Tag: 2010

BONUS CONTENT: Game of the Decade 2010-2019

With 10 years worth of Games of the Year sitting there it only makes sense to finish off the catch-up with a Game of the Decade to choose the best of the best from the past 10 years. So the 5 Games of the Year up for the award are.

2010 – 2019:

Nominees:

Winner:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I jumped around a bit with this one until I finally made a choice. My original thought was The Witcher 3, then from that I went to God of War and then from that to Skyrim. Once I had Skyrim in mind the other contenders couldn’t shake it from the top spot. Slyrim stood firm in it’s spot no matter how many contenders I threw at it. The game is one that I have returned to many times since it’s release and now that I’ve named it my Game of the Decade I might go back to it again. It is an experience that I can go back to time and time again even 9 years on since it’s original release. At the time of writing this Skyrim is yet to feel old, It is a modern classic like the last few Elder Scrolls games before it. Number 6 has very big shoes to fill but if anyone can pull another Game of the Year/Decade, my money would be on Bethesda.

by Individuo

Mass Effect 2 (PC, PS3, XBOX 360)

With my new computer and copy of Mass Effect 3 still no where to be seen I continue my quest through the Mass Effect universe from start to finish. This week I find myself in the gooey middle of Shepard’s story to save the galaxy from the Reaper threat. One month after the devastating geth attack on the Citadel, the galactic community struggles to rebuild. Now the Council is forced to respond to evidence that the Reapers — enormous machines that eradicate all organic civilization every 50,000 years have returned. To quell the rumours, the Council has sent Commander Shepard and the Normandy to wipe out the last pockets of geth resistance. Officially, they blame the invasion on the geth and their leader, a rogue Spectre.
But for those who know the truth, the search for answers is just beginning…
Our story begins again aboard the Normandy, Commander Shepard is out looking for geth to kick in the teeth, but not before his ship is destroyed, Shepard is killed and his body ejected into space. Not the best way to kick start a game by killing off the lead character, but what the hell, I’ll go with it. Oh wait, it’s ok because the game is actually set 2 years later where you find yourself waking up on an operating table. It turns out you’ve been revived by a group called “Cerberus” (a group of nasty men and women who believe humanity are the master race and want to keep it that way, so basically the KKK on a galactic level). They want Shepard to gather up friends old and new and discover why human colonies have disappeared.
Gameplay has changed slightly in the new installant. Where the last game was an RPG with action elements, Mass Effect 2 is more of an Action game with RPG elements. It’s very much dumbed down compared to the original. For instants there is no where near as many skill traits to level up and the micro management of equipment is gone. Not that I miss the micro management but the scaling down of the skill traits makes Shepard seem that much more generic, like the rest of the armour clad space marine protagonists from every other game in existence. There was me thinking Shepard was different, *sigh*.
It’s not just the RPG elements that have had their corners cut, it seems when Cerberus decided to give Shepard a new ship, they refused to give him another buggy to scour planets with. I guess they were scared that Shepard was going to make fun of it again for it’s broken physics and the general ball ache it is to drive the dam thing. Normally something like that I would leave with neither a farewell or tip of the hat, but in this case removing the vehicle sections makes the game loose it’s epicness. Rather than explore a small section of terrain, you now send probes down to the planets surface to collect resources. Although boring it needs to be done if you want the best ending and weapon upgrades. Their may be more planets and systems to visit in Mass Effect 2 than the original, but you really don’t see the point of heading all the way over to the other end of the galaxy just to start probing planets you may have missed. Not only this but since Shepard’s move to Cerberus he has lost his use of the Alliance Military credit card, which Shepard must have used to pay for fuel in the last game. Cerberus, obviously has strict travel expenses rules (I guess even inter-galactic super corporations aren’t immune to the credit crunch).
With the loss of the vehicle sections and the mediocrity that is recourse probing, it means that the game-play is really only held up by that scourge of the over the shoulder action based epic which is cover based shooting. It wasn’t genre defining when Gears of War did it, so I don’t get why people are so obsessed by it. Anyway, back to the matter at hand before I tangent you all to death. The combat in Mass Effect 2 is alot easier than it’s counter part, I guess this is so Bioware can continue the feel of babies first Mass Effect, which is ironic since it’s the second instalment.
Much like everything Bioware has ever done the game is well written and presents itself well, and unlike a lot of modern games, comes out of the box with very few bugs, (Every time I mention bugs at release I have to mention my disgust for Fallout 3’s bug content so here it is) Unlike Fallout 3. Everything in Mass Effect 2 glistens to a shiny finish. It’s obvious alot of work has gone into making the game. Another move Bioware has made with Mass Effect 2 which I’ve not seen being done in a long time, is the ability to import a save from the original game into Mass Effect 2, in which the choices made in the first game can effect events of the second game. This is a very clever move by Bioware since it can force most fans of the series to own all 3 games if they want to live the whole experience. Although I can also see this being a reason for purchasing the PC or 360 version over the PS3, since the PS3 doesn’t own it’s own copy of Mass Effect, the loser.
Now for my final though, I don’t think I can decide which one of the 2 I prefer. It seems what Mass Effect got right, Mass Effect 2 got wrong and vice versa. Where as Mass Effect is more in-depth but high maintenance, Mass Effect 2 is faster paced and in your face but shallower than a toddlers paddling pool. So I guess overall I have to say they are both as good/bad as each other. Next week I will not be reviewing Mass Effect 3, even if I do eventually get my new computer I’ll still be away and not be able to play it. I might just take a couple of weeks off instead… Yeah, that seems like a good idea.
On a final note, this concludes my 20th blog review. YAY!!!
by Individuo

