Foregoing the 2010 roundup (I'm going to stop unveiling my plans in advance, because I never keep them) as I found that writing about 27 different games and keeping the post down to a 'light read' size was proving difficult, I'm moving on to the official 24HG top 10 games of 2010! The only games that I've been halfway bothered about playing that have eluded my grasp last year are BlazBlue and CoD: Black Ops, but I doubt that either would have dented the list in any way (I do love fighting games but have trouble adjusting to new systems, and CoD really isn't my thing).
2010 has been an absolutely amazing year for games. I've revised this list a number of times, because the consistently great videogame experiences throughout the year, coupled with my tendency to back the underdog, have made choosing incredibly difficult. I think I've got it down though. So as with any great ranking list, I'll start from the bottom.
10: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - Climax Studios - Wii (PSP, PS2)
Shattered Memories was a game I played early in the year, close to it's release, and spent the rest of the year clinging on to the hope that there weren't that many games that beat it, because it deserves honouring too much. I know the number 10 spot suggests that I did take pity and slap it in regardless, but the game it beat to get this far was Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, and it is doubtless a much better game. Forgetting the Resident Evil inspired gameplay of the series so far, and adopting a Heavy Rain-esque approach to the series, this re-imagining of the original white-knuckle terror-fest succeeded in not only being the best Silent Hill games ever, but also one of the greatest Wii games to date. I just hope they can work the magic again with Silent Hill: Downpour this year, Homecoming was a travesty.
9: Darksiders - Vigil Games - PS3 (360, PC)
Darksiders is cruelly lumped in the 'God of War Clone' category too often, when in reality it takes the best bits from so many games and mashes them together into one expansive, original and utterly gorgeous work of art. Taking cues from Zelda, Soul Reaver, Fable, Portal and more, and throwing in a Mark Hamill led voice cast, Darksiders was something of a surprise for me, and had me hooked to the very end, despite the difficulty. An absolute must play, if you haven't already. It can be scooped up for less than a tenner now, you've no excuse.
8: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - MercurySteam/Kojima Productions - PS3 (360)
Before I get into the gameplay, LoS is by far the best looking multi-platform game there is. Reportedly no texture in the game was reused, making each new scene look breathtaking and fresh, also accounting for the game spilling over onto a second DVD on the 360 version. But aside from being a visual masterpiece, the game is also an incredible experience, bolstered by the strong double-act of Patrick Stewart (who's Oblivion references are hilarious) and Robert Carlyle providing the major characters' voices. The only thing holding it back is that the developers don't seem to have mastered the GoW formula in the way that others have, as the story and rebooted mythos have me craving more and the ending was phenomenal in the eyes of a gamer still pining for more Legacy of Kain.
7: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West - Ninja Theory - PS3 (360)
Bland at first, this Uncharted meets (once again) God of War soon becomes a masterpiece in storytelling and the importance of companionship. A retelling of the classic Chinese fable 'Journey to the West' (or the TV show 'Monkey' if you're a Sun reader), Enslaved puts you into the shoes of a loner known as Monkey as he is forced to escort a young girl named Tripitaka through a post-apocalyptic New York, all the while evading marauding robots and slavers. Led by the fantastic Andy Serkis, it's the unfolding narrative that pushed the game strongly into my affections, and it draws upon the tried and tested (yet surprisingly underused) Boy-meets-girl, blossoming friendship mechanic, as seen in the likes of Ico, Prince of Persia and to a lesser extent Resident Evil 4, which really endears you to the characters.
6: God of War III - Santa Monica Studio - PS3
And so the game that the last three have been leading up to... There's little to say about this game other than it carries on the solid gameplay of the first two games in the series (why fix something that isn't broken), augmenting it with breathtaking visuals and the most epic cutscenes and boss battles ever witnessed. Kratos is at his brutal best (some of the executions are stomach-churning to say the least) and this 'conclusion' to the story never once disappoints. I'm almost willing to put money on him making a comeback soon though, away from prequels and cameos, especially after the ominous ending.
5: Fable III - Lionhead Studios - 360
What came at first a slight disappointment at the changes made from the previous games in the series became a magical adventure that reeled me in like the original did years ago. With a refined combat system and a star-studded British cast with the likes of Stephen Fry, Simon Pegg and Jonathan Ross, the charming world of Albion has finally reached the industrial age, and tyrannical rule from a renegade King necessitates a revolution - and that's where you come in. Plenty of quests (every character in the game has the potential to send you on at least one quest, however simple), with far more variety than the last game, will provide the would-be adventurer with many a sleepless night, and the choices you have to make are far more impacting than any game before it. A 100% improvement over Fable II.
4: Red Dead Redemption - RockStar San Diego/RockStar North - PS3 (360)
I'll admit, the whole 'Cowboys and Indians' thing kind of put me off at first, and on their joint release day I opted to go out and buy Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands instead, but a few weeks later I subsided and my wife, in all her pity, bought me a copy of Red Dead. If I only had to say one thing about this game, it's this: IT'S BETTER THAN GTAIV. More likable characters, a more interesting open world, an even more shocking and emotive ending and more of the familiar RockStar humour and self parody make the game one of the most immersive and expansive titles this year. Couple this with the crazy-enough-to-work Undead Nightmare DLC that came out later in the year and you are on to an absolute winner. GTA needs an Undead Nightmare too though.
3: Mass Effect 2 - BioWare - 360 (PC)
The sequel to one of the best games of this generation came and, while it oversimplified the system and took the story in a direction that I wasn't too comfortable with initially, it still completely blew me and the collective gaming community away. The fact that it was the very first game I bought last year and it still holds such a prestigious place in the list is a testament to it's quality, and the fact that BioWare managed to make every single decision made in the first game impact the events of the second was nothing short of ingenuity. Looking back, the only thing I can think of that hampers the game is that the cast of characters aren't as fresh and emotive as those in the last game, and of the two that do return, why pick Tali? She's boring as hell. Still, incredible game, but with a sequel out later this year, I just hope EA can resist making it a yearly franchise.
2: Heavy Rain - Quantic Dream - PS3
Love it or hate it, you can't ignore the fact that there isn't a game in the world quite like Heavy Rain. Amazing graphics, a thrilling and brutally mature storyline and an outcome that nobody saw coming all make for a completely unmatched gaming experience, as down on his luck dad Ethan Mars struggles to find his abducted son Shaun, with the help of an investigative journalist, an aging private detective and Fox Mulder. The only problem I had with the game was with Mulder's magic future glasses, which dragged the sombre and engrossing story kicking and screaming back out of the realm of realism every time he put them on.
1: Fallout: New Vegas - Obsidian - 360 (PS3, PC)
Yeah, so what? So it isn't as good as Fallout 3, well, neither are Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption or REAL LIFE. Granted, FNV is absolutely infested with bugs, but not a single one made the game unplayable in my experience (well, apart from the one that corrupted all of my saves, but I only lost out on a few hours play), and it isn't a Bethesda RPG if it hasn't got more than it's fare share of glitches. Truth be told, no other game this year has swallowed up quite so many of my gaming hours all year. A lot of people were expecting more from the game, but it delivered exactly what I wanted: more of Fallout 3. The new party system was easy to follow too, and with such great companions (I opted for the robot dog/schizophrenic old lady trapped in the body of a Super Mutant combination) the fun was endless. Sure, getting stuck in the ground every so often is a bit of a ball-ache, but as long as you save often there's no problem. And if I learnt anything from Oblivion and Fallout 3, it's SAVE OFTEN.
So there you have it, I can hear the cries of disgust at my choices already. Ah well, life goes on. Looking to the future I can already predict that next year is going to see Bethesda snaffle the top spot again with the delicious-looking Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the horizon, backed up by future classics such as Uncharted 3, Dragon Age II, Mass Effect 3 and dare I say Mortal Kombat? Who knows? I'm looking forward to finding out, that's for sure...
And for those wondering where their games were, here's the rest of the games I played in 2010, in ranking order:
11. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light - Crystal Dynamics - PS3 (360, PC, iOS)
12. The Sims 3 - Visceral Games - PS3 (360)
13. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - Ubisoft - PS3 (360)
14. Bioshock 2 - 2K Marin - 360 (PS3, PC)
15. God of War: Ghost of Sparta - Ready at Dawn Studios - PSP
16. Alpha Protocol - Obsidian - PS3 (360, PC)
17. ModNation Racers - United Front Games - PS3 (PSP)
18. Perfect Dark - RARE - 360
19. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands - Ubisoft - PS3 (360)
20. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom - Capcom - Wii
21. Limbo - Playdead Studios - 360
22. Alan Wake - Remedy Entertainment - 360
23. Super Street Fighter IV - Capcom - PS3 (360)
24. Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock - Neversoft - 360 (PS3, Wii)
25. Dante's Inferno - Visceral Games - PS3 (360, PSP)
26. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands - Ubisoft - Wii
27. Just Cause 2 - Eidos - PS3 (360, PC)
28. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions - Beenox - 360 (PS3, Wii, PC)
29. Halo: Reach - Bungee - 360
30. Dead to Rights: Retribution - Volatile Games - PS3 (360)
31. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II - LucasArts - 360 (PS3, PC, Wii)
32. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - Kojima Productions - PSP
33. Batman: The Brave and the Bold - Wayforward Technologies - Wii (DS)
34. GoldenEye - Eurocom - Wii
35. Metro 2033 - 4A Games - 360 (PC)
36. Bayonetta - Platinum Games - 360 (PS3)
37. The Whispered World - Daedalic Entertainment - PC
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Friday, 14 January 2011
A look back: My top 10 games of 2009
I said I'd repost it, so I've dug it from the depths of Videogame Space and slapped it on here for your pleasure. Note that I hadn't played Assassin's Creed II by this point, and that would have nestled nicely in third place, and in my disorganisation I'd forgotten about the release of the epic Street Fighter IV somehow, which would probably have slid in nicely between Batman and Killzone 2. Tekken 6 wouldn't have placed higher than Borderlands, so with the other two additions isn't really worth mentioning. I assure you, I've been working on 2010's GOTY since the first of January, so there will be no schoolboy errors this time around. So, for posterity, enjoy.
