The Best Games of 2011 Part 1
That time of the year again, I’m going to bore you all with extremely lengthy word-filled posts about my favourite games of 2011 by achievement, genre, platform and an overall winner. It should be fun, 2011 was filled with plenty of memorable games spread across all platforms. This also means that it was quite hard to sift through and pick winners, in part one I cover the following categories:
Best Visuals (Technical) of 2011
Best Visuals (Artistic) of 2011
Best Story of 2011
Best Original Score of 2011
Best Original Theme of 2011
Best Sound Design of 2011
Best Voice Acting of 2011
Best Online of 2011
Best Moment in a Game 2011
Best Character of 2011
Read more…
Looking Back – Resident Evil 5
What. WHAT. WHAT?! That’s right, Capcom finally confirmed the newest installment of their long-running franchise, Resident Evil, was in development. In fact, it was also revealed that the game would be hitting retailers in November this year, this is probably the longest that Capcom have managed to keep information under wraps. Late in 2011, there was a rumour that the game was already being talked about behind closed doors so it really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that we finally have confirmation (and art, and a logo, and characters, etc.) the only thing that surprised me was the announcement involving two leads and two campaigns (maybe even a third and fourth). That is a lot of stuff to hammer through, and the point of this blog post is to point out why I’m nervous about doing so. To do this, I’m going to look back at the infamous Resident Evil 5 and examine what I took away from it.
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Review
Title: Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Five years ago the Nintendo Wii took the retail word by storm with the critically acclaimed Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess as a launch title. Flash forward to the end of the Wii’s life cycle and we are lucky enough to celebrate with a new Zelda title in the form of Skyward Sword. As an added bonus the game also comes full of nods to the franchise’s 25 years of classic games. We take control of the heroic Link once again in a mysterious quest to pursue Zelda on the surface world after she is thrown from her bird after Link wins the Wing Ceremony at Skyloft. A new entry to this franchise always generates feverish amounts of excitement amongst Nintendo fans, but for those standing on the outside looking in you must be wondering what the deal is?
The Old versus The New
I had a thought as I was playing Ocarina of Time 3D on my 3DS recently as I peered over the second screen and saw Shadows of the Damned sitting in my PlayStation 3 collection. Immediately I was left thinking to myself: why haven’t I played more of that game? It is a fresh, new I.P as opposed to Ocarina of Time 3D, which is a re-release of a long-adored classic.
I think the problem is as deep-rooted as lot of things, perhaps it is just me but I know there are others who’d be guilty of the same thing. Essentially it all comes back to being comfortable with the classics. Whether it is an old flame who you know and understand or an old movie that you know and love, it is always easier to go back to something you already know you like. But the question burns: is that the right thing to do? On the one hand the timeless classic is always going to be just that but what about the new thing you have the chance to try? Shadows of the Damned offers a new intellectual property that is just begging for my attention but I can’t help but lose myself in Ocarina of Time all over again.
We are all guilty of doing this in some areas, and whilst in video games it is a lot more natural (heck, why buy a new game when you can just pick up another Call of Duty) it is definitely something we need to look at in ourselves. Every few months new I.P’s step out into the world and more often than not are shunned into the abyss as sequels and franchises sell more than ever. But the blame lies with many as opposed to the few, but who will blame them? You buy a game in a franchise because there is a high probability that it will be something you enjoy because things rarely change too much between entries.
There are people out there striving for something greater than a franchise. Developers who want to bring new ideas into the industry. Jenova Chen (along with thatgamecompany) is bringing us something beautiful and refreshing in Journey. You’ve got the guys at Team ICO helping us realise our imaginations over again with The Last Guardian. You’ve got the likes of Shigeru Miyamoto trying to innovate and create new properties (see: Pikmin). Last year Playdead took the world by storm with their unique new title Limbo. And there are many more if you go hunting, but don’t be fooled… not all brilliant new ideas are born on the App Store.
Of course, it is easy enough to say this is the problem, it is coming up with a solution that begins to make things tricky. Fighting against comforting nostalgia is difficult. Especially when you might be taking a chance on something new that could inevitably suck outright. But without taking these chances, things will never innovate. Imagine if Nintendo had never created the Super Mario I.P all those years ago? What would you be playing now? Would you be even playing video games? Not every franchise was born a franchise, they all started somewhere and the continued ignorance directed to a lot of new properties is going to continue to destroy the industry we know and love. So next time you look at a game on the shelves like Shadows of the Damned or the upcoming Catherine, don’t simply write it off. Pick it up, take it for a spin, at the very least you tried and know for yourself how it is and won’t need to rely on the opinions of others to make the decision. Same goes for everything in life, it never hurts to step out of that comfort zone.