Fable 3 (PC, XBOX 360)

This week the revolution begins as I expose the power struggle within the kingdom of Albion in Peter Molyneux’s latest fable… Fable 3
I’ve been a fan of the Fable since it’s humble beginnings. Back in the days when Microsoft were the new kids to the console wars one of it’s later exclusive titles was Fable. A game where you ran around Rural Medieval killing things and farting in public. It was like The Sims meets Elders Scroll. It’s game play ws unique and even if the story was a bit weak (Given the name of the series you’d think it’d be all about the story, guess that kinda got lost in translation somewhere along the way) it was still a good game that I still play to this day.
Then the 360 came out and thus Fable 2 soon followed which was in essence the same but with minor tweaks and upgrades. Then a few years later came Fable 3, where in someone decided that the formula needed mixing up a little, the old saying “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” comes to mind. It’s a game that wreaks of improvements that the series really didn’t need. For example, in the first 2 Fable’s the was to level up was done but using a melee weapon to given you melee experience, use a ranged weapon to gain ranged experience, use magic to gain magic experience and gain general experience by killing things and you levelled up different skills depending on the amount of experience points you have, sounds ok. Fable 3 however does things differently, you gain experience by doing almost anything but it killing things, making friends, making pies, buying houses, completing quests… To which it can all be used to open chests giving you upgrades in all manor of things. It just means that someone could become a master swordsman just by making lots of friends.
The story is simplistic, basically you are the younger brother/sister of the current king who is a tyrant and it’s up to you to overthrow him and bring power back to the suffering masses of Albion (which has now transcended into the Victorian era). So must gain allies and build support for a revolution. It’s enough of a story to drive the plot but not something that’s going to stick with you for years to come. After you amass your army of rebels and overthrow your brother you’re then suddenly informed of an impending doom that will invade Albion in a years time, so for an in game year you must either keep the promises you made to your companions along the way and have the country decimated by the evil blob or amass the huge amounts of gold needed to fund an army big enough to allow everyone to survive. Sounds intriguing yes, but some of the choices I have to make still have the air of one extreme or another. One choice in particular that sticks out is to abolish child labour and refurbish one of my mills into a school or I could Force child labour and have them man the mill. Why can’t I abolish child labour but keep the mill? That would make sense. Also why do I loose money if I lift prohibition on alcohol? The game has it’s own train of thought at times that is completely alien to common sense.
The combat is the same as in any Fable game where you have an arsenal of melee, ranged or magic. Although in Fable 3 instead of having to buy better weapons, you can upgrade the ones you already have by levelling up or completing certain achievements (e.g. kill 100 enemies at night, etc.). Although there are several weapons available it’s easy enough to go through the whole game with the starting weapons.
I have always enjoyed the dialogue in the Fable series, it rarely seems forced and has that quaint hint of British humour about it.Compared to the likes of the Elders Scroll series where the dialogue always seems monotone and dull. Alot of big British names also appear to do cameos for the game, the biggest probably being Stephen Fry who’s character is one of few returning character from Fable 2. Also new names to the line up include John Cleese, Jonathan Ross, Simon Pegg & Michael Fassbender.
Peter Molyneux has always been very big on mentioning with each Fable game that the player will have total freedom to do what they like during the game. Although this sounds hopeful, all 3 games have been lacking in that department. What Peter refers to as freedom I would say is nothing more than time wasting. Anything outside of the quests feels like wasted effort, sure I could marry a NPC, have a couple of kids and live in a nice house, sure I may get gifts now and again but there is no real reward for it. Although it was similar in earlier Fable games it gets worse in the 3rd instalment because it’s even more hard work to get somebody to like you. First of all you have to impress them with whistling and dancing, then run a small quest and you’re friends, repeat and you’re in love, go on a few dates, get married, take to bed, have kids… In all honesty I got bored at whistling. Sure it’s more realistic but I (as well as alot of people) don’t play games to emulate real life. I have real life to do that for me thank you very much.
Overall Fable 3 is definitely the worst game of the series. It would have been so much better if people decided not to dick about with the formula that made people fans of the first two games. Upon watching it again. During Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw’s video review of Fable 2 he comes out with the phrase “You can, but why would you want to?”. This speaks even truer in the 3rd instalment since it takes about three times the effort to do anything and bares about a tenth of the reward. To end, play Fable 3 if you wish, just don’t blame me if you also feel empty and unfulfilled afterwards.
by Individuo

