‘Tis The Season To Be Gaming

Even though 2009 didn’t come close to 2008 in terms of the sheer number of high profile games that came out, it still did a solid run, with a few surprises as well. So I’ve thankfully had the opportunity to play enough video games this year to make up a personal top ten games to the year. Last year I did a similar post to this one, where I did more of an overview of my overall gaming experience in the previous year, but this year I’m just going to summarize that in one sentence.

It was aight, yo.

Before I got deep deep down into the top ten list, I’ll just mention that besides the next-gen consoles, my PS2 was still alive and kicking it, albeit the machine hosted only two games and leaving me behind with the fact that I still have around 20 classic titles to beat on that system. But free time is really hard to find, and when I do discover it, I usually tend to burn through the newer games. A habit I somehow want to change slightly in 2010. Since I personally didn’t allow myself to place an older game on my top ten list for 2009, I’ll go right ahead and say that the game that made me almost lose my sanity on the PlayStation 2 was none other than my dearly beloved Persona 3. The countless moments I had thinking about that game before snoozing off to sleep, really did make an impression on me. That’s all coming from someone who really does not like your standard RPG games and turn based combat. Yet that game managed to completely seduce me into playing it for long and unbearable game sessions. Similarly,  on the PC front, Borderlands completely blew me away. I’ve beaten the game twice and sank around 50 hours into it. And I still crave for more and more quests and loot  to be given to through the means of DLC. I did include Borderlands into my overall top ten list for the year, I’m just mentioning it here right now, since in this paragraph I’m focusing solely on the platform a game is being played on. The PSP received a lot of new and interesting games this year and I did buy most of them, yet somehow the poor thing got neglected enough for me not to write about my personal pick for that system. Lastly, on the PS3 it’s inFAMOUS that scored high for me.

But I’m already slightly spoiling things, so allow me to jump into my personal Top Ten List of Games For 2009:

#10 – Skate 2

I don’t know how to skate, but I do respect people that do know how to skate. Thus the medium of video games is my only resort to actually getting the feeling and sensation of the sport. And man, does the feeling kick you in the groin and kicks you again after you fall down in pain. The game is better than the original that I loved last year and even more realistic, which means it’s much harder. I never really was a fan of Tony Hawk’s button control and the million combos you can do with a press of two buttons, but the stick control in Skate 2 still feels natural and fun. Even if it makes you almost break a controller or two in the process.

#9 – Shatter

This year was a really good year for digital releases of retro-themed games on both PSN and XBLA. After a large number of bad Arcanoid that rampaged through years, Shatter brings a new and innovative game mechanic into the overall gameplay. Sucking and blowing (no sexual innuendo intended). Thanks to trophies, I’ve managed to beat the game three times and I still found myself even today trying to get the last three trophies, after a four month hiatus. The game is fun. What more can I say? Also, buy the soundtrack, it’s really good. Anyone that you’ll speak to about Shatter will mention this, even me.

#8 – Call Of Duty [insert number?]: Modern Warfare 2

I don’t know why, but I feel kind of guilty placing Modern Warfare 2 on the list. I played the hell out of the original Modern Warfare’s multiplayer, but here I didn’t touch it on purpose. I only wanted to see one thing. The story mode. I wanted to see what kind of cinematic and insane crap they placed in four hours of gameplay. A friend of mine lend me the game and I wasn’t impressed. The original story and setting were spectacular, but this time, shit just got too surreal for my taste. I have no doubt that the game is really a high quality game, but I already knew what to expect from the game. So that’s why it didn’t do it for me. But if someone says that Modern Warfare 2 was an amazing experience for him and that the multiplayer is still awesome, I’ll agree with him.

#8 – UFC Undisputed 2009

I like fighting games. A lot. And Undisputed is strategic, fun and filled with enough tension to throw Modern Warfare 2 off the list. It’s like chess. With blood.