Originally posted on the 15th of December 2009.
As the year is coming to a close and a lot of people are complaining about the lack of great games over the last 12 months, I decided to compile a list of games that have made 2009 a great year for me, and why. So without further ado, ten must-have 2009 games that have rocked my little world.
10: SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny - Namco, PSP.
Far from just being a port of SoulCalibur IV, Broken Destiny took the already impressive fighting game and expanded on it, adding two new characters (including God of War's charismatic hero and all-round nice guy Kratos) and a handful of great new features including a continuous play system based on Tekken: Dark Resurrection's Arcade Mode. The character creation facility from SCIV also makes a return, and it is possibly better than it's parent game's offering. Namco have definitely proven that they are the kings of PSP fighters, Capcom need to sit up a bit.
9: X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Raven Software, XBox 360.
Movie adaptations are usually kiddie-friendly rushed for release pieces of horse shit, and it was utter boredom that drove me to download the demo for Wolverine from the PSN store. When I later received the game bundled with my XBox 360 Elite in September, I expected it to get boring very quickly. It turned out to be an absolutely thrilling God of War style slash-em-up with bucketloads of gore and no sign of Ryan Reynolds anywhere. It's hard to imagine how this game could have been better for what it is.
8: Borderlands - Gearbox Software, XBox 360
Borderlands is a rare game, in that it completely polarizes it's audience. On one hand you have those that love it, and on the other those that hate it, and you'll find it very hard to find anyone sitting on the fence between. In a nutshell, Borderlands is a MMORPG, but without the MM part (although it still plays like one). Then take the fantasy setting and change it into a barren planet full of rednecks and mutants and liberally scatter about a thousand different guns around the game world and you've got it. Throw three friends into the mix and it all spells great fun, if you're at the same skill level that is.
7: The Conduit - High Voltage Software, Wii
The Conduit is actually the most recent game that I've played, and it really impressed me in a way that I didn't think anything on Nintendo's pre-school toy could. It's an awesome FPS that tells the story of an alien invasion orchestrated from within America's own government, and apart from the shitty ending and the fact that at times it's so fucking hard it can drive a grown man to tears, it's great from start to finish.
6: Ghostbusters: The Videogame - Terminal Reality, PS3
When I was a child I had a huge suitcase full of Ghostbusters action figures. I watched the cartoons religiously, loved the films (apart from the library ghost, that scared the shit out of me) and was so jealous of my friend's firehouse play set. I played the Megadrive game so much that me and my friend had written lyrics to the background music. So every second of this game was a fanboy delight for me. And I had my chance to finally get revenge on the library ghost. Just don't cross the streams...
5: Killzone 2 - Guerrilla Games, PS3
I had never even played Killzone 1 until this year, so the series was entirely new to me. Where Killzone impressed me, Killzone 2 absolutely blew me away with it's absolute chaos and phenomenal graphics. Where Gears of War is very organized in it's 'walk to an area, have a fight, repeat' mechanic, Killzone 2 just throws panic and constant action at you at every turn. There's even an attempt at emotive storytelling too, but it gets lost under the machismo and buzzcuts, which are more important in a military FPS.
4: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady Studios, PS3
What, as low as number 4? Yeah, Batman is a fantastic game and would probably be at the top spot in a lot of people's lists, but I can't help feeling that it got caught up in the hype of The Dark Knight, which was hyped for a lot of wrong reasons, but let's not get into that. Arkham was, for those who've been living at the Earth's core for the last year, stated as the ultimate Batman experience, melding combat and detective work with a look that stays true to the comics and yet doesn't look too dissimilar to the more recent films (and indeed those from 20 years ago), and features the voices from the incredible Warner Bros. cartoons. Although not that original it sits at the top of the field in everything it does do, and as with Ghostbusters I'm a bit of a fanboy. The collector's edition Batarang was shit though.
3: Shadow Complex - Chair Entertainment, XBox 360
A surprise for me, I tried the trial version of this game on a whim, and it absolutely blew me away. I immediately got me some Microsoft Points and downloaded it. The game is a side-scrolling shooter/platformer in a similar vein to Super Metroid, but with less aliens and more evil subterranean masterminds. Aside from great shooting and simple yet effective melee combat, the platforming is like a 2D Tomb Raider, it actually reminds me of Generations Lost on the Megadrive. And with the platforming element, the only voice that could be used for the main character is Nolan North, which brings me to...
2: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - Naughty Dog, PS3
I was a huge fan of the first Uncharted where a lot of people understandably overlooked it due to it's zero media coverage and exclusivity to a console that looked like it might die on it's arse, so in the 10 months between Uncharted 2's announcement and release I was practically shitting myself on an hourly basis. I think (I'm pretty sure) that the first one is better in my eyes anyway, but that doesn't stop Among Thieves being a fucking incredible game in every way that kept me hooked from start to finish with it's amazing graphics and Oscar-worthy narrative and voice-acting. The game is an absolute thrill-ride and aside from a pretty annoying train ride and an underwhelming last boss it's pretty much perfect.
1: Dragon Age: Origins - Bioware, XBox 360
No game this year has had me hooked so badly, especially as I'm not an RPG gamer by trait. While not as widespread and welcoming as Oblivion, the game I was hoping that DAO would fill the hole left by, it's expansive main quest and numerous side-quests keep dragging you back for more. Aside from the quests, the relationships that you build up with your entourage through gift giving and social interaction, like a perverted Animal Crossing, and the different paths you can take with every different decision made just compel you to carry on playing, and I found that even before I'd finished it I was already planning my second playthrough. It was only the amassing pile of unplayed games mounting up and my running out of things to blog about that forced me to move on. A slightly underwhelming collector's edition is all that tarnishes this masterpiece.
So that's that then. What, no Modern Warfare 2? No, while I acknowledge that a lot of people love it, it's just not my cup of tea. The campaign was pretty good but not fantastic, but the game was mainly multiplayer and that just doesn't interest me. And, perhaps criminally Left 4 Dead 2 and Assassin's Creed 2 have both evaded my grasp so far. I was very tempted to add Monkey Island SE and God of War collection, but I figured that involved a bit of rule banding, with neither being strictly 2009 releases. Well, until next year then, with it's fine bounty of Mass Effect 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Batman 2 and potentially a new Tomb Raider. I'm very much looking forward to it.
Originally posted on the 15th of December 2009.
As the year is coming to a close and a lot of people are complaining about the lack of great games over the last 12 months, I decided to compile a list of games that have made 2009 a great year for me, and why. So without further ado, ten must-have 2009 games that have rocked my little world.
10: SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny - Namco, PSP.
Far from just being a port of SoulCalibur IV, Broken Destiny took the already impressive fighting game and expanded on it, adding two new characters (including God of War's charismatic hero and all-round nice guy Kratos) and a handful of great new features including a continuous play system based on Tekken: Dark Resurrection's Arcade Mode. The character creation facility from SCIV also makes a return, and it is possibly better than it's parent game's offering. Namco have definitely proven that they are the kings of PSP fighters, Capcom need to sit up a bit.
9: X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Raven Software, XBox 360.
Movie adaptations are usually kiddie-friendly rushed for release pieces of horse shit, and it was utter boredom that drove me to download the demo for Wolverine from the PSN store. When I later received the game bundled with my XBox 360 Elite in September, I expected it to get boring very quickly. It turned out to be an absolutely thrilling God of War style slash-em-up with bucketloads of gore and no sign of Ryan Reynolds anywhere. It's hard to imagine how this game could have been better for what it is.
8: Borderlands - Gearbox Software, XBox 360
Borderlands is a rare game, in that it completely polarizes it's audience. On one hand you have those that love it, and on the other those that hate it, and you'll find it very hard to find anyone sitting on the fence between. In a nutshell, Borderlands is a MMORPG, but without the MM part (although it still plays like one). Then take the fantasy setting and change it into a barren planet full of rednecks and mutants and liberally scatter about a thousand different guns around the game world and you've got it. Throw three friends into the mix and it all spells great fun, if you're at the same skill level that is.
7: The Conduit - High Voltage Software, Wii
The Conduit is actually the most recent game that I've played, and it really impressed me in a way that I didn't think anything on Nintendo's pre-school toy could. It's an awesome FPS that tells the story of an alien invasion orchestrated from within America's own government, and apart from the shitty ending and the fact that at times it's so fucking hard it can drive a grown man to tears, it's great from start to finish.