That risk could pay dividends one day when you look at a game and reminisce about how you gambled on it, much like I do with The World Ends With You.
Plotting Plot-able Plots
So. I haven’t finished the mighty Duke Nukem yet, but I’m getting close. In fact, I’ve been plotting a couple of new ideas I plan on test running over the next few months. I’ll give both of them a brief outline below:
Gaming Memories
Sounds pretty average, and honestly it probably is. But basically all it will be is a monthly piece in which I’ll recall a moment in gaming that means something more to me than just a game. Whether it is a childhood moment that I’ll never forget or a memory I shared with someone recently, it’ll be me re-visiting moments in gaming that will always have a place in my heart and furthermore who I am as a person. I’ll be going pretty far back for some of these as well, I’m hoping it is fun to write and it showcase just how important gaming is to me as well as how gaming is more than just something that you play, it is about who you play them with and the good memories that you form.
Lazy Video Reviews
Inspired by my internet idol, Toby Turner (and probably other vloggers out there), I plan on recording short video log reviews of games that I complete. It won’t be anything fancy or exciting, hence the lazy title, it’ll just be me talking about a game that I have completed. I figure it’ll be a good way to get my views on a game out faster. I’ll still write my usual word-heavy reviews but this will be a more efficient way to get my views out.
So yeah, expect posts when I get closer to substantiating something.
The Post-E3 Hangover and a Game 14 Years in the Making
It has been a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge week. And not just a regular huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge week but an especially huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge one. To start off we had E3 kicking off for the first half, and then the second half in incredibly infamous Duke Nukem Forever finally launched after 14 years of delays and controversy.
One of these things was good, the other was not so good. Need any clues?
I won’t recap all of the E3 happenings, you can find all the news over at the website I write for (vgZero) but I will touch on the highlights for me. First of all, everything that was shown for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and Mass Effect 3 looked incredible. I am so god damn excited for those games!! Sony knocked me off my feet with the PlayStation Vita’s incredibly attractive price and Nintendo left me confused when they announced the Wii U. Overall it was a typical E3, it blew me away with new announcements and got me excited for the games I already knew about. I’ll do a report card like feature for each of the big three over the coming days when I’m done with the King.
Which thankfully brings me onto my next topic: the King. Duke Nukem Forever is the game that no one thought they’d ever get to play. It has been 14 years in the making (originally announced in 1997 by 3D Realms) and has only just now been released in 2011 (thanks to Gearbox). So how is it? Well, I’m only about halfway through it so far and so far it is pretty average. That shouldn’t come as news to anyone because the game’s concept is essentially 14 years old and horribly outdated. Duke’s jokes barely stay fresh and the mechanics can be all over the place at times. However, there are moments where the game really has a ‘heart’ of sorts and it makes think that Duke can still live in this fancy modern age of gaming… he just needs a new title with a 3 year development cycle because as it stands there are better macho-shooters than this one (Bulletstorm, Serious Sam) and it would be a shame to not see Duke Nukem get another chance with a new game.
I guess we’ll see how popular this is, but there is still some profit to be made from the Duke Nukem IP… just not from a 14 year old title that doesn’t have the pace to match modern games.
Check back for my full review in a few days.
Nintendo @ E3 2011 Preview – Balancing Four Platforms & Winning Back Fans
For Nintendo fans, E3 is either like an early Christmas or a timely apocalypse. This is because the company can either be incredibly on target with their announcements or completely miss the mark. If you were to chart Nintendo’s track record over the past few years, it’d be all over the place. For example, last year was highly hyped because of a new Zelda title and promises of heaps of 3DS info. A lot of fans felt underwhelmed by Zelda: Skyward Sword thanks to a dodgy stage demo which even Miyamoto felt bad about, the weird mash-up visual style that they were being served up didn’t sit right. But then again it is worth remembering this was also the case when they first saw Wind Waker. Despite this, fans rejoiced at all the promises Nintendo made with the 3DS. The launch, the games that were coming and the possibilities. Fast forward nearly a year and we certainly have the 3DS but the games range is near barren and we don’t even have the eShop yet (it is of course due next week). If you go further back into Nintendo’s history, things get even more skewed but let’s stick to looking forward to the future because Nintendo have a huge chance to be run away winners at this year’s E3.
