So over the Christmas break I got a little game called Tron: Evolution. I hadn't known this game was released, so therefore I had no preconceived notion of it, and also how abysmal the review scores are. I had strong faith though - a video game set in a video game. What is this, Inception?
I was incredibly wrong. The problem with Tron: Evolution is not that it's a bad game, although I might be generous there, but the fact that it tries to mimic what other games have done well. The game is a mash-up of Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia and Bayonetta. Combining those three games sounds like a dream come true - but if the game isn't good itself, and falls into the trap of film-based video games, then it deserves a review from me! (Not that I'm only gonna focus on crappy games!)
I will give this game one thing: the world of Tron looks gorgeous. A majority of the game is spent traversing through the city, climbing buildings and being all badass, and several times I looked around to have my breath taken away. I strongly recommend you do this - especially in chapter three and four - because it may be the only redeeming aspect of the game. The diversity in environments is reason enough to finish the game, and other aspects of the game shouldn't punish this viewing time. Find a quiet spot, away from the repetitive combat, to set and ponder about how awesome the movie will be in 3D.
For people buying this game looking for a good story, be aware that this game follows a very clear storyline. For you to enjoy it, or even know what is going on, you'll have to watch the 1982 prequel and read the graphic novel. The game picks up after this - the beginning cutscene tries somewhat to get newcomers caught up - and the ending leads directly into the movie. In that sense, it's not a film-based game, but it still acts as advertising for the movie and was released near opening weekend. For the story itself, it's not bad. Hard to follow if you're not familiar with the franchise, and sometimes unexplainable, but it does its job for getting you from point A to point B. To its credit, the first Tron and Tron: Legacy didn't have spectacular stories either. One redeeming quality is the surprisingly good voice acting and how much the characters look like the actors. I know face recognition technology can work wonders, but it was still nice to not see stale characters in cutscenes.
What could have been the most promising with Legacy is most disappointing at game's end - the gameplay. The combat is predictable and repetitive - literally every battle follows one sequence: appearance of bad guys, people scurry and flee, kill bad guys, move on to next area with bad guys. I recommend you play multiplayer only because the single-player and multiplayer level are linked, and earning some levels early on multiplayer will save you from getting your ass kicked as I did. Without knowing this I went straight into campaign, and the enemies are very punishing. Although I "derezzed" (the Tron universe's word for dying) more with the awkward platforming than combat. The platforming in this is awkward and too much like what we've seen before. I understand this was Propaganda's way to mix up the gameplay, but I would have preferred more sequences with the vehicles. The tank sections were really easy and made the experience lacking - put emphasis on what Tron is known for: the motorcycle. Unfortunately the motorcycle is not utilized in game - only when absolutely necessary - and this goes to hurting the campaign. In multiplayer, the vehicles and heavily favoured so watch yourself.
The fans of Tron should be skeptical when getting this game. I'm saying don't expect much. Don't force yourself to hate a great franchise because the game wasn't good. Come to think of it, the studio behind the game has had a tough year. Propaganda Games first had news that layoffs stopped a sequel to the mediocre Turok because of layoffs, then news that their anticipated Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned was cancelled for unknown reasons, and now their only release this year will probably tank in sales. The studio should make it their resolution in 2011 - to make better games.
Hello kiddies! Completely separate from this review, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy new year. I was going to make a top ten list of the year, and I might still do that, but don't expect it for a few days or so. First I have to dissect the entire year and see what happened that really had an impact! And second, it's because I'm lazy. But, I have one great thing to report: I have made it my resolution of 2011 (my first one ever, honestly) to continue this blog and gain more readership! So thanks everyone that has viewed my blog, those in continental Europe, the US and Canada and even Singapore! You know who you are!
December 31, 2010
December 29, 2010
Are Games Becoming Too Easy?
The core audience is divided right now - should we support or shun the idea of social gaming? One side passionately and obsessively says that social gaming is a vermin, a poison for the difficulty of games. The other says accessibility to video games is key for the success of the industry, and to a degree this true. But what is also true is video games over the years have been getting easier - especially in the area of MMOs. Should us gamers embrace this new mentality of the casual or leave it to die in a well somewhere?
The rise of the video gaming industry has changed the landscape quite a bit. First it has gone from making small-time games, making a quick buck and move on. Now, it's spend two years making a highly-successful game, graphics being a focal point, and release three to five sequels to that game if it (or in some cases, isn't) becomes a hit. It's a formula that makes people realize one thing - video gaming is a business. A massive business. A 20 billion dollar industry to be exact. That's a lot of dough. Twenty-five years ago, a developer was lucky if their game broke even; now we have games like Black Ops making a billion dollars in sales in the first five weeks! All of this within twenty-years is a huge jump - especially compared to other forms of media - and the industry hasn't had the time to embrace further audiences. They've been too busy thinking the only audience for their products is the "hardcore" audience.
I wanted to establish the fact (and I have said this before many times) that video gaming is an industry and us gamers forget this fact. And as a business, the purpose for its existence to be profitable and economically sound. The model of the two-year in development "triple A" cycle is not ending any time soon - but companies are now realizing (with the success of the Wii) that there is another audience for their product, and they fully intend to capitalize. The rise of social gaming a lot of people may not like, and I am in this crowd, but for the long-term stability and sustainability of the industry, we're just going to have to accept what social gaming is in its current form.
Casual and social gaming have been around for a long time and can be often used interchangeably. The Wii brought in a whole new persona to what gamers are, which I am thankful for, because it allows other people to enjoy what I love, but also gets people talking about the industry and the state it's in. Never before have we seen so many people talking about video games and while some are stung by what has happened, I think it's a beautiful thing. It's not just the Wii, though, an even bigger platform for games has emerged: Facebook. Social networking will always be a part of our lives - to the disgust of some - and the rise of the so-called "global village" has presented studios with a unique opportunity: a massive platform to make games, for relatively cheap, for an audience of 500 million willing to give it a shot. Zynga, the makers of FarmVille, has received 500 million in funding over the last two years and will launch an IPO by 2013. The company makes flash games. Flash games! That's all it is! FarmVille is a simple idea with addicting gameplay (I don't play it) and has made Zynga the developer to beat on Facebook. Other companies are seeing the potential here - most recent example is Ubisoft. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood had Facebook integration; it wasn't much, but it is a shining example of what we'll be seeing more of in years to come.
Gaming has always had a difficult nature. It took me a while to coordinate using two analog sticks. But the persistence of this newfound audience and the accessibility necessary to accommodate them, some would argue has been killing the challenge of games in recent years. One notable example of this is World of Warcraft. The MMO experience was always one for the hardcore - a casual MMO fan didn't exist until, really, the release of Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion for WoW. Wrath changed the game dramatically - it made everything easier. Before Wrath, during the original game without any expansions, it would take months to hit the maximum level of 60 and this was for good reason: to give the player an enthralling adventure but also a sense of accomplishment when dinging at the final level. It was a relieve for most players because levelling is a huge grind. But now, experience has been ramped up. Before it would take someone months to get to sixty; now it's possible to get from 1 to 80 in a week. Why this sudden change happened is rather simple - either Blizzard had a declining fanbase and had to make the game easier, or Blizzard wanted to expand their existing audience. Both reasons are perfectly acceptable, because Blizzard is a business, but avid players of the game will say their game experience was ruined. But then, to the joy of the 12 million that play the game, Cataclysm was released and made the game hard again. I have yet to get to level 80 but I will soon, I promise.
Without the success of the Wii and the rise of Facebook, I wouldn't have even thought to write this blog post. Essentially the argument comes down to two things: success or enjoyment. Every person involved in the industry will prioritize one of these two concepts. But it does make me wonder if the fat cats that run EA or Activision or the biggest companies actually play their own games?
The rise of the video gaming industry has changed the landscape quite a bit. First it has gone from making small-time games, making a quick buck and move on. Now, it's spend two years making a highly-successful game, graphics being a focal point, and release three to five sequels to that game if it (or in some cases, isn't) becomes a hit. It's a formula that makes people realize one thing - video gaming is a business. A massive business. A 20 billion dollar industry to be exact. That's a lot of dough. Twenty-five years ago, a developer was lucky if their game broke even; now we have games like Black Ops making a billion dollars in sales in the first five weeks! All of this within twenty-years is a huge jump - especially compared to other forms of media - and the industry hasn't had the time to embrace further audiences. They've been too busy thinking the only audience for their products is the "hardcore" audience.
I wanted to establish the fact (and I have said this before many times) that video gaming is an industry and us gamers forget this fact. And as a business, the purpose for its existence to be profitable and economically sound. The model of the two-year in development "triple A" cycle is not ending any time soon - but companies are now realizing (with the success of the Wii) that there is another audience for their product, and they fully intend to capitalize. The rise of social gaming a lot of people may not like, and I am in this crowd, but for the long-term stability and sustainability of the industry, we're just going to have to accept what social gaming is in its current form.
Casual and social gaming have been around for a long time and can be often used interchangeably. The Wii brought in a whole new persona to what gamers are, which I am thankful for, because it allows other people to enjoy what I love, but also gets people talking about the industry and the state it's in. Never before have we seen so many people talking about video games and while some are stung by what has happened, I think it's a beautiful thing. It's not just the Wii, though, an even bigger platform for games has emerged: Facebook. Social networking will always be a part of our lives - to the disgust of some - and the rise of the so-called "global village" has presented studios with a unique opportunity: a massive platform to make games, for relatively cheap, for an audience of 500 million willing to give it a shot. Zynga, the makers of FarmVille, has received 500 million in funding over the last two years and will launch an IPO by 2013. The company makes flash games. Flash games! That's all it is! FarmVille is a simple idea with addicting gameplay (I don't play it) and has made Zynga the developer to beat on Facebook. Other companies are seeing the potential here - most recent example is Ubisoft. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood had Facebook integration; it wasn't much, but it is a shining example of what we'll be seeing more of in years to come.
Gaming has always had a difficult nature. It took me a while to coordinate using two analog sticks. But the persistence of this newfound audience and the accessibility necessary to accommodate them, some would argue has been killing the challenge of games in recent years. One notable example of this is World of Warcraft. The MMO experience was always one for the hardcore - a casual MMO fan didn't exist until, really, the release of Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion for WoW. Wrath changed the game dramatically - it made everything easier. Before Wrath, during the original game without any expansions, it would take months to hit the maximum level of 60 and this was for good reason: to give the player an enthralling adventure but also a sense of accomplishment when dinging at the final level. It was a relieve for most players because levelling is a huge grind. But now, experience has been ramped up. Before it would take someone months to get to sixty; now it's possible to get from 1 to 80 in a week. Why this sudden change happened is rather simple - either Blizzard had a declining fanbase and had to make the game easier, or Blizzard wanted to expand their existing audience. Both reasons are perfectly acceptable, because Blizzard is a business, but avid players of the game will say their game experience was ruined. But then, to the joy of the 12 million that play the game, Cataclysm was released and made the game hard again. I have yet to get to level 80 but I will soon, I promise.
Without the success of the Wii and the rise of Facebook, I wouldn't have even thought to write this blog post. Essentially the argument comes down to two things: success or enjoyment. Every person involved in the industry will prioritize one of these two concepts. But it does make me wonder if the fat cats that run EA or Activision or the biggest companies actually play their own games?
December 27, 2010
2010: The Year of Stumbles, Court Cases and Great Games - Part 6
What's going on people. As I promised, here is the sixth (and hopefully final) blog post in my series of the stumbles, court cases, and great games of the year. It's been a week, and as I've said I am really enjoying it. If people keep wanting it, I'll make an annual thing. If not, well I guess I'll use my cunning and come up with something else. For other articles, if you guys want a specific idea talked about, send an email to filthcardia@gmail.com and I will see what I can muster.
Us gamers tend to forget - and avoid the idea all together - that gaming is not just about games. As I have said before, gaming is an industry - a massive one in fact - and the way the industry sways is based on important court cases and business decisions that affect the entire industry. Many studios felt the pinch of the economic climate and couldn't keep afloat. We lost some great studios this year and some speculation came late saying another one was in trouble. Things should pick up in 2011 as the economy gets better; but things are still difficult right now. Sales were down I think I read 12% from last year - that's a lot of revenue lost. All gamers should be considered with how the industry operates because if the industry starts to falter, the quality of games will go down. And I know for a fact no one wants that.
I'll switch gears for a second and start with the court cases. Normally only one or two are big enough to mention, but this year was something special - three or four caught the attention of the gaming media. One, and the most publicized, saw the implosion of a studio and its great minds leaving for a rival publisher. Another saw the ban of violent game sales in the most populous state in the US. The last, and the most ridiculous one of all, is the reluctance of a government to recognize games for adults.
The two biggest publishers in the industry - Activision and EA - have had a fierce rivalry for as long as I can remember. The biggest confrontation between the two heavyweights, and the drawn-out court drama that occurred after, captured the minds of all gamers out there - especially fans of the Call of Duty. It all started with Activision, in a highly publicized way, hiring security and storming the Infinity Ward offices. IW's big bosses - Jason West and Vince Zampella - were fired and Activision accused them of breaching contract. Loyal to their higher-ups, half of the studio quit in the coming months and 38 out of 46 were hired by the duo's new studio, Respawn Entertainment, fresh off a shiny new exclusive deal with EA. This is the biggest blow that Activision has faced, at least that I can remember, and for EA to snap up the duo was pure brilliance. Activision has since accused EA of working with the duo to work out this outcome, which is ridiculous. What Activision did was entirely wrong and nothing can justify such juvenile behaviour. And to do it in such a publicized way, I don't know how Activision could have seen this turn good. Too bad the general gaming community is too busy playing Call of Duty to pay attention.
On that note, I can't wait to see what Respawn does as their first game. Do they go after their former franchise and make a modern day first-person shooter or something else entirely? Whatever they did made CoD the massive success it has become, and with Activision coming after the masterminds behind their baby, it shows where Activision's intentions are. Fuck you Bobby Kotick.
The next court case is more than just a ban on violent game releases - it is a matter of freedom of speech. The Californian administration is currently seeking to ban any game that includes "killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexual assaulting an image of a human being" and prohibit the sale of these games to kids under the age of eighteen. The current rating system, as we all know, is perfectly fine. No minor under the age of 17 is allowed to play anything rated Mature by the ESRB. This is the standard that everyone understands. The new bill calls for a sign on each game case to apply it as violent, and for any store caught selling these games to minors to face a $1000 fine. I gathered a few things from this proposed bill. Does the Governator have not faith in the parents of California that they can successfully monitor the content their children choose to play? If this bill does pass, should California do the same to limit the exposure of movies as well, and to that point, does California not see gaming as an important type of media? Also, why make such a dangerous precedent that goes against the freedom of speech, one of the many rights American citizens have? The case has gone to the Supreme Court and this won't affect just California - several states have pledged support for this bill, and will likely implement their own form if it passes in the Supreme Court. There is a giant hypocrisy here: if the Californian governor thinks games are for kids, why is he limiting the games only adults can play? Just goes to show gaming is growing up and not associated with the notion that games are only for kids.
The third court case, and as I said the most ridiculous is really doing the complete opposite of what California is aiming for. In Australia, there has been an alienation of the video gaming public there. Currently, the highest rating for a game is MA15+ even though movies are able to get an R18+ rating. That means every single video game released in the country has to be appropriate for a fifteen-year-old to play. Now, in reading this, I would assume either Australia doesn't have an older population (damn those surfer kids and their perusing (imagine this in a terrible Australian accent)) or they think that everyone isn't mature enough to play games with violence. The debate has picked up lately, and the board is likely to change it so games can be rated R18+ after a study, done by the government, said violent video games don't turn kids into psychopaths. Last year Left 4 Dead 2 was a victim of this stupid law - the game had to be dimmed down so much that there was no gore and the zombies' bodies disappeared as they hit the ground. This spills out one thing: both the Australian and Californian governments have no faith in their populous to understand that video games are not reality and entirely fictional, especially ones that emphasize gore. It also shows both administrations don't recognize video gaming has a viable medium and the potential it could serve as technologies advance. This reluctance of acceptance is absolutely pathetic, and I am glad Australia has finally seen the ridiculousness of this law.
Enough about the boring stuff. The one thing I really care about video games, and really what is at the heart of the state of the industry, is the health of the developers that make our precious video games. Studios fell this year, some because of the economic climate, others because the quality of their games wasn't up to par; but all, regardless of reason, should be remembered for their contribution to the industry. For one studio in particular, it was not even their speculated decision - Bizarre Creations made one decent game and one amazing game this year; you can guess which is which. Activision bought out the studio, and chatter suggested the company planned to close the developer in the coming months. Today is December 27, and this was in early November, and no word yet so that's a good sign.
Another studio was lost this year was one of my favourites. Realtime Worlds, once Scotland's biggest independent video game developer, entered administration (British form of bankruptcy protection). Their ambitious project, APB, a GTA-style MMO, was panned universally by almost everyone and sales were abysmal. The game looked promising, but the massive failure lead to the demise of the studio. The company's first release, Crackdown, was one of the best games of 2007 and is a testament that independent developers can still be successful. The concept for APB was hugely promising - a large city where gangs rule the streets and the police are battered and bruised. The player has the choice to play as either or, although most people would pick criminal. There is an bidding war going on to purchase the license to the game, with Epic thrown into the mix. Epic Games plans to release a new IP next year... Could this be it?
The studio that originally had the idea for what came to be Guitar Hero was also shut down in February. RedOctane was bought by Activision in 2006, and the developer went to release World Tour in 2008. In 2007, Activision handed over the responsibilities of Guitar Hero to Neversoft, famous for the good Tony Hawk games. Not the crap Robomodo has been spewing out over the last year. 3000 copies of Tony Hawk: Shred. There's a reason a motion control skateboarding game sucks.
