Thursday 2 December 2010

The games of the year - the crowd

So this year has been a pretty epic one for gaming hasn’t it? We’ve seen a sequel to what is the biggest selling non-MMO RPG of all time (finally!!) be released, many, many, MANY more sequels to games be released (Mass Effect 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Assassins Creed), some reboots (Medal of Honour), and plenty of new innovative Ip’s (Heavy Rain, Dance Central, Naughty Bear). All in all its been a
pretty epic year.

So what takes the crown, and by crown I mean what is truly THE GAME OF THE YEAR. To look at this you need to cast your mind back to January (keep going ....... little further ....... bit more ...... come one tiny bit ..... no too far come back) where we left our Console and PC hero’s battling it out with Modern Warfare 2 in the online world and many people were still thinking – “Will I ever see GT5 in my lifetime?” “I wonder if Duke Nuke’em Forever will ever be ready?” “Is Commander Sheppard really dead?” “Did I leave the oven on?”. Yes it was a simple time when choosing a game would have been easy, now fast forward to December 2010 and its a bit of a traffic jam, here are my highlights:
Now before I run these down I want to make something clear, I’ve not played all of the great games this year (I do have a life you know!) so this is from what I’ve played ok?


Alpha Protocol – ok I’ll be honest I’d never heard of this before I bought the game after seeing some of the adverts for it. A spy RPG? Sounds kind of cool. Well it is kind of cool for about 2 or 3 plays but after this it sort looses what flash it has, you that one trick pony? Well this is it I mean the controls are ok, the story is deluded, while the camera can be frustrating leaving the game enjoyable and yet frustrating wanting more. Its a game I want to hate, but just cant – its a .... a ..... a pug – you know it just does look like a dog but it gives you those eyes and you fall for it like a sap.

Fable 3 – Fable 2 was a fantastic game and was very well polished, the third iteration in this franchise thought it was fun to use copy, paste, and buff – problem is you buff too much the shit comes through. The game has a great sense of humour (very English / Python like) and has a pick up and play mechanic – the shit lies with the story, I mean it just lacks any life what so ever which makes the game slightly dull. To add insult to injury the game is buggy as hell and after a while I’ve sort of given up with finding fault and just got on playing it

Medal of Honour – you know I was excited to hear a new modern age of Medal of Honour was being released. “Finally” I thought “Something to for real shooting fans to play on and we can leave all the dicks in Modern Warfare.” Oh how wrong was I, while the game has a very realistic look and feel to the game it feels hollow. I mean Call of Duty games drag you in kicking and screaming into the action while Medal of Honour sort of leaves you alone with a sign saying “I’m a good game, give me a go”. Best to leave it in the corner of the dance floor for now.

Naughty Bear – ok this one is going to be short. The game is like the Teletubbies on acid! Seriously its all cuddly and fluffy with bright colours everywhere ..... then you take an axe to things, or a sword, or golf club – seriously funny and good to distress with.


Halo Reach – you know I have to admit something here, I’m not a Halo fan (ducks for cover from flying fanboy shit). Yes you heard me right, the story just felt disconnected – “I’m a space marine, he’s an alien we fight blah blah blah blah”. I mean come on its nothing we’ve not heard before right? Well Reach sort of took all of the good points of this series and made this game. The story actually felt like I should care about it, the characters felt engaging (even if their deaths were poor), and the controls finally fit. Multi-player finally added a “No-Dickheads” option which means I can enjoy an online game without the 12 year old screaming how bad I suck down my left ear. All in all a worthy end to what has been the Xbox work horse for the last few years.

Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley – ok I’m now a fan of Twisted Pixel I mean come on this game was funny, it had the humour levels of Conkers Bad Fur Day, simple controls, and references left right and centre to films, tv, and games. Minor issue – its on 11 with the weird stuff all the time and the Manga section just made me feel almost ill with its craziness!

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