The Video Game Thread PEW PEW!

[bono_man2002]

Ah, seems be reading through other pages on this thread, not a lot of you play much in the way of sports games anyways. Tis cool.

I play a lot of Black Ops (PS3) so we should get something going one time.

 

[Jive Turkey]

PS3 only people, you owe it to yourselves to buy Mass Effect 2 when it releases next week. 360 and PC people, be ashamed of yourselves if you haven't already been playing this franchise.

I was in some sort of weird 'i must buy another new game' phase last week, but nothing really tickled my fancy. Totally forgot about this one. I will pick it up fo' sho'

 

[bono_man2002]

I'm in that mood at the moment. Although not really for new games. My Dual Shock 3 died on the weekend just gone, so I just did some online shopping and purchased a new controller + red dead redemption for $97 in total. Which over here is about the price you get just for One controller!

My friends had been red dead to me for months!

 

[Jive Turkey]

$97 in total. Which over here is about the price you get just for One controller!

jeeze. That's crazy. I think the controller/game packs here are like, $60.

Do I have you on PSN? If not, I'll add you. I'm jive--turkey. I feel like we're already PSN buds though

 

[The Sad Punk]

PS3 only people, you owe it to yourselves to buy Mass Effect 2 when it releases next week. 360 and PC people, be ashamed of yourselves if you haven't already been playing this franchise.

I am genuinely considering buying a PS3 copy, and yes, I already own/have finished it on the 360.

With that in mind, I was thinking of doing a games of 2010/most anticipated of 2011 post sometime, so this may as well be it. Feel free to join me!

10 of the Games I Played in 2010 and Some Basic Thoughts About Them

Mass Effect 2
Guess I should get this out of the way since I just mentioned it. It's a bad cliche, but it's the kind of game that reminds you why you play video games in the first place. I am really not usually a fan of sci-fi, but I love the ME universe. So there you have it.

Dantes Inferno
Pretty sure this was the first game I finished in 2010, like most people it was to satisfy a desperate need for God of War 3. It was alright, I guess. There was a lot of schlong at the end.

Bayonetta
I had no idea what was going on half the time, but it was fun.

God of War 3
... not actually any better than Dante's Inferno, come to think of it. Good, but the last half or so is just so damn mediocre, especially next to the awesome Poseidon and Hades bossfights at the start. Still, much in the spirit of the earlier games, I replayed it a bunch of times.

Heavy Rain
It's the The Room of video games. It is so bad and so good at the same time. The scenes with Blake and Jayden are the best things to come out of France since M83's Saturdays=Youth. I truly wish Quantic Dream made more DLC for it.

Madden 2011
This is pretty much my first exposure to NFL and I ended up liking it, so there's that. I don't know how it compares to earlier games outside of the streamlined play system. The roster and cover, I guess.

Red Dead Redemption
Probably my biggest disappointment of 2010, even though I liked it. I just had it way too hyped up in my mind - I liked Gun from a few years ago and though this was a bigger step for the western genre, it didn't feel like by much as it should have been. I really had to force myself to play it by the end.

Vanquish
I had an absolute blast playing this, it's incredibly refreshing to see a new take on such a tired genre.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Hand-holding platform sections and dodgy screen tearing aside, this was a really nice little game. A real shame it didn't get the audience it deserved.

Donkey Kong Country Returns
If it weren't for ME2 this would be my GOTY. As perfect a platformer as I have ever played. Bring on DKC2R.


5 2011 Games That I Can't Wait For

Age of Empires Online
Dear god, I hope this turns out to be good. Please.

Mass Effect 3
A given.

LA Noire
Everything I've heard and seen from this looks great. Trying to keep my anticipation levels down, but it's difficult.

The Last Guardian
I must confess that I'm not as fanatical about Team ICO as a lot of people are, but I've still been looking forward to this since it was announced.

Gears of War 3
This is pretty much the reason I'm keeping my 360.

 

[bono_man2002]

jeeze. That's crazy. I think the controller/game packs here are like, $60.

Do I have you on PSN? If not, I'll add you. I'm jive--turkey. I feel like we're already PSN buds though

Yeah, if you get lucky during a sale you might be able to pick one up for $88. That said games, new release ones are generally $88-99.

Yep we are already PSN pals


Bonnie, whats your PSN?