Australia has had a storied year when it comes to video games. First their rating system changes, and then their largest developer closes down. Krome Studios, famous for the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger series (a platformer), was also known for revitalizing the Spyro games (where the hell has that purple dragon been?). Huge job cuts and the closing of its Melbourne studio was something the company couldn't recover from. The economy is too blame here and the developer couldn't keep its head above water. It's unfortunate too because the Spyro games the company made - A New Beginning and Eternal Night - are the best two games made in the series, and the studio should have made a new game for current generation consoles to complete the trilogy.
Part six is done and over and gone and I am happy-fun-guy now. To the dismay of many, my series will now end, unless I can think of something else to talk about. Again, if you the reader has something you want me to rant about, please check send me an email at filthcardia@gmail.com and I'll see what I can do. Thankfully I am on Christmas break so I'll most likely be able to all requests. Good on you all and keep reading!
Us gamers tend to forget - and avoid the idea all together - that gaming is not just about games. As I have said before, gaming is an industry - a massive one in fact - and the way the industry sways is based on important court cases and business decisions that affect the entire industry. Many studios felt the pinch of the economic climate and couldn't keep afloat. We lost some great studios this year and some speculation came late saying another one was in trouble. Things should pick up in 2011 as the economy gets better; but things are still difficult right now. Sales were down I think I read 12% from last year - that's a lot of revenue lost. All gamers should be considered with how the industry operates because if the industry starts to falter, the quality of games will go down. And I know for a fact no one wants that.
I'll switch gears for a second and start with the court cases. Normally only one or two are big enough to mention, but this year was something special - three or four caught the attention of the gaming media. One, and the most publicized, saw the implosion of a studio and its great minds leaving for a rival publisher. Another saw the ban of violent game sales in the most populous state in the US. The last, and the most ridiculous one of all, is the reluctance of a government to recognize games for adults.
The two biggest publishers in the industry - Activision and EA - have had a fierce rivalry for as long as I can remember. The biggest confrontation between the two heavyweights, and the drawn-out court drama that occurred after, captured the minds of all gamers out there - especially fans of the Call of Duty. It all started with Activision, in a highly publicized way, hiring security and storming the Infinity Ward offices. IW's big bosses - Jason West and Vince Zampella - were fired and Activision accused them of breaching contract. Loyal to their higher-ups, half of the studio quit in the coming months and 38 out of 46 were hired by the duo's new studio, Respawn Entertainment, fresh off a shiny new exclusive deal with EA. This is the biggest blow that Activision has faced, at least that I can remember, and for EA to snap up the duo was pure brilliance. Activision has since accused EA of working with the duo to work out this outcome, which is ridiculous. What Activision did was entirely wrong and nothing can justify such juvenile behaviour. And to do it in such a publicized way, I don't know how Activision could have seen this turn good. Too bad the general gaming community is too busy playing Call of Duty to pay attention.
On that note, I can't wait to see what Respawn does as their first game. Do they go after their former franchise and make a modern day first-person shooter or something else entirely? Whatever they did made CoD the massive success it has become, and with Activision coming after the masterminds behind their baby, it shows where Activision's intentions are. Fuck you Bobby Kotick.
The next court case is more than just a ban on violent game releases - it is a matter of freedom of speech. The Californian administration is currently seeking to ban any game that includes "killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexual assaulting an image of a human being" and prohibit the sale of these games to kids under the age of eighteen. The current rating system, as we all know, is perfectly fine. No minor under the age of 17 is allowed to play anything rated Mature by the ESRB. This is the standard that everyone understands. The new bill calls for a sign on each game case to apply it as violent, and for any store caught selling these games to minors to face a $1000 fine. I gathered a few things from this proposed bill. Does the Governator have not faith in the parents of California that they can successfully monitor the content their children choose to play? If this bill does pass, should California do the same to limit the exposure of movies as well, and to that point, does California not see gaming as an important type of media? Also, why make such a dangerous precedent that goes against the freedom of speech, one of the many rights American citizens have? The case has gone to the Supreme Court and this won't affect just California - several states have pledged support for this bill, and will likely implement their own form if it passes in the Supreme Court. There is a giant hypocrisy here: if the Californian governor thinks games are for kids, why is he limiting the games only adults can play? Just goes to show gaming is growing up and not associated with the notion that games are only for kids.
The third court case, and as I said the most ridiculous is really doing the complete opposite of what California is aiming for. In Australia, there has been an alienation of the video gaming public there. Currently, the highest rating for a game is MA15+ even though movies are able to get an R18+ rating. That means every single video game released in the country has to be appropriate for a fifteen-year-old to play. Now, in reading this, I would assume either Australia doesn't have an older population (damn those surfer kids and their perusing (imagine this in a terrible Australian accent)) or they think that everyone isn't mature enough to play games with violence. The debate has picked up lately, and the board is likely to change it so games can be rated R18+ after a study, done by the government, said violent video games don't turn kids into psychopaths. Last year Left 4 Dead 2 was a victim of this stupid law - the game had to be dimmed down so much that there was no gore and the zombies' bodies disappeared as they hit the ground. This spills out one thing: both the Australian and Californian governments have no faith in their populous to understand that video games are not reality and entirely fictional, especially ones that emphasize gore. It also shows both administrations don't recognize video gaming has a viable medium and the potential it could serve as technologies advance. This reluctance of acceptance is absolutely pathetic, and I am glad Australia has finally seen the ridiculousness of this law.
Enough about the boring stuff. The one thing I really care about video games, and really what is at the heart of the state of the industry, is the health of the developers that make our precious video games. Studios fell this year, some because of the economic climate, others because the quality of their games wasn't up to par; but all, regardless of reason, should be remembered for their contribution to the industry. For one studio in particular, it was not even their speculated decision - Bizarre Creations made one decent game and one amazing game this year; you can guess which is which. Activision bought out the studio, and chatter suggested the company planned to close the developer in the coming months. Today is December 27, and this was in early November, and no word yet so that's a good sign.
Another studio was lost this year was one of my favourites. Realtime Worlds, once Scotland's biggest independent video game developer, entered administration (British form of bankruptcy protection). Their ambitious project, APB, a GTA-style MMO, was panned universally by almost everyone and sales were abysmal. The game looked promising, but the massive failure lead to the demise of the studio. The company's first release, Crackdown, was one of the best games of 2007 and is a testament that independent developers can still be successful. The concept for APB was hugely promising - a large city where gangs rule the streets and the police are battered and bruised. The player has the choice to play as either or, although most people would pick criminal. There is an bidding war going on to purchase the license to the game, with Epic thrown into the mix. Epic Games plans to release a new IP next year... Could this be it?
The studio that originally had the idea for what came to be Guitar Hero was also shut down in February. RedOctane was bought by Activision in 2006, and the developer went to release World Tour in 2008. In 2007, Activision handed over the responsibilities of Guitar Hero to Neversoft, famous for the good Tony Hawk games. Not the crap Robomodo has been spewing out over the last year. 3000 copies of Tony Hawk: Shred. There's a reason a motion control skateboarding game sucks.
Australia has had a storied year when it comes to video games. First their rating system changes, and then their largest developer closes down. Krome Studios, famous for the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger series (a platformer), was also known for revitalizing the Spyro games (where the hell has that purple dragon been?). Huge job cuts and the closing of its Melbourne studio was something the company couldn't recover from. The economy is too blame here and the developer couldn't keep its head above water. It's unfortunate too because the Spyro games the company made - A New Beginning and Eternal Night - are the best two games made in the series, and the studio should have made a new game for current generation consoles to complete the trilogy.
Part six is done and over and gone and I am happy-fun-guy now. To the dismay of many, my series will now end, unless I can think of something else to talk about. Again, if you the reader has something you want me to rant about, please check send me an email at filthcardia@gmail.com and I'll see what I can do. Thankfully I am on Christmas break so I'll most likely be able to all requests. Good on you all and keep reading!
2010: The Year of Stumbles, Court Cases and Great Games - Part 5
Here's the last of the gaming releases for 2010. It's been fun to go back and be nostalgic of all the games I played this year and what to expect next year. Next year will be fun, both gaming- and personal-wise. Things should be interesting as next New Years' slowly approaches into 2012. Will people be fearing the fictional apocalypse? What other games could be expect in 2012 - except Bioshock: Infinite and Call of Duty: Space (Because it's fun to fly in space and we ran out of ideas) Warfare? I won't even dare to look into 2013. Well enjoy reading. I know I like writing these.
The month of November in 2010 is one that made history. The biggest selling game of all time, a great franchise becomes annualized, a new peripheral is launched that took the world by storm, the emergence of golden games to be gold once more, racing gets even more interactive, and one of our most treasured cartoon characters gets messy. It was a great month; let's talk about it.
I didn't want to get too much into this because I was planning to cover it in a separate blog post, but what Kinect has turned into is something no one expected. With rumours of the technology not being perfect, racial recognition errors galore and the amount of space needed in a room to actually use the thing, Microsoft proves through advertising prowess anything can be successful. Motion control has been a touchy subject with much of the 'core' audience as we are known. If the Wii was never released, motion control would still be a thing of the future. Gamers complain, and I understand why, to what motion control gaming is doing to our treasured pastime but I feel this presents a unique opportunity. All gamers, at least the ones I know, want the industry to thrive and survive and be around for a long time. The 'core' audience may have supported it for a long time, but the industry is seeing growth (even before the Wii came out) at unprecedented levels. We tend to get lost in the numbers, but both the 360 and PS3 have sold 30 million units, probably more. That's a lot of units to sell continuously in a five-year span. And as the industry grows, it's only natural for companies to seek out new audiences necessary to support such growth. Without consumers, the gaming industry would be a very lonely place and opening it up to new eyes is the best for it economically. The quality of games won't go down - even with the huge success of Move and Kinect, there are still a ton of hardcore titles coming out next year - so there is nothing to fear. Gaming can be for everyone, and it is their right to enjoy the same stuff we do. I sound like I'm defending motion control. I'm against the idea, but I also understand why motion control is necessary for the industry to thrive. I may have a separate blog post on the rise of motion control. Who knows.
I feel uncomfortable talking about this next game. It may be the biggest selling game of all-time, and crowds of tired people would say it deserves it, but, honestly, I don't see all the fuss about Call of Duty: Black Ops. See, I played CoD4 for a long time and I loved every minute. The core gameplay was simple and enjoyable. Get a three-kill streak, UAV; five-kill streak, airstrike; seven-kill streak, helicopter; and that was it. A simple formula that solidified CoD was the premiere multiplayer franchise. But now, the game is just too complicated. In Black Ops there are CoD points, or whatever they are called, that are used to buy perks and weapons. This may be an effective method of fitting styles of play early, but the grind is gone. Gaining ranks and attaining perks that way let the player experiment and try out all perks - I barely ever used Stopping Power (increased bullet damage). That was a common theme in CoD4; but the best players knew how to get around the use of the ultimate perk, and through tactics could defeat the enemy systemically. This is gone in Black Ops. Secondly, there are so many killstreaks it makes my head spin. They range from a tracking camera to attack dogs. Really? A big complaint about Call of Duty is camping is too prevalent, and people do it only to gain killstreaks. This is true, and why it worked in Call of Duty 4 is after seven kills people had no reason to camp anymore. And they didn't. In Black Ops, the killstreaks go up to 14-15 kills, so for the casual player, camping is essential to get a good kill/death ratio (and this is the stat that most players care about. Usually it is a measure of skill but most of the time the stat is ballooned to fit the player's massive ego). Chances are people reading this already bought it, and I'm the only one in the world not playing or not even caring about the game. Although my two podcast mates feel the same way (belowradarpodcast.podbean.com). So, really, the game is a toss-up. If you want a controller-throwing tamper tantrum of a multiplayer mode, go ahead. The Zombies mode is fun though. I will give Treyarch credit on that, if on anything, for once in my life.
This year also had an interesting theme - the reemergence of once-great titles in high definition. Sly Cooper got the treatment with a trailer for Sly 4, but also Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell and Ico/SOTC have all been long rumoured or confirmed to be also getting the treatment. This is great to see this happen - I don't know if Sony and its studios are running out of ideas and this is their way to make a quick buck, or if the company won't ever forget about its heritage and the sole reason why its a mammoth in the industry - the PlayStation. Whatever their reasoning is, I am not complaining. The one re-release I can't wait for is a digitally remastering of Halo: Combat Evolved using the Reach engine.
This next game was one I waited for patiently all year. I really have no idea why this franchise has captured my imagination more than most and turned into upside-down. Every game will be a mindfuck, so to speak, and every game inches closer to the conclusion I crave. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood did some exceptionally well: as you were in the Animus, Rome behaved like I would expect it to. The one marvel about this franchise is how lifelike and realistic their cities are, how the people react, and amazingly how they can fit so much detail on to one disc. For the story, well, go play the first two games. There is no reason not to play this franchise, except maybe the occasional hiccup of the parkour system and the droning combat. The games still play amazingly well, even with so much emphasis on the war between the Templars and Assassins. The war will sadly some to a conclusion at some point and I don't want it to end but I still do. Like my reaction to the ending, these games are confusing and to gain the full impact of the ending of Brotherhood, you have to play through AC1 and 2. You'll thank me later.
Lastly, there was a game with epic beards released this year, but a different game had a different kind of epicness. Not a beard, but a character itself. Epic Mickey, the darkest Disney game to date, sees Mickey trapped in a transformed Disneyworld. With his magic paintbrush, he can create and erase anything from existence in his world. Quests are galore here, and moral choices made through the game will have a profound impact on the experience. Real Disney fans will notice a lot of homages to other classic characters. In the beginning, dozens of classic Mickey cartoons are mentioned - some of the scenes are directly from the cartoons themselves! This game is a necessity for any Disney fan and everyone that owns a Wii. The game sold really well, so we may see a sequel. I hope we see a sequel. We must see a sequel. And it was must be epic.
Part five is adjourned. Part six will be up probably later today, and I'll be talking about the different court cases going in the industry, the effect these cases have, and I'll delve into the business side of things as well - developer/publisher failures, games massively flopping and why, and all that fun stuff. Thanks for reading and I hope you guys go back and read the rest of my current series! I've been putting a lot of heart into this and I want to make it an annual event. So good on you all and keep reading!
The month of November in 2010 is one that made history. The biggest selling game of all time, a great franchise becomes annualized, a new peripheral is launched that took the world by storm, the emergence of golden games to be gold once more, racing gets even more interactive, and one of our most treasured cartoon characters gets messy. It was a great month; let's talk about it.
I didn't want to get too much into this because I was planning to cover it in a separate blog post, but what Kinect has turned into is something no one expected. With rumours of the technology not being perfect, racial recognition errors galore and the amount of space needed in a room to actually use the thing, Microsoft proves through advertising prowess anything can be successful. Motion control has been a touchy subject with much of the 'core' audience as we are known. If the Wii was never released, motion control would still be a thing of the future. Gamers complain, and I understand why, to what motion control gaming is doing to our treasured pastime but I feel this presents a unique opportunity. All gamers, at least the ones I know, want the industry to thrive and survive and be around for a long time. The 'core' audience may have supported it for a long time, but the industry is seeing growth (even before the Wii came out) at unprecedented levels. We tend to get lost in the numbers, but both the 360 and PS3 have sold 30 million units, probably more. That's a lot of units to sell continuously in a five-year span. And as the industry grows, it's only natural for companies to seek out new audiences necessary to support such growth. Without consumers, the gaming industry would be a very lonely place and opening it up to new eyes is the best for it economically. The quality of games won't go down - even with the huge success of Move and Kinect, there are still a ton of hardcore titles coming out next year - so there is nothing to fear. Gaming can be for everyone, and it is their right to enjoy the same stuff we do. I sound like I'm defending motion control. I'm against the idea, but I also understand why motion control is necessary for the industry to thrive. I may have a separate blog post on the rise of motion control. Who knows.
I feel uncomfortable talking about this next game. It may be the biggest selling game of all-time, and crowds of tired people would say it deserves it, but, honestly, I don't see all the fuss about Call of Duty: Black Ops. See, I played CoD4 for a long time and I loved every minute. The core gameplay was simple and enjoyable. Get a three-kill streak, UAV; five-kill streak, airstrike; seven-kill streak, helicopter; and that was it. A simple formula that solidified CoD was the premiere multiplayer franchise. But now, the game is just too complicated. In Black Ops there are CoD points, or whatever they are called, that are used to buy perks and weapons. This may be an effective method of fitting styles of play early, but the grind is gone. Gaining ranks and attaining perks that way let the player experiment and try out all perks - I barely ever used Stopping Power (increased bullet damage). That was a common theme in CoD4; but the best players knew how to get around the use of the ultimate perk, and through tactics could defeat the enemy systemically. This is gone in Black Ops. Secondly, there are so many killstreaks it makes my head spin. They range from a tracking camera to attack dogs. Really? A big complaint about Call of Duty is camping is too prevalent, and people do it only to gain killstreaks. This is true, and why it worked in Call of Duty 4 is after seven kills people had no reason to camp anymore. And they didn't. In Black Ops, the killstreaks go up to 14-15 kills, so for the casual player, camping is essential to get a good kill/death ratio (and this is the stat that most players care about. Usually it is a measure of skill but most of the time the stat is ballooned to fit the player's massive ego). Chances are people reading this already bought it, and I'm the only one in the world not playing or not even caring about the game. Although my two podcast mates feel the same way (belowradarpodcast.podbean.com). So, really, the game is a toss-up. If you want a controller-throwing tamper tantrum of a multiplayer mode, go ahead. The Zombies mode is fun though. I will give Treyarch credit on that, if on anything, for once in my life.
This year also had an interesting theme - the reemergence of once-great titles in high definition. Sly Cooper got the treatment with a trailer for Sly 4, but also Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell and Ico/SOTC have all been long rumoured or confirmed to be also getting the treatment. This is great to see this happen - I don't know if Sony and its studios are running out of ideas and this is their way to make a quick buck, or if the company won't ever forget about its heritage and the sole reason why its a mammoth in the industry - the PlayStation. Whatever their reasoning is, I am not complaining. The one re-release I can't wait for is a digitally remastering of Halo: Combat Evolved using the Reach engine.