6: Ghostbusters: The Videogame - Terminal Reality, PS3
When I was a child I had a huge suitcase full of Ghostbusters action figures. I watched the cartoons religiously, loved the films (apart from the library ghost, that scared the shit out of me) and was so jealous of my friend's firehouse play set. I played the Megadrive game so much that me and my friend had written lyrics to the background music. So every second of this game was a fanboy delight for me. And I had my chance to finally get revenge on the library ghost. Just don't cross the streams...
5: Killzone 2 - Guerrilla Games, PS3
I had never even played Killzone 1 until this year, so the series was entirely new to me. Where Killzone impressed me, Killzone 2 absolutely blew me away with it's absolute chaos and phenomenal graphics. Where Gears of War is very organized in it's 'walk to an area, have a fight, repeat' mechanic, Killzone 2 just throws panic and constant action at you at every turn. There's even an attempt at emotive storytelling too, but it gets lost under the machismo and buzzcuts, which are more important in a military FPS.
4: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Rocksteady Studios, PS3
What, as low as number 4? Yeah, Batman is a fantastic game and would probably be at the top spot in a lot of people's lists, but I can't help feeling that it got caught up in the hype of The Dark Knight, which was hyped for a lot of wrong reasons, but let's not get into that. Arkham was, for those who've been living at the Earth's core for the last year, stated as the ultimate Batman experience, melding combat and detective work with a look that stays true to the comics and yet doesn't look too dissimilar to the more recent films (and indeed those from 20 years ago), and features the voices from the incredible Warner Bros. cartoons. Although not that original it sits at the top of the field in everything it does do, and as with Ghostbusters I'm a bit of a fanboy. The collector's edition Batarang was shit though.
3: Shadow Complex - Chair Entertainment, XBox 360
A surprise for me, I tried the trial version of this game on a whim, and it absolutely blew me away. I immediately got me some Microsoft Points and downloaded it. The game is a side-scrolling shooter/platformer in a similar vein to Super Metroid, but with less aliens and more evil subterranean masterminds. Aside from great shooting and simple yet effective melee combat, the platforming is like a 2D Tomb Raider, it actually reminds me of Generations Lost on the Megadrive. And with the platforming element, the only voice that could be used for the main character is Nolan North, which brings me to...
2: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - Naughty Dog, PS3
I was a huge fan of the first Uncharted where a lot of people understandably overlooked it due to it's zero media coverage and exclusivity to a console that looked like it might die on it's arse, so in the 10 months between Uncharted 2's announcement and release I was practically shitting myself on an hourly basis. I think (I'm pretty sure) that the first one is better in my eyes anyway, but that doesn't stop Among Thieves being a fucking incredible game in every way that kept me hooked from start to finish with it's amazing graphics and Oscar-worthy narrative and voice-acting. The game is an absolute thrill-ride and aside from a pretty annoying train ride and an underwhelming last boss it's pretty much perfect.
1: Dragon Age: Origins - Bioware, XBox 360
No game this year has had me hooked so badly, especially as I'm not an RPG gamer by trait. While not as widespread and welcoming as Oblivion, the game I was hoping that DAO would fill the hole left by, it's expansive main quest and numerous side-quests keep dragging you back for more. Aside from the quests, the relationships that you build up with your entourage through gift giving and social interaction, like a perverted Animal Crossing, and the different paths you can take with every different decision made just compel you to carry on playing, and I found that even before I'd finished it I was already planning my second playthrough. It was only the amassing pile of unplayed games mounting up and my running out of things to blog about that forced me to move on. A slightly underwhelming collector's edition is all that tarnishes this masterpiece.
So that's that then. What, no Modern Warfare 2? No, while I acknowledge that a lot of people love it, it's just not my cup of tea. The campaign was pretty good but not fantastic, but the game was mainly multiplayer and that just doesn't interest me. And, perhaps criminally Left 4 Dead 2 and Assassin's Creed 2 have both evaded my grasp so far. I was very tempted to add Monkey Island SE and God of War collection, but I figured that involved a bit of rule banding, with neither being strictly 2009 releases. Well, until next year then, with it's fine bounty of Mass Effect 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Batman 2 and potentially a new Tomb Raider. I'm very much looking forward to it.
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Is that a cartoon pig?
First things first:
Yeah, I left the price on intentionally. The more awake of you will remember I reviewed MW2 on the arse end of 2009 with full intentions of hating it, but actually ended up quite enjoying the game, as far fetched and Bond-like it was (which causes me to diverge and note that while playing GoldenEye on the Wii the other week, my immediate reaction was that it was like 'a shit Call of Duty'. Back on track). I had all intention to pick the game up once it hit the fabled £10 mark, but for that price with a pair of actual Night Vision Goggles I couldn't really pass it up. It was from Morrisons if anyone's interested, but I doubt you'll find any now. Our store only had four copies sent.
The goggles themselves are great. They look and feel a bit plasticky, after all they are made of plastic, but once I got the buggers on I was incredibly impressed. They are able to switch between long and short range, have adjustable eyepieces and manual focus, and even let you apply a green filter to your vision, just like in the movies. Now it's just left for me to find a suitable use for them, instead of following my cat around in the dark. I can't wait until I next go camping.
I've had a better time with The Sims 3 now I've learnt to cheat (press start and hold all shoulder buttons for those interested). The port is actually pretty faithful (I say without actually playing the PC version of The Sims 3), and the fire hazard meter is a lot more forgiving than on previous generation consoles: I was able to move into the biggest house in town and fill it with junk and barely even scratch the surface. Sure, I'm not getting any Trophies for my troubles, but it's hardly having a negative impact on my enjoyment of the game, whereas having to cope with poverty and finding a job while still trying to keep myself entertained and happy, well, it's a bit too much like real life.
I finished Fable III with my evil princess, and with a bit of patience (and leaving my XBox on all day to earn as much as I can) I think the next time I should be able to play through it as a benevolent character. I intend to do the trilogy fairly soon, as Fable III really got me in the mood to redo the first and, through my rose-tinted spectacles (I actually own some once, found them on a wall in Derbyshire, true story), best in the series. Been playing Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions too, which is a nice little distraction. A standard God of War clone, the game sees you step into the shoes of four Spider-Men from varying Marvel Earths to battle evil and reclaim fragments of a broken stone tablet with the power to undo all realities, all the while quipping to yourself in a typically carefree way.
It's mostly a standard brawler affair, with the occasional Force Unleashed II style freefall section in the Spider-Man 2099 bits, but the action is broken up by the Spider-Man Noir levels. Set in the 1930s, Noir sees an incarnation of Spider-Man as a darkly-dressed vigilante stalking the night, clinging to the shadows and striking terror into the cowardly, superstitious criminal element. Totally not like Batman. In fact, the Noir sections are nothing but a homage to Arkham Asylum, in which you swing around rafters silently picking off your enemies and fleeing to the shadows when spotted. Even the Spider Sense mode is a bit like Batman's Detective mode.
Having reached the Nolan North powered Deadpool level last night, and hearing the man himself deliver probably his best role since last year's Uncharted 2, I am inclined to think that I've possibly reached the highest point in the game, for me anyway. But at no point have I been bored with it, I just haven't been blown away. It's a solid game, and a lot better than Spider-Man 3. Actually thinking of picking up Web of Shadows at some point now. I heard you can decapitate Wolverine in it. Sweet.
And finally, I've conquered my fears of Fuck Off Dragons and restarted Dragon Age: Origins, the time the Ultimate Edition on PS3, in anticipation of March's Dragon Age II. A Dalish Elf this time, I'm determined to play all of the DLC too. I completed Leliana's Song before starting the main game, and it was pretty good, if a little shallow and pointless. It just tells how Leliana, our Orlesian Rogue, was betrayed by her mentor Marjolaine, as she touches upon in conversation in the main game, mainly through combat, which wasn't DA:O's strong point. It only took a couple of hours to finish anyway, and it was fresh and new, so I can't complain.
Alright, so, my Top 10 of '10 has been ultimately drafted, and I just have one more game to play from last year, so expect next week's post to be a bit of a 2010 recap of the 25 or 26 games that didn't get into the highest echelon, followed by the Top 10 the week after. I'll probably recap last year's 10 too, as it was never posted on this site. Bye for now.
Yeah, I left the price on intentionally. The more awake of you will remember I reviewed MW2 on the arse end of 2009 with full intentions of hating it, but actually ended up quite enjoying the game, as far fetched and Bond-like it was (which causes me to diverge and note that while playing GoldenEye on the Wii the other week, my immediate reaction was that it was like 'a shit Call of Duty'. Back on track). I had all intention to pick the game up once it hit the fabled £10 mark, but for that price with a pair of actual Night Vision Goggles I couldn't really pass it up. It was from Morrisons if anyone's interested, but I doubt you'll find any now. Our store only had four copies sent.
The goggles themselves are great. They look and feel a bit plasticky, after all they are made of plastic, but once I got the buggers on I was incredibly impressed. They are able to switch between long and short range, have adjustable eyepieces and manual focus, and even let you apply a green filter to your vision, just like in the movies. Now it's just left for me to find a suitable use for them, instead of following my cat around in the dark. I can't wait until I next go camping.