 

[u2popmofo]

Nice list, Sad Punk. I'd considered making a top 10 or something. Maybe I still will when I have some time. Surprised you were so indifferent to God of War 3, it would easily be on the top of my PS3 exclusive games list for last year. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Heavy Rain was an incredibly mixed bag, surprised so many other people thought it was fantastic. It's weird, I was was so interested in finding out what was going to happen, that I flew through it. When it was finally over, I just thought, "Well, that ended up being absolutely terrible".

Some friends talked me into getting DC Universe Online for PS3. I've never played an MMO, so I'm still incredibly lost, but having a lot of fun. Luckily the first month is free, as I can't see myself paying month after month to play for very long. I'll probably just take one character to the highest level and call it good.

 

[nielsgov]

I'm really getting into God Of War lately. I never bothered to check it out and now I'm pretty addicted. Is their anything better in life than killing some Olympian gods?

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I'll go ahead with my own list of 'games for 2010'. Just the ones that I've played though. Here they go, in order.

Red Dead Redemption:

If there's a game that needs to be made into a movie, here it is. Amazing storyline, which pretty much makes it a winner. As with every Rockstar game, especially it's sandbox style sister GTA series, you simply can't put the game down because you're just waiting to hear more. Although, the gameplay itself was a tad too easy and the campfire fast travel/save system was, at times, agitating.

Madden 11:

Interesting add-ons featured in Madden 11, but overall I'd say a step back in gameplay for the Madden franchise. Dulled down the play, slowing the physics down. Made it less realistic. Also, the preplay controls are just atrocious. Absolutely fail on that part, especially after Madden 10's impressive pre-game control scheme.

Fable 3:

So, how quickly can you turn a game off? Sheesh. Talk about hype that absolutely failed. The first time I saw this game, I literally fell asleep watching it being played. The storyline is uneventful to say the least, and the game picks up where Fable II left off in terms of fun. Slow, redundant, and boring. Oh, and so much for 'not being an RPG' Lionhead.

Fallout: New Vegas:

Fallout 3 lovers, it's a godsend. This is the already Fallout 3 world, ever expanded with thousands of new places to explore, loot, massacre, hundreds of new people to meet, kill, quests to do, guns to shoot, puns to kick, and tons of information to learn, both historically and in the Fallout world. Even at this point, you probably still haven't 'finished' this game. Amazingly fun storyline, although you can call me Bethesda-biased. The all new additions of Hardcore mode and the minor swapouts, while keeping the game almost entirely the same with touched up graphics really puts the icing on the cake.

Call of Duty: Black Ops:

Oh, the hype. The hype. At first glance, Black Ops in my opinion is extremely challenging but extremely fun. For multiplayer. God forbid you even attempt the Campaign, it's pitiful. I'm sure it has a great storyline, as do all of the Call of Duty series videogames. The single player gameplay is usually not incredibly fun in terms of gameplay though. In Black Ops case, you really cant even play it because it's so incredibly poorly built. I'm not going to go on a rant here, but the campaign is an absolute fail. The multiplayer has a phenomenal setup. Just about everything in it, from two-players on one screen, playing against bots, etc., it's such a winner. In the end though, it doesn't live up to the game physics of MW or MW2. Perhaps Infinity Ward can learn off of Treyarch's setup, and combine the goods of both games. Also, the killstreaks and spawn system are incredibly weak.

5 2011 Games to Look Forward To:

- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

x5

This is all.

 

[u2popmofo]

To echo the previous Mass Effect 2 recommendation:

Mass Effect 2 Review - PlayStation 3 Review at IGN

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I've really gotta play Mass Effect. Feel like I'm far behind on that headliner, considering I've covered just about every good mainstream video game.

 

[bono_man2002]

I preordered Killzone 3 and Dead Space 2 yesterday. Realised I probably should work up the courage and finish the first Dead Space last night, hmm..It still gets me every time, but I did accomplish a fair bit.

Might wait to get Mass Effect, because I feel its going to suffer 'collecting dust' treatment while I play though Killzone and Dead Space!

 

[u2popmofo]

Nice pics, bono man. I'll be getting both of those as well.

I wish I could show the same self-restraint. I'm not sure which is bigger at this point; my pile of unfinished games, or my pile of not yet played games.