This next game was one I waited for patiently all year. I really have no idea why this franchise has captured my imagination more than most and turned into upside-down. Every game will be a mindfuck, so to speak, and every game inches closer to the conclusion I crave. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood did some exceptionally well: as you were in the Animus, Rome behaved like I would expect it to. The one marvel about this franchise is how lifelike and realistic their cities are, how the people react, and amazingly how they can fit so much detail on to one disc. For the story, well, go play the first two games. There is no reason not to play this franchise, except maybe the occasional hiccup of the parkour system and the droning combat. The games still play amazingly well, even with so much emphasis on the war between the Templars and Assassins. The war will sadly some to a conclusion at some point and I don't want it to end but I still do. Like my reaction to the ending, these games are confusing and to gain the full impact of the ending of Brotherhood, you have to play through AC1 and 2. You'll thank me later.
Lastly, there was a game with epic beards released this year, but a different game had a different kind of epicness. Not a beard, but a character itself. Epic Mickey, the darkest Disney game to date, sees Mickey trapped in a transformed Disneyworld. With his magic paintbrush, he can create and erase anything from existence in his world. Quests are galore here, and moral choices made through the game will have a profound impact on the experience. Real Disney fans will notice a lot of homages to other classic characters. In the beginning, dozens of classic Mickey cartoons are mentioned - some of the scenes are directly from the cartoons themselves! This game is a necessity for any Disney fan and everyone that owns a Wii. The game sold really well, so we may see a sequel. I hope we see a sequel. We must see a sequel. And it was must be epic.
Part five is adjourned. Part six will be up probably later today, and I'll be talking about the different court cases going in the industry, the effect these cases have, and I'll delve into the business side of things as well - developer/publisher failures, games massively flopping and why, and all that fun stuff. Thanks for reading and I hope you guys go back and read the rest of my current series! I've been putting a lot of heart into this and I want to make it an annual event. So good on you all and keep reading!
December 26, 2010
2010: The Year of Stumbles, Court Cases and Great Games - Part 4
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the second-last blog post about games for this year. I've decided I'll do a separate blog post on the tragedies and successes of the year on the business and legal side of gaming. People want to hear about games, and no point flustering them with stuff they don't care about. So I present to you, part four!
Before Christmas is definitely the most exciting for us gamers. The biggest releases of the year are expected to come out, and developers bank on the holiday shopping season for a majority of their revenue. Without Christmas, gaming may not even exist. So, to be grateful to the government for making this a holiday (my opinion on religion is an entirely separate blog post), I will now talk about games released in October and do November in a later blog post. It's a rare case to see a noteworthy title released in December.
The first game on the docket was a successful reboot a franchise desperately needed. And it seemed to work out well. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is its own game in many regards, but shares some key similarities with previous Castlevania games. Exploration is a legendary concept for this franchise and LoS has a lot of it. There's ample opportunity - and reward - for going back through the grueling puzzles to collect necessary upgrades for combat later on. The game will punish you in the later levels if you don't explore, especially with the great combat system on par with God of War 3. The combat system here takes what makes God of War 3 made great, and gives it a twist - the use of a shade system. Shadow and Light serve different purposes with each combo, and learning the effect of each is essential to being successful in game. The wide variety of combos gives the player an option to mix up battle stances a bit. For the very passionate fans of this franchise, this game is a worthy treat. The story, including the ending, caught me by surprise - and I expect more surprises if I ever get around to the downloadable content coming out next year. Honestly, and also a surprise to many people, this is the first Castlevania game I have ever played for more than ten minutes; the other one was Castlevania 64. Ten minutes into trying it, the console I was playing on crapped out. I took it as a sign.
People have come out and said the single player experience is dying; I have to disagree wholeheartedly. One studio has been making great games entirely meant for a great story - gameplay comes second. Not that Ninja Theory's games are terrible, but some feel their games are too easy. This is especially the case with their release this year, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. The premise is an apocalypse has happened, and two prisoners must venture to California. The combat here is beyond easy; you'll die once or twice and that's only because you'll forget to watch your health bar. Otherwise the story is what matters here - like the studio's other games, it is engaging and at the end I felt a small sense of accomplishment. Play this if you want great voice acting, believable characters and some humourous glitches that see Monkey disappear entirely within a cutscene. Just one thing: does someone at Ninja Theory have a thing for redheads?
Beards. In the month of November, these facial beasts were grown and shaved, to the delight of same and the dismay of others. One game, though, pushed the envelope of beard epicness. The beard is what people talked about when the cover was shown. It was just so... awesome. Too bad the game wasn't up to snuff. Another reboot this year, Medal of Honour followed suit with its own rendition of how they interpret modern warfare. Instead of a fictionalized war, this takes place in Afghanistan - where we all know what is currently taking place there. The game itself isn't bad - if other modern warfare games weren't released this year, MoH would be a quality game. The issue lies with how similar it is - or dissimilar it's trying to be - from Black Ops and Bad Company 2. To the game's credit, EA employed DICE to work on the game's multiplayer. This game, right now, is completely overshadowed by Bad Company 2: Vietnam and Call of Duty. There isn't much left to do with the modern warfare genre, and I can't blame EA for trying to capitalize on the trend with an established franchise - what studios refuse to believe is that CoD can't be beat. With a short campaign, limited multiplayer modes and the growing tediousness of the modern warfare genre, MoH was lost in the grind and even an epic beard can't save it.
Nintendo is legendary in the industry for its great franchises and fans of these franchises were spoiled in 2010. Both Other M and Super Mario Galaxy 2 were successful, both in reviews and sales, and Nintendo should be commended. Another franchise had gone missing for a couple years, but came back this year with something special, Kirby's Epic Yarn. This game has to be the cutest game I've ever seen. I'm not usually one for having a soft spot for games, but one can't deny how truly unique this game is. Both Good-Feel and HAL did a hell of a job and I can't wait to see what they do for a sequel (please make a sequel). I really want to play this game, and I have ever since it debuted at E3. There's just been too many other releases this year and sadly it got lost in the fray. My reason is obviously not justifiable, but I promise I will get around to it eventually. I want to play as a tank made of yarn! What the two studios have done with this game is so pretty and so unique that a few gaming publications gave it graphics of the show at E3. And I can't blame them. Usually it would go to how realistic a game looks, but rarely does a treat like Epic Yarn come by and steal the hearts of all. A common theme with Nintendo's releases, especially this year, has been a massive focus on gameplay and story has been set aside. This game is no different and it's an experience all in itself. Kirby loses his ability to suck in enemies since everything is made of yarn, including himself, but he can transform into anything given the situation. Epic Yarn is the second-best game for the Wii released this year, behind SMG2, and should not be denied by the Nintendo faithful.
Two wasteland games in the same blog post. Who would've thought this could happen? One was purely meant for the story while the other is about slaughtering things and being absorbed into a very diverse yet glitchy world. With games set in southern California and Washington, D.C., Vegas seemed like an appropriate location. Obsidian certainly had fun making New Vegas and that is shown with the huge variety of quests and how obscure some of these are. You play as the Courier, a person carrying an important package. In the opening sequence, you get shot in the head and are left for dead. Recovered by a suspicious robot, the Courier must find out what the package was and how it could affect the ultimate conclusion: the battle for Hoover Dam. The story is secondary here - it is more about what Fallout does great: exposing the player to a massive and diverse world with colourful characters and a multitude of quests to tackle. One thing new is just known as Hardcore mode - where hunger, thirst and lack of sleep have an effect and may lead to death. This mode does a great job in really making you feel like you're in a wasteland and not a god like in previous installments. The first downloadable episode was just released called Dead Money; I haven't played it yet, but I do plan to someday, so I think I'll write a review for it. Fallout: New Vegas is "bigger and more badass" as CliffyB would say compared to the Washington adventure, and Vegas is given its own identity. It's a journey to get to the city itself, even though you can see in the distance from Goodsprings (the starting town). A massive patch was recently released promising to fix the constant issues. I haven't played Vegas in a while and I will try it out soon. Should you gamble on Vegas this holiday season? (Yeah, I went there).
Sega was once a prominent player in the industry, but after the failure of the Dreamcast the publisher went into disarray. Conceding defeat, they have played an important role as a publisher and benefitted greatly this year. Their exclusive partnership with Platinum Games still makes them relevant - something the company desperately needs - and as long as Platinum keeps spitting out good games, Sega is smiling. Hot off the developer's success early in the year with Bayonetta, a completely different game hit shelves. Vanquish, a game where the Russians are the bad guys (that's all that's needed), is a Gears of War game on crack. This game is explosively fast-paced; even blinking may cause your character to perish. The game was received favourably and the game was universally praised for its gameplay; the one concern I had was the length. Game Informer said this game could be completed in four hours or less. And there is no multiplayer option. The gameplay wouldn't really work for multiplayer, but Platinum could have included at least a co-op mode to increase the lifespan of the game. For the time you play it's a roller coaster ride but after the ride is done, it's disappointing. I'm not saying a short game is necessarily a bad thing, but if Platinum wants me to pay $60 for something they make, that's a big commitment especially in tough economic conditions. I have faith that if there is a Vanquish 2, or if Platinum comes out with another shooter, they will learn from the criticisms and make the game ten hours or longer. And maybe even include multiplayer! (Bayonetta 2, even though we know it's coming, is a fine substitute).
Oh PETA. So misinformed. I'm not here to demean organizations that say they serve a great purpose, but I can make fun of them for their lack of research. In a publicity stunt either out of boredom or to stay relevant, they made several parodies of games this year. Mario was one of those. I don't know why, I've been tirelessly trying to find why, but one studio is definitely not complaining. In fact they had the last laugh. The most frustratingly addicting game I've ever played, Super Meat Boy cannot be explained. It's a phenomenon all to itself and it prides itself on this fact; the game is truly unique. An arcade platformer, the player plays at Meat Boy himself, trying to save his love Bandage Girl from the evil Dr. Fetus. Yes, an evil fetus. Since this is an arcade game, it is relatively cheap, and worth your buck. There are so many levels to play and with a level editor coming to PC/Mac in January, that's just more incentive to play. Fans of the game have found a secret level editor anyway locked away in the code, but the level editor coming is an official mode. The game is being constantly supported with new content from Team Meat and there are so much stuff to unlock. The game will force you to rage the entire time you play, this is almost a guarantee; controllers will be thrown. Why I mentioned PETA is because they made a game called "Super Tofu Boy" which we talked about on my podcast (belowradarpodcast.podbean.com). Basically, you play as Tofu Boy trying to save Bandage Girl from a jilted Meat Boy. PETA did this because they thought it promoted something that are so fiercely against, but they were wrong: Meat Boy himself isn't made of meat, he is just a boy without skin. Team Meat actually added Tofu Boy as a playable character for the PC version of the game; to unlock him, all you do is type in "petaphile" on the character selection screen. How awesome is that?
I am quite pissed at LucasArts right now. They have done some great things in the past, and will continue to in the future, but the lack of a certain game has me raged. Even more than when I played Super Meat Boy, and that is something to accredit them for. Arguably the most anticipated fictitious game out there - Battlefront 3 needs to be made. Not the crap game that came out this year, the Force Unleashed 2. The first one was terrible - too short, gameplay rather stale, and the story was nothing special. The second game tries too hard to be a good game. And it's not a good game. It is far from, actually. The sequel is still too short, the gameplay is still rather stale, and the story is still nothing special. How this series has sold so much is beyond me - probably just the power of the Star Wars name working its magic. The new head at LucasArts publicly said the third game was to be canceled, but then reports contradicted that saying it was on track for a 2012 release. I am pleading to LucasArts right now to release Battlefront 3 and appease the growing number of us who are pissed at you. We are really pissed. Pissed I tell you.
So that's it! This blog post is getting rather long so I'll do one for just October and move onto November tomorrow. Have fun, drive safe (although you shouldn't be reading this while you're driving), and get as drunk as you can! Not that I am promoting drunkenness, of course.
Before Christmas is definitely the most exciting for us gamers. The biggest releases of the year are expected to come out, and developers bank on the holiday shopping season for a majority of their revenue. Without Christmas, gaming may not even exist. So, to be grateful to the government for making this a holiday (my opinion on religion is an entirely separate blog post), I will now talk about games released in October and do November in a later blog post. It's a rare case to see a noteworthy title released in December.
The first game on the docket was a successful reboot a franchise desperately needed. And it seemed to work out well. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is its own game in many regards, but shares some key similarities with previous Castlevania games. Exploration is a legendary concept for this franchise and LoS has a lot of it. There's ample opportunity - and reward - for going back through the grueling puzzles to collect necessary upgrades for combat later on. The game will punish you in the later levels if you don't explore, especially with the great combat system on par with God of War 3. The combat system here takes what makes God of War 3 made great, and gives it a twist - the use of a shade system. Shadow and Light serve different purposes with each combo, and learning the effect of each is essential to being successful in game. The wide variety of combos gives the player an option to mix up battle stances a bit. For the very passionate fans of this franchise, this game is a worthy treat. The story, including the ending, caught me by surprise - and I expect more surprises if I ever get around to the downloadable content coming out next year. Honestly, and also a surprise to many people, this is the first Castlevania game I have ever played for more than ten minutes; the other one was Castlevania 64. Ten minutes into trying it, the console I was playing on crapped out. I took it as a sign.
People have come out and said the single player experience is dying; I have to disagree wholeheartedly. One studio has been making great games entirely meant for a great story - gameplay comes second. Not that Ninja Theory's games are terrible, but some feel their games are too easy. This is especially the case with their release this year, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. The premise is an apocalypse has happened, and two prisoners must venture to California. The combat here is beyond easy; you'll die once or twice and that's only because you'll forget to watch your health bar. Otherwise the story is what matters here - like the studio's other games, it is engaging and at the end I felt a small sense of accomplishment. Play this if you want great voice acting, believable characters and some humourous glitches that see Monkey disappear entirely within a cutscene. Just one thing: does someone at Ninja Theory have a thing for redheads?
Beards. In the month of November, these facial beasts were grown and shaved, to the delight of same and the dismay of others. One game, though, pushed the envelope of beard epicness. The beard is what people talked about when the cover was shown. It was just so... awesome. Too bad the game wasn't up to snuff. Another reboot this year, Medal of Honour followed suit with its own rendition of how they interpret modern warfare. Instead of a fictionalized war, this takes place in Afghanistan - where we all know what is currently taking place there. The game itself isn't bad - if other modern warfare games weren't released this year, MoH would be a quality game. The issue lies with how similar it is - or dissimilar it's trying to be - from Black Ops and Bad Company 2. To the game's credit, EA employed DICE to work on the game's multiplayer. This game, right now, is completely overshadowed by Bad Company 2: Vietnam and Call of Duty. There isn't much left to do with the modern warfare genre, and I can't blame EA for trying to capitalize on the trend with an established franchise - what studios refuse to believe is that CoD can't be beat. With a short campaign, limited multiplayer modes and the growing tediousness of the modern warfare genre, MoH was lost in the grind and even an epic beard can't save it.
Nintendo is legendary in the industry for its great franchises and fans of these franchises were spoiled in 2010. Both Other M and Super Mario Galaxy 2 were successful, both in reviews and sales, and Nintendo should be commended. Another franchise had gone missing for a couple years, but came back this year with something special, Kirby's Epic Yarn. This game has to be the cutest game I've ever seen. I'm not usually one for having a soft spot for games, but one can't deny how truly unique this game is. Both Good-Feel and HAL did a hell of a job and I can't wait to see what they do for a sequel (please make a sequel). I really want to play this game, and I have ever since it debuted at E3. There's just been too many other releases this year and sadly it got lost in the fray. My reason is obviously not justifiable, but I promise I will get around to it eventually. I want to play as a tank made of yarn! What the two studios have done with this game is so pretty and so unique that a few gaming publications gave it graphics of the show at E3. And I can't blame them. Usually it would go to how realistic a game looks, but rarely does a treat like Epic Yarn come by and steal the hearts of all. A common theme with Nintendo's releases, especially this year, has been a massive focus on gameplay and story has been set aside. This game is no different and it's an experience all in itself. Kirby loses his ability to suck in enemies since everything is made of yarn, including himself, but he can transform into anything given the situation. Epic Yarn is the second-best game for the Wii released this year, behind SMG2, and should not be denied by the Nintendo faithful.
Two wasteland games in the same blog post. Who would've thought this could happen? One was purely meant for the story while the other is about slaughtering things and being absorbed into a very diverse yet glitchy world. With games set in southern California and Washington, D.C., Vegas seemed like an appropriate location. Obsidian certainly had fun making New Vegas and that is shown with the huge variety of quests and how obscure some of these are. You play as the Courier, a person carrying an important package. In the opening sequence, you get shot in the head and are left for dead. Recovered by a suspicious robot, the Courier must find out what the package was and how it could affect the ultimate conclusion: the battle for Hoover Dam. The story is secondary here - it is more about what Fallout does great: exposing the player to a massive and diverse world with colourful characters and a multitude of quests to tackle. One thing new is just known as Hardcore mode - where hunger, thirst and lack of sleep have an effect and may lead to death. This mode does a great job in really making you feel like you're in a wasteland and not a god like in previous installments. The first downloadable episode was just released called Dead Money; I haven't played it yet, but I do plan to someday, so I think I'll write a review for it. Fallout: New Vegas is "bigger and more badass" as CliffyB would say compared to the Washington adventure, and Vegas is given its own identity. It's a journey to get to the city itself, even though you can see in the distance from Goodsprings (the starting town). A massive patch was recently released promising to fix the constant issues. I haven't played Vegas in a while and I will try it out soon. Should you gamble on Vegas this holiday season? (Yeah, I went there).