Heavy Rain (PS3)

 

Anyway, lets start this with a game that as soon as I bought it kept me playing for 18hrs solid, Heavy Rain (as if you couldn’t tell by the title).
When I first heard about Heavy Rain all those years ago I eagerly anticipated it’s release. During the later years it seemed the more I heard about it, the more excited I was about the game (I’m usually quite sceptical about new releases so this is a rarity). Alarm bells started to ring though when I started seeing all the adverts for the game and news of the “4 Days Challenge”. In my experience most products marketed that heavily usually fair rather poorly. I’m glad though that in this instance this wasn’t true. Heavy Rain is by far most recent gaming example of gripping story telling and with an atmosphere thick enough to cut with a knife. There is no other current generation game that comes close to the Heavy Rain experience.
The story revolves around a serial killer known as “The Origami Killer” who kidnaps children and drowns them. Your viewpoint switches between 4 playable characters. Ethan Mars, Farther of the most recently kidnapped victim. Madison Paige, A Journalist reporting on the Origami Killings. Norman Jayden, An FBI Agent working on the case of the Origami Killer and Scott Shelby, A former cop now private investigator hired by families of the Origami Killers victims, as they all search for the Origami Killer and his current hostage Shaun Mars.
The story is gripping and the game-play is unique. Although, the game is not what I’d call perfect, there are a few blemishes to it’s character. My main niggles are as follows.
1) Glitches and freezing – As some of you may be aware of, there are still a few bugs in the game that need ironed out. I experienced a few minor one-off glitches (my favourite one being when Scott’s head decided to twist 180 degrees for a brief moment) but one that really annoyed me was when my game would freeze when I get onto the dance floor in the Blue Lagoon in which I had to reset the console. It would work normally once I loading my game again though. I’ve also heard stories about saves corrupting, although I never had a problem with such. Although with the release of the patches this isn’t really a problem any more.
2) The Controls (Movement of Character) – Although the control layout sounds good on paper (assigning the movement to R2 allowing the left analogy stick to change the players point of focus), paper can be a flimsy thing. Since you walk in the direction your focusing in, the analog stick is pointing in the direction you want to be going anyway, all this button configuration is doing is making me hold down an extra button to move. I personally would have though it would be better using the left analogue stick to move the character and using R2 to run (since most of the game nobody can go faster than a pleasant stroll). I’ve read other reviews praising the controls so maybe it’s just me that doesn’t get it.
3) Slow Beginning – The neck breaking intro meant to drag you kick and screaming into the game runs rather too slowly, mostly serving as a 20min tutorial on the controls. To which less than 5mins of that time is necessary to the story. Meaning that it does drag on a bit for a wile but about 30mins in it’ll suddenly grab you by the balls and drag you through until the end (hence the 18hrs of continuous game-play). As the old saying goes “Good things come to those who wait”. Heavy Rain being no exception.
4) Story Inconsistencies – Although from a distance the story is well rounded and intense, if you were to look at it close up you will notice that a few bits and pieces don’t add up. One that immediately springs to mind is near the end Madison upon finding out the identity of the Origami Killer has the opportunity to ring Ethan or Norman about the location on Shaun. The thing is though, Madison had never met Norman during the game, so how did she have his phone number? I couldn’t help thinking when noticing this that a few scenes could possibly have been cut from the final game, and that I wasn’t getting the whole Heavy Rain experience.
If you’re willing to forgive the reasons mentioned above, you’ll discover a unique gaming experience unlike any other, where with every action comes a reaction capable of changing the very course of the game. Beautifully presented both visually and audibly with probably the best rain effects I’ve ever seen in a game. A must buy for any PS3 owner.
One minor thing I have to mention. With the game you get a sheet of printed paper so you can fold your own Origami Figure like that shown on the box. The instructions on how to fold it are shown on screen whilst the game installs giving you something to do during installation. It’s a minor thing but it means you’re not sitting around twiddling your thumbs whilst the game installs.
If anyone has games they would like me to review leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do (as long as they are not for the Wii, since I don’t have access to one and don’t particularly want to).
by Individuo