#7 – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

As with Modern Warfare 2, this was also a game that everyone waited for and held their breaths until they were released, consequentially climaxing at their cinematic value and fun multiplayer. But not me. I do appreciate setpieces, but when I saw that Uncharted 2 was built all around them, constantly placing me in cool moments, it just didn’t do for me. You could say that Uncharted 2 is played like a movie, which is totally fine. But a movie is a movie. For me a very good game gives me the tools to create my own awesome and unforgettable moments, which is what counts. Similarly as with Modern Warfare 2, Uncharted 2 is a popcorn kind of game, one that you enjoy while it lasts, but it’s easy forgettable and doesn’t really stand the test of time.

#6 – Left 4 Dead 2

I’m a huge Left 4 Dead fan. The structure of the game was perfect. There were zombies and you and three other people had to survive. No plot, just survive through this campaign and experience awesome moments of horror and agony. So when they announced a sequel after a mere eight or so months, I was sceptical. And I still am. Even after beating the game. Sure, they added more contents, one more campaign and new modes. And chainsaws. Out of some unknown reason, I keep coming back to the original Left 4 Dead, with a crew I’m far more familiar. Because of the fact that I would rather play more of the original L4D, L4d2 just didn’t score higher on this list.

#5 – Resident Evil 4: Africa Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 4 was awesome and we all knew it. The new gameplay format was beyond godlike had a very special feeling to it. So when they announced a new Resident Evil 5, we we’re stoked and in high expectations. And it didn’t disappoint me, with one little exception. In RE4, you we’re alone in an unknown location in Spain at night, where creepy stuff happened. In RE5 you’re stuck 24/7 with a woman that is essentially you’re mule, which you use to carry around weapons and ammo you don’t need, in daylight Africa. And there’s more action. A lot more action. But you still felt the core of RE4’s gameplay and fighting your way from one area to another was never more exciting. Which is what makes me wonder why most people behave like RE5 never came out this year and don’t speak about it.

#4 – Assassin’s Creed II

I was one of those few people who adored the original Assassin’s Creed, even though it had the typical repeated gameplay elements, you can usually find in Ubisoft’s games. The game had this weird movie-like holy feel and setting to it, and was really a gem. Assassin’s Creed II fixes all the issues that the original game had and expands on the concept of you being an assassin. You go through the actual process of becoming a killing machine in the, oh so beautiful renaissance Italy in the 15th century. I originally placed Assassin’s Creed II on the #2 spot on my list, but after a closer consideration, it was not worthy that high of a spot out of one main reasons. The game lost its holy setting in the Holy Land, which impressed me in the first game. There aren’t any explicit religious reasons, it’s just that the story had more meaning. Altair was on a quest to redeem himself and protect the Holy Land from the Knight’s  Templars and Ezio just wanted to get some payback for the death of his father.

#3- Borderlands

The game was mentioned before as my personal game of the year pick for the PC, but in the overall picture, it deserves to be third on the list. This is mostly because of its lack of an actual story to drive the game forward. Sure, the FPS gameplay is fantastic, the loot system is fantastic, the gun system is fantastic, but it lacks that small piece of a meaningful story, that would give some sense to why you’re doing the stuff you’re doing, to actually place it higher on the list. But still, number three is still pretty good. Looking forward to some more DLC in the future and hoping that Borderlands will become next year’s Fallout 3 in the sense of DLC support. For me, Borderlands is how Fallout 3 should have been, without the VATS system that I absolutely loathed.

#2 – inFAMOUS

This was the year where developers did the superhero video game genre justice, by making those games right. inFAMOUS places you in the position of a regular dude that gets electric superpowers. And then he does whatever shit he wants to. As in our deepest dreams, the developers made a successful superhero game that has a more than solid and fun gameplay, an amazing story which leaves you wanting for more. The fact that the game has a morality system, gives you the chance to play the game through two different perspectives, with two different superpower mechanics, once as an evil dude and once as a good dude (the morality system itself is actually dumb of course, but it does the job). The game is simply awesome in its execution and does the job more than right.