Sega was once a prominent player in the industry, but after the failure of the Dreamcast the publisher went into disarray. Conceding defeat, they have played an important role as a publisher and benefitted greatly this year. Their exclusive partnership with Platinum Games still makes them relevant - something the company desperately needs - and as long as Platinum keeps spitting out good games, Sega is smiling. Hot off the developer's success early in the year with Bayonetta, a completely different game hit shelves. Vanquish, a game where the Russians are the bad guys (that's all that's needed), is a Gears of War game on crack. This game is explosively fast-paced; even blinking may cause your character to perish. The game was received favourably and the game was universally praised for its gameplay; the one concern I had was the length. Game Informer said this game could be completed in four hours or less. And there is no multiplayer option. The gameplay wouldn't really work for multiplayer, but Platinum could have included at least a co-op mode to increase the lifespan of the game. For the time you play it's a roller coaster ride but after the ride is done, it's disappointing. I'm not saying a short game is necessarily a bad thing, but if Platinum wants me to pay $60 for something they make, that's a big commitment especially in tough economic conditions. I have faith that if there is a Vanquish 2, or if Platinum comes out with another shooter, they will learn from the criticisms and make the game ten hours or longer. And maybe even include multiplayer! (Bayonetta 2, even though we know it's coming, is a fine substitute).
Oh PETA. So misinformed. I'm not here to demean organizations that say they serve a great purpose, but I can make fun of them for their lack of research. In a publicity stunt either out of boredom or to stay relevant, they made several parodies of games this year. Mario was one of those. I don't know why, I've been tirelessly trying to find why, but one studio is definitely not complaining. In fact they had the last laugh. The most frustratingly addicting game I've ever played, Super Meat Boy cannot be explained. It's a phenomenon all to itself and it prides itself on this fact; the game is truly unique. An arcade platformer, the player plays at Meat Boy himself, trying to save his love Bandage Girl from the evil Dr. Fetus. Yes, an evil fetus. Since this is an arcade game, it is relatively cheap, and worth your buck. There are so many levels to play and with a level editor coming to PC/Mac in January, that's just more incentive to play. Fans of the game have found a secret level editor anyway locked away in the code, but the level editor coming is an official mode. The game is being constantly supported with new content from Team Meat and there are so much stuff to unlock. The game will force you to rage the entire time you play, this is almost a guarantee; controllers will be thrown. Why I mentioned PETA is because they made a game called "Super Tofu Boy" which we talked about on my podcast (belowradarpodcast.podbean.com). Basically, you play as Tofu Boy trying to save Bandage Girl from a jilted Meat Boy. PETA did this because they thought it promoted something that are so fiercely against, but they were wrong: Meat Boy himself isn't made of meat, he is just a boy without skin. Team Meat actually added Tofu Boy as a playable character for the PC version of the game; to unlock him, all you do is type in "petaphile" on the character selection screen. How awesome is that?
I am quite pissed at LucasArts right now. They have done some great things in the past, and will continue to in the future, but the lack of a certain game has me raged. Even more than when I played Super Meat Boy, and that is something to accredit them for. Arguably the most anticipated fictitious game out there - Battlefront 3 needs to be made. Not the crap game that came out this year, the Force Unleashed 2. The first one was terrible - too short, gameplay rather stale, and the story was nothing special. The second game tries too hard to be a good game. And it's not a good game. It is far from, actually. The sequel is still too short, the gameplay is still rather stale, and the story is still nothing special. How this series has sold so much is beyond me - probably just the power of the Star Wars name working its magic. The new head at LucasArts publicly said the third game was to be canceled, but then reports contradicted that saying it was on track for a 2012 release. I am pleading to LucasArts right now to release Battlefront 3 and appease the growing number of us who are pissed at you. We are really pissed. Pissed I tell you.
So that's it! This blog post is getting rather long so I'll do one for just October and move onto November tomorrow. Have fun, drive safe (although you shouldn't be reading this while you're driving), and get as drunk as you can! Not that I am promoting drunkenness, of course.
December 25, 2010
2010: The Year of Stumbles, Court Cases and Great Games - Part 3
I'm back and ready for round three. Happy holidays, or whatever you celebrate, and cheers on you in the new year. I know 2011 should be an interesting year for me. My new year's resolution is to continue this blog and keep gaining loyal readers! I don't know where most of you are finding my blog, but I thank you for reading and hope you continue reading. Now, without further ado, on to part three!
This time of the year is one of the most exciting for the video game industry. After the biggest announcements seen at E3 have settled in and the crowd has dispersed, other parts of the world are having their own conferences. Gamescom for Europe, usually held in Cologne, has become the world's largest games event with more than 200,000 spectators and 4,000 journalists (maybe I'll go someday?); and the Tokyo Game Show, for well, Tokyo, and the rest of Japan has grown in importance over the past few years. The growing success of Japanese developers/publishers in the West and vice-versa has allowed the TGS to be used as a showcase for Western developers and their games. This interconnection between gaming markets should grow and will lead to better games. At least I am hoping that's the case.
To start things off, this game's predecessor had abnormally high sales, but only because it included an invitation to the beta of one of the most successful multiplayer games ever produced. Obviously Halo 3 overshadowed what Crackdown was, and the game benefited it from that; but people were doing themselves wrong because the first Crackdown was a great game. It became an addiction to run around with collect all the orbs in game, and if you did, it was one of the most satisfying accomplishments in gaming history (I didn't get close). After waiting patiently, Crackdown 2 was announced and looked to present one of the more intriguing co-op experiences to date, and it did. But what Ruffian did, and to the universal dismay of everyone, was transform something great into something terrible. The four player co-op was a riot, literally, causing people to panic and scream. The studio took the template of the first game and just added co-op, a tacked-on competitive multiplayer and dimmed down the city to make it look worse. This is the first sequel I have played where the graphics looked worse than its original game. And the city was the exact same! There was no changes except for certain zones were blocked off by "the Cell", a terrorist group, and "the Freaks", zombies that roamed the streets at night. The missions were repetitive, the story wasn't worth it, but at least the co-op was redeemable. And it was also fun to jump impossible lengths to collect orbs. Oh those delicious orbs...
Imagine living in a world where your one sole purpose in life was to obtain the unobtainable. That was your main course, everything you knew, breathed, thought about. And then add some hilarity and you have DeathSpank! One of the better arcade titles this year, DeathSpank was like a flamboyant Diablo who worked as a comedian. Comedic value is everywhere here, and if you are looking for a good chuckle, DeathSpank is worth your buck. The game isn't that bad either. And once, conveniently, you get done with the first one, grab the sequel Thongs of Virtue (yes, thongs; not throngs, thongs) for the same price. It continues the good charm but with more humour, weaponry, increased boss fights and a childish yet endearing story. Go get it now. You have no reason not to play this.
On the whole other spectrum of arcade releases this year, Limbo, a contender on most lists for arcade GOTY, is dark, scary, treacherous, scary, challenging, scary; did I mention scary? A little boy's trek through the woods to find his sister couldn't have been that bad, or so I thought, but when you have endless traps, gargantuan spiders and even gravity to worry about, that's one fucked up forest. I like to think I'm pretty good at puzzle games (I know people would disagree but I can't hear you, nananabooboo) and Limbo really stretches your mind. The ability for the game to be so rage-inducing but also so charming and simple is a very cool relationship. After completing a puzzle, you'll probably think "crap, why didn't I think of that before?" and chances are you did, just it wasn't executed well. Playdead should be commended for making such an eerily gorgeous game that challenges players and doesn't give them a free pass. I just wish the game was longer though; there's a lot more they could have done with it. 1200 points might seem a little steep for the length of the game, but if you have a bunch of buddies over who all chip in, it can lead to some interesting moments (as what happened when I played through it).
I have never been a fan of RTS games. Probably because I am terrible at macro-management, but also because my laptop can barely run StarCraft 2. The demo was fun, though. The most anticipated game of the year, hands down. StarCraft is still played, it's even turned into a professional league in Korea, with players earning hundreds of thousands of dollars and turning into celebrities overnight. Why are the Koreans so good? I could never figure it out. But, from what I have heard in doing research for this blog post, is that some Korean players can do 400 APM (actions per minute) which is unheard of. And that continues with StarCraft 2. This franchise is probably the best series of RTS games ever made, and I know for a fact that players couldn't wait for the inevitable sequel. A decade is a long time to wait. Blizzard, for StarCraft 3, please don't turn into Valve and wait 23243432252352 years to release a game.
I have not seen the movie for this next game, and I am probably should at some point, but I'm not a fan of Michael Cera. He plays the same damn character in every single movie. The only difference about Scott Pilgrim is the fact that he's Canadian. The arcade game tie-in, with one of the longest game titles I've seen, is Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game. You just lost (inside joke and some people will hate me for this, ha-ha!). The side-scrolling beat'em up is a good game. A great game. On par with Limbo to be the best arcade title of the year. The gameplay, the soundtrack and the array of characters to play as were all great in paying homage to what this comic book has turned into. I've actually read the comic book and it is entertaining. Please read it (and watch the movie (and play the game!!!)) and see if you can catch all the video game references. There is a lot to go through. I've played a lot of video games in my day and I only caught a few. It's a fun challenge! But enough ranting, this arcade game is great. The one thing that discouraged me from buying it myself was the exclusion of online co-op. It has to be on the same console. Just seems wrong for a game that is so video-game oriented to not include that. A shame, really.
There is one aspect of life that video games should not touch. Grand Theft Auto can get away with it because it is more focused on other crimes. But the Mafia is a badass bunch. Detailing the outgoings of a crime organization just seems wrong and someone will get wacked over it. Especially if the game is terrible. An Italian member of the European Parliament has actively sought to ban the game on the continent - when I first heard this, I thought it was because it was just that bad. On the contrary, the member of parliament is an active campaigner for those who've faced violence from Italian crime families, including her own father. I'm sure people that have wanted it have already bought the game, so this ban wouldn't be that detrimental for Take Two; but an interesting controversy nonetheless. Regarding the faults of Mafia 2, there were a lot of them, but one was purely false advertising; the open world concept is one treasured today, and Mafia 2 spat on it. Mafia 2 was indeed an open world - the player could freely drive around as they like - but when I hear "open world" used with a game I expect there is something to actually do in the open world, not just tediously drive from mission to mission and then home to shit and shave. An "open world" was unnecessary and made the game ultimately worse. I would rather be strung along by a piece of cheese (I love cheese) tied to a stick. Or a shotgun if you're like a psychopath.
She has a voice! She makes noise for once! KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE! (This is seriously how I read someone respond to Samus speaking in Other M - no joke). Rarely have I talked about Wii games in these last three blog posts, but Other M deserved some attention. I have not played this, nor do I really want to; maybe it's just me who doesn't see all the fuss about the Metroid franchise. The games were good but making them out to be ethereal or something like that is silly. Giving Samus some personality and not making her a faceless template again could only be a boost for the franchise. The gameplay, as original as it once was, was getting stale.
The VGAs were decent this year, and Neil Patrick Harris did what he needed to do. He was no Samuel L. Jackson but a viable substitute. The reason I mention him, and what he won an award for the show, was his voice acting for Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions. As legendary a folk hero Spiderman has become, his video game series is notorious for the horrible camera issues and glitches in the different games. And unfortunately, a unique premise and quality voice acting couldn't save the game. The same camera angles and the same glitches are still present, and still hamper the experience. Spiderman needs a saving grace, or else the games are doomed. And somehow that doesn't seem like a bad thing after all.
Ever seen a really good documentary? It's a rare spectacle that an interactive documentary comes about, and Halo: Reach is more about the experience if anything. Anyone familiar with the Halo lore will know that Reach falls, and the journey with Noble Team to such a likely conclusion is both thrilling and enthralling. As the game progresses and Noble Team's numbers slowly dwindle, you can witness the hope receding on the faces of those that survived the invasion, and the corpses that now rest, frozen in time. Almost picturesque in a way. But Reach is everything a Halo fan would expect and more. The massive and expansive area that is Forge World, an addicting multiplayer, a thrilling campaign and the ability to record yourself in theater mode, plus how much more badass the DMR is compared to the battle rifle, make Reach the best Halo game yet. I'm sure it was hard for Bungie to part from their baby. Halo has always been and will always be Bungie's franchise, not 343 Industries, and I'm sad to see them go. But it seems things work out in the end anyway: Microsoft keeps the series alive with their own subsidiary and Bungie signs an exclusive ten-year deal with the mammoth that is Activision. What Bungie does next I can't wait for. The E3 of 2011 should bring a few surprises.
In hearing about the next game, and the final one for this blog post, I was scared to step foot in the local mall. A zombie outbreak could possibly happen at any time, even though it is often joked at, and being in a mall when it did happen would be the worst scenario. I feel terribly sorry for anyone that sees the Dead Rising in a mall. Frank West had time to take pictures and Chuck Greene took the time to save his daughter; I would just cower in fear and hope it's all over. But in actuality, Dead Rising 2 was released in September and is the final major game (excluding FIFA 11 which I can't really talk about) before the holiday shopping season starts. The game was enjoyable; but when has killing mindless zombies with ostentatious weapons not been fun? Really the only thing about this game compared to the first was the storyline and the weapon customization. Otherwise it was the main character caught in a mall with three days to survive. You can rescue survivors, kill psychopaths or just keep it cool and slaughter to your heart's content; whatever you do choose can factor into the ending of the game. There's not a story here per se, the main story is actually the relationship and further bonding between Chuck and his daughter. The funniest thing is you can give her a tiger as a pet. And it doesn't try to kill her. How? Well I guess whatever happens in Fortune City, stays in Fortune City.
This is the end of part three. Tomorrow is even busier and there are even more quality games to get to. What I may end up doing is counting all the games released as four parts, and go into other debacles of the year in separate posts. That seems appropriate. To reiterate, good on ya, happy holidays or whatever you celebrate, and keep reading! (This part is so far down the page because Blogger is being stupid at the moment, sorry about that).
This time of the year is one of the most exciting for the video game industry. After the biggest announcements seen at E3 have settled in and the crowd has dispersed, other parts of the world are having their own conferences. Gamescom for Europe, usually held in Cologne, has become the world's largest games event with more than 200,000 spectators and 4,000 journalists (maybe I'll go someday?); and the Tokyo Game Show, for well, Tokyo, and the rest of Japan has grown in importance over the past few years. The growing success of Japanese developers/publishers in the West and vice-versa has allowed the TGS to be used as a showcase for Western developers and their games. This interconnection between gaming markets should grow and will lead to better games. At least I am hoping that's the case.
To start things off, this game's predecessor had abnormally high sales, but only because it included an invitation to the beta of one of the most successful multiplayer games ever produced. Obviously Halo 3 overshadowed what Crackdown was, and the game benefited it from that; but people were doing themselves wrong because the first Crackdown was a great game. It became an addiction to run around with collect all the orbs in game, and if you did, it was one of the most satisfying accomplishments in gaming history (I didn't get close). After waiting patiently, Crackdown 2 was announced and looked to present one of the more intriguing co-op experiences to date, and it did. But what Ruffian did, and to the universal dismay of everyone, was transform something great into something terrible. The four player co-op was a riot, literally, causing people to panic and scream. The studio took the template of the first game and just added co-op, a tacked-on competitive multiplayer and dimmed down the city to make it look worse. This is the first sequel I have played where the graphics looked worse than its original game. And the city was the exact same! There was no changes except for certain zones were blocked off by "the Cell", a terrorist group, and "the Freaks", zombies that roamed the streets at night. The missions were repetitive, the story wasn't worth it, but at least the co-op was redeemable. And it was also fun to jump impossible lengths to collect orbs. Oh those delicious orbs...
Imagine living in a world where your one sole purpose in life was to obtain the unobtainable. That was your main course, everything you knew, breathed, thought about. And then add some hilarity and you have DeathSpank! One of the better arcade titles this year, DeathSpank was like a flamboyant Diablo who worked as a comedian. Comedic value is everywhere here, and if you are looking for a good chuckle, DeathSpank is worth your buck. The game isn't that bad either. And once, conveniently, you get done with the first one, grab the sequel Thongs of Virtue (yes, thongs; not throngs, thongs) for the same price. It continues the good charm but with more humour, weaponry, increased boss fights and a childish yet endearing story. Go get it now. You have no reason not to play this.
On the whole other spectrum of arcade releases this year, Limbo, a contender on most lists for arcade GOTY, is dark, scary, treacherous, scary, challenging, scary; did I mention scary? A little boy's trek through the woods to find his sister couldn't have been that bad, or so I thought, but when you have endless traps, gargantuan spiders and even gravity to worry about, that's one fucked up forest. I like to think I'm pretty good at puzzle games (I know people would disagree but I can't hear you, nananabooboo) and Limbo really stretches your mind. The ability for the game to be so rage-inducing but also so charming and simple is a very cool relationship. After completing a puzzle, you'll probably think "crap, why didn't I think of that before?" and chances are you did, just it wasn't executed well. Playdead should be commended for making such an eerily gorgeous game that challenges players and doesn't give them a free pass. I just wish the game was longer though; there's a lot more they could have done with it. 1200 points might seem a little steep for the length of the game, but if you have a bunch of buddies over who all chip in, it can lead to some interesting moments (as what happened when I played through it).
I have never been a fan of RTS games. Probably because I am terrible at macro-management, but also because my laptop can barely run StarCraft 2. The demo was fun, though. The most anticipated game of the year, hands down. StarCraft is still played, it's even turned into a professional league in Korea, with players earning hundreds of thousands of dollars and turning into celebrities overnight. Why are the Koreans so good? I could never figure it out. But, from what I have heard in doing research for this blog post, is that some Korean players can do 400 APM (actions per minute) which is unheard of. And that continues with StarCraft 2. This franchise is probably the best series of RTS games ever made, and I know for a fact that players couldn't wait for the inevitable sequel. A decade is a long time to wait. Blizzard, for StarCraft 3, please don't turn into Valve and wait 23243432252352 years to release a game.