 

[Rachel D.]

5 2011 Games to Look Forward To:

- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

x5

This is all.

This would be my complete list as well.

Have you been keeping up with GameInformer's Skyrim coverage? They update this page with new stuff pretty regularly:

GameInformer Presents THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM

 

[LuckyNumber7]

The improved Radiant AI technology is also more aware of how a citizen should react to your actions. As you perform tasks for them or terrorize them by ransacking their home, the NPCs develop feelings about you. If you're good friends with a particular NPC and barge into his house during the middle of the night, he may offer you lodging rather than demand you leave the premises. “Your friend would let you eat the apple in his house,” Howard says. If you swing your weapon near an NPC, knock items off their dinner table, or try to steal something of value, they'll react with an appropriate level of hostility given their prior relationship to you.

The expansive Oblivion and Fallout 3 settings created a wonderful sense of place, but the robotic and unrealistic character animations sometimes betrayed the sense of immersion the environments imparted. Aware of the disconnect, Bethesda has enlisted Havok's new Behavior technology to endow Skyrim's characters and creatures with a proper sense of movement.

The increased animation fidelity and diversity has enabled Bethesda to ditch the awkward dialogue camera perspective that paused the game and presented you with an extreme closeup of the person with whom you were speaking. Now camera stays in the same perspective used during combat and exploration, and players are free to look around while engaging in conversation.

^^^ Cant say that one makes me too happy.

“Traditionally in an assassination quest, we would pick someone of interest and have you assassinate them,” Howard says. “Now there is a template for an assassination mission and the game can conditionalize all the roles – where it happens, under what conditions does it take place, who wants someone assassinated, and who they want assassinated. All this can be generated based on where the character is, who he's met. They can conditionalize that someone who you've done a quest for before wants someone assassinated, and the target could be someone with whom you've spent a lot of time before.”

!!!

In Skyrim, if you kill a shop owner who had a few quests to offer if you spend the time to get to know him, his sister may take over the shop and offer the quest that was formerly ascribed to him. The quest logic automatically picks up with pre-recorded voice work because Bethesda already assigned her that contingency role. Tread lightly though, because she's not oblivious to your dastardly actions. She will still recognize you killed her brother and perhaps even try to exact revenge later in the game.

Radiant Story is also smart enough to know which caves and dungeons you've already visited and thus conditionalize where, for instance, a kidnapped person is being held to direct you toward a specific place you haven't been to before, populated with a specific level of enemy. This helps Bethesda avoid repetition and usher the player into areas the team wants you to explore.

!!!!!!!

Radiant Story doesn't limit these new missions to encounters in towns. Like in Fallout 3 and Red Dead Redemption, a lot of random events occur while you're exploring the wilderness as well. "There are a wide variety of these random encounters," says design director Bruce Nesmith. "Many of them are things the player can interact with, some are not. You might save a priest who then tells you about a dungeon where there are people trapped that need saving. You might run across mammoth beset by a pack of wolves."

Some open world games go overboard with these side activities and stray too far from the main storyline. Bethesda is aware of this pitfall and is actively engaged in preventing the feeling of being overwhelmed by the Radiant Story missions.

That's what I love about Bethsoft. They're not retarded. They know what you want.

 

[Rachel D.]

^ I can't wait to climb all over that stuff.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I just edited that last post and put a ton of quotes in it...

I cant wait to steal steal steal and whore my skill levels! Bethsoft knows what you want! Bethsoft will deliver!

Btw, I totally want to intern with them if I get the chance.

 

[u2popmofo]

I actually just received that issue. Haven't read the article yet, but I've looked at all the pictures a number of times.

 

[Rachel D.]

If people get angry for knocking things off tables, does that mean I can't cast explosive spells anymore and send people's stuff flying all over the place? That's why I loved Fingers of the Mountain so much. There's a massive BOOM and the person just stands there and says something random, like "Well met!" or "You're a fit one; been running a lot?"

I actually just received that issue. Haven't read the article yet, but I've looked at all the pictures a number of times.

Aww, I checked at the grocery store's magazine aisle and there was a conspicuous empty spot in the nerdy section, so I haven't seen it yet (except for scans on Google's image search ).

