing experience that revelled in the tiny details, resulting in supremely tight games, furiously addictive grudge matches, and moments of sheer beauty.
	Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed	With no Mario Kart out this year, and LBPK proving a little disappointing, SEGA stepped up to the plate to deliver some anarchic karting fun this year, building upon the success of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, and giving it the Diddy Kong treatment. Taking to the skies and diving onto the waterways, SASRT produced a thoroughly engrossing party racing title that served up some fine SEGA fan service too.
	War of the Roses	A gloriously chaotic 64-player experience predicated on pure skill and brutal swordplay, War of the Roses gave us a fresh take on deathmatch combat, by taking us back in time.

War Of The Roses will receive another free update on December 19th, which ominously tells us that "Winter Has Arrived." It includes new armor and weaponry, plus two new snowy maps based on the historic battles of Wakefield and Towton.

If you're pious enough to pay, the Dagger and Sword of Mary for Christ’s Mass will be available to purchase on December 21st. They're covered in religious iconography, though whether that will stop your foe parrying them with a Pollaxe before stoving your armour in with the blunt end remains to be seen.

We were incredibly impressed by The War Of The Roses in our 8/10 review, likening its riotous yet skilful multiplayer to a "fifteenth century Battlefield."

• What: War Of The Roses
• Where: GMG
• Current Price: £9.38 (£10.00)
• Voucher Code: WINTR-SRVEY-42012
• War Of The Roses Review

War Of The Roses is a fun, barmy yet supremely skillful experience that we described as a "fifteenth century Battlefield" in any sense of the phrase. If you're looking to get involved, Green Man Gaming's daily deal price can be further reduced with their WINTR-SRVEY-42012 voucher code, saving you an absolute packet.

• What: War Of The Roses
• Where: GamersGate
• Current Price: £9.38 (£10.00)
• Voucher Code: G2PO
• War Of The Roses Review

Once again, GamersGate have managed to embarrass Steam's Autumn sale with a sneaky undercut. Their £10 price for the brutally brilliant War Of The Roses is already a bargain, which can be further reduced with the G2PO voucher code.

War Of The Roses is a fun, barmy yet supremely skillful experience that we described as a "fifteenth century Battlefield" in any sense of the phrase.

Fatshark has announced that loads of new weapons, maps and even gametypes are heading to War Of The Roses over the coming months, and have dated some nifty new inclusions for November. If you're getting stuck into the brutal fifteenth century battlefield - and if not, why not? - then hit the jump for the details.

Platform: PC

Developer: Fatshark

Publisher: Paradox Interactive

It's easy to jump to conclusions when you first hear that Paradox Interactive are publishing a game based on the War Of The Roses. Your mind's eye will instantly conjure up images of sprawling overworld maps, supply lines, advisers and menus galore, the standard offerings you'd expect from the grand strategy veterans.

What you might not expect, however, is that War Of The Roses has more in common with Battlefield 3 than Crusader Kings or Mount & Blade.

The brutal civil war between the Yorkists and Lancastrians plays host to 64-player battle royales as footmen clash in ferocious third-person melee combat, mounted knights lead devastating charges and bowmen rain arrows down onto enemy positions. It's a glorious organised chaos; axes clatter on shields and armour, crossbow bolts glance off your pauldrons or bite deep into flesh and pollaxe-wielding peasants unseat arrogant horsemen to be picked apart by the rabble. Downed players scream for mercy as they lay prostrate in the churned mud, begging their enemy not to shatter their necks with their shield or drive a dagger through their helmet's eye slits. And yet, beneath the insanity, only the truly skilful can hope to survive.

If you crave a skill-based experience and want to play something different from the usual glut of holiday season shooters, War Of The Roses could well become your favourite competitive multiplayer game of 2012.

War Of The Roses, a 64-player online kill-fest set in the fifteenth century, is nearing its October 2nd release date and early pre-order access on September 25th. To celebrate, Fatshark have sallied forth with a new trailer that demonstrates how only sharp swords in skilled hands will bring you success on the blood-soaked battlefields, with players able to choose from a dizzying array of period weaponry, perks and customisation options. Blades and armour interact realistically due to an extremely detailed hit detection system, making this much more nunanced than pointing and clicking.

I recently attended a review session for War Of The Roses and found it to be insanely compelling. We'll bring you more details and a full review next week.

Beta Check It Out

Paradox Interactive has released another developer diary for War Of The Roses, illustrating the lengths the team goes to in order to deliver one of the most historically accurate games out there. We've got it after the break.

Paradox has unleashed the first wave of beta keys - so you still have time to sign up and try it out for yourself by visiting the official site. The current beta army is 100,000 strong and counting.

Paradox have been making quite a bit of noise about their upcoming break from beardy strategy. The War of the Roses is shaping up to a "team-based multiplayer melee combat experience", with over 60 weapons to choose from, character skill progression trees, delicious upgrades, and it's set against the backdrop of a criminally underused setting.

And there are knights. Hacking one another to bits.