I have not seen the movie for this next game, and I am probably should at some point, but I'm not a fan of Michael Cera. He plays the same damn character in every single movie. The only difference about Scott Pilgrim is the fact that he's Canadian. The arcade game tie-in, with one of the longest game titles I've seen, is Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game. You just lost (inside joke and some people will hate me for this, ha-ha!). The side-scrolling beat'em up is a good game. A great game. On par with Limbo to be the best arcade title of the year. The gameplay, the soundtrack and the array of characters to play as were all great in paying homage to what this comic book has turned into. I've actually read the comic book and it is entertaining. Please read it (and watch the movie (and play the game!!!)) and see if you can catch all the video game references. There is a lot to go through. I've played a lot of video games in my day and I only caught a few. It's a fun challenge! But enough ranting, this arcade game is great. The one thing that discouraged me from buying it myself was the exclusion of online co-op. It has to be on the same console. Just seems wrong for a game that is so video-game oriented to not include that. A shame, really.
There is one aspect of life that video games should not touch. Grand Theft Auto can get away with it because it is more focused on other crimes. But the Mafia is a badass bunch. Detailing the outgoings of a crime organization just seems wrong and someone will get wacked over it. Especially if the game is terrible. An Italian member of the European Parliament has actively sought to ban the game on the continent - when I first heard this, I thought it was because it was just that bad. On the contrary, the member of parliament is an active campaigner for those who've faced violence from Italian crime families, including her own father. I'm sure people that have wanted it have already bought the game, so this ban wouldn't be that detrimental for Take Two; but an interesting controversy nonetheless. Regarding the faults of Mafia 2, there were a lot of them, but one was purely false advertising; the open world concept is one treasured today, and Mafia 2 spat on it. Mafia 2 was indeed an open world - the player could freely drive around as they like - but when I hear "open world" used with a game I expect there is something to actually do in the open world, not just tediously drive from mission to mission and then home to shit and shave. An "open world" was unnecessary and made the game ultimately worse. I would rather be strung along by a piece of cheese (I love cheese) tied to a stick. Or a shotgun if you're like a psychopath.
She has a voice! She makes noise for once! KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE! (This is seriously how I read someone respond to Samus speaking in Other M - no joke). Rarely have I talked about Wii games in these last three blog posts, but Other M deserved some attention. I have not played this, nor do I really want to; maybe it's just me who doesn't see all the fuss about the Metroid franchise. The games were good but making them out to be ethereal or something like that is silly. Giving Samus some personality and not making her a faceless template again could only be a boost for the franchise. The gameplay, as original as it once was, was getting stale.
The VGAs were decent this year, and Neil Patrick Harris did what he needed to do. He was no Samuel L. Jackson but a viable substitute. The reason I mention him, and what he won an award for the show, was his voice acting for Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions. As legendary a folk hero Spiderman has become, his video game series is notorious for the horrible camera issues and glitches in the different games. And unfortunately, a unique premise and quality voice acting couldn't save the game. The same camera angles and the same glitches are still present, and still hamper the experience. Spiderman needs a saving grace, or else the games are doomed. And somehow that doesn't seem like a bad thing after all.
Ever seen a really good documentary? It's a rare spectacle that an interactive documentary comes about, and Halo: Reach is more about the experience if anything. Anyone familiar with the Halo lore will know that Reach falls, and the journey with Noble Team to such a likely conclusion is both thrilling and enthralling. As the game progresses and Noble Team's numbers slowly dwindle, you can witness the hope receding on the faces of those that survived the invasion, and the corpses that now rest, frozen in time. Almost picturesque in a way. But Reach is everything a Halo fan would expect and more. The massive and expansive area that is Forge World, an addicting multiplayer, a thrilling campaign and the ability to record yourself in theater mode, plus how much more badass the DMR is compared to the battle rifle, make Reach the best Halo game yet. I'm sure it was hard for Bungie to part from their baby. Halo has always been and will always be Bungie's franchise, not 343 Industries, and I'm sad to see them go. But it seems things work out in the end anyway: Microsoft keeps the series alive with their own subsidiary and Bungie signs an exclusive ten-year deal with the mammoth that is Activision. What Bungie does next I can't wait for. The E3 of 2011 should bring a few surprises.
In hearing about the next game, and the final one for this blog post, I was scared to step foot in the local mall. A zombie outbreak could possibly happen at any time, even though it is often joked at, and being in a mall when it did happen would be the worst scenario. I feel terribly sorry for anyone that sees the Dead Rising in a mall. Frank West had time to take pictures and Chuck Greene took the time to save his daughter; I would just cower in fear and hope it's all over. But in actuality, Dead Rising 2 was released in September and is the final major game (excluding FIFA 11 which I can't really talk about) before the holiday shopping season starts. The game was enjoyable; but when has killing mindless zombies with ostentatious weapons not been fun? Really the only thing about this game compared to the first was the storyline and the weapon customization. Otherwise it was the main character caught in a mall with three days to survive. You can rescue survivors, kill psychopaths or just keep it cool and slaughter to your heart's content; whatever you do choose can factor into the ending of the game. There's not a story here per se, the main story is actually the relationship and further bonding between Chuck and his daughter. The funniest thing is you can give her a tiger as a pet. And it doesn't try to kill her. How? Well I guess whatever happens in Fortune City, stays in Fortune City.
This is the end of part three. Tomorrow is even busier and there are even more quality games to get to. What I may end up doing is counting all the games released as four parts, and go into other debacles of the year in separate posts. That seems appropriate. To reiterate, good on ya, happy holidays or whatever you celebrate, and keep reading! (This part is so far down the page because Blogger is being stupid at the moment, sorry about that).
December 24, 2010
2010: The Year of Stumbles, Court Cases and Great Games - Part
We've all been waiting for it. *all giddy* I wanna see what this anonymous guy on the Internet thinks about all my favourite games this year! Omfg, you think he'll agree? Or, like, disagree? I fuckin' hope not! His opinion is so important to me! SERIOUSLY! (What I imagine a sixteen-year-old girl talking about my blog were say). I won't dilly-dally any further; folks, here's part two!
For the April - June period, there was a change in video game release dates. Usually, the top tier games (also known as AAA superficially) are released in the three months before Christmas (you're gonna have to wait until after Christmas for my thoughts on this year's lineup, so please read it!). But now, most notably the VGAs GOTY (LOL, most notably; that award show is a joke), some quality games were shipped in the middle of the year. This is a trend that's been happening for a while now, but for some reason people only took notice of it this year. This trend is no more apparent in 2010 than next spring, when more notable games are released (Portal 2, fuck yes!). (Half of this paragraph is in brackets, I just realized).
Just to backtrack a bit: another good friend of mine (not the one that has his heart chopped up into little pieces by Cryptic) informed me I forgot to talk about the very first release of this year. I'll admit, I did. But for good reason. Bayonetta was something special: a badass chick with kickass moves giving everyone nerd-gasms everywhere. It was one of the major games I didn't play last year. I saw people play it, but really only for a short time, so my opinion would be shortsighted. If you guys want it enough, I guess I could do a better review on the 5th to celebrate the anniversary of the game.
Back on track now: Another last-long series released a game this year to mixed reaction. Some thought, and I'm included in this group, that one of the main mechanics was almost eradicated: stealth. Others like the confronting style the game took on and celebrated it by beating the game in less than five hours. Of course, Splinter Cell has always been a stealth-oriented franchise. (My first game on 360 was Double Agent and I wasn't a big fan). With such a divergence from the core gameplay and basically putting an emphasis on confronting CQC, this didn't feel like a Splinter Cell game. Sure it started Sam Fisher shooting guys in their faces and slapping women (like all real men do, obviously), but supplement another main character in and this is could have been a separate release. I'm a big fan of Ubisoft and their work but Conviction felt like too much of a change from what fans have come to expect. The game itself isn't bad - it's certainly better than Double Agent - but the short length made it not worthy of being priced at $60. I was pleasantly surprised with the co-op mode however. It was fun and really tried your brain. The game is probably a lot cheaper now so go pick it up if you haven't yet - it'll get you through the holidays.
The next game is another example of how different video game cultures are. The Monster Hunter franchise is relatively unknown in the West, maybe a small fanbase, but over in Japan, this game sells on par with Pokemon. This game is really good. If it's not one of Capcom's best releases, I don't know what should be considered. Basically, this game is an action RPG with online capabilities to that of an MMO. It can be played in single-player but you won't get the full experience unless played with friends, and this fact may deter some people. Every monster in the game behaves differently and knowing your stance, when to attack, when to avoid, and pretty much everything else about the behaviour of the monster is imperative to killing it. Monster Hunter Tri has a massive learning curve and not casual in the slightest. You will lose yourself to this game - which is definitely not a bad thing. It's a shame Tri is a victim of cultural differences, but this game could have had the ability to give the Wii top-selling console this year.
Dead to Rights: Retribution had a storied release. Millions of people gathered across stores globally to get this game. I'm playing it in my mind as I write this. I don't know what in the hell Namco Bandai was thinking in commissioning another game in this series. Retribution is further proving that Namco Bandai really is in trouble if they don't come with a new idea. My opinion on this game was mixed - some firefights were fun and challenging and others were a breeze. It was also fun to see the dog tear people to shreds. But a word to Namco: please be done with this franchise. The sales of Retribution should tell you that people don't care for DtR anymore.
Deadly Premonition wasn't the only PS2 game released this year on current-gen consoles. This game was nierly there but failed miserably. Yes, the game was set up for a terrible pun. We had some fun with it on our podcast (belowradarpodcast.podbean.com). Yay shameless plugs! But seriously, this game did have potential. The story was one of the better ones this year (even better than FFXIII, that's gotta' sting), the characters were colourful and interesting, but ultimately it fell into the trap commonly used in RPGs: fetch quests and A LOT of them. Get this, grab that, kill this many of these things; I'm surprised Cavia had such difficulty with this. Drakengard, an older release from them, I actually enjoyed. A missed opportunity here.
The year saw a huge change in a drawn-out monopolized genre. Tony Hawk dominated the skateboarding video game scene with no quality challengers. (Shaun White, I'm sorry, but stick to snowboarding please). Then EA saw the decline of this one great franchise and decided to compete, with great success. Skate took the open-world concept and made it it's own. Tony Hawk Shred, on the other hand, was a miserable failure. Probably one of the biggest flops in video gaming history. The game sold 3000 copies and Activision gave it no support except for one spot at a gaming show a few months ago. The winner here is clearly Skate 3 and I commend them for keeping the hardcore gameplay, and not falling into the trap of motion control. Skate is one of the few times I will praise EA for a business decision.
An icy planet with multiple factions vying for control. This situation lead to a good game. That planet now is all melted and these same factions vying for control. This situation lead to a bad game. How does that work? Do reviewers or Capcom love the winter that much? Lost Planet was a great game. Contrary to what other people said with the gameplay, I actually thought it suited the game well. The grittiness of the war along with the beautiful graphics lead to a great package. But its sequel, a game I was looking forward to, disappointed me and everyone else that played it. The engine remained the same with updated graphics; the game looked awesome. Especially that sequence on top of the train. But an annoying interface, odd design issues and the inclusion of co-op ruined the game. Co-op is usually a good thing, and when a game is meant for co-op it's even better. But Lost Planet 2 focused SO MUCH on co-op that it was absurdly impossible or really, really difficult to get through it on single player. The game was made to be played with friends, but Capcom, you can't alienate your audience who prefers to play games solo.
For this next paragraph I'm gonna do something bold. Talk about two games in one breath. Go! In May, two racing games were released: Blur and Spilt/Second. One was a current-gen Mario Kart, and the other had a lot of explosions. Explosions everywhere. And debris, don't forget about the debris. The main mechanic of Split/Second was that the gameplay emphasized the use of "powerplays", traps used to cause MASSIVE EXPLOSIONS that hampered other racers. The premise was solid: a reality television show with a fake audience watching something spectacular. Split/Second is a great game. But the longevity of it I question. The game was meant to be fast-paced and surprising, but the limited number of races lead players to know what traps were where, and avoid accordingly. Blur, on the other tire, was the most unpredictable racing game I have ever played. Players used "shunts" (yes, really, shunts) and other power-ups to muster their way through a large variety of tracks, from the desert to the famous Hollywood sign. In a second, you could go from first-to-last and the difficulty was eased according to position. Blur was the better of the two, but purely based on the unpredictability; both games are completely different and it may have been wrong for me to compare them, but fuck it. Go get both, or at least one, if you haven't yet. You'll be thanking me later.
One of the better 360 exclusives, Alan Wake had everything going for it: a beautiful, serene setting with a WTF storyline and minor hype. Gamers had waited five grueling years for this game and they weren't disappointed. Alan Wake's best friend in the game was light, and apparently the West Coast doesn't have enough of it. At night things got scary as "the Taken" came after you - these imitating possessed citizens. There's not much I can say without spoiling it, so I'll be brief. The game is the best psychological thriller released this year, hands down. If you love thermoses, this game will give you a wet dream seven times over.
Redemption seemed to be theme this year in gaming. I've already torn apart one game with the title, but this other game I can't. Red Dead is just too good. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this game. It is perfect. I'll make a separate blog post as to why I love Red Dead because this post would get too long.
The Wii had a great year this year, but it was overshadowed by the other consoles. The best game for the console was released this year, arguably, and that was Super Mario Galaxy 2. I played a lot of this game, and no two levels are the same. There is so much diversity in the levels and the game is really fun. Anyone who hasn't played this that is reading this blog post is doing themselves an injustice. SMG2 has sold 5.1 million copies and for good reason.
The next game was the only case where I couldn't finish a game because the game was too broken. I rented Alpha Protocol and didn't know what to expect. And somehow I still felt disappointed. You play as a guy named Michael Thorton who works for a secret government agency called Alpha Protocol. The one redeemable aspect of this game is the conversation system. Every single time the game lets you make a decision, the ramifications of that are deep throughout the game. For example, there's a person you can enrage early on and if you come to fight them later, they can make a fatal mistake. There are so many variables that each experience will be completely different (even more than Mass Effect, and that is a remarkable thing to accomplish). If it wasn't for the shooting mechanics being broken, this game would have been one of the better ones this year.
Two more games I promise. Giant mechs have always had a place in my heart, and battling people around the world with said mechs made me jump with glee. War for Cybertron is not a bad game; it is probably the best Transformers game ever made. The game is pretty straightforward - you can play as both Decepticons and Autobots engaged in a civil war over their home planet. Megatron discovers an element that he believes can bring Cybertron to a state of "peace". WfC included a very addicting in-depth multiplayer (too bad it was laggy as shit and impossible to play). I don't know if they've fix the mode yet, but if they have, hopefully people are still playing it.
And lastly, and certainly least, is a game my fellow podcast-mates seemed to enjoy too much. The store my one friend bought it at actually didn't have it in stock until later that day. This rather interesting title sees the player killing innocent bears because the bear you play as is a psychopath. And you rack up points in the process. Nothing could go wrong with that! With awkward controls, no storyline to speak of, and cheesy puns galore, Naughty Bear is one of the worst releases of the year, if not the worst.
There you have it folks. After three hours of writing and two coffee breaks, I am now done. I don't know if I'll be able to get the next one done until after Christmas as I have a bunch of plans, but I'll try my best. Thanks for reading and see you guys Boxing Day! (Go look for deals on Sunday after you read my blog post of course).
For the April - June period, there was a change in video game release dates. Usually, the top tier games (also known as AAA superficially) are released in the three months before Christmas (you're gonna have to wait until after Christmas for my thoughts on this year's lineup, so please read it!). But now, most notably the VGAs GOTY (LOL, most notably; that award show is a joke), some quality games were shipped in the middle of the year. This is a trend that's been happening for a while now, but for some reason people only took notice of it this year. This trend is no more apparent in 2010 than next spring, when more notable games are released (Portal 2, fuck yes!). (Half of this paragraph is in brackets, I just realized).
Just to backtrack a bit: another good friend of mine (not the one that has his heart chopped up into little pieces by Cryptic) informed me I forgot to talk about the very first release of this year. I'll admit, I did. But for good reason. Bayonetta was something special: a badass chick with kickass moves giving everyone nerd-gasms everywhere. It was one of the major games I didn't play last year. I saw people play it, but really only for a short time, so my opinion would be shortsighted. If you guys want it enough, I guess I could do a better review on the 5th to celebrate the anniversary of the game.
Back on track now: Another last-long series released a game this year to mixed reaction. Some thought, and I'm included in this group, that one of the main mechanics was almost eradicated: stealth. Others like the confronting style the game took on and celebrated it by beating the game in less than five hours. Of course, Splinter Cell has always been a stealth-oriented franchise. (My first game on 360 was Double Agent and I wasn't a big fan). With such a divergence from the core gameplay and basically putting an emphasis on confronting CQC, this didn't feel like a Splinter Cell game. Sure it started Sam Fisher shooting guys in their faces and slapping women (like all real men do, obviously), but supplement another main character in and this is could have been a separate release. I'm a big fan of Ubisoft and their work but Conviction felt like too much of a change from what fans have come to expect. The game itself isn't bad - it's certainly better than Double Agent - but the short length made it not worthy of being priced at $60. I was pleasantly surprised with the co-op mode however. It was fun and really tried your brain. The game is probably a lot cheaper now so go pick it up if you haven't yet - it'll get you through the holidays.
The next game is another example of how different video game cultures are. The Monster Hunter franchise is relatively unknown in the West, maybe a small fanbase, but over in Japan, this game sells on par with Pokemon. This game is really good. If it's not one of Capcom's best releases, I don't know what should be considered. Basically, this game is an action RPG with online capabilities to that of an MMO. It can be played in single-player but you won't get the full experience unless played with friends, and this fact may deter some people. Every monster in the game behaves differently and knowing your stance, when to attack, when to avoid, and pretty much everything else about the behaviour of the monster is imperative to killing it. Monster Hunter Tri has a massive learning curve and not casual in the slightest. You will lose yourself to this game - which is definitely not a bad thing. It's a shame Tri is a victim of cultural differences, but this game could have had the ability to give the Wii top-selling console this year.