I've had a better time with The Sims 3 now I've learnt to cheat (press start and hold all shoulder buttons for those interested). The port is actually pretty faithful (I say without actually playing the PC version of The Sims 3), and the fire hazard meter is a lot more forgiving than on previous generation consoles: I was able to move into the biggest house in town and fill it with junk and barely even scratch the surface. Sure, I'm not getting any Trophies for my troubles, but it's hardly having a negative impact on my enjoyment of the game, whereas having to cope with poverty and finding a job while still trying to keep myself entertained and happy, well, it's a bit too much like real life.
I finished Fable III with my evil princess, and with a bit of patience (and leaving my XBox on all day to earn as much as I can) I think the next time I should be able to play through it as a benevolent character. I intend to do the trilogy fairly soon, as Fable III really got me in the mood to redo the first and, through my rose-tinted spectacles (I actually own some once, found them on a wall in Derbyshire, true story), best in the series. Been playing Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions too, which is a nice little distraction. A standard God of War clone, the game sees you step into the shoes of four Spider-Men from varying Marvel Earths to battle evil and reclaim fragments of a broken stone tablet with the power to undo all realities, all the while quipping to yourself in a typically carefree way.
It's mostly a standard brawler affair, with the occasional Force Unleashed II style freefall section in the Spider-Man 2099 bits, but the action is broken up by the Spider-Man Noir levels. Set in the 1930s, Noir sees an incarnation of Spider-Man as a darkly-dressed vigilante stalking the night, clinging to the shadows and striking terror into the cowardly, superstitious criminal element. Totally not like Batman. In fact, the Noir sections are nothing but a homage to Arkham Asylum, in which you swing around rafters silently picking off your enemies and fleeing to the shadows when spotted. Even the Spider Sense mode is a bit like Batman's Detective mode.
Having reached the Nolan North powered Deadpool level last night, and hearing the man himself deliver probably his best role since last year's Uncharted 2, I am inclined to think that I've possibly reached the highest point in the game, for me anyway. But at no point have I been bored with it, I just haven't been blown away. It's a solid game, and a lot better than Spider-Man 3. Actually thinking of picking up Web of Shadows at some point now. I heard you can decapitate Wolverine in it. Sweet.
And finally, I've conquered my fears of Fuck Off Dragons and restarted Dragon Age: Origins, the time the Ultimate Edition on PS3, in anticipation of March's Dragon Age II. A Dalish Elf this time, I'm determined to play all of the DLC too. I completed Leliana's Song before starting the main game, and it was pretty good, if a little shallow and pointless. It just tells how Leliana, our Orlesian Rogue, was betrayed by her mentor Marjolaine, as she touches upon in conversation in the main game, mainly through combat, which wasn't DA:O's strong point. It only took a couple of hours to finish anyway, and it was fresh and new, so I can't complain.
Alright, so, my Top 10 of '10 has been ultimately drafted, and I just have one more game to play from last year, so expect next week's post to be a bit of a 2010 recap of the 25 or 26 games that didn't get into the highest echelon, followed by the Top 10 the week after. I'll probably recap last year's 10 too, as it was never posted on this site. Bye for now.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Here you go, create another Fable...
Firstly, hope you guys had an awesome Christmas and New Year. I personally spent the former with God of War: Ghost of Sparta and the latter with Fable III, but I'm sure you guys have a much more bustling social life than I. Secondly, I've made a new year's resolution to get back into regular posting here at 24HG, so hopefully most Tuesdays will see a post from me. I tried a more lenient approach to posting, but I rack disciprine.
I'll start with a short roundup of a few of the games I've been playing but don't have much to say about, initially with the aforementioned GoW: Ghost of Sparta. There really isn't much to say about a GoW game that I haven't gushed before, but one thing that jumps out at me about GoS is the visuals, and that it's clearly the most gorgeous game on the PSP yet, and actually visually surpasses the PS2 GoWs, which is no mean feat. A stand out moment was seeing the rain actually run down Kratos' body (totally not gay), something that is rarely seen on a full-on next-gen game.
On Christmas Day I had a go with the gift I bestowed on my Nephew: Batman: The Brave and the Bold on Wii. It was a pleasant surprise, and a nostalgia trip in two ways: The gameplay harks back to the SNES and Megadrive Batman games, particularly The Adventures of Batman and Robin, and the writing style and humour are reminiscent of the 1960's Batman TV series. But most importantly, it was providing the 4 year old budding geek beside me with a better introduction to the DC Universe than I ever had, teaching him of characters like Captain Marvel, Catman and Booster Gold, who I didn't know anything about until my late teens. And that's why it's the most important game in the world right now.
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock has also been on my radar, and has somewhat restored my faith in the series. It's probably the best GH since GHIII, and the strongest setlist since World Tour, but the best thing by far is that some effort has actually gone into the single player mode, and it's not just a hub for online play like GH5 and Band Hero were. It's genuinely exciting to see what each character's warrior form looks like, and the unique ability each character possesses adds a new dimension to the gameplay. I'm not sure about the character-specific setlists though. I'd expect pop-rock queen Judy Nails to play songs from bands such as Paramore, Evanescence and Avril Lavigne, not Queen and The Cure like she has, and for resident goth Pandora to have My Chemical Romance and Fallout Boy in her set is a bit criminal. There are differences between goth and emo, Neversoft. One cries and writes poetry, the other cries and self harms. Not sure which is which though.
Moving on to the big names, Fable III is something of a departure from the series so far. It still retains the same core gameplay, but with a few changes such as a refined combat and conversation. The former sees the melee, ranged and magical combat all assigned to a single button each, meaning that regular attacks, special attacks and blocking are all placed on the X button, but it actually really works well. And with the conversation, you actually have to snap to your recipient with the A button before engaging them, instead of just wandering into town and gurning at people until you draw a crowd like on Fable II. Also your hero speaks, a feature that really rubbed me up the wrong way at first as it drives a wedge between you and the character, not letting you fully see them as you because it doesn't leave you to put words in their mouth. I got over it though.
The most curious thing about Fable III is the apparent moral of the story is that being, well, moral will get you nowhere. A lot of the side quests have no positive outcome, and later on, without spoiling anything, every positive choice you make will cost you literally thousands of your precious gold, which you need to end the game in any way successfully. Historically I always have played through games like this once as a benevolent male, then on my second run through as a female who's a bit of a bastard (I'd love to hear what a psychiatrist has to say about that one), but the impending failure of my male hero drew me to up sticks and unleash the bitch onto the world early. Overall it's a great game, but it took me a while to get into it, and while it's better than Fable II, the first Fable still holds a very dear part of me. I'll say this about III though, no other game has ever seen me fight off a horde of Zombies side-by-side with Simon Pegg and Jason Manford.
Between Kratos and the Princess of Albion, I headed off to 15th Century Italy once more to spend time with my old mate Ezio in his latest outing: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. ACB is set directly after ACII, in terms of Ezio's timeline and the background events in 2012, and sees Ezio take the fight to Rome after the Pope's son Cesare destroys his Villa, and Nolan North and the Scooby Gang looking for a new hideout after being compromised at the end of the last game.
For the first couple of hours, the game is a near carbon copy of ACII, and honestly failed to impress me, but it really gets good when it comes to recruiting and commanding your own guild of hoodies; a touch of the L2 button while an enemy is in range sees them quickly dispatched by one of your own. The coolest instance of this was when my prey was passing by a hay bale, and was just swept into it in a split second without any of his colleagues or passing civilians batting an eyelid. Your yobs can also be sent on missions all around the world, presumably to hang around in shopping malls and intimidate old ladies, all the while earning you money and levelling themselves up to greater aid you in time of need.
The game rides on a high for quite a while after that, but falls at the final hurdle when it finally allows you full use of the Apple of Eden, which turns out to be a boring and poorly executed game mechanic, turning combat into a tedious waiting game as you are reduced to watching your enemies fight each other, unable to just draw your sword and sort them out yourself. Coupled with the suitably retarded ending that I've come to expect from an AC game, Brotherhood virtually kills itself in the last couple of hours. But for a while, in the middle of the game, it was awesome.
Last thing I wanna talk about is The Sims 3 on the PS3. I was delighted when I learned of it's release, because I've been wanted a true, undiluted Sims game on a console, and thought that this generation would finally be the one to run it. Well, the gameplay is there, albeit heavily adapted obviously, but the furniture limit that haunted the PS2 Sims games is there, to stop the console running out of memory, thinly disguised as a 'fire hazard meter'. Derp.
I also realised that The Sims is nothing without cheats, forcing you to play through hours of awful, dreary poverty before the game gets fun. A quick scan on GameFAQs shows me that there are in fact cheats for the PS3 version, so before I trade it in for Batman: The Brave and the Bold I'll give it another chance, fully cheat enabled, and see if it grabs me.
So, lastly, before I head into Sim City once more, the 2010 Game of the Year post is coming, along with a 2010 roundup of the rest of the year's games, or at least the ones I've played. I just need to get to grips with a few more of 2010's games first. I'll try and post before January is through. So, with that, I'll see you next Tuesday. Probably.
