I’ve spent $15 in the last two weeks on the iTunes store for some games for my iPod Touch (phone coming next week!). Fifteen dollars net me six games and every one of them has been amazing. Assassin’s Creed and I have had an excellent past. I don’t know how Ubisoft did it, but the game on the iPod ($5) is unbelievable. The rest: Mecho Wars, Flight Control, Baseball Superstars 09, and geoDefense.
Assassin's Creed
In [Nat’s] Hands: The Motherload
There is usually one day a year I go nuts. Ape crazy. Today wasn’t that day. However, I did score a lot of games today. All of them but two are Christmas gifts to my son (read: me) and myself. I’ll only get to touch two of them till after December 25th.
Metal Gear Solid 4 First Impress…er, Digressions
It has a top-notch presentaiton and the audio and visuals are outstanding. I’m not too deep into the story, but I hear it gets convoluted really fast.
I’ve put about 45 minutes into this game.
I’ve pressed a controller button about ten times.
If this is the future of next generation gaming, count me out. I’m sure that this may change the deeper I get into the game, but for cryin’ out loud, let me play! I don’t know what the (seemingly) recent trend is to put 20-30 minute intros into a game before there is even any real gameplay, but it’s driving me nuts. Here are some recent games I’ve played: Okami, 20 minutes; about every Mario game since the Gamecube, 20 minutes, Eternal Sonata, 15 minutes; Final Fantasy Crisis Core, 10 minutes; and Metal Gear Solid 4, a whopping 40+ minutes.
Yes, some of the fluff can be skipped, but some of it cannot be. I guess that’s why I’m drawn to games such as Space Invaders Extreme and Galaga (a remake coming soon…another trend—but one I like). Give me the pew pews.
In looking back on the games I’ve enjoyed the most in the last year, they have been those that are either short on story or they use the gaming experience to tell the story. Bioshock is an excellent example of a game that uses itself to advance the storyline and Half-Life 2 is another example (somewhat). Assassin’s Creed with it’s forced cutscenes is not.
There were a lot of moments in the opening scenes of Metal Gear Solid 4 that I could have played, but I guess it was not to be. Apparently, this is the style of play that gamers want—at least in this instance for PS3 owners, who are coming close to pushing this title to over 1 million sold in the U.S.
Yes, the game is epic. I’ll give it that. The whole “press one button to play” mentality just reminds me of the people in the movie Wall-E. Of course, this trend might be going the other way if a game like Mega Man 9 (possible old-school difficult) proves to sell well.
Hopefully, we’ll have both. Some can pay $60+ for their glorified movie viewer, and some can pay $10+ for their buttonmashing pew pews.
Monday Madness?
It’s Monday and it’s time to get mad. Well, not really. It’s great to be hydrated and back in the land of the living. wash your hands and don’t eat poop.
First, the University of Michigan has created the COM-BAT. What is it? It’s a six inch robotic spy plane shapes like a, well, you know, a bat. Pics and coolness.
I like LEGOs. I like Assassin’s Creed. Chocolate and peanut butter. Take a leap of faith.
Please try the demo to Trials 2. I bet you’ll buy the game. If anything, watch the video. It’s…neat. Physics.
Spirit, the Mars Rover left to die before it’s time? I don’t think many will disagree that these rovers were probably some of the greatest engineering ever done by and for NASA. Godspeed, Spirit.
Finally, a car maker does something cool for the gamer crowd. The Pontiac G8 meets Spy Hunter. I love the Peter Gunn theme.
Fun Games of the Year
We don’t get to play every game that comes out every year. Heck, combined we probably hit 10% of the titles that came out this year. So we feel a little unqualified to declare a particular game the “Game of the Year.” It would be presumptuous and rude. So we’re going a little different route this year, naming the “Fun Games.” Games we had the most fun playing this year. They may not be the prettiest games or the deepest story lines, but they were the games we keep going back to, the games we can’t put down.
So without further ado, Nat and my picks for the Fun Games of the Year:
[Read more…] about Fun Games of the Year