Expectations are high this year for Nintendo. Once again they are the ones holding all the cards, they have new hardware to announce, they need to reinvigorate interest in the Nintendo 3DS and also need to prove that the Wii can survive in market long enough until the successor is ready for launch. Nintendo will also be look invest some time in talking about the 3DS, considering how the device has sold we might be safe from seeing sales figures, thankfully. Expect them to maybe show off Ocarina of Time 3D one more time before it launches (in fact, don’t rule out a bundle). As well as the fan-favourite Zelda, we’ll most likely see a release date for several key 3DS titles such as Starfox 64 3D, Metal Gear Solid 3DS: Snake Eater, Animal Crossing 3D, Professor Layton & the Mask of Miracles, Kid Icarus: Uprising and Mario Kart 3D. Hopefully some more light will be shed on Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright as well. Apart from that it probably isn’t too much to think that we might see some new 3DS titles at the show. High Voltage are hard at work on The Conduit 3DS, there is a chance Nintendo might show us a trailer or at least name-drop it. Maybe Konami will grace the handheld with another side-scrolling Castlevania title, the franchise does celebrate its 25th anniversary soon and it has been several years since Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia was released. More than likely we’ll see a video reel featuring upcoming and new announcements. It will also be interesting to see if Nintendo will confirm any new features for the 3DS, we know the eShop is launching on the day of their conference but the line-up for that has already been revealed. But Nintendo might drop some breadcrumbs about future 3D Classics titles or even confirm the addition of the Game Boy Advance library gracing the Handheld Virtual Console. Before we forget, I believe the DS will also get a few new names dropped for it to show continued support, it is still selling after all. They’ll date Professor Layton & the Last Specter for later this year, might sneak out a Pokémon spin-off.
They will be on the offensive to show that the Wii has what it needs to survive on the market until the unnamed Project Cafe is released. The safe bet is that Zelda: Skyward Sword will get another stage demo to hopefully make up for last year’s effort, as well as that you can probably expect a release date for later this year (around Christmas seems to make sense) but Nintendo isn’t one to do special editions so don’t hold your breath there. As well as that I think that Nintendo will confirm all the chatter of the western localisations for The Last Story and Xenoblade Chronicles (which is definitely coming to Europe), however I fear that Pandora’s Tower may get left in the cold. The biggest wild card could end up being Pikmin 3, we know the game has been in development for several years but Nintendo is yet to show anyone anything. It was previously believed to be a Wii title, but chances are high that development could have jumped over to Cafe to show off the hardware or could even have been shifted to 3DS. Retailer listings have been popping up for a New Super Mario Bros. Wii 2, so don’t be surprised if that gets announced. Nintendo could use that and Pikmin 3 to give the Wii a final first party hurrah into 2012 once Zelda is done.
Speaking of Cafe, it’ll be interesting to see what exactly is shown with that. Nintendo have confirmed it will be playable in some form on the show floor so this means there must be some titles ready for it. It is impossible to tell what they will be though, it is doubtful that Zelda or Metroid will get a look in, and with the Mario team busy on Super Mario 3DS a Mario isn’t looking likely either. Perhaps Nintendo will turn to their B-list franchises such as Starfox, F-Zero or Fire Emblem to show off the Cafe. If any game has a good chance of representing the A-list franchises it could be Super Smash Bros. 4. Now, before you start calling me crazy (or also a Smash fanboy, because I am one) just hear me out. Way back when Nintendo announced the Nintendo Gamecube it was showcased with Super Smash Bros. Melee and when they announced the Wii they also announced Super Smash Bros. Brawl behind closed doors. You can feel free to accuse me of grasping at straws but there is every chance this could happen. If Kid Icarus: Uprising hits later this year then Team Sora will be free to work on a new project, and what could be more appealing than a new Smash on a new console? There also seems to be a reasonable amount of hype around a playable build of Mario Kart for Cafe showing itself at the briefing. As well as that, we’ll hopefully see Nintendo shed some light on Retro Studios mystery project, hard to say what’ll be. It could be Donkey Kong Country Returns 2, a F-Zero title, who knows… but it is definitely not a Metroid game. It’ll also be interesting to see if 3rd parties have anything to show, rumours have been working overtime saying that Grand Theft Auto V is in development for it and that several key 3rd parties have had development kits for a while. Expect a splash screen full of franchise logo’s that are coming to the Cafe to get some hype rolling (Call of Duty, Resident Evil, etc.). It is difficult to predict what will happen there, typically the 3rd party support for Nintendo has been weak however finally having a HD console that is up to scratch with the other two might open some doors for them. Provided that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 stick around beyond the late 2012 period then the Cafe can probably at least pick up some multiplatform releases, which will help them substantially. The biggest piece of the puzzle is going to be the controller, much like the Wii Remote was for the Wii. We have heaps of rumours buzzing around saying things like touch-screen, traditional controller, etc but what will it look like? And you can guarantee there’ll be a gimmick built in there. It’ll also be nice to see what the Cafe will be capable of and what sort of hardware it has inside of it.