Dead to Rights: Retribution had a storied release. Millions of people gathered across stores globally to get this game. I'm playing it in my mind as I write this. I don't know what in the hell Namco Bandai was thinking in commissioning another game in this series. Retribution is further proving that Namco Bandai really is in trouble if they don't come with a new idea. My opinion on this game was mixed - some firefights were fun and challenging and others were a breeze. It was also fun to see the dog tear people to shreds. But a word to Namco: please be done with this franchise. The sales of Retribution should tell you that people don't care for DtR anymore.
Deadly Premonition wasn't the only PS2 game released this year on current-gen consoles. This game was nierly there but failed miserably. Yes, the game was set up for a terrible pun. We had some fun with it on our podcast (belowradarpodcast.podbean.com). Yay shameless plugs! But seriously, this game did have potential. The story was one of the better ones this year (even better than FFXIII, that's gotta' sting), the characters were colourful and interesting, but ultimately it fell into the trap commonly used in RPGs: fetch quests and A LOT of them. Get this, grab that, kill this many of these things; I'm surprised Cavia had such difficulty with this. Drakengard, an older release from them, I actually enjoyed. A missed opportunity here.
The year saw a huge change in a drawn-out monopolized genre. Tony Hawk dominated the skateboarding video game scene with no quality challengers. (Shaun White, I'm sorry, but stick to snowboarding please). Then EA saw the decline of this one great franchise and decided to compete, with great success. Skate took the open-world concept and made it it's own. Tony Hawk Shred, on the other hand, was a miserable failure. Probably one of the biggest flops in video gaming history. The game sold 3000 copies and Activision gave it no support except for one spot at a gaming show a few months ago. The winner here is clearly Skate 3 and I commend them for keeping the hardcore gameplay, and not falling into the trap of motion control. Skate is one of the few times I will praise EA for a business decision.
An icy planet with multiple factions vying for control. This situation lead to a good game. That planet now is all melted and these same factions vying for control. This situation lead to a bad game. How does that work? Do reviewers or Capcom love the winter that much? Lost Planet was a great game. Contrary to what other people said with the gameplay, I actually thought it suited the game well. The grittiness of the war along with the beautiful graphics lead to a great package. But its sequel, a game I was looking forward to, disappointed me and everyone else that played it. The engine remained the same with updated graphics; the game looked awesome. Especially that sequence on top of the train. But an annoying interface, odd design issues and the inclusion of co-op ruined the game. Co-op is usually a good thing, and when a game is meant for co-op it's even better. But Lost Planet 2 focused SO MUCH on co-op that it was absurdly impossible or really, really difficult to get through it on single player. The game was made to be played with friends, but Capcom, you can't alienate your audience who prefers to play games solo.
For this next paragraph I'm gonna do something bold. Talk about two games in one breath. Go! In May, two racing games were released: Blur and Spilt/Second. One was a current-gen Mario Kart, and the other had a lot of explosions. Explosions everywhere. And debris, don't forget about the debris. The main mechanic of Split/Second was that the gameplay emphasized the use of "powerplays", traps used to cause MASSIVE EXPLOSIONS that hampered other racers. The premise was solid: a reality television show with a fake audience watching something spectacular. Split/Second is a great game. But the longevity of it I question. The game was meant to be fast-paced and surprising, but the limited number of races lead players to know what traps were where, and avoid accordingly. Blur, on the other tire, was the most unpredictable racing game I have ever played. Players used "shunts" (yes, really, shunts) and other power-ups to muster their way through a large variety of tracks, from the desert to the famous Hollywood sign. In a second, you could go from first-to-last and the difficulty was eased according to position. Blur was the better of the two, but purely based on the unpredictability; both games are completely different and it may have been wrong for me to compare them, but fuck it. Go get both, or at least one, if you haven't yet. You'll be thanking me later.
One of the better 360 exclusives, Alan Wake had everything going for it: a beautiful, serene setting with a WTF storyline and minor hype. Gamers had waited five grueling years for this game and they weren't disappointed. Alan Wake's best friend in the game was light, and apparently the West Coast doesn't have enough of it. At night things got scary as "the Taken" came after you - these imitating possessed citizens. There's not much I can say without spoiling it, so I'll be brief. The game is the best psychological thriller released this year, hands down. If you love thermoses, this game will give you a wet dream seven times over.
Redemption seemed to be theme this year in gaming. I've already torn apart one game with the title, but this other game I can't. Red Dead is just too good. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this game. It is perfect. I'll make a separate blog post as to why I love Red Dead because this post would get too long.
The Wii had a great year this year, but it was overshadowed by the other consoles. The best game for the console was released this year, arguably, and that was Super Mario Galaxy 2. I played a lot of this game, and no two levels are the same. There is so much diversity in the levels and the game is really fun. Anyone who hasn't played this that is reading this blog post is doing themselves an injustice. SMG2 has sold 5.1 million copies and for good reason.
The next game was the only case where I couldn't finish a game because the game was too broken. I rented Alpha Protocol and didn't know what to expect. And somehow I still felt disappointed. You play as a guy named Michael Thorton who works for a secret government agency called Alpha Protocol. The one redeemable aspect of this game is the conversation system. Every single time the game lets you make a decision, the ramifications of that are deep throughout the game. For example, there's a person you can enrage early on and if you come to fight them later, they can make a fatal mistake. There are so many variables that each experience will be completely different (even more than Mass Effect, and that is a remarkable thing to accomplish). If it wasn't for the shooting mechanics being broken, this game would have been one of the better ones this year.
Two more games I promise. Giant mechs have always had a place in my heart, and battling people around the world with said mechs made me jump with glee. War for Cybertron is not a bad game; it is probably the best Transformers game ever made. The game is pretty straightforward - you can play as both Decepticons and Autobots engaged in a civil war over their home planet. Megatron discovers an element that he believes can bring Cybertron to a state of "peace". WfC included a very addicting in-depth multiplayer (too bad it was laggy as shit and impossible to play). I don't know if they've fix the mode yet, but if they have, hopefully people are still playing it.
And lastly, and certainly least, is a game my fellow podcast-mates seemed to enjoy too much. The store my one friend bought it at actually didn't have it in stock until later that day. This rather interesting title sees the player killing innocent bears because the bear you play as is a psychopath. And you rack up points in the process. Nothing could go wrong with that! With awkward controls, no storyline to speak of, and cheesy puns galore, Naughty Bear is one of the worst releases of the year, if not the worst.
There you have it folks. After three hours of writing and two coffee breaks, I am now done. I don't know if I'll be able to get the next one done until after Christmas as I have a bunch of plans, but I'll try my best. Thanks for reading and see you guys Boxing Day! (Go look for deals on Sunday after you read my blog post of course).
December 23, 2010
2010: The Year of Stumbles, Court Cases and Great Games - Part 1
As cliched as anything is in the entertainment industry, a top moments of the year (more often shortened to just the "top ten") is really essential for any noteworthy source of information. Obviously, obviously, this blog is not noteworthy in the slightest and more of a showcase for me to do my inane, needless and counterproductive babbling, so therefore a top moments of the year list is perfect. Now just so people know this is my first time doing this; if it gets too long or uninteresting please send me an email at filthcardia@gmail.com and I'll fix it. Or I'll learn from my mistakes and make 2011's list (if there is one) the best ever!!!!
This year started off with quite a bang. Games released during the spring can be forgotten when naming GOTY contenders, but 2010 will be one of the exceptions. We all know the game, recently announced for a PS3 release, that Mass Effect 2 was and still is to the moment. It never changed. Except the DLC was spectacular and sometimes even better than the game itself (Kasumi is so badass). The great thing about the game is that there is not one aspect that stands out. The story was solid and engaging, the combat was amazingly fun, and the characters and voice acting made it a believable universe. Your actions and decisions have a profound and realistic impact on everyone around you and just that scope itself makes Mass Effect one of the greatest franchises ever made. Plus, and probably the best part of all, is the idea that your game experience through each game (given you didn't play through it four times like I did) is all your own. The ability to import a save file from the first game gives ME2 the most individuality I have ever witnessed in a game and for that it should be a contender for everyone on their GOTY list. I know it was mine.
The next month saw one of the most hotly anticipated games I've ever seen and it gravely disappointed. The idea of a space-exploration MMO based off one of the most treasured franchises in nerd history was a dream come true for all fans. As the situation came about though, Star Trek Online did not live up to expectations. A good friend of mine had a lot of faith that Cryptic would make a solid game with a long and addictive MMO experience (basically something to fill the void in his heart WoW left) and so he bought a lifetime subscription. A mishandling of the management and ghastly stale gameplay lead many fans, including my friend, to abandon it and leave the game disheartened and disfranchised. Their most beloved franchise had disappointed them - that feeling just doesn't go away automatically. Even considering Cryptic refused to reimburse those disappointed with the game their $250 (or whatever it was) lifetime subscription. Through all of this, I was surprised to see Cryptic COMPLETELY fail at making a game destined to be successful given their history of making great MMOs. I wish I had started this blog earlier. It would have been fun ripping into them for making my friend cry inside.
This game's predecessor was heralded by many as GOTY back in 2007. Three years ago? Feels more like forever ago that people were going bananas over BioShock and the imaginative world of Rapture. How Irrational came up with such a unique environment is beyond me, but I do love them for it, as they captured the magic of the city and in turn established themselves as a leading developer. Three years later, the sequel, done by 2K Marin, sought to recreate the magic of the original game and they did with relative success. It was a daunting task to try and replicate what BioShock was - the story had to be top-notch, the gameplay more innovative, and the city of Rapture to look more haunting than ever - and they did with relative success. Having the perspective of a different main character gave the game its own personality. A personality it desperately needed. A first for the franchise, and what some feared would lead to the game's demise, was the inclusion of multiplayer. Initially touted as unnecessary, it presented a unique experience that added even more to the personality of the game. Too bad it died after a month. (Multiplayer DLC can't save a game, sorry 2K).
People like titties. People like big titties. People like egregious amounts of titties. The next major release had plenty of this and more - but most regrettably no special appearance from the Spartan god himself. Dante's Inferno, based off the first part of the Divine Comedy, tried too hard to be something it wasn't. The game was good, and gave players what they expected - tits, gore, and repetitive murdering - to mediocre fanfare. I myself wasn't a big fan of the game, but then again, I haven't even tried God of War. The one thing that got me is that Visceral didn't try hard enough to give this game its own identity. When a game draws so much comparison to another prominent franchise, shameless cloning like this breeds unoriginality and that's one of the reasons why video games are so great. The PS3 version of the game used the exact same control scheme. THE EXACT SAME. If the studio knew they were going to copy another game, at least change the control scheme so people don't say "I've already played this" without even touching it. Seriously.
I've always been a fan of bad accents. I can do a fairly terrible Russian one myself. My British one isn't too good either. And I know, given my godly talent (sarcasm), I shouldn't be voicing a character from these countries in a video game. I am, however, beating myself up over not trying out for Heavy Rain, because a video game credit would have been awesome. But enough about the nationality-bending accents these characters had, Heavy Rain was a great cinematic experience. That's right, I'm not calling it a game because it wasn't; the whole 20-hour crime thriller was an interactive movie in anything. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad thing and I wish we would see it more in gaming. Quicktime events can get monotonous, but when done effectively, these can provide some bone-chilling, squeal-inducing moments. But from playing Heavy Rain, I have learned that An American Werewolf in London was actually trying to teach us something: just how much people with foreign accents stand out.
Multiplayer, unlike in BioShock 2, has become an integral part of many first-person shooters. Especially with the abundance of modern warfare games released this year. There are some franchises that do the mode very well and others that lag behind. Most of the modes these days focus on free-for-all combat, or can be played as such, with great success; unfortunately teamwork is a rarity. There is one franchise, though, that has perfected this teamwork formula with a class-based system that provides a splendid experience. Bad Company 2 couldn't have been released at a better time - people were sick-and-tired of Modern Warfare 2 and wanted something else to satisfy their need to kill something (why not just move to Alaska?). The first push for a Battlefield console game was received well and some of the maps from Bad Company were so popular that the community called for them to be in the second game. And they were, for free. The debacle that was Call of Duty may be contributed to the massive sales of BC2, but the Battlefield series has been legendary for incredible squad-based gameplay with realistic (in a sense) combat. Body armour actually plays a role here - unlike in Call of Duty - and a lot of new people to the franchise were deterred by that. And really, I can't blame them; my first game was Rush on Port Valdez and I was sniping. I didn't know about bullet drop at the time, and let's just say I didn't do all that well. Battlefield is my call for multiplayer experience of the year and I hope it's yours too.
Final Fantasy XIII was a gamble for me. A lot of people complained it was too linear - and it was - but I didn't find that to be a bad thing. I attributed it to mixing FFVII and FFXII. The story was linear, like FFVII, with a prominent lead whom Square Enix said was meant to act as a female Cloud; and the streamlined, free-for-all combat introduced in FFXII. I actually did like this game and as JRPGs go it is one of the better ones out there. Although it may be wrong to call this a JRPG because the game was built for a Western audience. Or at least meant to cater to what the Japanese think we Westerners like in our games (this is rather difficult, check my other blog post to see why). The story, probably the most important part of any RPG, was slow and the characters were underdeveloped. It was definitely a departure from the classic FF moniker and I appreciate Square actually trying something new. Just please, and I think I can speak for everyone, please don't make another character like Hope. He was just fucking annoying.
I was going to talk about God of War 3 here but I never played the game, so my opinion would be invalid. I'll just move to a game that captured my hate-fueled imagination and made it virtual reality. Just Cause 2, a game shamelessly mocking itself, was just awesome. The biggest world in a console game (maybe except for Fuel) gave the player the creative freedom to do anything with no limitations. This is definitely a game that doesn't play itself. The story is just used as a mechanic to string the player along and the characters and voice acting are laughably bad - but the game prides itself for that. Hearing Bolo Santosi say her name gave me a good chuckle. The one aspect that may give players some difficulty is being imaginative. You have a whole world at your disposal and your actions are limitless, but figuring out what to do and how to execute it can be troublesome. With so many options, I couldn't decide whether I wanted to crash a helicopter into an airplane or spend all my time skydiving and appreciate how amazing the world looked. In the fastest plane in the game, it took me fifteen minutes to fly from one end to the other - and that's a long time. Go buy it. Please. Bolo Santosi, Bolo Santosi, Bolo Santosi (Sandman?).
This blog post is running too long so I'll split it into four parts. One blog post for each three-month period. I could go on but my creative juices are running low and WoW is calling me right now. So I hope you enjoyed my first part in my 2010 review!
This year started off with quite a bang. Games released during the spring can be forgotten when naming GOTY contenders, but 2010 will be one of the exceptions. We all know the game, recently announced for a PS3 release, that Mass Effect 2 was and still is to the moment. It never changed. Except the DLC was spectacular and sometimes even better than the game itself (Kasumi is so badass). The great thing about the game is that there is not one aspect that stands out. The story was solid and engaging, the combat was amazingly fun, and the characters and voice acting made it a believable universe. Your actions and decisions have a profound and realistic impact on everyone around you and just that scope itself makes Mass Effect one of the greatest franchises ever made. Plus, and probably the best part of all, is the idea that your game experience through each game (given you didn't play through it four times like I did) is all your own. The ability to import a save file from the first game gives ME2 the most individuality I have ever witnessed in a game and for that it should be a contender for everyone on their GOTY list. I know it was mine.
The next month saw one of the most hotly anticipated games I've ever seen and it gravely disappointed. The idea of a space-exploration MMO based off one of the most treasured franchises in nerd history was a dream come true for all fans. As the situation came about though, Star Trek Online did not live up to expectations. A good friend of mine had a lot of faith that Cryptic would make a solid game with a long and addictive MMO experience (basically something to fill the void in his heart WoW left) and so he bought a lifetime subscription. A mishandling of the management and ghastly stale gameplay lead many fans, including my friend, to abandon it and leave the game disheartened and disfranchised. Their most beloved franchise had disappointed them - that feeling just doesn't go away automatically. Even considering Cryptic refused to reimburse those disappointed with the game their $250 (or whatever it was) lifetime subscription. Through all of this, I was surprised to see Cryptic COMPLETELY fail at making a game destined to be successful given their history of making great MMOs. I wish I had started this blog earlier. It would have been fun ripping into them for making my friend cry inside.
This game's predecessor was heralded by many as GOTY back in 2007. Three years ago? Feels more like forever ago that people were going bananas over BioShock and the imaginative world of Rapture. How Irrational came up with such a unique environment is beyond me, but I do love them for it, as they captured the magic of the city and in turn established themselves as a leading developer. Three years later, the sequel, done by 2K Marin, sought to recreate the magic of the original game and they did with relative success. It was a daunting task to try and replicate what BioShock was - the story had to be top-notch, the gameplay more innovative, and the city of Rapture to look more haunting than ever - and they did with relative success. Having the perspective of a different main character gave the game its own personality. A personality it desperately needed. A first for the franchise, and what some feared would lead to the game's demise, was the inclusion of multiplayer. Initially touted as unnecessary, it presented a unique experience that added even more to the personality of the game. Too bad it died after a month. (Multiplayer DLC can't save a game, sorry 2K).
People like titties. People like big titties. People like egregious amounts of titties. The next major release had plenty of this and more - but most regrettably no special appearance from the Spartan god himself. Dante's Inferno, based off the first part of the Divine Comedy, tried too hard to be something it wasn't. The game was good, and gave players what they expected - tits, gore, and repetitive murdering - to mediocre fanfare. I myself wasn't a big fan of the game, but then again, I haven't even tried God of War. The one thing that got me is that Visceral didn't try hard enough to give this game its own identity. When a game draws so much comparison to another prominent franchise, shameless cloning like this breeds unoriginality and that's one of the reasons why video games are so great. The PS3 version of the game used the exact same control scheme. THE EXACT SAME. If the studio knew they were going to copy another game, at least change the control scheme so people don't say "I've already played this" without even touching it. Seriously.