I'll start with a short roundup of a few of the games I've been playing but don't have much to say about, initially with the aforementioned GoW: Ghost of Sparta. There really isn't much to say about a GoW game that I haven't gushed before, but one thing that jumps out at me about GoS is the visuals, and that it's clearly the most gorgeous game on the PSP yet, and actually visually surpasses the PS2 GoWs, which is no mean feat. A stand out moment was seeing the rain actually run down Kratos' body (totally not gay), something that is rarely seen on a full-on next-gen game.
On Christmas Day I had a go with the gift I bestowed on my Nephew: Batman: The Brave and the Bold on Wii. It was a pleasant surprise, and a nostalgia trip in two ways: The gameplay harks back to the SNES and Megadrive Batman games, particularly The Adventures of Batman and Robin, and the writing style and humour are reminiscent of the 1960's Batman TV series. But most importantly, it was providing the 4 year old budding geek beside me with a better introduction to the DC Universe than I ever had, teaching him of characters like Captain Marvel, Catman and Booster Gold, who I didn't know anything about until my late teens. And that's why it's the most important game in the world right now.
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock has also been on my radar, and has somewhat restored my faith in the series. It's probably the best GH since GHIII, and the strongest setlist since World Tour, but the best thing by far is that some effort has actually gone into the single player mode, and it's not just a hub for online play like GH5 and Band Hero were. It's genuinely exciting to see what each character's warrior form looks like, and the unique ability each character possesses adds a new dimension to the gameplay. I'm not sure about the character-specific setlists though. I'd expect pop-rock queen Judy Nails to play songs from bands such as Paramore, Evanescence and Avril Lavigne, not Queen and The Cure like she has, and for resident goth Pandora to have My Chemical Romance and Fallout Boy in her set is a bit criminal. There are differences between goth and emo, Neversoft. One cries and writes poetry, the other cries and self harms. Not sure which is which though.
Moving on to the big names, Fable III is something of a departure from the series so far. It still retains the same core gameplay, but with a few changes such as a refined combat and conversation. The former sees the melee, ranged and magical combat all assigned to a single button each, meaning that regular attacks, special attacks and blocking are all placed on the X button, but it actually really works well. And with the conversation, you actually have to snap to your recipient with the A button before engaging them, instead of just wandering into town and gurning at people until you draw a crowd like on Fable II. Also your hero speaks, a feature that really rubbed me up the wrong way at first as it drives a wedge between you and the character, not letting you fully see them as you because it doesn't leave you to put words in their mouth. I got over it though.
The most curious thing about Fable III is the apparent moral of the story is that being, well, moral will get you nowhere. A lot of the side quests have no positive outcome, and later on, without spoiling anything, every positive choice you make will cost you literally thousands of your precious gold, which you need to end the game in any way successfully. Historically I always have played through games like this once as a benevolent male, then on my second run through as a female who's a bit of a bastard (I'd love to hear what a psychiatrist has to say about that one), but the impending failure of my male hero drew me to up sticks and unleash the bitch onto the world early. Overall it's a great game, but it took me a while to get into it, and while it's better than Fable II, the first Fable still holds a very dear part of me. I'll say this about III though, no other game has ever seen me fight off a horde of Zombies side-by-side with Simon Pegg and Jason Manford.
Between Kratos and the Princess of Albion, I headed off to 15th Century Italy once more to spend time with my old mate Ezio in his latest outing: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. ACB is set directly after ACII, in terms of Ezio's timeline and the background events in 2012, and sees Ezio take the fight to Rome after the Pope's son Cesare destroys his Villa, and Nolan North and the Scooby Gang looking for a new hideout after being compromised at the end of the last game.
For the first couple of hours, the game is a near carbon copy of ACII, and honestly failed to impress me, but it really gets good when it comes to recruiting and commanding your own guild of hoodies; a touch of the L2 button while an enemy is in range sees them quickly dispatched by one of your own. The coolest instance of this was when my prey was passing by a hay bale, and was just swept into it in a split second without any of his colleagues or passing civilians batting an eyelid. Your yobs can also be sent on missions all around the world, presumably to hang around in shopping malls and intimidate old ladies, all the while earning you money and levelling themselves up to greater aid you in time of need.
The game rides on a high for quite a while after that, but falls at the final hurdle when it finally allows you full use of the Apple of Eden, which turns out to be a boring and poorly executed game mechanic, turning combat into a tedious waiting game as you are reduced to watching your enemies fight each other, unable to just draw your sword and sort them out yourself. Coupled with the suitably retarded ending that I've come to expect from an AC game, Brotherhood virtually kills itself in the last couple of hours. But for a while, in the middle of the game, it was awesome.
Last thing I wanna talk about is The Sims 3 on the PS3. I was delighted when I learned of it's release, because I've been wanted a true, undiluted Sims game on a console, and thought that this generation would finally be the one to run it. Well, the gameplay is there, albeit heavily adapted obviously, but the furniture limit that haunted the PS2 Sims games is there, to stop the console running out of memory, thinly disguised as a 'fire hazard meter'. Derp.
I also realised that The Sims is nothing without cheats, forcing you to play through hours of awful, dreary poverty before the game gets fun. A quick scan on GameFAQs shows me that there are in fact cheats for the PS3 version, so before I trade it in for Batman: The Brave and the Bold I'll give it another chance, fully cheat enabled, and see if it grabs me.
So, lastly, before I head into Sim City once more, the 2010 Game of the Year post is coming, along with a 2010 roundup of the rest of the year's games, or at least the ones I've played. I just need to get to grips with a few more of 2010's games first. I'll try and post before January is through. So, with that, I'll see you next Tuesday. Probably.
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
We don't speak anymore of War...
As an avid Mortal Kombat fan and an avid God of War fan, I saw last weekend's new trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat game unveiling Kratos as a guest character, and promptly went mad. Heading over to the old Mortal Kombat forum that I used to frequent a while back, I found that, to no surprise whatsoever, the franchise's 'fanbase' were less than happy, as they have been for every new MK release since I joined the boards, back in the days of MK: Deadly Alliance.
Upon telling them all they were overreacting, as a response to one guy trolling the threads with Kratos spam-hate and another hypochondriac claiming that this single character addition, who might I add has no bearing on the storyline whatsoever and is simply there as an Easter Egg, had sent the 'good' (obviously ignoring the sales figures and the fans' own reactions to the series for the past decade or so) name of Mortal Kombat 'down the drain', I was informed that I have 'no respect for the series' that I have followed since the age of seven, and have bought and still own at least one copy of each game in the series in some form or another. So, I feel prompted to write in support of Kratos' appearance.
Financially, we'll begin with. Kratos himself is a household name. He's starred in six of his own games over four systems (look it up, there was a GoW for Mobile Phones), and made cameos in others such as LittleBigPlanet, Modnation Racers, Heavenly Sword (in a fashion) and SoulCalibur. Despite being a PlayStation-exclusive series, each God of War game has drastically outsold the Mortal Kombat that was released nearest to it's own date. So really, it's an honour that such a high-profile name should make it into a series which has fallen so far, and the GoW fans it will draw into MK, which no doubt greatly outnumber it's own fans (who all seem to hate the games anyway), will help ensure financial success and spur WB Games into funding the continuation of the series. But of course, if Mr. Ed Boon wants to make any money out of the game, then he's instantly a sellout.
Right then, my second point. Kratos fits in with the Mortal Kombat universe. I'm hard pressed to think of another videogame protagonist that is as brutal and visceral as the War God himself, and MK seems to be trying to push the boundaries of violence and brutality with the new release. Not only that, but Kratos is on a mission to destroy the Gods, and MK features no less than three Gods as playable characters throughout the series. In SoulCalibur he was potentially wasted, because of the lack of gore, and he didn't fit in with the uber-clean and shiny look of an eastern-made game. MK has both bases covered.
It's come to my attention that since the Kratos bombshell dropped, Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski and Mark Rein have showed interest in slapping a Gears of War character into the 360 version, which is sure to rub salt into the wounds of the pent-up masses. I'm hoping for the Cole Train, not only do I love him almost as much as Kratos, but his carefree, comic relief attitude is sure to ruffle the feathers of many a rectally clenched MK 'purist'. I can't wait.
So, as a little bit of fun, I set up a petition urging David Jaffe to include our beloved Kratos in every game he possibly can from now on. I would love to see him manually decapitating a Chimera in Resistance 3, applying sandal to Hig in Killzone 3, high fiving Lara Croft after helping her uncover some ancient Greek treasure or kicking back and relaxing after disemboweling the Grim Reaper for trying to interfere with his indoor barbeque in the next expansion pack for The Sims 3. You can view and sign the petition here, so go for it, just for a laugh. Get your pets to sign it too, and your gran, she loves a bit of dismemberment.
And to sign out, I thought I'd prepare a little something for you guys.
Not the biggest MK collection going, but not bad for someone who has no respect for the series. See you guys later.
Upon telling them all they were overreacting, as a response to one guy trolling the threads with Kratos spam-hate and another hypochondriac claiming that this single character addition, who might I add has no bearing on the storyline whatsoever and is simply there as an Easter Egg, had sent the 'good' (obviously ignoring the sales figures and the fans' own reactions to the series for the past decade or so) name of Mortal Kombat 'down the drain', I was informed that I have 'no respect for the series' that I have followed since the age of seven, and have bought and still own at least one copy of each game in the series in some form or another. So, I feel prompted to write in support of Kratos' appearance.