But if I had to make one single wild prediction for what I’d most like to see announced at Nintendo’s E3 event? I’d love to see a new Ōkami title announced for Nintendo’s Project Cafe. Ōkami found a second home when it was re-released on Wii, and Ōkamiden is one of the best Nintendo DS titles ever released so I would love to see a new one. Another wild dream I’d love to see come to life is Square Enix announce a sequel for the wonderful The World Ends With You, whether it was for Cafe or 3DS I wouldn’t mind, that game needs more love.
It’ll be interesting to see how Nintendo handles this, four platforms to support and a skeptical audience to win back, personally I cannot wait til their media briefing.
L.A. Noire Review
Title: L.A. Noire
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Developer: Team Bondi
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Genre: Action / Adventure
Release date: US May 17th, 2010 EU – May 20th, 2010 AU – May 19th, 2010
Every once and a while a game comes along that demands your attention. It could be a blockbuster sequel, or a new intellectual property from a development team that has produced brilliant games in the past. However, there is a third kind, the dark horse in gaming where a new studio takes the world by surprise. Team Bondi can lay claim to this title with their debut masterpiece, L.A. Noire. Much like Heavy Rain did last year, this game requires a little more attention that your average narrative-driven title. Team Bondi have created a wonderful 1940’s-styled Los Angeles and you are the LAPD officer rising through the ranks and solving mysteries as you go along. But is the game any good? Well, my glowing introduction may have given you an idea but if you are still in doubt then keep reading.
L.A. Noire, The Game That Stole My Heart
Team Bondi’s L.A. Noire came out finally last week, and it is great.
I’m typing this up as I’m at the halfway point, and I god damn love it.
The world that these guys have created is absolutely brilliant, even though you won’t find yourself having the freedom that you usually have in a typical Rockstar game (such as Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption) but that is because this isn’t that type of game. Sure, it has the open world that they have but this doesn’t concern itself with your out of control antics. You are a member of the LAPD, and that position carries a fair bit of weight with how you behave. If you try hard enough to can run people down, but you’ll suffer in the case ratings if you do this.
I suppose the biggest reason this game is so amazing is definitely the motion capture. I remember David Cage seemingly dismissing it recently, which was interesting because I really loved Heavy Rain‘s work but this just bests it with little trouble. Even the slightest twitch in a person’s face can be picked up, making the ability to pick up on whether someone is lying a very important skill. As you progress through the game you’ll get better, but every person acts differently and this game re-enforces that knowledge. You’ll pick up on subtle improvements with your investigative and interrogation abilities as you progress from case to case and it is just a little thing that is nice to see. Every actor gives a top notch performance in this title, and sometimes half the fun is sitting there trying to pick where you know each actor from and there are quite a few that will ring bells for most gamers.
I could go on for paragraphs about things I love about this game, and I will when I write my review this weekend but until then I need to get back into that game, put my hat back on and solve mysteries.
If you haven’t played L.A. Noire then you really are punishing yourself for no reason.
Portals, Parkour, Downtime
It has been a busy several weeks for yours truly. I knocked over Portal 2 a few weeks ago and loved it from start to finish. You can expect a review this weekend. So much character and charm that just built upon everything that made Portal 1. I have heard complaints that it falls short purely because it is a sequel but I disagree. You’ll find out more in my review.
I also picked up Brink for PS3, the new parkour-inspired first-person shooter. That description alone inspires only great thoughts but unfortunately the execution of the concept falls horribly short. Between bland stage designs, underused parkour mechanics and pretty average shooting mechanics the game really fails to stand above any of the other FPS competition on the market right now. I plan on reviewing that after LA Noire this week (WHICH I’M FUCKING EXCITED FOR!!!)
And of course, the biggest thing is the return of the PSN. That’s right, it is back. No doubt there will still be plenty of bitching and moaning but as it stands we have our online back. We are still waiting on a few services to return but I’d rather Sony take their time and get them running perfectly before we get our hands back on them again. I’m working on a piece on vgZero about the aftermath that I’m expecting to unfold as a result of this downtime and how I think Sony would be best of recovering. Rest assured I expect they’ll have some juicy stuff at E3 to win back supporters after all the unfortunate bad press that they have been on the receiving end of over the last few weeks.
Anyway, I have work tomorrow and need to try and get some sleep in my sleepless-filled nights.
See you next mission.