I've always been a fan of bad accents. I can do a fairly terrible Russian one myself. My British one isn't too good either. And I know, given my godly talent (sarcasm), I shouldn't be voicing a character from these countries in a video game. I am, however, beating myself up over not trying out for Heavy Rain, because a video game credit would have been awesome. But enough about the nationality-bending accents these characters had, Heavy Rain was a great cinematic experience. That's right, I'm not calling it a game because it wasn't; the whole 20-hour crime thriller was an interactive movie in anything. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad thing and I wish we would see it more in gaming. Quicktime events can get monotonous, but when done effectively, these can provide some bone-chilling, squeal-inducing moments. But from playing Heavy Rain, I have learned that An American Werewolf in London was actually trying to teach us something: just how much people with foreign accents stand out.
Multiplayer, unlike in BioShock 2, has become an integral part of many first-person shooters. Especially with the abundance of modern warfare games released this year. There are some franchises that do the mode very well and others that lag behind. Most of the modes these days focus on free-for-all combat, or can be played as such, with great success; unfortunately teamwork is a rarity. There is one franchise, though, that has perfected this teamwork formula with a class-based system that provides a splendid experience. Bad Company 2 couldn't have been released at a better time - people were sick-and-tired of Modern Warfare 2 and wanted something else to satisfy their need to kill something (why not just move to Alaska?). The first push for a Battlefield console game was received well and some of the maps from Bad Company were so popular that the community called for them to be in the second game. And they were, for free. The debacle that was Call of Duty may be contributed to the massive sales of BC2, but the Battlefield series has been legendary for incredible squad-based gameplay with realistic (in a sense) combat. Body armour actually plays a role here - unlike in Call of Duty - and a lot of new people to the franchise were deterred by that. And really, I can't blame them; my first game was Rush on Port Valdez and I was sniping. I didn't know about bullet drop at the time, and let's just say I didn't do all that well. Battlefield is my call for multiplayer experience of the year and I hope it's yours too.
Final Fantasy XIII was a gamble for me. A lot of people complained it was too linear - and it was - but I didn't find that to be a bad thing. I attributed it to mixing FFVII and FFXII. The story was linear, like FFVII, with a prominent lead whom Square Enix said was meant to act as a female Cloud; and the streamlined, free-for-all combat introduced in FFXII. I actually did like this game and as JRPGs go it is one of the better ones out there. Although it may be wrong to call this a JRPG because the game was built for a Western audience. Or at least meant to cater to what the Japanese think we Westerners like in our games (this is rather difficult, check my other blog post to see why). The story, probably the most important part of any RPG, was slow and the characters were underdeveloped. It was definitely a departure from the classic FF moniker and I appreciate Square actually trying something new. Just please, and I think I can speak for everyone, please don't make another character like Hope. He was just fucking annoying.
I was going to talk about God of War 3 here but I never played the game, so my opinion would be invalid. I'll just move to a game that captured my hate-fueled imagination and made it virtual reality. Just Cause 2, a game shamelessly mocking itself, was just awesome. The biggest world in a console game (maybe except for Fuel) gave the player the creative freedom to do anything with no limitations. This is definitely a game that doesn't play itself. The story is just used as a mechanic to string the player along and the characters and voice acting are laughably bad - but the game prides itself for that. Hearing Bolo Santosi say her name gave me a good chuckle. The one aspect that may give players some difficulty is being imaginative. You have a whole world at your disposal and your actions are limitless, but figuring out what to do and how to execute it can be troublesome. With so many options, I couldn't decide whether I wanted to crash a helicopter into an airplane or spend all my time skydiving and appreciate how amazing the world looked. In the fastest plane in the game, it took me fifteen minutes to fly from one end to the other - and that's a long time. Go buy it. Please. Bolo Santosi, Bolo Santosi, Bolo Santosi (Sandman?).
This blog post is running too long so I'll split it into four parts. One blog post for each three-month period. I could go on but my creative juices are running low and WoW is calling me right now. So I hope you enjoyed my first part in my 2010 review!
December 21, 2010
This Article Will Not Be Hyped
I seem to post my blog posts in twos. Why it works out that way I have no idea. Maybe my head works in pairs or something of that nature. But enough of me rambling; has hype become a mainstay in the industry and how is it helping/hurting it?
Hype has garnered an interesting reputation among gamers - one of extraordinary excitement and one of unsatisfied hatred. Unlike movies, games are ripe for this kind of fanfare; generally there are seven - twelve major releases in a calendar year, especially before the holiday season, and so they are sparse. There are new movies coming out every single weekend with little to no information known about them, so only the most advertised ones get the viewership. Games work in the same way but hype plays a bigger role. Movies are only an hour-and-a-half to three-hour epic, while games can last five hours to upward of two years with an addicting multiplayer component. Or even past that if it's Harvest Moon or Dragon Quest. That period is a long time to attach yourself to something. This is why developers love hype.
But, as everything, hype is a double-edged sword. Hype can, and will, destroy some reputable franchises with ease. One over-hyped release in a series that doesn't meet expectations and -boom- your moneymaker is gone. The game may still be good, really good in some instances, but it doesn't get to what the fanbases considers suitable and creativity kills the crowd. (I hate to mention Call of Duty again but it is the most over-hyped franchise to date and is a perfect example for this blog post). For the Call of Duty series, the engine hasn't changed drastically since Modern Warfare, over three years ago. In three years all that has changed is more advanced killstreaks, evolved perks and the ability to record clips from games. We've seen this before (cough cough Halo cough cough) and Halo 3 was released the same year as CoD4!
I get why Call of Duty has kept the core gameplay for all these years, don't get me wrong. I played CoD4 for almost 25 days and drove myself insane because of it. I would see a bird in the air and think it's a helicopter. I was obsessed. But my experience in Modern Warfare, at least I would expect, should be drastically different from what Black Ops is. It wasn't. The same strategy: camp, get killstreak, get bigger killstreak, get biggest killstreak, game over. Black Ops made me feel such nostalgia that I had to stop playing. I couldn't bare the thought of playing CoD4 again and there I was not able to play a game released this year! The games have sold well and subsequently people are disappointed. But when they hear of a new game coming out, the hype train starts, and the game breaks the entertainment launch record by 10% or more.
Hype has become a staple in the industry. Every single release receives some - some more notable than others - and it's a sad turn of events when a really great game gets no hype and goes cold. I understand games will always have hype surrounding them - that fact is inescapable - but what gamers can do is not fall victim to hype. Look, analyze and research (or even rent) a game before you buy it. Remember: brand new games are a big investment and just buying one on a whim or getting encouraged by your friends without actually ever seeing the game is wrong. (I will admit. I have been a victim of peer pressure and ironically, that was CoD4. I'm glad I took their advice).
Hype is either a dream or the devil depending on the situation. A studio makes a good game and prays it gets great hype. Successful game = successful studio, and then you get bought out by Activision. Fun fun.
Hype has garnered an interesting reputation among gamers - one of extraordinary excitement and one of unsatisfied hatred. Unlike movies, games are ripe for this kind of fanfare; generally there are seven - twelve major releases in a calendar year, especially before the holiday season, and so they are sparse. There are new movies coming out every single weekend with little to no information known about them, so only the most advertised ones get the viewership. Games work in the same way but hype plays a bigger role. Movies are only an hour-and-a-half to three-hour epic, while games can last five hours to upward of two years with an addicting multiplayer component. Or even past that if it's Harvest Moon or Dragon Quest. That period is a long time to attach yourself to something. This is why developers love hype.
But, as everything, hype is a double-edged sword. Hype can, and will, destroy some reputable franchises with ease. One over-hyped release in a series that doesn't meet expectations and -boom- your moneymaker is gone. The game may still be good, really good in some instances, but it doesn't get to what the fanbases considers suitable and creativity kills the crowd. (I hate to mention Call of Duty again but it is the most over-hyped franchise to date and is a perfect example for this blog post). For the Call of Duty series, the engine hasn't changed drastically since Modern Warfare, over three years ago. In three years all that has changed is more advanced killstreaks, evolved perks and the ability to record clips from games. We've seen this before (cough cough Halo cough cough) and Halo 3 was released the same year as CoD4!
I get why Call of Duty has kept the core gameplay for all these years, don't get me wrong. I played CoD4 for almost 25 days and drove myself insane because of it. I would see a bird in the air and think it's a helicopter. I was obsessed. But my experience in Modern Warfare, at least I would expect, should be drastically different from what Black Ops is. It wasn't. The same strategy: camp, get killstreak, get bigger killstreak, get biggest killstreak, game over. Black Ops made me feel such nostalgia that I had to stop playing. I couldn't bare the thought of playing CoD4 again and there I was not able to play a game released this year! The games have sold well and subsequently people are disappointed. But when they hear of a new game coming out, the hype train starts, and the game breaks the entertainment launch record by 10% or more.
Hype has become a staple in the industry. Every single release receives some - some more notable than others - and it's a sad turn of events when a really great game gets no hype and goes cold. I understand games will always have hype surrounding them - that fact is inescapable - but what gamers can do is not fall victim to hype. Look, analyze and research (or even rent) a game before you buy it. Remember: brand new games are a big investment and just buying one on a whim or getting encouraged by your friends without actually ever seeing the game is wrong. (I will admit. I have been a victim of peer pressure and ironically, that was CoD4. I'm glad I took their advice).
Hype is either a dream or the devil depending on the situation. A studio makes a good game and prays it gets great hype. Successful game = successful studio, and then you get bought out by Activision. Fun fun.
December 20, 2010
Fears of War 3!
The title I came up with myself! I thought I was being creative, but in retrospect, it sounds stupid. Too late to change it now.
As the title suggests, this post is about my fears regarding Gears 3 and the hype surrounding it. Also I guess I'll summarize all the things about multiplayer that we know just to make myself cream my pants even more. (I really cannot wait any longer; fuck you Microsoft for delaying the game).
A lot of games released these days are victims of hype. We all know this and all gamers have been guilty of being sucked into hype before. It's something with the industry and it won't be going away. But, unfortunately, hype has caused some developers to tarnish and ultimately destroy great franchises. This practice will continue throughout the future existence of video games, but has become more prevalent as gaming has turned into a massive industry.
I can't say Gears 3 will follow this same path but the way the games have sold and the expectations placed on the third one - I can say some will be disappointed. In an interview, CliffyB has said people have guessed the ending to the series on the Epic forums... and now I know there are so many scenarios Epic can come up with, I am hoping that the ending isn't predictable. The story is one place where Epic cannot, under any circumstances, fail its very dedicated fanbase - Gears is one of the only shooters I care about the story.
The multiplayer is getting the biggest revamp, though, and for the better - going the way of Halo: Reach. And making the mode consequently more interesting and more fun to play. The additions of challenges, commendations and certain executions as rewards for using a weapon enough I think will encourage players to use more variety and tactics in the way they play, and not just use the god that is the shotgun. I have played Gears 2's multiplayer on occasion and the abundance of shotgun use is mind-numbing; it makes the mode monotonous and there unplayable. But in its sequel there is a saving grace - dedicated servers (fucking finally, SERIOUSLY) - so Mexicans won't be lagging me while I saw them. >:D
So let's have a drink and hope the game is good. I'll see you guys on Sera late 2011.
As the title suggests, this post is about my fears regarding Gears 3 and the hype surrounding it. Also I guess I'll summarize all the things about multiplayer that we know just to make myself cream my pants even more. (I really cannot wait any longer; fuck you Microsoft for delaying the game).
A lot of games released these days are victims of hype. We all know this and all gamers have been guilty of being sucked into hype before. It's something with the industry and it won't be going away. But, unfortunately, hype has caused some developers to tarnish and ultimately destroy great franchises. This practice will continue throughout the future existence of video games, but has become more prevalent as gaming has turned into a massive industry.
I can't say Gears 3 will follow this same path but the way the games have sold and the expectations placed on the third one - I can say some will be disappointed. In an interview, CliffyB has said people have guessed the ending to the series on the Epic forums... and now I know there are so many scenarios Epic can come up with, I am hoping that the ending isn't predictable. The story is one place where Epic cannot, under any circumstances, fail its very dedicated fanbase - Gears is one of the only shooters I care about the story.
The multiplayer is getting the biggest revamp, though, and for the better - going the way of Halo: Reach. And making the mode consequently more interesting and more fun to play. The additions of challenges, commendations and certain executions as rewards for using a weapon enough I think will encourage players to use more variety and tactics in the way they play, and not just use the god that is the shotgun. I have played Gears 2's multiplayer on occasion and the abundance of shotgun use is mind-numbing; it makes the mode monotonous and there unplayable. But in its sequel there is a saving grace - dedicated servers (fucking finally, SERIOUSLY) - so Mexicans won't be lagging me while I saw them. >:D
So let's have a drink and hope the game is good. I'll see you guys on Sera late 2011.
December 16, 2010
Common Misconceptions of Gamers Debunked
I wrote this 800 or so word essay for one of my classes and I'd like to share it with all of you. Please give me feedback! Most of my blog postings are just me ranting, but this was carefully constructed. At three in the morning. :D
Gamers out there know what I am talking about. From the hardcore, to the casual, to the casual-er (they are a rare breed), we know there are a lot of misconceptions about us and our passion for video gaming. I hope to debunk and violently destroy some of these outlandish and often completely misused stereotypes. I will give you the stat of Intellect and help you understand that we are just everyday people enjoying an everyday activity.
A common misconception about gamers I find is our image. When someone says he/she is a “gamer” to a “non-gamer”, that’s like screaming fire in a crowded theatre. People just started running – with their minds. The image that pops into their heads is one of a plump person sitting on a couch drinking pop or alcohol, pigging out on Doritos or smoking pot, and screaming at 13-year-olds who toss racial slurs like candy. This does apply to some; but these cases are occasional at best. It’s only when a huge title is released and people go way overboard.
Video gaming does NOT turn kids into violent psychopaths with a thirst for blood. This is rather ridiculous when you think rationally about this. Us gamers do understand and ultimately sympathize with parents who want to shield themselves from gaming. We don’t blame you and we can’t stop you from doing it. But most parents are doing their kids an injustice by not letting them play.
There are games made for mature audiences and ones made for underage audiences. It’s the same situation with every other type of medium (and yes, video gaming is a medium) and this idea is mostly forgotten in the grander scale of the idea. When a studio makes a game, they intend for the game to be played by a certain audience. The problem is, and why this is really an issue, is that most parents see gaming as something to keep their kids occupied for a few hours. This is hugely alarming and shouldn’t be happening. Parents at ALL times should be monitoring what their kids play and not go against the set rating system (you wouldn’t take your kid to see 300 would you? Actually you would if you were an irresponsible parent).
Australia is the best example of this. Recently, there was government talk of changing the regulation system to include R18+ (our version of Mature). Currently, the highest rating is MA15+ and that’s it. Anything not fit for a fifteen-year-old’s eyes was outright banned. A great example of this was a game called Left 4 Dead 2. Basically, the player and three other survivors were trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. In the worldwide release, the game was gory and zombies didn’t disappear after hitting the ground. To me, this just seems wrong. If zombies were to attack us, there would be blood and bodies everywhere, and I would want to experience that with the characters. Not just casually strolling through the streets of New Orleans shooting things with no feeling while doing it. I want to feel angry that this happened; I want to feel sad for my mindless brethren. I want to be an existentialist when I play.
The misconception that angers the general gaming population the most, is that games “melt your brain”. Now this is just a complete farce. The complete opposite is true. Video gaming has been shown to improve vastly everyday skills like hand-eye co-ordination and reaction time. Playing a tense first-person shooter, you are going to be conscious of your surroundings at all times. You will train yourself to peer around corners for enemies and apply yourself to a situation as necessary. Hand-eye co-ordination is especially important for soldiers and most of them are video game fans! The US Army actually uses a battle simulator played with a controller called “America’s Army”. This game’s sole purpose is to give the soldier the right mindset while on the battlefield. One of the US Air Force’s biggest computers is made entirely of 1,716 Playstation 3 consoles. This makes it the 33rd most powerful computer in the world! I was as surprised as you were when I read that.
But the BIGGEST and most wrong thing about us is this idea that all gamers are teenagers. This is the biggest fallacy of all. Advocates for the opposite side tend to think that consoles are the only form of video games – No. Just no. When you include gamers on the PC and even Facebook players (FarmVille is a video game too!), the average age of the video gaming populous comes out to be 35. This will shock most, and it shocked me the first time I read it. Even I had the misconception about gamers’ age. The rise of two genres has really put video gaming on everybody’s mind these days: social networking and MMORPGs.
Social networking is common these days. It gives people (who don’t normally talk) the opportunity to communicate through different means. FarmVille is notorious for this (I don’t want to be your damn neighbour!). But the rise of MMORPGs has cemented this stat. An MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) is exactly as it sounds: a fictional society where players interact and partake in different activities all from the comfort of your chair. Since time is short these days, these two genres are great for keeping up with friends and family.
So that’s all, folks! (I hope that’s not trademarked). Gamers aren’t the lazy psychopathic brain-rotten group of teenagers we’re perceived as. We are as relevant as everyone else and that won’t be changing for a very long time.
Gamers out there know what I am talking about. From the hardcore, to the casual, to the casual-er (they are a rare breed), we know there are a lot of misconceptions about us and our passion for video gaming. I hope to debunk and violently destroy some of these outlandish and often completely misused stereotypes. I will give you the stat of Intellect and help you understand that we are just everyday people enjoying an everyday activity.