Financially, we'll begin with. Kratos himself is a household name. He's starred in six of his own games over four systems (look it up, there was a GoW for Mobile Phones), and made cameos in others such as LittleBigPlanet, Modnation Racers, Heavenly Sword (in a fashion) and SoulCalibur. Despite being a PlayStation-exclusive series, each God of War game has drastically outsold the Mortal Kombat that was released nearest to it's own date. So really, it's an honour that such a high-profile name should make it into a series which has fallen so far, and the GoW fans it will draw into MK, which no doubt greatly outnumber it's own fans (who all seem to hate the games anyway), will help ensure financial success and spur WB Games into funding the continuation of the series. But of course, if Mr. Ed Boon wants to make any money out of the game, then he's instantly a sellout.
Right then, my second point. Kratos fits in with the Mortal Kombat universe. I'm hard pressed to think of another videogame protagonist that is as brutal and visceral as the War God himself, and MK seems to be trying to push the boundaries of violence and brutality with the new release. Not only that, but Kratos is on a mission to destroy the Gods, and MK features no less than three Gods as playable characters throughout the series. In SoulCalibur he was potentially wasted, because of the lack of gore, and he didn't fit in with the uber-clean and shiny look of an eastern-made game. MK has both bases covered.
It's come to my attention that since the Kratos bombshell dropped, Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski and Mark Rein have showed interest in slapping a Gears of War character into the 360 version, which is sure to rub salt into the wounds of the pent-up masses. I'm hoping for the Cole Train, not only do I love him almost as much as Kratos, but his carefree, comic relief attitude is sure to ruffle the feathers of many a rectally clenched MK 'purist'. I can't wait.
So, as a little bit of fun, I set up a petition urging David Jaffe to include our beloved Kratos in every game he possibly can from now on. I would love to see him manually decapitating a Chimera in Resistance 3, applying sandal to Hig in Killzone 3, high fiving Lara Croft after helping her uncover some ancient Greek treasure or kicking back and relaxing after disemboweling the Grim Reaper for trying to interfere with his indoor barbeque in the next expansion pack for The Sims 3. You can view and sign the petition here, so go for it, just for a laugh. Get your pets to sign it too, and your gran, she loves a bit of dismemberment.
And to sign out, I thought I'd prepare a little something for you guys.
Not the biggest MK collection going, but not bad for someone who has no respect for the series. See you guys later.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Carry on camping! - 24 Hour Gamer hits the fields...
Yes, this last weekend has seen Me, Trev and our respective other 'alves Susie and Katie took to the North Yorkshire Moors with nothing but a few canvas sheets and grim determination on our side. As usual, gaming was involved, but the weekend wasn't limited to that alone. So without further ado, our weekend.
SATURDAY, 25/9/10: Here I am, Rock you like a Hurricane...
The ride over to Whitby went without fault, aside from the customary return to Sheffield 10 minutes into the journey to lock the front door, but that's a given. It wasn't until we were around three quarters of the way there that the sky turned a threatening shade of grey, and by the time we'd got there our moorland home for the weekend had seen a fair amount of rain and the wind was blowing at over 30 miles per hour, making tent-pitching a bit of a nightmare to say the least. We picked a spot behind a group with a large trailer-tent, hoping that it might provide a bit of shelter from the elements, and after three hours of wrestling with tents and a quick change out of our mud-soaked clothes, we headed into Scarborough, only to hit a fresh disaster when Katie's car dropped dead as we were looking for a parking spot.
Mechanic called and dinner eaten in a local pub (in which a guy at the bar was knee-deep in Just Cause 2 on his laptop), the four of us headed down to the sea front, where Trev and I quickly ducked into the amusements. Unable to coax Trev into a game on Guitar Hero Arcade, we ended up taking up arms against a bunch of not-extinct-enough dinosaurs in Primeval Hunt, a light gun shooter from experts in the field (if ever there were) Sega. The game is centered around hunting certain species of dinosaur in the way a big game hunter would hunt an animal nowadays, stalking them through the undergrowth and taking them down. Of course this comes with an element of danger, one example of which was when a boisterous Triceratops took offense to being shot up the arsehole and charged, and in the later hunts a few unwanted guests arrive in the form of the ever-present Spielbergian T Rexes and Velociraptors, the former of which arrived twice and were taken out with a rocket to the head from each of us.
The weapon in the players' hands in Primeval Hunt is a pump-action shotgun, which can also double up as a rifle and a crossbow in-game, and the guns feature speakers in the barrels to give realism. And to give the game a free-roaming quality, the arcade cab featured a touch-screen map near the shotgun holsters which we could use to pinpoint and travel to our prey. Overall it was an excellent shooter, really fun and the guns were as accurate as they come, especially for shotties. The game is screaming out for a Wii conversion, and the Shotgun layout is perfectly suited to the Wii Zapper, the front trigger of which could double up as the reload pump and the Nunchuck's Z button could be used to fire. Throw in DS connectivity for the touch-screen and they'd be on to a winner. I'd get it on release anyway.
After a quick stint on the 2p pusher machines bore fruit by dropping me a Mario plush and some creepy racist-looking Voodoo Doll, we headed off to get a taxi back too our blustery haven, where we were delighted to find that our tents were mostly still there, and after a brief bonding session with a lovely bloke in a camper van who pulled in next to us for the night (of who's luxury we were definitely not jealous), we spent a few hours drinking in Trev's tent before retiring to our beds, where Trev found that playing Half-Minute Hero in a monsoon isn't particularly possible, and Susie and I were kept awake all night by the drunk Geordie bastards in the trailer-tent.
SUNDAY, 26/9/10: Come with me if you want to live...
We awoke to find that the wind had died down quite a lot overnight, although it had had it's toll on our tents, both of which had suffered pole damage and ours was starting to come apart at the seams. Unfazed, we headed into Whitby early for breakfast, where we made a hasty retreat from the cafe we settled on after they undercharged us by about a fiver. The more astute among you will notice that on this day last year I was actually getting married in Whitby, so the wife and I had planned to have our dinner at the Magpie cafe, our favourite eatery in the town. But unfortunately, it's everyone else's favourite too, for good reason, and neither of us really felt like queueing to get in. So we carried on along the seafront, and Trev and myself once again found ourselves in the amusements as the girls had a walk down to the beach.
We found a dusty old Time Crisis 2 cab in the back of one arcade, and had a couple of goes on that, where Trev got his own back after my domination on Primeval Hunt by handling the game like a pro, after I waited ages at the start of the game for my 'turn', forgetting about the foot pedal that pops you out from behind cover, and then spent the rest of the game catching bullets and missiles with my face. We pondered the other machines, and looked for another Primeval Hunt machine unsuccessfully. When Susie and Katie returned, The ladies had a go on Ford Racing: Full Blown (which, once again, I've been instructed to mention that Susie won), while I once again donned my hunting cap for the more conventional Big Buck Hunter. The game has more or less the same premise as PH, just with more likely prey and a lack of touch screen. I chose to hunt the moose, and did pretty well, again sparking a stampede after shooting a buck up the arsehole. After passing all of the trials, I was treated to a bonus round shooting turkeys, of which only four out of the whole 25 escaped my pump-action retribution. The shotgun really is my weapon of choice.
Following that, my wife and I celebrated our first anniversary by taking up arms against the machine army in the excellent Terminator Salvation: The Arcade Game. The game is a standard lightgun shooter, but the weapon in your hand is where the game shines. A full-sized assault rifle with real recoil, it is weighty and effective, and during the game I picked up a chaingun, which actually altered the speed and intensity of the recoil. To reload, instead of shooting off-screen, you tap the bottom of the rifle's 'clip', as if you were actually slamming in another magazine. And under the barrel is a grenade button, where an attachable grenade launcher would be found. We didn't last long, but what we did see of the game was amazing fun, and the visuals were great, with so much happening on-screen at once. And the cabs were readily available all over Whitby and Scarborough, so if anyone chances across it, give it a go. Trev tried to gamble for a knock-off Wii-style console for a bit, but ended up settling for the minor prize he could have had from each go, and walked away with a Machop Pokemon toy.
A cream tea and a walk around later, and we headed up to the whalebone arch to have our photo taken, as we had done the year before following the wedding. The weather, cold, blustery and wet, was a stark contrast to the gorgeous sunshine of last year, so we quickly boarded a taxi back to the site. The wind was now manageable, so we built our kites and spent an absolutely amazing afternoon flying them on the field, before a storm I'd been watching in the valley below swept around and we had to dash inside. Once it had passed, we fired up a barbecue and before long we headed into our beds, where I finished off Def Jam: Fight for NY - The Takeover, then slept a little while before another storm beating against our tent put an end to my rest.
MONDAY, 27/9/10: Country road, take me home...
We awoke to good news, Katie's car was going to live and a new clutch could be affixed before the day was through. Both Tents had to be thrown away, the elements had been unkind once more and Trev and Katie's tent had let in a fair bit of rain. We packed our things and waved goodbye as Trev and Katie headed into Scarborough to get the car, and set off home ourselves through the thickest fog I have ever seen. Upon our return, we split the unspent holiday cash, which amounted to £100 each, and I spend my lot on Halo: Reach, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and a preorder was placed for Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, which if the demo is anything to go by is both beautiful and brilliant, a perfect marriage of God of War and Uncharted, with the same kind of decayed beauty as Gears of War. So that gives us something to look forward to over the coming weeks. Hasta luego, fellas.
