Posts Tagged ‘Picks of the year’

Every year the gaming industry manages to up its game. Even as a consumer I was aware of how many more games each year I was eager to buy. Fortunately the industry is become less dependent on exclusivity deals. This enables gamers to save their pennies, dimes, euros, yen, etc and buy only one of the two high power consoles and still enjoy the majority of games.

This year has been littered through out with choice titles, that in other years would have been worth of the title game of the year. I actually toyed with the idea of including a list or round up of the ones which stood out. But in truth you probably know them all and if I included them the post would be twice as long. So I will cut to the chase.

Dead Space from EA was a game that pandered to the majority of my gaming loves. To make things even better it was a game which managed to avoid the usual hype. A survival horror game which while not always scary it manages through the environment, set-pieces and ambient sound to create a constant sense of tension. Through out, the game is fantastically crafted and paced. An ingeniously designed interface allows you to be completely absorbed into the world. Even the story seems to have been designed in such away that it leaves you wanting to know more about the events surrounding it (even though your role and story are frustratingly predictable). A superb title drenched in enough style to set it apart from the other titles of 2008, making it my game of the year.

Honorable mentions also go to Fallout 3, Mirrors Edge, GTA 4 and Burnout Paradise for being incredible titles. Each stole hours of my life and will continue to do so, especially with the up coming downloadable content for each.

Before I begin I should preface this article with the fact for the majority of the year I have not owned a Playstation 3. I have always been aware, jealous and observant of the buzz and critical opinion surrounding key titles. Now my PS3 sits proudly with my 360 and Wii but my knowledge of the games is limited. I have tried to be as fair as possible but for gaps in my knowledge I apologize and will rectify in the coming year as my Sony back catalogue arrives. Thus treat this pick of the year more as a review.

PS3 is still struggling a little behind the competition in terms reaching its peak. Being the newest machine and notoriously difficult to develop for, many multiplatform titles have suffered from poorer performance than their 360 cousins. This year has started to see developers reaching the point that they are familiar enough with the system that games are almost identical. A few development teams have even chosen to use PS3 as their lead platform, and in these few cases games benefited on the system because of this.

To discus the best Playstation 3 game of the year for would be a kin to asking panda what its favorite food is. That is that I have only tried one full game on the console all year. That said what a game. Little Big Planet by default gets my game of the year award but it would be a hard act to follow.

In truth it is merely a solid and extremely well polished two (and a half) dimension physics based platformer. Charming presentation that actually fills me with joy permeate the whole game. In some ways it feels like Fable 2 in its whimsical British style, if only because both games feature Stephen Fry’s fantastic vocal contributions.

None of this however is what makes Little Big such an achievement. User created content maybe a buzz word at the moment but rarely has it been implemented so well in the console space. In theory making sequels unnecessary as the game is endless. Though the online got off to a rocky start with server issues, developer Media Molecule should be given the same leniency afforded to MMORPG’s. Little Big allows users to upload vast amounts of content and play together. While the world is not persistent as in a game such as World of Warcraft, it is still an incredible achievement.

This year has seen the current generation of consoles starting to reach their peak. Companies are finally getting to grips with what the current systems can do with an install base which makes it a safer to invest and development. For no system is this truer than the 360. The oldest of the current generation of consoles, Microsoft’s machine is now really showing what it’s capable of.

It is sad therefore that this year the number of 360 exclusives have been the most forgettable. Gears of War 2 was a phenomenal ride and one of the most solid game experiences of the year, but didn’t stay with me. Too Human (which I enjoyed) performed relatively well at retail due to a well timed release but was paned by critics and attacked on message boards. Ninja Gaiden 2 also suffered from problems, a broken camera made combat cumbersome and the steep difficulty curve made it too hard for many.

Xbox’s game of the year therefore falls to Fable 2. Indeed of all the 360 exclusives this year there is only one experience that I am eager to jump back into. I want to experience the game from the other side. I want try growing horns and helping villains, I want to be evil.

Fable’s world of Albion feels like a Terry Pratchett book bought to life. From urban city to green meadows everything feels consistent. It is flawed, but all of the blemishes are easily forgiven when you are in whimsical world that developer Lionhead managed to create. An experience which draws you in and manages to foster a relationship with characters and story in a way rarely achieved in this medium.

It may not deliver on all of designer Peter Molyneux’s promises but when you aim as high as he consistently does you are guaranteed to fall a little short. Or maybe it was a design choice, cutting back on complexity and scope in order to make it accessible and keep the appeal as broad as possible, a theme of many games this year. While Fable was a harder choice than games on the other consoles the epic journey it takes you on makes it a worthy 360 game of 2008.

I am not here to pass a qualitative judgment on any platform. Platform exclusives, while less common than they used to be, still set the bar for what a system can do. This year saw Fable 2 and Gears of War 2 going up against Metal Gear Solid 4 and Little Big Planet while Smash Brothers Brawl and Animal Crossing laughed and counted their money from the sideline. Every system has its merits.

I could pontificate for hours on the topic of this years games and still not feel that that I have addressed enough of the issues to really do this topic justice. But to start this series of posts I will be taking a look at the Wii. Nintendo have achieved something incredible with their latest console. Appealing to gamers and none gamers has allowed unprecedented growth out of what is still a niche industry.

Due to the nature of the machine it is the one system awash with console exclusives. While I am willing to accept, neigh embrace the saccharin sweet world of Nintendo this year’s first party offerings failed to impress me. Thus the game fall to the only Wii game I bought this year which was not first party, though perhaps it is not representative of the majority of Wii player’s preferences. Suda 51’s No More Heroes. A nod to the hardcore gaming audience it was a celebration of all things otaku. It is one of the few third party games which make good use of the Wii controls. It doesn’t force constants whirling of the remote but instead focuses on occasional motions to unleash power attacks while relying on standard button mashing for the rest of the action.

The game feels fresh and stylish. Though at times the side missions and open world aspects become repetitive it remains amusing throughout due a typically incomprehensible plot from Suda 51. A title to recommend to any of the more mature gamers who own Nintendo’s little white waggle machine.