A common misconception about gamers I find is our image. When someone says he/she is a “gamer” to a “non-gamer”, that’s like screaming fire in a crowded theatre. People just started running – with their minds. The image that pops into their heads is one of a plump person sitting on a couch drinking pop or alcohol, pigging out on Doritos or smoking pot, and screaming at 13-year-olds who toss racial slurs like candy. This does apply to some; but these cases are occasional at best. It’s only when a huge title is released and people go way overboard.
Video gaming does NOT turn kids into violent psychopaths with a thirst for blood. This is rather ridiculous when you think rationally about this. Us gamers do understand and ultimately sympathize with parents who want to shield themselves from gaming. We don’t blame you and we can’t stop you from doing it. But most parents are doing their kids an injustice by not letting them play.
There are games made for mature audiences and ones made for underage audiences. It’s the same situation with every other type of medium (and yes, video gaming is a medium) and this idea is mostly forgotten in the grander scale of the idea. When a studio makes a game, they intend for the game to be played by a certain audience. The problem is, and why this is really an issue, is that most parents see gaming as something to keep their kids occupied for a few hours. This is hugely alarming and shouldn’t be happening. Parents at ALL times should be monitoring what their kids play and not go against the set rating system (you wouldn’t take your kid to see 300 would you? Actually you would if you were an irresponsible parent).
Australia is the best example of this. Recently, there was government talk of changing the regulation system to include R18+ (our version of Mature). Currently, the highest rating is MA15+ and that’s it. Anything not fit for a fifteen-year-old’s eyes was outright banned. A great example of this was a game called Left 4 Dead 2. Basically, the player and three other survivors were trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. In the worldwide release, the game was gory and zombies didn’t disappear after hitting the ground. To me, this just seems wrong. If zombies were to attack us, there would be blood and bodies everywhere, and I would want to experience that with the characters. Not just casually strolling through the streets of New Orleans shooting things with no feeling while doing it. I want to feel angry that this happened; I want to feel sad for my mindless brethren. I want to be an existentialist when I play.
The misconception that angers the general gaming population the most, is that games “melt your brain”. Now this is just a complete farce. The complete opposite is true. Video gaming has been shown to improve vastly everyday skills like hand-eye co-ordination and reaction time. Playing a tense first-person shooter, you are going to be conscious of your surroundings at all times. You will train yourself to peer around corners for enemies and apply yourself to a situation as necessary. Hand-eye co-ordination is especially important for soldiers and most of them are video game fans! The US Army actually uses a battle simulator played with a controller called “America’s Army”. This game’s sole purpose is to give the soldier the right mindset while on the battlefield. One of the US Air Force’s biggest computers is made entirely of 1,716 Playstation 3 consoles. This makes it the 33rd most powerful computer in the world! I was as surprised as you were when I read that.
But the BIGGEST and most wrong thing about us is this idea that all gamers are teenagers. This is the biggest fallacy of all. Advocates for the opposite side tend to think that consoles are the only form of video games – No. Just no. When you include gamers on the PC and even Facebook players (FarmVille is a video game too!), the average age of the video gaming populous comes out to be 35. This will shock most, and it shocked me the first time I read it. Even I had the misconception about gamers’ age. The rise of two genres has really put video gaming on everybody’s mind these days: social networking and MMORPGs.
Social networking is common these days. It gives people (who don’t normally talk) the opportunity to communicate through different means. FarmVille is notorious for this (I don’t want to be your damn neighbour!). But the rise of MMORPGs has cemented this stat. An MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) is exactly as it sounds: a fictional society where players interact and partake in different activities all from the comfort of your chair. Since time is short these days, these two genres are great for keeping up with friends and family.
So that’s all, folks! (I hope that’s not trademarked). Gamers aren’t the lazy psychopathic brain-rotten group of teenagers we’re perceived as. We are as relevant as everyone else and that won’t be changing for a very long time.
Is Namco Bandai in Trouble?
Recently, Namco Bandai's Japanese president came out and said he is disappointed with the way his company's games have done in the West. The company's most recent release, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, didn't sell up to expectations... or at least what Heavenly Sword sold. The company has never really broken into the Western market and I couldn't figure out for the life of me why. The games they make are generally good, receive decent scores (and we all know that's what Western consumers care about) and also receive a decent amount of fanfare. Because of poor sales, the company plans to scale back releases in Western markets from now on. And I can't blame them at all.
The Western gaming market is a lot different from what the Japanese are used to. The Japanese gaming market is more centered on RPGs and the major studios in Japan, while the Western market is based more on FPS and advertising the shit out of a game. A new game being released in the West will usually fail if it doesn't receive a decent amount of advertising... That's why franchises these days are successful. Also the Western market is all about establishing a foothold. Without a previous reputation for that franchise or a studio, a game is doomed to fail here. Namco Bandai has had mediocre success here, but nothing comparable to what other successful Western studios average. They should focus on Japan only and not set their sights on the Western audience. Other games released recently by Japanese studios have done poorly: look at Final Fantasy 13.
It's an interesting question, though, in the grander scale of things. Why do both areas favour such different types of games? Why is Monster Hunter such a success there when Call of Duty sells huge here? I think it's what console each area prioritizes. Japan has embraced Sony's products while the West has taken light of what Xbox Live is capable of. The PS3 and PSP is best for the single-player experience, hence the RPG, and the Xbox is superior in the online department, hence the success of multiplayer-oriented franchises.
It is possible for Japanese games to be a success here, don't get me wrong. The Final Fantasy series is legendary for this. Anything Final Fantasy is received with great hype here (except FF14, even though that game tanked everywhere), and Metal Gear Solid has a devoted fanbase as well. But what these franchises share is the time they've spent in the Western gaming scene. Final Fantasy started in the early Nintendo systems and MGS started on the PS1. That was fifteen years ago - a really long time. Two decades is more than enough time to establish a franchise; but unfortunately today, developers don't have time to compete. They need to keep the hits coming or there is a chance their games will be overshadowed by the next best thing and then bye-bye studio. Just the nature of business I guess.
But the real question is the complete opposite of this: will Western developers ever be successful in the Japanese market? With such different priorities and Microsoft getting their ass kicked in the console race, I don't think for a while. The Japanese studios have become institutions of Japanese culture and for Western developers to break though, they'll have to work their way slowly into the hearts of the Japanese. It's a simple formula: make a great RPG, get the attention of the Japanese, gain a reputation, and then make the games you want to make.
This is probably the most complicated conundrum in gaming today. Both environments are so diverse in the games they desire that establishing a foothold seems relatively impossible, and to some extent it is. But, with the Japanese slowly embracing Western culture - pigging out on McDonald's and the other fat things we do - maybe they'll adapt our FPS-playing ways as well. Only time will tell.
Now I am off to get a coffee and work my ass off for the next two days to get work done. School break starts Friday at noon. WOOHOO! (P.S. I hope I haven't hurt anyone's feelings in this blog post. I just wish both cultures would embrace each other because the potential is so great).
The Western gaming market is a lot different from what the Japanese are used to. The Japanese gaming market is more centered on RPGs and the major studios in Japan, while the Western market is based more on FPS and advertising the shit out of a game. A new game being released in the West will usually fail if it doesn't receive a decent amount of advertising... That's why franchises these days are successful. Also the Western market is all about establishing a foothold. Without a previous reputation for that franchise or a studio, a game is doomed to fail here. Namco Bandai has had mediocre success here, but nothing comparable to what other successful Western studios average. They should focus on Japan only and not set their sights on the Western audience. Other games released recently by Japanese studios have done poorly: look at Final Fantasy 13.
It's an interesting question, though, in the grander scale of things. Why do both areas favour such different types of games? Why is Monster Hunter such a success there when Call of Duty sells huge here? I think it's what console each area prioritizes. Japan has embraced Sony's products while the West has taken light of what Xbox Live is capable of. The PS3 and PSP is best for the single-player experience, hence the RPG, and the Xbox is superior in the online department, hence the success of multiplayer-oriented franchises.
It is possible for Japanese games to be a success here, don't get me wrong. The Final Fantasy series is legendary for this. Anything Final Fantasy is received with great hype here (except FF14, even though that game tanked everywhere), and Metal Gear Solid has a devoted fanbase as well. But what these franchises share is the time they've spent in the Western gaming scene. Final Fantasy started in the early Nintendo systems and MGS started on the PS1. That was fifteen years ago - a really long time. Two decades is more than enough time to establish a franchise; but unfortunately today, developers don't have time to compete. They need to keep the hits coming or there is a chance their games will be overshadowed by the next best thing and then bye-bye studio. Just the nature of business I guess.
But the real question is the complete opposite of this: will Western developers ever be successful in the Japanese market? With such different priorities and Microsoft getting their ass kicked in the console race, I don't think for a while. The Japanese studios have become institutions of Japanese culture and for Western developers to break though, they'll have to work their way slowly into the hearts of the Japanese. It's a simple formula: make a great RPG, get the attention of the Japanese, gain a reputation, and then make the games you want to make.
This is probably the most complicated conundrum in gaming today. Both environments are so diverse in the games they desire that establishing a foothold seems relatively impossible, and to some extent it is. But, with the Japanese slowly embracing Western culture - pigging out on McDonald's and the other fat things we do - maybe they'll adapt our FPS-playing ways as well. Only time will tell.
Now I am off to get a coffee and work my ass off for the next two days to get work done. School break starts Friday at noon. WOOHOO! (P.S. I hope I haven't hurt anyone's feelings in this blog post. I just wish both cultures would embrace each other because the potential is so great).
December 13, 2010
A Message to Eidos Interactive
Tomb Raider is a storied franchise. Lara Croft has been one of the leading ladies in gaming for what seems like forever. The franchise has already been established and has a devout fanbase. There is one thing, though, that Eidos has done to destroy this series. Reboot, reboot, reboot, reboot! That's the word on peoples' minds over there. Seriously, what is with all the reboots? The games are some of the best platformers I have played and I regret to say this, but now since Eidos is owned by Square Enix, that could lead to big and better things.
To Eidos: Why not use your parent company and publisher to do something bigger and better? I don't know how things work there, but if Square is forcing you to continually make Tomb Raider games, then I can't blame you. But Tomb Raider has been going on for more than a decade and nine games have been released. Sales are going down. Constant reboots abound. The gaming community is growing tiresome of the label "reboot". At least if you plan to release any more Tomb Raider games, claim it as something else. Please.
The new game is supposed to be Lara's first adventure. In the games Lara hasn't really been developed as a character and this seems like a perfect time for the studio to develop her as a character. But do we really need it? Metroid had really a personality-less character, and Other M was released earlier this year to bad reaction from fans. The worst thing Eidos could do is alienate their diminishing and devout fanbase.
I won't buy the new game and I predict sales will be down as well. Studios tend to test the resiliency of the gaming populous and this will backfire tremendously for Eidos. Since Deus Ex is coming back, why not revive other dormant franchises like Fear Effect? The game would be received well. Plus it would give Eidos the chance to "pass the torch" to another video game heroine.
Correction: In doing research on this, the new game is actually being done by Crystal Dynamics and Eidos itself is being merged into Square Enix Europe. All of my points are to Square then. Remake FFVII while you're at it. We'd all appreciate it.
To Eidos: Why not use your parent company and publisher to do something bigger and better? I don't know how things work there, but if Square is forcing you to continually make Tomb Raider games, then I can't blame you. But Tomb Raider has been going on for more than a decade and nine games have been released. Sales are going down. Constant reboots abound. The gaming community is growing tiresome of the label "reboot". At least if you plan to release any more Tomb Raider games, claim it as something else. Please.
The new game is supposed to be Lara's first adventure. In the games Lara hasn't really been developed as a character and this seems like a perfect time for the studio to develop her as a character. But do we really need it? Metroid had really a personality-less character, and Other M was released earlier this year to bad reaction from fans. The worst thing Eidos could do is alienate their diminishing and devout fanbase.
I won't buy the new game and I predict sales will be down as well. Studios tend to test the resiliency of the gaming populous and this will backfire tremendously for Eidos. Since Deus Ex is coming back, why not revive other dormant franchises like Fear Effect? The game would be received well. Plus it would give Eidos the chance to "pass the torch" to another video game heroine.
Correction: In doing research on this, the new game is actually being done by Crystal Dynamics and Eidos itself is being merged into Square Enix Europe. All of my points are to Square then. Remake FFVII while you're at it. We'd all appreciate it.
December 10, 2010
The Very Good Awards (Sarcastically Speaking)
The Oscars-equivalent to gaming happens this Saturday. (Yeah, I know. The show sucks. But gaming really has no other major award show that gets televised). The Spike Video Game Awards, not actually hosted by Samuel L. Jackson, but this time Neil Patrick Harris (one of my heroes) should be a good show. I don't know how NPH will work with the comedic gaming humour, or how Jack Black will make another useless appearance, but if people will be watching for anything, it'll be the game reveals.
The VGAs have become a hub for major game reveals, the best example of this being last year's show. Arkham City and Force Unleashed 2 were officially announced, alongside Green Day: Rock Band and exclusive new gameplay for Halo: Reach, Prince of Persia, and UFC 2010.
An even bigger show is planned this year. Mass Effect 3, Prototype 2, Uncharted 3, Arkham City (again) and Saint's Row are all rumoured to make an appearance. Moreover, the biggest announcement and albeit a fateful one, is the ever persistent rumours of Battlefront 3. It would be a perfect time for Lucasarts to release the game - Unleashed 2 got less-than-desired scores and did mediocre on the sales charts. Battlefront 3 would put Lucasarts back in good faith with the gaming community and maybe, just maybe, give a push to an inevitable Force Unleashed 3.
I guess now I should go through and analyze each announcement. I'll have a review of the show and update it as I am watching, so it will be posted RIGHT after the show is over.
The Mass Effect series I am in love with. The two games so far are masterpieces and ME2 will sweep most GOTY awards. Most people I assume, certainly I am, are thinking how the hell Bioware could top it. But don't forget: this is Bioware. They can make any project into pure magic. There is something I am disappointed with though. Through the industry, and especially with the community, it's become a common occurrence to have useless multiplayer in games ((a good idea for a blog post!) and to that, thankfully Brotherhood wasn't a complete failure). Rumours are widespread that Mass Effect 3 will have multiplayer. Competitive, I don't think so; the way the games play wouldn't necessarily work as a shoot-em-up. Co-op I could see being a huge hit, presumably they keep the game team-oriented and not Shepard-does-it-all-so-fuck-everybody-else. Hell, I could probably make a following blog post just on the Mass Effect reveal. A lot of stuff at work here.
Now, in my opinion the most absurd announcement of the bunch, is Prototype 2. When the first one came out, I didn't know what you think. The game was great, an interesting but ultimately boring premise, and the gameplay was utterly repetitive. So, what warranted a reason for a sequel? I think it was economics. The game was Radical's biggest release, and the first one had a lot to fix, so really I can't blame the studio for at least trying. There is a lot of potential for what Prototype 2 could be and Radical understands this. Let's hope the game is good.
Uncharted and Arkham City are self-explanatory. Both games will be amazing like their predecessors. Rocksteady and Naughty Dog are phenomenal studios and are serious contenders for GOTY next year. Next year should be interesting for game of the year: Mass Effect, Arkham City and Uncharted all in the same year. Voting should be interesting.
The show should be a spectacle. To reiterate, I'll post a blog right after the show ends to give my thoughts on the show. I'm not an entertainment critic but I will try my best!!!
The VGAs have become a hub for major game reveals, the best example of this being last year's show. Arkham City and Force Unleashed 2 were officially announced, alongside Green Day: Rock Band and exclusive new gameplay for Halo: Reach, Prince of Persia, and UFC 2010.
An even bigger show is planned this year. Mass Effect 3, Prototype 2, Uncharted 3, Arkham City (again) and Saint's Row are all rumoured to make an appearance. Moreover, the biggest announcement and albeit a fateful one, is the ever persistent rumours of Battlefront 3. It would be a perfect time for Lucasarts to release the game - Unleashed 2 got less-than-desired scores and did mediocre on the sales charts. Battlefront 3 would put Lucasarts back in good faith with the gaming community and maybe, just maybe, give a push to an inevitable Force Unleashed 3.
I guess now I should go through and analyze each announcement. I'll have a review of the show and update it as I am watching, so it will be posted RIGHT after the show is over.
The Mass Effect series I am in love with. The two games so far are masterpieces and ME2 will sweep most GOTY awards. Most people I assume, certainly I am, are thinking how the hell Bioware could top it. But don't forget: this is Bioware. They can make any project into pure magic. There is something I am disappointed with though. Through the industry, and especially with the community, it's become a common occurrence to have useless multiplayer in games ((a good idea for a blog post!) and to that, thankfully Brotherhood wasn't a complete failure). Rumours are widespread that Mass Effect 3 will have multiplayer. Competitive, I don't think so; the way the games play wouldn't necessarily work as a shoot-em-up. Co-op I could see being a huge hit, presumably they keep the game team-oriented and not Shepard-does-it-all-so-fuck-everybody-else. Hell, I could probably make a following blog post just on the Mass Effect reveal. A lot of stuff at work here.
Now, in my opinion the most absurd announcement of the bunch, is Prototype 2. When the first one came out, I didn't know what you think. The game was great, an interesting but ultimately boring premise, and the gameplay was utterly repetitive. So, what warranted a reason for a sequel? I think it was economics. The game was Radical's biggest release, and the first one had a lot to fix, so really I can't blame the studio for at least trying. There is a lot of potential for what Prototype 2 could be and Radical understands this. Let's hope the game is good.
Uncharted and Arkham City are self-explanatory. Both games will be amazing like their predecessors. Rocksteady and Naughty Dog are phenomenal studios and are serious contenders for GOTY next year. Next year should be interesting for game of the year: Mass Effect, Arkham City and Uncharted all in the same year. Voting should be interesting.
The show should be a spectacle. To reiterate, I'll post a blog right after the show ends to give my thoughts on the show. I'm not an entertainment critic but I will try my best!!!
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