SATURDAY, 25/9/10: Here I am, Rock you like a Hurricane...
The ride over to Whitby went without fault, aside from the customary return to Sheffield 10 minutes into the journey to lock the front door, but that's a given. It wasn't until we were around three quarters of the way there that the sky turned a threatening shade of grey, and by the time we'd got there our moorland home for the weekend had seen a fair amount of rain and the wind was blowing at over 30 miles per hour, making tent-pitching a bit of a nightmare to say the least. We picked a spot behind a group with a large trailer-tent, hoping that it might provide a bit of shelter from the elements, and after three hours of wrestling with tents and a quick change out of our mud-soaked clothes, we headed into Scarborough, only to hit a fresh disaster when Katie's car dropped dead as we were looking for a parking spot.
Mechanic called and dinner eaten in a local pub (in which a guy at the bar was knee-deep in Just Cause 2 on his laptop), the four of us headed down to the sea front, where Trev and I quickly ducked into the amusements. Unable to coax Trev into a game on Guitar Hero Arcade, we ended up taking up arms against a bunch of not-extinct-enough dinosaurs in Primeval Hunt, a light gun shooter from experts in the field (if ever there were) Sega. The game is centered around hunting certain species of dinosaur in the way a big game hunter would hunt an animal nowadays, stalking them through the undergrowth and taking them down. Of course this comes with an element of danger, one example of which was when a boisterous Triceratops took offense to being shot up the arsehole and charged, and in the later hunts a few unwanted guests arrive in the form of the ever-present Spielbergian T Rexes and Velociraptors, the former of which arrived twice and were taken out with a rocket to the head from each of us.
The weapon in the players' hands in Primeval Hunt is a pump-action shotgun, which can also double up as a rifle and a crossbow in-game, and the guns feature speakers in the barrels to give realism. And to give the game a free-roaming quality, the arcade cab featured a touch-screen map near the shotgun holsters which we could use to pinpoint and travel to our prey. Overall it was an excellent shooter, really fun and the guns were as accurate as they come, especially for shotties. The game is screaming out for a Wii conversion, and the Shotgun layout is perfectly suited to the Wii Zapper, the front trigger of which could double up as the reload pump and the Nunchuck's Z button could be used to fire. Throw in DS connectivity for the touch-screen and they'd be on to a winner. I'd get it on release anyway.
After a quick stint on the 2p pusher machines bore fruit by dropping me a Mario plush and some creepy racist-looking Voodoo Doll, we headed off to get a taxi back too our blustery haven, where we were delighted to find that our tents were mostly still there, and after a brief bonding session with a lovely bloke in a camper van who pulled in next to us for the night (of who's luxury we were definitely not jealous), we spent a few hours drinking in Trev's tent before retiring to our beds, where Trev found that playing Half-Minute Hero in a monsoon isn't particularly possible, and Susie and I were kept awake all night by the drunk Geordie bastards in the trailer-tent.
SUNDAY, 26/9/10: Come with me if you want to live...
We awoke to find that the wind had died down quite a lot overnight, although it had had it's toll on our tents, both of which had suffered pole damage and ours was starting to come apart at the seams. Unfazed, we headed into Whitby early for breakfast, where we made a hasty retreat from the cafe we settled on after they undercharged us by about a fiver. The more astute among you will notice that on this day last year I was actually getting married in Whitby, so the wife and I had planned to have our dinner at the Magpie cafe, our favourite eatery in the town. But unfortunately, it's everyone else's favourite too, for good reason, and neither of us really felt like queueing to get in. So we carried on along the seafront, and Trev and myself once again found ourselves in the amusements as the girls had a walk down to the beach.
We found a dusty old Time Crisis 2 cab in the back of one arcade, and had a couple of goes on that, where Trev got his own back after my domination on Primeval Hunt by handling the game like a pro, after I waited ages at the start of the game for my 'turn', forgetting about the foot pedal that pops you out from behind cover, and then spent the rest of the game catching bullets and missiles with my face. We pondered the other machines, and looked for another Primeval Hunt machine unsuccessfully. When Susie and Katie returned, The ladies had a go on Ford Racing: Full Blown (which, once again, I've been instructed to mention that Susie won), while I once again donned my hunting cap for the more conventional Big Buck Hunter. The game has more or less the same premise as PH, just with more likely prey and a lack of touch screen. I chose to hunt the moose, and did pretty well, again sparking a stampede after shooting a buck up the arsehole. After passing all of the trials, I was treated to a bonus round shooting turkeys, of which only four out of the whole 25 escaped my pump-action retribution. The shotgun really is my weapon of choice.
Following that, my wife and I celebrated our first anniversary by taking up arms against the machine army in the excellent Terminator Salvation: The Arcade Game. The game is a standard lightgun shooter, but the weapon in your hand is where the game shines. A full-sized assault rifle with real recoil, it is weighty and effective, and during the game I picked up a chaingun, which actually altered the speed and intensity of the recoil. To reload, instead of shooting off-screen, you tap the bottom of the rifle's 'clip', as if you were actually slamming in another magazine. And under the barrel is a grenade button, where an attachable grenade launcher would be found. We didn't last long, but what we did see of the game was amazing fun, and the visuals were great, with so much happening on-screen at once. And the cabs were readily available all over Whitby and Scarborough, so if anyone chances across it, give it a go. Trev tried to gamble for a knock-off Wii-style console for a bit, but ended up settling for the minor prize he could have had from each go, and walked away with a Machop Pokemon toy.
A cream tea and a walk around later, and we headed up to the whalebone arch to have our photo taken, as we had done the year before following the wedding. The weather, cold, blustery and wet, was a stark contrast to the gorgeous sunshine of last year, so we quickly boarded a taxi back to the site. The wind was now manageable, so we built our kites and spent an absolutely amazing afternoon flying them on the field, before a storm I'd been watching in the valley below swept around and we had to dash inside. Once it had passed, we fired up a barbecue and before long we headed into our beds, where I finished off Def Jam: Fight for NY - The Takeover, then slept a little while before another storm beating against our tent put an end to my rest.
MONDAY, 27/9/10: Country road, take me home...
We awoke to good news, Katie's car was going to live and a new clutch could be affixed before the day was through. Both Tents had to be thrown away, the elements had been unkind once more and Trev and Katie's tent had let in a fair bit of rain. We packed our things and waved goodbye as Trev and Katie headed into Scarborough to get the car, and set off home ourselves through the thickest fog I have ever seen. Upon our return, we split the unspent holiday cash, which amounted to £100 each, and I spend my lot on Halo: Reach, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and a preorder was placed for Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, which if the demo is anything to go by is both beautiful and brilliant, a perfect marriage of God of War and Uncharted, with the same kind of decayed beauty as Gears of War. So that gives us something to look forward to over the coming weeks. Hasta luego, fellas.
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Hey little sister, who's your Superman?
We haven't forgotten you, oh no. I've been caught up with brushing up on my bass guitar skills (sic) and finally discovering this Facebook thing, and my cohort Trev has been busy playing Guild Wars with his siblings none stop, and there are simply not enough hours in the day (hence our still-present title). In the relatively small time I have spent gaming though, I've managed to polish off a few more noteworthy games.
Firstly, I've had another run through Ghostbusters and Batman: Arkham Asylum, two of last year's best games. I've been itching to replay Ghostbusters since I saw the credits roll the first time around, and as I had just finished watching the two films, it seemed like fate when I opened the shame box (the pile was getting a little untidy) and the digitized faces of Murray, Ramis, Aykroid and Hudson met my gaze.
For the absolutely criminal amount of people who ignored the game upon release, Ghostbusters is a continuation of the movie canon, set in 1991 and focusing on the impending threat of a Gozer cultist intent on bringing the asexual flat-topped deity back to the big apple. You play as an unnamed recruit (I say 'unnamed', you get called everything under the sun during the game), hired to test the team's experimental equipment, and retread some classic environments such as the New York City Public Library and the Sedgewick Hotel in a Gears-style 3rd person shooter.
It's a standard affair most of the time, shoot enemies until they drop, that kind of thing, but it really shines when you come up against 'proper' ghosts, who must be whittled down and trapped, just like in the films. There's a real feeling of weight when you're trying to reel in your quarry, and they are thrashing about and generally being unruly, and it's often quite tricky, and thus rewarding, to finally lock the little blighter away. And the whole thing is carried on the shoulders of the awesome comic stylings of the original cast. Plus, the graphics are still great, a rendered Ernie Hudson actually fooled a friend of the wife into believing it was filmed footage. With it's loyal fan service and easter eggs (dancing toaster anyone?), Ghostbusters is essential for any child of the eighties.
Arkham was more strategically placed in the shame box, as the teasers for Arkham City made me salivate with anticipation. Not going into too much as I've already covered B:AA in the blog, but it still looks amazing and I really immersed myself in the combat system this time around, reversing moves, beating up thugs with their own weapons and silently picking off terrified inmates left right and centre, whereas last time I was just hammering the square button until my thumbs bled. I don't think I've seen a combat system this fluid, except maybe in Assassin's Creed, but compared to Arkham the fights in AC seem lifeless and slow. Bring on Arkham City, and soon.