#1 – Batman: Arkham Asylum

When I talked about setpieces and how they should be used, this game is a perfect example of how the game offers you the tools of execution awesome Batman-like moves with determined objectives. You find yourself in an area with thugs that you have to silently take out one by one in order to reach the next area. Batman’s ninja hidding skills? Check. There’s an area of thugs and you have to beat the shit of out them? The game gives you the moves and a fighting system that is easy to learn and has a deep value of execution. Batman ninja fighting skills? Check. You are Batman of course, which means you are the greatest detective that ever lived and you find yourself being able to solve all of these little puzzles placed by the Riddler. Batman detective skills? Check. All of these systems with its main story that drives the game forward make an excellent package that everyone should experience, even if you never read any Batman related comics or just watched at least one Batman movie. The game could be described in one sentence. Batman: Arkham Asylum makes you feel like you really are Batman. And a video game that can simulate that kind of a feeling and execute it spectacularly, is a video game worth placing highly in the annals of video game history.

So that’s my top ten list for the year. It’s a personal list of course, so hopefully with that disclaimer I won’t feel the wrath of random fanboys. The only thing I do want to say is that there were enough unique and high tier games in 2009, which makes me kind of sad seeing so many people shouting out madly either “Modern Warfare 2 best game evah, dudes!” or “Uncharted 2 cinematic shit baby, best yeah!”. And about next year’s releases I can say only one thing, holy shit, look at all of those games! Will it top 2008’s mad releases? We can only hope. I’ll end by saying something that a writer in a local gaming magazine said. It’s a damn good time to be playing video games.

Also, on a side note, the only real reasons why this blog hasn’t been updated since the summer, is the fact that something like Twitter and micro-blogging offer a quicker and more effective way of writing about games. Which is something that my account totally agrees with and abuses on a daily basis.

On Digital Distribution

After E3 2009 I took some time and thought about the future of video gaming. Not so much about the games, because right now I’d just like to watch from a distance this casual market that is slowly polluting the current video game market. I focused more on the consoles themselves and the medium on which games will be delivered in the supposed future. I remain tormented about my indecisive nature about the given matter. Yet, allow me to elaborate on it.

The supposed future is digital distribution, and only digital distribution as a form of media. Future consoles such as OnLive are silent horsemen of the apocalypse that announce such a major shift, but Apple has been doing it pretty well in the past with iTunes and similar applications and services from other companies that deal with digital media. To be honest, even for a young fellow like myself, such a rapid development in technology has been spectacular and slightly frustrating to watch. It was as if yesterday I spent 4 hours searching through our families collection of VHS tapes or manically using up six or seven floppy discs in order to copy a simple DOS program. I remain somewhat old fashioned by still calling DVD discs as CDs, simply because of the same shape, yet I haven’t purchased an empty CD to burn stuff on in over two years. And now there are small hints of getting physical forms of media completely out of the way, relying solely on a digitalized form of storage and delivery.

Once I started noticing that they could really start using this form of distribution through known console networks, such as XBL and PSN, I immediately started disliking the entire idea. My reasons are rather subjective on the matter, but that matters, because I firmly know that I’m not the only one with such a point of view. One of the most obvious reason is the simple gesture of receiving your purchased game and adding it to your collection of video games. I found myself as an avid collector of video games, and I’m not really that into it, that I’m going to buy the entire Playstation 2’s library or strive on buying only collectors editions of games, but I like the feel of actually physically touching a game case and placing it into my existing library. It is a somewhat primitive gesture of displaying little trophies that are the games that you’ve collected, proudly displaying them and watching your library grow. The fact that it’s physically viewable adds to the magic. Looking at a list of downloaded list of PSN games however does not give you that feeling. It’s just a list, and lists don’t necessary impress, ‘ya know.

