2008 in Review Part 1: Games

[oni_anne]

Another year is about to pass in a matter of weeks and it’s time for an obligatory reflection of the past year’s happenings.  Here is part 1

The Good

Q4 showed a plethora of games that I’ve been excited to play. So many games in fact I have to save them up for the following year - especially if 2009’s game release distribution will mimic 2008’s. For some reason game developers love to torture gamers by releasing everything that is good at the end of the year. Games in my current line-up include:

• Fallout 3 - This game has consumed more of my waking hours then it should have. The post apocalyptic setting feels authentic and even artistic. Regardless of its brain dead AI and thin dialog trees, I’m still having fun and will probably run this game again with another character type because I feel I’ve merely touched the surface of this game.
• Metal Gear Solid 4 - This is the game sold the PS3. For a long time I was waiting for a game of quality for the PS3 and it finally showed up in MGS4: Guns of the Patriots. MGS4 showed me that consol games can be enjoyed twice.
• Left 4 Dead - This game physically gives me shivers. It’s a completely different kind of video game than I’ve played before in an FPS. Its primary mechanic centers on a four person co-op experience while telling a story in the form of scenarios that feel like a movie. What surprised me the most is the game is well paced, even by horror movie standards. I have yet to try the versus mode.
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3: I never really got into the C&C series before, but RA3 offered a co-op campaign mode that Sig and I couldn’t pass up. It’s a fast moving RTS with funny acting and in-game dialog. More RTS games should follow in the footsteps of RA3 when it comes to multiplayer fun.

Other games that I want to play but will reserve for later are:

• Dead Space - I like horror games and this one promises a story on par with Bioshock.
• Rock Band 2 - Our Xbox 360 has the three-red-ring of death and is now bricked.
• Resistance 1 and 2 - I’ve heard that the story line is very compelling and satisfying.
• Braid - a puzzle game with an intriguing game design twist
• Little Big Planet - I haven’t played a platform game since Super Mario Galaxies.
• Fable 2 - I hope it comes out for the PC. I don’t know if I can stomach buying a THIRD Xbox 360 just yet.
• Gears of War 2 - I really like the GoW1 on the PC, reports show more of the same goodness.
• Mirror’s Edge - FPS action with a hint of puzzle. Looks to heighten the sense of motion within the game play more effectively than any other.
• NWN2: Storm of Zehir - if its content follows like its predicessors it will also land a spot on my hard drive.

The Revisited

After I built out our new comptuer systems, we decided to revist a few games we couldn't play before or had trouble playing due to technological limitations.  We also got a Wii this early in the year which opend up our game repitoir:

• Neverwinter Nights 2 - much better the second time around on a faster box.  The expantion Mask of the Betrayer also proved to be excellent.
• Gears of War - awesome co-op game, but twice as better on the PC than on the XBox 360.  More control and better versus mode.
• Civilization 4 - And I don't even have the expantions yet.  Just started playing the base game again.
• Resident Evli 4 - For some reason on the Wii It plays much better.

The Bad
Some games you just shouldn't play.

• Age of Conan - I liked it for the first 40 levels.  I especially loved it for its adult content.  It truely felt gritty and even got hyped up enought to read the Conan books.  But after 40 things got dull and too much of a grind.
• Next Life - Just another cheap poorly written point-and-click adventure game.

The Most Surprising

• Auditorium (http://playauditorium.com/) - a delightful game of discovery and play.  Just try it and you'll see what i mean.