 

[u2popmofo]

Do grocery stores get Game Informer? I thought it was a Gamestop only dealio, not sure though. I traded in bunch of stuff at some point last year, and they signed me up to get it free or something.

Yeah, I looked at the scans earlier last week too.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Nice list, Sad Punk. I'd considered making a top 10 or something. Maybe I still will when I have some time. Surprised you were so indifferent to God of War 3, it would easily be on the top of my PS3 exclusive games list for last year. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Heavy Rain was an incredibly mixed bag, surprised so many other people thought it was fantastic. It's weird, I was was so interested in finding out what was going to happen, that I flew through it. When it was finally over, I just thought, "Well, that ended up being absolutely terrible".

Some friends talked me into getting DC Universe Online for PS3. I've never played an MMO, so I'm still incredibly lost, but having a lot of fun. Luckily the first month is free, as I can't see myself paying month after month to play for very long. I'll probably just take one character to the highest level and call it good.

My indifference to GOW3 surprised me, too. Ultimately I was just comparing it too much to the first two games, which I still think are superior in every way bar the obvious graphics and scale. I didn't mind how similar all the weapons were (the Nemesis Blades probably being my favourite) but the pace of the game was just too inconsistent. It felt that as soon as Pandora got on the scene in a big way the game just ran out of momentum. The main gods were killed too quickly, and the final boss felt anti-climactic. I have to say though, that final move with the Blade of Olympus was very satisfying and shocking. In spite of my complaints, I still recommend Ballistic's Art of God of War 3 book heartily.

Heavy Rain is a weird game. I'm glad to see something different do so well (you could argue it's just a new Dragon's Lair, you may as well say that Black Ops is a new Doom while you're at it) but so much of it was done poorly, especially key parts like story, dialogue and VA. Ultimately I think, if remembered at all, it will be seen as being important rather than particularly good. I heard that the new Jurassic Park game has elements inspired by it - no, really - so yeah, that could be real interesting. Press X to Goldblum?

As for DC Universe Online, have you encountered any bugs at all? I want to check it out but I heard the demo had some technical problems.

 

[u2popmofo]

This made me laugh:

YouTube - Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2

 

[Rachel D.]

Do grocery stores get Game Informer? I thought it was a Gamestop only dealio, not sure though. I traded in bunch of stuff at some point last year, and they signed me up to get it free or something.

Yeah, I looked at the scans earlier last week too.

I don't know, but I thought I had seen it around before. Maybe not.

 

[bono_man2002]

Nice pics, bono man. I'll be getting both of those as well.

I wish I could show the same self-restraint. I'm not sure which is bigger at this point; my pile of unfinished games, or my pile of not yet played games.

Yeah some restraint wouldn't go astray for me either. However it'll probably be a few months before I need to buy a new game after Killzone is out.

 

[Jive Turkey]

What did you think of the multiplayer in Killzone 2? I had fun for a while, but then went back to MW2. Havent picked it back up in about a year

 

[bono_man2002]

Yeah I was the same. Was it COD: World At War that was out at the time of KZ 2? I found myself playing a hell of a lot more Multiplayer in COD than KZ. However more single player of KZ2. I never really worked out the control style of KZ. it just felt a lot heavier or something than COD does.

However one of my mates loves Killzone, he's got his own youtube channel where he does commentary of Killzone and various other games. Might as well finish my plug for him with a link : YouTube - Brolli55's Channel

 

[u2popmofo]

Killzone's 3 controls and multiplayer are supposed to be considerably improved vs. what they were in 2. Hopefully that's true.

 

[Jive Turkey]

Killzone's 3 controls and multiplayer are supposed to be considerably improved vs. what they were in 2. Hopefully that's true.

Ya, I hope so too. I've heard the shooting will be a little more focused so it just doesn't feel like you're spraying bullets all over the place. I'd also like to see a few more methodical and less hectic game modes. I really dislike the 'kill 3 guys in 10 seconds, get killed, repeat' aspect. It just felt like all the boards were a free for all. That's where bad company 2 excels; In the same game, you can have one guy running around like Rambo, one guy hiding in the hills sniping, another in a jeep doing donuts in the field, etc. You can kind of play how you want and it will work.

 

[bono_man2002]

I've heard lots of talk of bad company 2 lately. Perhaps I should rent it.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Yeah, especially with my slowly changing more miserable taste towards Black Ops.