Another reason, which may be completely subjective is the means of getting this future digital distribution. I myself am not fortunate enough to be located in a highly developed and known European country, or wait, screw that. I myself am not fortunate enough to be located in the bloody United States, where this digital distribution is being developed and handed out. More specifically, I am referring to the means of purchasing this magical future form of distribution. Credit cards and similar don’t really like the fact that there is an ocean between our continents and having two PSN accounts doesn’t help as well. Even the one I use for gaming doesn’t list my correct native country, simply because my country doesn’t have the Playstation Store support. Crazy, huh? Not all is magically handed out to you, and simple frustrations like this occur on a daily basis. But that’s not the point, the point is that therecould potentially be a large barrier of actually buying products from the web and not, because of cultural financial differences.

Yet I find myself selfish on the given matter. I discovered this when I noticed that I preferred buying certain PSP games from the Playstation Store, rather than looking them up on eBay or in our local electronics shop. Adding the fact that the price of the glorious US dollar is incredibly cheap to our euro, I liked the idea of having all of my games on my PSP’s memory card and avoiding disc swapping. Once I discovered my obvious hypocrisy influenced by simple practicality, I found myself baffled with what I really desire. If you look at it from a purely logical and objective viewpoint, digital distribution is one of the most ingenious things ever thought up and it really is the future. Yet companies like Sony obviously understand the situation as well and when the PSP Go! was announced, they decided to keep the 3000 series in production along side with the newer model, that solely supports digital distribution. A financial move that may cost them and bite them in the ass alter on, but at least they’re trying to shift the video game industry in this direction as well.

In the end, it’s more or less obvious that in the future we will have a console with over 600 GB of storage, and have all our games installed on it, and every other form of media, such as music and movies. And that this also poses a question for the publishers, which could potentially break down the market, so it’s actually slightly scary to think about it. A key question that appears is how fast the transition will be made and how painful will it be. Will Microsoft or Sony completely ditch disc based distribution in one move or will they gradually allow dual support and similar. I mean, you have to accept the fact that we’ve been using physical media since stone tablets were introduced or in the modern world, something simple as VHS tapes were used, yet they’ve been completely destroyed by digital media. I’m not really thinking about Nintendo in this situation, because they’re rather traditional in this sense, which I respect. Still using cartridges for the N64 was a bold move, but that doesn’t mean that Nintendo doesn’t know how to nudge the future (motion control).

Time and experiences will tell and this is a cautious tale to be observed in the distant or near future. When they’ll announce implementation of digital media into our brains, that’s when the digital crap will really hit the fan. Other than that, I’ve got some other topics to dwell upon and since it’s the slow season in video gaming right now, I’ll most likely use up the time for writing more and playing some older titles. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go on some Persona 3/JRPG rehab, like playing manly man games and listening to manly songs and walking around the house with my shirt off. Basically anything to shift my attention from the spectacle that was my forever dearest Persona 3.

Persona!

Surf’s Up! Seriously

Criterion recently released Big Surf Island, an amazing piece of downloadable content, that really shows how DLC should be handled. And when I speak of how DLC should not be handled, I’m talking about DLC being announced before the actual game is released, which has happened with a few titles, but I won’t go into detail. All I have to say is, that Criterion knows how to please their Burnout community. The game is still very active online and numerous amazing smaller chunks of DLC was rolled before as well.

Basically, Big Surf Island is an entirely new chunk of land that is positioned as an island, right from the main area of Paradise City. The bridge on which you crossover already slightly hints of the madness you’ll experience there. You’ll find more billboards, more gates to smash and new versions of Super Jumps, called Mega Jumps. And that’s a pretty accurate description. You’ll find yourself jumping through a lighthouse or across an entire bridge. There are added cars as well, two buggies and a handful of other cars, like certain toy versions of already released Legendary Cars. But that’s not what makes Big Surf Island so fun. By connecting all of these small features into a whole, you find yourself in a fast-paced, almost out of control mad cruise all around the island, which would seem to last forever.