After tiring of Oblivion once more, after another 100+ hours trudging through Tamriel, I skipped a few games in the box until I got to the first 360 game in there, a lovely little game known as Prey. Prey is a 2006 FPS, focusing on a Cherokee alien abductee known as Domasi 'Tommy' Towadi as he gets up to all kinds of hi jinks on board an alien mother ship as they try to go about their business, the cheeky little scamp. Of course, the aliens' business is naturally the abduction and consumption of entire races, so Tommy's interfering is a noble act.
The game is relentlessly old school, forgetting the two-gun system and regenerating health seen in just about every FPS since Halo, instead focusing on a more Doom-like approach. But before you go into flashbacks of having all of your health sapped by a Cyber Demon and running around screaming, frantically searching for a health pack, Be aware that Tommy, being a Cherokee, is very attuned to the spirit world, which regurgitates him back into the world every time he pops his clogs with a refilled health bar and a warm fuzzy feeling inside. But that's also Prey's downfall, after the first couple of levels death isn't even an inconvenience, and it makes the game far too easy even on it's hardest difficulty setting, on which I was able to polish the game off in 8 hours.
But where Prey is physically easy, mentally it's a very difficult game. The environment is often sickeningly gruesome, with the alien ship's seemingly biological parts glistening as if slimey, and mutilated people, some dead, some alive, litter the halls. Tommy's main objective is to rescue his girlfriend Jen, and when you finally find her, you will probably witness one of the most powerful and emotive set-pieces in videogame history. You can get hold of Prey now for about £3, and I thoroughly recommend it. It's nostalgic to a simpler time in FPSes, but pioneered some features that later games took all the credit for (Portal springs to mind, for one). You need Prey, and I need you to have it.
Last, but not least, after seeing the incredible teaser for Bioshock: Infinite, I decided that it was High Time I returned to Rapture and procured a copy of Bioshock 2, for the tender price of £7.99 from GAME. I enjoyed the first one, but felt it didn't need a sequel, and as such dismissed BS2 as a mere cash-in, but truth be told I'm enjoying it far more than I ever thought I would.
Where BS had you playing as a normal man caught up by chance in the ruined atlantian city of Rature, BS2 straps you into the oversized boots of one of the first Big Daddies, bio-mechanical monsters that stalk the streets with their ghoulish little girls extracting a substance known as ADAM from the lifeless bodies of the ill-fated. The extra strength a Big Daddy commands means that every weapon can be carried in one hand, leaving the other open, meaning that a Plasmid ability (a special power such as Telekinesis or Pyrokinesis gained from rewriting your DNA with chemicals) is always at the ready, eliminating the need to switch between them mid fight and making the battles a lot more streamlined. Aside from that, nothing else has really changed, but I'm still waist-deep in it so I could be surprised like I was with Red Dead, no doubt minutes after I post this. But why fix something that wasn't broken?
Okay wrapping it up. Finally gotten around to downloading Alan Wake's first bit of DLC, titled The Signal, but haven't had a go yet. Will do soon. And I've had a good go on the trial versions of Limbo and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, both of which are fantastic pieces of software. The thing is though, I only have the Microsoft Points for one of them, and I can't decide which I should get for the life of me. I'm tilting for the bleak, soul-crushing but ultimately beautiful Limbo though, as I think Maybe I could coax official 24HG commenter Paul into a bit of co-op once Lara hits the PS3 next month. Any views on this via the comments section, please and thank yous.
So yeah, we're still here. Trev's possibly going to crop up at some point with reviews of Nier and Castlevania HD (which is shit by the way, as far as the trial goes anyway), and I'll try and make my visits a bit less sporadic. Buhbye xx.
Firstly, I've had another run through Ghostbusters and Batman: Arkham Asylum, two of last year's best games. I've been itching to replay Ghostbusters since I saw the credits roll the first time around, and as I had just finished watching the two films, it seemed like fate when I opened the shame box (the pile was getting a little untidy) and the digitized faces of Murray, Ramis, Aykroid and Hudson met my gaze.
For the absolutely criminal amount of people who ignored the game upon release, Ghostbusters is a continuation of the movie canon, set in 1991 and focusing on the impending threat of a Gozer cultist intent on bringing the asexual flat-topped deity back to the big apple. You play as an unnamed recruit (I say 'unnamed', you get called everything under the sun during the game), hired to test the team's experimental equipment, and retread some classic environments such as the New York City Public Library and the Sedgewick Hotel in a Gears-style 3rd person shooter.
It's a standard affair most of the time, shoot enemies until they drop, that kind of thing, but it really shines when you come up against 'proper' ghosts, who must be whittled down and trapped, just like in the films. There's a real feeling of weight when you're trying to reel in your quarry, and they are thrashing about and generally being unruly, and it's often quite tricky, and thus rewarding, to finally lock the little blighter away. And the whole thing is carried on the shoulders of the awesome comic stylings of the original cast. Plus, the graphics are still great, a rendered Ernie Hudson actually fooled a friend of the wife into believing it was filmed footage. With it's loyal fan service and easter eggs (dancing toaster anyone?), Ghostbusters is essential for any child of the eighties.
Arkham was more strategically placed in the shame box, as the teasers for Arkham City made me salivate with anticipation. Not going into too much as I've already covered B:AA in the blog, but it still looks amazing and I really immersed myself in the combat system this time around, reversing moves, beating up thugs with their own weapons and silently picking off terrified inmates left right and centre, whereas last time I was just hammering the square button until my thumbs bled. I don't think I've seen a combat system this fluid, except maybe in Assassin's Creed, but compared to Arkham the fights in AC seem lifeless and slow. Bring on Arkham City, and soon.
After tiring of Oblivion once more, after another 100+ hours trudging through Tamriel, I skipped a few games in the box until I got to the first 360 game in there, a lovely little game known as Prey. Prey is a 2006 FPS, focusing on a Cherokee alien abductee known as Domasi 'Tommy' Towadi as he gets up to all kinds of hi jinks on board an alien mother ship as they try to go about their business, the cheeky little scamp. Of course, the aliens' business is naturally the abduction and consumption of entire races, so Tommy's interfering is a noble act.
The game is relentlessly old school, forgetting the two-gun system and regenerating health seen in just about every FPS since Halo, instead focusing on a more Doom-like approach. But before you go into flashbacks of having all of your health sapped by a Cyber Demon and running around screaming, frantically searching for a health pack, Be aware that Tommy, being a Cherokee, is very attuned to the spirit world, which regurgitates him back into the world every time he pops his clogs with a refilled health bar and a warm fuzzy feeling inside. But that's also Prey's downfall, after the first couple of levels death isn't even an inconvenience, and it makes the game far too easy even on it's hardest difficulty setting, on which I was able to polish the game off in 8 hours.
But where Prey is physically easy, mentally it's a very difficult game. The environment is often sickeningly gruesome, with the alien ship's seemingly biological parts glistening as if slimey, and mutilated people, some dead, some alive, litter the halls. Tommy's main objective is to rescue his girlfriend Jen, and when you finally find her, you will probably witness one of the most powerful and emotive set-pieces in videogame history. You can get hold of Prey now for about £3, and I thoroughly recommend it. It's nostalgic to a simpler time in FPSes, but pioneered some features that later games took all the credit for (Portal springs to mind, for one). You need Prey, and I need you to have it.
Last, but not least, after seeing the incredible teaser for Bioshock: Infinite, I decided that it was High Time I returned to Rapture and procured a copy of Bioshock 2, for the tender price of £7.99 from GAME. I enjoyed the first one, but felt it didn't need a sequel, and as such dismissed BS2 as a mere cash-in, but truth be told I'm enjoying it far more than I ever thought I would.
Where BS had you playing as a normal man caught up by chance in the ruined atlantian city of Rature, BS2 straps you into the oversized boots of one of the first Big Daddies, bio-mechanical monsters that stalk the streets with their ghoulish little girls extracting a substance known as ADAM from the lifeless bodies of the ill-fated. The extra strength a Big Daddy commands means that every weapon can be carried in one hand, leaving the other open, meaning that a Plasmid ability (a special power such as Telekinesis or Pyrokinesis gained from rewriting your DNA with chemicals) is always at the ready, eliminating the need to switch between them mid fight and making the battles a lot more streamlined. Aside from that, nothing else has really changed, but I'm still waist-deep in it so I could be surprised like I was with Red Dead, no doubt minutes after I post this. But why fix something that wasn't broken?
Okay wrapping it up. Finally gotten around to downloading Alan Wake's first bit of DLC, titled The Signal, but haven't had a go yet. Will do soon. And I've had a good go on the trial versions of Limbo and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, both of which are fantastic pieces of software. The thing is though, I only have the Microsoft Points for one of them, and I can't decide which I should get for the life of me. I'm tilting for the bleak, soul-crushing but ultimately beautiful Limbo though, as I think Maybe I could coax official 24HG commenter Paul into a bit of co-op once Lara hits the PS3 next month. Any views on this via the comments section, please and thank yous.
So yeah, we're still here. Trev's possibly going to crop up at some point with reviews of Nier and Castlevania HD (which is shit by the way, as far as the trial goes anyway), and I'll try and make my visits a bit less sporadic. Buhbye xx.
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