You eventually find yourself in a flow, where you drive continuously through all around the island, and only a crash brakes that flow. But now worries, the usual crashes are caused by misplaced jumps and similar whilst driving on dirt terrain and steep hill roads. Because the overall island is structured differently and more wildly than Paradise City, the gameplay is more exciting. There are around 15 added events, two of which are completely new and actually very exciting and useful. Island Tour, and as the name suggests, the game takes you on a tour around the island, with a given time limit. It’s actually very useful, because you already see an even bigger glimpse of the content and secrets you can search for. The overall time you spend unlocking and reaching full 100% of your new Island license is about 5 – 6 hours. Because of the smaller scale of the island, you’ll also have a better sense in control of finding out the various routes on how to smash billboards and etc., which also gives you motivation on actually completing everything.

Overall, the added experience is fantastic. How Criterion deals with DLC for a game that has been released well over a year ago is really marvelous and I’m glad to see that there is more interest with Criterion in DLC for Burnout Paradise, rather than working on a sequel. Because the game itself offers an amazing and lengthful experience that everyone with a small need for a digital adrenalin fix should check out. I originally wanted to talk about the future of digital distribution, but this should serve enough as an intro. The paradox is, that I don’t really have a positive opinion in overall digital distribution.

Barbarians & Electricity

I’ve been playing a lot of inFamous. So much, that I didn’t have the time to write about it on sogeek. If you’ve read the reviews or even know someone that owns a PS3, then you know it’s an excellent and well polished game. The only weird negative comment I have on the game is the fact that you can’t walk. And by walking, I mean literally walk. You can either run or sprint. In most open world games I enjoy walking, since it’s a personal thing of immersion. Also, it’s cool to just slowly walk on top of rooftops and observe your super heroic environment.

A game like Prototype (PC) on the other hand, does contain walking. But it’s a completely different game from inFamous. I honestly didn’t know about the game’s existence, until a few weeks ago, when I started noticing random forum topics, where morons decided to duke out, whether Prototype or inFamous was a better game. What I saw from the videos and numerous trailers was interesting, so I decided to pick it up. I was query whether me playing inFamous before would have any impact on playing Prototype and it sure hell did. In simple terms, the overall gameplay and feel of inFamous is very polished and gentleman-like, where Prototype’s is mad and barbaric.

Which is a good thing, if you’re in that kind of a blood shedding mood. For me it was extremely difficult to switch to a blood lust superhuman, since in inFamous I had adapted to playing an anti-hero, one who is troubled yet ready to help out with his amazing and focused superpowers. You really have to abandon any kind of good emotions while playing Prototype. The game is violent, fast paced and keen to destroying a New York City taxi, by just touching it. I also had slight issues fulling capturing and controlling the immense power that Alex wields, but I got the hang of it. The mayhem that you can cause in the city reminds me of the early days when we first played titles like GTA 3 and GTA: San Andreas. How the game will actually turn out after I beat it, is a story to its own.

I’ve always been fascinated why characters like Alex and Wolverine were pissed off after discovering they had superpowers. And the rage that was followed afterwards. If I woke up in a morgue and discovered I could leap over buildings and morph into anyone I’d like to, I’d make a master plan on getting something I wanted really bad and played it out cool. It’ll be interesting to see what exactly happened to Alex, although I have to admit, that the story presentation is rather awkward, but it’s sufficient. This is also a minor reason why I haven’t really gotten into doing story missions yet and ignoring them by causing mayhem in NYC.

Both games are have it’s own thing. Whilst I wouldn’t really call Prototype a superhero game, it really is awesome to see that designers are finally getting the hang of making superb superhero themed games. Summer is kicking off in a real nice fashion. Also, you can clearly see from my added screen shots, that in Prototype I have a passion for abducting people, hanging them over roofs and later on absorbing their identity. It somehow makes me feel like the T-1000 from T2: Judgement Day.